We’ve got some cutting edge technology in place that allows us to index both our site’s content as well as the content within the show’s episodes! So if you’re looking for that review of Crysis on The Totally Rad Show? Just type in “Crysis” in the search box on the top of the page, and boom! You get every mention of “Crysis” on our shows. You can filter by shows to find your exact result, and when you pick the episode you want. We’ve also indexed all of our forum content, so if you’re looking for something specific from a flame war a few months ago, now you can find it!

This is the first step of a greater build out of our search functionality, and as 2009 progresses, we’re going to be rolling out even more great functionality around this search engine, which will enhance the ability to find exactly the information you’re looking for within seconds! So check out our new search functionality today and let us know what you think!

thanks.

In the 2008 section, Scam School was selected as one of the best video shows of 2008. While in the Classics section, Diggnation and Tekzilla were selected as 2 of the best classic video shows.

We want to thank everyone at Apple for this honor, as well as everyone who uses iTunes and chooses to watch our shows on their iPods, AppleTVs, iPhones and computers!

Revision3’s David Prager is covering TC50, while I’ve been scouring the floor of Demo. David’s update will be up soon, but here’s my look at the best of Demo.

RealDVD: Although the geeks among us have been ripping DVDs into our computers for years (albeit illegally since the DMCA passed), it’s never been as easy as digitizing music. Not anymore. RealNetworks (the company that brought you RealAudio) showed its RealDVD software here for the first time. Using it is as simple as inserting a DVD into your PC – it’s designed to store all your DVDs on either an internal or external hard drive, and includes an easy-to-navigate interface to let you easily find and watch a movie.

How can they do it without breaking the law? Do they have the implied or explicit endorsement of the movie world? To the latter, the answer is no: they just informed the powers that be about the product a few weeks ago and are “working through the issues”. As for the former question, Real claims they are on solid ground. RealDVD does not break encryption. Instead, it creates a complete ISO – or disc image – of the movie DVD, and stores that file on your hard drive. It’s essentially a legal piece of DVD playback software, but instead of streaming the bits off of a plastic platter, it streams them off of your PC’s hard drive.

I can’t imagine that Netflix or Blockbuster will be too happy about this solution, as the $20 piece of software lets anyone with enough disk space copy rented DVDs along with store bought ones. And the required disk space is enormous – at 9 gigabytes for modern dual-layer DVDs.

It’s also a PC-only, and a single computer solution. It’s not designed to be shared across multiple systems. Want to share? Store the DVD ISOs on a USB flash/hard drive, and then plug it into different computers. You’ll have to pay $20 for each machine, though, in that scenario. Speaking of hardware, the company is talking with NAS vendors, like Drobo, to build DVD ripping appliances. It’s a brilliant, albeit shocking development that’ll definitely be controversial. But at just $20, it’s certainly alluring.

Imagine a Kindle, stretched out to 8×11, slimmed down to the thickness of a newspaper, with a full-sized screen stretching from corner to corner. That’s what Plastic Logic plans to release in early 2009. It uses the same digital ink display found on the Kindle and Sony’s reader, but sized up to the dimensions of a standard magazine. The device should cost about as much as a Kindle, should store as many pages, includes built in wireless (although they were cagey about EVDO vs WiFi) and will last for days on a single battery charge. It’s far closer to electronic paper than anything I’ve seen. It’s annotatable, which makes it ideal for textbooks, business documents, and reading magazines and journals. It’s all plastic, so it ought to be relatively rugged as well. I want one!

EchoNest: Run by ex professional drummer and reformed lawyer Jim Luccchesi, this company provides audio pattern matching software for developers that make it easy to roll your own Pandora, and build all sorts of creative audio weblets. The company showed off an applet it built for iMeem that plays a lengthy list of “more like this” songs, and even demonstrated an eerie “duet” feature, where they combined Michael Jackson and Estelle to produce a weird, mostly unlistenable mashup of two of their songs that was surprisingly note and key pure. The company also has a more cowbell example on their website that adds cowbells to, well, just about any song. Definitely worth playing with!

WebDiet: Want to lose weight? Eat better? Here’s a cool new web service that installs on your iPhone (or other smartphone), and helps you keep track of everything you eat. It uses GPS to find healthy restaurants,and will even recommend smart dining choices at your favorite eatery, depending on what you like, and what you’ve already eaten that day.  WebDiet will be out soon, although you can apply for the private beta today.

Maverick Secure Mobile:  The motto of this company:  “Payback’s a Bitch”, or maybe “To Annoy a Thief”.  For a dollar a month, these guys ensure that if your cellphone gets stolen, the thief will get the worse end of the deal.  Here’s how it works:

Load the Maverick Mobile software on your phone, and pay the company a dollar a month.  When it gets stolen, the fun begins. From your new phone (or a friends), you can remotely trigger your old phone to send you everything that happens on it: who it calls, what text messages are sent and received - you can even download the complete address book.  Tired of spying?  then simply send a “stop thief” alert to the phone, and it’ll display a bright red “stolen phone” screen, and play an incredibly loud and annoying siren sound through the speaker.  The only way to reset it is to remove the battery - but you can do it again, and again, and again.  You may not get your phone back, but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of really annoying the thief.

FFWD:  If you’re a fan of Revision3, you know that it’s often hard to find other web video shows that you like.  There were a few discovery engines rolled out at Demo, but FFWD was clearly the best - and the only one designed specifically for the new world of internet video.

OK, maybe I was biased - when the company demonstrated FFWD on stage, a SYSTM logo appeared on the home page.  And as I was using the software, Diggnation, Wine Library Reserve and Internet Superstar kept popping up too.  But this is a great tool for finding, watching and sharing all the great Internet video out there, including shows from Revision3 and elsewhere.    You can start using it today!

TikiTag:  Oh, one bonus - near field communications tags that cost about a dollar each and let you turn anything into an internet connected device.  Roll your own Webkins with Tikitag!

The alternative? Local access cable. Party on Wayne.

But the internet has changed all that. Now anyone with a dollar and a dream (and a video camera) can create entertaining, compelling and fascinating content - and then post it for all the world to see. Alas, just because you put it up doesn’t mean you’ll build an audience.

That’s where we come in. Our Revision3 shows have proven that all kinds of concepts, shows and hosts can build big audiences. But there are way more shows than even we can bring through Revision3’s destination site. But we want to help the next crop of talented show producers develop their skills and find and audience. So today we’re launching Revision3 Beta, our farm team of up and coming shows.

This is not just another user-generated video site. Not anyone can become a Revision3 Beta show. We’re going to be hand picking a small group of shows with promise, and then we’ll be launching them inside our new Revision3 beta destination site - and then helping them to develop. Who’s leading the way here? None other than the internet’s Martin Sargent, who along with being an amazingly creative show host and producer is gifted at spotting and nurturing creative talent.

Got a show you’ve been slaving over? Head over to Revision3 Beta and upload it for Martin to look at. Even if we don’t pick it up for Revision3 Beta, he’ll spend some time giving you feedback and helping you craft the next best thing.

What sort of shows will you find on Revision3 Beta? We’re not saying yet - but we’ve got a half-dozen cool new shows lined up that we’ll be launching in mid September, right on the Revision3 Beta site.

Oh, and one last shout out to the great folks at Viddler, one of our favorite online video destinations. Revision3 Beta is powered by Viddler, which will make it simple to create, upload, watch and promote our new lineup of shows.

So if you’ve got a great show, upload it to Revision3 Beta today. And look for our mid-September launch of the first crop of what we’re confident will become the next big things in Internet Television.

Jim Louderback

It’s one small step for YouTube, one giant leap for Revision3! Now everything we produce is available on YouTube - and our channel is absolutely one of the best looking destinations inside the giant video site.

Read all about it in our Revision3 / YouTube press release, if you want more details. But now you can enjoy our revolutionary programs anywhere YouTube is served.

— Jim Louderback

One of the exciting things about Revision3 is the opportunity to do ground breaking and innovative things in the world of Internet Television and we’re psyched to to be challenging ourselves to do this day-in-and-day-out and today, we’ve got something very cool we hope you all will take part in.

As you know, we’ve built a state of the art studio ideal for for our needs in producing great shows like Tekzilla. The wizards in our engineering department have recently made it possible for us to stream live from the studio and we thought what would be cooler than inviting you all into the studio, virtually, to watch a taping of Tekzilla?

Mark your calendars - June 24, 2008 at 5:30 PM (eastern), Veronica Belmont, Patrick Norton and the rest of the Tekzilla crew will be taping the episode of Tekzilla which will be released on June 27th and you’re invited to come watch! Just go to revision3.com/watch to tune into the live stream and chat with other Tekzilla fans. Who knows, maybe Patrick and Veronica will take a break from the show and jump into the chatroom too! When we’re live, anything can happen!

Now, this won’t be a live run through of Tekzilla, rather the raw taping of the show which is then edited into the show that comes out on Fridays, so there will be lots of unfiltered moments behind the scenes. The entire taping will last a few hours, so plan to stick around if you can. I know Patrick and Veronica are excited to share this taping experience with all of you, so we hope you will join us on June 24th!

You can read all about it in our Revision3 Epic Fu press release. But let me just add a few more comments.

First, if you’ve never seen Epic Fu, you are in for a BIG treat. The show is wonderfully produced, full of great information about the web and modern culture, and so fast paced, even the Taz the hyperactive Tasmanian Devil would love it.

Second, host Zadi Diaz is a legitimate force on the internet. She’s developed an amazingly strong and loyal fan base, and via their innovative social network, Epic Fu has created an awesome on-line community, called MIX that extends the experience of the show out in virtually every direction. I’m excited to both bring Revision3’s core audience into that community, and to learn from them as we extend and enhance the communities around our other shows.

Finally, producer Steve and Zadi are some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Someone said to me recently that the truly talented are the most humble and real, and that obnoxiously over the top egotists are comparatively lacking in the talent department. If that’s true, Steve and Zadi are prime examples. They are genuine, real, talented and wonderful to work with. I encourage you to watch, download and subscribe. I know you’ll quickly become a passionate Epic Fu fan… just like me!

Diggnation was nominated in the Online Film & Video > Technology category and the Totally Rad Show was nominated in the Online Film & Video > Variety category. In addition to that, Tekzilla was an honoree in the Online Film & Video > Technology category.

Of course what fun would be these awards be if you couldn’t get involved? Luckily you can!. Just head over to the Webby’s People Voice site and you can let your voice be heard. Voting is so much fun, don’t stop just at voting, but be sure to tell your friends to go vote!

We’re honored to be nominated and we’d be even more honored if you would take the time to vote for us. Best of luck to all the other nominees and we look forward to seeing who wins!

thanks.

Not only does Veronica fit in well here because she’s got the brains (oh, the brains!), but she’s just an all-around cool person, too. We’re honored to have her with us, and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her to the Revision3 team.

Check out the official press release on Tekzilla’s latest great addition here.

This is shaping up to be a great April, everyone!

-Sarah

photo credit: lanbui.com