CrossCast is an Online UI and tools platform for production professionals. 

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken with Mirco Pasqualini, lead designer for the system, and here he gives his insights on version 2.0.

Version 2.0 is slated for release sometime during the summer of ‘08,  and Mirco sent over some new screenshots and content about the platform, as featured below.

Two screens from CrossCast look very Joost like which Mirco concedes is the look in the current beta version but will change significantly over 2008.

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Those of us living in the west, be it the USA or Europe, often think ourselves as hard done by in terms of the regulation from governments and the authorities.

It is however, sometimes worth noting that it could be a lot worse, and indeed is in some countries.

This lack of freedom to express ourselves, and having to follows certain guidelines and rules is displayed perfectly when it comes to the business of online video sharing.

Whether it be the decency laws allowing only a certain level of nudity, or violence, or the bigger picture of copyrighted material and limitations to share videos we have purchased, there is always someone there looking over our shoulders telling us what we can and can’t do.

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With the race for the White House hotting up every day, what can be more needed right now than a social network built entirely around the 2008 US presidential Election.

Taking political social networking up a notch, we get Election 2008 TV.

This social network for the political set is focused on video as their social medium of choice. It’s a nice way to make the election process more personal.

Support Your Candidate Of Choice

Election 2008 TV gives users a place to put their political videos supporting candidates, to see candidates in the news, to see the videos put up by others about candidates, and more. 

Each video has a way to comment and discuss the content, and the site offers you a way to “friend” people who share your views on the candidates and politics in general.

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Super Bowl XLII is about to start on traditional television all across America, with people having friends and family over to watch the big game, and make an event of the whole thing.

Unfortunately, the only piece of the pie that the online video sites are grabbing a piece of are the adverts.

Both Hulu and YouTube have announced that they will be featuring the commercials extensively immediately after the Super Bowl finishes.

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We’ve just had the National Association of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas, and there were some interesting debates taking place, some of which focussed on the future of traditional television.

Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, did the opening keynote for the conference and talked about how — surprise, surprise — the industry is “under pressure.”

I’ll bet that got some big laughs. It’s probably also not that surprising that he didn’t spend much time talking about the writers’ strike and its effect on the industry, although he did drop in that old line about “trading analog dollars for digital pennies,” just for good measure.

The part that I found really striking, though, was near the end, where Zucker starts talking about how he thinks the system of making dozens of expensive — and ultimately futile — TV pilots is a dumb way to do things.

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Almost everyone has a mobile phone these days, from young kids, who text their friends sitting the other side of the classroom, to older people who use them as an indispensable link to family.

According to Nielsen’s estimates, there are currently 239 million mobile subscribers in the U.S., 61 million of who have video capable cell phones or mobile devices.

However of those, only a small percentage actually subscribe to the data service and take full advantage of their mobile video capabilities. But why? 

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