When trying to create cross platform media experiences for use on the web, there are only a few options open to you. Now we have a new one on the table which could one day become the new standard.

Microsoft has recently released Version 1.0 of Silverlight and of special interest is their Silverlight™ Streaming by Windows Live™ which gives small content producers and developers 4GB of server space from which to experiment with the platform.

The service offers web designers and developers a free and convenient solution for hosting and streaming cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences and rich interactive applications that run on Windows™ and Mac.

Combined with the ability to create content with Microsoft® Expression Studio and other 3rd party tools, Web designers and content publishers wishing to integrate Silverlight applications into their online properties can enjoy complete control of the end user experience.

Currently, video must be less then 22 MB which works out to 10mins of content encoded at 300Kbps. VC-1 and WMV are the supported video formats.

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The release candidate (RC) of the long awaited Microsoft Silverlight multimedia authoring, encoding and user platform, a direct competitor to the Adobe Flash environment, has been released.

Silverlight’s cross-browser, cross-platform approach targets content providers who distribute video and rich media over the Internet; developers and designers who build rich interactive applications; and end users who seek a better quality experience in viewing Web-based media.

The Major League Baseball playoffs will use Silverlight as their new online video platform. Microsoft also has Silverlight partners in Akamai Technologies, Brightcove, Eyeblaster, and Netflix.

Whether Silverlight will make as small a dent in Adobe’s dominance in the field as Microsoft’s XPS did to PDF remains to be seen.

[Via PC Magazine]

The Live Earth concerts were not only broadcast on television around the world but were also one of the first series of concerts to be available in full online.

Microsoft had full rights to show the concert footage on MSN.com, and it seems that people took this option in droves.

Let me state right from the start that I am very, very skeptical about the accuracy of the figure quoted by the organizers in counting the event’s audience – both online and offline.

Why? Well, it’s hard to believe roughly 2 billion people visited the arenas, tuned in their televisions, and pointed their Web browsers to the sites bearing video streams broadcasting the action from around the globe.

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Sling Media has announced that the SlingPlayer Mobile software client will now be compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system to connect your Slingbox with your fancy new cell phone.

The SlingBox is a device that can rebroadcast anything on your TV, DVR etc., across your own private internet channel.

This basically means you can take your living room TV on the move whenever you have access to a PC, Mac, or Windows Mobile-based device where you can get a standard internet connection (3G Cellular, WiFi, USB, ethernet).

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Looking at the Joost interface it will be obvious to many that this is something that you could imagine on your TV screen. In fact, the first moment I saw Joost I thought that’s exactly where the company wants to take it.

Mike Volpi, the new CEO of Joost arriving from Cisco. told The New York Times that:

Joost is a piece of software and it can reside on a variety of platforms… It could be on a television set-top box. Or potentially it could be imbedded in a TV set with an Ethernet connection, or on a mobile phone, or in some alternative device that might come out in the future. The flexibility is really high.”

Possible Set Top Box Partners

But who will this STB partner be? Joost could theoretically just go out there and strike a deal with any STB manufacturer to create a Joost IPTV box that will bring Joost to the TV set.

However, I’ll put my money on the fact that they are also waiting for a deal with a popular brand with a large consumer base.

Let’s look at the options:

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Back in January the BBC was given a provisional approval for the BBC iPlayer that would allow BBC TV shows to be distributed online using peer to peer technology for up to 30 days.

Now the BBC has been given the full and complete approval after working out the concerns and details of the iPlayer service. The service will appear later this year bringing BBC shows such as EastEnders and Doctor Who online.

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Summary: We will soon be replacing our TVs more often than our PCs as the television advances towards becoming a simple and functional living room PC. The maker of this new hi-tech TV could be one of many companies, and it could certainly NOT be Microsoft.

And at the center of this transformation is the internet.

Mark Cuban recently said that we’ll soon be replacing our TV’s more often than we replace our PCs. I’d have to agree with Mark on this. The evolution of the living room is putting more pressure on the TV set to be able to do more.

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