Sling.com, the online video portal from the makers of the Slingbox, is now open to the public, putting it in direct competition with the likes of Hulu and Joost. Unfortunately, like so many other sites, it’s only open to U.S. citizens.

SlingMedia

SlingMedia is the company responsible for the popular Slingbox device which allows you to broadcast a TV signal around your house via the Internet. It’s also recently launched the SlingCatcher, a set-top box to compete with the likes of AppleTV and Roku.

Not content with managing market battles on two fronts, SlingMedia has recently opened its Sling.com video portal up to the public, allowing users to stream movies and TV programs for free in Flash video format.

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The new Joost is now live, and offers users the chance to watch content in their Web browser using Flash. But is the content ever going to be good enough for it to compete with Hulu?

We’ve been expecting this to happen for over a month now: Joost has become Web-based, eschewing the need for a plug-in to be downloaded. In fact, the plug-in option has been dropped altogether to keep things simple.

Long Overdue

This move was long overdue as viewers made it clear that they didn’t want to download anything or open up an application just to view the odd video. So more than a year after it was first suggested, Joost has dropped the plug-in.

Joost CEO Mike Volpi told NewTeeVee that the plug-in could come back in time if the need was justified. This would seem to be only necessary for streaming live events.

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While Joost may have been first to launch, Hulu is the television service that has taken off while Joost has been left to die. But, Joost Mark II now seems to have started a new war between the two.

Joost Mark II

Joost was all but dead and buried as a legitimate and viable option for viewers to get their Web television kicks. But, it’s now back, new, improved, and available as a browser-based TV service rather than being a desktop client.

What’s more, Joost Mark II was given a features overhaul, and now comes complete with genre searching, and Facebook-style social networking features.

Hulu Copies

Joost still may not have the volume or variety of unmissable content that Hulu has, but it’s back and competing on an even playing field once again. Or at least it was until Hulu decided to beat Joost at its own game.

Joost Mark II has arrived. But will the additions of a browser based video viewer and social networking features help the company bounce back from a period of under performing?

The end of the Joost desktop client was rumoured a couple of weeks ago, but it’s now become a reality, with company CEO Mike Volpi outlining the new Joost in an official blog post.

Joost Mark II

So what’s changed? The first and most obvious difference with Joost Mark II is the service now being browser based rather than needing a desktop client to be installed.

For the moment, there is still a download required, but it’s only a plug-in enabling the use of P2P file transferring: designed to reduce bandwidth costs while enabling high quality video.

Joost is killing off its desktop client and moving lock, stock, and barrel over to a Web-based system of content delivery. But will this actually help Joost gain viewers?

Joost has been out of the headlines for the last few months. In fact, we haven’t even spoken about the Web TV application since May. But now it’s back with a big announcement.

From Desktop To Web-Based Client

Calling it an announcement is actually a bit on the presumptuous side as the news that Joost is abandoning its desktop client to move to a purely Web browser-based system is still just filtering through.

GigaOM broke the news of the switch in strategy, before NewTeeVee gained access to the new Joost site and gave its first thoughts on the new and improved app.

2008 has so far proved to be a very mixed year for Web TV service Joost, but 5 months in and the company is still going strong and showing no signs of dying an early death.

An early demise was indeed what was being predicted back in January in the wake of the firing company’s chief technology officer Dirk-Willem van Gulik who joined the BBC to work on the iPlayer.

In March however, Joost offered a speck of hope to all those who would use the service if only it didn’t require a software download which hogs your computer’s resources.

Revision3, the online video company headed by Digg’s Kevin Rose has reportedly inked a series of new deals which will see its original series being distributed in a number of new places.

The company is best known for Diggnation, a series all about Digg, and the stories which make it on the social bookmarking site, hosted by Rose himself.

The show has always been available on Revision3’s own site, as well as YouTube and iTunes, but will now also be available on Hulu, Joost, TiVo, Revver and Break.com as well.