Web 2.0 also means Internet TV

I'm not a fan of the Web 2.0 concept, i like to see the Internet more like a continuously evolving entity, so rapidly expanding that version numbers become absolete :) But this doesn't mean we shouldn't try and quantify this progress somehow, and one thing i believe is very cool is the ability to get online content in offline applications.


One good way to do this is through a Google Desktop gadget, for example: my TV Set gadget. What does it do? It really is your virtual TV Set and enables you to watch media placed in different locations (online and even offline). You have 5 stations, or channels, whatever you want to call them, 3 of them being already tuned for you: EA TV, MusicPlus TV and Nasa TV. To set a certain station actually means to change the url of its video feed, and you can do it by pressing the green URL button.

2 textboxes appear (like in the image above). You put the URL in the first one, meaning the place where that channel will get its content, and you put a name, just what you want to call it, in the second. Now, many people asked me this question: Where can i get URLs?

Well a quick solution would be: Check out the following URL list, maybe you like one of them:

• CNN International - http://dynamic.cnn.com/video/meta/live/stream.1.large.asx
• Shop NBC - http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=snbc/snbc/wmlive/live300k.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx
• Sportal - http://broadcast.global-mix.net/?m=itb&.wvx

There are a lot more stations, and you can get their URL from this site: http://beelinetv.com/
Here are some FAQs:

• What can i put in as a video URL? There's not a general rule about what URL to put in. The important part of the URL is the last 3 letters (the file extension). You can pretty much find out by actually testing it. If you want to have something to look for, i can tell you that the 3 stations which come with the gadget are URLs to .asx files (also, .wvx files are similar and should work too). Generally, videos which need a WMP player/plugin to be played should be ok. You can see this by clicking on their link: if a WMP window is opened when you do that, then that link should also play in the gadget. Also, in the latest version, you have the possibility of opening offline media files by using the 'Open offline' button.
  
• What can't i put in as a video URL? You can't put web page URLs in. For example: if you can see a video at www.teodorfilimon.com, and you put that URL in the gadget, it's not going to work. But if you see that i host my video at, let's say, www.teodorfilimon.com/video.asx and you put this one in, it's going to work.

I hope this is a good helper documentation for people who have been asking me lately about video URLs. Have fun using the gadget!