Just received an invite for VeohTV Private Beta!

Thanks for your interest in the VeohTV beta!

VeohTV is a free specialized video browser that turns online video into Internet Television.

Watch video from thousands of web sites, in one easy-to-use full screen application. Watch streaming video from major television networks such as Fox and CBS, to independently-produced content available on sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Veoh.com and MySpace.

VeohTV makes watching Internet video as simple as watching television – navigate with a keyboard and mouse or use a PC remote control. VeohTV is like a free DVR for web video. Watch video on-demand or record it to your hard drive to watch later. You can watch your favorite shows in full-screen on your PC, or connect your PC to your television.

Installation and Setup Instructions:
1. Go to: VeohTV beta download page
2. Select the Download button and save the VeohSetup.exe file to your PC
3. Run the VeohSetup.exe installer
4. Enter your private beta key: XXXXXXXX
5. Log-in with your Veoh account

Email us your feedback at veohtvbeta@veoh.com.

Experience Internet Television with VeohTV!

Thanks,

The VeohTV Team

With Joost, VeohTV, YouTube; Orb, Snapstream, Sage, and MythTV; and all of the other “New TV” outfits out there; television is moving off of old-school Cable and moving to the internet. Although it will take a long time for television to move off your PC and onto your Television in your livingroom - it will inevitably happen. It is just a matter of making it easy enough to offer the content on your PC and share it in a way that the average user can handle.

My primary beef with all Web TV outfits (not THAT WebTV) is that all of the content is decidedly low-definition. Bandwidth requirements for HDTV over Internet are pretty hefty - but the pipeline is now available at your house. Verizon’s FiosTV is one such service who offers HDTV over their Fiber lines - they also offer internet plans up to 30Mbps (or 50Mbps in some areas) already. Once the ultra high speed networks come really gain market penetration, there will be more of a push for HDTV over IP.

Finally, there is the whole sticky issue of television studio involvement. Some outfits are backed by major names; for example VeohTV by Disney and YouTube by Viacom, YouTube by CBS. How crucial are these deals? My thoughts are they are very important. But, according to a source I have who is involved with a very beta video streaming services, the networks are knocking down doors at these startups to give them money, with the hopes they will hit the one that grows to become the major new internet TV provider.

When it comes down to it, the two crucial things that are most important to these new startups: the technology and the content. For technology, they need to make this software easy enough to use but still deliver the highest quality content with the easy of use of a remote. For the content, there really is only one way to go - you NEED to partner with a studio that is putting out the titles. Imagine if a show like Lost was shown on Joost - that would soon be a major draw for anyone who is able to access it (including those out of the US who are usually using technologies like Bittorrent to download shows shortly after they are released in the states.

The stakes for the television studios are high as well - if they don’t adapt to these new technologies - and make it EASY for consumers to get their shows (with advertising revenue?) then most people will just take the easy way and download the shows for free.

Editor’s note: This post was not written by me, it was written by Ken who’s website is sixpixelsapart.com, and is currently down. The original link to this post is here. I grabbed this post from a google cache of his page. Use at your own risk!

Introduction

Today I have a special treat for any of you
with a T-Mobile SDA
like my own. I’ve decided to write a nice little article about how to
unlock your SDA
so that you can use it with any provider (T-Mobile, Cingular,
Verizon, any provider with SIM cards). The added bonus here, however,
is the piece of this article that explains how to overclock your SDA
and install SKYPE for use over your WLAN network. Skype is a VoIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol) program that, when you add some money
to the account ($12 worked for me for about 6 months) allows you to
get your own Skype phone number (dialable from any landline or other
cell phone) and place calls to any landline or cellphone for a
fraction of the cost of regular T-Mobile cell phone minutes. Well, I
think that sums it up, so let’s get on to the how to: Unlocking
Your SDA
for FREE To unlock your SDA,
you’ll require the following things:

• A PC running Windows (Windows XP
  is best, if you can swing it)

• Your T-Mobile SDA

• A USB-to-Mini USB cable (the one
  that connects your SDA
  to your computer)

• Some amount of sanity

• A desire to be free of (or have the ability to be free of)
  your current network

WARNING: What you are about to do will
almost certainly void your warranty. Don’t try it unless you know
what you are doing. I take no responsibility for your bricked cell
phone. Once again: don’t try this unless you know what you’re doing.
If you don’t have Microsoft’s ActiveSync installed and configured
already, do so by installing it from the CD that came with your SDA,
or by downloading it here.
If you’re downloading it, you should just be able to install it from
the file you’ve downloaded. –> Test the connection between your
computer and SDA
by plugging in your USB cable to the phone and PC. They should begin
synchronizing. Allow them to do so, and when they’re finished, leave
the SDA
plugged into the PC <– Now that you have ActiveSync configured,
you’ll need to download some software that will assist you in
unlocking your SDA.
The first tool, SDA_ApplicationUnlock, removes the phone’s lock
against running unsigned applications. An unsigned application is an
application that was not created by a reputable company (in this
case, T-Mobile). SDA_ApplicationUnlock was created by the spectacular
NovoMobile. –> Download
SDA_ApplicationUnlock <– Next, you’ll need to get the
SPV-Services toolset, which is provided free-of-charge by the
wonderful developers over at SPV-Developers.com.
The SPV-Services toolset will allow SPV-Developers.com’s server to
interface with your phone and unlock it for you. Download the toolset
as a ZIP file, and extract it to a new folder with a name of your
choice on your desktop. –> Download
the SPV-Services toolset <– Now that you have the software
necessary to unlock your phone, you’ll need to do two things before
you can start doing so: Begin by running the SDA_ApplicationUnlock
program with your phone still plugged in. Just do what the program
tells you. You should get a message telling you that your phone was
successfully unlocked. Next, you’ll need to install the Cert.cab file
on your phone. The Cert.cab file can be installed by copying it to
your phone using the "explore device" button in ActiveSync.
Next, simply use the File Explorer program on your SDA
to browse to the file and open it. That’s it. Now, open the
SPV-Services toolset folder that you created on your desktop. Inside
is a file called SPVServices.exe. Start it, and use the sidebar on
the left to select "SIM lock" or something similar. Follow
the instructions on the page, and click the button to unlock the
phone. The process should be fairly instantanious. DO NOT AT ANY TIME
UNPLUG YOUR PHONE. You can also change your CID if you feel the need
to. Assuming everything has gone on without a hitch, that’s all you
had to do! Your phone is now unlocked and can be used with any
network!

Installing and Using SKYPE to Make Phone Calls Over
Your Wireless LAN

Now here’s the exciting part — the one
that saves you money! A lovely company called Skype allows you to
make calls to other Skype members over the internet. However, if you
add some money to your Skype account, you get SkypeOut and SkypeIn -
services that, respectively, allow you to make calls to outside
numbers (landline and cell phone numbers) and recieve calls (at your
own personal phone number just like any other). This part of the
tutorial will guide you in installing Skype on your SDA,
and overclocking it so that lag is minimized. If you complete this
tutorial successfully, you’ll be able to make phone calls (almost for
free) to anywhere in the world over your home, work, or school
wireless networks. WARNING: This part of
the the tutorial will involve manually modifying the software and
operating system of the SDA.
It will also involve overclocking (or increasing the speed of) the
SDA
to potentially unsafe levels. As tested, I haven’t had any problems.
You should be okay, but there is always a possibility (as with
anything you do) that your SDA
will be damaged. I assume no responsibility for this or any other
modification you make to your SDA.
Following these instructions as closely as possible will minimize
risks to your person or phone. That said, let’s get started! Begin by
downloading
the Skype cab file, and extracting and renaming its contents. If
you have Windows XP, you can simply double-click on the .CAB file to
open it. If you don’t have XP, you’ll need WinZip or an something or
something of the like. Extract the contents of the .CAB file to a new
folder on your desktop, and rename the files as shown:

• 000Boing.002 becomes
  Boing.wav

• 000Skype.001 becomes
  Skype.exe

• SKYPED~1.003 becomes SkypeDialer.dll

Without overclocking the SDA,
Skype has a 10-second delay when calling a landline. You’ll want to
overclock yours up to 240 MHz. You can do so by downloading a nifty
little program called OmapClock, which you can find here. You can
simply move it to the /Windows folder on your SDA
via the "explore device" button in ActiveSync. When it has
been transferred to your SDA,
execute it by selecting it using the "file manager" program
on the SDA.
If it does not run correctly, chances are that you didn’t
application-unlock your SDA.
Do so by following the first part of this tutorial. Change the
processor speed to 240 MHz (NO MORE, NO LESS) and save your
settings using the left soft-button menu. After you’ve done so, move
the Boing.wav, Skype.exe, and SkypeDialer.dll files to the SDA
using ActiveSync’s "explore device" functionality. You’ll
want to put them in the "/Windows" folder. Congrads, skype
is installed. Unfortunately, you still have to configure it, which is
made harder by the fact that the SDA
doesn’t have a touchscreen. You’ll have to use a neat program called
Pocket Controller Pro to actually tap Skype’s "Sign In"
button (because it was designed for Pocket PCs with touchscreens).
Luckily, you’ll never have to use this program again (unless you need
to reconfigure it). You can download
Pocket Controller Pro here (as a trial with full functionality).
Install Pocket Controller Pro, open Skype on your device, and enter
your Skype account information - using your PC’s mouse to click on
the "Sign In" button. Make sure that you’ve told Skype to
remember your sign-in information (sign-in automatically on startup).
That’s it! You should have working Skype! Optional: If you’re like
me, you have/hate the dreaded T-Zones button on your phone. We can
change the functionality of that button so that it opens Skype
instead! To do so, open a new notepad (.txt) file and paste
"19#/Windows/Skype.exe" (without the quotes) on the first
line of the file. Save the file as "Short_AP1.lnk" and move
that file to the /Windows folder of your SDA
using ActiveSync’s "explore device" functionality. It
should ask if you want to overwrite a file with the same name. Click
"yes" or "yes to all". That should do it! Hope
you’ve enjoyed this little tutorial!!! ALSO: There have been some
follow-ups! Look through the posts at the top of my homepage.
The follow-ups basically answer any questions you submit in your
comments.

My preferred server platform is linux. I have not yet been able to move to a linux-based system for my daily work, and trust me I’ve tried a number of times to move to a Fedora or Ubuntu desktop. Windows is still best for productivity and day-to-day tasks, as well as compatibility with other office workers. However that brings up the question of how to access resources on a linux system, securely, and easily enough to not take too much time out of your workflow.

I have previously used the free WinSCP to do this. However, much like the FTP clients of yore, you need to transfer the file to your local PC, do the actual editing on your workstation (I prefer PSPad by the way), and then transfer the file back to the server.

Windows fixed this particular issue by adding in Mapped drives, which can connect to an FTP source. This is all great, and it works fine, but it is not a secure way to transfer files which may or may not include sensitive information in them.

Recently a few programs have come out that connect to an SSH server via SFTP and map a drive on your system. The two that I have found and are viable are called Webdrive and SftpDrive. Both products offer a secure connection to your SSH server, including a mapped drive letter. Below is a short review of each product:

SftpDrive

SftpDrive is a program that does one thing and it does one thing well - it connects you to your server via SFTP. In my testing the speed was very fast, it seemed faster than my WinSCP connection even. It does not do caching, which in my mind is a good thing because it can cause problems with different versions of files moving between your system and the server source.

Their support is top notch - contacting them resulted in an immediate email back. They also have some great forums for user interaction, and the owner frequents there as well.

Price: $39 - unlimited upgrades to future versions

Webdrive

The other alternative is Webdrive. This software has a few more bells and whistles - notably:

• Ability to map WebDAV and FTP in addition to SFTP servers
• Caches remote directories locally

If you have the need to map a WebDAV or FTP connection, you can manage this right inside of this program. In this regards, this software will be a ‘one stop shop’ for mapping drives on your system.

It also can cache files on your local system. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage, especially on a slower connection / link, is that when you edit a file on the drive you will actually be editing a file on your local PC, speeding up this process. The disadvantage with this, is that your server files may not be updated right away, adding a delay to when you edit a file and actually having it live on the server. This could add confusion when dealing with a configuration issue or other problem and adds a layer of complexity.

Price: $59.95 /w 1 year of upgrades, $79.95 /w 2 years of upgrades

Final Verdict
It was a close race but Sftpdrive comes out on top for my needs. Unless your organization has a need to keep mapped drives all under the same software, or you are working with a very slow connection, Sftpdrive will work fine for your needs. Also edging it closer to the win is the cheaper price, and the ability to receive upgrades to the software in the future without paying an additional fee. Using this software will increase the overall security of your day-to-day system administration tasks while reducing your time involved.

I would strongly recommend downloading a trial version of each software package and see which one fits your needs!

• WebDrive - A 20-day demo version
• SftpDrive - Get a trial 45-day key and download software

Note 1:
If you need an automated backup solution, I strongly recommend SyncBackSE. Using this backup software + Sftpdrive, you can have an automated, safe backup to an offsite location. Not only will your transfers be secure, but SyncBackSE will encrypt the contents of your backup on the remote location. This is great if you are using a server or other remote service to store your backups - although most services are reputable I wouldn’t want anyone to have access to my financial or other personal information.

Notes 2:
The faster your UPLOAD speed to the internet, the better performance you will see on your mapped SFTP drive. Currently the ISP which has the best upload speeds for the value in my area (Philadelphia) is Verizon Fios. Their lowest package offers 5mbit download, and 2mbit upload. This compares to Comcast which only offers a 384kbps upload on their basic package.