My attachment to my cable box is increasingly irrational. If I do the raw math, I am spending so little time now with live TV that I should be looking for ways to fill in with Web-based programming whatever I might lose if I cut the cord. I am pretty much down to news and Letterman. Otherwise it is DVDs, Netflix through one of the game or streaming media boxes and Apple TV rentals. Alas the browsers on the game boxes are just awful, so I couldn't rely on them to access the CNN feed of news clips and feeds. …

Only watch the video embedded below if you are ready to have your heart broken . . . but also see how the Web video ecosystem gives space and formats for truly unique, compelling media experiences. Beyond the video being a knock-down, drag-out tear-jerker, it is also a wonderful example of narrative compression. And where else but in the digital video environment would this have a place?

After spending years with the original-issue Apple TV, and being one of its sole fans and defenders, the new hockey puck-sized streaming media version is a bit of a let down. Generally Apple bets big on the core principle that less is more when it comes to consumer devices. In this case, the Apple TV is really an on-demand rental center, pure and simple. While there are podcasts, links to your PC's iTunes and Netflix, the basic functionality is around renting movies and TV episodes. As everyone already has pointed out, Apple TV suffers noticeably from a limited selection of …

As we have reported here in the past, video hub Metacafe has been finalizing its metamorphosis from a previous life as a user-gen portal to a new existence as a curated entertainment content hub. It has been carving out verticals in film, gaming, TV and sports that are designed to super-serve fans of each content type with the latest highlights, clips, previews, etc. To drive the point home with viewers and advertisers, the site has been hosting a "Shocktober" event all month that boasts exclusive content from marketing partners like Weinstein Company, Sega, Summit, MTV Games and others. Today they …

Okay, you've got ten seconds to get my attention, or I am outta here. Or so it seems when it comes to online video viewing. According to a new study from Visible Measures, 20% of of the audience for a video clip of under five minutes will abandon viewing in the first ten seconds. VM looked at behaviors across 40 million unique clips that added up to over 7 billion video views - a pretty convincing sample. Company CMO Matt Cutler writes in his blog post about the findings, "If your online video campaign has 10 million viewers, 2 million …

Even the executives at Qualcomm's long-suffering Flo TV project have been unusually honest about the slow traction for its mobile TV system. Over the past few years, its chief executives have been quoted saying that the model for broadcasting live video streams to phones has not caught on in the U.S. as quickly as it liked. According to a report at paidcontent.org the service will end it direct-to-consumer service by the end of the year.

Legend has it that just as generations of "football widows" have lost their men to weekend gridiron contest, we now have girlfriends and wives abandoned by their boys who prefer mangling their video game toys to grabbing their ladies. Well, that myth presumes that there are any game-obsessed dudes out there who ever managed to get a girlfriend in the first place. Have you been to GameStop lately? Sorry to further enduring bad stereotypes of gamers ... However right or wrong the stereotypes may be around poorly socialized and lonely game addicts, the newly launched GameCrush site will only exacerbate …

After a year of impressive growth as a video distribution powerhouse, Facebook takes is well-earned place as the number two video property by audience on the Web. According to the comScore Online Video Rankings for August, the social network (or do we have to call it "The Social Network" now?) had an audience of 58.6 million viewers piling up 243 million video sessions, What Facebook does not deliver, however, is a long hang time.

Okay vid-dweebs. We know you are pretty smart. Codecs, player design, ad insertion technology and targeting algorithms are not for the weak-minded. But are you TED smart? The non-profit organization and programmer of the famous deep-think conferences has always been about viral distribution. Its tagline is 'Ideas Worth Spreading." And so it is issuing a challenge to the video advertising community to offer up its best examples of what curator Chris Anderson calls "ads-with-a-difference." Do your ads actually have ideas. Do they have something worth saying ... well, besides 'gotta see this' and 'you'll wanna buy that?' Because Anderson says …

It is no surprise or secret that video is a killer medium on the iPad. From the time I first fired up my Netflix app on this platform, I admit I was in love. Even at 9.7 inches, when sitting in your lap, that black slab has the feel of a well-resolved HD screen.