1.3 million movies at your fingertips...

Col Needham, from Manchester, England, is the current managing director and one of four founding partners of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and he has envisaged a time when all of the 1.3 million titles that are indexed on the site -- movies and TV shows -- can be streamed to its users with the click of a mouse.

CNET News reported that in a speech delivered to the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX, Needham acknowledged that the task will be formidable (and in some instances impossible, since prints of some of the films listed on the website no longer exist).

Developing a relationship with rights owners also could prove to be challenging, he said, but it has already begun, with IMDb currently providing access to 14,000 TV episodes and about 2,000 movies, as well as 120,000 videos including trailers, interviews and featurettes.

© 2009, Associated Press.

TV is DEAD...

Or TV is dying...take you pick!

There is no longer any question about it! Television transmission just isn't needed anymore as everyone with an Internet site begins to realize that they could control their own "television" station.

Things were getting out of hand with tens of millions of website destinations, but a few forward thinking sites are now positioning themselves to be leaders in this new race. Think early TV: think early NBC, CBS and ABC. Only today, there are many, many more options.

By the end of 2009, almost half the people who watch videos online will be watching full-length features via the Internet. With all the other videos online, by 2012 we will spend a third of each day passively or actively viewing. Computers will send images to billboards, our high-def screens, our monitors and our phones. No more limited channels; now we have access to millions of them. Besides, no one really wanted to wait until 8:00 to see the feature film; until 10:00 to see MAD MEN and until 11:00 to see the 11:00 news! We consume when we want to consume, not when some TV exec "thinks" we should!

Everyone wanting video will turns to places like YouTube when they want movies. And many new exciting sites like www.indiemoviesonline.com are leading us into the new era of FREE online feature films and TV shows! A goldmine awaits us!

You can forget the boob tube with its limited channels since places to watch TV on the Internet are proliferating at an extemely fast pace. From NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Hulu to Joost, many sites plan to launch and make TV viewing a more interactive experience.

Joost will let users watch shows like "Friends" or "The Daily Show" directly on the Web. YouTube also is beginning to offer full-length, commercial-supported television shows in addition to the shorter clips it's well known for.

Previously, Joost users had to download the site's free software to be able to watch its programming, but this step proved to be cumbersome. The company is now scrapping its original setup in favor of Flash video, which has long been used by Hulu, YouTube and many other sites.

Joost Chief Executive Mike Volpi said the site's social features have also been greatly enhanced. People can see what their friends are watching on Joost and create groups around TV shows, characters or artists. Users will also be able to post a news feed of their and their friends' activities on Joost to other Web sites, such as social networks like Facebook.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE - http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/13/online.tv.joost.ap/index.html

© 2008 Stanley Lozowski, All Rights Reserved.
© 2008 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.