Random Thoughts of Mine...

Miro is our core project. It's a free open-source desktop video application that is designed to make mass media more open and accessible for everyone.

Television is the most popular medium in our culture. But broadcast and cable TV has always been controlled by a small number of big corporations. We believe that the internet provides an opportunity to open television in ways that have never been possible before.

Miro is designed to eliminate gatekeepers. Viewers can connect to any video provider that they want. This frees creators to use the video hosting setup that works best for them-- whether they choose to self-publish or use a service. It's the kind of openness that the internet allows and that we should all demand.

How many of you have ever heard of Miro before? I had never heard of it until after I downloaded Firefox 3 one day. On the Getting Started page, they have links to some Internet sites that they think people will enjoy. One of the sites was Miro, which is an open source Internet TV and video player.

I went to the site to check it out. It looked interesting, so I decided to download the application last night. They get videos from all over the world, from sites, such as YouTube, and even some P2P sites. There are currently over 4,700 channels of videos in different categories, such as: Comedy, Family, International, Public Broadcasting, etc. You can find all of these channels on the Miro Guide website, which is easily accessible from the Miro application. The player comes with 4 basic channels to start you off, along with some tutorial videos on how to use the various functions of the Miro application. You can see a screenshot of Miro here.

The channels go along the sidebar on the left side of Miro. You can easily add or delete channels, even rename them, if you so desire, with the click of your mouse. While surfing the channels, I found one called Carribean Beats, which is a half-hour show featuring videos from West Indian musicians. I subscribed to that channel. When you subscribe to a channel, you have access to all of the videos on that particular channel. After you find the channel on the Miro Guide, you can preview a few of the videos on that page without subscribing to the whole channel. Videos that you do download, are kept on your computer for 5 days. After 5 days they are automatically deleted from your computer, unless you decide to keep them or delete them before that time. Once you subscribe to a channel, new videos are automatically downloaded when they become available.

I've been testing it and the application runs well on my 6-year old PC. Miro runs on Mac, Linux and Windows. Download it, give it a try, then let me know what you think of it. Here is your chance to Get Miro. Enjoy!




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LOSER'S $65M WIN
COLLECTS 1 YR. AFTER TOSSING JACKPOT TIX

Here's a guy who figured out how to be both the luckiest and unluckiest man on the face of the earth at the same time.

One crazy afternoon in June of last year, maintenance man Degli Martinez learned he had won a $65 million Lotto jackpot - the largest single prize in the 30-year history of the state Lotto game.

He then promptly lost the ticket.

That began a yearlong odyssey of hand-wringing and heartburn before Lottery officials were finally able to hand Martinez his check yesterday.

"It was a lot of pain waiting," said the 55-year-old Paraguayan immigrant at a lower Manhattan press conference.

Martinez's wild tale began on June 29, 2007, when he bought a handful of tickets at a minimart in Sunnyside.

He returned the following day and had store clerk Supriyo Bhattacharjee scan the ticket bar codes to check for winners.

Bhattacharjee found a $2 winner and a couple of losers and then his eyes widened with surprise.

Read the rest of the story here.



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A co-worker of mine showed this video to me of a guy freaking out after getting fired. Check this out!

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Nude maid accused of really cleaning up
Jewelry worth $40,000 discovered missing from Fla. home

TAMPA - A nude maid is accused of really cleaning up at a Florida man's home. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said a 50-year-old man hired the maid from the Internet on Friday to clean his Tampa home.

Authorities said the woman arrived at the home in a one-piece, light colored dress. She took off the dress and cleaned the house for $100-per-hour. Sheriff's office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said the man told deputies he left the maid alone in the bedroom to clean.

When the man's wife came home from vacation, she discovered $40,000 in jewelry missing from their bedroom.

Read the rest of the story here.



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Read the review, see the clips below.

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