Comcast plans to roll out 160 megabits per second service to Americans this year

Vito Pilieci
Sun

LAS VEGAS – Imagine being able to download a movie in four minutes. That’s what’s possible with new technology unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday — technology that makes so-called high-speed Internet 10 times faster than today.

Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, plans to roll out the new service to Americans this year that will hit top speeds of 160 megabits per second.

The company’s chief executive Brian Roberts was on stage with Ryan Seacrest, the host of TV’s American Idol, who was asked to help demonstrate recent upgrades to Comcast’s high-speed Internet network.

The upgrades use a technology called DOCsis 3.0. Today’s high-speed connections are capable of providing connection speeds of around 10 megabits per second. With the improvements, Comcast will be providing customers with speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second when the service launches this summer.

“People of my generation want it all and we want it all now,” said Seacrest.

Using the service, he then downloaded a high-definition copy of the movie Batman Begins in less than four minutes. To tackle the same feat with a dial-up connection would take more than a week. With today’s high-speed Internet networks, it would take about six hours.

Comcast did not announce pricing for the new high-speed Internet services. Its cable Internet technologies are similar to those used by Rogers Cable in Canada.

Demand for faster and easier-to-use Internet service has been growing in the U.S. and in Canada.

“Consumers will continue to use up band width as a much as possible,” said Tony Olvet, of technology research and analysis group IDC Canada.

The faster speed also could improve home security services and computer gaming applications, he said.

Realizing the dangers and opportunities emerging online services offer to consumers, Roberts has been one of the most vocal proponents of the need for high-speed Internet services in every home.

With new offerings such as Joost and Hulu providing people with high-quality TV content online for free, cable companies have been forced to examine how to keep their customer base in the ever-changing digital world.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Japanese firm aims to link all home gadgets

Vito Pilieci
Province

LAS VEGAS — Panasonic AVC Networks Co. took the wraps off a new line of super-slim televisions yesterday — and then showed off a 150-inch TV set the size of a rhinoceros.

“Can you imagine watching the Olympics on this baby?” Panasonic president Toshihiro Sakamoto asked thousands who watched the unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Appropriate for the enormous trade show, the 3.3-metre-wide television, the size of nine 50-inch sets put together, is billed as the world’s largest flat-screen TV.

While Sakamoto didn’t rule out home use of the behemoth, he said the new television would be primarily marketed toward a commercial audience.

The smaller, home-use televisions in the Viera line are less than 2.5 centimetres thick.

The Japanese manufacturer, which offers everything from digital cameras and TVs to medical devices, is pinning its hopes on making it easier to connect all your home’s gadgets and devices together.

The company has been working with hundreds of families, studying how they use their home-entertainment systems.

The Viera TVs that arrive this year will have built-in slots for memory cards typically found in digital cameras, allowing photos to be easily shown on the TVs.

As well, Panasonic will release a new high-definition camcorder that saves information to a special card, allowing HD videos to be watched on a new Panasonic TV.

Sakamoto confirmed Panasonic’s support for a new wireless HD standard announced last week. Devised by a consortium of electronics and computer manufacturers and Hollywood companies, the standard will let consumers throw away the cords hanging behind their home-entertainment systems. Technology built into new TVs and DVD players will allow them to transmit video signals automatically in high-definition.

Panasonic’s parent company, Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd., reported net income decreased to $914 million US, down nine per cent, compared with the same period one year ago. The firm also warned that the market for electronics would remain challenged in 2008.

CES is the world’s largest consumer electronics show, annually attracting more than 150,000 people.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Bill Gates makes his final appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show

Vito P
Sun

LAS VEGAS – Microsoft Corp. is taking a big swing at Apple Inc. and its popular iPod by announcing huge upgrades to its Xbox Live service and that it would start selling its popular Zune MP3 player in Canada this spring.

The Zune is Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Until now, it has only been available in the U.S. This past Christmas, the Zune was so popular that demand was greater than for Nintendo’s Wii console, according to expert gadget website Cnet.com.

Speaking for the last time as Microsoft’s chief executive at the Consumer Electronics Show here on Sunday, Bill Gates announced that not only will the device be made available in Canada, but so will movies from MGM, as well as TV and movie content from Disney Corp. and ABC in the coming months.

Until now, Apple’s iTunes store has had largely exclusive agreements for most of the new content.

Gates has opened the popular show with his “state of the union address” for the past 12 years, but he now plans to leave his full-time position at the company in June to focus on the charitable activities of his $33-billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“It will be the first time in 17 years that I will be moving away from my Microsoft job,” said Gates. “This will be my last keynote at the show.”

He reflected on his time with Microsoft, saying the 1990s heralded the dawn of the “digital decade” — a time when digital photos, TV shows and music became the norm.

The next 10 years, he predicted, will be even more exciting.

“In many ways, we are at the very beginning,” Gates said. “During the next digital decade, technology will make our lives richer, more connected, more productive, and more fulfilling.”

In a video, Gates jokingly showcased his post-Microsoft plans.

In one segment, he was shown working out with his new “personal trainer,” actor Matthew McConaughey. After the two finished exercising, Gates asked McConaughey, “is it time to take my shirt off?”

Another exchange showed U2’s Bono cut down Gates’ dreams to join the band, saying, “Bill we can’t replace Edge just because you got a high score on Guitar Hero.”

The video also features Gates with well-known actors and politicians such as George Clooney, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, all of whom wished Gates their best.

Joining Gates on stage was Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division. Speculation had been swirling about who would become the new face of Microsoft in Gates’ absence. Much of that speculation was put to rest when Bach announced that he would be back at the Consumer Electronics Show next year.

Bach, who has been with the company for a decade, is responsible for the more appealing aspects of Microsoft’s business, including the company’s Xbox 360 gaming console and its Zune MP3 player.

Since 1967, the show has been responsible for introducing the world to products such as the alkaline battery, the VHS cassette player, the CD player and camcorder, and last year it highlighted the intense competition between Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray technology and Toshiba Corp.’s HD DVD.

The show annually attracts more than 150,000 attendees and more than 2,700 companies, eager to show off their technological wares.

Gates was only the first on a star-studded list of speakers who will address the crowds this week, including Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Co., Intel Corp. chief executive Paul Otellini, Comcast Corp. chairman and chief executive Brian Roberts and Rick Wagoner, chairman and chief executive of General Motors.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Sun

1. ECTACO iTRAVL NTL-9C Talking 2-way multilingual language communicator and electronic dictionary, $600

Start the new year brushing up on a new language for that trip you’re planning to take. Or just pick up one of these little translating devices that got the nod in the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show as an innovations honoree in the personal electronics category. With speech recognition for nine languages, this is a gadget that can understand what you’re saying — or trying to say — and reproduce it in whichever language you choose. You speak into it and out come your words, only they make sense to the person you’re trying to talk to. It translates for English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Perhaps they can come up with a version that translates parent-speak for kids and vice versa. For more information visit: www.ectaco.com/ECTACO-NTL-9C. Also Available online at www.travelingtales.com.

2. Philips AJL308 Photo Clock Radio, $100

A seven-inch colour display with a USB/SD card slot lets you wake up to your favourite photo, song or video. With an easy-to-view clock, radio and calendar, it wakens you with a gradually escalating alarm. If you’re waking up to music, the volume will step up gently to lure you out of lala land. Another CES winner.

3. iMep Mobile Entertainment Player, $400

A mobile entertainment all-in-one, the iMep has a seven-inch LCD screen and an iPod dock so as well as listening to your music you can see the videos and photos displayed on the screen. Add to that a CD/DVD player and a TV tuner. If you’re still bored, drop a memory card in the available slot, plug in a USB flash drive, or crank up the AM/FM radio. It has two built-in 10-watt three-inch speakers. Light absorbing technology cuts the glare when you’re on the beach. It’s powered by a whopping eight D-cell batteries, although you can also plug in with an AC adapter or a DC car charger.

4. Animal Design Wire and Cable Keepers, 55 cents

Turn that octopus under your desk into a dog, a cat, a chicken or one of the other whimsical wiring solutions from cableorganizer.com. Attach one of these creatures to your computer monitor or another flat surface and it will faithfully hold those cables and wires.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Well-heeled startup using fictional money to change Internet economy

Robert Rocha
Province

MONTREAL — Silicon Valley wisdom holds that a great tech company starts small — by tradition in a garage — and slowly grows as it proves itself.

Google started that way. So did Apple and the social-network darling Facebook. So are thousands of startups worldwide that want to make their fortunes on the Internet.

But what if one starts big from the get-go? What if an entrepreneur commands millions of dollars and throws it all into a company with a hundred employees, rooms full of computers, and very few clients?

Is this a reckless return to the dot-com bubble days? Or is it a bold charge at Internet notoriety?

Capazoo is a new Montreal-based social network that fancies itself the next stage in the evolution of social networking, and it’s betting on the latter. It wants to unseat MySpace and Facebook as the reigning champs of online socializing.

And it has $25 million from pro-athlete investors and a well-known entertainment brand behind it. Its rationale: Social networks are nothing without their users.

It’s individuals who add the funny pictures, videos and blog ramblings that make other users stick around. So shouldn’t users be compensated for the popularity of their content?

To this end, Capazoo’s model offers two significant twists: Users who post popular content can profit from their contribution — but only if they pay a yearly fee.

“There’s this growing backlash that sees corporations making money on the backs of content producers,” said Robert Samuels, general manager of Capazoo, taking a swipe at YouTube and its cohorts that are capitalizing on user-generated media. “People are basically saying: ‘I want to be appreciated, not taken advantage of.’ “

On the surface, little sets Capazoo apart from others. Users create profiles, share pictures, videos and music, and keep personal blogs.

Its grand idea is to foster a micro-economy in which users “tip” each another with a fictional currency called the Zoop. New users are given an allowance of Zoops they can give away at will. They can then buy more Zoops at a penny each.

This, founders claim, will encourage users to post interesting content that others will want to tip. Good content will attract more users. Professionals will want to promote their videos and music there.

That’s the theory.

Capazoo gives users the option to convert their accumulated Zoops into real cash. But to do that, you have to be a paying member, at $25 to $35 a year, depending on the package.

These VIP members receive a debit card carrying their Zoop balance, which they can use at most bank machines.

This melding of virtual and physical worlds will be Capazoo’s greatest test.

If its big bet succeeds, Capazoo will surprise a lot of skeptical observers in the tech world.

“Starting small is definitely the way you start these days, especially if you don’t have an edge in the marketplace,” said Barry Parr, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible to beat these guys [MySpace and Facebook], but there are few historical precedents to show it can be done. Once a leader is established, it’s very hard if not impossible to do it.”

Samuels dismisses the criticism.

“We’re not your average startup,” he said. “Our growth plan is significant, we have to have the infrastructure.”

Capazoo’s spending spree includes $5 million for Web hosting services, an amount deemed absurd by startup standards. “In a few years, someone else will come up behind us, so we have to prepare for that, too,” Samuels explains.

To its critics, Capazoo’s biggest red flag is that it’s funded almost entirely by private individuals. The company’s co-founder and president is Grant Carter, a former defensive end for the Alouettes who married a CBC reporter and moved to a suburb of Atlanta to become a banker.

Major investors include NFL, NHL and NBA personalities.

National Lampoon, the satirical magazine popular among the college set, last week took a minor stake in the firm.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Janice Tibbetts
Sun

There is a war raging behind the scenes at Wikipedia that is threatening the online encyclopedia’s mantra of being a forum “where every human being can freely share the sum of all knowledge.”

A dispute over whether volunteer administrators have become too deletion-obsessed has produced two clashing factions within the ranks of Wikipedians, sparking enthusiastic and sometimes ugly sparring on blogs and discussion groups.

On one side are the come-one-come-all inclusionists, who argue there are no space restrictions, so why not include articles that have limited interest?

, who counter that the hugely popular compendium — which marked its two-millionth English entry this fall — should focus on quality rather than quantity.

Wikipedia administrator Andrew Lih, a former media professor who is writing a book about the six-year-old venture, has accused it of developing a “soup Nazi culture,” referring to the fierce gatekeeper on the TV program Seinfeld who tossed out customers if they didn’t comply with the arbitrary rules at his soup stand.

“One of the things I noticed in the summer of 2007 is that I started to see a sharp, sharp turn in what people considered newsworthy or inclusion-worthy, things that I thought would be pretty obvious a year or two ago,” Lih said.

While Wikipedia invites readers to edit and add to entries, only about 1,000 volunteer administrators — picked from the legions of regular contributors — can delete or resurrect articles.

Thousands of entries are discarded daily, the vast majority because they are ridiculous by anyone’s standard or because they are considered to be inaccurate vandalism.

Some entries meet the rules for “speedy deletion” and can be eliminated on the spot. Others are shipped to an articles-for-deletion page for a debate on whether they meet inclusion criteria.

“Wikipedia now is more about being cautious, erring on the side or removing stuff rather than keeping stuff, and that’s a huge cultural shift from the beginning days, when it was ‘let’s keep adding stuff,'” said Lih, noting that new entries have dropped dramatically.

“The preference now is for excising, deleting, restricting, information rather than letting it sit there and grow.”

Lih, a deletionist-turned-inclusionist, confesses that he switched sides after one of his articles about a new social networking site, called Pownce, was wiped off Wikipedia by an administrator who dismissed it as free advertising. Lih hastily resurrected it.

Simon Pulsifer, one the world’s most prolific Wikipedians, said he has noticed lately that some of his earliest articles have vanished, including one on Ottawa‘s second-tallest building, Minto Metropole.

He said he waited a few days and then quietly restored the entry, hoping nobody would notice.

“I always get annoyed when something I’ve written has been deleted,” said Pulsifer, who parks himself in the inclusionist camp.

“What makes Wikipedia strong is having wide coverage,” said Pulsifer, who has written about 3,000 articles and contributed to about 90,000 more.

“More articles attract more users and it doesn’t really matter how large [an article] is, as long as all the information can be easily verified and accurate and ensured to be neutral.”

A Wikipedia entry on Pulsifer, who gained fame for being the biggest contributor to the online encyclopedia, was on the chopping block last year but it survived after contentious debate.

Three months ago, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales found himself at the centre of a week-long deletion furore after he posted a single-sentence entry on Mzoli’s Meats, a butcher shop and restaurant in Guguleto township near Cape Town, South Africa.

appeared, it was deleted by a young administrator who declared that it met the criteria for speedy deletion because the restaurant was too obscure to be noteworthy.

After much debate, which included accusations that Wales was getting preferential treatment, the article survived.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Marc Saltzman
USA Today

So you finally bought the big-screen TV you’ve been dreaming about — or perhaps Santa was exceptionally generous this year. You excitedly open the box and plug the new set into the wall.

But for some reason, the picture doesn’t look as sharp as it did at the store, or as clear as your neighbor’s high-definition television.

Don’t worry. Chances are there’s nothing wrong with your new HDTV. You just need a little help setting it up for optimum performance. Here are a few pointers:

• High-definition programming. You might be able to receive some free high-definition broadcasts if your television has a built-in ATSC tuner (for over-the-air broadcasts), or QAM tuner (a way to get HD channels over basic cable). Still, chances are you’ll be subscribing to high-definition programming through your cable or satellite provider. This involves upgrading your receiver box and paying a few extra dollars per month for access to the HD channels. (Don’t worry; it’s well worth it.)

If a channel is available in “widescreen” (16:9 aspect ratio), the television will automatically display it in this presentation. But if it’s a standard definition (4:3 aspect ratio) channel, your TV will either show vertical black bars on each side of the picture, or stretch it (you can choose). The onscreen TV guide through your television provider will usually write “HD” before or after the name of the show or network name. Example: “HD —Lost” or “NBC HD.”

•Use the right cables. That’s so you can connect your high-definition components to your television. High-definition programming requires either component cables (red, blue and green), a digital visual interface (DVI) cable, or a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable. This is in contrast with the red, yellow and white composite (“RCA”) cords, or the round-ended S-Video cable.

An HDMI is the preferred pick for the ultimate in uncompressed digital audio and video quality. Look at the back of your TV and you’ll see a few options; you might have to buy these cables separately.

• Want a quick, easy way to improve color? Turn up the contrast on your TV almost to full, and reduce the brightness down to below half. This little-known trick makes blacks blacker, colors richer and gets rid of the washed-out look some HDTVs have. Alternatively, find a THX-enhanced DVD, such as one of the Star Wars films or Finding Nemo, and use the disc’s built-in video test, which walks you through setting up contrast, brightness, color and sharpness.

You can always have the home theater professionally installed and calibrated.

• Get a sharper picture. Leave the television’s video setting on full-screen, but change your cable or satellite receiver box’s video output setting to 720p or 1080i. Many TV viewers will instead use the TV remote to “zoom in” to see the picture with no vertical bars. But this will likely result in a blurry or pixilated image — or might cut off some of the picture.

• Listen up. George Lucas once said audio is half the movie-viewing experience. If you’ve sat in the middle of a good surround-sound system, you’d be inclined to agree. Rather than settling for your television’s two-channel (stereo) audio, invest in an audio/video receiver that amplifies the sound to fill the room, and splits the audio into six or more speakers.

Those speakers would include two front speakers (usually placed on the left and right of the television); two rear speakers for the back of the room, at ear level; a center channel, which sits just below or above the television and delivers an estimated 80% of a movie’s dialogue; and the multidirectional subwoofer that sits on the floor, emitting the low-frequency bass. This setup is usually referred to “5.1 surround sound,” for the five speakers and “.1” for the subwoofer.

Subwoofers are multidirectional, so you can put them anywhere in the room. But many audiophiles say to place them in a corner to maximize the subwoofer’s output.

Wendy Koch
USA Today

Traditional greeting cards are still the preferred way to send holiday cheer, but electronic cards are gaining this year. Although the Greeting Card Association says 20 paper cards are sent for every e-card, online card volume is soaring.

One reason: Just hours before Christmas, you still have time to send e-cards.

Another: Most are free. And many are funny and interactive. Their subjects include elf tossing (www.americangreetings.com), reindeer arm wrestling (www.reindeerarmwrestling.com) and “elfamorphosis” — a photograph of a friend’s face goes onto a dancing elf (www.elfyourself.com).

“Our e-card section is very popular, because people are looking for quality cards that are free,” says Allegra Burnette of the Museum of Modern Art (www.moma.org/ecards). She says volume is up 10% so far this month compared with the same period last year.

American Greetings has seen its e-card volume rise 9% to 41 million so far this holiday season, says spokeswoman Megan Ferington.

“People are looking for an option that uses no paper and is instant,” says Ilan Shamir of Your True Nature (www.treegreetings.com). Recipients of his e-cards, which cost $9 to $10, get a tree planted in their honor. “We’ve planted over 10,000 trees,” he says.

E-cards are popular with young people, says Patrick Holland of IAC’s My Fun Cards (www.christmas-funcards.com). He says 61% more of his e-cards have been sent so far this month compared with last year. He says they aren’t replacing paper cards but are sent as an additional hello or to a different set of friends.

Paper sales have held steady for the past five years, says Barbara Miller, spokeswoman for the Greeting Card Association.

“They’re very different animals,” Miller says. She calls e-cards casual, fun and spontaneous and says paper ones are more personal and sentimental.

“When it matters, it’s mailed. You don’t put an e-mail on your refrigerator,” says Joanne Veto of the U.S. Postal Service. She says the average American household mailed 26 holiday cards in 2006, up from 21 in 2004 and 18 in 2002. “People are holding onto tradition.”

People need to be careful, says Nick Newman, computer crimes specialist for the National White Collar Crime Center in Richmond, Va. He says spammers send e-cards to invade computers, spread viruses and obtain personal information. He urges recipients not to open cards that are generic or contain misspellings. He says scams spike around the holidays.

Sun

Olympus FE-210, $130 expected street price

If you plan to be one of the buyers of the 3.5-million-plus digital cameras expected to be sold in Canada this year, note that several manufacturers are recognizing the relative strength of the Canadian dollar by dropping prices here significantly. Now if only the magazine folks and other sellers who are gouging Canadians by making them pay a steep premium over their U.S. neighbours would follow suit. Since the holiday season is a hot one for camera sales, today we’re bringing you a few examples of the newly lowered prices like the Olympus line, which starts with the point and shoot FE-210. For the more sophisticated, the company’s E-410 digital SLR with Zuiko ED 14-42mm lens now has an estimated street price of $580. And the E-510 digital SLR with Zuiko ED 14-42mm lens is now $680, with both those cameras coming with free extended warranties that are valued at $100. Don’t assume retailers are passing on the price reductions though. We found the FE-210 retailing anywhere from $120 to close to $180.

– – –

Nikon COOLPIX P5100, $400 suggested retail price

Now we have you in the camera aisle, a nod to Nikon as another manufacturer that has lowered Canadian prices to meet the currency change. The COOLPIX 5100 is billed as the flagship model of the COOLPIX lineup and it boasts 12.1 megapixel resolution and a 3.5 times zoom-Nikkor lens with compatibility with converter lens options to extend the wide-angled and telephoto reach. The flash range can also stretch with the optional i-TTL external flash unit and unsteady shooting is counteracted by the camera’s image stabilization technology. Nikon’s new list price is $400, down from $430 but street prices can be lower; as low as $360. Be ready to shop around.

– – –

Belkin Bluetooth USB Adapter with Kodak Picture Upload Technology Software, $50

For the photos that are stuck in your camera phone — and there are a growing number of those phones with Forrester Research estimating 93 million will be sold by 2011 — Belkin and Eastman Kodak have come up with a Bluetooth gadget/software solution to upload photos from your phone. It lets you instantly put photos onto your social networking site at Facebook or others and it works with other devices that are Bluetooth enabled such as personal digital assistants and printers. It’s compatible though only with Windows XP and Vista operating systems.

– – –

CoolIT USB beverage cooler, $25

Here’s the answer to keeping your Christmas cheer cool — it plugs into your USB outlet and keeps the beverage of your choice cold while you’re, ahem, working. Or working up a sweat gaming. Check www.coolitsystems.com for where to buy.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Jefferson Graham
USA Today

Videos on YouTube, the world’s No. 1 video-sharing site, often are fuzzy. The same goes for other popular sites, including Yahoo Video, AOL Video or MySpaceTV.

The culprit is a kind of Catch-22 for online video: To make sure the videos start playing immediately, image resolution is greatly lowered — which results in poor quality.

However, a number of video sites now offer higher-resolution video sharing with slightly longer load times. The difference, while not striking, is certainly better and worth checking out. I tested videos on image-sharing services Veoh, Blip.TV, Vimeo and SmugMug, where the videos all look brighter and clearer than on YouTube. How they stack up:

Veoh: Looks great, but lots of ads With investors including Time Warner, former Disney chief Michael Eisner and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston, Veoh positions itself as a next-generation TV alternative. It offers independent video productions, user-generated content and complete shows from such providers as CBS.

While the content is impressive, the quality of Veoh\’s display and its rules for video sharing are what caught my eye. Unlike YouTube, Yahoo, AOL and others, there are no time or file-size restrictions on your videos.

On Veoh, I uploaded a monster-size 1 gigabyte, six-minute video with ease. More important, it showed off the clip with more clarity, color and sharpness than Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.TV or SmugMug.

And that was before I found out about Veoh Pro, an added feature for Veoh members. The service, available free, will transcode the video in a newer version of Adobe’s Flash software, which is the dominant vehicle for presenting video on the Web.

That’s the good news. The bad: Your video masterpiece is displayed on a Web page littered with ads. To avoid the ads, use the service\’s downloadable VeohTV application. It lets you watch videos in full screen, with no ads. If your original is a large, higher-resolution file, it should look terrific on Veoh TV.

Bottom line: Veoh offers great online quality, liberal upload rules, but noisy display.

SmugMug: Terrific for high-def
SmugMug is best known as a premium photo-sharing service, with annual fees from $59.95 to $149.95. Its pitch is that friends can see your photos on a Web page without advertising. It also provides unlimited photo backup.

Video sharing is part of the mix. But rules are tight. Your video can’t be bigger than 500 megabytes or longer than 2.5 minutes at the $59.95 level, or five minutes for the $149.95 membership.

Imagine the frustration of trying to upload your finished six-minute video only to find out it’s too long. You have to go back to the editing room and chop off a minute.

The good news is that your videos will look terrific on SmugMug.

Instead of showing them in Flash, SmugMug transcodes them to a different file format, H.264, which is what Apple uses to show videos on the iPod and iPhone.

SmugMug is at its best with high-definition video clips. It\’s one of the few sites I know of that shows high-definition videos that look absolutely stunning in their wide-screen glory.

Bottom line: SmugMug is terrific looking, but expensive. Five-minute clip limit is too stringent.

Blip.TV: Download to your desktop
Blip, like Veoh, fashions itself as a TV alternative, with channels devoted to independent video productions you’ve probably never heard of, such as Bikini News and Political Lunch.

And as with Veoh, there are no restrictions on file sizes: I uploaded a 1-GB file. In terms of image quality, however, while it looked better than YouTube, it wasn’t as rich as on Veoh or SmugMug.

I liked the Blip.TV display, which was an uncluttered environment, without tons of ads.

And here’s something you won’t find on YouTube: Blip.TV will let you download the video directly from the site, so you can watch it on your computer at top resolution, the way the videomaker intended it to be seen. (Most sites only stream videos.)

Bottom line: Videos show nicely, and are easy to share across the Web on blogs, websites and places such as Facebook and MySpace. They look better than on YouTube, but not as good as Veoh or SmugMug.

Vimeo: Strict usage rules
This video site has tougher restrictions than the others. You can only upload 500 MB per week — but there’s no time limit on the videos.

That said, the site is bright and cheery, and not cluttered with ads.

Vimeo offers fun tools to show your videos on websites and blogs and Google’s iGoogle personalized home page.

While the site looks cool, the videos are presented in Flash, as on YouTube, and look just a hair better to my eye.

That said, as with SmugMug, Vimeo has a high-definition channel (it’s free), and clips look wonderful. But they’re presented on a busier page, with ads. Be prepared to do a lot of tweaking in your video-editing software to get the HD clips into the proper settings so they can look good online.

Bottom line: Cool, next-generation video-sharing site, with fantastic looking HD clips. Standard-definition video quality is fair, and usage rules are strict.