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Sneak peak at Mogulus: new live blogging platform

I got to take a sneak peak at a new video broadcasting service that opened its doors to a select few this morning. Mogulus is a live video broadcasting service the likes of uStream.tv, but with a twist: Multiple people can work on live video feeds at the same time. Each user can create their own branded channel, and fill it up with video content either from their hard drives or pulled in from YouTube. Each contributor can also command the broadcast using their Web cam, complete with customizable over-the-shoulder graphic overlays and a scrolling CNN-style news ticker. The result is a live blogging experience that's visually stimulating to the viewer, and completely customizable for the amateur content producer.

Mogulus is giving its producers two ways to share content--either embedding the live feed, or linking to their own custom URL. All public channels go into a listing for live feeds a la Kyte.tv, so casual users looking to tune into things that are live or interesting will be able to browse through and find something they like.

Managing broadcasts in Mogulus is handled completely inside of a Flash-based application. Content is clumped together in small management units called "storyboards," which can be inserted into any broadcast almost like video playlists. Producers queue up content, mix and match the order of video clips, and can break in at any time to broadcast live from their Web cam. Power users have a lot to play with, as it actually feels like a professional video-editing app with a ton of options for tweaking and fine-tuning.

Mogulus plans to roll out its service with two models, one free and one paid. The free version requires inserting a short advertisement for every 10 minutes of broadcasting, while the pro version lets producers go ad-free in exchange for paying a fee for every gigabyte of bandwidth transferred. My hunch is that many casual users will be OK with the advertisement model, with what Mogulus is tentatively planning to keep at around 10 seconds per ad.

More on Mogulus as it leaves private beta. Until then you can sign up and check out an explanatory video here. More screenshots of the interface after the jump.

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Bambi Francisco, Vator complete funding round

Bambi Francisco, the former columnist for financial news site MarketWatch who resigned last month after ethical questions were raised about her relationship with Vator.tv, has announced that the startup has completed a round of fundraising.

Among her investors are Peter Thiel, the PayPal cofounder, and Richard Rosenblatt, the former CEO of MySpace's former parent company, Intermix. In an interview earlier this month with Beet.TV, Rosenblatt announced that he had joined the round.

Vator invites entrepreneurs to videotape their "elevator pitches," or a request for funding, and post them to the site. This way an entrepreneur … Read more

When TV should be heard as well as seen

The good news is that there are lots of alternatives to the remote TV speaker that we found a bit baffling the other day. The bad news is that more of us from the Boomer generation will be needing such amplification gadgets as our hearing begins to go the way of receding hairlines.

Case in point: the "Clarity Professional C120 Wireless TV Amplifier," another device designed to help you hear the TV without creating domestic turmoil. (And here we thought the C120 was a cargo plane.)

This headset supposedly increases sound by as much as 50 decibels (ouch) … Read more

Video boombox for the iPod

We knew that one of these had to be out there. About a week ago we found a video boombox that seemed to have everything except an iPod dock--which, to many people, made it virtually useless. But Boston Innovative Products has come to the rescue with one that provides just that.

Its "iMep" line of iPod boomboxes are also equipped for DVDs, CDs, TV and radio, according to iLounge. They're a bit of a stretch for the manufacturer, which is better known for making air purifiers and other household appliances. But hey, Samsung and LG are making … Read more

'TV Timer' makes kids go cold turkey

There's no substitute for direct parental involvement, as we've said many times, but this gadget is worth noting for those moms and dads who simply can't control their kids' TV-viewing habits.

Plug the telly directly into the "TV Timer," and this digital disciplinarian will turn off the tube unwaveringly at the appointed hour. It cannot be bribed and won't succumb to tears or tantrums.

Going where the "Weemote" left off, the timer allows parents to program three viewing slots each day. But be forewarned: It will work just as effectively on spouses.… Read more

Three music video search tools

With this morning's news of Last.fm launching a video service, we thought it would be worth mentioning a few resources that are out there for finding free music videos.

MusicTonic is a very slick search tool that mashes up various pieces of artist information like photos, album art, news stories, and a video playlist. It ties into a few online services like Flickr, YouTube, Last.fm, and MyStrands, among others. It's a lot like Foxytunes Planet, which we looked at in January, although there's no integration with any jukebox players.

Middio is a simplified music-video search … Read more

The latest convergence trend: fridge TVs

As we steam ahead toward the era of the fully digitized home, we didn't think that the term "convergence appliance" would mean a combo TV-fridge. In fact, we almost overlooked this latest example from LG, thinking that it was the Samsung model that appeared on Crave a few months ago. Little did we know that TV refrigerators were becoming a trend.

Cooling performance aside, the LG model boasts a 15-inch LCD vs. Samsung's 10.4-inch display, and it's even an HDTV. But we think it could have a fatal design flaw: Unlike Samsung's version, … Read more

CNET Live: Kyte CEO Daniel Graf [VIDEO UPDATE]

Daniel Graf, the CEO of Kyte ( review) gave the best pitch at last week's New Tech Meetup in San Francisco. And he came in to CNET's studio to tell us more. Tune in to his live appearance on CNET TV's new weekly online broadcast, today at 1:00 PM Pacific / 4:00 PM Eastern.

Update: In case you missed last week's show we've got the video embedded below. To skip straight to the Kyte segment, drag the player progress arrow to 23:15. For more on Kyte, check out our hands-on.

Space Bubble: Robots and beat 'em-ups

Greetings and felicitations, Bubblenauts! This is Episode 3 of our new gadget show, set aboard a tiny bubbleship floating in geostationary orbit far above the planet. This week you can feast your tentacles on an exploration of whether robots deserve human rights, and witness everything there is to know about the socio-cultural evolution of the beat 'em-up videogame.

We'll also give you a bunch of good reasons to hate the Motorola Motofone F3--a mobile for the third world that's distinctly third-rate. Thrill as we blast it into a gabillion plastic shards. Subscibe to the podcast through iTunes, … Read more

Photos: LG rules the roost for V Cast Mobile TV

Crave got up close and personal with Verizon's latest cell phone for its new V Cast Mobile TV service. The LG VX9400 sports a unique form factor with a brilliant display that swivels up for comfortable viewing. Inside you'll find a host of features that are backed up by decent performance. Video sound quality could be a bit iffy at times, and the rotating display isn't conducive for making calls, but we like it better than the previous Samsung SCH-U620. For more, check out our VX9400 review and our slide show.