The improvements have been outlined on the Hulu Blog, although you are likely to notice them when you watch a video. For example, I noticed the changes immediately and headed over to the blog to check out what has been included.

Changes revolve around the convergence of new technology now available, “lingering ideas form the product team, and user feedback.” These changes are expected to make the joys of watching television programming online easier, and these changes should be improved on further in the future.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

Using ActionScript 3 and other technologies, Hulu is now bale to shift video bitrates and resolutions up and down continually to match the user’s bandwidth. We all know that bandwidth can increase and decrease every thirty seconds, so this helps if you want to maintain a stream, but take a small hit in quality. For example, the site will drop the quality from 480p to 360p without any major stuttering.

A number of settings are available to help you use this feature – you can choose to have Hulu to automatically select the best quality, or choose from three other qualities.

Ad Volume Normalization

We all hate the ads that appear to be three times as loud as the program the ad is following, and this is also prevalent on the Internet through streaming video. Hulu has improved the ad volume through normalizations, making adjustments on the fly. The player compares the content’s most recent audio levels with a “precomputed audio value for the ad and brings them into line dynamically.”

Improved Closed Captioning

Two new display options have been included for viewers who either want to read the text or who are hard of hearing. These features include a new yellow text feature as well as a text on solid black background.

Sneak Preview

Previously, you would have had to watch an ad to see advanced previews of the video. This new feature lets you see images of upcoming scenes and what to expect through a small preview. It’s likely that they’ll improve this in the future and offer small video previews (say 10-30 seconds) if the programming allows it.

Heat Maps

The Captions tab currently displays a heat map of the video based on what was spoken during the video, while the new heat map is based on video that may not include spoken text, instead based on what areas of the videos users have enjoyed the most.

Larger Player

Among the other changes to the player, Hulu has also increased the size of the video by 25%, to 720×404 pixels, meaning the video is no longer scaled when displayed in the highest resolution. The player defaults to chromeless, with no controls, giving the player a cleaner, more refined look. A number of the controls are viewable when you hover over the player, like the fullscreen, pop-out, and embed links, either to the side or below the video.

The “continuous play” feature has been renamed “autoplay,” making it more convenient to go to the next video in your queue.

Ad Tailor

TV advertisements are generally not that relevant to the watchers. Typically, the advertisers only have generalized data, such as demographics – the average age of viewers, location, and habits, but the new Ad Tailor found on Hulu lets you give more information to advertisers. A new “is this ad relevant to you?” button is displayed at the top of the ad, which helps improve the relevancy of advertisements served. All responses will remain confidential.

HTML5 – Where Does it Fit Hulu’s Model?

Much of the content on Hulu is served by the “traditional” TV networks, but some of the profits go to funding the Hulu site through a profit split. The site sells advertisements to be included within the programming – anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more for each ad. In addition, the content needs to be protected using DRM so users cannot download the content and advertisers can still be served useful stats.

The war between HTML5 and Flash is continuing to rage on, and Hulu has stated that, at the moment, the technology isn’t there for serving video, although they have stated that HTML5 would be implemented in the future, should the DRM and other technologies be implemented.

Problems Reported by Users

A number of complaints have come with the changes, ranging from shortcuts being removed to bugs to some general annoyances. There is no way to go back to the old player, although Hulu will likely solve some of these problems as they are reported. After all, their blog post announcing these features was titled, “Pardon Our Dust.”

Several analysts, including Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, are now estimating that Apple has sold more than a million iPads (most of them being shipped or sold to U.S. residents). Over the weekend, 49 of 50 stores surveyed were completely sold out of the iPad 3G. If his previous estimate stands, he will be extremely conservative for the June quarter, at just 1.3 million sales.

The pace of orders will surely increase as the Wi-Fi and iPad 3G versions become available in international locations in the May/June time frame.

Update: The announcement was made earlier today by Apple. They have already sold more than one million iPads in less than a month since launch. 12 million apps and 1.5 million eBooks have been downloaded since that date. The full PR report has been added below.

CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. 

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. 

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[via AppleInsider]

Before this purchase, the company was regularly releasing updates for both its free and pro versions, which were available for both Mac and Windows computers. If you want to take advantage of the software, you will need to download it here, as nearly everything on the site (including these downloads) will be taken down within the week.

A Web-Based Operating System

Google will either incorporate the desktop environment into Android for mobile devices and tablet PCs or introduce it in a more stripped-down version of their Chromium/web-based operating system. It is likely that a lot of changes will be made before it is converted to either of these systems, but there is certainly the potential that it will be included in some form.

For the mobile devices, it would likely make it easier to arrange and display applications as well as status messages from social networking sites. The interface wold certainly allow a user to interact with the display using fingers for control.

Competition Against Apple

Again, this purchase may also have something to do with Google’s fight against Apple. Google may have figured that Apple was going to purchase the company and stepped in to do so before the Cupertino-based company could. At this point, the purchase’s outcome is as clear as what Apple is going to use Lala’s purchase to do: integrate it into iTunes or offer another cloud-based solution.

In the war of two of the biggest technology companies, one company will stand out from the rest, and that is the company that is able to out-innovate the other, while still being able to maintain the high consumer satisfaction.

1. MediaFire

MediaFire lets you upload files with (or without) an account. You’ll be able to upload an unlimited number of files, up to 200MB in size. You have no upload limits, either. A number of Pro accounts are available, ideal for users who want to share even more large (up to 2GB) files.

2. DropBox

Dropbox is an extremely flexible (and simple) file sharing and syncing service designed to work across all operating systems and platforms. The online backup offers automatic backup of your ifles, the ability to undelete files and folders, and thirty days of undo history. Features don’t stop there though, so check out the site.

3. FileDropper

FileDropper may not exactly be free, but it has one of the largest file size limits out of any service – 5GB. A free seven-day trial is available, while plans start at $0.99 per month. A Gold Plan is available for just $10, which gives you 250GB of space.

4. drop.io

Drop.io makes a great solution for people who want to share files with others in a simple manner. An API is also available to take advantage of the service. You may upload up to 100MB per “drop.”

5. Google Docs

While Google Docs may not be the best solution for files (it’s better for documents, as the name states), it offers the ability to quickly upload and store files up to 1GB in size (and you can increase the storage to 16TB. Cost of the storage is still quite high, especially if you are only upload your family movies.

Conclusion

While I am sure that you’ve heard of at least one of the services above, there may be some that you haven’t yet tried out. What file hosting site do you prefer to use to host and share your files?

[image credit: stock.xchng]

I experimented with some of the scripts, but didn’t have any luck getting them to work. Many of these can be quickly written, and using a beta product doesn’t help. Aaron Boodman, who wrote the post explaining how these scripts work, states that between 15-25% of the scripts will not work in Google Chrome, and that you should consider letting the author know.

Even if you have never used an extension before you might want to consider checking out Userscripts.org, which is the repository for all the Greasemonkey scripts. Simply click the install button, and you’ll be on your way to installing and using the simple productivity solutions.

What I still need in Chrome before I begin to use it more of the time include the following:

• A better experience. Currently, it is (like Firefox) a pain to use, compared to Safari.
• A faster experience. I figure users with slower connections like the speed of Chrome compared to Internet Explorer, but between Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, Chrome is remarkably slow.
• Options. Sure, there are options included like within Firefox, but many are unusable at this point or appear to be hastily integrated into the browser.

Google’s latest project, which the company is putting a lot of emphasis on, is the Chromium OS, which is an open source project. The primary focus is on netbooks, but it may eventually scale to other devices, including tablets. A mockup and UI concepts have emerged on this page, which indicate the direction Google may be taking when it begins producing a device for market.

The main UI and features included will be as follows:

• Keyboard interaction with the screen will be anchored, split, attached to focus.
• Access to websites will be provided using touch or search.
• Contextual actions triggered through speech or touch input.
• Zooming UI for multiple tabs.
• Tabs presented along the side of the screen.
• Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher.

If Google goes after the tablet market like they have been going after the phone market, it is likely that multiple manufacturers will be sporting devices powered by the Chromium OS, although Google may have the last say as to what can be customized and what can’t be.

The main problem with how Google is trying to corner these markets is the same reason Microsoft ultimately failed at launching products like the Zune and their Windows Mobile phone platforms (which are both dramatically losing sales). While many respect Google for their search business, which is shown with their share of the search market, those who aren’t familiar with their motivation behind releasing these products will fall in the trap. With the Nexus One and any devices Google releases under their branding, they have full access to everything on your phone, which is said to “improve Google’s search results.”

Apple is in the market of providing evolutionary devices. We’ve seen plenty of tablets in the past, but Apple’s approach on how the tablet should be used is completely different. Never before has a company launched a device with an extremely successful application store. There are less apps available for the iPhone OS than the Windows platform, but they are generally regarded (as a whole) to be better and easier to use.

Many of Apple’s products have had nearly two decades of research behind them. The MessagePad, the first device made available under the Newton platform, was released in 1993. Some of the overall technology and ideas behind the device made it into the iPhone and later, the iPad. Google wasn’t even a company at this time. Those who purchase Apple’s products are accustomed to an experience regarded to as higher than the competition.

The Nexus One, Motorola Droid, and Palm Pre are all in the smart phone market, yet none have really been able to steal significant sales from the iPhone. Perhaps they are slowing the growth of the iPhone in the near-term (next several months), but this may simply be due to the fact that Apple hasn’t updated their iPhone since last summer. Flooding the market with devices won’t help Google: support has reportedly been horrible for their Nexus One launch.

Upfront costs for these devices are all quite similar, between $179 and $199 for contract-base devices and in the $529 to $599 range for devices without a contract. Two-year plans are also quite consistent across the board, only changing when data plans must be included or the carrier is different.

Google’s marketplace for their tablet computer will be much like the experience of Google Chrome. While they promote a clean, fast experience, as soon as you begin using the software, it becomes evident that the speed and interface haven’t been polished. Apple’s iPhone has been polished (as well as many of the included apps).

When someone spends $2,500 to $3,000 on a device over the lifespan of a contract, will they choose a device that works as intended or a device that looks like it should work as intended, that has all the specs. to go with the look?

Ultimately, the tablet market will boil down to some of the same principles as the latest saga of the smart phone market.

For now, we have user-created mockups and a video showing how the Chromium OS will look on a tablet device. Remember, the device is still in “mockup” stage, and there have been no prototypes displayed yet. Apple’s device will hit the market in about two months’ time.

Concepts and UIs

Video Showing Tablet UI

As a precautionary method for preventing further problems, Apple is halting production of the 27-inch models for some time, to ensure the fix works. The main problem was that the displays would intermittently flicker, which can be a real problem when you are trying to get work done.

On the Apple forums, more than 4,000 replies were made, which makes the issue appear larger than it actually was. The issue didn’t affect all the 27-inch models, and there were plenty of working displays, but those who did experience the issue voiced their opinion.

While Apple doesn’t claim to have a flawless track record in their products, in many cases, fixes are issued or replacements are given should the problem continue to exist. The ability for them to solve the problem is what continues to garner Apple high marks in customer satisfaction.

Deep discounts were given, although quarterly revenue is still much lower than in the 2007-08 time frame. Sales at electronics retailers like Best Buy benefitted from the surge in new customers with the arrival of Microsoft’s latest operating system, but largely, shipments vs. revenue has not been great for the PC manufacturers.

Apple, on the other hand, posted record earnings last quarter, and research firm NPD now says that, of computers priced at more than $1,000, 90% of all sales were directed towards the Cupertino-based company. This is an indication that not only are people continuing to buy Apple products (which are perceived to be much more expensive than the Windows counterparts), but they are stealing some of the profits from the PC manufacturers like HP and Dell.

However, while Apple is seen to have benefitted from the recession as more people turn to quality over affordability, the average selling price did slip from $1,499 to $1,361, but this could also have been due to price cuts on the high end of their product lines.

It would be interesting to see how Apple’s mobile phone and multimedia player line (including the iPad) are further able to shape the pricing of the competitors’ products.

At any rate, other PC manufacturers only wish they had the market that Apple is in. My guess is that their lineup of premium products aren’t selling too well—3.36 million Macs were sold in Q1 2010, indicating that PC manufacturers only sold about 10% of those.

They are constructed of polished white ABS plastic with a matte black steel grille. Each speaker is 4″x6″x2″, so they are quite small, but can still produce a good sound.

The speakers come from designers Mihoko Ouchi and Sherwood Forlee, who have also designed Anti-Theft Lunch Bags, a “New” Lamp, and Stacked Cups.

Availability is by early summer for $120, although there will only be a thousand sets produced.

Images of The Speaker have been included below.

[via Unplggd]

Advanced options are available, but they are only ideal for those who have a specific function in mind, like adding footers, changing the page height, or adding a table of contents. You can also drag the bookmarklet to your browser bookmarks bar, and you’ll have instant access to the tool, giving you the ability to create a PDF for any webpage.

The service appears to have launched recently, as their Twitter account has only been active for about three weeks. Nonetheless, the service makes PDFs that are compatible and usable (images and links are clickable), ideal for anyone who needs to send or share web pages.

[via Lifehacker]