The founders of web telephony firm Skype are trialling a global broadband TV service, according to the FT. The aim is to capitalise on the huge growth of online video, particularly in the niche interest areas that the internet enables.
Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have code-named their plans "the Venice Project" and are working from four offices, including one in the UK. That would put the project in competition with both the BBC and ITV's imminent catch-up TV services and the recently launched service from Channel 4.
Zennstrom and Friis said the aim of the project is "to fix TV, removing artificial limits such as the number of channels that your cable or the airwaves can carry and then bringing it into the internet age". They also want the service to be used in a more social way, combining communication and recommendation tools like a social networking site.
Six thousand people started trialling the service on 12 December. Users download a piece of software to their PC and browse a channel menu on the side of the screen, and there are the usual pause, rewind and fast forward functions.
The picture is high-quality, full-screen, according to the FT, and the service can also be transmitted to a conventional TV. And as for the actual content, this will all be professional content that will be encrypted. Friis said he is confident of getting several large content groups involved in the project, but admitted some of those had security concerns.
It won't have gone unnoticed with those "major content firms that" Friis and Zennstrom were also responsible for setting up the file sharing service Kazaa. Kazaa was one of the most high profile P2P sites that became a hotbed for distributing illegally copied music, TV and film content; both men settled a copyright infringement suit with the music and film industries for more than $100m.
• eBay pulls back from China
The giant auction site has withdrawn its Chinese-language site and replaced it with a more localised service, reports the Wall Street Journal. China is the world's second biggest internet market after the US and tech firms have falling over themselves to build their presence in the people's republic.
But eBay has struggled with Asian expansion and already had to withdraw its Japanese service. Tech firms have faced stiff competition from more localised services, so eBay's is reported to have a 49% stake in a new Chinese venture into which it will invest $40m. Chinese wireless operator Tom Online will invest $20m and have a 51% stake.
• Microsoft allies with Chinese search giant Baidu
Chinese MSN and Windows Live services have formed a "strategic alliance" with Chinese search company Baidu, which will provide paid search advertising for the Microsoft sites.
The FT explains that Microsoft launched its own "AdCenter" advertising system last year, so the deal appears to be a way of dealing with the competition by getting Baidu and positioning itself better against Google and Yahoo.
• Google works with NASA on virtual space travel
Reuters reports that Google and NASA have announced a collaboration which will offer high-resolution maps of the moon and Mars, and weather forecasts and real-time monitoring online. Users will also be able to track the space station and space shuttle in real time. This is basically Google Earth, but for the moon and Mars.
NASA wants its space exploration work to be more accessible, rather than scattered across different websites. Google presumably, isn't happy with world domination and wants to start on the universe.
• MySpace removes suspect's profile
The man who was arrested yesterday morning in connection with the Suffolk murders had a MySpace page that was tracked down by The Sun. That became the basis for a large chunk of its newspaper coverage yesterday, though the ethics of adding to speculation by linking to a man who had to been charged with anything were more than questionable. Whatever, MySpace had taken the profile down by last night.
• Any spare Guardian wallcharts?
I had enough to wrap all my Christmas presents, and still kept clouds and the night sky.
