Amidst all the CES shenanigans, the WSJ posted a piece about apps and TV, and whether consumers really want apps on their televisions. For me, the piece was thought provoking, specifically I’ve never realized how the compartmentalization of content could run counter to typical user behavior. That being said, TV apps are obviously here to stay, for the immediate future anyway, and I think that’s a good thing. Whether they’re a hit or a miss is yet to be seen, but we tend to think adding content to the tube is a good thing, even if the first draft isn’t completely what people want.

We’d love to hear comments on this idea, sound off below.

CES is one of our favorite times of year. The seemingly endless rush of gadgetry during the first week of January has become an annual ritual for the geek faithful, and the goto source for CES coverage is Engadget. Now, Castfire is playing a small part in Engadget’s CES coverage by powering the underlying workflow for the team on the ground.

What are we talking about specifically? Rather than worry about adding branding to videos, instead the team can focus on getting the content and getting it out quickly. AOL built a tool (in less than a day) to upload videos to Castfire. Once the videos are sent to Castfire, our technology automatically adds bumpers to their content, and sends the final result on its merry way to Viddler, where readers catch the embedded video on Engadget’s site.

This quick workflow solution means the Engadget team doesn’t have to have copies of the graphical bumper on any of their machines, nor do they need to know which specific formats need to be delivered to Viddler. And, on top of that, it means Engadget will have access to this content in the future, and will be able to deliver it to any platform, including mobile apps and the like.

It’s another instance where Castfire can power a solution which fits into the content producer’s workflow, rather than the other way around. Happy gadget finding guys!

Cable subscribers jumped ship to the tune of 500,000+ last quarter, according to GigaOm, and for the first time in a while, GigaOm says other subscription “cable-like” services, such as satellite or IPTV services, didn’t make up the gap. That means a real percentage of Americans were cutting the cord, permanently.

Of course, given that we’re a video platform which supports delivering to a variety of devices, none of which are cable TV endpoints, the news strikes us exciting. It’s great for us as TV continues to diversify and evolve toward its eventual endpoint with the internet, but we’re not taking a victory lap just yet.

To be sure, we’re going through a pretty tragic time for many— 9.6% unemployment in October, with new statistics scheduled to hit tomorrow. We’re going to say that the 500k people cutting the cord aren’t all doing so because they’ve fallen in love with the Roku yet, but instead they’re looking to skimp on non-essential lifestyle expenditures where possible.

Despite the rough economic outlook, we think some people are getting more accustomed to the idea of constantly available entertainment, not dictated by outdated schedules nor other archaic paradigms. And, luckily for the TV industry, the economic model isn’t completely disintegrating as it did for the record industry thanks to Napster. No, almost quite the contrary. With ventures like ESPN3, TV Everywhere and of course, our clients, traditional radio and TV stations haven’t hid their heads in the sand, but instead have seemingly embraced technology.

That doesn’t mean there still won’t be dramatic shifts, but the shifts are likely to be styled differently. For instance, rather than the distribution mechanic drastically altering the consumption of the medium (Napster), I’m expecting broadcast media to be drastically altered due to the decrease in the cost of content production. A quick look around Vimeo shows that amateur cinematographers could credit card their way into professional-grade DSLR cinematography. In the future, live video production, such as we’re used to with news and sports programming, is not going to be exempt from similar market forces. We could see a massively level playing field where anyone with the right ideas, and the right amount of people, could put on a production that’s as good as anything else we’re seeing on cable.

By then, with more people wanting to distribute more content broadly, folks who’ve already started gathering their audiences will be in a better situation to profit from the impending doom of the cable cord.

HTML5 is a bit of a buzzword these days. Most people think of it as simply replacing Flash as the way to view YouTube videos, but there’s actually something larger happening behind the scenes: Video is becoming a “first class citizen” on the web.

What does that mean? Well, there’s the obvious HTML5 benefit of being able to watch a video in a browser without a crash-prone plugin, but even more than that, there’s a huge potential for interacting with videos in ways we haven’t really been able to do before now.

We’ve still got a few years before it’s going to work effectively, and let mere mortals implement their crazy ideas, but just to get started, check out some of the tech demos that the big browser makers are putting on. Let’s start with Apple’s TRON demo, which works in Safari and Chrome. As you can see, users are able to intelligently scale a video, and even add a mask to it.

That’s fun and all, but pedestrian by HTML5 standards. Check out this demo from Mozilla, which works in Chrome and Firefox. It’s actually keying out the green in the browser. That means a real-time green screen in the browser. Pretty impressive stuff.

Lastly, there’s this demo, which uses Javascript to dynamically inject content into a square, which is created by two phones creating “hotspots.” Again, Firefox and Chrome only.

Right now, a lot of internet users can use HTML5, but creating cross-platform solutions isn’t exactly simple, so most content creators are waiting on the sidelines. Keep watching though, because things will continue to become more simple as time goes on.

We are HUGE fans of bringing video to the living room using IP. We talk to existing and potential clients about this each and every day. We have dozens of devices, from the original Apple TVs to new ones, from old Roku’s to the newest ones (which are pretty awesome), Boxee, and most recently, the Google TV. An amazing assortment of devices, each with its strengths and weaknesses.

In experiencing the different plays on “interactive television,” the one thing that I am certain of is that bringing social streams (twitter, flickr, facebook) onto the big screen – especially while watching video with others – is broken. It’s out of place. It distracts from the social experience of television.

As my wife and I watch some of our favorite shows, we each have some sort of computing device open. Perhaps we each have our own laptop open. Or iPad. Or mobile phones [Yeah, our house is sort of crazy like that]. Regardless, each of us is able to interact with a variety of services while we watch the “big screen” together. This is key – my wife would get very frustrated watching my twitter or facebook stream on screen. She would go insane trying to follow my ADHD brain as I bounce through IMDB and Wikipedia trying to track each actor.

If interactive television, however, is to connect my personal device, be it an iPhone, iPad, Android or laptop, together with the programming on screen, than we have a HUGE WINNER. I can follow my own whims while my wife can have her own interactions. However, the social aspect of us watching Glee together remains. We can both sing along. We can laugh. We can pause the video and comment. It is an experience that has been with us for our entire life and is comforting.

A couple of Castfire clients are about to launch products that will incorporate behind the scenes footage and additional video on iPads, iPhones and Android at the same time as it is airing on broadcast. The audience can be fully immersed with not only the broadcast, but can explore additional streams in conjunction. An amazing first step.

The future however, will utilize IP delivery and the processing power of the set top device (or directly in the television) to enable audience members to move content from the “big screen” to their personal device. It will keep “companion” apps in sync with the big screen, pushing relevant information to those who display interest. Want to learn more about that Lexus advertisement? How about being able to open a driving simulator on your own device. Want to purchase that same shirt that the star is wearing? What if the Gap store opened in conjunction on your laptop? Want to find out Tim Lincecum’s stats for pitching to left handed batters? Want to know how your fantasy football league is doing in real time? And on and on and on…

In the near future, the majority of people will carry a touch device with an internet connection. These devices should be leveraged to provide the interactive in interactive television. These devices should be the connection between both the content creators and the advertisers with the audience. These devices will allow us to enjoy the television experience together while connecting to our different circles online.

Television is social; social media is personal. Don’t confuse the two.