MySpace is planning to rename its current video sharing service and provide it through a new web site at myspacetv.com. Myspacetv.com is currently in beta and allows visitors to submit and watch videos even if they are not MySpace members.

It appears the move is to give MySpace videos brand name recognition apart from the MySpace name. This of course, is an attempt to compete better with YouTube, the leader in online video sharing.

My first impression of MySpaceTV is that it has nothing unique that YouTube does not already have. Maybe in time, new features will be added, but does it really matter? It seems that every popular video can be found in a hundred locations online. Is there really any need for yet another “video” service?

I frequently get asked what exactly is Web 2.0? The phrase was first used by Tim O’Reilly in 2003 when attempting to explain the new generation of web applications being developed after the Internet bubble burst of 2001. To O’Reilly, the bust signified a turning point for the web, and thus the term Web 2.0 was born. The term gained popularity with the first Web 2.0 Conference in 2004 and has gained momentum ever since.

But what exactly identifies one application as Web 1.0 and another as Web 2.0? The debate is still out. Some will say that Web 2.0 is nothing more than a meaningless buzzword while others work towards establishing official Web 2.0 specifications.

Technologies such as blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, wikis and Web APIs are typically classified as being Web 2.0. Tim O’Reilly himself considers Web 2.0 as developing applications around the unique features of the web instead of trying to make the web confirm to the applications. Examples he provides include Craigslist, Wikipedia, eBay, del.icio.us, Skype and Google Adsense.

As you can see, with no real set of standards, Web 2.0 can mean a variety of things to different people. So, the answer to the question “what exactly is Web 2.0” still remains undecided.

I recently reviewed a variety of “PC to TV” software packages that allow you to watch television on your computer. The best two I found were PCShowbuzz and PCTV4Me.

Both programs allow you to watch regional as well as national channels from around the world. The channels include a variety of news, entertainment, music and sports stations.

I preferred PCTV4Me’s interface over PCShowbuzz, but it does not provide nearly as many channels as PCShowbuss nor did it provide much in the way of channel descriptions. PCTV4Me offers a free trial, but the trial only gives access to the radio stations it offers. Both programs were easy to install and took only a few minutes to set up and start using.

dnScoop is a web application that provides a variety of data about any web site domain in a single location. The information provided includes the age of the domain entered, the Google PageRank for the domain, the number of inbound links to the domain, the Alexa traffic rank, and the number of indexed pages the domain has in major search engines.

Although this data can be found with other web sites and/or web applications, dnScoop also includes two unique features not usually found in web statistic applications. These two features show the estimated value of links placed on the domain and the overall value of the domain based on the information gathered about the domain.

As a test I entered this domain. The report generated showed that links on go2tap.com should be worth $17 per month and the overall site has a value of $1000. Not bad, but not great either. Next I entered google.com and yahoo.com. Their values were estimated as $1,459,760,000 and $1,293,600,000 respectively. I guess go2tap.com has a way to go to catch up.

MySpace has finally announced the official beta release of its instant messaging service called MySpaceIM. This comes almost a year since the application was first unofficially made available.

The download page for the beta version of MySpaceIM lists some of the features as Instant Messaging of MySpace friends; one-click login to mail and bulletins; instant alerts for all requests, messages, and comments; and search features to find and view friends’ profiles with one click.

Testing the MySpaceIM service, I did not find any special features that are not offered by better established instant messaging clients such as Microsoft’s Live Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger, or AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Also, I noticed several bugs just using the application for less than an hour.

If MySpaceIM hopes to compete against the existing established instant messaging clients they will have to develop better features and a more stable platform. But then again, MySpace users have grown accustomed to bad design and software errors, so this might just be part of the company’s business strategy.

With recent acquisitions of companies such as YouTube, Feedburner, and DoubleClick, Google is making it no secret that they want to expand their reach into as many markets as possible while displaying more of their sponsor ads to increase profits.

But where will Google strike next? Below is a list of some advertising opportunities that Google just may be considering.

1. GoogleMoon. GoogleMoon would show Google Ads on the surface of the moon. What better way to reach every human on the planet, even if they don’t have computer? GoogleMoon would involve Google buying NASA from the US Government along with billions of dollars of construction equipment. Nike is already in negotiations with Google to have the “Swoosh” logo plastered across the moon.

2. GoogleCrap. Not to be confused with the average quality of Adsense publisher sites, GoogleCrap will involve Google purchasing each and every public restroom in the world. The new service’s motto will be “When you got to go, go Google” and will include sponsored ads displayed on toilet paper.

3. GoogleHilton. Lastly, in an attempt to capture the largest viewership of any possible acquisition, GoogleHilton will involve buying ad space on Paris Hilton’s lower back. Several pharmaceutical and beer companies are expected to be sponsors.

The release date for the new iPhone has been set for June 29th and the device will carry a hefty price tag of between $500 and $600. If you believe the hype, the new iPhone will be the best MP3 player / phone / video player / PDA ever made. In other words, the Swiss Army Knife of Techno Gadgets.

The new iPhone will include features that allow you to access the Internet from any location and send email; a color touch screen for playing music and video; a built in camera for taking photos and capturing video; and full wi-fi capabilities. Oh, and I almost forgot, it works as a cell phone too.

If you are a geek with extra money to burn and a passion for always having the next “new” thing, then the new iPhone may just be right for you. I, on the other hand, will rather wait a few months for the price to drop and all of the bugs to be worked out in version 2.0.

Google Street Views is a feature offered through the Google’s Maps service that allows users to see street level views of an ever growing number of locations. Google Street Views is just another addition in a line of mapping and imagery products from Google that includes such products as the popular Google Earth.

Google Earth provides users with satellite images of almost any spot on the planet. However, if you happened to be caught naked in your backyard pool by the satellite, the pictures are of such low resolution no one will know you from the family dog. This is not the case with Google Street Views. This was made clear with the case of “Thong Girl” who was caught on tape by Google Street Views in her truck displaying her, well, thong.

What other embarrassing images might Street Views capture in the future? Should this be consider invasion of privacy, or should we just except that a search for “your name here nude” in Google will soon yield results for each and every person on the planet?

Recently, Didier Stevens, an European IT professional, conducted a Google AdWords experiment to see how many people would click on an ad that clearly indicated that doing so would infect their computer with a virus.

The results? Over 400 idiots, umm, I mean people clicked the ad over the six month test period.

Interestingly, 98% of the clicks came from users of Internet Explorer. I guess hackers and adware crooks have a reason for targeting this browser the most.

Too bad Stevens did not publish more demographic information from his experiment. It would interesting to see if any clicks came from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post recently coined the term “Googlenope” as a phrase or expression that is not present somewhere on the Web and therefore not cached by the Google search engine.

In his article Weingarten compiled a list of several “Googlenopes” he found. Of course, now that he has written about them they will no longer be “Googlenopes”.

I decided to also seek out some rare “Googlenopes” of my own. I first tried “nietzsche for dummies”. Nope, 160 results. Next I tried “Bill Gates Nude”. To my surprise and disgust, there were 142 results. This was going to be more difficult than I expected.

However, after a while I started to get a feel for hunting the elusive “Googlenope”. The more unrealistic the phrase the better the odds of uncovering a “Googlenope”. My top kills included “superstar federline”, “elmer fudd marries wabbit”, “lindsay lohan shows self control”, and “go2tap.com named best blog ever”.