Hulu Goes Desktop, Though Boxee Still Remains Off Limits
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Nevermind the TV, or Boxee for that matter. Hulu, the JV video site, has launched a new desktop app, which is intended to take the online video experience and make it into more of a lean back experience. Think of it as a Media Center experience, with only Hulu content on it. Users who have a remote control with their PC can use it to browse through videos and control pretty much all the functionalities that Hulu has online. I just downloaded it and it is as simple as, well, the site. It works on both PCs and Macs. The app does what Boxee was doing, before the company blocked it due to pressure from its content partners. Also, as NTV points out, Hulu specifically prohibits use of the desktop to extend the experience to the TV, though that will be a hard one to contain, and looks increasingly anachronistic in the face of all this forward-looking talk from the company on other fronts. Lotsa debate about this and other similar issues on Hulu's own discussion boards, here. And explanation of the desktop app, in a video from the Hulu team, is embedded below
The new desktop app is part of the newly launched Hulu Labs, a section where it will preview some of the new services/products that the Hulu dev team is working on.
By Rafat Ali