We’ve just added a thin unifying navigation bar to the top of the Democracy websites. Take a look at one of the sites, for instance: Video Bomb.

The idea behind the bar is to try to connect people to the constellation of sites that we’ve built and help convey the idea that Democracy is a platform of tools and information, not just a desktop app. Basically, it’s branding.

So far, we haven’t put this bar up on getmiro.com (seems unnecessary…) or on the Channel Guide (still not quite ready to be a good standalone website). Eventually, we probably will.

Mike Hudack at Blip.tv has posted a perfect response to my essay about RSS and openness. It’s great to see that we agree about the importance of video hosting services staying open and encouraging the spread of their content:

“by being open — by offering direct access to file formats like Quicktime and FLV, by following Internet standards like RSS and Atom, by offering dozens of tools designed to speed and improve integration with other pieces of software — we gain immediate benefit from all of that innovation.”

Mike also writes that I’ve managed to convince him to feature RSS feeds more prominently on Blip.tv. I definitely recommend reading the full text of his reply, there’s a lot of very well thought out and well written points in there, coming from a true expert.

(A side note: at one point, Mike writes, “I ask only one thing of you, Nicholas: can we steal some of your excellent writing for the purpose?” the answer to Mike and everyone else is absolutely yes. I just made a button on the Creative Commons site that declares it public domain– I’ll put that below the essay.)

OK, I screwed up: what I thought we could have ready for today, isn’t ready. The sad part is it wasn’t even a very big project. So… Sheeps Week will have to go out with a real wimper. Nevertheless– I’m psyched about what we released this week and I think we’re moving ahead really well. We have gotten wonderful feedback about the 0.9 release, and we are pleased that people are enjoying it. Here’s a positive note to end on, a blog post I just stumbled across a couple minutes ago:

a.bunchof.us: Democracy Player
“After half an hour and a dozen videos, I’m in love. I’ve already caught up with my zefrank watching, and have found some new channels from which to download videos. I’ve also subscribed to several YouTube feeds (including Libraryman’s stream!), and am scouring the web for more. This is seriously going to change my video watching habits. With every passing day broadcast television becomes less relevant.”

I’ll have more news soon, including some details about what’s to come in the next version of Democracy Player.

I’ve just posted a new essay. It’s about why video RSS is so important to the future of online video. I first started writing it as an email to Blip.TV, to try to convince them to feature RSS feeds more prominently on their website. As I was writing, I decided that there were a lot more people that I wanted to make this case to, so I decided to publish it as an essay. I hope you’ll take a look. Online Video: Openness Matters. RSS Can Help.