Introducing Joost Widgets (2007 talk)
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This is from a talk I gave in 2007, about the widget system and other developer APIs for Joost. It is now very out of date, Joost has an exciting new Web-based video player instead. I think the widget stuff was ahead of its time, even if moving to a Web player made sense. So I wanted to keep a record of what was built before memories fade completely :)See http://blogs.joost.com/dev/2007/11/developer_days_update.htmlFor a more recent Joost dev demo, see http://www.beaufour.dk/blog/2008/12/christmas-is-ge.html for an example of embedding the new Flash player.
Transcript of Introducing Joost Widgets (2007 talk)
Joost overview
• “Best of Internet & best of TV”
• Streaming video distribution system
• Branded, high-quality TV content
• Interactive social experience
• Engaging advertising delivery platform
• Public beta since October 1st
Joost: Bringing TV into the Web
• Joost as platform: dev.joost.com– Balancing viewer, owner and advertiser needs
brings stability for creative "extras" and mashups
– Mix professionally-produced content with user ratings, blogs, annotations, add-ons
• Joost Widgets: a social TV platform
• Web 2.0 +/- 1– Built and extended with modern Web
technology, modern Web attitude
Quick look at Joost (videos)
• Full screen video
• Search, navigate and customise channels
• Interactive overlays
Quick look 2 ('My Joost' video...)
• Widget themes...– software-style extras (eg. alarm clock,
games)– communication-oriented (IM/chat)– “DVD Extra”: annotations, subtitles, blog
posts– Finding and sharing (invite, share,
bookmark, rate)
• Not rigid categories – fun to combine all 4:– 'Coke Bubbles' widget lets you chat, find,
share and annotate...
Widgets and their World
• Where TV really meets the Web
• Widgets are bundles of Web technology running “inside the TV”
• Tech: HTML, ECMA/Javascript, CSS
• & more: SVG, E4X, Canvas, RDF, XMPP...
• Various Joost-specific APIs
• Opened up for 3rd party development (including commercial widgets)
• Built using same technology as Joost
Platform details
• Core of Joost UI is a highly customised Web browser
• We added swooshyness, a growing set of TV-related APIs, and streaming video content
• Widget API targets the "Web 2.0" skillset (Ajax etc...)
• Joost APIs lets you navigate EPG, play/pause/rewind shows, draw things on screen
• More APIs and data interfaces on the way -feedback welcome!
Example: annotation & subtitles
“TV meets the Web” revisited:
• Whose annotations do you want to see?
• Just from friends / family?
• Or from famous bloggers?
• Use reputations from external systems?
• TV isn't the Internet...
• Widgets can bring as much Internet to your TV (and living room) as you want – or as little.
Example: Krabbel (“scribble”)
Engage with friends...
Engage with content...
Guess who?
(that was Audrey Hepburn)
(Richard Gere) (you get the idea)
Widgets – not rocket science• 2-3 pages of HTML
& Javascript
• dev.joost.com for this code and more...
Inside your Widget
• config.xml, main XML or HTML file,
javascript code and any image
• UI: mini-Web pages, sprites, subtitles,
platform APIs
• Brains: Javascript, remote services
• Packaged as a .zip file
• Install from file or URL
Joost Links: Bridging to the Web
• There's more to Widgets than Widgets... (“what if I don't like writing Javascript...?”)
• WebArch 101: “To benefit from and increase the value of the World Wide Web, agents should provide URIs as identifiers for resources.”
• All Joost videos and channels have a Web page URL e.g http://joost.com/0440005
• Bloggable, linkable, shareable ...
• Browser plugin connects page to desktop app
• Deep linking into desktop TV: #start=123000
Data Interfaces
• RDFa, Atom/RSS feeds – pages and search
• Microformats/GRDDL
• Listings and channel data
– for Widgets (see Widget API)
– for Websites (eg. Onthetoob.com, TIOTI, joostlist, ...)
• User-created extras: blogs, channels, tags
Custom channels (via XML)
“Web 2.0” themes & Joost
• Standards and APIs - help users find stuff
• Community data - helps users find stuff
• Mashups, data integration, cross-site
linkage - many paths into content
• Blogs, social networks, user profiles
• Better tagging – beyond “tiffany” and
“paris”? who/what/where/when...
“paris, texas” or “paris hilton”?
Standards and dev community
• Built on and with W3C standards
• Extended with “Joost platform” APIs
• Generic widgets don't make the most of TV
• Code mobility vs coder mobility, we need “widgetarians”...
• “Fun” issues:– Signed widgets
– Storage APIs (local, remote)
– Interwidget communication
– Usable, clear privacy models
Become a Widgetarian!
• Developers site and blog:
• http://dev.joost.com/– Join email list: joost-dev-
• Stay in touch!
Thanks...
• Questions?
