This is a must watch. Dal LaMagna, an EZTakes investor and board member, will appear on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" at 7pm Eastern Standard Time on Friday, May 27th, 2011.

Dal will discuss his recently-published book, "Raising Eyebrows: A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right." At the time of this writing, the book has 17 five-star ratings (out of 17 total ratings) on Amazon.

You can buy Dal's book here. Don't forget to also check out Dal's Web site and watch the trailer.

As I was leaving the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)  in Las Vegas this past weekend, I decided to risk missing my plane by visiting the Miniweb suite at the Hilton Hotel. And boy was I glad I did! Ian Valentine, Miniweb's Chief Architect and Founder, treated me to what was surely one of the best connected TV product demonstrations of the entire show. Miniweb has created woomi, which runs on Internet-enabled TVs and Blu Ray players. woomi provides a framework for monetizing video content by delivering video over the Internet directly to consumers' living rooms. Many industry-watchers (including yours truly), think the connected TV market is poised to explode in 2011.

EZTakes has worked closely with the folks at Miniweb for the past several months to make it possible for woomi users to easily get EZTakes' paid video on-demand (PVOD) titles. The relationship we have with Miniweb enables people to order movies through woomi (by using their TVs and remote controls). Then EZTakes streams those movies from our servers directly to those consumers' TVs. Since this really is the future, I'm excited to say that I just received an email from the Miniweb folks letting me know that woomi, and EZTakes' app within woomi, are live on Samsung TVs and Blu Ray players in the United Kingdom. We already have about 600 movies available via woomi, and we hope to get several thousand titles on the platform soon.

Congratulations to the Miniweb folks! We look forward to rolling out with them on Samsung and other connected TVs world-wide.

woomi, the new connected TV service from Miniweb Technologies, will allow access to EZTakes' paid video on-demand (VOD) titles to millions of viewers on next generation TV devices worldwide.

Northampton, MA - December 2010 - EZTakes, a leading Internet movie distribution company with a focus on art house, independent, classic and cult films, has signed an agreement with Miniweb Technologies that will allow EZTakes to sell or rent films through millions of Internet-enabled TVs featuring Miniweb's "woomi" application. The woomi service will launch in the United Kingdom next month, followed by a global rollout during 2011.

"In the near future, it will be difficult to buy a TV that doesn't have Internet connectivity," said Bill Clarke, COO of EZTakes. "woomi will make it possible for millions of consumers to pay for and enjoy our films simply by using a remote control, which we believe will dramatically increase revenue for our content partners and EZTakes," added Clarke.

Because woomi and other over-the-top (OTT) platforms represent the future of commercial video distribution, EZTakes has invested heavily over the past year in making its service compatible with platforms like woomi, Roku, Boxee and others. EZTakes' Simple Online Catalog Integration (SOCI) interface makes it possible for front-end providers to begin selling and renting EZTakes titles with less than 24 hours of systems integration work.

About EZTakes:

Since going live in 2006, EZTakes has been a leader in Internet movie distribution. By focusing on consumer needs, EZTakes has been able to create a stable and profitable business for both itself and its content partners. The company was founded by experienced executives that have a long track record of building highly successful companies by using new technologies to exploit business opportunities. EZTakes' catalog includes thousands of feature-length films of all genres, many of which won top honors at prestigious international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Sundance. EZTakes' distribution channels include its Web site, mobile applications on Google's Android platform, and over-the-top offerings such as Roku, Boxee and Miniweb.

About woomi Miniweb:

woomi is a global, cloud-based, managed platform that allows content providers to reach millions of connected TV devices, and enhances the connected TV experience via a content-rich, TV-centric, user-friendly marketplace.  woomi enables content providers to easily distribute and monetise their programs with a customisable, branded platform that supports transactional and advertising revenue.  woomi gives viewers access to online video content with tools for easy navigation and consumption of online video, empowering the viewer with global search, recommendations, single payments, personalisation and community functions. It allows device manufacturers to offer a compelling, connected online video experience to their customers while benefiting from a recurring, ancillary revenue stream.  woomi is the consumer brand of Miniweb Technologies, the leading provider of cloud-based connected TV services.

Miniweb's Connected TV Services Platform enables converged broadcast and broadband entertainment on the TV, and has garnered substantial industry acclaim including TVB Europe Editors' Award Best of IBC 2009, Best Interactive Service/Application at IPTV World Series Award 2009, Pick Hit Award for Innovation at IBC 2008 and the Red Herring Europe 100 Winner 2008.

Website: http://www.miniweb.tv

A few months ago, EZTakes and Boxee entered into a formal relationship. Boxee provides an awesome cross-platform Home Theater PC (HTPC) application with a "10-foot user interface" (i.e., suitable for the living room TV) and an impressive array of social networking features, making it the first "Social Media Center." The Boxee software enables its users to view, rate and recommend content to their friends.

Starting this week, consumers who use the Boxee software can watch EZTakes' ad-supported movies via Boxee. The two companies jointly developed an interface to make that possible. This integration represents yet another step by EZTakes to enable consumers to enjoy its content on living room TVs, PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

The Boxee User Interface Supports EZTakes Titles.

In addition to Boxee support, EZTakes also provides a full Web interface, a paid video on-demand channel on the popular Roku media player and well over 300 "smart" video apps that are available on Google's Android Market. Our plan is to support rentals, purchases and subscription options on every important Internet video platform.

EZTakes has published over 300 movies on Google's Android Market. We make these movies "smart" by wrapping them in Android apps. If you own an Android-based phone or tablet, just start up the Google Market app and search for "eztakes" (you can leave out the quotes).

There are a number of cool things about our apps. First, we've built all of our apps using our patent-pending App Authentication Technology (AAT), which not only ensures that authorized customers use the app, but also enables any app purchaser to link their app to their EZTakes account. That way, if you buy a movie app that's available on the main EZTakes site (www.eztakes.com) as a DVD download or high-quality stream, then you can log into our main site from any computer to access the movie there. That's in addition to being able to watch it on your Android. And if you own a Roku player, you can get your Android purchases there as well by linking your Android app to the same EZTakes account you used to activate your Roku player.

Another great thing about our Android movie apps is that you can not only stream your movie directly to your Android, but you can also download it. That means you can play the movie even when you're off-line (i.e., no Internet access), such as when you're on a plane or a beach.

The "smarts" we've built into our movie apps also include the ability to email links to friends, provide us with feedback and post to Facebook. We'll be adding a lot more smart functionality to our movie apps in the near future. So, stay tuned. In the meantime, we hope you'll check out the following screen shots of our Android movie apps in action.

The above screen shots show the movie "Super Size Me" for sale via the Android Market (left); the interface for the "La Dolce Vita" app (center); and some of the additional features that we include in all our movie apps (right).

If you don't have an Android-based phone or tablet, we think it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one. We bought a bunch for testing and we're pretty impressed. And remember to search for "eztakes" in the Market!

Buy/Rent Using Your Remote

If you're not familiar with Roku, it's a set-top player that lets you watch movies over the Internet on your living room TV. Our first interface on Roku went live a couple of weeks ago. A few days ago we released a massive upgrade to our Roku app. Whereas before you could only "link" your Roku to your EZTakes account, now you can browse and/or search our entire catalog; preview movies; purchase and/or rent films by using your remote control; and manage your queue of purchases and rentals directly from your Roku player.

We're very excited about our Roku app since it's our first full-blown over-the-top (OTT) interface. Once you see how it works, we're sure that you'll agree that OTT is not only the way most people will get their long-form Internet video (i.e., over 20 or 30 minutes) in the future, but it's they way most people will get just about all of their long-form video soon.

To get a taste of what our Roku app looks like, check out the video below. It shows how you can browse genres and special collections, do a text search, rent a film by using a PIN, and manage your queue by moving titles to an "archive" folder.

Stay tuned. We plan to be doing a lot more with OTT platforms.

EZTakes is now offering a combination of professional services and an optional off-the-shelf solution that can enable just about any organization to have its own custom-branded Roku presence at the lowest possible cost and in the shortest time-frame.

Over-the-top (OTT) video distribution is causing a great deal of excitement in the TV and movie industries. With OTT, you typically deliver films and TV shows directly to Internet-enabled set-top boxes. Any video content provider that wants to fully exploit the Internet MUST have an OTT plan. Part of that plan should be to support all of the important OTT platforms. And with over 500,000 set-top boxes installed, Roku is clearly an important player. That's why EZTakes developed an application for the Roku player, which Roku (the company) recently approved and added to its official channel store. Our Roku channel allows us to deliver our content directly to TVs owned by hundreds of thousands of Roku users.

Roku is a Leader in Over-the-Top (OTT) Video Distribution

EZTakes' "sweet spot" is to utilize our existing, and proven, back-end content delivery infrastructure to create customized, private-branded Roku channels for media companies. As an option, we can also provide the ongoing services to manage, upgrade and support the implementations we create, allowing our customers to achieve an industrial-strength Roku presence in the shortest period of time and at the lowest possible cost.

EZTakes is Listed in the Official Roku Channel Store

Our back-end is a comprehensive platform for monetizing long-form video on the Internet. It includes publishing work flow, content management, geo-filtering, pricing (for rentals and sales), security, server management, billing, customer service, revenue share accounting, reporting and more.

As a company, we have tremendous expertise in online video system implementation, including software development, Web site design, scalability issues, user testing and content encoding. Our areas of technical expertise include the Java programming language, MySQL database, Linux, Apache and Tomcat. We also have significant expertise using the Android Software Development Kit (SDK), having already developed and deployed about 100 video apps on the Google Market.

EZTakes has been in the Internet video industry since 2003. Our background allows us to offer our clients the benefit of unsurpassed domain expertise in online video. To learn more about how EZTakes can help you create a presence on Roku, contact us today.

IMPORTANT: All Roku channels must be approved by Roku. We can guarantee that we'll create a working channel, but it's 100% up to Roku to approve it or not.

EZTakes has created an offering that could represent a new generation of video distribution technology. The offering "wraps" feature-length videos in little applications, or apps, that we then distribute to the rapidly-growing number of people who own devices based on Google's Android platform. So far, we've released four movies as apps - Sita Sings the Blues, Big Buck Bunny, The Kite Liberator and Blues by the Beach. If you have an Android, just search for any of these titles in the Google Market.

A really cool thing about video apps is that we distribute them via the same Google Market from which almost all Android users get all of their apps. So, when you want to buy a video app, you can use your existing credit card profile to make the purchase, which saves you from the tedious task of re-entering your credit card details.

Another great thing about video apps is that they can be "smart." That's because they're all real programs. Consequently, each program may contain both standard and unique functionality that enhances the user experience. Things like games, feedback forms, social networking features and other functions can be built right into the movie app, opening the possibility to create really unique entertainment experiences, which could give more people a lot more reasons to buy.

Our video apps are pretty simple right now since all we're currently doing is re-creating the equivalent of the DVD, with main movies bundled with all the bonus features. In the near future, however, we'll be adding a lot more interesting functionality, both custom and standard, to our video apps.

When it comes to creating new business models, film maker, animator and copyright activist Nina Paley is clearly a leader in the independent film industry. So, we're excited to announce that EZTakes has created its first "movie app" with Nina's celebrated film, Sita Sings the Blues. Anyone with an Android phone can purchase the app today for free. Just search for "sita" in the Google Market. In addition to the full-length movie (82 minutes), the Sita Sings the Blues app also gives you access to a bunch of extras, including a version of the film with the director's comments, an interview with Nina discussing the film and how she became an activist, and a bonus short.

Here's the plot for Sita Sings the Blues:

Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

From an e-commerce perspective, the cool thing about selling a movie as an app is that people can buy using their previously set-up payment profile in the Google Market, making it incredibly convenient to purchase. We think we'll be releasing a lot more movies this way soon, and we have a few great ideas (we hope) for wrapping some awesome features (or "smarts") into our movie apps. Although we're happy to let people enjoy Nina's film for free, we'll also release other films for a fee (we'll need to pay the people that license them to us, and pay our own rent). We just hope that the Android app provides a little added convenience that some people might pay for.

Although the Google Market supports copy protection for apps, the Sita Sings the Blues app is not copy-protected. Consequently, someone who knows what they're doing can copy the .apk file used to install the app, and move it to another Android device. It is important to note that Nina already lets people download Sita Sings the Blues for free. About the only restriction that Nina imposes is the stipulation that you can't impose restrictions. Consequently, you can't apply Digital Rights Management (DRM) to Sita Sings the Blues.

PLEASE NOTE: At the present time, Android phones need an active Internet connection to play Sita Sings the Blues. This could be a problem if you want to watch off-line (like on a plane). In the near future, we'll add the ability to cache the video on your phone's local storage.

UPDATE: You can just get our app via the Android Market (it went live on Saturday, June 12th) by searching for "EZTakes".

Now Google Android owners can use our free EZTakes app to get convenient access to our movies. You can install the EZTakes app right now. Just open the Google Market app on your Android and search for "EZTakes." We'd appreciate and feedback, or even better, we'd love to get reviews and ratings through the Market.

After you install the EZTakes app, you can click on the EZTakes icon to start it. You'll be able to access dozens of films immediately for free. And if you purchased any films from the main EZTakes Web site (http://www.eztakes.com), then you can log into our Android app by using your EZTakes login ID and password, and then watch your purchases on your Android phone, too.

Even if you don't want to buy anything from us right now, you can still get a lot of free downloads from us. Once you create an account and order our free downloads, you'll be able to access those titles on your Android, too.

Login on the Android to Watch EZTakes Movies

Please remember that this is the first cut of our Android app. We plan to add a lot more functionality in the near future, such as the ability to download films directly to your Android for permanent storage for off-line viewing (you can already do that by connecting your Android to your computer and copying the EZTakes movies). We also plan to start allowing you to purchase films directly through our app without having to go to the main EZTakes site at all.

We tested our app on a Motorola Droid and HTC Eirs, both running Android 2.1. If you try our app, we'd love to get your feedback (expecially if you try it on other configurations). Please email any comments to: