Not to sound like a broken record, but Cooliris just keeps getting cooler every day. I fired up the plug-in to show my parents over the weekend, and noticed that the app now has an option for TV episodes. (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there before, or at least it wasn’t separated out from some more general video category.) I clicked on the link and immediately got a wall of videos showing recent popular TV episodes. As natural as anything, I selected the latest SNL episode with Tina Fey from Hulu, and my mom and I watched it right there at the kitchen table.

If you haven’t yet tried Cooliris, go download it now. (Works with Mac, Windows, Firefox and IE) The interface is so smooth, and the company keeps adding new features. An iPhone app came out earlier this month, and I’m still discovering early features I didn’t know existed (like a PowerPoint plug-in). A lot of people still haven’t heard of Cooliris yet, but at the rate it’s developing and adding content partners, that’s going to change very soon.

In case you haven’t tired of political advertising rhetoric, now you can catch up on campaign commercials of yesteryear. The Living Room Candidate offers an archive of presidential political TV ads from 1952 to the present. Want a refresher on Perot’s platform in 1992? Curious about the evolution of negative campaigning? Still waiting to see the famous Lyndon Johnson “Daisy Girl” ad complete with mushroom cloud? All are available on this site produced by the Museum of the Moving Image.

All cynicism aside, I had the privilege last week to hear a presentation by Carl Goodman, Senior Deputy Director at the museum, and then to speak with him afterward about The Living Room Candidate.  Goodman’s got the right idea with online video distribution. Rather than just throw some video up on a site, his team is making the most out of the context they can provide around their video clips. The Living Room Candidate lets you search for ads by category, keyword, year, and type of commercial, and provides important details like campaign analysis and election results. In addition, the site has created “curated pathways”, which are commercial playlists illustrating different themes - like a party’s history with attack ads. And you can even create your own playlists if you’re a dedicated political junkie or a teacher looking for classroom material.

Even though The Living Room Candidate is a non-profit venture, its use of online video translates well to the for-profit sector. Want to engage viewers online? Give them the kind of context they can’t get on traditional TV - whether it’s baseball stats, actor bios, a guided tour of vacation hotspots, or, in the fall of an election year, presidential analysis.

Pure Digital has a new trick up its sleeve for the popular Flip video cameras. CrunchGear reports that they’ve teamed up with Cafe Press to offer personalized designs on all Flip Minos. According to the press release, you can choose an existing custom design, create and upload your own, or use the Flip Video Pattern Generator to assist your creative expression.

This is utterly brilliant. People love their color iPods, personalized ring tones, and anything that makes gadgets uniquely their own. Sure, decals and engravings on laptops haven’t really taken off, but the Flip option is completely free, and is a simple add-on when you purchase your camera. (Above image is one of my own creations, and it took five minutes to generate) Not only is this great for consumer purchases, but imagine the commercial and promotional opportunities. Companies could give these away with their own images imprinted. Schools could create custom versions for fundraisers. And, through the partnership with Cafe Press, any designs can be added to the public marketplace and made available for purchase. Check out Andy Ihnatko’s fabulous creations.

The new personalized designs are only available for the Flip Mino, and I’m hoping this doesn’t mean Pure Digital is planning to move away entirely from the Flip Ultra, my preferred Flip version. In any case, this is a great addition to Pure Digital’s offerings. I suspect we’ll see a big holiday push with this and the upcoming HD Flip as we head in to the biggest gadget buying season of the year.

A highlight of my San Francisco vacation was the stop at Skywalker Ranch earlier this week. Of course, they don’t let just anybody in, but my peeps got connections. 

While a lot of the production work for Lucas Films happens at the Presidio, the ranch is home to a major sound studio for the company. There are also several projects ongoing at the site, including documentary work and research at the ranch’s impressive library. Pics below of some of the memorabilia displayed at Skywalker Ranch, as well as the library and the stunning landscape.

Thanks to husband David and to Jen for inviting us out. Check out the documentary series released with the Young Indiana Jones movie, and stay tuned for an upcoming American foreign policy documentary produced by Lucas Films.

Ars Technica turned me on to CoolIris several weeks ago, and since then I’ve stayed on top of the company’s news. CoolIris uses a 3D-like interface for browsing pictures and video on a range of websites including biggies like Google, YouTube and Flickr. There’s also a Discover feature for catching up on specific topics like news, sports, technology, etc. Very, very cool, but honestly more novelty than anything else. I don’t see the average Joe Shmoe bothering to download the plug-in.

On the other hand, the company’s new Shopping feature is a potential game changer. It’s even got Om Malik rethinking his position on plug-ins.

CoolIris replicates the window-shopping and catalog-flipping experience on the Web better than any other application to date.  Forget apps like Zinio (a magazine digitizer which our buddy Kevin Tofel loves, but I’ve never been able to get into), browsing with CoolIris is smooth and instantaneous.  Perfect for shopping.

Looking for a shirt at Macy’s? With CoolIris you can bring up a wall of photos showing everything available, scan it, and click on anything for a closer look. There are logical menus (apparel, kitchen, Jewelry, etc.), and there’s also a search function.  The interface is beautiful. Reminds me quite a bit of an Apple app. You get the feel of momentum moving along the CoolIris wall the same way you do when scanning along a screen on the iPhone.

There’s still a lack of content on several of the shopping sites CoolIris has listed, but that’s sure to change. If the retail partners have any sense, they’ll start promoting the application directly from their home sites.  It’s a nice online differentiator just in time for holiday shopping. And in this economy retailers will need everything they can get to draw in customers.

Google jumped into the WiMAX game when it put up cash to back the Sprint/Clearwire venture. Today, in a standing-room-only session with Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff at WiMAX World, came the first articulation I’ve heard of how Google is partnering with the WiMAX network providers moving forward.

1. Devices - With Google’s Android moves, the search company is now firmly in the devices market. Is Wolff suggesting we’ll have a WiMAX-enabled Android handset soon?
2. Applications and Services - New stuff to make the mobile Internet great
3. Search and Advertising - Wolff described Google as Clearwire’s lead partner in this area

There was also an interesting question from the moderator, Yankee Group’s Berge Ayvazian: “Will we see a Google portal [on WiMAX devices] for consumers?”  Wolff’s response: “I can envision a role for Google in a WiMAX portal, and I can envision other ways Google will reach consumers directly on the network.”

I’m on site at WiMAX World, and while the official festivities didn’t start until today, I spent some time last night at a pre-show event at the nearby Museum of Science and Industry. (Courtesy of my employer, Motorola.)

The gathering was held at the museum’s Smart Home, a high-tech, green model home sporting a live Motorola WiMAX network. (The Sprint Xohm guys were there too - they’re rolling out in Chicago, following the Baltimore launch.) I got to surf and tweet thanks to WiMAX and see some cool WiMAX-enabled apps. Broadband speeds were good enough for streaming video and multi-player gaming. There was also a nice demo of some remote home automation tricks including the use of a handheld unit to open and close window shades over the Internet. (I know you’ve been waiting for that one.)