Video

Prolific Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn (known for popular offerings like 9Gag, Fuse and Wikipedia) has finally released the much-awaited, third-party Vine client called 6Sec. The new app arrives in Store after a lengthy development and testing phase and, right from the get-go, is touted to provide complete functionality.

The odds, however, are against Huyn's client -- according to Finnish maker Nokia, an official Vine app will "soon" launch on Windows Phone 8. 6Sec will, therefore, face fierce competition and, in order to gain considerable traction, must offer unquestionable value straight from its first iterations.

Vine, the popular Twitter-owned video-sharing service, just released an update for its iPhone app, which is designed to increase user engagement and provide beefed up sharing options.

"This is our biggest, most exciting update yet -- and we've got even more coming soon", says Vine cofounder and CTO Colin Kroll. The iPhone app now offers access to 15 channels, including Arts & Experimental, Cats, Comedy, Dogs, Family and others, which users can browse and post to straight from Explore. Each channel comes with a custom theme and Popular feed.

Microsoft has released Skype 6.6 for Windows and Mac, which introduces minor updates to the company's popular chat service that "focus on quality by addressing user feedback and improving ease of use".

Version 6.6 concentrates on adopting consistent entry points for sending video messages across all platforms, plus implementing a number of platform-specific fixes.

The war for your dollars escalates as more services vie for control of the wallet, enabling customers to watch movies and TV shows without need of running to the local store or kiosk to fill the video habit. Netflix and Amazon compete for the prized crown, but Redbox has launched Instant to get into the market as well. Blockbuster? Bueller? Bueller? Oh, that's right it tried too.

Redbox Instant by Verizon (yes, that is the whole official name) aims to up the ante in this war with its latest Android update. Finally bringing the streaming service to rooted Android devices.

Unlike Fox News, I make no pretense of being "fair and balanced" when it comes to Amazon Prime -- I am a subscriber and lover of the service. I also have children, which is why the latest announcement grabs my attention. The online retailer expands its relationship with the Public Broadcast System.

"Amazon.com today announced an expanded multi-year licensing agreement with PBS Distribution that will allow Amazon Prime members to instantly stream, at no additional cost, past seasons of PBS programs" the company announces.

Instagrammers can now rest easier knowing that, earlier today, the popular social network introduced the ability to share filtered videos. The feature, called Video on Instagram, is available through the new Android and iOS apps.

"Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world's moments simply and beautifully. Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life", says Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. "Today, we're thrilled to introduce Video on Instagram and bring you another way to share your stories".

Despite the looming possibility of a buyout, Hulu continues to push its service forward with updates and new platforms. The latest version of Hulu Plus, the premium arm of the online TV service, today updates its iPad offering, with what the company calls an entirely new experience for your tablet.

"We’ve redesigned the app from the ground up, focusing on discoverability, efficiency, and our overall user experience", Hulu tells us. "We’ve really focused on developing several new ways to make your favorite shows, and your favorite new shows you never even knew existed, easier to find", the company further explains.

Amazon continues to beef up its Prime video offering, making friends with major studios and networks in a race for content. Today the online retailer woos even more customers, building on the recent update that will introduce original content to the platform, by adding a new group of popular TV shows to its library.

New partner Viacom will begin providing hundreds of TV shows and thousands of TV episodes from Viacom to Prime Instant Video, including a collection of TV shows that customers won’t find on any other digital video subscription service.

On Wednesday, Microsoft rolls out an update for its YouTube Windows Phone 8 app which takes away the ability to download content from the popular video-sharing website. The latest iteration arrives one week after Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter, demanding the removal of the app from the Store. The deadline passes today.

Google's grievances regarding the Microsoft-developed YouTube app focus on the removal of playback restrictions "on certain platforms", the lack of ads and the ability to download videos. Microsoft only resolved the third complaint and, despite the rapidly-approaching deadline, the company hints that YouTube will continue to be available to Windows Phone 8 users.

Converting videos from one format to another can be a complicated business, so it’s no surprise that most conversion tools focus on ease of use above all else. But this can also mean the programs lose a great deal of functionality. Encoders such as FFmpeg -- the engine behind many free converters -- are absolutely packed with features, but the need for simplicity means most of these aren’t accessible to the end user.

There are some projects which take a different view, though, and TEncoder is a good example. This is a converter which isn’t afraid to expose options and settings, and at first glance this makes for a cluttered and intimidating interface. But look past that and you’ll find a tool which manages to be both powerful, and (once you know where everything is) generally very easy to use.

On Friday, Finnish handset maker Nokia announced that the Play To app for Windows Phone 8 made the grade from experimental to stable version and is now publicly available to download from the Store. Previously, the DLNA app could only be installed through Nokia' Beta Labs.

According to the company, Play To brings DLNA to all of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 handsets available today like Lumia 920, 720 and 520, among others. Compared to the experimental version that I detailed little over two weeks ago, the stable Play To app ships with a number of bug fixes but without any new features onboard.

Microsoft fights an uphill battle against iOS and Android, but it is a war the company is determined to persevere in, especially given the latest TV ad, which is viral. Now within back-to-back days the mobile platform adds both Foursquare, Hulu and updated YouTube.

Today, an updated YouTube app joins the party, with Microsoft announcing a new version that allows pinning videos, playlists, channels, and search queries to Start as Live Tiles, gives new playlist design, plays videos in the background when the screen is locked (perfect for music videos) and makes easy video sharing to social sites. It even leverages the YouTube safety mode to keep the little ones from viewing unfit content. However, as my colleague Mihaita Bamburic points out, "You can't upload videos, sadly. That's a pretty basic feature, albeit one that's missing".

Regular readers know that I'm a sucker for good advertising. Audi's "The Challenge" is classic, pitting the new and old Spocks (Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto) against each other. Surely the geeks, especially old-timers like me, will appreciate the inside-Star Trek humor. If you're a Trek fan of long vintage, the video is a treat.

I laughed when Nimoy started singing the Bilbo Baggins song. I actually owned that album in high school. William Shatner (aka James T. Kirk) and Nimoy both released records during the 1970s, when Star Trek was in syndication and before the series' revival on TV and movie theater screens. Geeks and Trekkers, this commercial will be among the best two minutes forty-five seconds you'll spend today.

Microsoft is in the process of pushing users to Outlook.com for web email services. The company purchased Hotmail back in 1997, largely ignored it, and then suddenly began updating the app right before deciding to unceremoniously replace it with Outlook.com back in July of 2012.

Now the company is in full push-mode to get users moved over and also try to woo new customers for the service. With that in mind, Microsoft has teamed up with the folks from the popular Mythbusters TV show to advertise Outlook.com and also push the brand new season of the show.

Consumers have a rich selection of services for TV and movie content: iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, and I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. Some of these are tied to hardware (like iTunes) and others try to be agnostic in this regard.

My service of choice is Amazon Prime Instant Video. Amazon Prime is a $79 annual membership that gives you 2-day shipping on most items you buy from the retailer, allows you "to stream thousands of movies and TV shows" and access to the Kindle Lending Library with thousands of books.