http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/youtube-pulls-a-hulu-yanking-api-access-from-popcorn-hour-ot/
<<Hope you weren't enjoying watching YouTube on the television screen via Popcorn Hour and other set-top boxes, as they have been given notice by the newly 1080p and network TV-friendly website that they are no longer welcome to access its content. The Hulu-ish Terms of Service (section II, item 10) restricts API clients from the ability to "use the YouTube API in connection with any API Client created for use on television set top boxes, television game consoles, or video screens packaged and marketed as television sets;" according to Popcorn Hour COO Alex Limberis this applies to all with the exception of "a few strategic partner's Google has singled out" – PlayStation 3, Wii, TiVo, Panasonic, Samsung and other licensed hardware is safe. >> |
Lots of people hook up a home theatre PC (or a Mac Mini) to their television just for watching YouTube.
Although this use is safe for now, Google can easily see whether a device is being used for general computing, or whether it is just being used as a home entertainment device, so perhaps things will change in the future. |
Still if I connect my computer to my TV and launch up youtube through xmbc or boxee (one of the two was able to connect to youtube)... would that then fall under a television set top box...? |
http://open.neurostechnology.com/content/google-should-stand-side-making-web-video-more-free-not-more-restricted
<<Open standards are a practical necessity for innovation. If Google, or anyone else, is picking the winners and losers up front, we can be certain that precious clever ideas will be lost before they ever get a chance to grow, morph and become the next big thing. No one should know this better than the folks at Google and YouTube who once took some of the most unlikely ideas and made them central to our lives. Imagine if Microsoft, IBM or any other entity had been able to act as gatekeeper at the inception of Google and YouTube. I think just about anyone can imagine those services would never have gotten to market. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with Google profiting from YouTube, and we welcome their experimentation in a variety of means to do that, but they need to do so in an open, non discriminatory way that allows small and big entities alike to experiment and innovate.>> |
