It’s no secret that Americans love TV. A recent Nielsen report found that the average American watches approximately 153 hours of the idiot box every month.

Although the vast majority of viewers (99 percent) still watch shows on a television set, it’s clear that at least some couch potatoes are moving online. Today approximately 131 million Americans watch about three hours of online TV every month, according to a study by two industry research agencies. A separate study by comScore, a marketing research company, demonstrated an even more profound transition: 75 percent of America’s Internet audience is now watching video online.

But perhaps what is most remarkable is how fast this transition is happening. In 2004 YouTube did not exist. Today the site has become a ubiquitous part of the American Internet diet, and was even used to broadcast last year’s historic elections. In March of this year Hulu, another popular Internet site, counted 24 million users.

With these numbers in mind it should come as no surprise that services catering to online video customers are also proliferating. In New York City a new generation of startups such as Boxee, blip.tv, Livestream, Klickable, Brightcove and SetJam have embraced this burgeoning marketplace. NY Video, a grassroots organization that caters to startups looking to make it big in the world of online video, already boasts 3,200 entrepreneurs. NewTeeVee, a Web site that tracks news about, you guessed it, online video, writes that 2009 is the “year of TV everywhere.”

Three startups are just a handful of companies hoping to monetize this new and potentially lucrative frontier. Boxee, the oldest of the three, aims to put video back where it belongs — on your TV. Simply put, Boxee’s goal is to bring all your entertainment — from online streaming videos to ripped DVDs, CDs and downloads — to one place, as long as it is digital-rights-management-free. While users can access Boxee via their computers, the content is ultimately meant for television where it can be accessed via remote control. The company has teamed up with a variety of content providers such as CBS, Hulu, MLB.tv, and Netflix to integrate online video into their user interface.

An activity stream, similar to Facebook’s newsfeed, informs users of what their friends enjoy listening to and watching online. Whenever these friends watch a TV show or movie on sites like Comedy Central or Hulu, Boxee connects the user to the full movie or featured clips.

“You are not having to weave through the millions and millions of video sources available on the Internet,” said Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing. “You kind of have a built-in filter, through your friends and through your social networks, of finding new content that’s related to you and something that you’d like.”

Launched in June 2008, the folks at Boxee are continuously making strides to expand their user base, which currently consists of 700,000 consumers. The team tries to keep up with its customers, asking them about the content they want to see. After one survey last November, they discovered users wanted to see content sources such as Netflix and Internet radio Web site Pandora on board.

“We’ve built out all of those content sources for them pretty rapidly,” Kippen said. “So we were able to build Netflix within three weeks of our users asking for it. And at that time we had the most robust implementation of it available.”

According to NewTeeVee it’s only a matter of time before “entertainment won’t be bound to the platform it came in on — the content you want to watch will finally be accessible wherever you want to watch it.”

SetJam, another New York City based startup, has aspirations to be the Google of television programming or as founder Ryan Janssen likes to put it: “The People’s TV.” SetJam is designed to be the easiest way to find, save and share a viewer’s favorite shows. Users simply type in a TV show or movie into a search menu and SetJam finds where and if those shows are available online. The company doesn’t ask for registration but it does require that users identify themselves via Facebook.

“We want to make TV social, so that you can share shows that you like with your friends easily and meet people who have similar interests that you have,” Janssen said.

SetJam launched its private beta last week but the service is not ready for a mass audience. That said, Janssen is confident that SetJam is ready for primetime and he expects the number of users to grow quickly because of the service’s easy-to-use interface and social components. Janssen not only predicts that all TV shows and movies will be available online in five years, but he also believes his company will make finding content straightforward. “My goal: to make online TV easy enough for my Mom,” Janssen wrote on his Twitter page.

Klickable, another young company, hopes to change the way we think about video by making it interactive. Think “Pop-up Video” meets the Home Shopping Network. Viewers can click on a video as they’re watching and a small bar at the bottom displays information. This content can be an advertisement for Roca Wear clothing, as seen in a recent Jay-Z video, or it could contain a wide range of other subject matter. An example of this happens to be in a video produced for the US Open Nine Ball Championships, where Klickable was used to display player statistics.

Klickable markets itself as an easy three-step system. First edit your video with Klickable, then publish the video and learn how viewers think via Klickable’s behavior data dashboard and finally make money through built-in advertisements. Klickable’s model rests on an assumption that Internet video viewers are fickle. A recent study by Tubemogul found that on average 55 percent of an Internet video audience leaves after the first minute. Roger Wu, the founder of Klickable, bets that viewers will stay longer if they can interact with the video.

Companies like Klickable, SetJam and Boxee are convinced that online video has the potential to be very profitable, but a recent Dow Jones VentureSource study found that the recession may hamper that entrepreneurial spirit. According to the report, in 2009 video-related companies saw a 60-percent drop in venture funding compared to last year. But this sobering reality has not deterred CEOs like Ryan Janssen. SetJam is less than a month old but he claims to have beaten Google to become “the world’s best search engine for online TV shows and movies.”

“It’s my dream to make things work just a little better,” Janssen wrote in a recent blog post. “If SetJam fails, people will point to my mistakes. If SetJam succeeds, they will say I’m lucky. In both cases, they will be right.”

More than 100 musicians and bands performed along all 26.2 miles of the New York City Marathon’s course, pepping up the runners and providing entertainment for the onlookers. On Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, about 10 groups were set up on the street corners, including The Delay, an indie rock band from Staten Island, N.Y.; Soul Minds in Dub, a dub reggae group from New York City; Dared The Knot, a progressive industrial band from Astoria, Queens; and Matty B & the Dirty Pickles, a “picklebilly” threesome from Erie, Pa.

— Spencer Bailey and Alexander Hotz

The Midtown homepage for Neighborhoodr. Photo: Alexander Hotz

By Alexander Hotz

A black and white picture of the Guggenheim Museum’s exterior. A revised schedule for Second Avenue’s subway construction. A glowing review of Mad River, a popular bar at 82nd and Third.

The aforementioned items have little in common, but each can be found in the Upper East Side section of Neighborhoodr, a New York City blog network. Neighborhoodr (www.neighborhoodr.com) is a new collection of hyper-local blogs that relies on reader-generated content.

“You go there to see what’s happening in real time in certain neighborhoods,” explained Anthony DeRosa, one of Neighborhoodr’s co-founders. “We liked the idea of neighborhood Web sites but we wanted to do it in a different way by having the community sort of run the Web site.”

Hyper-local websites are nothing new to the Internet. Patch, The Examiner, Everyblock, Outside.in and Placeblogger are just a few sites that cater to local communities around the United States. In New York City, these sorts of sites also compete with a wide array of popular blogs such as New York Vegan, Bushwick BK and Clinton Hill Blog.

The sites’ content is almost always generated by their staff, similar to the way that material is provided by a community newspaper. Users may have the option to post their comments after an online article, but their participation ends there. Neighborhoodr is reinventing that “top down model,” DeRosa said.

At its essence, Neighborhoodr is a wiki — a Web site that can be edited and read by any number of people. Uploading content to the site is easy. Visitors simply select one of New York City’s 60 neighborhoods from a main page before uploading pictures, videos, links or text relevant to that area. No registration or creation of a username is required. Content can even be uploaded via email or iPhone.

The Neighborhoodr mainpage. Photo: Alexander Hotz

But unlike a traditional wiki such as Wikipedia, Neighborhoodr’s entries are tied together like blog posts rather than separated on individual pages. The result is a communal stream of consciousness that often manifests itself as an unpredictable hodgepodge of information.

A recent series of posts on the Midtown site included a picture of a street musician dressed as the Star Wars character Boba Fett; a Twitter post declaring that Michelle Obama had been spotted at Gramercy Tavern; and an ad for a “Save the Deli” event. Random or relevant, you decide.

Although much of Neighborhoodr’s content may seem arbitrary today, the long-term goal for DeRosa and co-founder Richard Blakeley is to create a Web site tied to the pulse of its community.

“In its present configuration, metro journalism–the New York Daily News, let’s say–can’t steadily inform us about our neighborhoods,” said New York University journalism professor and new-media guru Jay Rosen in an email.  “And weekly newspapers are mainly about the ads and listings. So that leaves a gap.”

According to Rosen, Neighborhoodr isn’t a substitute for journalism but it could be a source for up-to-the-minute information. “I want to know about every step in Washington Square Park’s renovation,” Rosen continued. “I am starved for good information about that.  If Neighborhoodr could meet such a need–a big ‘if’–that would be significant.”

While Neighborhoodr is largely user-driven, volunteer community moderators such as Sergio Hernandez monitor the site to prevent spamming and keep the content interesting.

“There’s definitely an editorial element to what we do, because we sort of pick and choose what we post or re-post or link to,” wrote Hernandez, the West Village and Midtown moderator, in an email. “But it’s not like we’re in there re-writing articles or flipping through our AP Stylebooks or anything like that.”

Neighborhoodr is barely a month old, so even the most popular neighborhoods receive only a couple hundred readers. To get the ball rolling, community moderators are tracking down content they hope will come to epitomize their sites.

“For me, at least, the tone differs according to which neighborhood I’m working on,” said Cassandra Seale, another community moderator who monitors the Lower East Side and Bedford-Stuyvesant pages. “For the Lower East Side someone may want to submit a cool photograph of graffiti they found at some cross street, while in Bed-Stuy someone may submit a YouTube video of Biggie Smalls.”

Neighborhoodr is run off of the micro-blogging platform Tumblr. About a month ago, after being pushed by Blakeley, Tumblr changed its format so that even non-members could quickly and easily post on a Tumblr page. Blakeley recognized the power of the crowds after he created This Is Why You’re Fat (www.thisiswhyyourefat.com), a popular satirical Website that relies on user-generated content. This Is Why You’re Fat has become an online sensation, attracting thousands of readers and even spawning a book deal.

Whether Neighborhoodr will reach that level of success remains to be seen. But thanks to Tumblr’s generous offer of free hosting, Blakeley and DeRosa are more concerned with building up a user base than finding funding. The site currently has no overhead other than the founders’ and community managers’ time. Even the cost of the servers is absorbed by Tumblr.

“I think a lot of neighborhoods in this city just aren’t covered very well to begin with,” said Hernandez. “The possibilities for a scalable news model like this are really endless.”

Mouse is a nonprofit that gives kids a leg up in our increasingly digital world. Today over 200 high schools in the United States have  a Mouse Squad that lets students play an important role in the technical support of their school.

— Alexander Hotz and Alexandra Waldhorn

The man behind the event was Charlie O’Donnell, a venture capital professional at First
Round Capital and the CEO of Path 101. O’Donnell said that the media had largely missed the growth of New York’s startup sector, and that the event was an opportunity for the two groups to form connections.

There were many interesting startups at the event, but the NYC Sentinel thought these stood out:

1. Let Me Go: A new travel company that allows hotels, resorts, hostels, motels, etc to bid on travelers’ itineraries. Prospective tourists upload where they want to go and what they want to spend. Businesses then battle it out for the customers. Let Me Go gets a 10 percent commission. The beta version should be launching in a couple weeks.
(www.letmego.com)

2. Up Next: A 3D interactive map that connects local businesses with customers. It almost resembles a Google Earth map in 3D view, but looks far sleeker. The four-person startup will release a new iPhone app soon. Stay tuned. (www.upnext.com)

3. Klickable: A very young startup with one ambition – to change how you watch video. In a nutshell, Klickable makes videos interactive. Viewers can click on objects in a film, music video, etc. and then get info on that object. The idea is ripe with moneymaking potential and best of all it’s easy to use. Perhaps a sign of things to come was Jay Z’s recent “Death of Autotune” video, which used Klickable’s interface to promote the rapper’s clothing line. (www.Klickable.tv)

4. Good Crush: An online social networking dating for college students. Built by a recent Princeton grad Josh Weinstein, Good Crush hopes to become as ubiquitous on campus as Facebook.com. The site is only 1 month old and just based itself in the Big Apple. (www.goodcrush.com)

— Alexander Hotz

Independent professionals work on their different projects during a recent afternoon at New Work City, a Varick Street coworking space. Photo: Alexander Hotz

By Alexander Hotz

For many Americans working at home sounds great. No commute. No tie or pantsuit. No office drudgery.

But for many professionals, especially those in the tech world, the structure of a communal work space is essential.

“It sucks being cooped up,” said Mike Dizon, a freelance web developer who also runs his own startup Shiznitted.com. “You become a little bit of a hermit and you don’t ever leave [your apartment].”

“The walls start closing in on you,” added Ara Anjargolian, an entrepreneur who created the financial Web site Ycharts.com.

To avoid cabin fever Dizon, Anjargolian and many of their peers turn to coworking spaces like New Work City, a gathering spot for independent professionals located in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. Clients pay a daily or monthly subscription fee for a workspace complete with Internet, unlimited coffee and other human beings.

One of the biggest differences between a co-working space and a typical office space is the fee structure. Co-working spaces operate on an upfront payment model similar to a gym membership. At New Work City, for example, rates range from a full-time monthly membership of $500 to a drop in fee of $25 dollars a day for non-members.

The workspaces also tend to have more of an open atmosphere. At New Work City large windows let in an abundance of light, there are no cubicles and everyone can see everyone.

Coworking is a relatively new phenomenon born out of Silicon Valley. The term was coined in 2005 by programmer Brad Neuberg and since then it has spread rapidly across the country and the globe. No statistics exist on just how many people are currently co-working, but the steady proliferation of co-working locations suggest a growing trend.

The Big Apple boasts a handful of coworking locations, each with their own style, community and focus. There’s the green coworking site Green Spaces NY. There are coworking spaces for artists: 3rdWard and Coworking Brooklyn. And, if you’re an ambitious startup looking for a foothold in the competitive New York tech scene, Rose Tech Ventures and Sun Shine Suites. For those not interested in a long-term commitment or are low on cash, Jelly, a free twice-a-month option, may be the best alternative.

Like some of its competitors, New Work City is geared towards small startup operations, but it also counts a large number of one-man bands as reliable customers.

“It’s good having some people to bounce some ideas off of rather than being alone at home with no one to talk to,” said Gib Reimschussel a web developer from the West Coast.

Reimschussel, who has been working at New Work City for two weeks, explored a few of the other coworking sites in New York before settling on New Work City. “A lot of the other options seem to be geared towards small companies and not just towards solo guys looking for a month to month kind of thing,” Reimschussel explained.

Although a large part of New Work City’s appeal is that it’s not an apartment, patrons also cite the community, collaborative atmosphere and networking opportunities as benefits.

“I needed somewhere that wasn’t an office and wasn’t my house and Starbucks wasn’t really going to cut it,” explained Tony Bacigalupo, the self described Mayor of New Work City. A few years ago the company Bacigalupo works for, Desktop Solutions, got rid of its office space. At first he was excited at the idea of never having to commute or sit in a cubicle, but soon Bacigalupo realized that working at home didn’t work for him either.

New Work City has its roots in CooperBicolage, a free coworking site started in October of 2007 by Bacigalupo and his partner Sanford Dickert. Initially CooperBicolage met in the basement of Gramstand, a small coffee shop in the East village. After developing a loyal following, the pair moved their operation to its current Varick Street location, changed the name to New Work City and began charging a fee. Despite starting the business during the depths of the recession, New Work City had thirty five customers signed up on the first day of operation – Nov. 1, 2008 – enough to break even.

“It’s a good community,” said Alex Shapiro another New Work City client who runs his own business TouchGraph from the space. “Rather than feel like an island you feel like you’re a part of something larger.”

— Alexander Hotz and Radhika Marya

Whether you need to know what plays are on Broadway this weekend or if that obscure indie band is rocking out downtown, daily emails from TimeOutNY, Thrillist, Flavorpill and UrbanDaddy are four good sources of information.

Last week representatives from each of those NYC-based companies gathered to speak about the future of their businesses. The venue was a monthly gathering known as the Future of Local Media.

Urbandaddy CEO Lance Broumand, third from the left, gives his take on the future of local media in New York City. Photo: Alexander Hotz

The night’s conversation mostly focused on what these companies were doing to stay relevant as social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook become more ubiquitous. Perhaps the night’s most innovative idea was Urbandaddy’s Finder application.

Like the other companies at the event, UrbanDaddy is primarily an email newsletter that provides users with a daily source of information. What makes it unique is its target demographic: wealthy, young, stylish men living in major metro areas.

The Finder maintains that focus but does so with an interesting and original interactive feature. Visitors first select a topic they’re interested in from a list of two dozen categories. The “First date” category, for example, yields 27 results, all crowded into in a cloudy orb. The user then selects another category. “Eastern Bloc,” easily one of the stranger options available, brings up six different ideas in a separate orb. Where the two circles overlap is a recommendation for Pravda, a pricey Soviet themed bar. Also on hand is a succinct description of the venue, the Web site and the address.

A large part of the Finder’s appeal is that users can mix and match the categories to find what they want. Selecting “Power Lunch,” “Martinis,” and “Hotels” creates a Venn diagram of exclusivity. Not surprisingly the only option is a downtown Four Seasons.

Even if you’re not a wealthy male in the Big Apple, check it out: http://thefinder.urbandaddy.com/

— Alexander Hotz

New Work City is one of a handful of co-working spaces in New York City. On November 1st the space will celebrate its one-year anniversary.

— Alexander Hotz

Last week the White House said it would distribute Obama’s speech to schools across the
country. But critics accused Obama of using the schools as a platform to further his
political goals. That view, however, was not shared by anyone I spoke with at this Bronx
school.

“I think it’s a positive message if you ask me,” said Alison Van, a kindergarten teacher.
“I’m hoping that we will be allowing the kids, especially the older kids, to view the
speech.”

Van’s comments were typical of both parents and educators, all of whom scratched their
heads to explain the quarrel. One of Van’s colleagues, Matthew Moran, greeted students by
the school’s gate. “I think a lot of parents thought he was somehow going to project a
political message,” said Moran, a fifth grade math and science teacher. “But from the
excerpts I heard, it was just a positive message about children valuing their education.”

Parents dropping off their children also sympathized with the president’s comments. “I
heard it on the radio and loved it,” father Michael Lee said. “I don’t understand what
the controversy was.”

Perhaps the most telling sign of the community’s sentiment was the reaction of Mr. Lee’s
son, Tyrese. Tyrese echoed his father’s comments and stressed his goals for the year. “I
want to get As and Bs,” said Tyrese, a fifth grader. “I don’t want to get Cs. I want to
do my best this school year.”

— Alexander Hotz