These sites offer full episodes of both classic and recent television shows with “limited commercial interruption.” The content differs site-to-site, as each has signed agreements with different content providers, some corporate, some independent.

Hulu, owned by NBC and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp offers a lot of shows and even movies. The other night I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with just four commercials popping up overall. Not bad. Hulu doesn’t offer anything in the way of independent shows, but it does offer “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” (a couple of personal favorites). You can also watch PBS shows like “Carrier” and “NOVA” on Hulu.

The owners of Joost have signed deals with Warner Music and Viacom, and the service, using a peer-to-peer network, offers a wide variety of streaming videos. Miro is a little different in that it allows users to upload content. It also offers a lot in terms of independently produced content. And it uses file sharing device BitTorrent to enable its users to download, not just stream, videos.

LiveStation is unique in that it offers news and public affairs shows streamed live. Right now, you can watch Al Jazeera in English and BBC World on your computer. More stations will be added soon.

It is even possible to stream hi-def television — albeit on a limited basis. You can do that with some movies via Apple TV. Netflix has recently released its Netflix Player, which allows you to play streamed (though not hi-def) content on your TV. TV on the Internet is now truly an alternative to cable TV.

Productions of Thirteen/WNET are also up for viewing online. There is much to choose from, from something as important as “Wide Angle” to something as fun as David Byrne’s music installation in the Battery Maritime Building, the focus of a recent “Sunday Arts.” We even have archived several shows from the early days of public television, including an interesting news show called “The 51st State.” For a nice introduction to the history of public television, go here. Also of great interest is this video of the opening broadcast of Channel Thirteen featuring Edward R. Murrow.

Our last event of this season will be at V-me’s Niños Day at the New York Hall of Science on Sunday, June 22nd. Come join Digit and all the other V-me characters from 10AM-4PM. Kids will have the opportunity to take pictures with characters, play games, participate in story-time, view special screenings, see a puppet show and much more!

In memory of Tim Russert and his many contributions to our country and our industry, see the memorable talk he gave at the 2007 Teaching and Learning Celebration.

Last year, our public television community, Thirteen/WNET launched an event to nominate Outstanding Child Care Providers in the Thirteen/WNET viewing area. From October 15th until January 15th we, WNET received many nominations for extraordinary childcare providers.

From the large group of nominations we were able to select four Outstanding Child Care Providers to nominate as Thirteen/WNET recognized Child Care Providers of New York. All finalists were then sent on to A Place of Our Own and one truly outstanding provider was selected to be featured on the program.

Review All Recently Featured Child Care Providers

Good luck and Best Wishes to them.

Then, I discovered the book, What Color is Your Parachute?, that helped me identify exactly the kind of institution I wanted to work in, one that had the imagination, the power and the commitment to enrich people’s lives.

And I found Thirteen. I was hired by Tim Gunn to produce education materials for HERITAGE: CIVILIZATION AND THE JEWS, which was being produced by Arnie Labaton, with the series producer, John Fox, who’s also here at Thirteen.

My dream then was to create engaging materials about important issues, and I have been living that dream here at Thirteen for 25 years. Thirteen has been a perfect home for me and my dream.

My story at Thirteen has been my autobiography; my personal and professional growth, my triumphs, my joys, all have been woven into my life here.

In these 25 years, there have been times of turmoil. I’ve gotten through them by keeping my focus on creating publications that would make the producers proud, the Thirteen community at large proud and that I was proud of. Along the way, I was helped by extraordinary mentors: Bill Moyers and Tammy Robinson, to name two — tough, generous people of imagination and great compassion.

I have so many friends, who are so dear to me, that I don’t want to single anyone out. But I hold everyone at Thirteen close to me — my friends in the programming staffs, in design, in finance & accounting, the mail room, shipping & Bay 3, marketing, underwriting, business affairs, human resources, legal, publicity, I&B, please forgive me if I’ve missed an area — your faces come to me as I run through these…

I want to thank Ron Thorpe, a man of vision, commitment and passion, who’s made it tough for me to leave, because of the exciting things he’s doing for education; and to thank my friends and team members: David Reisman, so talented an editor, as well as an artist, that you won’t even know I’m gone; Cris Draper, who’s become a first rate producer of our visual materials, and whose joy in life has lifted the department and sustained me. Bob Adleman, my dear friend and colleague, talented musician, whose incredible financial insight has kept me in the black all these years and the designers who have consistently made the stuff look great. And my wife Donna, a woman whose beauty and talent and generosity of spirit are as strong as the day I married her, who now will have the difficult prospect of contending with me full time.

It’s been fantastic to be here. It’s hard to leave, but it feels like the right time, and I want to do it before you change your mind about me. You’re the greatest. Thank you.

Last week the city’s Department of Education finally sent out letters about 2008-2009 school assignments, and fortunately William got into his first choice for middle school (Delta). Most of his classmates are going there, too. It’s a good thing, since Caroline was talking about home schooling him if it didn’t work out.

On June 7, my family and I went to the MoCCA Art Festival, an annual indie comics event at New York City’s Puck Building. My daughter is a big comics fan, and she explored the exhibits on her own, meeting many of her favorite creators and getting them to draw in her sketchbook. The exhibit halls were jam-packed, and William got a great T-shirt of a deep-sea, bioluminescent fish luring a smaller fish. While we were there, we caught up with NATURE comics artists Sabrina Jones and Lauren Weinstein — Sabrina’s graphic novel biography of Isadora Duncan is being published later this year, and Lauren’s Goddess of War is hot off the presses. At the Picture Box table, I also got to meet one of my favorite filmmakers, Michel Gondry, who was autographing copies of his one-shot comic, We Lost the War but Won the Battle. He even drew a quick sketch of me in the comic book when he signed it. What a mensch!

Here at the Educational Publishing Department, we’re planning a bunch of new publications for fall and spring. In the Fall, there will be a new guide to WIDE ANGLE (season 6), including Dishing Democracy, Gold Futures, The People’s Court, and Brazil in Black & White. We’re also planning a new NATURE comic book, including Clever Monkeys, The Wolf That Changed America, and a program about dragons. In Spring 2009, we’re working on materials for THE HUMAN SPARK, THE MUSIC INSTINCT, and a NATURE teacher’s guide for a program called The Loneliest Animals, about the world’s most endangered species.

Robert Miller, the Director of the Educational Publishing Department, is having his retirement party today — we’ve worked together for many, many years, and Thirteen/WNET won’t be the same without him. He’ll still be involved with educational publishing, including his project La Cronica and a new Web site. Thanks for everything, Robert!

The expanded site doubles the number of resources available to educators, all designed to enhance the teaching of Global and World History using WIDE ANGLE video and associated materials.

Visit the web site to find:

An expanded video bank with over 80 downloadable WIDE ANGLE video segments from Seasons 1-6;
New Background Essays and Maps;
Newly formatted video page with flexible viewing options and a variety of media formats;
Improved organization of the Video Bank, including new Location index;
New search function, and more!

I hope you will explore the site when you get a chance, and as always if you have any comments or suggestions, please list them.

Thanks,
Mikki

Matthew is playing both Max (the easy-going and likeable dad of a good friend of the CyberSquad) and an evil robot version of Max created by the villainous Hacker in order to ruin both Father’s Day and Max’s spotless reputation.

For more details….

My eight-year-old son loves computer games. Eli’s first question upon entering my apartment is always, “Can we play video games?!” While we enjoy playing board games, there is always a special excitement when we get to sit down at the computer and check what’s new online.

I was the same way when I was his age. My first video game experience was with the Atari 2600 system, back in 1983. I have fond memories of playing Donkey Kong on that system — in spite of the fact that I could never get past the second level. As I have grown older, I have continued to play video games on several different console systems and, especially, on my PC. Over the years, my coordination has improved quite a lot, and the last time I played Donkey Kong I made it to the third level (in my defense, it is actually one of the most difficult games ever designed).

While there has been much controversy about the negative effects of gaming, it cannot be denied that gamers have received many, many hours of pleasure from video games. Whether blasting aliens, saving the princess, or even bouncing a pixilated ball around the screen, they are an important part of our culture, and their influence is only growing. According to the Web site “Ars Technica,” total video games sales last year were $18.85 billion. About half of that went to actual games for consoles, PCs, and hand-held devices. The other half was spent on the new generation of console units.

What accounts for this phenomenal popularity? Steven Johnson, in his best-selling book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter offers an interesting theory. He writes, “A strong case can be made that the power of games to captivate involves their ability to tap into the brain’s natural reward circuitry.” He further explains, “If you create a system where rewards are both clearly defined and achieved by exploring an environment, you’ll find human brains drawn to those systems, even if they’re made up of virtual characters and simulated sidewalks.” In other words, gaming’s reward is found in the journey, not the destination.

Simulation games like Electronic Arts’ SimCity are being used in some classes already. This is an interesting video about what one school board in Orange County, California is doing with games.

It will be interesting to see how games evolve in the next few years. I hope that they can expand into the world of education and become a useful part of some curriculums. I am sure Eli and a lot of other kids would like that.