Yesterday, the company formerly known as "The Venice Project" announced a revolutionary new way to watch television.  No, this is not the iPhone (although we have had plenty of posts about that one as well, and I would not be surprised to hear that it included a television).  This…is…Joost. 

Currently available only in private beta testing, Joost combines the best of TV and the best of the Internet by offering viewers a unique, TV-like experience enhanced with the choice, control and flexibility of Web 2.0.  In other words, it gives your television a Boost of Juice!

Co-founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the masterminds who brought you Skype, Joost "fills a critical gap in the online video entertainment arena."  Frankly, I never even knew that there was an online video entertainment arena, so this gap must be about the size of the Grand Canyon.  

So, by now, you are asking yourself what exactly is this Joost?  Well, Joost is a new way of watching TV on the Internet.  It which combines new and established technologies to provide the best of both the Internet and TV worlds in one small package. Joost will offer a variety of  programs and channels, as well as the ever-popular advertisements and commercials.  In fact, it is my understanding that Joost ultimately aims to bring you many of the standard commercial television channels…straight to your laptop or desktop computer.

But Joost is not just TV over the Internet, it goes ever further, offering such TV-enhancing features as:

• full live search function for any for programs and channels
• social features like instant chat.

Don’t take it from me, visit the Joost web site to learn more or to sign up for their Beta program.