Web 2.0, SM West, Fierce 15, oh my!

Here at FierceOnlineVideo, we're getting excited about the next few weeks of coverage. Editor-in-Chief Doug Mohney will be in San Jose at Streaming Media West next week, so be sure to let him know if you're planning on announcing something interesting there.

Stay tuned for the upcoming FierceOnlineVideo Fierce 15. On Oct. 1, we'll start rolling out this year's list of the 15 biggest movers and shakers in the rapidly growing online video space. We'll give you five a day Wednesday through Friday, so be sure to check the site for updates. Originally, we had planned to roll out the list last week, but some of the arguments over which companies should make the list became quite heated.

We're also moving to get more online-only content on the site, so thanks to those who pushed for it in our reader survey.

This week, I visited Interop 2008 and the Web 2.0 show in New York City and saw some cool exhibits that may make a splash in the online video world.

Though it may be incredibly impractical for both enterprise and home use, and it will set you back several thousand dollars, the Microsoft Surface is pretty freakin' cool.

I watched a demo of its capabilities, and I was impressed by its speed, ease of use, and functionality. The tabletop display unit is really impressive, and opens up all sorts of new computing options, as users can open several windows concurrently and move them around the interface via the touch screen.

I had dreams of watching NBC and Adobe's streaming video feeds of NFL games on Sundays with my fantasy football stat tracker opened up, as well as windows where I could search for player bios and team statistics and read expert live blogs about the games. Gamers could really get a kick out of playing their friends literally across the table...Ok, you get the picture: Lots of computing power, cool interface, really impractical, but if you have the money, Surface would be a cool addition to your living room.

I spent a while with the KickApps people, and I was also impressed by their video widget offering. I walked through the process with one of their staff, who showed me how simple and cost-effective their offering is. KickApps offers several interesting display options, such as a 3-D video carousel and customizable video landing pages.

What's more impressive, is the ease at which you can drop the content into your site and place your own ads over it. KickApps had 0 customers just 18 months ago, but the representative I spoke to showed me a selection of the more than 300 neat community-driven sites they'd built for organizations ranging from the San Francisco 49ers to CW's "Gossip Girl" television series. The selected sites showed off KickApps versatility and customable interface.

- Pete