MSN Soapbox -- Microsoft's YouTube -- effort went public beta two weeks ago and our impression was nice effort but too late. The interface works well and the videos integrate -- albeit not smoothly -- with the Spaces and Live properties. Late to the game, they are not likely to gain a critical mass of user generated content. But with the infrastructure to the TV set of Xbox 360 and Vista Media Center, they have the long term potential for establishing an alternative route to the TV.

This latest development won't draw much attention but will be looked back as a pioneering effort in bridging the Web to TV: the latest beta iteration, v0.8.5, of Mobileware's Big Screen Headlines application for Vista Media Center now supports Soapbox Media RSS feeds. "Big Screen Headlines ... allows you to monitor and read text RSS feeds, as well as watch and listen to podcasts and video podcasts." Though the Soapbox site uses a Flash player, the feed itself links to a Media Center playable wmv stream. This bridge won't work for YouTube or Google video. We don't see many people besides early adopters watching internet videos this way for now, but it does establish the potential of the platform.

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