Todays Takeover Rumor Bought to You By Google And Sirius

The Motley Fool is running a story on a rumor that Google is considering a takeover offer for US Satellite Radio provider Sirius.

The merger between Sirius and XM has yet to be approved by Federal Regulators and hence Sirius would become a takeover target if the merger failed. Google is still seeking more inventory for its Adsense for Radio program; hence buying Sirius would provide it with its own radio network from which they could sell advertising.

It would be easy to dismiss the rumor as being fanciful, and many already have, however any serious Google watcher knows that Google’s ambitions seem to have very little or no bounds. The advantages of Google acquiring Sirius from an advertising view point are obvious, and Sirius also streams a portion of its content over the web as well; a service that would bring Google into internet radio broadcasting. However, there is one additional factor that isn’t being discussed much: Sirius’ Loral FS1300 satellites.

Sirius’ current three elliptical orbiting Loral FS1300 satellites are being primarily used for streaming the Sirius Radio service, but are planned to be used for streaming television as well. More importantly: they can push data two ways; the Loral FS1300 satellite being used by may other companies for that very purpose. In buying Sirius, Google would own 3 orbiting satellites (with one spare and one being built) which they could use to provide internet access or a related data service to the United States and Canada. Google + Sirius would equal Google being everywhere over the largest market in the world. Capacity may dictate a non-universal use for the satellites (such as providing an ISP service), but they could work for an in-car internet service or similar mobile function. Bringing highspeed, low cost internet access to the car has long been dreamed about, Google could be planning to do just that.

Sclipo Releases Live Video Teaching For Hire

Sclipo, a video how-to site similar to SuTree and 5Min, lets you post short recorded educational videos. Recorded video, however, has it’s limits. It’s largely a one-size-fits-all solution that doesn’t let you clarify your instructions or adjust according to the background of your pupils. To confront these short comings, Sclipo has softly launched a new live video feature, “Sclipo Live”. Sclipo Live lets you teach for money one-on-one through live video conferencing. It’s currently available by invite only.

The live video sessions are organized into a directory listing the time of the session, who’s leading it, and what it’s about along with a price. The actual teaching session features live video feeds of the teacher and student along with chat. The whole session is recorded and synced with the chat for easy review later. After the session is concluded, the student can rate their teacher.

The feature set is currently pretty basic. There are now built in testing features or free-form whiteboard. Screen sharing is a noticeably absent feature.

Sclipo joins a host of other companies aiming to monetize user generated content through a consulting marketplace. Ether and Wengo are two services aimed at helping professionals charge for their consulting time. Ether does this through a pay per call model while Wengo does it through a paid a one-on-one video conference.