iPhones are a prime example of great innovation blended with amazing design. And what’s even more is that they create an experience – you don’t think about using a piece of software on a piece of hardware. You touch it, you use it, and your face lights up, you “ooh” and “ahh.”

We introduced our iPhone app a couple of days ago, and your response has been overwhelming. Thanks to you, the Joost iPhone app is one of the top five most popular apps on iTunes in the U.S. today. That’s an incredible step for us, and we’re very proud…

But…

We’re not going to stop working. We’ve read hundreds of emails, reviews, tweets, blog posts. We’ll have an update soon, and we’ll address some of your initial concerns and introduce some of your suggestions – from improving stability and playability to polishing the content navigation and controls. We’re also working on adding our social tools and personalization features to your on-the-go experience – so you can save favorites, for example. Finally, we hope to introduce support for 3G in the future.

Again, thank you for welcoming our 46,000 TV shows, music videos and films onto your iPhones and iPod touches. We’re delighted that you like our first small step toward making Joost available on other devices…and we'll bring you more innovations on this front. Please keep the feedback coming – and if you haven’t done it already, download the Joost iPhone app for free now.

Happy viewing...

Let's be honest...during the holidays it's easy to make some, let's call them interesting, decisions in the interest of companionship. You have all of the ingredients in hand: parties, mistletoe, alcohol, and people dressed up like presents. It's almost impossible NOT to find yourself in a compromising situation.

Hey, it's easy to get depressed about being alone - especially during the holidays. But you know what can make your spirits rise? Realizing how bad it could be.

So, in the interest of raising those holiday spirits, we bring you two of the best relationship reality shows of all time: Cheaters and Hell Date.

Cheaters is what happens when love sours. The Cheaters' crew of surveillance cameras and private investigators follow significant others and spouses who are suspected of - wait for it - cheating...and it never ends well. The spouses/significant others are ALWAYS cheating. Once they are caught, and there's multimedia evidence of their lying and infidelity, host Joey Greco delivers the heartbreaking news (in a subdued monotone) to the jilted lover...and then gives them the opportunity to confront the no-good, lyin' cheaters. 

The confrontations are my favorite part. Sometimes, even when confronted with multimedia evidence of their affairs, the cheaters keep lying. Fists and spit fly amidst desperate declarations of love. Sometimes there are reconciliations, but more often it seems that infidelity simply can't be forgotten or forgiven. 

Hell Date, on the other hand, focuses on the all-too-familiar world of dating. It goes like this: two people are set up on a date - and one is a real single person, which the other is an actor. The real single people think they're being set up with their dream date - while the actors try to be everything the single person hates. 

They spend a full day together, which is a looooooooonnnnggg time for a first date - trust me. Then, just as things seem like they couldn't get any worse...SURPRISE! And the surprise is not just for the dater - you, the viewer, will be surprised too. Trust me. 

THE one and only Grammy Award nominations were announced last night, and I learned a lot. Like the fact that there are 110 potential awards to be won. And five nominees in each category. Doing some simple math, which is about all I am capable of, that adds up to 550 potential songs/artists/groups. Or there could be, except that there's a lot of overlap.

As a service to you, I've gone through all 47 pages of the nominees (okay, I'll be honest: I read the press coverage to figure out who has racked up the nominations), and there seems to be a general consensus.

The Luckiest

Lil Wayne - He leads the pack with 8 nominations coming off his hit album Tha Carter III, which completes Tha Carter trilogy. Until Tha Carter IV shows up.

The Lucky

Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye -  Three noms each. Which we can all agree is nothing to sneeze at.

The "Unlucky"

Leona Lewis and Metallica - Somehow, even though they also received three nominations each...Leona Lewis and Metallica were widely acclaimed to be "snubbed" or "losers" last night. 

Of course, a nomination is something to be proud of - and all the nominees should be proud and relish this moment. Because it will be over all too soon, when the winners are announced. Even with 110 categories, they can't all be winners.

I think the title pretty much says it all, but if you want to watch the entire Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from last night, it's on Joost now.

If you can't sit at work for 45 minutes watching models model lingerie, thenre are clips and behind-the-scenes looks on The Victoria's Secret Channel.

Perhaps you've seen the news today: in what is the "latest setback" in Boy George's downward spiral, the 80's pop star has been convicted of imprisioning a male escort in his London apartment in 2007.

Despite this, it's probably worthwhile to revisit Boy George's brilliance - he really made the '80s so much fun. I remember singing along to Karma Chameleon - although it was probably a decade or so until I realized the chorus was "Karma chameleon" and not "Come-a come-a come-a come-a come-a chameleon."

Don't believe me? Check out this footage of the Culture Club Live in Sydney. It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Actually, the entire Eagle Rock Sampled channel is a good time - and the perfect way to get you through a Friday afternoon.*

*Especially if it's the Friday afternoon after your office's Thursday night holiday party. Ouch. 

I was watching the new TheWB.com web series, Childrens' Hospital,* when I realized that doctors - or at least people who play them on TV - have the best lives. 

Consider all of the TV shows out there about doctors and hospitals - most of them are dramas, but there are a couple of comedies around - and then compare it to your own workplace, or your own life.

Using these shows as a basis for reality, here are the generalizations I've drawn:

1. Only doctors have narrators for their lives. "Normal" people who narrate their lives just look like they're crazy.

2. When a doctor is bored at work, they either pop into a break room for a little daytime action or nap, or they cut someone open. When I'm bored at work, I surf the internet. You tell me which one is cooler.

3. Maybe because they're surrounded by beds, doctors seem to get a lot of action. At least a lot more than I've seen from my cubical or open-office experience.**

Anyway, Childrens' Hospital exposes many of these "truths," and even more (don't you find it funny how many TV show doctors themselves need treatment?) - packs it all into 5 minutes - and features some of the funniest people around (Rob Corddry, Lake Bell and Megan Mullally). Check it out today.

* Not a typo.

** This is a parody, so there is some mature subject matter. That means it's for adults. 

Bea Arthur, who's being inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame today.

I wonder a bit if there is an actual Hall, where costumes or autographed pictures of scripts are preserved behind glass. Or if the Hall gets many visitors. It seems to me like people who would want to visit the Hall of Fame might be better served by watching the show that was Bea's big TV break Maude.

It does seem as good a time as any to revisit the classic, where Bea played a liberal, outspoken woman living dealing with the trials of everyday suburban life. As an aside, it's also a nice look at how far we've come in the last 30 years.

I also started to wonder: who will be inducted into the TV Hall of Fame in 30 years? Jennifer Aniston? Sarah Jessica Parker? They've both won Emmys...

That would be the woman who's back on top of the Billboard 200 with her new album, Circus - Britney Spears.

I admit it - I love Britney. I was already thoroughly enjoying her comeback, and then I watched Britney: For The Record. The documentary follows Britney for 60 days following this year's MTV Awards, and captures what her life is like.

I started watching and really thought I could multi-task my way through this, get a little work accomplished on the side. But I gave up on that pretty quickly - I couldn't tear myself away. But she is like a caged animal in the zoo - whether it's because her father or assistant are helping her pick out her outfits, or the swarms of paparazzi who follow her everywhere, and she only gets to leave the cage when she's dancing.

Tucked into the documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the first two videos from her new #1 album, but you can also watch the full videos of Womanizer and Circus on Joost.

Neil Patrick Harris got a Golden Globe nomination today for his work on How I Met Your Mother. I don't really think he'll win - but hey, it's an honor just to be nominated.

But he has one leg up on the competition - because NPH is a magician. Maybe he can pull that statue out of his pants...

So I just finished my Christmas shopping yesterday, added it all up and realized I spent a small fortune on gifts for my family and friends this year. Whoah. I have no idea how I spent so much – but that’s beside the point.

If you haven't finished your shopping – I hope you can stick to a budget and think of more thoughtful (a.k.a. cheap…or a more friendly term, homemade) gifts to give. Here are some hints to get you started:

• Homemade Cookies: make a bunch of different kinds, wrap them up with pretty cellophane, a ribbon and a bow, and give them to your coworkers, friends or neighbors. Martha Stewart’s Cookies are great - try out some recipe ideas from the book.

• Bottle of Liquor: Every year my friends and I do a “Drunken White Elephant” where we all bring a bottle of liquor and do a gift swap. Even if you don’t have enough drunk friends to pull one of these together, print out a fun drink recipe on a cute card, buy the liquor and required mix-ins and throw them all together in a bag or basket. Watch Mojo for some great drink recipes – after all, don’t we all need a little Sex on the Beach this holiday season?

• Jewelry: I was walking around Manhattan the other day and stumbled into an incredible bead store and thought if only I was creative, I could make some really neat jewelry for a lot less than the prices I pay for them. Then I realized I don’t even need to be creative – FashionMojo has tons of great ideas.

That's just the beginning ... there are tons of fun gift ideas (under $100) for your hard-to-shop-for hipster friends – who can’t use another candle?

Happy Shopping (and Happy Holidays!)

We have some big news today. If, like me, you follow every tech and social media blog out there, you might have heard of Facebook Connect. We announced in October that it would be coming … and today it is here!

What is Facebook Connect? Well, on the most basic level, you can now sign into Joost with your Facebook account. Why does this matter? Well, this lets mesh all (or what you want to share) of the video and social tools of Joost – what you watch, what you comment on or what you shout at – with all of your friends on Facebook – so they can see what you're doing and watch what you're watching. It makes sharing what you like, or what you don’t like, with all of your Facebook friends.

Think of it like this: it’s like having a room packed with your best friends and a wide screen plasma TV with access to 57,000 cool music videos, great movies and TV series. Just add popcorn…the social TV experience has begun.

Here are some of our top-level features from this first release:

• Login to Joost with your Facebook ID

• Post your comments and favorites to your friends’ Facebook feeds (including an embedded version any video you refer to. This allow you friends to watch that video without leaving Facebook.)

• See all your Facebook friends on Joost and interact with them

• Receive notifications and updates via Facebook

This of course is just the beginning, but for now, we are proud to be a part of this step towards adding social features to online video viewing. Thanks to Dave Morin and his team over at Facebook for their great ideas and being so easy to work with.

'Tis the season for giving, after all. So guess what - we have some presents for YOU! New shows and clips that will light up your night. Or your day. 

• The Daily Show's on break now for the holidays - but some of the best clips of the year come from last week. Don't miss the interview with Mike Huckabee or Stewart's description of Rod Blagojevich. And just for kicks, check out The Daily Show's Best Sarah Palin Moments.

• Laurence Fishburne's debut on CSI: was a little bit gory for me...but I was hooked by the story.

• And last but not least, there's a new Naruto!

Tomorrow we'll really get you in the mood for the holidays with our seasonal specials!

And get ready for the holidays! With the days winding down to whatever holiday you celebrate - Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa or the solstice - it really is time to get in the spirit.

Introducing...

1. Very Special Episodes: The Holidays - This holiday season, leave your own friends and family behind, and spend some time with your favorite TV families and friends.

2. Can't get enough of your favorite Christmas music? Neither can we - We Love Christmas Music.

3. But then there's always that person who plays holiday music from Halloween straight through New Year's. You know who I'm talking about. If you have one of those people in your life, may we suggest We're Sick of Christmas Music.

4. Just trying to survive the holiday season? Figure out how to give the best gift, make seasonal food or survive the office holiday party in the Howcast Holiday Survival Guide.

5. Finally, between holiday parties, overconsumption, family traditions and, well, families, the holidays are full of hilarity. No one does it better than the geniuses at Comedy Central, so check out Santa's Sack.

We'll have more takes on the best shows, films and music for the holidays to come. 

There's traffic, there's travel, there's rain, sleet and snow,
There's gridlock and shopping, and lines that don't go.
There's toys to assemble, and technical glitches.
Let's just be honest. The holidays are b*tches.

I don't mean to be all bah humbug, but we can probably agree that the holidays have their highs and their lows. But I think we can also agree that, at the very least, these TV characters are "difficult and unpleasant."

So if you're stuck in a holiday rut, here's a list to make you feel better: b*tches for the holidays.

1. Amanda Woodward, Melrose Place - Melrose Place didn't have a lot of upstanding citizens, but Amanda Woodward took the cake.

2. Speidi, The Hills - Perhaps the most unlikeable couple on TV today.

3. Joan Collins, Dynasty - Arguably the greatest villainess of the decade.

4. Brenda Walsh/Shannen Doherty, Beverly Hills, 90210 - Between her on- and off-screen antics, Brenda/Shannen made the series more fun.

5. Emily Gilmore, Gilmore Girls and Julie Cooper, The O.C. - You know friends who make compliments sound like insults? It's even worse when it's your own mother.

6. Foxxy Love, Drawn Together - Just because she's animated doesn't mean that she can't bite.

7. Blair Warner, Facts of Life - Poor little rich girl.

8. Endora, Bewitched - Mothers-in-laws are notoriously difficult. Be grateful that your mother-in-law can't use magic to undercut your marital bliss.

9. Marcy Darcy, Married..With Children - She put NIMBY on the map.

10. Laura Palmer - Twin Peaks - Did she get what she deserved?

11. Maude, Maude - The kind of b*tch you'd secretely like to be...she didn't take nothin' from nobody.

12. Barney, How I Met Your Mother - B*tch is no longer reserved for females. Take that!

There...do you feel a little better now?

Yesterday, we sent an email to people who had used the Joost desktop software application. This email let them know that we are going to discontinue the software as of tomorrow morning.

There was a lot of speculation about why we were doing this and what this means, which led to a lot of confusion. We'd like to clear that up.

A brief history

The industry was much different when we set out to deliver professional video online in 2006. Bandwidth was very expensive. Content partners were relatively new to distributing their copyrighted material online. With a proprietary, downloadable software running on a P2P network, we were able to distribute professionally-produced content in an efficient, high-quality and protected manner.

We learned a lot after we launched this software, and decided to move to an in-browser experience.

In October, we launched our new website, www.joost.com, which lets you watch videos in your web browser and also brings a lot of the social features we'd had in our software closer to the viewing. We've always wanted to bring video and social interaction together, and the new site makes it even easier. 

It was always our intention to discontinue the Joost software application. 

Why did we do this? Because by discontinuing support for the client, we're able to ensure that everyone who wants to use Joost has a common experience. Focusing on the website has also allowed us to make a lot of improvements quickly: 

• Adding Facebook Connect integration so you can log in and share videos with your Facebook friends more easily

• Introducing an embeddable player, so you can now share videos on your blog

• Improving our electronic programming guide to make it even easier for you to find videos

• And last but not least, introducing an iPhone application

And what's even better is that we're getting a lot of good, positive feedback. 

What about P2P technology?

We have a significant amount of intellectual capital built up around P2P technology - but the reality is that most people don't care how their video is delivered to them as long as it's delivered to them reliably. When we find the right application for our P2P technology, we'll reintroduce it as a new service.

Thank you to all the Joost fans out there - the software application, website and iPhone app. Your feedback helps us make Joost better.

It's movie time...from the potential Oscar winners to the winter blockbusters. And no, we don't have The Day the Earth Stood Still or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (let's be realistic, after all), but if you're interested in these movies, we know you'll like...

• All Things Brad, a retrospective on Benjamin Button (a.k.a. Brad Pitt) himself, with an early cameo as a rock star on Growing Pains and two feature-length movies (A River Runs Through It and The Devil's Own), to his more, uh, social/emotional/relationship endeavors.

• Joost Presents: We Are Not Alone, which gives you a quick look at the movie, but more importantly, answers pressing questions about UFOs, aliens and other "out there" phenomenon. If it can't be explained, doesn't that answer the question?

Of course, you can always check out our Films section for some great full-length movies or independent shorts.

Whether you're stuck in the office or at home with family, you should spend 30 minutes of your day today taking a sneak peek at season two of the HBO hit Flight of the Conchords. It's playing on Joost, and it's much more fun than finishing up your holiday shopping.

Since there's just about a week left in 2008, it's time for us to count down the best of the year.

Up first, we have the 25 most popular videos of the year. These are the videos that you watched the most during the year - music videos, TV shows and film. 

Check them out - from a pop starlet's comeback efforts to funny moments in politics - there's something for everyone. After all, they are your favorites!