Twitter announced on its blog today that it would no longer deliver outbound SMS over its UK number. In its place, the company claims, “Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe, in the coming weeks and months. These new numbers will make Twittering more accessible for all the folks who have been using SMS to send long-distance updates through our UK number.”

Twitter said that it simply can’t afford to support long-distance SMS Twittering anymore and the company claims “it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.”

And while I can understand where it’s coming from, isn’t this the perfect time for Twitter to wake up and establish a real business model?  So far, the site has added users and paid millions to keep it running with nothing to show for it but some venture funding.  And considering it barely escaped ruin after numerous downtimes over the past few months, now is the best time for the service to pull its head out of the sand and create a business model.

So what can it do?  That’s a tough call.  Some believe that it should add advertising to the timeline and others think ads should be placed within each message.  But in reality, there’s no easy way for Twitter to add advertising to the service and it’s going to take a full-fledged analysis of what users would be happy with before it can move forward.

But the clock is ticking.  Instead of spending money, Twitter needs to start making money if it wants to survive and keep its new investors happy.  And if this news highlights anything, it illustrates one point: Twitter seems lost about its business model and it needs to come to quickly if it wants to keep its full offering afloat.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Twitter Mobile InterfaceQuick Fix For Twitter TroublesDon’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearchPyzam and Others Shunned by MySpaceMosio Uses Twitter For Mobile Q&ATwitter Adds GMail Contacts ImportHow Messed Up Is Twitter For You Right Now? [Poll]

Source:Mashable!

Kaltura, the developer of an open-source video platform that has received a number of accolades over the previous 12 months or so, is bringing to market today version 1.0 of its WordPress plugin, designed to give blog owners and readers an easy way to interact through visual media.

Called the Interactive Video Plugin, the utility is best described as a comprehensive, all-in-one package. It works with WordPress 2.5 or higher and it involves everything from basic video posting (a la YouTube, Brightcove, etc.), video commenting (Viddler, Seesmic), as well as some editing, too.

We noted earlier this month the first emergence the WordPress plugin, so today’s announcement of the launch of 1.0 shows Kaltura to be on quite the fast-paced schedule. Kaltura has been on a noticeably well-rounded tear the past year or so, receiving accolades from throughout the technology industry. It is a name which proved itself popular in the Mashable sphere as well last winter, when it received a 2007 Open Web Award for best video-sharing service.

In its present form, the Interactive Video Plugin has virtually all of the hallmark signs of a well-integrated video platform for WordPress users. Its video editor, entirely cloud-based, enables both editing and remixing of recorded material, whether originally produced with Kaltura or gleaned from external sources. Naturally, blog administrators and owners can customize permissions for plugin access, much the same way they have long been able to so far as text publishing is concerned. And the Kaltura WordPress plugin also allows the person(s) in control to track videos.

The plugin is free to use, and as with Kaltura’s MediaWiki, Drupal and PHP & Ruby-specific designs, the company states that downloaders can expect to be able to stream up to 3GB of content each month at no additional cost.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Revver Plug-in for WordpressDouchebag Wordpress Plugin Helps You Curb Bad CommentsKaltura Releases WordPress Integration AppShareThis 2.0 ReleasedThinkFree Plugin for WordPress BloggersYour Wordpress Blog Can be a Forum?Wordpress Plugins Directory - Thanks, Wordpress!

Kaltura is an interesting video collaboration and publishing service that we talked about a great deal last year, but despite their relative quiet this year hasn’t been sitting on their hands.

It’s been a little while, so in case you’ve forgotten, Kaltura was the 2007 People’s Choice award winner in the video sharing category of the Open Web Awards, they’re described by some as a “wiki meets YouTube,” allowing for online video collaboration in the creation of online video. They also work heavily as a company on the challenge of monetizing and creating advertising opportunities for authors and publishers.

Today, though, James Lewin over at Podcasting News tips us off that they’ve just released an interactive video plugin for WordPress blogs versioned 2.5 or better. The plug-in not only makes it easier to embed Kaltura videos in blog posts (which is always a pain, whether it’s Kaltura or YouTube), but it also imports a slew of functionality from the Kaltura toolset into the framework of WordPress for easy access.

They boast a few minute, four step installation process and full integration into the WYSIWYG editor.

Brad Hunstable guest hosted Mashable Conversations last year at the Open Web Awards, and had an opportunity to learn a bit more about Kaltura and what they’re doing. It’s a short video that succinctly sheds some light on their goals and the changing face of the tool they offer from entertainment device to actual business tool, and gave a great list of company-style applications for it.

You can grab the interview by playing the embed below, downloading the MP4 or subscribing to the feed.

Never Miss an Episode!

Get the Mashable Conversations podcast here (video feed).

Get the Mashable Conversations podcast here (audio feed).

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Kaltura Adds 8mm and VHS to Collaborative VideosBoring Library Pictures Get New Life at KalturaAsk Facebook Friends for Missing Pictures with Kaltura Group AlbumsPodcast: A Conversation with Kaltura’s Ron YekutielKaltura Providing Collaborative Video Tools for WikimediaWordpress 2.3 ReleasedWordpress Plugins Directory - Thanks, Wordpress!

The Industry Standard has posted a list of "10 ‘Net services that will succeed and 10 that will probably fail". They apparently are more sure of the successes than the failures.

To view all 20 companies, you need to provide The Industry Standard with 20 pageviews for Intel. You can enter your predictions into their prediction market as well.

Here are the companies on each list. Do you agree or disagree?

Will Succeed:

• Trulia
• SceneCaster
• CafeScribe
• OverlayTV
• Fav.or.it - Mashable wrote about them today
• Hulu
• Huddle 
• Kaltura
• ModiFace
• Cognitive Code

Will Probably Not Succeed:

• Joost
• Twitter
• Zillow
• Chumby - just got funding today
• eCirkit
• Flock
• Spock
• Jobster
• Squidoo
• Second Life

Check out the printer we used for our business cards:

NY-based Kaltura, the online video collaboration site, is announcing a new partnership with the New York Public Library. Over 600,000 digital images can now be incorporated easily into Kaltura’s group video projects.

"We strive to provide users with the most comprehensive, enjoyable and user-friendly experience possible when creating their collaborative Kalturas in a fun, safe, and legal environment; The New York Public Library database is a huge addition to resources that we offer, both in terms of its size and the great value that it brings,” said Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura.

This gets Kaltura a large new base of images for users to utilize when creating their collaborative videos. Not sure how many people will want to use these types of images versus say Flickr, but any additional items for use is a good thing. We included Kaltura in our look at online video in NYC.

In IE7 (not sure about FF), I find a huge lag with Kaltura with all of their overlay windows when creating a video/Kaltura - many times I have already moved off the window and it forces me back to the beginning. No idea why they need all of the overlay windows for creation but it sure is a usability issue from my standpoint.

Adding an image from the Library collection is as easy as from Flickr and the other image sites they support. Here is an image I grabbed:

Earlier this week was the NY Video Meetup. Somewhere around 250 NY’ers attended and viewed a variety of demos and a healthy video discussion. One thing rang true throughout – online video is HOT here in the city. So many companies, so many ideas and a amazing level of excitement/passion around online video.

Here are just a few of the companies in the online video space in the NYC area. I certainly forgot a bunch, so please leave them in the comments.

• Blip.tv - a leader in episodic content (CN Coverage)
• 5min - moving offices to NYC next month - knowledge sharing (CN Coverage)
• Rocketboom - daily video show about anything with host Joanne Colan (CN Coverage)
• Sarah Meyers - lifecaster and podcaster
• For Your Imagination - creating a variety of online-only video shows
• WallStrip - filming in NYC about stocks with host Lindsay Cambell
• Vimeo - video hoster and community creator (CN Coverage)
• ExpoTV - video reviews (CN Coverage)
• Kaltura - video collaboration (CN Coverage)
• Joost - NYC office is North American HQ - television replacement (CN Coverage)
• SavoryNY - restaurants video reviews (CN Coverage)
• WineLibraryTV - ok, he’s in Jersey but we will allow it since he lives in the city - daily wine video show

While other areas of the country and the world are creating online video, NY is where it’s at. Innovation, technology, people, community, it’s all here. And Madison Avenue and Google are here to monetize it all.

NY-based Kaltura has received a good bit of buzz since I first reported about their presentation at the NY Video Meetup last April. Since then they have gone on to win the people’s choice at Techcrunch40 and have launched a useful Facebook application. I had a chance to grab a coffee with co-founder Ron Yekutiel and here are my notes:

Ron describes Kaltura as "wiki meets YouTube". He believes there is a movement going on from text publishing to video publishing and that collaboration in the video space is where Kaltura leads the pack.

Kaltura is seeking to empower other social networks by their use of the Kaltura application. Ron says that while Kaltura.com is a destination site, the real power is how other sites use the tool within their framework.

What I get about Kaltura is that small contributions can equal big productions where everybody has a vested interest in the final product.

Ron spoke about four reasons people collaborate on video:

1. For social progression and to see interaction
2. Text is dead (Allen’s note: I sure hope not!)
3. The number of contributors help to decrease the barriers to contribution
4. The swarm effect of advertising - he sees this as the new model where instead of a 1-1 advertising or many-many, companies will use collaboration to reach their desired customer

The Kaltura team has four co-founders, two are in New York and the other two are in Israel. The team totals 25 people and are in Israel. From what I gather, the leadership of Kaltura might be the most educated group I have come across. Lots of post-graduate degrees from Ivy League schools.

We spoke about the Kaltura business model which is largely based on rev share. It’s an interesting model because it puts the trust in the sites using the application to report the income back as they use their own advertising not Kaltura’s ad platform. For sites that don’t have their own advertising platform, Kaltura can provide one with strong advertising players involved.

Ron left me with some juicy bits about the future for Kaltura but he asked me not to share them at this time. He said they are coming very soon and as soon as I can share with you, I will.

NY-based Kaltura has launched a Facebook application today. Named Friends’ Video Card, it allows you to create and send greeting cards of all types to your friends on Facebook. Kaltura was named People’s Choice at the TechCrunch40 conference last month. What’s great about this app is that it reminds you when your friend’s have an event such as a birthday. Never miss a friend’s event again

The process of creating a card follows Kaltura’s model of creating content together. You can start a card and then have your Facebook friends help with th