This morning I'm having some fun thinking more about the implications of some of the new capabilities of FlipShare 5.0, and FlipShareTV...

So, you can buy a box, hook it up to your TV, connect a USB key to your computer, and watch anything that's in FlipShare, using a remote control.  Also, you can import foreign files into FlipShare (.mp4, .wmv, .avi, .jpg are the filetypes that the import dialog makes available.)  Whatever camera/camcorder you shot it with, if you can get it into one of those formats, presumably FlipShare will play it.  Build a multi-media library and manage it in FlipShare.

With Flip Channels, added in 4.5 and extended in 5.0, you can move anything from your FlipShare Channel into Facebook, YouTube, or MySpace.  With FlipShare 5.0, you can designate anything in a Flip Channel as shareable by anyone to whom you have given access.

Then we have flipshare-tv.com.  That may be a false lead, but someone has registered just about every variation on that domain name with MarkMonitor, Inc., an enterprise brand protection company.  Would that be a new YouTube?  A new source and destination for FlipShare content?  And why do they call them Flip Channels?

Here's another eye-catcher from the docs:

"If someone has shared content with you using Flip Channels, you can also view it on your TV. Back in FlipShare, you need to login on the right side of the Main Workspace using the email address the content was shared to and the password you set up."

Okay, so here's a scenario:

1. I drop a video into a Flip Channel.
2. Anyone whose email I have included on the access list gets an email that new material is available in my channel.
3. If the recipient has FlipShareTV, they drop the URL from the email into their own FlipShare, and they are able to watch it on TV.
4. A new service plan gives you a year's warranty, parts and labor, on all components, for $19.99.

What makes this even more interesting is that it can all take place -- from shooting a clip, to getting it from your Flip into a Flip Channel, to your friends/family members watching it -- in minutes.  And it could go to your whole family, or your whole garden club, or your son's baseball team, in that same short span of time.  Now I think we are starting to get a sense of what Cisco's plan for visual networking is all about.