Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Internet, realized, with 24-7 online cat TV channel

Pluto.tv, an online television network, offers a round-the-clock channel full of nothing but cat videos. Don't fret, dog owners, there's also a channel for canines.
CNET test cat Archer
CNET test cat Archer is ready for his close-up, Mr. DeMille. Amanda Kooser/CNET
What do you do when you're all caught up on Cute Overload and you don't feel like trawling through the YouTube waters to seek out cute cat videos? You turn to Pluto.tv's Cats 24/7 channel. It's cats. All day. All night. Big cats. Roomba cats. Domesticated house cats. Cats, cats, cats.

It's OK if you haven't heard of Pluto.tv. The online service just launched at the end of March. It tries to replicate the regular TV-watching experience online. A guide-style set of television listings lets you scroll through and choose online stations like Indie Films, Sketch Comedy, and Commercials 24/7 (just in case you can't get enough of marketing).

Pluto.tv has equal-opportunity offerings for dog lovers. The Dogs 24/7 channel is just like the cats channel, but with a much higher canine-content quotient. If you're not picky about the species, then tune into the Crazy Animals channel.

I can absorb cat videos the way other people breathe air. I figured I would find Cats 24/7 entertaining, and at worst it might suck away all the productivity in my life, leaving me staring at my computer screen saying "awww" while forgetting basic things like eating and finishing my work on time.
Something else happened, though. I checked in while a show called "Cats Gone Viral!" was playing. Mostly, it's a collection of low-quality YouTube videos of cats doing cute or funny things. After a few minutes, I got bored and wandered away. I had seen most of the videos already, and the poor video quality combined with shaky-cam footage was more than I could take.

Not all hope is lost here. It was just one show. I went back for more. A show called "Putting Up With Humans" started promisingly with a high-quality short video of a person dressing up like a cat tree. Then it descended back into YouTube reruns for a bit. I guess it's not too surprising when you think about the sheer amount of cat content generated by the video-sharing site. You'll find the whole quality range on display, from an awesome video of fashion designers doing a photo shoot for a cat calendar to overly long videos of dogs barking at upset cats.

What I've learned is that Cats 24/7 is just like any other television channel. Some shows are fun, some shows aren't so hot. Still, I can think of no reality where having a constant cat channel is a bad thing.

(Via Geekosystem)

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