No sooner do I buy my latest piece of hardware — the iPod Touch — my gadget lust moves on to something new. That something is a PlayStation 3.

Already impressed with the device’s next-generation gaming potential, media playback options, and the inclusion of a Blu-Ray player — and further tempted by the recent price drop — today’s news that DivX support on the PS3 will be arriving shortly, may have just pushed me over the edge.

Ars Technica reports:

DivX has announced that the Sony PlayStation 3 will soon support the DivX video codec. We suspected as much when the PS3 2.0 firmware was released, as it includes the ability to detect both DivX and Xvid files. According to the DivX team, full support will arrive with a future software update. DivX CEO Kevin Hell said in a statement, “We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3. Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format.”

Of course that “broad library of content” which Kevin Hall refers to, includes lots of pirated content such as Hollywood blockbusters or PVR’d television programs (which don’t expire seven days after download).

DivX content may not always sit on the right side of the law, but until the big studios deliver their content online in the way that people want, DivX will continue to be the MP3 for video, and to that end, every digital video device needs to support it.

Miro, the free open-source video player, has reached 1.0 and launched a spiffy player for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Drop what you’re doing and go get it.

Miro is that good.

Miro is an alternative to Joost, Windows Media, and iTunes for downloading, watching, and organizing your video. We wrote on it extensively in July, and since then it has improved even more.

Its advantages are listed on the Miro Website, but to summarize:

• It’s open-source
• It’s DRM-free
• It’s friendly to all content creators, professional and user-generated alike
• It’s high definition
• It’s BitTorrent enabled
• It has 2,700 channels listed in the Miro Guide
• Of those 2,700, about 200 are from commercial broadcasters
• It connects you to all the video-sharing sites like YouTube
• Miro uses the VLC video engine to play nearly every video format known to man

And so on.

The social networking wars are pretty intense these days. Bebo, the global social site popular in the U.K. and Ireland, is differentiating itself from MySpace, Facebook, and the Google Open Social effort by aligning with TV, film, and music companies.

Bebo announced today Open Media, a new “platform” that gives users the ability to add top-shelf video and music content to their profile pages and share it with others on the network. They become “fans” of a series the same way they can add people as “friends.”

At the same time, Bebo is allowing its diverse content partners like the BBC, CBS, Channel 4, ESPN, Ministry of Sound, MTV Networks, Turner, Ustream, and Yahoo! to use their video players to distribute their content and retain all of the advertising-related revenue.

I want to scream. The reason I like downloading TV shows from iTunes or Amazon Unbox is I can watch them later, when I have time. I pay for that privilege, and for no advertising during the show.

So here comes NBC Direct, the now-in-beta ad-supported service from NBC that lets you download full episodes of the network’s shows to your computer. But guess what? You’ve got 48 hours to view them. In fact, NBC makes the shows available for only seven days after initial airing.

That episode of “The Office” I missed two weeks ago when the DVR failed to record — gone, no longer available on NBC Direct. Same for the first few episodes of “30 Rock.” So what’s the point of a video download service that makes you stick to a schedule, just like network TV?

Since the mid-90s when they launched a 24-hour cable news network and purchased WebTV, Microsoft has been trying to figure out how to marry television with the Internet (see our full history from July). Now, a decade later, they may finally be gaining some traction.

BusinessWeek reports this morning that though only about 500,000 homes get TV service over the Internet from phone companies using Microsoft software, the company’s IPTV efforts appear to be gathering significant steam. AT&T’s U-Verse IPTV service has grown from 51,000 to 126,000 customers over the last quarter and should be available to 8 million homes by year’s end. Swisscom has signed up 50,000 customers for its Microsoft-powered service (about 1.6% of the Swiss TV market). British Telecom, meanwhile, has designs to sign up 2-3 million IPTV customers within the next 5 years, on the back of Microsoft solutions.

Joost has just announced its first developer days, which the Internet TV company is promoting as a chance to meet some of their developers and get some tips for building widgets. Here are the details of the Developer Days. If any last100 readers plan to attend, contact us if you’re interested in writing a guest post about your experience.

Note that some of the presentations will be filmed and Joost will upload them onto a special Developer Channel in Joost later in the year.

Who:
These workshops are aimed at developers with at least basic knowledge of html and javascript

What:
* a (free) lunch
* short presentations from the widgets team at Joost, including an introduction to building widgets, and an update on widget features in new releases
* a preview of our first commercial widget
* the opportunity to work on a widget or two yourself or use the workshops to get hands-on help for widgets you’ve started to develop.
* we’ll finish up with a drink or two and some free stuff to take away.

Where and when:
* initially in three locations: London, Amsterdam and New York.

London (Covent Garden) – 1pm – 6pm – Friday 16th November
Amsterdam (Central location) – 1pm – 6pm – Saturday 1st December
New York (Financial District) – 12pm – 5pm – Friday 7th December

To register your interest, RSVP to dev-workshop@joost.com and let them know which Developer Day you would like to attend and whether you would like to bring a friend or colleague. Joost will then send you more details on the location and format of the day. You may have to go on a waiting list, but they will let you know if that happens.

You got to admit one thing about the TV networks. Unlike the digitally-careful print media, these TV guys are willing to experiment with digital strategies, fail, dust themselves off, then try something new in hopes it will stick.

Just look at NBC Universal this week. They start off with the beta launch of Hulu, the online joint venture with News Corp. that was first touted as a “YouTube killer” but ended up being a boutique streaming site for the networks’ content.

A couple of days later, NBC U president and chief executive officer Jeff Zucker spits on Apple, saying the Steve Jobs-led company has “destroyed the music business” and must be stopped before it does the same to video. Just a few months earlier, Zucker said NBC Universal was pulling all of its content off iTunes when the network failed to get what it wanted in contract renegotiations with Apple, a bold move to be sure.

Now NBC U is reported to be shutting down its stand alone comedy site, DotComedy.com, according to Mike Shields of MediaWeek. Shield’s sources indicate that DotComedy, which launched in mid-2006 as a part of NBC’s focus on digital media, will fold and move the site’s content and traffic to NBC.com and, presumably, Hulu.

Now you have no excuse for missing that Golden State Warriors game. You will be able to watch all games televised by ESPN and TNT this NBA season no matter where you are and what equipment you have on hand.

Thanks to new digital rights, ESPN and TNT will start the NBA season by streaming games live on their broadband outlets — ESPN360 and TNT Overtime (available on TNT.tv and NBA.com). You can watch games on TV, on your phone, or on a computer. (MediaDailyNews.)

Two great looking Internet TV-related conferences next month: Streaming media West (a current last100 sponsor) and GigaOm’s NewTeeVee Live.

Streaming media West

Streaming media West is a three day conference that runs from November 6-8 in San Jose, CA. In their own words, Streaming media West:

… covers both the business of online video and the technology of streaming, downloading, Webcasting, Internet TV, IPTV, and mobile video. Covering both corporate and consumer business, technology, and content issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast, and education markets, Streaming Media West is about more than just streaming!

NewTeeVee Live

Organized by the team behind the superb NewTeeVee blog (edited by Liz Gannes and part of Om Malik’s GigOm Network), NewTeeVee Live is a one day event to be held on November 14 in San Francisco. In their own words, NewTeeVee Live is:

… a premier event showcasing the online video industry’s hottest topics, most talented video producers, promising technologies, leading innovators and top funding executives. The keynote and panel speakers for this event have been selected by the editorial team behind GigaOM and NewTeeVee.

At last100 we hope to bring coverage of both events (either in person or virtually), and if any of our readers are attending and would like to contribute reports, get in touch!