An Apple patent worth gawking at, given its grander ambitions for advertising , iTunes and TV subscriptions : It details a way to make you watch ads embedded into video content, like say, a free or cheap TV show. Conceptually, it’s not too dissimilar from what you see with Hulu, actually—essentially, in order to unlock further segments of the video, you have to watch an ad. You know, just like real TV worked, before DVRs! The patent goes in-depth about how ads would be embedded with content that could be downloaded to multiple devices—like an iPhone or iPad—how it’d react to trying to jump ahead of the ad, and gathering statistics about how the ad was viewed or interacted with. The reason it’s interesting, primarily, is that Apple’s reportedly been heavily pitching networks both on selling TV shows for cheap—99 cents—and signing on to an iTunes TV subscription service that would bundle a selection of TV shows from major networks for 30 bucks a month, like say, Gossip Girl from CBS. The networks have been cool to both suggestions, given that TV’s expensive to produce and stuff. Ads, especially ones with detailed usage statistics (and maybe demographics), would help make up the revenue lost by offering shows for a buck, and make $30 subscription a lot more palatable, and possibly even offset the screams of cable operators watching content dance out the door and maybe onto the cloud.

The new TiVo Premiere is like dinosaurs who got upgraded with laser jetpacks: Fancier, but potentially outmoded in a world populated by tons of ninjas with nuclear shuriken. I saved up enough money to buy the first-generation TiVo—one of the Philips models, I think—when I was still in high school, and mostly used it to record episodes of Buffy and Batman the Animated Series scattered all over the vast expanse of cable television. Oh yeah, and skip commercials. No commercials, and Batman whenever I wanted? This is the future of TV, I was pretty sure. Which turned out to be true.

Tragedy! The New York Times is reporting that Viacom is going to pull ” The Daily Show ,” ” The Colbert Report ,” and other Comedy Central properties off of Hulu next week. The reason, as always: money. The bigger question: who’s next? Apparently Viacom realized the importance of “The Daily Show” to Hulu—it’s consistently one of the site’s most popular programs and is clearly in sync with the Hulu demographc—and wanted outsized compensation, possibly including upfront payment.

If you love movies, you love The Criterion Collection . It’s as simple as that. So get excited, because the CC now has a channel on Hulu. As of right now, it only has the first six features from the Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman series, but more should be coming in the near future. Of course, since it’s Hulu, it’s not available outside the US, which sucks. But come on, free streaming Criterion Collection films! It’s tough to complain about that.

TechCrunch is reporting that an iPad-friendly version of Hulu is in the works, and may be ready in time for the tablet’s launch. Oh, sweet mercy, let it be true. The bad news is that the rumor gets pretty vague “industry insider” sourcing. The good news is that the move would make perfect sense for Hulu, especially given that they’ve reportedly already had an iPhone app in the works for some time.

We know that Hulu’s free glory days are numbered , but the question that always follows talk of premium pricing for the video streaming site has been whether people actually use it all that much. Well, to me one billion video views seem like a resounding YES. From the sounds of it, plenty of people would be willing to open up their checkbooks to keep streaming videos. Of course, even those unwilling to pay won’t just be left hanging with nothing to watch because according to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, a “free version of Hulu will always exist” even though the company is in fact “exploring premium pricing.” Now we just have to wait to find out if, when, and what kind of subscriptions will come. [ USA Today ]

You know what’s great? My smartphone puts the world in my pocket. Broadband puts 2,454,399 channels on my HDTV. I can access the internet from a freaking airplane! You know what’s unsustainable?

See this forlorn-looking male model? He’s got a lot on his mind. Really, he’s just like the rest of us — a starry-eyed dreamer who’s headed to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. To this end, he’s shacked up with four fellow photogenic wannabes in a Hollywood crash pad where they’ll be webcast 24-7 for Simon Fuller’s new Internet-only talent show, If I Can Dream .

According to this tweet by All Things D’s Peter Kafka , a ” Hulu for magazines ” will be announced tomorrow—though unlike Hulu, it will probably have subscriptions from the start, and might actually make money. But eh, I doubt it.

That’s a resounding no from Comcast chief operating officer Steve Burke, who unfortunately isn’t able to make this call, at all. But he means well! In claiming the Hulu is safe from potential fees, Burke is speaking of behalf of the Comcast’s recently absorbed NBC Universal, which has a 27% stake in the Hulu venture—the same as News Corp and ABC. In other words, while Comcast execs are now privy to whatever discussions are going inside Hulu, they can’t really guarantee anything without cooperation from the site’s other partners. Including the one that’s loudly demanding that Hulu develop some kind of pay service, soon. In other words, Burke’s answer assures one thing: that nobody, especially Hulu, knows exactly how the site will change over the next year. [ Silicon Alley Insider ]