On behalf of the Hulu team, I want to wish everyone a warm seasons greetings! I hope you are all finding time to enjoy the holidays with friends and family.

But in case you're looking for a break from shopping, decorating, feasting, and other seasonal merriment, the Hulu team has pulled together some collections of videos from our growing library.

Collections are lists of videos assembled according to some theme. From funny Alec Baldwin moments to Saturday Night Live commercial parodies, we've created a variety of collections for you to enjoy (including a collection of my own personal favorites). If you need some help getting in the holiday spirit, we've created two holiday video collections with memorable episodes and clips from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Doogie Howser, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and more.

We hope you enjoy our new collections. Have a wonderful holiday season!

Robert A Post, Jr.
"OCD over Hulu quality" as Director of Test and Quality Assurance
rob.post@hulu.com

As with many companies that have a staff heavy on techies, we have a particular fondness for science fiction. So we hope you're as excited as we are to see some acclaimed sci-fi series joining our content line- up.

Last week we released all three parts of the miniseries Tin Man, a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the most watched series in SCI FI history. Today we've added a few beloved sci-fi blasts from the past. First is Firefly, writer/director Joss Whedon's sci-fi drama filled with Western motifs. Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his diverse crew travel through space on the transport ship "Serenity" doing jobs, legal and otherwise, to earn a living. We have all fourteen episodes of this cult series, and we highly recommend working your way through all of them sequentially before watching Serenity on DVD as that movie serves as an epilogue of sorts to the television series. To get you started, here's the pilot of Firefly:



Next is Roswell, a series that blended aliens and star-crossed teenage love in a seamless mix that drew a loyal fanbase. The entire first season, which leaned more heavily to teen romance and drama, is now available at Hulu. Katherine Heigl fans can catch her in one of her early feature roles as alien-human hybrid Isabel Evans.

We have also added select episodes from across the first six seasons of The Outer Limits, the Emmy-winning series based on the classic series of the same name from the 1960's. Each episode of this anthology series explored the moral and philosophical implications of advances in technology, in the grand tradition of the best in sci-fi.

Last, but not least, we've added a collection of clips from Matt Groening's Futurama, a show which reassured us that the future would be just as absurd as the present (but thankfully just as funny).

All these series had devoted and outspoken fans, and we hope those of you who count yourselves among them will enjoy this opportunity to reconnect with these shows. Those of you who've never seen these series can jump in at your convenience and see what you missed. Even if you're not a sci-fi fan, it's worth checking in regularly to see what new shows we've added. Our content acquisition team is busy adding new shows to our lineup all the time.

Meanwhile, we have to get back to work. We also have a science fiction story to write, about a future where every one can enjoy their favorite shows anytime, anywhere, through the web.

Eugene Wei
Aspiring Film Director (but instead a Director...of Product Management)
eugene.wei@hulu.com

Are you passionate about television, movies, and other video entertainment? Do you seek out exciting new challenges and opportunities? If so, we'd love to meet you.

Hulu is hiring. We're located in sunny Los Angeles and are looking for people to join our growing team. In addition to mad scientist developers, we're also searching for rock star sales people, attorneys, financial analysts, and other talented individuals.

Check out our new Jobs page for a list of our open positions. If you see something that you'd be a great fit for, send your resume to jobs@hulu.com.

Hope to see you soon!

Tom Fuelling
CFO, SVP of Finance and Administration
tom.fuelling@hulu.com

PS. Here's a short message from our head of recruiting... :)

While we love the convenience of watching our favorite shows on the web anytime we want, we also love the stunning resolution, true colors, and widescreen landscapes of high definition video on an HDTV. We're video geeks at heart. You know the type of person who insists on driving an extra half hour to see a movie at the theater with the nicest projection system in town? That's us.

We've kept our streaming video bitrates at modest levels to allow as many people as possible to enjoy our videos. But computing power and internet bandwidth continue to increase, and with that comes the promise of widespread High Definition video streaming over the web. We're as anxious for that day to arrive as anyone.

Thanks to the efficient compression of the H.264 video codec, that day may be coming sooner than anticipated. Today we're excited to launch an HD Gallery featuring a selection of High Definition video clips at 1280 x 720 resolution. Those of you with a fast internet connection of 2,400 Kbps or higher, the latest build of Adobe Flash Player 9, and a fast computer (check out our system requirements) can stream these High Definition clips and preview the future. We realize the requirements are still fairly hefty, but we know and empathize with those of you who like to stay on the cutting edge and wanted to give you a sneak peek of streaming high definition video.

We’ve limited the bitrates on these HD streams to allow as many users as possible to sample high definition streaming. Even so, we think you'll agree that the results are a huge step up from what we're used to seeing on the web. We look forward to a day when this becomes the baseline for video quality on the web, and we plan to play our part in making that a reality.

If you don't have a fast enough internet connection at home (like me), you can buffer the stream by clicking pause at the start of the video and waiting. Or, you might find that your internet connection at work is fast enough. We're not necessarily advocating that you watch our videos while you're supposed to be working, but if you want to take a moment during your lunch break to watch an HD clip or two, we won't tell.

Eric Feng
Hulu tech guy (and CTO)
eric.feng@hulu.com