Joost, with its limited beta and coveted invites, has become the next hot thing but unless you’re in on the beta program, there’s not too much information out there about what Joost is. So I thought I’d jump in here with a quick summary.

Joost is from the Skype people. The same people who founded Skype are behind the Joost effort.

Joost offers free streaming ad-supported video. Joost provides fast and efficient video streaming at surprisingly high quality given the actual bandwidth they use.

Joost plays back better than NBC Replay, CBS Innertube, etc. The video is smooth and watchable, far superior to what you find at the network sites.

You can’t skip the commercials. Joost isn’t TiVo.

Joost has premium content. Although the current content on offer is very similar to what you’d find for free on on AOL TV, Joost has obviously penned deals with Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and BET, because some of their shows are already available for viewing. These are not the greatest shows, or even the most current shows, but they do provide a proof of concept that robust and watchable ad-supported TV-on-demand can be delivered effectively.

I love Rocky & Bullwinkle. And there are lots of episodes to watch. Plus Mr. Magoo. And, despite the Garnier and Eclipse gum commercials, my kids are learning to love them too.

It’s still beta. So sometimes there are program interruptions, and sometimes parts of some menus don’t display, but all-in-all it’s watchable and fun.

Intel Mac only. Joost does not support PPC. But it does run on Apple TV.