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Cello Wars musical parody of 'Star Wars'

This is so cool. A group of musicians calling themselves The Piano Guys released a video of two Jedi playing the theme from "Star Wars" on dueling cellos.

"Why Star Wars Cello? Because of our unending admiration of George Lucas, John Williams, and the most EPIC movies and film score ever created," the guys stated on YouTube. They say they "like to put a new spin on classic stuff and a classic spin on new stuff. It's a must-see video for fans of the space opera.… Read more

Digital video-ad startup BrightRoll raises $30 million

BrightRoll, a San Francisco startup providing digital video advertising services, has raised $30 million in financing.

BrightRoll currently manages 2.25 billion video ads monthly, or nearly one out of every three video ads served in the United States, according to data from comScore and BrightRoll's internal reporting. The company reports it has reached more unique viewers than Hulu and the top four television network websites combined.

The company says its year-old mobile network currently generates about 250 million monthly pre-roll video impressions on 6,000 mobile apps and websites.

"We challenge the assumption that the networks who … Read more

WeVideo: The next big thing?

On Day 2 of the Streaming Media West Conference, I got a chance to check out the brand-new, full-featured online video-editing platform called WeVideo. In short, I was very impressed.

WeVideo is basically a Final Cut Pro clone in the cloud. You don't have to install or buy anything to use it (the basic free account), and it performs in real time, with very little waiting for rendering.

Obviously, WeVideo's use of the cloud is a huge convenience that helps free up your hard drive. But more importantly, it enables what is perhaps WeVideo's biggest selling point: … Read more

YouTube bares dilemma over 'man boob' videos

Nearly seven years after its founding, YouTube employees still fiercely debate where to draw the line between titillating content that may or may not be acceptable.

Including videos of man boobs.

"Recently we had the issue of man boobs--do man boobs need to be age-restricted or not?" Victoria Grand, YouTube's director for global communications and policy, said today, referring to that unfortunate medical condition caused by abnormal development of male mammary glands.

Man boobs, also known as gynecomastia, is an unlikely but popular category on YouTube, in part because mischievous uploaders may imply the exposed bosoms are … Read more

Wondershare's ultimate video converter

Wondershare's Video Converter Ultimate is, as its name suggests, the ultimate video utility for Windows users. But more than just a file converter, the program is a DVD ripper, DVD burner, Web video downloader, 2D-to-3D converter, audio ripper, and even a bare-bones video editor.

It's interface is simple and straightforward, as it has all the major functions laid out as icons along the top of the window. All of the controls are intuitive, and it even lets you drag-and-drop video files.

For the most part, Video Converter Ultimate performs exceptionally well. Exactly as advertised, it lets you quickly … Read more

Twitter Integration in iOS 5: A closer look

Among the many new features in iOS 5 for Apple's mobile devices, one seemingly small addition will make sharing your life in fewer than 140 characters much easier.

Integrated Twitter features are now an option in most of the main iOS apps, and on first use, you'll see just how easy it is to send tweets from your browser, photo app, YouTube, Contacts, or Maps. iOS 5 doesn't come standard with a complete Twitter experience that lets you browse tweets as well, but during your first setup you'll find a handy button for downloading Twitter's … Read more

Dim everything but media in Chrome or Firefox

Cinemas dim the lights during showings to help eliminate distractions, making it easier for you to focus on what you came to see. With media sites like YouTube, it's easy to become distracted by the other content on the page like the recommended videos or comments sections. And let's face it, not all videos look good in full-screen mode due to low resolutions. Wouldn't it be nice if you could dim the lights on the rest of the page to cut out the distractions? Well, there happens to be an add-on for Firefox and Chrome that does … Read more

Does silly new fitness device Free Flexor work?

There's a new fitness gadget making the rounds. Even more silly (not to mention sexual) than the good ol' Thigh Master and newcomer Shake Weight, the Free Flexor makes us giggle when it's in use.

Just watch the below commercial we found on YouTube, for starters. Within seconds, you will probably blush, laugh, and copy and paste the URL. We'd tell you why it makes us laugh, but we're too ashamed to get into it (no pun intended). Guaranteed, you will share it with your friends. Some of them might even buy it for novelty alone.

I'm not judging--I have a Shake Weight at home. I don't know if it really works, but it sure is a great conversation piece at house parties.

Now about the Free Flexor... We have yet to try it, so we couldn't tell you if it's effective or not. To get the lowdown, we turned to fitness experts for their opinions.… Read more

Orb Live streams tons of media

Meet Orb Live, a versatile media app that lets you stream free Hulu content, premium videos, and even your home media library right to your Android device. Since it requires no subscription fee, it's $9.99 download price may be a great deal for those wishing for more multimedia on the go.

Here's how it works. First, install Orb Caster on your PC or Mac (for free), and point the program to your multimedia folders so it knows which files to make available for streaming. You can also point it to your iTunes and have it stream everything … Read more

RealDownloader really downloads in just one click

RealDownloader is perhaps the quickest and simplest online video-downloader for Windows that we've seen. Unlike many of its competitors, when RealDownloader says one-click, it seriously means just one click.

When you install RealDownloader, it integrates with your browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE are supported), so you don't have to boot it up every time you want to use it. It just detects when you're on a supported site, and pops up whenever you roll over the top-right corner of a video. From there, all you have to do is click the small pop-up button that says "… Read more