youtube

YouTube adds Reddit-like features on Super Bowl minisite

YouTube's Super Bowl ads page is looking mighty fancy this year. They've created a new voting platform called Supervote. If anything, it's looking a little bit like Reddit with hot or not voting that moves each ad up or down based on user votes.

The page was set up as completely separate from the actual viewing gallery.

What interests me about this is whether or not this might become a permanent fixture on YouTube. There's already a star system for voting on YouTube videos, but having user-chosen list on the front page of YouTube as a … Read more

Video aggregators at Demo 07: ClipSyndicate and Magnify

Everybody's trying to ride the YouTube wave. At Demo 07, in addition to several video content publishing companies, there are two interesting companies that are working on video syndication and discovery.

First, ClipSyndicate. This site takes licensed videos from various professional sources and makes them available to Web publishers. Site managers can get very specific feeds. The Demo 07 example: a site for firefighters that gets an automatic feed of videos about fires. Looks like a useful service for bloggers and people running industry-specific news sites.

Magnify is similar, but focused on user-generated content (it pulls from YouTube, not … Read more

SplashCast: Share everything in one place

SplashCast, launched today at Demo 07, is a free service that allows users to combine all sorts of media into one master playlist. That playlist can then be embedded on Web sites and blogs or sent directly to friends and family with a simple URL. It's basically the online equivalent of a mix tape. It's similar to YouTube's playlist maker, but with SplashCast, you can also throw pictures, text, and audio into the mix.

What's really cool about SplashCast is that your already-shared media doesn't need to be uploaded again. Pulling videos or pictures from … Read more

Video time: wet cat gadgets

A few months ago, we showcased a YouTube trend of videos that feature cats on treadmills. Well, apparently, treadmills just aren't good enough. The latest cat-gadget videos involve getting the little fellas wet.

Check out this one, for example, of a guy with way too much time on his hands who BUILT A SCUBA SUIT FOR HIS CAT. I am not kidding. On an unrelated note, that is the fattest cat I've ever seen:

And, in the "is this funny or sad?" department, here is the link to a video from a pet store that installed … Read more

News Roundup: Google Video ads, AT&T IPTV, MySpace Mexico, Netscape 9.0

-- Google expands video ad test. Not to be confused with ads placed in user-generated videos on Google Video and YouTube, these video ads from Google will be embedded videos on the page that users must click on to begin. Google is now partnering with content providers such as The Wall Street Journal and Epicurious.com to bring Adsense video ads. (CNET News.com)

-- AT&T to ramp up IPTV rollouts. While Joost and Babelgum have made some noise among the blogs, the prospect of watching IPTV programming on an actual TV is coming closer to being a … Read more

What do you want to know about Joost?

Plenty of blogs have recently been buzzing about Joost, the new online video site devised by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, which was formerly known as the "Venice Project." I've been beta testing it too, but rather than posting a basic walkthrough, I'd like to know specifically what kinds of questions you have about it. So, post your Joost inquiries in the comments of this thread, and I'll answer each one in an upcoming thread about my experience with the beta.

You can be as general as you want ("Is it really going … Read more

Spymac gets less Mac-centric, aims for mainstream

My first run-in with Spymac was a completely accidental encounter a few years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a site that had its own visual style and appeal. It pulled in some design cues from Apple but kept its own sense of personality. This week Spymac has relaunched itself as Leapfrog, a portal for user-generated media.

The old Spymac featured a variety of user services, including e-mail, blogs, and user forums. It was a community-driven site. The new Spymac Leapfrog is all about media. Think YouTube with Google's pastel color palete. Users can browse popular videos, pictures, … Read more

Stephen Colbert explains Cingular and deregulation

The AT&T acquisition of BellSouth and Cingular is final, and even though we haven't seen signs of it on Cingular's front page yet, AT&T will slowly roll out an ad campaign to phase out the Cingular brand. It won't be an overnight change, but much like the AT&T Wireless change to Cingular a few years back, subscribers will definitely see a change on their wireless bills within the next few months.

All this changing of hands from AT&T to the various Baby Bells to BellSouth and SBC and all … Read more

Webware roundup

-- Skype founders name new video start-up Joost. The once-named "Venice Project" now has a real name. The service, which has been in private beta since this summer, aims to bring free, high-quality Internet programming through a Web-based interface. (News.com)

-- Putting a squeeze on Net video. Internet media technology company On2 has some exciting new codecs that could mean streaming high-definition video on services such as YouTube and Google Video in the near future. (News.com)

-- DMCA complaint with YouTube dropped. A controversial DMCA complaint about a video on YouTube has been dropped after the … Read more

CBS and YouTube would like some free advertising ideas from you

YouTube and CBS have announced a partnership in the form of a contest for a chance to be featured during a Super Bowl commercial. YouTubers need simply create a 15-second video of anything they want and join the 15-second user group. The top five videos are picked by judges and put up on CBS.com, where people can vote on which one deserves the spot.

Dove is doing something similar for the Academy Awards, but the winners for that contest will get their own party out of it. There's no prize or revenue-sharing for this YouTube contest, so you'… Read more