NEWS: YouTube/CNN Presidential Debate - Tonight

Web Culture/YouTube/Videos
Found on: Youtube.com

In a matter of hours, the first of two Democratic Presidential debates will be underway, a debate that will be driven entirely on questions submitted via YouTube . The debate will be broadcast live on CNN tonight at 7 P.M. Eastern time - hmm, this could either be totally groundbreaking or utterly ridiculous.

YouTube Post:

This summer and fall, YouTube, CNN and a few engaged and engaging citizens will make political history by having the presidential candidates answer questions submitted via YouTube videos.

The first debate will feature the Democratic candidates on July 23rd in Charleston, South Carolina. Submit your question for the Democrats between June 14 and July 22 (the earlier the better). The CNN political team will choose the most creative and compelling videos, and if yours is one of them, you may get the chance to fly to Charleston to watch the debate live and offer your reactions afterward on YouTube's political video blog, Citizentube.

Video: Sushi

Web Culture/YouTube/Videos
Found on: Youtube.com

It's over eight minutes long but sooooo worth it!



Youtube Stats(as of this post):

Views: 1,009,266
Comments: 820
Favorited: 3292 times


Some of my favorite comments:

Nate6333
Are these pure Japanese people. For some reason they look like they have some white in them .

bayervon
p.s. instead of arguing, some of you, especially the antagonistic ones trying to demean the others, should
invest your time in learning basics of ENGLISH GRAMMAR and taking advantage of that junk spam to increase your penis sizes as that's a pretty good explanation for your inferiority complexes expressed through insipid racist and other incompetent remarks.

Thanks for the link Jacob - yo yo!

Stylehive bookmark of the week: Fisheye Camera

Web Culture/Social Shopping/Stylehive
Found on: stylehive.com

Here's a kick ass fish lens camera for only 50 bucks - now you can take some crazy pictures of your friends when their all up in your grill - so necessary!



Description: Enter the world of extreme close-ups. The only camera in the world with a built-in fisheye lens, this two-tone beauty features a sweeping 170-degree field of view. Barrel distortion compacts your photos to appear as if inside a glass ball: the center bulging larger than life, the borders wrapped to a circular edge. Each 35mm camera includes premium glass optics,
built-in electronic flash powered by one ‘AA’ battery, wrist strap, and editorial booklet.

Tags: cameras,gadgets

URL: veer.com

Spinlets private beta program!

Web Culture/Web 2.0/Website
Found on: spinlets.com

I love getting invited to private betas, they make me feel important and well liked, well liked by other important people that are also well liked...uh okay, I'm totally being facetious, but I do get a lot of invites and not all of them are blog-worthy but this little guy, this little guy is pretty cool.

Spinlets post:

Spinlets are embeddable chunks of code that let you take content anywhere. Create your own "mash-ups" by bringing your favorite YouTube videos, Flickr photos or iMeem music to your blog or personal page. Spinlets work with MySpace, TypePad, WordPress, Blogger, as well as most other blogs, sidebars or webpages. No downloads or plug-ins are needed and they're free.

NEWS: AdMob 'Plugs in' to Mobilize the WordPress Community

Web Culture/Blogging/Marketing/Mobile
Found on: businesswire.com

Could mobile ready versions of blogs powered by Wordpress be the next big thing to hit the blogosphere?

Businesswire.com is reporting that mobile web developer extraordinaire, Andy Moore is working with AdMob, to launch a free mobile WordPress plug-in that may do just that.

Businesswire post:

Mobile innovator Andy Moore of Web2Txt has teamed with AdMob, the world's largest mobile internet advertising Marketplace, to launch a free mobile plug-in for popular blogging tool WordPress. The new offering will enable the global WordPress blogger community to both go mobile quickly and then immediately start to monetize their content from advertising revenue. The announcement was made today at Ad:Tech 2007 in San Francisco, California.

WordPress is a popular open source blogging tool used by thousands of blogs including top ranked TechCrunch, MobileCrunch, Venturebeat and Schobelizer. Andy Moore of Web2Txt, a dotmobi certified mobile web developer, has built a plug-in to enable WordPress bloggers to extend their reach by publishing for mobile phones. The WordPress plug-in integrates AdMob code that gives bloggers the option to include ads in their posts.

INDIE FINDS FOR YOUR UNCOMMON LIFE

Social Networks/Myspace/Profile/Blogger
Found on: Popyourit.com

MissMalaprop.com is the brainchild of Mallory, a 23-year-old indie craft enthusiast living in New Orleans.

MissMalaprop is an indie driven, community based blog that showcases independent artists, designers, eco-friendly products and what’s really going on in New Orleans, her hometown.

MissMalaprop’s blurbs:

MissMalaprop.com spotlights the best in independent designers & artists, eco-friendly and sustainable products, New Orleans & Gulf Coast based businesses and issues, and people & organizations who are working to make the world a better place.

I believe that one person can make a difference and that everyone can be that person.

Twitter of the Week - Swimming with the fishes?

Social Networks/Web Culture/Twitter
Found on: twitter.com

Admiral Ackbar is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, he's basically a giant talking squid. Ackbar (that's what his friends call him.) also happens to be one of my favorite twitters that I follow, but since he hasn't made a new post in almost a month now, I'm thinking he's probably dead and swimming with the fishes somewhere - bummer.

Ackbar's last post:

Picking up distress signal from inside a strange nebula. Taking in the fleet.

Some other memorable posts:

Just received transmission from an old friend. I can get a free Y-wing if I signup for a few free trials and get six friends to do the same.

The Imperials have just delivered a large wooden horse to our shipyard. What a great gift. Moving it into the base now.

Alanis Morissette "My Humps" video parody

Web Culture/YouTube/Videos/Comedy
Found on: Youtube.com

Who says that Alanis Morissette needs to lighten up and get a sense of humor?



Youtube Stats(as of this post):

Views: 577,941
Comments: 1257
Favorited: 2597 times

Some of my favorite comments:

Sle3pyyx3

the only reason Alanis Morissette did is coz she cant get a song back in the charts coz she is fucking shit so she has to make fun of some one who is doing really well with their career

kathrynkavs

OMFG U ARE AN ASS HOEL

Thanks for the link Jacob - yo yo!

NEWS: US Army's computer game recruiting plan takes fire

News/Web Culture/Youth Trends
Found news.yahoo.com

The United States Army has invested an estimated 2 million dollars sponsoring an online gaming channel on the popular GGL website. The channel is centered around a first-person shooter based on the Army's training manual; groups opposing the war are calling this sponsorship as a blatent attempt to find new recruits among young online gamers in the prized recruiting age range of 17 to 24.

Yahoo News post:

Anti-recruitment groups are slamming a US Army deal to sponsor a computer war game channel, charging that real war is no game.

In June, the Army is set to sponsor a channel at the Global Gaming League website, a popular spot for Internet computer game lovers.

"It is part of this campaign for the last 20 years to invade youth culture with militarism," Project on Youth and Non-military Opportunities co-founder Rick Jahnkow told AFP.

"It affects the way young people think. It affects their world view. That is a very dangerous thing."

NEWS: Microsoft sheds light on Flash rival

News/Web Culture/Web Browser/Video
Found on: news.com

Microsoft's so called Flash "Killer" Silverlight, was announced at the NAB show in Las Vegas yesterday.

The Web browser plug-in will be available for both PC and MAC platforms and will play web videos as well as display interactive Web applications.

Microsoft's initial focus will be developing partnerships with advertising agencies, media and entertainment companies.

CNET post:

On Monday at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft launched Silverlight, a Web browser plug-in for playing media files and displaying interactive Web applications.

The company intends to release a beta of Silverlight, formerly called Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E), at the Mix07 conference for designers and Web developers in Las Vegas later this month.




Bonus Link:

Stealing the limelight from Adobe?
With the rapid rise of Web video, the competition between Microsoft and Adobe is set to intensify.

Help Save Pandora and Internet Radio

News/Web Culture/Politics/Internet Radio
Found on: blog.pandora.com/pandora

Internet radio as we know it is in dire straits and could potentially be wiped off the web.

A recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC will almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora which will basically shut them down and put them out of business.

You can do something about it, here's how:

Pandora Blog post:

To add your voice to this movement, please take a minute to sign the PETITION urging your representatives in congress to act at the new website Savenetradio.org.

And please share this petition link with friends: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

NEWS: Groundbreaking Internet Drama to Air on UK's Top Social Network

News/Social Networks/Web Culture/Videos
Found on: sys-con.com

The team that brought us the world's most popular interactive drama: Lonelygirl15 is teaming up with Bebo.com to launch a spin-off called "Lonelygirl15 presents... KateModern," this should prove to be a really smart move on Bebo's part.

sys-con.com post:

Lonelygirl15 was launched last summer and the program has since been viewed over 50 million times. Bebo was founded in 2005 and has over 31 million users worldwide who spend an average of 29 minutes on Bebo each day.

Following the massive success of Lonelygirl15, "Lonelygirl15 presents... KateModern" will expand from the original storyline to that of a teenage university student in London and her struggle to balance her complex social life with the dark forces that shadow her. Containing all of the best loved elements of Lonelygirl15, "Lonelygirl15 presents... KateModern" will leverage the high involvement of its fan base, enabling them to post messages for the show's characters, exchange plot ideas with each other and upload their own videos to the characters' profile pages.

NEWS: LONELY PLANET AND CURRENT TV

Web Culture/Website/Videos/Travel
Found on: lonelyplanet.com



Professional travel documentaries with user-generated content, sounds like a new online video network to me.

Lonely Planet TV post:

Lonely Planet and Current TV have teamed up to launch a new travel television franchise, “The Bluelist,” based on Lonely Planet’s well-known brand of the same name. The series of 26 short-form, three-minute “pods” will be hosted by writers and staffers of Lonely Planet worldwide, and will debut on January 18 on Current TV.

Lonely Planet’s “Bluelist” (www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist) brand presents hip “top ten” lists of travelers’ favorite travel experiences, and the new program on Current follows the same format. The show will spotlight some of Lonely Planet’s writers’ and staffers’ “Top 3” travel recommendations, from the expected (big wilderness escapes; best places for 24-hour party people) to the more unexpected (best places to have an existential crisis; best places to get into a fight).

Monty python - Black knight (star wars)

Web Culture/YouTube/Video/Parody
Found on: Youtube.com



Youtube Stats(as of this post):

Views: 659,227
Comments: 475
Favorited: 3810 times

Some of my favorite comments:

zaminvakhan:You people are so stupid...there isn't a word yet invented that encompasses that accurately describes the sheer lack of interior support in your cranium. These types of posts where you predict people's deaths are bs, cause i have read them. they were mildly amusing the first time but mind-boggling quantity of these type of posts is getting me ticked!

GerevulSnizer:Monty Python is new thing for me... Why's the Black Knight (who is Darth Vader now) still alive? No hands or legs... great vid still

NEWS: Tech Firms Push to Use TV Airwaves for Internet

News/Web Culture/Internet
Found on: washingtonpost.com

If the coalition made up of six of the biggest tech companies in the world (Microsoft, Google, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Philips) gets the green light from the FCC, we could start seeing unused television airwaves called "white space" being gobbled up to bring high-speed internet access to consumers as early as 2009.

Me in 2009; "Hey hun, come quick, look what's on TV -- it's the internet and it's fast!"

Washingtonpost.com post:

A coalition of big technology companies wants to bring high-speed Internet access to consumers in a new way: over television airwaves. Key to the project is whether a device scheduled to be delivered to federal labs today lives up to its promise.

The coalition, which includes Microsoft and Google, wants regulators to allow idle TV channels, known as white space, to be used to beam the Internet into homes and offices. But the Federal Communications Commission first must be convinced that such traffic would not bleed outside its designated channels and interfere with existing broadcasts.

Stylehive bookmark of the week: Integrated Digital Camera and Printer

Web Culture/Social Shopping/Stylehive
Found on: stylehive.com

It's been almost 2 months now since some turd stoled my Sony digital camera out my wife's car - bastards! So I've been on the hunt for a new one and low and behold, I found this little guy on Stylehive: the Zink Integrated Digital Camera and Printer - interesting.

Description: Integrated Digital Camera and Printer The integrated digital camera/printer is a full featured digital camera with a built-in full color printer. Take digital photos like any other digital camera, review them on the digital camera's color display, and print just the ones you want. The digital camera with integrated printer prints full-color 2" x 3" digital photos.

Tags: camera,camera printer,cameras,digital camera,digital cameras,gadget

URL: stylehive link

NEWS: Ex-Disney chief launches Web video company

News/Web Culture/Video
Found on: news.com

Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner launched a new web video company called Vuruga this week - it's mission: deliver "high-quality, story-driven content" on par with all the other crap on television.

Vuruga's first series will be a mystery drama called "Prom Queen," the first of 80 (90 second long) episodes will begin airing next month.

Cnet post:

Vuguru, officially a project of Eisner's investment firm Tornante, debuted Monday along with its first production and set of sponsors. According to a statement from the new company, Vuguru aims to focus on "high-quality, story-driven content for the Internet" on a par with professional television and cinema productions.

The inaugural Vuguru series, a mystery drama called Prom Queen, will release the first of its 80 episodes on April 2. The 90-second clips, aimed at a tech-savvy teen audience, have been produced in conjunction with Web video company Big Fantastic--best known as the team behind the video podcast Sam Has 7 Friends. Among Prom Queen's sponsors is the magazine-turned-webzine Elle Girl, which stopped print publication last year to focus on online and mobile distribution.

NEWS: EA Targets Women With New Venture

News/Web Culture/Online Games
Found on: wired.com

Calling all female gamers - here's your oppurtunity to get some street cred with your geeky guy friends: EA just announced a partnership with iVillage to provide content just for the ladies.

Wired.com post:

The so-called "elusive female gamer" is a much sought-after demographic in gaming, but EA is hoping its new alliance with iVillage will help bridge the gender gaming gap. EA's successful casual games portal, Pogo.com, will be the exclusive supplier of gaming content to iVillage's 16 million members. That is a heck of a lot of Word Whomp.

iVillage offers content geared specifically toward women readers, including beauty tips, information on pregnancy and parenting, and fashion. It will host monthly game nights and offer free two-week Pogo passes to members.

NEWS: Viacom lands video deal with Joost

News/Web Culture/IPTV
Found on: reuters.com

If you don't know what Joost is by now, here's the skinny: the boys that started Kazaa and Skype recently launched a new Ad-supported internet TV service, leveraging the P2P technology that they used to make Kazaa what it was back in the day (totally sucks now) and Skype what it is today.

Fast forward to this story; earlier this week Viacom agreed to provide video content to Joost and it's users in return for a piece of the pie - huge!

Reuters post:

Viacom Inc., engaged in a public copyright battle with Google Inc.'s YouTube, has agreed to offer videos to Joost, the Internet video service created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa.

Viacom said on Tuesday hundreds of hours of TV programing from its MTV and BET Networks and feature-length films from Paramount Pictures will be available to Joost users for free under a revenue-sharing deal between the two companies.

It did not disclose financial terms, but an industry source said Viacom was likely to have secured a slightly better agreement than its traditional deals to receive two-thirds of advertising revenue.

NEWS: SXSW Web Awards Reveals this Year's Finalists

News/Web Culture/SXSW/Awards
Found on: sxsw.com

Hundreds and hundreds of developers and web designers from around the world submitted their work hoping to become a finalist in the 10th SXSW annual Web Awards.

Well, for a few of them the wait is over and for the rest there's always next year.

SXSW post:

We are pleased to reveal the 10th Annual Web Awards Finalists below -- all sites that have launched or been completely redesigned in 2006. Stay tuned for more in-depth information on each finalist.

Art
From traditional photography to untraditional performances, this category focuses on web-based collections of life, society and culture.

15x15

Craftzine

Ellipse Foundation

MyToons

Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Blog
Sites that revolutionize the power of publishing by providing regularly updated content of a personal or professional nature.

April Zero

BuzzFeed

Snook.ca

Superfluous Banter

Twitter

Do They Still Want Their MTV?

News/Web Culture/MTV/David Carr
Found on:nytimes.cm

Last week, MTV Networks laid off 250 people, cutting and trimming their television rank and file to make room for web savvy interactive hires at the same time bulking up their internet business - sounds like Viacom, which owns MTV, doesn't want to be caught with their pants down when the next generation of viewers will be spending more time on the internet then on the couch watching TV.

NYTIMES post:

MTV prospered for decades because it looked like what a network might look like if a 16-year-old were doing the programming. But now the music channel is trying to make its way in a multidevice, multiplatform, multichannel world, most of which is being programmed by a
16-year-old.

The velocity of change has left MTV occasionally looking as if were being programmed by an 83-year-old — namely Sumner M. Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, which owns MTV. The network, itself a stately 25 years old, has suffered a decline in ratings and cultural cachet.

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes.

Web Culture/Web 2.0/Videos
Found on: Youtube.com

Tags ksudigg web2.0 digital ethnography



Youtube Stats (as of this post):

Views: 1,096,437
Comments: 3277
Favorited: 12950 times

Web 2.0 in under 5 blurbs:

This is the 2nd draft, and I plan on doing one more final draft. Please leave comments on what could be changed or improved, or what needs to be excluded or included. Subscribe if you want to be notified when the revision is released.

Some of my favorite comments:

aft3789

Wow, I'm so glad I'm replying on the third page, this is going to be watched like 12,457,553,778 times in a few weeks, and there will be like 75,352,235 replies soon.

Yea, I rule.

okcbkcom

Excellent video - very thought-provoking. The internet has certainly come along way in 10 years.

NEWS: YouTube for Hipsters

News/Web Culture/IPTV/Videos
Found on: vbs.tv

Hipsters all over the world rejoice -- you now have your very own internet TV channel. A joint venture between Vice Magazine and MTV has given birth to VBS.tv, a full fledged online broadcast network.

VBS.tv post:

VBS is an online broadcast network. We stream original content, free of charge and 24 hours a day. We carry a mix of domestic and international news, pop and underground culture coverage, and the best music in the world. People have used words like eclectic, smart, funny, shocking, and revolutionary to describe VBS, but we kind of just snapped our fingers in their faces and went, “Whatever. Tell us something we don’t know.”

NEWS: Why Google and Gaming Isn't a Killer Combination

News/Web Culture/Google/Abbey Klaassen
Found on: adage.com

With more and more gaming consoles taking advantage of gamers "always on the web connections," it makes since that Google wants to Adsense and Adword their way on to my video games -- I can see it now, me and my friends rocking out to GNR's "Sweet Child O' Mine" on "Guitar Hero 2" and BAM! some pop up comes up with a link to Amazon offering me a deal to purchase GNR's "Best of Album" - hmm, it is a good album.


Advertising Age post:

Google getting into video games seems at first blush like a natural evolution -- after all, gaming is hugely popular and growing, console games are increasingly web-connected, and the search giant certainly hasn't been shy about trying to apply its selling efficiency and contextual tools to other media. But digital-media buyers have a hard time seeing how Google's simplified, automated buying processes could result in effective in-game ads.

Stylehive bookmark of the week: Wallet 2.0

Web Culture/Social Shopping/Stylehive
Found on: stylehive.com

I seriously hate my wallet, it's big and bulky and just down right lame looking, so when I found this little guy on the hive, I knew I was onto something.

Description: Wallet 2.0, the original soft wallet with multi-purposes. It looks nothing like a wallet in the first glance, but after you take a good look of it, you will perceive the beauty of this innovative soft wallet.




Tags: gadgets, gear, geek, gift, wallet20, wallets

URL: stylehive link

NEWS: Ford To Use Video, Music To Snare Buyers

News/Web Culture/Youth Trends/Steve Miller
Found on: brandweek.com

In an attempt to entertain and educate potential new customers, Ford just launched a new video podcast based on their urban-centric SUV "The Edge," entitled "The Edge Music Videocast" (which is slatted to be a year-long series), will have free downloadable videos and music files from other popular pod and vod cast sites.

BrandWeek post:

Ford on Wednesday will kick off a year-long series of monthly video podcasts, or vodcasts, that will include music videos and content promoting the Edge crossover, which hit the market late last year.

Called “The Edge Music Videocast,” the free video broadcasts can be downloaded to portable media players from a number of popular pod and vodcast Web sites. The first installment will include videos with A-list hipster cache: Cat Power, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother and Gomez.

NEWS: Fox subpoenas YouTube after "24" clips posted

News/Web Culture/YouTube/Andrew Wallenstein
Found on: today.reuters.co.uk


Someone's in big trouble...Fox just served YouTube with a subpoena to try to identify the person or persons that uploaded entire episodes of their hit series "24" and "The Simpsons".

Some of the episodes of 24 actually appeared on YouTube prior to the premiere of the new season - yikes!

Reuters UK post:

20th Century Fox served YouTube with a subpoena Wednesday demanding the Google-owned viral video site disclose the identity of a user who uploaded copies of entire recent episodes of primetime series "24" and "The Simpsons."

The subpoena, which first came to light on the blog Google Watch (http://googlewatch.eweek.com/index.html), was granted by a judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after being filed by the News Corp.-owned studio on January 18. It is not yet known whether YouTube has complied with the request.

In addition, a second, lesser-known video site, LiveDigital, was also served with a similar subpoena.

NEWS: Web buzz-wise, the Hot shows this Fall

News/Web Culture/Television/Diego Vasquez
Found on: medialifemagazine.com



I got about 2o minutes to write this post before the new season premiere of my favorite television show Heroes airs, so here it is: NBC's hit series Heroes is generating a lot of Web-based buzz but what does that really mean for ratings?

Media Life Magazine post:

Most media people agree that NBC’s new fall shows look the most promising among the five English-language networks, and apparently web users agree with them. According to a new report released by PropheSEE, the online buzz monitoring arm of Interpublic’s Consumer Experience Practice, four new NBC shows rank among the top five in amount of buzz generated online about the new season. In fact, NBC generated a dominant 57 percent of online buzz, compared with second-place ABC at 18 percent. NBC’s “Heroes,” the drama about people who think they have special powers, ranked No. 1 at 26 percent of all buzz, followed by the network’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” with 20.4 percent. Fox’s “Vanished” was No. 3, followed by NBC’s “30 Rock” and “Friday Night Lights.” But the question is whether that actually means anything good for NBC.

NBWS: Interactive campaigns build buzz with fun

News/Web Culture/Youth Trends/Laura Petrecca
Found on: usatoday.com

Here are two examples of great buzz branding websites that advertisers are using to reach out to their client's customers online.

1) OfficeMax did it with their holiday promotion ElfYourself.com

2) M&M's the "character creator" on its new BecomeAnMM.com which was promoted during Tuesday night's season premier of American Idol.

Viral marketing is key these days to get the consumer to pass along the product message -- believe the hype!

USA TODAY post:

Some marketers are getting personal in their viral marketing as they continue to invent ways to interact with consumers online and try to get them to pass along the product message.

Today, job site CareerBuilder.com will announce the launch of Age-O-Matic.com, a site where consumers can upload a photo of a themselves or someone else, alter the image in a way that ages the person about 50 years and pass the result on to others via e-mail. The underlying message: The stresses of a bad job will age you.

A Brick in the Toilet

Web Culture/Myspace/Green
Found on: Popyourit!

I just spent the last hour trolling through Myspace trying to find subject matter for future posts — sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t, but tonight was one of those lucky nights.

The Myspace “Myplanet” profile page promotes greener living and has a lot of great links to other green-centric profiles.

My Planet blurbs:

In 1983, a group of determined students in Southern California were sent home by their teachers on a mission to help combat a serious drought. They promptly dropped bricks into their toilets, and reduced water waste in their households by more than a third. Today, as a result of what we now call the “California Toilet Revolution”, the states sell only ultra low-flush toilets, and saves enough water to fill 28 gallons jugs per household, each day. If you have a toilet, and it is not a ULF, you can easily find one.

Second Life Screening of Four Eyed Monsters - Update

Web Culture/Second Life/Video
Found on: Youtube.com

Well, the premiere SL screening of "Four Eyed Monsters" came and went and wouldn't you know it, I was no where near a computer...long story, but it had something to do with the wife and meeting friends for drinks -- in the "real world", crazy. Anyway, I found these videos on Youtube, it's some guy who taped himself watching the movie, although the commentary is a bit annoying, it's still pretty cool -- rock on Sundance Channel.

Tags FourEyedMonsters second life film free screening avatar movie





Hey, don't bogart all the popcorn!

NEWS: Sling Media, Second Life to take stage with CBS

News/Web Culture/Second Life/CBS
Found on: reuters.com

Look who CBS is teaming up at this year's Consumer Electronic Show -- Sling Media (the creators of Slingbox) and Linden Labs (the creators of Second Life), apparently there's going to be some big announcement.

Reuters post:

CBS Corp., which has pushed to reach new consumers on the Internet, will be joined by representatives from Web-savvy companies Sling Media and Second Life in a Tuesday presentation, CBS said.

The broadcaster did not give details of the speech or upcoming announcements by CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves, who will give a keynote address on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sling is known for its Slingbox, which plugs into a TV and transmits the feed via the Internet, allowing consumers to watch their favorite local TV shows no matter where they are. It also has a new device that does the opposite, putting Internet content on television.

NEWS: Second Life Screening of Four Eyed Monsters

News/Web Culture/Second Life/Sundance
Found on: prnewswire.com

Award winning indie film "Four Eyed Monsters", will have it's premiere Second Life screening tomorrow (Jan 9th) at the new Sundance Channel Island, the screening will be followed with a Q&A session with the creators of the film; I plan on attending and hope to have something to report back to you guys sometime this week.



PR Newswire post:

Sundance Channel announced the screening of the independent feature film Four Eyed Monsters is set for Tuesday, January 9 at 8pm EST in the Sundance Channel screening room in Second Life. Following the screening, the filmmakers Arin Crumley and Susan Buice will be on hand for a question and answer period from the audience. Live feeds of the event will also be presented from other Second Life locations. More information on additional locations can be found on.

Stylehive bookmark of the week: Jawbone Bluetooth Headset

Web Culture/Social Shopping/Stylehive
Found on: stylehive.com

This has to be one of the coolest looking headsets out in the market today and if it delivers on it's promise of eliminating background noise...wow, sign me up!

Description: Jawbone is the world's first adaptive Bluetooth headset for mobile phones. Noise Shield technology eliminates almost all background noise from your call.

Price: 119.99 USD

Tags: bluetooth, cellphones, headset

URL: stylehive link

Burrito Project makes an Impact

Web Culture/Myspace/Awards
Found on: Popyourit!

The Burrito Project in under two years has grown from a couple of people on bikes passing out some burritos to feed the hungry to several hundred volunteers in multiple chapters all over the United States.

The Los Angeles chapter was awarded the very first Myspace Impact Award last Tuesday, and I can't think of a better group of people that deserve it.

Burrito Project’s blurbs:

Burrito Project is an idea, a tool for groups of friends to become active participants in their communities. This Myspace page is dedicated to the promotion of burrito project and is meant to be a motivational tool for new projects to begin. The projects make and hand out bean and rice burritos, or other foods, to the homeless. They operate as independent self-sufficient groups throughout the country and world. Burrito project is constantly expanding and new projects are popping up on a weekly basis!!

NEWS: Xmas day attack on Second Life

News/Web Culture/Second Life/Emma Boyes
Found on: gamespot.com

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas this year are greenish worm-like penises wearing jaunty Santa-style stocking caps to invade second life -- wishes do come true.



Gamespot post:

Recently the flourishing virtual economy of online community Second Life produced its first real-life millionaire, estate agent Ailin Graef, and announced it had reached the one million member mark.

However, all's not entirely well in the virtual world--a series of "grey goo" attacks from malicious users over the last few months have been invading the system while Linden Lab technicians have battled to fix the problems and restore the world. One attack in November led to a temporary loss of service.

NEWS: Social networks top Google search

News/Social Networks/Web Culture/Google
Found on: bbc.com

What are you searching for on Google these days? Well if you're anything like the millions of other surfers on Google's search engine, it's Bebo and Myspace...oh, and the Mexican soap opera Rebelde.

BBC post:

Social networks Bebo and MySpace were the two most searched for terms of 2006 using Google's search engine.

The two rival sites allow users to create individual web pages, with photos, music and video.

The football World Cup was the third most searched for term while Paris Hilton topped the news searches.

The top 10 searches were dominated by web 2.0 developments, such as video site Metacafe, music streaming service Radioblog and encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

TOP 10 GOOGLE SEARCHES 2006

1. Bebo

2. MySpace

3. World Cup

4. Metacafe

5. Radioblog

6. Wikipedia

7. Video

8. Rebelde

9. Mininova

10. Wiki

VIRTUAL ALOFT

Web Culture/Youtube/Second Life/Video
Found on: Youtube.com

Tags starwood hotels resorts virtual aloft



Youtube Stats (as of this post):

Views: 3,047
Comments: 0
Favorited: 8 times

Aloft blog post:

In September, Starwood Hotels became the first company in history to open a new hotel brand inside of a virtual world. Prior to opening to the public in 2008, aloft hotels now offers a sneak preview inside of Second Life. As we continue to develop our virtual aloft hotel, this weblog will track the progress of the hotel, giving you an in depth insiders view.

NEWS: YouTube releases top-10 video list for 2006

News/Social Networks/YouTube/Videos
Found on: ctv.ca

The Associated Press names the top 10 most "SIGNIFICANT" YouTube videos of 2006, with Lonelygirl15 topping the list.

CTV post:

Lonelygirl15 leads the pack on AP's top-10 YouTube video list for 2006



1. The face of YouTube: The cute, bedroom confessions of Lonelygirl15 remain the site's quintessential expression. Of course, the pretty high schooler named Bree was eventually revealed to be 19-year-old actress Jessica Lee Rose, who was acting out a scripted plot with two behind-the-scenes producers. But that strange mutated duality of what's real and what's fiction, what's amateur and what's professional, remains the heart and soul of YouTube, where everybody and nobody is a star.

2. Network wake-up call: "Saturday Night Live's'' "Lazy Sunday'' mock-rap sketch was, in some ways, what started the revolution. The video was seen by more than five million viewers before NBC asked YouTube to remove it in February. Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg's rhymes boosted the hipness of "SNL,'' but more importantly, it was the first time networks were alerted to their new competition. NBC reacted fearfully, and later opted to built up its own websites with online video. The networks continue to experiment with YouTube. Recently, CBS has claimed its late shows have increased in ratings after posting clips from "The Late Show with David Letterman'' and "The Late Late Show'' on YouTube.

3. Political fallout: YouTube, like the Internet in general, has made it a specialty to reveal the gaffes and mistakes of the establishment. Of course, few would say Virginia Sen. George Allen didn't deserve his fate after a video of him calling a rival campaign staffer "macaca'' drew constant clicks on YouTube. Allen went on to lose an extremely close election -- a race that YouTube could well have turned. On the other end of the spectrum, Michael J. Fox's tremulous campaign ads for various Democratic candidates who support stem cell research proved powerfully effective and were seen by millions more than would have otherwise caught them on TV.

NEWS: Virtual reality TV - Big Brother launched in SL

Web Culture/Second Life/Adam Reuters
Found on: secondlife.reuters.com

Looks like reality televison just got a little more virtual or has virtual reality gotten more reality televison?

Fifteen contestants compete against each other in the Second Life edition of Big Brother in an attempt to win their own island - fun!

Secondlife Reuters post:

Reality show Big Brother is getting a little less real with a new Second Life edition, which will pit 15 contestants against each other in an attempt to win their own island.

The popular reality TV show will select 15 Second Life contestants in three time zones. Contestants will have to spend at least 8 hours a day in the transparent virtual Big Brother house for a total of one month, and will complete various tasks such as building replicas of famous buildings.

Stylehive bookmark of the week: Darth Vader Mimobot

Web Culture/Social Shopping/Stylehive
Found on: Stylehive.com

With Xmas just around the corner, the Darth Vader Mimobot USB thumb-drive is the perfect gift for that special geek in your life -- may the data be with you.

Description: Looks like our beloved Mimobots have taken shape of a most sinister villain...Darth Vader! Darth Vader is available for preorder and you can also guess which Star Wars character will be revealed next for a chance to win all four from the series.

Tags: computer, mimobot, office, tech toys, usb

URL: stylehive link

NEWS: Expedia founder in web property move

News/Social Networks/Web Culture/Daniel Pimlott
Found on FT.com

If Richard Barton the founder of Expedia has his way, Zillow.com could be the new Myspace... for Real Estate.

FT.com post:

Richard Barton, the founder of Expedia, wants to repeat the success of the online travel agency in the fast-growing market for US property websites, by opening up his Zillow.com to user-generated content similar to popular networking sites such as MySpace.

The move, to be announced today, will allow home-owners and estate agents to add properties’ photos, descriptions, improvements and selling price to Zillow – the company founded by Mr Barton in February.

The new service will be free but Mr Barton, who left Expedia shortly before Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp bought out the company for $3.3bn in 2003, said that Zillow wanted to tap into the estimated $6bn online advertising market for property and financial services.

FakeYourSpace Launches - Buy Sexy MySpace Friends

Social Networks/Web Culture/Peter Cashmore
Found on: Mashable.com

Peter is reporting the launch of a new service that allows unpopular people on certain social networks to buy "hot" friends -- could this be the beginning of the end?

Mashable.com post:

FakeYourSpace, which is edgy, and may not be completely worksafe, launches this week. The service has an extremely amusing aim: it allows unpopular people on MySpace, Facebook and Consumating to “buy” hot friends. For just $.99 per month, you can buy a good-looking friend who will leave 2 comments on your profile every week. You can choose from scores of semi-clad male or female friends, and “buy them” twice to double the number of comments they leave. Payments are made via Paypal, of course. Want to annoy your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend? Just ask your hot new friend to flirt with you in your MySpace comments. Alienated all your Facebook friends by being nasty to them? No problem - just buy some new ones! And there’s no risk of your real friends discovering the ruse, since all of FakeYourSpace’s profiles are set to private.