Yet another interesting Web2.0 concept... Cell-it = YouTube + eBay. The site's main goal is for users to sell their wares using their cell phone camera. Other than the obvious phonetic (get it?!) issues with cell/sell, I feel like the site may have found a niche that eBay could easily snuff out. It's definetely a unique idea, if nothing else. Some of the videos have a very "QVC" ish feel, while others are literally cell-phone vids. Interesting concept, although some horrible spelling and grammar issues make the site feel less legit than it could. Regardless of the grammar, it's worth a look, if only to remind us that a web2.0 bubble could be starting, and digital video appears to be in the center of it.Cell-it: Sell your stuff via video
Yet another interesting Web2.0 concept... Cell-it = YouTube + eBay. The site's main goal is for users to sell their wares using their cell phone camera. Other than the obvious phonetic (get it?!) issues with cell/sell, I feel like the site may have found a niche that eBay could easily snuff out. It's definetely a unique idea, if nothing else. Some of the videos have a very "QVC" ish feel, while others are literally cell-phone vids. Interesting concept, although some horrible spelling and grammar issues make the site feel less legit than it could. Regardless of the grammar, it's worth a look, if only to remind us that a web2.0 bubble could be starting, and digital video appears to be in the center of it.HDR-UX1: CNet sez "Thanks, but no thanks."
CNet's Aussie site reviews an AVC-HD camera, the HDR-UX1 (pictured.) While they feel like the camera is pretty nice, a few interesting paragraphs in the manual seemed to spoil an otherwise interesting consumer camera. Apparently, the manual states that if you play an AVC disc in anything but a blu-ray player, the contents of the disc could be erased without warning -- or the disc may not eject. Hmm... while I'm no Blu-Ray expert, nor an expert on the AVC format, I don't understand how a red laser (or, for that matter, a blue laser of a different wavelength) hitting a disc would erase the contents of the disc. The non-eject part I could understand a little more (probably an over-zealous manual writer, though.) Potentially, the reading device could attempt to read it continuously without success, at which point I'd turn off the machine, turn it back on and hit the eject button before it tries to read the disc. At any rate, the camera isn't flawed, but the reviewer leaves scared that their home movies could be vaporized with any laser but a "Blu" one.
GooTube: Match made in heaven
There's no denying the success of YouTube... Alexa puts it as the 10th most visited website on the internet. [in case you're wondering, DV Guru is about 13,000]. With all that success, many pundits around the web said YouTube was Web2.0 Napster and would likely see the same fate, but they've come through and proved all the naysayers wrong. Now that they're nearly legit, with only a regulatory hurdle away, the $1.65 Billion company isn't being sued into oblivion, but instead striking content deals with big media companies.While the site was worth $1.6 Billion to Google, and the big media companies feel like they've got a place to distribute their content online to the masses, what does the deal mean for indies? The impending sale doesn't affect independent content creators as much as it does big media, but there are defininite advantages for the independent content producer. Read on after the break for a breakdown of today's transaction.
Engadget commercials: Hot!
While I no longer frequent the halls of Engadget HQ, I'm constantly checking in over there to see what they've got on tap. Looks great lately, what with the new re-design, the giveaways (too bad Weblogs, Inc. bloggers aren't eligible) and as of late the Engadget commercial contest. Looks like they had a ton of killer entries, and film students, mo-graph artists and the like sure gave it their all to try to win a Blu-ray equipped laptop. Follow the link for some creamy Engadget commercial goodness.
Viral Video Chart
In case we needed a way to find out what's most popular among the internets, two guys created a site called the Viral Video Chart that shows what's hot in the proverbial streets of YouTube, MySpace and Google Video. The site spiders blogs for embedded and linked-to videos, weighs it in a magical formula, and presents the results on their friendly front page. The charts are calculated on a daily basis, and they keep a history of #1's and link to the videos (unless they've been taken down, of course.) Pretty interesting concept, to say the least. Mainstream media outlets will discover this one day, and we'll see someone getting injured and/or making a fool of themselves on the nightly news.
Seagate boasts highest density hard drives-- inflates numbers
Seagate wants everyone to know they've got a huge hard drive-- so much so that they felt the need to use metrics no one else uses. They've crammed 421 gb -- that's gigabits, not bytes -- per square inch. That translates to 52.625 gigabytes per square inch. Still impressive, no doubt, but 52.625 doesn't have the same zing that 421 gb does. One number that's not inflated and actually matters to this community -- 4,000. That's how many hours you can squeeze into a square inch of Segate's new technology. Although, that's highly compressed video, and they don't mention which codec they use to compute the 4,000 hours. Realistically, you can fit about 280 and 2/3rds minutes of DV/HDV quality video, or about four and a half hours.Summary of their press release in one non-pr-speak sentence? Seagate holds the world storage record with 52 gigabytes per square inch, which holds about 4.5 hours of DV/HDV quality video. Oh yeah, and their photo? Why is there a random SUV in the hard drive platter? We don't know either.
DVR proof ad?
We've seen "DVR Proof" ads before, but none as inventive, or annoying, as this one. Instead of trying to make DVR users sift through a 30 second commercial for a $1 coupon, cable channel FX will show british viewers a 30 second slate for it's new show "Brotherhood." While probably as much publicity stunt (hey, we're biting) as useful ad, viewers could see anywhere from 3 - 6 seconds of the slate, depending on their DVR's fast forward speed. We get the point, FX, you want us, the TiVo generation, to watch your new show... but what about the people who don't even think about using a DVR? They'll see a 30 second slate... for all 30 seconds. If I see anything static on TV for 30 seconds, I'm changing the channel, sorry FX!Style Dash -- Our new family member
While sometimes its easy to get isolated in the world of digital video, we want to welcome our newest member to the Weblogs, Inc. network -- StyleDash. They're inagurating their trip with a special giveaway every day -- a designer handbag. Follow the read link to try and qualify for a Marc Jacobs bag.
MuveeMix.com: Let us mash your footage up.
Muvee, purveyors of software that automatically edits video for you, have moved into the web2.0 age. The new site, MuveeMix, basically takes their software and moves it online. Select up to 100 MB of photos and videos, add music, pick editing style and post to your marviolously crafted MySpace, Friendster, or other social media page. While not as flexible as a traditional editor, it'll create stereotypically edited montages pretty well, and with no time to spare either.Blip.TV and Akimbo: Match made in heaven
Two of my favorite underdogs coming together at last. Blip.TV, underdog of the visual social media world to 900-pound-lumbering-gorilla YouTube, and Akimbo, underdog of the internet streaming TV market to... well... obscurity, have come together in a true symbiotic partnership. Aikmbo is a company always looking for content, and Blip.TV is a company looking for popularity. Now users of Akimbo on-demand service will be able to see Blip.TV's user generated content on their TVs. Akimbo sells both a standalone box, and a plugin for Windows Media Center Edition, if you need your videoblog fix.
[Via PVRWire]
FCC sets roadmap for broadcast airwaves
The FCC set a roadmap today of how exactly it's planning on divying up the broadcast airwaves space when all those TV folks switch to all digital broadcasts in 2009. While the usual high-tech suspects are excited about the chance to snatch up more of the broadcast spectrum for their wireless devices, more of note of this article is the basic assurance that the all-digital broadcast deadline is progressing forward.Only three years left to get that ATSC tuner box.
IBC 2006: Sony launches Vegas 7
Boy, do I's loves me some IBC... Sony released their latest version of their flagship prosumer video editor, Vegas, and the acompanying DVD authoring software, DVD Production Suite. The latest version of the PC-based editing wonder supports native HDV editing, and "provides the tools neccessary to proxy edit" XDCAM footage. Sony's own site hasn't reflected the change yet, but we'll definetely be following up throughout the day on the new version of Vegas.Lightwave 3d V9
For all the mo-graphers, Newtek released the latest version of their 3d software. Lightwave 9 features a couple of major rewrites to the software, including a much improved rendering engine as well as a Pixar developed strategy for subdividing surfaces. The guys over at Videoguys filled me in on some drama that I didn't know about... V9 is the first full version with the new dev team at NewTek. Apparently the original dev team headed out the door at V7.5, and that's why many in the LightWave community considered version 8 to be an inferior make. At $795 Lightwave is definetely a less expensive 3d app, and that bargin basement price includes the renderfarm and multi-processor pricing.IBC 2006: Borix Red 4 ships
Boris Red, the effects software that many editors and compositors rely on, hits version four today at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam. Some of the features in brief:- 16-bit color support
- Motion Key -- apparently this effect will erase foreground elements akin to Mo:key or Mo:net
- OpenGL support -- much like their new standalone app, Blue.
- New vector paint and rotoscoping support
LaCie's SAFE biometric hard drive might actually be safe this time
The last time LaCie came out with their biometrically secured SAFE disk, potential theives didn't have to come armed with Jello molds of their target's fingerprints, they simply needed a trusty screw driver. Now, video editors wishing to secure their potentially huge story, have a new option. Unlike it's predeseccor, the SAFE drive has firmware that supposedly encrypts the data heading on to the hard drive, preventing use of the drive's data outside the attractive external enclosure. While it's probably a good idea to have this in the hardware mix, at $150 for 160GB, it's definetely more of a "special occasions" drive rather than a primary drive... unless you're into that whole Watergate video / latest video of Brian Liola beating up his younger brother blackmail thing.[Via Engadget]
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