Posts with tag OnlineVideo
Posted Sep 24th 2007 10:00AM by Emily Price
Filed under: Design, Video, Web services, Search
ClipBlast is a search engine that specializes in video. On the site users can enter a search term, and ClipBlast will crawl the web and find all the video content available on that particular term. The site also has video broken up into genre categories such as Animal, Celebrity, Fashion, History. Film, and Golf so you can find video quickly on a particular topic that interests you. Unlike other similar sites that pull video from only one or a few different sources ClipBlast is pulling video from everywhere so you are just as likely to get results from CBS as you are
YouTube or
MetaCafe.
ClipBlast also allows registered users to personalize their video searches by saving their searches from the past, their favorite video providers, or individual video clips they enjoyed. If you like to catch every video clip that hits the web on a particular topic you can also sign up for video alerts so you can be notified via email when a new video hits the web. Similar sites to ClipBlast include
blinkx and
everyzing.
Posted Sep 8th 2007 2:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Apple
The thing about rumors is that they often turn out not to be true. But even in this day and age of Photoshop, somehow if you put a pretty picture in front of us we're more likely to believe it.
So while we've reported
several times before that
Apple is on the verge of launching a movie rental option to the iTunes store, this time we really really (almost, kind of) mean it. Mac developer David Watanabe says he was trying to report a problem to Apple when he noticed some interesting options in the error reporting service -- that seem to indicate a movie rental service will be coming soon.
Specifically, he found options to report that he had not received a rental, had accidentally purchased it, that the content quality was subpar, etc.
Considering Apple has been significantly less successful at selling videos on iTunes than music, and considering the fact that the company faces pretty stiff competition from services that offers movies for sale and rental, this rumor has the ring of truth. Even if Watanabe's screenshot is fake, we're still going to go out on a limb and predict that Apple will offer movie rentals... eventually.
[via
Engadget]
Posted Aug 19th 2007 5:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Video, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0
How often have you visited YouTube to watch online video and thought to yourself, "wouldn't it be great if these video windows acted more like desktop applications?" Well,
YouTubeDesktop is stepping up to solve a problem we didn't know anybody had.
The web based application is basically a front end for Youtube. When you first visit the site you'll be presented with a thumbnail view of popular videos. You can browse or search for more videos. Click on one and a window will pop up and begin playing the video.
Here's where things get interesting. You can drag the window around the screen. And you can resize it by clicking and dragging on the corner. You can also use a slider at the bottom of the screen to resize all of the icons on the "desktop."
Want to download the video as an FLV file? Just click the Flash icon. Want to convert it to AVI, MP4, WMV, MOV, or 3GP? click the download button and YouTubeDesktop will convert the file for you.
YouTubeDesktop is currently in private beta. We're not convinced it will draw too many users away from the YouTube community. There's no easy way that we can find to view more videos submitted by the same user. And there's no way to leave or read comments on videos. So while YouTubeDesktop does provide a nice interface for watching videos, you sacrifice some of the community aspects of YouTube that make it attractive.
[via
Last100]
Posted Aug 16th 2007 3:30PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Google, AOL, Search
A year and a half
after snatching up video search engine
Truveo, AOL (this blog's parent company) has relaunched the site. It's bigger, better, and easier to use. But it's also not exactly a Google/Youtube killer.
Like the relaunched
Google Video site, the new Truveo's not so much about letting users submit their own videos. Rather, Truveo gives you a central location to search for web videos. You can search user-generated video sites like YouTube, or mainstream media sites like NBC.com or CNN.com.
When you happen across a flash video, odds are you'll be able to watch it without leaving Truveo. The video player takes up most of your browser screen, showing YouTube videos, for example, at about twice their original size. That would be great if it weren't for the fact that YouTube videos are designed for a smaller viewer. Blowing them up usually makes them look worse.
But the bigger problem is that while Truveo can help you find professionally produced video from news and entertainment sources, many of these videos won't display outside of their original context. That means you click on a thumbnail, get taken to a Truveo sub-page, and then find out that you'll have to visit yet another site to watch the video.
Even if you can find more content using Truveo than Google Video, we're not sure the new site will catch on unless AOL introduces a tool that lets you visit external websites without losing access to your Truveo search bar. You know, kind of like the one
Google Video uses.
[via
Silicon Alley Insider]
Posted Aug 11th 2007 5:34PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Google
It looks like
Google Video's transition from a video hosting service to a video search engine is pretty much complete. Yesterday Google sent out an e-mail to the two or three customers who had actually paid to download premium videos from Google Video.
In a nutshell, the messages said that Google would no longer be offering paid video downloads. Oh yeah, and if you've already bought movies from Google, they won't play anymore. Sorry,
have a $2 Google Checkout coupon.
If you forgot that Google even offered paid videos, you're probably not alone. But back when Google Video launched, that was one of the things that set it apart from YouTube. You could get user generated videos or professionally produced content, much of which was from independent producers, for a fee. The only problem is there was hardly any content worth paying for, and Google stopped playing up that feature ages ago.
Posted Aug 8th 2007 12:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Video, Web services, Google
You spend hours and hours crafting the perfect video. You upload it to YouTube certain that you'll be famous within a matter of hours. The acting is superb, the editing sublime. Once people click the play button, they'll be blown away.
And then you realize that nobody's ever going to click that play button. Because the thumbnail image for your video is just a blank screen.
Up until now, there was no way to change the screenshot YouTube shows the world to represent your video. Basically, it's a screen grab from about halfway through your video.
But now YouTube has added a new feature to the "Edit My Video" option in the "
My Videos" section. While you still can't upload your own screenshot, you can choose from three different images taken from your video. Now go out there and make something that will get noticed.
[via
Googlified]
Posted Aug 7th 2007 10:15AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video
Earlier this year Netflix announced a new service that lets
you watch a limited number of videos online instead of waiting for the DVDs to come in the mail.
There's just one problem. You have to watch on Netflix's terms. The video player is browser based, and the movies are wrapped up in Windows Media DRM. If you want to want to copy a movie to a portable device for viewing on the go, you're out of luck.
Well, the smart folks over at the Rorta forums seem to have
cracked the code, using Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11,
FairUse4WM, and Notepad. The solution involves finding the URL of the video file, downloading it, acquiring the license key and then stripping the DRM. It's a bit involved, and will probably take longer than just sitting down and watching the movie. But hey, it's the principle of the thing, right?
[via
Brent Evans]
Posted Aug 6th 2007 7:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video
Taken at face value,
You3b is an absolutely horrible idea. Watch three YouTube videos at the same time. While you can probably handle the visual information overload, we dare you to listen to three simultaneous videos of teenagers complaining about their problems without your head exploding.
But it turns out there's actually a small amount of artistry involved in picking three short videos that will play well together on the screen. While most of the user submitted video "sets" aren't exactly what you'd call intellectual, some actually make for pleasant viewing/listening.
For example, the set above shows three different videos of
things happening in slow motion, including a bullet ripping through various objects, a pool cue hitting a ball, and milk being poured on cereal. Because each set is in slow motion, you can easily shift your attention back and forth. And the soundtracks to each clip actually compliment one another.
Another set includes a series of oddly compelling black and white videos including an Ingmar Bergman vignette, a Paris Hilton music video, and a documentary about psychologist Stanley Milgram.
No, really.
[via
Mashable]
Posted Aug 6th 2007 3:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Web services, Beta, web 2.0
While it's not entirely clear that the world needs another user-generated video website, we're at least a little intrigued by the teaser trailer at
KnockaTV. The people behind this video sharing site are the folks who brought us
ICQ, one of the first successful online chat applications.
The site hasn't even launched a private beta yet, so we can't tell you what, if anything, sets it apart from the dozens of other YouTube wannabes out there. In fact, the promotional video links together dozens of videos, some of which you've probably seen on YouTube, including the popular
Will it Blend podcast and quite a few videos of young girls dancing in ways that would maker their parents... umm... proud?
It looks like the goal might be to present videos one after another in a TV-like style, with users voting on which videos should come next. Or perhaps, as
Mike Arrington speculates, your personal voting preferences will determine which videos show up on your personalized "channel," much the way
Pandora creates custom audio streams for individual users.
You can currently sign up to beta test the site as a video producer or viewer.
[via
VentureBeat]
Posted Jul 28th 2007 3:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video
Sure, the whole idea behind internet television platform
Joost is that there's a better way to watch internet video than using a web browser. But
developer Paul Yanez tells NewTeeVee he was frustrated that every time Joost issued a new beta release he had to download a new application. So he built a
Flash-based Joost clone that runs inside of a web browser. He can push out any updates he likes and you'll never have to download a thing. It also happens to work on any platform, including Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Of course, he doesn't have permission from Joost to use their graphics. Nor does he have access to Joo'st video content. But he's done a pretty good job of replicating the Joost interface using web video from sites like
YouTube,
MySpace, and
iFilm.
The interface isn't perfect. For example you can't use your keyboard to navigate the menus, you'll need a mouse. Given that an independent developer was able to put this together in less than a month, it'd be nice to see Joost come out with something similar. Because while the idea of a standalone full screen video player is nice, the truth is people do spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer with a web browser open. It'd be nice to give them a better way to
slack off at the office.
Posted Jul 25th 2007 11:00AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Beta
Joost co-founder Niklas Zennström says
more than a million people have signed up to beta test Joost. The service from the makers of Skype and Kazaa is still invitation only, but a few months ago Joost
removed restrictions on how many invitations users could send out.
Of course, having 1 million registered users doesn't mean there are that many people using the P2P video application on a daily basis. Shortly after the company launched its unlimited invitation phase,
Joost's servers were hammered by increased traffic, a problem that has since been fixed.
But it'll be interesting to see what happens when the service launches publicly. Zennström says that could happen by the end of the year.
Posted Jul 24th 2007 3:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Web services
Oh they grow up so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that DivX's answer to YouTube was
taking its first baby steps. But now it's all grown up and ready to leave the nest.
DivX has announced plans to
spin Stage6 off as a separate company. According to the press release, the move will let DivX focus on its "high margin, fast-growing technology licensing business" by separating Stage6 from the parent company.
CEO Jordan Greenhall is stepping down to oversee the transition. Stage6 has been gaining visibility in recent months. The site had 10 million unique visitors in June, up from 4 million in April. Of course, that makes Stage6 about .001% as popular as market leader YouTube, but hey, you've gotta start somewhere. And Stage6 has one thing YouTube lacks: better video quality.
Now that Stage6 will be operating independently of DivX, it should be interesting to see how aggressive the company is at marketing itself as a YouTube/DailyMotion/Soapbox/Metacafe competitor.
[via
PaidContent]
Posted Jul 20th 2007 1:30PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Web services, Google
So you're flipping through your RSS feeds using
Google Reader, consuming news faster than any human being should really be able to. And you happen across an embedded YouTube video or audio podcast. For some time now, Google's been allowing you to view or listen to that file without leaving the Reader. But your media file will stop playing the moment you switch to another feed or folder.
But wait, what's that we see at the bottom of the screenshot? Google's added a "Popout" button to Google Reader. Click it when you see an embedded podcast or video, and the media file will open in a new browser window, letting you listen to
Chris Pirillo go on and on and on and on and on... while you continue to peruse your feeds.
[via
Google Operating System]
Posted Jul 18th 2007 10:37AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source
Okay, we know that Democracy was supposed to be renamed Miro
when it hit version 1.0. But
Miro 0.9.8 is out now. Whoo hoo.
Technically, this is a technical preview of Miro. But as with most of the beta releases of Democracy, it's already a pretty full featured video aggregator/player.
While new programs like Joost and Babelgum aim to provide a peer-to-peer streaming video experience, Miro lets you find, download, and organize videos you like. When you first launch Miro, you'll see a series of popular podcasts/vlogs that you can check out, including
Ask A Ninja,
Diggnation, and
Rocketboom. Or you can search out your own video feeds and add them to the list.
So what's new in version 0.9.8?
- Keyboard shortcuts on all platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
- Full context menu from Windows system tray
- Added "report a bug" menu item
- Added Veoh.com as a search engine
- A whole slew of bug fixes
Posted Jul 18th 2007 8:00AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Video, Web services
Finding the best online videos could be a full time job, and assuming you've already got a job, you might just occasionally pop in and out of YouTube or subscribe to a few channels.
But there are a growing number of
sites and
services designed to help you find the cream of whatever personal crop you prefer. One of the latest to join the fray is
Mesmo.tv.
Mesmo.tv is an internet video aggregator that wants to be for video what Last.fm is for audio. You start off by selecting some TV shows or web videos that you like and/or subscribing to video feeds. Mesmo.tv then goes and finds related videos from a variety of internet sites that you might like.
You can vote videos up or down to give the service a better idea of what you like. And you can find other users who have similar tastes, add them as "friends," and browse their video recommendations.
[via
NewTeeVee]
Next Page >
