It seems there really was a 12 mystery app on the iPhone’s home screen. Turns out, it’s YouTube. There’s a little video demo of it up on Apple’s website. All in all, it looks slick and will retain most of the main site’s features like ratings and bookmarking videos. Of course this means there’s a flash player somewhere right? Wrong.
If you recall, when it was announced Apple TV would be getting YouTube, also mentioned was all YouTube videos would be reincoded into the H.264 codec. This not only makes for higher quality videos at smaller files, it also means that source file can be streamed into an external app that supports the H.264 codec. In this case, it would be some variant of Quicktime built into the iPhone I’m sure.
Of course it’s free and it’s nice to know it’ll be ready for the iPhone’s launch on June 29th.
YouTube has added a cool new feature that helps viewers see more related clips, even from an embedded video in a blog, social networking site, or any other web page. Now when a video has completed playing, several related videos pop up and even copy URL or embed code directly from that clip window.
Here is the video that the YouTube Blog uses to show off their new addition, and, following their lead, I will too:
I’m just going to say it: I hate YouTube, but have yet to find anything worthy enough to replace it. I like it’s huge collection of videos, but the fact that people spam video tags so badly that searching for a video can sometimes bring up posts with hundreds of categories with no relation to the desired result makes me want to rebel against humanity.
With the introduction of the beta for DivX Stage6, web video just got better looking. By using the slick interface and tools provided by the DivX format, up to 1080P resolution, and the ability to download the videos for viewing on other devices such as a DivX compatible DVD player, Stage6 could be another big contender for YouTube. This video can attest to the quality that is available from the site:
A brand new ad-supported video site created by a partnership between NBC and News Corp. aims to challenge YouTube’s overwhelming control over the internet’s large collection of videos. News Corp., owner of large media companies such as DirecTV, FOXTEL, SKY Italia, 20 Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, STAR, Fuel TV, FX, SPEED, National Geographic Channel, TV Guide, New York Post, HarperCollins Publishers, MySpace, IGN Entertainment, RottenTomatoes, AskMen, The National Rugby League, scout.com (and the list goes on like this), has agreed to join NBC, Time Warner AOL, and Microsoft in an effort to overtake the online video market.
With plans to include episodes of “24″, “Heroes”, “House”, “The Simpsons”, as well as movies like “Borat” and other selections from the News Corp. assets, the video web site, which is currently called Caterpillar, appears to be a powerful new competitor for video site superiority. Plus, the video site plans to make all content free, with the use of full advertisement support from companies like General Motors and Intel.
With the advent of AppleTV, Amazon Unbox, and the eventual release of AT&T’s 300 channel IPTV in 2008, it seems that YouTube and it’s Google parent need to start making some exclusive content deals in order to stay competitive. Also, as if the new video site didn’t already have enough big companies on hand to overthrow YouTube’s hold, there are even talks about CBS joining in the future. This may be the YouTube-killer.
Viacom came out guns blazing on Tuesday in their public battle with YouTube and its parent company, Google, by filing suit in federal court for copyright infringement. While they haven’t taken to street justice just yet, they are looking to hand YouTube a serious civil beat down. According to the complaint, Viacom is seeking some stiff penalties, including possible actual damages of at least one billion dollars (cue Dr. Evil laugh now). The mega company, which owns Paramount, Dreamworks and several cable stations, is evidently slightly miffed that its copyright protected content continues to pop up on YouTube, despite last month’s demand that over 100,000 pirated clips be removed from the site.
YouTube and Google aren’t just dropping trou and waiting to be spanked though. Google’s attorney claims that YouTube is protected by a safe harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA). The key will be whether YouTube knowingly profits on the posting of pirated content. If the case actual reaches a court, the resulting decision could determine whether a Web site is responsible for keeping pirated content off its pages without notice from the copyright holder.
In the meantime, it remains to be seen if other companies will follow Viacom into the legal arena. Will YouTube go the way of the dodo?
An Istanbul court ruled to block the famous viral-video web site after a group of supposed Greek fanatics posted a video that claimed that the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was a homosexual. The court faxed the decision to Turk Telekom, the largest internet provider in Turkey, on Tuesday. Turk Telekom first removed the video from YouTube, and later prosecutors convinced the company to block YouTube entirely.
While the political video has been effectively deleted from YouTube, duplicates or reloaded versions may arrive in the future. There has been a large response of videos that either claim that the Greeks are all gay or that Ataturk was not a homosexual. Either way, the blockade will remain in place until the government of Turkey says otherwise. (more…)
The video-sharing Web site (and sometimes cesspool) YouTube began airing content from the British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday, after signing a deal with the company. The move makes the BBC the first major international broadcaster to ink a licensing deal with the site. You can’t watch full episodes of your favorite quirky British television shows quite yet though, as the BBC is only providing three clip channels. However, you can still watch everyone’s favorite boxing matchup: man versus kangaroo.
Analysts see the move as a step in the right direction for YouTube, as licensing content appears necessary to keep the recently purchased site going strong. The video entertainment company continues to be plagued by complaints over copyright issues. The now Google-owned company took a hit recently when Viacom demanded the site pull over 100,000 video clips, because they inked a deal with new YouTube competitor, Joost.
We all should have seen it coming. YouTube, the bastion of all things video and user-created, is now becoming a medium for extremist propaganda. Recently, some Islamic terrorist (truly an oxymoron for people who know better) groups are uploading their anti-American and anti-Western videos to YouTube for a larger audience than the marginal websites they used to be hosted on. I don’t want to go into a ton of detail here – I don’t need to repeat their messages more times than necessary - but the original article gives enough disgusting examples of hate. It’s a tough fight for YouTube, as a statement from the company states, “YouTube has clear terms and conditions which prohibit, amongst other things, hateful content. Our community has been highly effective in policing the site, and YouTube removes videos if our community flags them as inappropriate.” Basically, they’ll only do something if someone else complains first.
Therein lies the only problem with internet and free speech. On the one hand, we’re free to see six-year olds singing Phantom of the Opera or monkeys throwing feces at each other. (Note: I pulled these examples out of my ass and proceeded to look on YouTube for them; it took all of a minute and a half.) Hell, as our sister site Destructoid likes to say, you can see “also cocks” if you’re so inclined. However, this freedom is extended to those who would do harm or promote hatred. Should YouTube be formally policed? Or worse, who would police the police? (Sorry for the overly-serious tone, this is what you get when you’re recovering from teh SARS.)
Hey!Watch has announced nice little app that can let you rip and seed your favorite YouTube, Google Video and Meta Cafe movies. The whole deal sounds great in theory and it’ll be interesting to see how this whole new marriage will last. The one deal breaker for me though is that under the ‘Free Membership’ service you can only upload 10 videos a month, anymore and you’ll have to cough up $4.99 a month.
I cannot see a product that is so prone to lawsuits actually charging a monthly fee, but I’ll gladly be a leecher and get myself some “Will it Blend?” clips.
Big brother always finds interesting ways to spend money and for some reason they always tend to be painful. Here’s two military gadgets that’ll have you crying mommy faster than an ass whoopin from Santa. The first is supposed to cause an extreme burning sensation without actually causing damaging burns, unless they want it to. It supposedly heats the water in your cells via vibration. Just sounds like microwaves to me but what do I know. It apparently also causes a testosterone boost judging by voice of the the woman describing the machine.
The second piece of tech is a very high intensity focused speaker that causes sonic pain regardless of how little you clean your ears. It causes a claimed 160 decibels at very close range. If you ever get a chance to hear 160 decibels, it’s sort of like having the big bang go off in your head. I don’t think I need to detail the aftermath.
The overall consensus? They want to throw the biggest BBQ with the loudest music this side of the Mississippi river, thug style.
