It’s Friday, and some of you may be struggling to make it through the final hours of the work week. I’m about to help you out. Here’s Aaron Paul (aka Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad) responding to some Twitter users’ requests for him to call them a bitch.
I don’t really know Urban Outfitters’ play in all of this, but it’s just nice to hear Aaron Paul call a bunch of Twitter users bitches. It’s just plain nice.
YEAH BITCH, MAGNETS.
[uotv]
We’ve basically known this was coming for some time, but it became officially official a little under a week ago when the first trailer aired and we got a premiere date.
SCIENCE, BITCH! Of course, we’re talking about the Mythbusters episode featuring Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) and a bunch of show-related myth testing. It’s already aired in Australia, but viewers in the U.S. were supposed to have to wait until August 12th (one day after the Breaking Bad season premiere) to see it.
Key word being “supposed.” It’s up on YouTube right now – yes, the full episode. You better watch it quick, however. Who knows how long this one is going to stay up.
UPDATE: I told you to watch it fast – the video has been removed. Please, enjoy the trailer as a consolation:
[via reddit]
Last year, any click you made on the internet was a risky click – you risked that the link your buddy was trying to share would lead you directly to some cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.”
Thankfully, YouTube has sobered up and has moved on to other endeavors. The “Call Me Maybe” covers have lessened in frequency. But that doesn’t mean that there can’t be a great new cover of one of the biggest hits of 2012. Take this version, which re-imagines the track as a 1927 hit.
This gem comes from Scott Bradlee, who you may remember as the guy who brought you this incredible Gershwin/Queen mashup earlier this year.
Google’s Matt Cutts has put out a new Webmaster Help video once again discussing duplicate content. This time it’s about duplicate content with regards to how it relates to legally required content, such as disclaimers and terms and conditions. The exact question Cutts responds to is:
How does duplicate copy that’s legally required (ie Terms & Conditions across multiple offers) affect performance in search?
Cutts notes that there was a follow-up comment to the question, saying that some in the financial services industry are interested in the answer.
“The answer is, I wouldn’t stress about this unless the content that you have is duplicated as spammy or keyword stuffing or something like that, you know, then we might be – an algorithm or a person might take action on – but if it’s legal boiler plate that’s sort of required to be there, we might, at most, might not want to count that, but it’s probably not going to cause you a big issue,” says Cutts.
“We do understand that lots of different places across the web do need to have various disclaimers, legal information, terms and conditions, that sort of stuff, and so it’s the sort of thing where if we were to not rank that stuff well, then that would probably hurt our overall search quality, so I wouldn’t stress about it,” he says.
So, long story short: don’t make your disclaimers and terms spammy, just like with any other content. As usual, if you play by the rules (Google’s quality guidelines), you should be fine.
Back in May, after much speculation, YouTube finally unveiled their first-ever paid channels. Most costing a few dollars a month, the paid channels put exclusive content behind a paywall, ultimately changing an aspect of YouTube that users are quite comfortable with.
Mainly, getting stuff for free as long as they can put up with some ads every now and then.
And according to some of YouTube’s early partners in the venture, things haven’t really taken off as fast as they previously hoped.
Variety quotes two high profile paid channel owners who both say that they’re a bit disappointed with the returns they’re seeing from their paid channels.
“We had hoped to set the world on fire. We are not setting the world on fire right now,” said the National Geographic Society, who launched a paid kids channel back in May.
“[It’s] working OK. Not amazing,” said Mark Cuban, who opened up AXS TV when the pilot program launched.
It’s not all bad for YouTube’s paid channel initiative, however. Sesame Workshop claims to be “very happy” with the performance of their paid channels.
“We’re in the early days of piloting paid channels. Just as the Partner Program empowered creators to take their channels to the next level, we look forward to seeing how creators bring new content to their fan communities on YouTube,” said YouTube in response.
And YouTube is right about being in the early days. As of today, there are only 51 paid channels in the pilot program. They range from $0.99 a month to as expensive as $7.99 per month. Some channels even offer yearly subscriptions for as low as $24.99 a year or as high as $67.99 a year.
YouTube will expand the initiative – when they’re ready. And opening up the program will vastly expand the type of content that is offered, meaning your average, everyday YouTube channel will eventually be able to but their content behind a paywall.
“This is just the beginning. We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners. And as new channels appear, we’ll be making sure you can discover them, just as we’ve been helping you find and subscribe to all the channels you love across YouTube. Just as the partner program empowered creators to take their channels to the next level, we look forward to seeing how this great community of creators moves ahead with a new way to reach the fan communities that made their channels a hit,” said YouTube when they first launch the paid channels pilot program.
Will a better selection tempt users to buy into the paid model? That remains to be seen. Like any subscription-based service, people are only going to pay if they deem the content worth paying for.
Plus, when most people think YouTube, they think free videos. Sure, you have to put up with ads – but the core appeal of YouTube has always been that it was free. Free hosting, free viewing. Other subscription videos services like Hulu and Netflix, as well as traditional cable options and HBO, never had to cross over the “free” barrier – those services always cost money from the get go.
In order for YouTubers to pony up $7.99 a month for a channel subscription – those channels are going to have to offer some high quality content. Have you subscribed to a YouTube channel yet? Are you waiting for more options? Or are you the type of person who would never, under any circumstances, pay you watch a YouTube video?
McAfee antivirus founder John McAfee seems to be having a great deal of fun since he returned to the States after his highly publicized run from authorities in Belize.
Recently, McAfee put out a funny video responding to all the emails he gets about uninstalling the software (which he no longer has anything to do with). Today, he shares video of himself playing piano in the middle of the Portland International Airport, and quite beautifully, I might add.
Enjoy.
A Morning Serenade..Truly a man of many talents.
I guess there’s no real set-in-stone guide to throwing a bachelor party. Some men force glittered women on their groom-to-be buddies, others force copious amounts of alcohol. Most of the time it’s a combination of these things.
I guess some men like to scare the absolute sh*t out of their buddies as one final, epic sendoff into matrimony. This video comes from Norway, where a group of friends decided to do just that. Apparently, our groom here is deathly afraid of heights and he’d been blindfolded, drinking, for two hours leading up to this. Finally, he mustered up the liquid courage to take a plunge off an old bridge…
[via Rutelsjef, YouTube]
The word on the internet is that this song “Mass Text” is the new contender for worst thing on the internet. I guess we can call it the “Rebecca Black” award. Whatever.
Unlike some of the other “worst things on the internet” that try to take themselves seriously, only to become the worst thing on the internet – this is different. This knows what it is, and it embraces it.
From recording artist Tay Allyn (who also has a minor acting career), here’s your new thing to talk about around the water cooler:
Here’s what Tay has to say about herself:
“Tay has created a new breed of Pop that’s like Ke$ha without the sex, and Gaga without the avant garde- what are you left with? Pop songs about the mundane issues you face in everyday life. It’s sassy, fun, and RELATABLE.”
I don’t have anything else left to say. See you guys later.
Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season! Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season! Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season! Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season! Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season! Breaking Bad returns on August 11th for its final (half) season!
Yeah, bitch!
This video serves to promote Betting Bad, an online game that lets you bet on what you think will happen in the final episodes of the show. If you’re interested in that, you can check it out here. Otherwise, just enjoy this short refresher before the final season premieres on August 11th. A lot has happened in five seasons, and most of us probably don’t have time to rewatch the whole show in less than a month.
Spoilers, obviously:
If you do have time, however, there’s probably no better way to spend it.
Neuroscientist Robert Burton recently participated in an “At Google” talk, in which he discussed his latest book, ‘A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind.” Google has now made it available for all to watch.
The book’s description:
In A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind, Robert Burton brings together clinical observations, practical thought experiments, personal anecdotes, and cutting-edge neuroscience to decipher what neuroscience can tell us about ourselves– and where it falls woefully short. At the same time, he offers a new vision of how to think about what the mind might be and how it works.
Last week, Google launched its new Databoard for Research Insights tool, which lets you tap into various data points from Google’s research efforts. One of the coolest parts about it is the infographic creation feature, which lets you grab data points of your choosing to create custom infographics based on your needs. As Google adds more data to the tool, this should only become more valuable.
Google hosted a forty-minute webinar discussing some of its research and how to use the Databoard for Research Insights tool to create custom infographics. In fact, the webinar was hosted ahead of the tool’s launch, and was actually where it was first unveiled.
The company has now made the webinar available for anyone to check out, so if you’re interested in using the tool, you might want to give it a listen.
Google hosted a few of the people involved with the film Computer Chess for a screening and an “At Google” Q&A recently, which the company has now made available for viewing.
Participating in a post-screening Q&A were writer, director and editor Andrew Bujalski, producer Houston King, and actor Wiley Wiggins (Mitch Kramer from Dazed and Confused).
Here’s the movie description, in case you’re unfamiliar:
Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers thirty-some years ago, COMPUTER CHESS transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.
Last month, the simply delightful animators over at AsapSCIENCE showed us what 200 calories looks like (you know, different portion sizes of various foods). The takeaway: fill yourself up with a plateful of broccoli instead of a Oliver Twistian sliver of pepperoni pizza. But we all knew that, right?
But let’s say you’ve consumed a few too many calories in the day and you’re looking for a particularly strange (or maybe just easy?) way to burn off, let’s say, 200 calories? Well, here’s a video of some weird ways to burn that exact amount.
I think you should go with the teeth brushing and sex. Not at the same time, of course.
When you pop in a movie and see that Universal Studios opening – you know, the one with the giant logo slowly encompassing the Earth – did you ever stop and think just how terrifying it must have been to film that? Jeez.
From the guys that brought you the hilarious cat-friend vs. dog-friend, check out an honest take on the Universal logo.
Google has released a new Webmaster Help video with Matt Cutts addressing the question: If my site goes down for a day, does that affect my rankings?
Sound familiar? I thought so too. Earlier this year, Cutts did a similar video addressing the question: How do I get my search rankings back after my site has been down?
Here’s the new one:
“Well, if it was just for a day, you should be in pretty good shape,” says Cutts. “You know, if your host is down for two weeks, then there’s a better indicator that the website is actually down, and we don’t want to send users to a website that’s actually down, but we do try to compensate for websites that are transiently or sporadically down, and you know, make a few allowances. We try to come back 24 hours later or something like that, so if it was only just a short period of down time, I wouldn’t really worry about that.”
He adds that you might want to drop into the Google Webmaster forum and look around a little. He notes that there was recently a day where Googlebot itself was having trouble fetching pages. It usually has “pretty good reliability,” though, he says.
Instagram has just announced that they are now allowing photo and video embeds – something that the service has needed for as long as it’s been around. Now, anyone wishing to embed a photo or video in an article for their blog or website will be able to do so with an automatically generated embed code, now available via a new share button beside Instagram content on the web.
That’s if the photo/video is public, of course. You won’t be able to embed private content. Here’s what the new share button will look like:
Instagram, always weary of appearing to give away content ownership after that whole privacy policy photo-selling debacle, had this to say:
“As always, you own your photos and videos, and we want to make sure that’s understood no matter where your content appears. Whether you want to embed your video on your blog or a friend wants to feature your photo on a website, everyone will clearly see that your content belongs to you. Your embedded photo or video appears with your Instagram username, and clicking on the Instagram logo will take people to your page on Instagram.com where they can discover more of your photos and videos.”
Finally, Instagram allows people to add content to their blogs with ease. No more screencapping. For Instagram, it’s a no-brainer – it spreads their content across the vast reaches of the web.
While it took Instagram years to allow this, Twitter’s Vine enabled video embeds back in March, just two months after launching.
Google posted an interesting Webmaster Help video today about linking. It’s basically about whether it’s better to link to an original source somewhere at the top of a post, or at the bottom. The answer is essentially that it makes no difference, as far as Google’s algorithm is concerned. The link will flow PageRank either way, so as fas as SEO is concerned, it really doesn’t matter.
After Cutts answers the question directly, he gets into his personal opinions and discusses what he finds annoying about linking practices.
“I’ll just say, for my personal preference, I really appreciate when there’s a link somewhere relatively close to the top of the article because I really kind of want to know when someone’s talking about it, you know, hey, go ahead and show me where I can read the original source or let me look up more information,” says Cutts. “There are a lot of blogs that will give one tiny little link all the way at the bottom of a big long story, and by that time, it just doesn’t seem like it’s quite as useful, but that’s just a personal preference. That’s not ranking advice as far as it goes.”
“The only other thing I hate – this is once again just personal – is whenever you’ve got a regular news report, whether it’s in a mainstream newspaper – New York Times, AP, whatever – and they say, ‘Blah Blah Blah said on a popular webmaster blog that blah blah blah,’ and they don’t link to the source,” he continues. “I mean, come on. Link to your sources, whether you’re a journalist, whether you’re a blogger, let people go and look at the original information themselves so that they can suss out what they think about whatever it is that you’re writing about. So if you just say, ‘Oh, it was discovered on a popular forum that blah blah blah,’ then we have to go look for it. That’s really annoying.”
“Again, not ranking advice,” he reiterates. “Just asking everybody to be considerate on the web, and share credit, and attribute, so that people can, you know, do the research for themselves if they want to.”
As if anybody on the web would ever be inconsiderate.
