WebProNews

Tag: YouTube

  • Head-Butting Elk Gets Euthanized

    Head-Butting Elk Gets Euthanized

    I guess playful head butting can be considered dangerous to some.

    Remember the YouTube viral video featuring an elk headbutting a photographer who was taking pictures of him? Well after this incident and after authorities at the Great Smokey National Park found the same elk had been approaching people on the same road, decided to euthanize him to protect the locals.

    “The decision to euthanize the elk was a first for the park.” spokeswoman Dana Soehn said. “The video ‘was the first incident that we know of that the elk engaged in physical contact’ with a visitor.” Soehn said. “The footage ‘was a critical step in the decision-making’ to euthanize.”

    Obviously, there have been strong reaction to this. Found here on Twitter:

    According to the park officials, due to visitors feeding the elk, this alowed the elk to associate people with food, thus losing the fear and approaching people. Seeing the video, the photographer was lucky, but the elk was not at fault. Basically, if visitors at the park had not tried to feed the elk, something we have been told so often when we were children visiting the zoo, not to feed the animals, this elk would have been enjoying life today.

    A hard lesson to learn, even harder for innocent wildlife.

    Image via WikiCommons

  • Here’s One Thing That’s Wrong With The New YouTube Comments

    Google recently implemented a new commenting system on YouTube, which integrates Google+ into comments on YouTube video pages. Maybe you’ve heard about it.

    Have you had any problems with the new YouTube comments? Let us know in the comments.

    As you know, a lot of people haven’t taken too kindly to the change, and have voiced all sorts of complaints. Personally, I can see both positives and negatives, but it’s obvious that a lot of users (including the all important video creators) are upset.

    One thing about the change that is clearly making the system less effective as a discussion platform is the way that people share content on social media in general. People are sharing links to YouTube videos on Google+ without thinking about what they’re saying being a comment on YouTube. If they are thinking about that, they’re not trying very hard.

    Let me illustrate this in an example.

    There’s a new Google Webmaster Help video in which Matt Cutts discusses blog comments and link spam. Cutts is the kind of guy who when he says something, a lot of people are interested. That means a lot of people are going to share this video. And they have been on Google+. They want to share it with their followers. Sometimes, they’re just saying what the video is, and sharing it.

    For example, one user’s comment while sharing the video was, “Matt Cutts dishes out advice on commenting with links, and recommends using your real name in comments.”

    And that’s fine for Google+. In fact, it makes tons of sense. You’re explaining the video you’re sharing, so your followers know what it’s about, and can decide whether or not they want to watch it.


    As a YouTube comment on the actual video page, where people are already watching (or have already watched) the video, it doesn’t make sense.

    How is a comment that is basically a description of the video a good point of discussion? As I write this, that’s the top comment (out of 66) for the video. And there are a bunch of others that essentially do the same thing.

    So yeah, this is a pretty cut and dried example of the new commenting system destroying the discussion around a video. It’s basically more like trackbacks than comments.

    While Google obviously wants to see more engagement on Google+, I really can’t see this particular approach having much of a positive impact. In fact, it’s causing people to hate Google+ and write songs about how much they hate it (warning: NSFW language):

    On the initial video Google uploaded illustrating the new system, there over 34,000 comments as of the time of this writing. Many of them include Bob and his army. In case you haven’t seen Bob yet, he looks like this, and often has tanks, rockets, helicopters, guns, etc.

    YouTube Bob

    Here’s the current “top comment” for that video, by the way:

    Do you think Google has some major issues with its new YouTube commenting system? Would you like to see them go back to the old style or just make improvements to the new version? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • College Kid’s Vine Compilation Goes Viral

    Since Vine’s inception, people have been using it to make others laugh, and often their exploits will go viral, particularly if the user is already famous (Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner from “Game Of Thrones” have been particularly popular of late). But it’s when the Vines are both hilarious and by some random guy that no one knows that the capacity for a viral hit is even bigger.

    The user in question is Logan Paul, and while some say his Vines are a bit too “bro” for their taste–or that his exploits are only funny in the context of the medium–he’s certainly got a hit on his hands. This clip of some of his best work has been circulating on the web all day. Check it out.

    Image: YouTube

  • YouTube Users Have Longer Attention Spans Than You Think

    If you think that it’s impossible to hold a YouTuber’s attention with a longer video, think again.

    According to YouTube reps speaking at a closed partners event this week, more then one-third of all of the video viewing time on the site comes from videos that are longer than 20 minutes (via GigaOm). It appears that many users’ attention spans are a bit longer than the cats we believed were dominating YouTube’s most popular content.

    Also, YouTube revealed that over one-third of all searches on the site are news-related queries.

    While this is good news for humanity (we’re actually interested in long-form videos…and news!), it’s even better news for YouTube and the various channels on the site that are looking to focus on serious, in-depth original content. Remember, YouTube has been putting a lot of effort into building up channels on the site, hoping that users will want to follow creators that produce fresh, original videos. Back in May, YouTube unveiled the paid channels pilot, allowing a select few partners charge a small fee of users to view certain videos. Recent reports indicated that the paid channels may be off to a slow start, however.

    Just a couple of weeks ago, YouTube expanded the paid channels initiative in a big way by allowing any account in good standing with over 10,000 subscribers to put a price on their content.

    YouTube began expanding the length limit for all videos posted a few years ago (remember, it used to be 10 minutes). It currently sits at fifteen minutes for all users, and the length limit isn’t capped at all if you request an increase and verify your account.

    Image via jm3, Flickr Creative Commons

  • YouTube Gives Channels Free Advertising With Fan Finder

    YouTube announced the launch of the new Fan Finder ad creation tool today aimed at helping video creators introduce their channels to new fans via TrueView video ads.

    Creators can create a video introducing their channel to prospective fans, and submit it YouTube’s Fan Finder, and they’ll make an ad out of it. Viewers will have the option to skip the ad after five seconds.

    But here’s the bonus: it’s free. YouTube will show the ad across YouTube at no cost to the creator.

    “Fan Finder takes into account the interactions that viewers have with millions of YouTube channels in order reach the people who are most likely to engage with your channel,” says YouTube in a blog post.

    Perhaps this will win them back some points lost from the implementation of the new commenting system. Maybe a few anyway.

    YouTube suggests that you keep your video short and engaging, with a strong message and a clear call to action. And don’t forget about branding.

  • Now That’s How You Complain About YouTube Comments

    In case you haven’t heard, Google has changed the commenting system on YouTube, moving toward a Google+-based approach. Users aren’t very happy about it. Even one of YouTube’s co-founders has apparently broken an eight-year silence to complain.

    Obviously there are some very colorful comments all over YouTube (and the rest of the web for that matter), but one YouTube user knew how to complain about it right. In true YouTube fashion (a viral video of course). It’s called “My Thoughts on Google+”.

    Hint: Her thoughts aren’t very positive (and contain a great deal of NSFW language).

    Regardless of what you think about Google+, you gotta hand it to Ms. Emma Blackery. That’s how you complain about YouTube comments.

    [via Hypebot]

  • A Lot Of People Hate The New YouTube Comments

    On Wednesday, Google announced that it is finally implementing the YouTube comment system change that users and video providers have been anticipating. They’ve moved to a Google+-powered commenting system, further tying YouTube to Google’s larger “social layer”.

    Obviously the reaction is mixed. Do you think this is the right move for YouTube? Let us know what you think in the comments.

    With the new system, Google says the comments “you care about” move to the top. Google knows what you care about. Got it?

    In reality, users will see posts at the top of the list from the video’s creator, popular personalities, “engaged discussions” about the video, and of course, people from your Google+ Circles. You do still have the option to see the most recent comments by switching from “top comments” to “newest first”.

    The system also enables you to adjust the privacy level of your own comments. You can comment publicly, or only to people in your Circles. Or even just to one person. Replies are threaded like they are in Gmail.

    Video owners are provided with tools to review comments before they’re posted, and can block certain words. They can also auto-approve comments from certain fans.

    “If you’re like the majority of people commenting on YouTube, you’ve already connected your account to a Google+ profile or page and can start commenting now,” says Google in a blog post.

    If your haven’t connected your account, you can do so here.

    “Remember, you’re in control of how you’re seen publicly on YouTube, whether that’s keeping your current YouTube channel name, using your own name, or creating a new one,” Google says.

    While some, particularly Google+ users, will embrace the change (YouTube comments don’t have the greatest reputation as it is), there are clearly plenty of people, including those providing the videos that aren’t pleased with Google’s move. Here’s a small sampling of what people are saying about it on Twitter.

    While if you look at the comments on Google’s own video about the changes (above), they don’t seem too bad under the default option, but if you switch over to “newest first,” you’re going to see a lot of anger and hate. I mean a lot. Warning: you might need to take a shower after reading them.

    There are likely plenty of YouTube users that simply have no desire to use Google+, and simply don’t want to have another social network forced down their throat through a product that they’ve been using for years (including for years before Google+ even existed).

    Even some frequent Google+ users have expressed disdain with Google’s forcing of Google+ into its other products, including YouTube, in the past. We had a conversation with Wil Wheaton last year about this, in fact. It wasn’t about comments, but Google had been testing a Google+ like button in place of the YouTube thumbs up button, which prompted him to post a rant to his Tumblr.

    When we talked to him afterwards, he said, “The only reason that matters is because it’s part of how Google will decide who gets another season of the shows they’re sponsoring,” Wheaton tells WebProNews. “I want to be very clear about this: when I made my post on Tumblr, I wasn’t even thinking of that. I was thinking about how Google is forcing people who don’t want or need Google+ to sign up and use it.”

    That’s the thing. The YouTube commenting system is certainly a new way to drive more engagement to Google+. It’s not as if Google has been shy about this strategy though. The company has long positioned Google+ as the “social layer” of the larger Google, as opposed to a separate product. The phrase “Google+ is Google,” has been used by the company more than a few times.

    The fact is that YouTube is part of Google (and a pretty huge part at that), and users are simply going to have to accept Google+ as part of that. Either that or find a different video site to meet their needs.

    Do you think Google+ is being forced on people who don’t want to use it? Is this the right move for YouTube, or do you think it will hurt the YouTube experience? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • Netflix Is Absolutely Dominating Data Traffic In North America [Report]

    Data from a Sandvine report is making the rounds through the tech Blogosphere today, finding that together, Netflix and YouTube account for 50% of downstream traffic on fixed networks in North America, with Netflix dominating between the two.

    According to Sandvine, Netflix is the leading downstream application on the continent with 31.6% of the traffic. YouTube holds 18.6%.

    Netflix is also making a major mark in Europe. It now accounts for 20% of downstream traffic on “certain fixed networks in the British Isles,” according to Sandvine. As the firm notes, this is less than two years after Netflix launched in Europe and it took Netflix four years to have that kind of share of data traffic in the United States.

    There is still a lot of world left for Netflix to conquer. It has no presence in the Asia-Pacific today, and the region’s average monthly mobile usage alone now exceeds a gigabyte, which is driven by video, according to Sandvine. This accounts for 50% of peak downstream traffic – more than double the 443 megabyte average in North America.

    In Africa, video still accounts for less than 6% of mobile traffic.

    The report also found that Instagram and Dropbox are the top-ranked apps in mobile networks in many regions, and Instagram’s launch of video has played a significant role in its usage.

    Sandvine also found that P2P filesharing accounts for less than 10% of total daily traffic in North America. That’s compared to 31% five years ago.

    [via All Things D]

    Image: Netflix.com

  • Cowboy Bebop Coming To Blu Ray, 1440p HD on YouTube

    For those that are lifelong fans (and those with ears perked and eyes open), Cowboy Bebop will be released on Blu-ray and digital in the U.S. in 2014. If you really can’t wait that long, the whole series has been uploaded on YouTube in 1440p HD. Yes, you read that correctly.

    For those unfamiliar with Cowboy Bebop, let’s start off gradually, as it  may be is a series worth your time.

    For a quicker and more forward synopsis, scroll down for the AV Club writer Tasha Robinson’s take on it, or read Amazon Editorial Writer David Chute’s quick, no non sense summary.

    When you think of anime, you may visualize big eyed, crazy neon haired, wild and young overenthusiastic characters involved in a baseless and shallow plotline in a black and white unrealistic world ruled by absolute chaos and bad dubbing. Cowboy Bebop is none of those things.

    For the record, there are no aliens; the technology is within the bounds of reality (albeit, coming sooner than later); real life products are still around (everything form Coca Cola, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Excite, Pocky, Playstation etc.); Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro is referenced; one character and story line is based off the infamous real-life Heaven’s Gate cult; Bruce Lee is on billboards; every single gun shown is based off a real one; Singapore’s Lion City still exists – it’s all there, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is a handful of movie references through cinematics that pay respects to classics like Aliens, The Killer, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Crow, to name a few. Cowboy Bebop self describes itself as “The Work Which Becomes a New Genre Itself”, and rightfully so.

    (image)

    The story is set in the year 2071, humanity is spread all across the Solar System on colonized and terraformed planets like Mars and moons like Titan; Earth suffered a rock shower after a space highway (known as an astral gate) exploded and destroyed the moon. The Solar System has police jurisdictions, but has reinstated the Wild West’s bounty system; bounty hunters can catch or a kill a bad guy and turn them into police for a lump sum. The story centers around five characters who struggle to meet ends meet, all while peeling layers of their depth filled, saddening, and tragic pasts that truly make the show for what it is.

    Jet Black, a former beat cop and bounty hunter, is the captain of a ship called Bebop; his partner, Spike Spiegel, also a bounty hunter and the main protagonist, is a an aloof, Jeet Kune Do martial artist running from a criminal past; Faye Valentine, a femme fatale born in ’94 (but cryogenically frozen) and rival bounty hunter is a hard luck woman with a massive past debt to pay off; a quirky and eccentric teenaged brainy hacker earth girl named Ed (aka Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV); and Ein, a genetically modified welsh corgi. Simply writing about it does it no justice.

    (image)

    The show isn’t just gun totting violence that occurs from start to finish – in fact, a majority of the show reflects on character development, giving us a more three dimensional feel for the people set before us; you will see yourself in at least one of Cowboy Bebop’s characters, and even if it’s just for a brief moment, it’ll feel a bit intrusive to your soul, which is what the whole show is about.

    At least listen to it’s amazing original soundtrack. It’s a blend of jazz, big band, folk, country, rock n roll, and a whole lot of remnants from yesteryear – a lot of the praise that Cowboy Bebop gets is from its music – which, were it absent, would ruin the series.

    On cold Sunday nights back in August 2001, a lot of us youngsters broke bedtime hours and huddled around our TV set at low volumes to a get a glimpse of this “grown up anime”. It was a series that ushered in a new generation of young adult smokers who perked their interests in jazz, making  literary and cultural phenomenoms contagious as a result of Bebop.

    You don’t need a whole list of critics giving the series high marks to convince you to watch such a powerful series; Cowboy Bebop is worth every second.

    (image)

    Tasha Robinson probably worded it better, saying “Those ready to dip their toes into the commitment of a TV series (which generally run to 13 or 26 episodes per season, and like British shows, usually have season-long self-contained plot arcs) might start with Cowboy Bebop, which was rightly a huge hit; each episode follows a different musical theme, and the story, about a bunch of incompetent, space-traveling bounty hunters, is jazzy and energetic, with callouts to everything from ’50s spy shows to modern action movies. (As a full-circle bonus, the lead character, Spike, is heavily based on Lupin III himself.)”

    (image)

    (Images via YouTube, GiantBomb.com)

  • Did YouTube’s Co-founder Slam The New Comment System?

    It looks like Jawed Karim, co-founder of YouTube, has left his first comment on YouTube in eight years to slam the new commenting system that Google is rolling out.

    Its unclear whether it really is him, but it is the same account that uploaded the first ever video to YouTube (Me at the zoo):

    The new comment says, “Why the fuck do I need a Google+ account to comment on a video?”

    YouTube comments

    The new system has struck a nerve among YouTube users, and many are criticizing Google for the move. As we reported, a lot of people really hate it.

    [via 9to5Google]

  • YouTube’s Big Comments Revamp Has Begun

    YouTube’s Big Comments Revamp Has Begun

    Weeks ago, YouTube announced that they were finally going to do something about comments. I guess they felt that it was about time for a paradigm shift. I mean, it’s well understood that if you want to go find the worst of humanity, YouTube comments are a great place to start.

    Until now, it was probably wise to simply avoid venturing into the comment section on your favorite video. And actually commenting? Hah. Like I’m going to subject myself to that. But starting this week, YouTube says that they will be implementing the new commenting system. A better one, in fact.

    The basic changes that YouTube is making to comments involve how comments are shown and how Google allows you to post a comment in the first place. Yeah, you knew it was coming – Google is now forcing YouTube commenters to link a Google+ account.

    For starters, comments will be shown based on their significance by default (with an option to sort by recency if desired). What kind of comments does YouTube want to show you?

    “You’ll see posts at the top of the list from the video’s creator, popular personalities, engaged discussions about the video, and people in your Google+ Circles,” say YouTube’s Nundu Janakiram and Yonatan Zunger.

    Also, say hello to true threaded replies.

    Video creators are also getting some new tools to help them better moderate comments. “If you also post videos on your channel, you’ll have new tools to review comments before they’re posted, block certain words or save time by auto-approving comments from certain fans,” according to YouTube.

    More about that forced Google+ commenting system:

    “If you want to keep using a different name on YouTube than on other Google services, you can still do that with the Google identity system,” says a YouTube help page.

    So, if you really want to stay halfway anonymous while commenting on YouTube, you could create a dummy account and use that. According to Google, they’re not really seeing much resistance to the merging of YouTube and Google+ – they say that the “majority” have already done so. Still, anonymous commenting is something that many internet users value – especially on YouTube. Feel free to sit back and watch the fallout.

    Image via YouTube

  • Google Posts Arcade Fire’s YouTube Music Awards Performance

    YouTube held its first music awards ceremony on Sunday. Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts hosted, and Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, Eminem, M.I.A. and Avicii performed.

    Arcade Fire did their song Afterlife. and the YouTube Spotlight channel has posted this video of the performance with direction from Spike Jonze and John Gonzalez and production by Sunset Lane Entertainment and VICE.

    Unfortunately, embedding is disabled (seemingly going against everything YouTube stands for), so you’ll have to click over to watch it.

    Last week saw Arcade Fire released their entire new album, Reflektor, for free on YouTube, making it available for fans ahead of the October 29th release. That video is no longer available, but you should have no problem finding the album on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

    Google had developed a significant history with the band over the years. As far back as 2010, the company partnered with the group on a Chrome experiment – an interactive music video showcasing HTML5. Then, in September, the two partnered again on another interactive video.

    It’s no surprise to see the band playing a significant role in Google’s new music awards.

    Image: YouTube

  • Kim Kardashian, Kanye West Sue YouTube Co-Founder

    When there’s an exclusive video surrounding Kim Kardashian, you should be very skeptical of whether you want to leak it or not. If the reality TV starlet’s last infamous video and lawsuit are anything to go by, leaking any exclusive video of hers is a big “no-no.” Now, it’s happened again.

    Of course everyone knows Kim and her boyfriend, rapper Kanye West recently got engaged on her birthday, Oct. 21. The “Yeezus” rapper popped the question in a private affair where he rented out the home of the San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park. The intimate affair consisted of only close family, and select friends.

    (image)

    However, West did permit E! Entertainment Television’s camera crew to film the event for “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” This was the only exception was all that the rapper allowed, so there shouldn’t have been any other footage of the event, right? Wrong!

    This is exactly why the rapper, and his fiance’ have filed a lawsuit. TMZ reports that the couple’s attorney, Eric George, states that the culprit behind the video leak is none other than YouTube co-founder, Chad Hurley. As one of YouTube’s initial share holders, Hurley was also apart of the massive merger and acquisition that took place when the company was sold to Google for approximately $1.65 billion.

    So, you’d think monetary gain wouldn’t be a factor for Hurley right? Well, that’s partially true, however, notoriety and exposure seem to be the basis of prosperity, according to the suit. Both elements where intended to be a means of generating revenue, and user traffic to his latest video site.

    (image)

    The lawsuit states that Hurley plotted to leak the video for his own upcoming Internet venture, MixBit, which is another video broadcasting site along the same lines of YouTube. The couple also took things a step further with a “low-blow” toward Hurley stating that he was ‘desperate to find a second act’ after two failed business ventures, following the massive sale of YouTube. The suit also states that Hurley was, indeed, in attendance at AT&T Park that day. However, he was not invited, but somehow bypassed security, and ‘manipulated his way in.’

    Once discovered, West did allow Hurley to stay, but he was required to sign a confidentiality agreement. The funny part is, Hurley actually took a picture holding up the agreement! Maybe, the small confidentiality details slipped his mind in the heat of the moment, because soon after news of the engagement hit the media, so did the video.

    The lawsuit goes on to state Hurley’s damaging actions. After posting the proposal video on MixBit, he took to Twitter the next day to share the video he recorded. Hurley exposed the video to more than half a million people based on his massive number of Twitter followers. A press release was even posted on MixBit in reference to the video. However, the press release has since been removed.
    https://twitter.com/Chad_Hurley/statuses/392821026590961665

    The monetary damages for the suit will include punitive damages, but no definitive amount has been disclosed as of yet. While the couple has not put a number on the value of the video, they do state that it was intended for MC Cable Television, which is a Bunim/Murray and E! Entertainment Television subsidiary. The subsidiary produces and syndicates “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

    (image)

    Image(s) via Kim Kardashian | CeleBuzz    Twitter | Chad Hurley    Kim Kardashian | CeleBuzz (2)

    Kim Kardashian | CeleBuzz (3)

  • Calvin And Hobbes Dance Over At YouTube

    Calvin And Hobbes Dance Over At YouTube

    There’s little arguing when it comes to the position of Calvin and Hobbes in the annals of entertainment history; that is, right at the top. The revered comic strip is still fawned over by fans, even though there hasn’t been any new content since December, 1995. While search engines aren’t necessarily the go-to metric when it comes to discussing viral popularity anymore, a simple search for “Calvin and Hobbes Tumblr” returns over 1 million results. That, alone, should provide some insight into just how much people love the rascally blonde-headed kid and his brilliant tiger sidekick.

    Naturally, such fanhood has been facilitated by the Internet and all of the fan club-enabling features it contains. The latest involves the animation of the duo’s famous dance moves, which appeared regularly in Bill Watterson’s works. The animated work was done by Adam Brown, he of Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans fame. To create the animated short, Brown actually used Watterson’s drawings as his source. Brown also gives the appropriate credit where it is due.

    While some might yell infringement, Brown makes sure to address this by stating he is not collecting pageview money for his creation, which leads this post. He continues by saying:

    It is my belief that Bill Watterson is open to fan fic and remakes of his works as long as there’s no profit from it. He recently said in an interview, “Every artist learns through imitation, but I rather doubt the aim of these things is artistic development. I assume they’re either homages or satiric riffs, and are not intended to be taken too seriously as works in their own right. Otherwise I should be talking to a copyright lawyer.”

    This is meant as an homage, but it’s also about the artistic development of animation… I don’t think it detracts from the original to see them in motion.

    While the copyright of Calvin and Hobbes belongs to Bill Watterson and Andrews McMeel Universal, I believe this is fair use based on the following:

    -There’s no profit, advertising or otherwise.
    -The use is transformative, not just derivative.
    -The characters from the comic are redrawn, not copied. One of Watterson’s paintings was modified for the background.

    Based on Watterson’s statements referenced by Brown, would you agree with his disposition? Would Watterson? As an aside, if you didn’t see the interview in question, Mental Floss is your starting point. Considering how YouTube is functions on a “quick to pull the offending video” basis, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if Brown’s video comes down soon.

    [Lead image via Adam Brown, courtesy of Bill Watterson]

  • “No Woman, No Drive” Video Goes Viral [VIDEO]

    “No Woman, No Drive” Video Goes Viral [VIDEO]

    You’re probably aware of Saudi Arabia’s ban on female drivers, which is just one form of oppression women in the Middle Eastern country are subjected to. After news of a Saudi cleric’s ridiculous comments on the female driving ban picked up, Saudi activist and comedian Hisham Fageeh released a parody music video last week titled “No Woman, No Drive.”

    “No Woman, No Drive,” which is a spin on Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” song, has gone viral since it was released over the weekend and has gotten more than 5 million views so far.

    Check it out:

    As hilarious as the video is (and reminiscent of something Sasha Baron Cohen might do), what Fageeh is mocking is really no laughing matter–the oppression of Saudi women. Not only are women not allowed to drive, they are required to completely cover their body, with the exception of the hands and eyes, when they go out. Women are also required to have a male guardian in Saudi Arabia.

    “Say I remember when you used to sit, in the family car, but backseat. Ovaries are safe and well, so you can make lots and lots of babies,” Fageeh sang in “No Woman, No Drive,” mocking a claim by a Saudi cleric that said driving would damage a woman’s ovaries and cause birth defects. Not only did the comments made by cleric Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan spark Fageeh’s song, it also sparked a driving protest on Saturday.

    “If a woman drives a car,” Al-Loheidan said in September, “it could have a negative physiological impact…Medical studies show that it would automatically affect a woman’s ovaries and that it pushes the pelvis upward.” Al-Loheidan also sad, “We find that for women who continuously drive cars, their children are born with varying degrees of clinical problems.”

    After Al-Loheidan made his comments, many Saudi women decided to protest the ban by driving on Saturday. At least 12 women were arrested and 6 others were fined by Saudi police for their act of defiance.

    One Saudi woman posted a video of her drive on October 26, and you can see her getting thumbs up from male drivers that pass her:

    What do you think of “No Woman, No Drive” and the Saudi driving ban? Respond below.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • San Diego State Baseball Team Plays Game In Halloween Costumes

    Does any holiday go better with the trappings of social media like Halloween? Sure, Christmas is great for sharing pictures of your newest gadget, and, to be sure, Instagram is about to explode with images of Thanksgiving dinners in little under a month, but will all that turkey beat the sheer volume of people posting pictures (and other social media content) of their Halloween dress up attempts? Doubtful. With that in mind, make sure you check out the lead video, which features the San Diego State baseball team scrimmaging against each other, all while decked out in Halloween costumes.

    The results are pretty spectacular, especially when the San Diego Chargers cheerleader knocks the ball out of the park, and rounds the bases with their blonde pigtails flowing in the breeze. And then there’s the Jamaican bobsled team costume that threatens to win the entire holiday. It also makes for a great animated gif:

    San Diego State Baseball Halloween

    Keeping the levity and the Halloween spirit going, the Aztecs’ press release detailing the event was presented with a humorous slant, all while taking a well-placed shot at the NCAA:

    The Bobsled Team was the hit of the afternoon, the five-man car step, step, step, step, stepping to the plate in the top of the second inning.

    C.J. Saylor was up front with a bat in his hands, with Tyler Sapp, Mark Seyler, Danny Sheehan and Cody Thompson along for the ride.

    Saylor fouled off several pitches before popping up behind the second base bag. The ball was dropped but the Bobsledders were still thrown out from center field. It was a pity because many in the crowd were eager to see the Bobsled on the bases, where it really gets jammin’. (Note for next year: a two-man car would make for easier sledding).

    The prize for best costume was to be a 2014 Corvette Stingray. But, because of NCAA restrictions, the Jamaicans instead were given warm applause.

    Whatever your favorite team did for Halloween, they’ve got a long way to go to top the San Diego State Aztecs baseball team.

    [Lead image courtesy of GoAztecs.com YouTube page]

  • Arcade Fire’s New Album Reflektor Is Free on YouTube, For Now

    Without further ado – here’s the new Arcade Fire album, titled Reflektor, in its entirety:

    No, this isn’t a leak or some ill-gotten rip. This was released and promoted by Arcade Fire themselves.

    Of course, this is just a “teaser” and will most definitely disappear when the album actually drops. You can pre-order the album on iTunes, or on the official Reflektor site. There, you can buy a digital album, CD, and Vinyl.

    Reflektor comes out on October 29th.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Tom Hanks Made This Fan’s Week In Viral Video

    Tom Hanks Made This Fan’s Week In Viral Video

    It’s long been known that Tom Hanks is awesome. Not only has he acted in, directed, or written at least one of your favorite movies, he’s also just a completely chill, hilarious guy who’s down for just about anything…including reenacting that famous piano scene from “Big”. There was also that time he totally said “f**k” on “Good Morning America”, and the time he recited slam poetry about “Full House”.

    But enough about how awesome he is. Oh, wait. There’s also this:

    The videos, showing Hanks meeting with his “number 1 fan”, Sarah Moretti, have recently gone viral. In them, Moretti shows him a scrapbook she’s kept of his work and he signs it for her, because he’s boss like that.

    Image via YouTube

  • YouTube’s Rumored Subscription Music Service Could Launch This Year [REPORT]

    YouTube’s Rumored Subscription Music Service Could Launch This Year [REPORT]

    Another report now claims that YouTube is pretty close to launching their oft-rumored subscription music streaming service, one that would incorporate videos and offer both free and paid tiers.

    From Billboard:

    The service, designed with mobile listening in mind, will have a free component and a premium tier that offers unlimited access to a full catalog of tracks similar to what’s already available via YouTube’s parent company, Google Inc., via its All Access subscription music service. Premium features would include the ability to cache music for offline listening and removing ads.

    The free tier is likely to be unlimited, on-demand access to full tracks on all platforms, including mobile, said several people who have been briefed on the proposed service. In that sense, the paid tier is more of a “soft sell” as YouTube’s primary goal is to continue to amass ears and eyes to its mobile platform to sell ads.

    Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard that a YouTube music service is on the way. Those reports emerged a couple of months before Google unveiled their Google Play Music All Access subscription service. But at the time, there was always a distinction between GPMAA and any possible YouTube music service. Even then, it seemed that Google was looking to launch them both as two separate entities.

    “We’re always working on new and better ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving partners more opportunities to reach their fans. However, we have nothing to announce at this time,” said YouTube in a statement.

    Months ago, YouTube gave another one of those “we’re not going to confirm anything, but it’s a mighty good idea, right?” statements:

    “While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.”

    Basically, this product is probably coming – and has probably been in the works for quite a long time now. The only question is when will they pull the trigger, and according to Billboard’s report it could be as early as the end of this year.

    Image via YouTube

  • YouTube Star Gets Car Towed, Lies, Gets Owned

    Above is a video response to the video posted below. Continue to read for more contexts.

    Have you heard of Joey Graceffa?

    He’s a famous YouTube star  that walks around, blabbers, and films his privileged life in Los Angeles. Just by making video logs (vlogs), he nets around $200,000 a year.

    Many wonder how that’s even possible:

    Now imagine your house is situated on a Los Angeles street and Joey decides to park his car in front of your drive way like this:

    You would tow it, right? After all, you’re a hard working citizen of the world, you can’t stay at home making videos of yourself in the mirror talking about your clothes, and then going out and trying to understand your chicken salad. The only logical solution is to tow the car, but when you do, Joey makes another video about it and complains of the whopping $200 he has to pay to get his car back.

    But as you’ve seen from the video in this article, you come to realize that Joey is a damn liar. Actor and comedian Nate Clark, the man whose alleged driveway was blocked, doesn’t let Joey get away with his senseless lying and parking job. In fact, Nate cleverly exposes the YouTube star in a manner only a grown adult would understand by elaborately explaining in a five point lecture why and how Joey’s car was towed:

    • Joey said he blocked “just a little bit” of the driveway, so Nate refutes by showing an actual picture (above) of how much his car was actually parked.
    • Joey said that there were no parking restriction signs in the road where his car was towed. Nate explains how he considered putting a sign in front of his driveway, but added “that would be insane”, because really, who would need to put a no parking sign in front of their driveway?
    • Joey said that the person who towed his car should put his “fat ass car” on a diet so it could’ve squeezed out of the drive way. However, Nate points out that his Volkswagen Golf, which at 70.3 inches wide, is one of the slimmest cars out there.
    • Joey also said that whoever towed his car was a “slut”. Nate responded by saying, “That’s just not true man, I wasn’t trying to move my car so I could meet up with some sexual rendezvous, I just wanted to move my car because that’s my right.”
    • Nate warns that Joey should not leave his Federal Tax Return on the passenger seat of his car, joking about how much he made on YouTube in 2012, and how much he owes the IRS.

    And despite many of Joey’s fans coming to the rescue, a lot of thumbed up YouTube and upvoted Reddit commenters whole heartedly agreed with Nate’s response:

    Some of the most popular YouTube stars make more than a million dollars a year.

     

    (Pictures via YouTube (1), (2),  Reddit)

  • Drunk Driver Who Confessed to Killing Man on YouTube Gets 6.5 Years

    A 22-year-old man who famously confessed, via YouTube video, to killing a 61-year-old man while drunk driving has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

    “It should have been me instead of an innocent man. I vow that I’ll do everything I can to prevent it from happening again and his memory from fading,” said Matthew Cordle at his sentencing hearing.

    On August 9th, Cordle contacted the Facebook page for Because I Said I Would, a non-profit organization that sends promise cards across the world for free in order to “better humanity through the power of a promise.” He asked them to help him film a video where he would confess to killing someone while driving under the influence. A little under a month later, that video was released and went viral.

    “On that night I made a mistake – I got into my truck, completely blacked out, and tried to drive home,” said Cordle in the video. “I ended up going the wrong way on the highway, directly into oncoming traffic – and I struck a car. I killed a man.

    Immediately following that, I consulted some high-powered attorneys who told me stories about similar cases where the drivers got off. They were convinced that they could get my blood tests thrown out, and all I would have to do for that was lie. But I won’t go down that path. My name is Matthew Cordle, and on June 22nd, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani. This video will act as my confession.”

    Last month, Cordle pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He said he didn’t want a trial and waived his right to appeal. He and his lawyer also offered no recommendation for sentencing.

    “After getting to know Matt, I can say with confidence that he truly regrets his decision that night. He describes the guilt he has as “insurmountable.” Knowing that Matthew has a tremendous amount of remorse for his actions, does that still mean he deserves years of incarceration? Absolutely. Drinking and driving is a serious crime; we must treat it as such. I know that it is harsh to say, but Matt’s regret will not bring back Vincent Canzani. We must enforce the law to discourage others from making this tragic mistake. I assure you that Matt agrees with me,” said a post on BISIW’s site.

    When Cordle finally does get out of prison, he will have his driving privileges revoked for the rest of his life.

    At the sentencing hearing, Canzani’s ex-wife said she didn’t think her ex-husband would have wanted Cordle to receive a maximum sentence.

    “Nothing will bring Vincent back,” Oates said. “I know what pain Matthew feels. The pain will stay with him until his death.”

    Post by Because I said I would.

    Images via Because I Said I Would, YouTube & Facebook