Google appears to be testing (or rolling out) a new integration of Google+ into YouTube. Wil Wheaton, the Star Trek/Stand By Me actor, shares a screenshot of a Google+ button taking the place of the like button on YouTube:
Wheaton had a strong reaction to the feature, which may be indicative of how many other YouTube users may soon feel. This is what he had to say on Tumblr:
Oh, go fuck yourself, Google. This is just as bad as companies forcing me to “like” something on Facebook before I can view whatever it is they want me to “like.”
Just let me thumbs up something, without forcing me to “upgrade” to G+, you dickheads.
The worst part of this? For a producer like me, I’m going to lose a crapton of potential upvotes for Tabletop, because the core of my audience is tech-savvy and may not want to “upgrade” to yet another fucking social network they don’t want or need.
Interesting point about missing out on upvotes.
He says it appeared while he was signed out of his Google+ account.
I can’t say I’m surprised to see such a feature make its way to YouTube. Frankly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Google has been very clear about making Google+ the social layer or “social spine,” in CEO Larry Page’s words, across Google’s various products. YouTube has been Google’s strongest social property for a long time, and it makes sense that the two become more and more integrated.
Wheaton’s words bring home a very serious point about Google’s social efforts, however. YouTube has tons of users, and many of them could care less about Google+. Increased integration between the two could either go a long way in bringing more users to Google+ or alienating YouTube users. Perhaps both.
It’s worth noting that Wheaton is actually an avid user of Google+, and has 1,377,525 followers. “I like Google Plus,” he writes on his blog. “Some of the smartest people I’ve ever read are on Google Plus, and the Hangout is amazing. But Google is doing everything it can to force Google Plus on everyone, and it’s pissing me off.”
Google’s recently updated privacy policies allow the company more freedom in connecting its various properties, in terms of user experience.
We’ve reached out to Google for more info about the feature: specifically if it’s a test or an actual feature being rolled out.
Demand Media debuted the latest of its new eHow YouTube channels today, eHow Pets. It’s the third of the company’s new channels created as part of Google’s new YouTube original programming initiative. The others are eHow Home and Livestrong Woman.
“Demand Media creates high-quality content that entertains and inspires users across the web. We’ve been programming content specifically for the YouTube platform since 2007 and have grown our audience to nearly 7 million users per month, with more than 3.6 billion views,” says Demand Media EVP, Media & Marketplace, Michael Blend. “We believe YouTube’s movement towards original production and content aligns well with our mission to deliver what consumers want, and we’re pleased to be one of the leaders on this path.”
Programming for the new channel includes shows called: Heavy Petting, Teacher’s Pet, American Dog, Smudge & Squeak (Defenders of the Flock) and Farm Raised. Hosts include: Mike Weaver, Victoria Stillwell and P. Allen Smith.
Stilwell has hosted Animal Planet’s “It’s Me or The Dog”. Smith hosts two public television programs, and Weaver is a comedian. Demand Media says each of them works as a partner with Demand Media from the conception of new ideas to socializing content with fans (engaging them and gathering feedback).
“YouTube is expanding our channels to bring an even broader range of entertainment to consumers. Demand Media has been a long-time partner in identifying and creating programming consumers want to see and that keeps them coming back again and again,” says Robert Kyncl, Global Head of Content Partnerships at YouTube. “For advertisers, these channels represent a new way to engage and reach their global consumers.”
We’ve followed Demand Media pretty closely since the pre-Google Panda update days. The company, and its eHow property in particular have been focal points throughout the Panda saga, a time period which also happened to coincide with Demand Media’s IPO.
Daniel Frankel at PaidContent makes a pretty good point in that the company has made quite a turn around, particularly in its relationship with Google. Now, Google and Demand Media were already partners before the Panda update, and when the update didn’t immediately impact eHow, there were certainly suspicions that they were getting some kind of special treatment, given that eHow appeared to be the poster child for the type of site Google claimed to be targeting with the Panda update. Eventually, however, Panda did strike at Demand and eHow, and the company initiated a major shift in strategy.
During its last earnings call, Demand Media indicated that eHow had not been impacted by a Google algorithm change since July. The company will report its Q1 earnings on May 8. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about it then (it usually comes up in their earnings calls).
eHow Pets should do well. We all know how popular animal videos are on YouTube.
There’s a mixture of beauty and personality that very few people are able to mesh in terms of being a celebrity. Many times models who transcend their magazine spreads and enter the world of celebrity status are often met with hostility, and cynicism. The reason for this is it’s extremely difficult to present a likable person to identify with, who beforehand was simply known as someone men or women liked to ogle at. See Channing Tatum for a recent example.
But we aren’t talking Tatum, oh no, May 1st now belongs to Kate Upton. The lady who gleamed in the eye of many heterosexual males, and most likely homosexual females (I can’t speak as much for this demographic), with her Carl Jr. commercial.
In just a day, Upton has sold this cynical writer as someone who’s here to stay and dare I say has a star like quality that is already oozing with gravitas. All of which is on display with two YouTube videos which have become, and will continue to be viral hits. I actually laughed at her comedic delivery in the Skullcandy ad, I swear. Both display, dare I say it, a sweet spot, showing not just an attractive blonde model but one that has a personality you can’t help but adore.
So, Kevin Durant and James Harden, feel blessed to be a part of what I’m deeming this most holy of days – Kate Upton Day. Enjoy.
Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for President – everybody knows it. After sweeping five primaries last Tuesday, it’s pretty much a done deal. But Newt Gingrich is taking his time exiting the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary race. At an event in North Carolina last week, Gingrich told supporters that his campaign “will go bye-bye,” but didn’t officially drop out of specify a date for dropping out.
It was widely speculated that Gingrich would officially announced the suspension of his campaign on Tuesday – and he has, kind of. He posted a YouTube video to his supporters, announcing that he will officially suspend his Presidential campaign at a press event on Wednesday.
“I wanted you to know first, because your help was vital. We had nearly 180,000 people who donated to the campaign. We had thousands more who worked as volunteers. We had two and a half million voters, all coming together at a grassroots level to try to fight for a better America.”
Gingrich went on to praise a “terrific campaign” and says that he will continue to tour and campaign (for Romney, we assume).
“When we do announce officially on Wednesday that we’re suspending the campaign, it’ll be with great thoughts of those who were with us side by side all these months. And we want you to know that without you, none of this would have been possible,” he closed.
Check it out below:
According to filings, the Gingrich campaign was $4.3 million in debt by the end of March. It’s expected that when Gingrich officially drops out, he will throw his support behind Mitt Romney.
Pagemodo has just submitted a new infographic on the results of a recent survey on the marketing benefits afforded by social media networking:
Of all the businesses queried, 90% say that they use social media for marketing, and 93% of that claim that it’s beneficial to their commerce. Interestingly, only 43% of marketers see an actual rise in sales, and 83% say that social networking helps with brand exposure. Fifty-six perrcent of those surveyed pointed out that platforms like Facebook have improved and expanded upon business partnerships, and 91% say that higher traffic can be achieved once an online storefront gets the hang of marketing in a social media environment. More experienced users spend more time marketing in social media – beginners spend an average of 1-5 hours a week, while those with 3 or more years of experience spend roughly 16 hours a week.
Between 2009 and 2011, Facebook has risen in popularity by 15%, while LinkedIn lost 7%. Twitter went relatively unchanged, and MySpace and Groupon are no longer relevant for marketing, according to the survey. Video marketing is likewise gaining momentum, as 77% of businesses surveyed plan to increase their utilization of YouTube this year.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has partnered with YouTube to release an all new fitness-oriented channel called Lionsgate BeFit. It’s part of YouTube’s new initiative to deliver more niche-oriented original video entertainment.
Lionsgate BeFit includes contributions from Jillian Michaels, Jane Fonda, Denise Austin, Deepak Chopra & Tara Stiles, Royce Clayton, and Garret Amerine, a war hero who rebounded from injury in Iraq to become a leader in the campaign to get and stay fit. The Channel features many different workout styles including yoga, boot camp, Pilates, cardio, strength and complete workout systems.
“BeFit has accumulated 1.5 million views over the past month and is growing in viewership by a double digit percentage every week, and we believe that our ability to combine compelling original content and a broad and deep catalog of fitness brands positions us for long term success,”
“We’re delighted to partner with YouTube and pleased to be one of the first studios to utilize their platform for a dedicated, branded channel.”
Kajsa Vikman, SVP of Marketing and General Manager of Fitness at Lionsgate also comments:
“When YouTube told us it was making a bold step into original programming with a wide array of the most talented and innovative content creators in the world, we didn’t hesitate to come on board,”
“We knew that our relationships with the biggest and most talented names and brands in fitness along with our extensive DVD library could help us deliver the premiere fitness destination for millions of people all over the world. BeFit in 90 is just the beginning of the high quality programming we plan to deliver.”
The channel has been up and running since January, but they are now ready to expand their program offerings to include more themes and activities. The BeFit Club Hip Hop, a hip hop dance fitness series featuring the latest moves from the club and hip hop scene in fun to follow routines, will be one of the first additions. It will be led by three choreographers, Bryan Tanaka, Dejan Tubic and Janelle Ginestra, all professionals who have worked with big names like Rihanna and Lady Gaga.
Another series will feature Jane Fonda and her advice on working out, vitamin intake, eating habits, and strength and toning exercises. This is just the start for BeFit, who hopes to launch new original content throughout 2012. If you’re interested in getting in shape check out Lionsgate BeFit YouTube channel.
It seems fragrance is the next big thing these days; or rather, creating one. More and more young stars are cashing in on the market of smelling good, including Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber.
Selena Gomez–girlfriend of The Biebs, for those of you who care about such things–is the latest young’un to launch her own scent, called simply “Selena Gomez“. But this one is a bit different, because she asked fans to help her create it.
The fragrance is made up of sweet notes of raspberry, freesia, and vanilla and comes in a girly purple bottle shaped like an evening gown.
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But Gomez is making headlines with her sexified new ad, which shows a very grown-up side of the Disney star.
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The ad has gotten fans even more pumped up about the fragrance, which will be available in May and will initially only be sold at Macy’s.
The Google Australia blog has announced that thousands of new Australian movies are now available for rental on Google Play and YouTube. Australia has fostered a rich cinematic history, producing films like Crocodile Dundee and Crocodile Dundee II. Also, some of the finest actors in recent history are Australian, including Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Heath Ledger and the masterful Nick Cave. One of the first movie studios in the world existed on the Australian continent – the Limelight Department opened in Melbourne in 1897.
Today Google launched added Movies on Google Play as well as a Movies page on YouTube Australia, featuring thousands of films from Hollywood and regional Australian studios. Australian outfits including Roadshow Films, Icon Film Distribution, Madman Entertainment, Hopscotch and Transmission Films are offering content, as well as big Hollywood names, like Disney, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, NBCUniversal, Village Roadshow Pictures and Lionsgate.
Movies can be viewed online on both the Google Play and YouTube platforms – as for mobile users, films can be rented via the Google Play app for Android, and likewise downloaded for offline viewing inside of the rental period. New releases are $5.99 at standard definition, $6.99 for HD, and older titles are $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. Said rental parameters are 30 days to begin watching a title, and 48 hours to finish it, once started.
Google has been working on improving and updating Google TV quite a bit lately. Just last week the TV & Movies app was updated to include a new recommendation service. This week, the YouTube app for Google TV has been updated to include a similar recommendations. These types of improvements will probably be ongoing, if the success of the Google TV Hackathon is any sign.
Today’s update of the YouTube app was announced this morning on the Google TV blog by Maciek Molerus, a Google TV Software Engineer. The update will include recommendations that will suggest YouTube videos based on those a user has already watched and favorited. Also, the app will now allow users to perform a channel search, making it easier for users to find the channel they are looking for.
In addition, Molerus promises users will see a smoother experience using the YouTube app. The app will now automatically select a resolution for videos based on user’s network connections. It will switch to a lower resolution rather than stop to buffer the video. Also, users can now +1 videos from Google TV, sharing them instantly to Google+.
All of these changes sound nice, but they do beg a fundamental question surrounding Google TV. Why add PC features to a television? Why is that the direction of the trend, and why is television so special. Thought of the other way around, isn’t video just one aspect of what is possible on computers? Shouldn’t we all have computers hooked up to our large, central monitors where we view video, play games, and chat with our friends and family? Let me know where you stand and leave a comment below. And don’t tell me about a wireless mouse and keyboard being harder to use than a TV remote – those things are some of the most poorly designed gadgets of the last three decades.
For football fans, this weekend will be dominated by the NFL Draft, the yearly meat market where teams can stock up on “student-athletes” ready to get paid to crush each other on the field, making their owners even more money than the players. Unbalanced systems aside, perhaps one of the more well known traditions of the NFL Draft has to do with the last player taken.
Because of the small chance the last player picked has to make an NFL roster, said player is usually referred to as “Mister Irrelevant.” While the title comes from the expected failure, many players who earned the honor have gone on to have successful NFL careers, of whom, Wikipedia has a short list.
While NFL stars are normally a hit with the groupie crowd–well, any sports star for that matter–this year’s Mister Irrelevant, whoever it will be, has an indecent proposal waiting on him, provided by the young lady in the lead video, who, according to Jockular.com, goes by Brianne. Instead of focusing on first round picks like Andrew Luck, RG III and Trent Richardson, Brianne has her sites set on another trophy: Mister Irrelevant.
The proposition is simple: Whoever is this year’s Mister Irrelevant earns himself a night, alone, with her. While the projections on who the Indianapolis Colts will pick, barring any unseen trades or other movement that alters the draft board’s order, with the 253rd selection remains a mystery, at least the soon-to-be last pick in the draft knows he has options.
The thing is, if whoever the player turns out to be takes Brianne up on her offer, said player might want to interpet the crazy eyes as a warning. Just a thought.
It should be noted the Mister Irrelevant proposition has become something of a viral hit, accumulating almost 180,000 views. Needless to say, the reaction has been kind of harsh, but then again, what do expect from YouTube comments? For example, the top-rated content:
Holy crap those eyes have crazy bitch written all over them.
Obviously, I’m not the only one who sees it. It should be noted that’s one of the more tame responses. Some of them, fueled by Internet anonymity, no doubt, are going for the more explicit style of language.
Thoughts? Comments? Would you hook up with someone who propositioned you via a YouTube video?
YouTube and Google+ are putting together some great workshops for people who like to create and post videos on YouTube. The events will include technical stuff like dealing with importing and exporting and fun stuff like building a bigger audience and exploring cinema.
There will be four events taking place between May 2nd and May 23rd, and you probably don’t want to miss any of them. You have to RSVP for all the Hangouts and they will be streamed live on the YouTube Google+ page.
Each of the events will last about an hour and be followed by a thirty minute long question and answer session. So if you’re a YouTube fan or just thinking about getting started making your own videos, you can’t miss these hangouts.
Here’s the dates and topics:
* May 2: Introduction to cinematography
* May 9: Importing & Exporting: Dealing with codecs and compressions
* May 16: Building your audience on YouTube
* May 23: Improving your channel with YouTube Analytics
We always like to look at stories about how the web has changed (and continues to change) the media landscape, whether that be journalism, entertainment or anything else. When I was growing up, one of my favorite shows was MTV’s The State – a sketch comedy show that was simply too short-lived.
Many of the actors from the show have gone on to appear in and write numerous movies and TV shows. One member of the comedy troupe, David Wain, for example, wrote and directed movies like Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models, and Wanderlust. He also Does Wain Days for My Damn Channel (which recently launched a new YouTube channel). You probably know Michael Ian Black, as well – another member of the state, who manages to keep Twitter interesting and humorous on a regular basis (in addition to his various movie and television roles).
Both of those guys (and the rest of the cast) are great, but I don’t think many fans of The State would argue that Kevin Allison was one of the best parts of the show. And that’s who we’re talking to today. Allison isn’t as much in the movie and TV spotlight as some of his peers, though he does make occasional appearances. Kevin spends more of his time podcasting and focusing on his show RISK! – a live show/podcast he created and hosts.
“I spent a lot of time telling stories as characters after the State broke up, but I had a breakthrough around 2008, when I started telling stories as myself,” Allison tells WebProNews. “I found that when I did that, I saw people’s eyes light up and it was much more like being in conversation with the audience. I realized that I had found my voice, which, it turned out, was simply my real voice all along.”
“So I thought the best way to learn about storytelling was to do it in public constantly,” he continues. “I started the live show and podcast RISK!, where people dare to share stories they never intended to tell in front of a live audience. At RISK, I’m the host of the podcast and live show and I still tell a lot of true stories of my own.”
“If it weren’t for podcasting, my career would not be what it is today, because I am one of those people that doesn’t fit so easily into the stereotypical things that Hollywood or the TV industry is looking for,” he adds. “I’m kind of an oddball, an idiosyncratic characer. So, you know, a lot of comedians like me, who have not found their place in the TV or movie realm, are putting their truest voices out there by self publishing their stuff through podcasts.”
As most podcasters will probably tell you, using the web as the medium of choice gives them a much different kind of connection with their audience that really wasn’t possible not too long ago.
“RISK! itself and the way the show is run have developed largely because of interactions with fans on the web,” Allison tells us. “They’ll invite us to tour to places we never would have known about, or submit stories or songs, or make suggestions of other types of things they’d like to hear on the show. Even a great deal of the staff of the show were fans who contacted me online about coming aboard in real life.”
“I feel like I can be more intimate and experimental with a public audience through this medium than I can through anything I’ve ever done before,” he says. “It really is a straight-from-the-artist-to-the-audience sort of experience, kind of like what happens in small room comedy clubs where there’s not a lot of oversight from some sort of corporation or standards and practices. And so it’s the ultimate in free speech and freeing up my own self expression.”
Obviously YouTube has been a huge element in the web success of many, many Internet celebrities, and even for some who have managed to grow much larger than the “web celeb” status. Don’t forget Justin Bieber got his start on YouTube.
“YouTube has been great for us because it allows us to share videos from our live shows with fans who otherwise might never get to know what our live shows are like,” says Allison. “It also helps us spread the word about what we’re doing, since when people look for people who’ve been on our show on YouTube, they’ll stumble upon RISK! videos.”
Allison, of course also uses other social networks to promote RISK! and connect with fans, but he feels like there’s such a thing as worrying about too many different ones, so he mostly sticks to Facebook and Twitter.
“It changes over time,” Allison says about Facebook. “Originally it was hugely helpful because it helped me to reconnect with dozens and dozens of comedians I hadn’t seen in years and friends of theirs who were also performers. Several years ago when RISK! first started, people paid more attention to event invites. I think facebook changes every couple of years because the site is trying to control how people use it, and so we have to adjust with their way of changing things, but I don’t know, it’s still very powerful for just saying what we’re up to and hearing back from people. It’s pretty necessary for an artistic endeavor to hear back from the people listening to it, positive or negative.”
“Frankly I think it’s pretty much the same,” Allison says of Twitter. “Our fans on Twitter are always telling us what they thought of shows and retweeting our episodes and talking to storytellers about how much they loved their stories. It’s great for spreading the word about RISK!”
“We’re not on google+ because we don’t know what it is supposed to be,” Allison says. “It’s kind of like facebook, right? After a certain point, you have to focus on getting your work done and not necessarily being on every single social network.”
“We stick mainly to facebook, twitter and YouTube, as well as the RISK-show.com website, of course, and they’re all great for keeping in touch with our fans.”
There may be some valuable advice for anyone in Kevin’s words. New social networks come and go all the time, and it certainly is a lot for people to worry about, and like he says. At some point, you do still have to get something done. You just have to evaluate the pros and cons of being on any of them, and determine which ones are worth your time and energy.
The State may have gone off the air in the 90s, but thanks to the web, it has never truly gone away. Thanks to the web, people who didn’t even watch it back then, or even know it existed can enjoy it today.
“Well, even though MTV constantly pulls the State content off YouTube, I think a lot of new fans were introduced to State sketches through YouTube,” says Allison. “And also it was web campaigns that finally convinced MTV to release the State DVD box set.”
Here’s a classic (before MTV pulls it down):
Note: While it’s great what the web has been able to do to keep The State alive, it’s never been like it was in the 90s. Unfortunately with MTV’s DVD release, the music in the sketches have been altered for the worse.
“As for my connection to the State fans, because I was not doing big corporate work like the other State members after the group broke up, I kind of fell off the face of the earth, so it was good to find out through the web that some people still knew who I was and were rooting for me,” says Allison.
For those of you who just can’t wait for the next Star Trek film, YouTube user twilight1138 has got a fix for you. The user posted a video of the first 56 episodes of the original Star Trek series, complete with overlapping sound. From the YouTube description:
If you wanted to re-watch the classics but couldn’t find the time, here’s your chance. 56 episodes, the full first 2 seasons, simultaneously, and with sound! You’ll be finished in no time 😉
Twilight1138 does admit to a slight cheat, though. Since the first season pilot “The Man Trap” is much longer than the other episodes, so it was replaced with the first episode of the third season, “Spock’s Brain.” Still, it’s 56 episodes of classic science fiction to fill your screen with.
A few things from the video stand out. It’s fun to see how much screen time Kirk, Spock, and McCoy get. The flow of episodes is very similar, with action coming at around the same times. Things really start to heat up around the 35-minute mark, and then the climaxes hit at around minute 45, accompanied by lots of quick-cut editing. This is followed by the denouement, which might be the best part of the video. Nearly every episode features a smug close-up of William Shatner delivering a profound quip, and a reaction from Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.
The music cues follow the action and are really a highlight of this video. The horns pick up and punctuate the action-packed moments. Mostly, though, its sounds the same as a large, crowded Star Trek convention.
Take a look for yourself and feast on the essence of what the original Star Trek series is:
It would appear that German courts have little rational tolerance for various sorts of internet idiocy as of late, recently ruling that Youtube is responsible for its users when they upload copyrighted songs – and now a German Federal court in the town of Karlsruhe has just ruled that a victim of a phishing scam is responsible – for being phished.
The latest case involves a retiree losing roughly $6,600 after giving up his bank information to a fake site that looked identical to the real site of his bank, which ended up illegally transferring the funds to Greece, who incidentally can use all the transfers it can get. Still, Germany’s highest civil court has decided that the retiree was the one who was negligent, as Sparda Bank had offered its clients multiple warnings regarding phishing. And, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), logged 5,000 reports of phishing in 2010, a big jump from 2009.
Still, the retiree did sit down and take the time to enter 10 TAN codes (transaction numbers) into the fake site. Who does that? The elderly maybe – and it’s clear Germans might, as the TAN codes are commonly used in that country to verify accuracy of online transactions. The codes can then be printed out, texted or looked up on a smartphone. Sparda Bank’s defense also noted that being prompted to enter multiple TAN codes is a classic sign of phishing.
According to the Local, “The plaintiff argued that the bank had a duty to protect its customers from the abuse of these codes – But the federal court upheld previous judgements by the district and state courts, agreeing with the bank’s argument that the customer should bear responsibility for falling for the con.” So, the retiree is out almost 7 grand, and Youtube might also soon be looking at a much more substantial loss.
What if the internet released a greatest hits album? Well that is a question asked and answered by Joey Spiotto. THis awesome fake album cover features a lot of awesome stuff from over the years. Some things that are featured on the cover are “Chocolate Rain”, “Miss South Carolina”, and the “Nyan Cat”.
Check out the album covers and I also included the actual videos for you to watch! Brings back some old memories!
Can you sing, dance, breathe fire, swallow swords, walk a tightrope, burp musicals, or any other interesting and impressive feat? For the third year in a row, you have the chance to get discovered and appear on America’s Got Talent, just by uploading a video to YouTube.
YouTube has just announced the beginning of the submission stage for America’s Got Talent‘s online portion of the competition.
You have until June 1 at 11:59pm ET to show what you can do, and the folks from NBC will post the top 20 finalists to America’s Got Talent’s YouTube Channel. Like before, everyone around the world can then vote from June 25 to July 7 to select The YouTube People’s Choice Winner—earning a guaranteed spot on the show that’s sponsored by Snapple.
Last year, America’s Got Talent devoted an enitre show to YouTube hopefuls, and it appears that they will do the same this year. Those “AGT YouTube Special” episodes are set to tape August 14th and 15th.
During the first year that AGT partnered with YouTube to provide some of the talent for the show, YouTube audition winner Jackie Evancho went on to a runner-up finish.
This year you’re going to have to impress Howard Stern, so if you have some sort of breast-related talent, make sure you submit a video for your chance to make it on the show.
For no real reason – other than it’s Monday – and it’s a great movie, here is the entire movie “Office Space”, free of charge. Not sure if this qualifies as copyright infringement, but that’s not for us to decide, anyway. All you have to do is enjoy it… before YouTube and Twentieth Century Fox decide to take it down.
Scroll to the bottom for some fun facts and cool things to look for while watching the movie.
A lot of the film was shot in Austin, Texas. Cotchkie’s is a real restuarant called “the Alligator Grille” in Austin. It closed down in 2009.
Peter Gibbons lives in the “Morningwood Apartments”
Chotchkie’s gets its name from the Yiddish word meaning a cheap trinket or knick-knack.
One of the names Drew lists as people who have slept with Joanna is David Rennie, the film’s editor.
The directory where the virus in the movie is stored is “C:/LR427/Virus_CDEF”. CDEF was a real virus in the 90’s that effected macs. Among some of the problems it was known to have caused: printing errors.
“PC Load Letter” means the printer is out of or does not recognize the size of the paper in the tray and is instructing the user to insert Letter-sized (8.5 by 11) paper. It was a common display error on older model HP laserjet printers.
Due to the popularity of the film, Swingline began producing red staplers after customers began requesting them. They had discontinued production of red staplers many years prior.
Artie Lange auditioned for the role of Milton.
Joanna is Jennifer Aniston’s real life middle name.
In the software industry, TPS stands for “Test Procedure Specification”. It is a set of steps for quality assurance testers to follow in testing a software feature.
Mike Judge has said the term in the film world stands for “Test Program Set”.
Despite being a classic cult film, it did not do well in the box office. It barely made its estimated budget back in the two month and two weeks it was in theaters.
As someone who grew up with insanely pixelated digital video, 5.25 floppy discs, and Windows 3.0, I can’t imagine what YouTube would have looked like had it been developed back in the early-to-mid 90’s. It was difficult enough playing Sierra On-Line’s live action point-and-click PC game “Phantasmagoria”, and that sucker was spread across seven CDs. That’s right — the genre-based adventure spanned seven full CDs. With all of that nifty full motion video, the game was considered revolutionary at the time. In other words, there’s no way YouTube could have possibly existed in that day and age. But it’s always fun to imagine.
The boys and girls over at Squirrel Monkey have pieced together another edition of “Wonders of the World Wide Web”, a faux-VHS documentary that explores what certain modern websites would have looked like had they been invented using archaic technology. Downloading a picture on a 2400 baud moden across a BBS was difficult enough; attempting download entire videos through that thing would have completely broken my tiny little mind.
If you have absolutely no clue as to what any of the aforementioned gadgets are, then this video may not seem very funny. However, those of us who spent countless hours reading lame jokes and playing Legend of the Red Dragon on our favorite bulletin board systems should get a kick out of this one. LORD and Usurper forever!
VICE, the art and culture magazine with a popular online presence, announced today that it is launching a new YouTube channel. The Vice YouTube channel will feature short, absurd comedic content hosted by Ryan Duffy, a contributing host for VICE’s upcoming HBO series. In addition, VICE will release some of its most well-known content to to the YouTube such as new “VICE Guides” and clips from VICE photo shoots.
The VICE YouTube channel is launching with three new series. VICE Today is the short-form comedy clip show hosted by Ryan Duffy. The first episode makes it seem similar to Current TV’s Infomania, but with VICE sensibilities and sarcasm. VICE Presents will share the best videos from VICE.com, edited for YouTube. VICE specials will feature behind-the-scenes footage, long-form interviews, and everything else that doesn’t fit into the other two shows.
The first episode of VICE Today is already up, so see for yourself what the VICE channel will be bringing you in the future:
This is the second YouTube channel VICE has launched this year. In February, the Noisey music channel was rolled out to “[lay] the groundwork for the future of music television.”
Aside from the lowbrow, ironic comedy that VICE Today will offer, VICE is also well-known for its in-depth investigative journalism. There are several of these news videos already on the VICE YouTube channel, which has existed for years, but has not been regularly used. Here is the first part of a report in which VICE co-founder Shane Smith travels to North Korea, but keep in mind that VICE does not edit its news programs for content:
Video advertising just got a lot better for small business with Google’s launch of AdWords for Video, which adds YouTube advertising to the AdWords dashboard, enabling businesses to manage search, display and video campaigns from one place. With local being a major element for many of these businesses, advertisers will be happy to know that this includes geotargeting.
“We have geotargeting capability in AdWords for video so yes, local businesses can focus their advertising on specific geographies,” A Google spokesperson assures us.
Google compares YouTube advertising to other media:
According to recently released data from comScore, video ad impressions reached record numbers in March. The firm says video ads accounted for 18.5% of all videos viewed and 1.5% of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Advertisers only pay when users watch their ads (not when they skip them).
“With TrueView video ads you only pay when viewers choose to watch your ad so you aren’t charged when viewers skip your ad if they aren’t interested or have already seen your video,” explains Baljeet Singh, YouTube group product manager. “This means your ad budget is focused on viewers interested in your video. By displaying a call-to-action overlay on your video you can talk about a sale or specific offer to your viewers, share more information about your business, or drive traffic to your website.”
There are four TrueView formats: in-stream, in-search, in-slate and in-display.
“On average, we’ve found that YouTube video ads drive a 20 percent increase in traffic to your website and a 5 percent increase in searches for your business (Google Campaign Insights, 2011),” says Singh. “With AdWords for video you can find out how viewers are engaging with your brand during and after they watch your ad. You can see how many viewers watched your entire video, visited your website, stayed on your channel to watch another video, or subscribed to your channel, after viewing your ad.”
Google bought YouTube back in 2006. For years after that, the deal and Google’s monetization fo the property were heavily criticized. While Google has certainly made YouTube more ad-saturated in recent years, this new offering could be the one that really pays off. Apparently, Google even thinks it can generate as much revenue as its search ads.
Are these ads part of Google’s master plan to boost CPCs? For the last two quarters, Google has revealed declines in CPCs, while Facebook – which is becoming more of a competitor to Google than ever – is apparently destroying Google on that front, though Facebook has yet to unleash its mobile ads, which could have a similar effect on the company’s revenue as Google’s mobile ads have had on its own. Mobile is widely accused of contributing greatly to Google’s CPC decreases.
During an earnings call earlier this month, Google CEO Larry Page talked about how bullish he is on mobile, and that CPCs will improve. Mobile is exploding in query growth, he said, adding that the formats are just adapting a lot from a “relatively crude base.”
“Right now, they don’t monetize well,” he said, comparing it to search in the early 2000s.
People always spend most of their efforts on the major source of traffic, which is desktop, he said. But over time, he said, that will reverse.
In the meantime, there are a whole lot of YouTube users, both desktop and mobile. There are over 800 million total. That’s a Facebook-like number on its own (well, almost). It will be quite interesting to see how the AdWords For Video element impacts CPCs.
And how long until AdWords ads creep their way into Google+?
Google has caught on to the power of YouTube and what it has done for many small businesses. A handful of companies have been chosen by Google to become marketing ambassadors for YouTube based on their entrepreneurial success with the platform. The ambassadors come from a variety of fields including education, instruction, retail sales, specialty equipment, and the clothing industry.
The group assembled at Google Headquarters in California last week to attend a two-day summit where they met with top executives and learned about online tools which could help business grow even faster with YouTube.
Meet Rokenbok Toy Company, one of the new YouTube Ambassadors:
* BerkleeMusic.com (Boston, Mass.) – Berkleemusic.com is the award-winning online extension school of Boston’s Berklee College of Music. To encourage enrollment for online courses, this renowned school posts video music lessons and in-depth clinics with professors to give prospective students a true-to-life preview of online study with Berkleemusic.com. Bringing access to Berklee’s acclaimed curriculum to students around the world, Berkleemusic.com has taught over 30,000 students from 135 countries since 2002.
* Undercover Tourist (Daytona Beach, Fla.) – If you’ve ever planned a theme park vacation and wanted more than what’s offered in travel guides, you’re not alone. This travel business uses first-person videos to show the rides, shows and experiences offered at their partner destinations in Florida to potential customers around the world. The destinations now attract approximately 14% of their customers from the U.K., Australia, and Germany.
* VeryPink.com (Austin, Tex.) – Owner Staci Perry discovered a global classroom on YouTube, and now she offers knitting instruction classes and patterns online as a full-time business. Thanks to Google Translate and closed captioning on her videos, she has students in Greece, Turkey, Thailand, Italy, India and Syria—just to name a few.
* ModCloth (San Francisco, Calif.) – ModCloth, an online retailer selling vintage-inspired clothing, engages fans with how-to tutorials, behind the scenes tours and DIY videos (ever try your hand at DIY studded socks?). Their video contests have earned them nearly a million video views from happy ModCloth brand evangelists.
* Richard Petty Driving Experience (Concord, N.C.) – To show that there’s nothing quite like being behind the wheel of a NASCAR race car, the Richard Petty Driving Experience team records celebrity customers’ reactions after their final lap around the racetrack and uses the videos as compelling testimonials.
* Rokenbok (Solano Beach, Calif.) – This toy company transformed itself into an e-commerce powerhouse, gaining 50% of all customers from their YouTube videos. They also encourage fans to upload their own videos, which they regularly feature on their YouTube channel.
* BBQ Guys (Baton Rouge, La.) – To showcase their collection of high-end BBQ grills, the BBQ Guys film video reviews of new products so customers can get a personal walk-through of all the features and how they perform in action.
* RevZilla (Philadelphia, Pa.) – RevZilla co-founder Anthony Bucci deconstructs highly technical motorcycle gear through simple video reviews, giving tips on sizing and features. They’ve filmed more than 1,400 videos to help motorcyclists shop with confidence.
* Zagg (Salt Lake City, Utah) – ZAGG drives traffic to their website with engaging scratch test TrueView video ads showcasing their clear protective shield for electronics. Their iPhone 4 Scratch Test alone has more than two million views.
The YouTube ambassadors will begin by working with non-profit groups and serve as mentors. A series of Hangouts will also be featured on Google+ which helps users find success with using YouTube to market and promote their brands. Check out this G+ YouTube for marketers page to learn more about the forthcoming events and to discover who some of these non-profts benefiting from the ambassadors will be.
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