WebProNews

Tag: YouTube

  • Pinterest Now Supports Vimeo

    Pinterest just announced that its users now have to ability to pin Vimeo clips alongside of YouTube content on its video feed. The interface is pretty much the same as usual, with Pinterest users describing their video pins.

    To pin a video item, users can install the Pin It bookmarklet to their browser’s bookmarks, by following the steps outlined in the video below, which describes the process for Google Chrome:

    Once installed, embedded Vimeo videos from anywhere on the web can be pinned.

    The arrangement will likely do more for Vimeo, which is a site catered more to professional videographers and designers than say, YouTube. It was recently reported that Pinterest is the web’s third most popular social network, behind Facebook and Twitter, and will surely become a huge referrer of traffic for Vimeo. Though, there has always been speculation about how Pinterest will ultimately handle copyright issues, as every image, and now video, on the internet rapidly gets pinned to its boards. As of now, Pinterest holds its members solely responsible for what they pin and repin, and backs this up by the aforementioned collection user comments before anything can be added. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts.

  • Kourtney Kardashian’s Baby Girl Might Be Named Rosie

    Kourtney Kardashian wll be having a baby girl with beau Scott Disick in July.

    The star told People that she feels nauseous in the morning but other than that she has been doing great. She admitted that her current pregnancy is slightly more difficult because her toddler son, Mason, is very energetic and doesn’t give her enough time to rest.

    The couple has not decided on any names but she claims that she is keeping her baby name list in her phone.

    Hopefully this news doesn’t inspire someone to hack into her phone and ruin the surprise.

    In a more recent interview with Extra’s AJ Calloway, Kourtney said her nausea was over, that she loved being preggers, and said that Mason wanted to name the baby Rosie because his favorite show is “Caillou,” and Rosie is the name of Caillou’s sister.

    Kourtney Kardashian was at the launch of Nokia’s Lumia 900 Smartphone in NYC and said the phone was a real time saver. She thinks the phone is fast and she is obsessed with the weather apps.

    For now, Kourtney is focusing on filming the seventh season of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and decorating her home.

  • Push The Red Button To Add Drama In This TNT Ad

    TNT knows drama, at least according to their catchphrase. If “drama” includes ambulances, bikini-clad girls on motorcycles, fistfights, bloody shootouts, and tire-screeching getaways, then yes, TNT does indeed know drama.

    Turner Broadcasting just launched their new TNT cable channel in Benelux, the European region comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. On the heels of this launch, they’ve also just unveiled a ridiculously fun viral ad campaign that shows just how quickly drama can escalate.

    Courtesy of TurnerBenelux:

    To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium we placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text “Push to add drama” invited people to use the button. And then we waited…

    So, the residents of this “average Flemish town” pushed the button. And chaos ensued. Check it out below:

    The new high-def TNT channel (telent channel 561) brings the region popular series that we Americans should recognize like Men of a Certain Age, Smallville, and Friday Night Lights. Drama indeed.

    According to some comments on YouTube as well as some on reddit, it looks like this advert was shot in the small town of Aarschot, which sits in the province of Flemish Brabant in Flanders. The town has a population of around 28,000.

    Also, speaking of reddit, this video might have already spawned a new meme. Some users have already screencapped and commented on unimpressed ginger kid, first seen at about 0:41 in the clip.

  • Durex Commercials Push The Envelope, Still Fun

    When making a commercial, or, well, any attempting any big marketing push, the goal is to get people talking. Talking about the product, the commercial it appeared in, and any fallout that occurs from it. Face it, if a commercial accomplishes any of these things, it’s done its job. That is, as long as it’s not lambasting negativity, but then again, following the Marilyn Manson approach to marketing, all pub is good pub.

    While there’s truth to that, if you’re selling a consumer product–and not an image–perhaps people trashing your product isn’t the best way to attract potential consumers, but the point does remain. If a commercial can generate a buzz-worthy reaction, it, in all likelihood, accomplished its goal. Take the new Durex condom commercials for example. Focusing directly on the “sex AND titillation sells,” the company has introduced two new commercials that are playfully risque, while incorporating a little bit of misdirection.

    Take a look at both of them:

    The second one, while playful, doesn’t quite nail it the way the first one did. Of course, when you adding the idea of orgasms to your misdirection, you’re doing it right. In other news, another publication referred to these commercials as “vulgar.” Now, the second definition Google uses to define the word is as follows, “Making explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions; coarse and rude: ‘a vulgar joke.’” Yes, these commercials are incredibly suggestive, but do they feature an “offensive reference to sex or bodily functions?” Or does the fact that, especially in the first commercial, a bodily function is suggested make it vulgar? If so, perhaps a lighter approach to such subject matter would be better.

    Finally, the lead image is courtesy of Durex’s Facebook page, which features a map called “The United States of Durex.” From here, visitors can discover their state’s official sex position. For Kentucky, the official position is, as the image suggests, the derby. Consider Kentucky’s connection to the horse industry, that only makes sense. What about you? What is your state’s “official” sexual position? Let us know in the comments.

  • World Travel in 10 Days: Just What the Doctor Ordered!

    World Travel in 10 Days: Just What the Doctor Ordered!

    Casey Neistat accomplished what many of the 99 percent will never get to experience, he traveled around the world in 10 days. Living life for the rest of people who have been chained to a desk since time immemorial, Casey raced through Rome, Paris, New York, Egypt, Thailand, Johannesberg, and Japan.

    Neistat and his friend Max paint a portrait of what life can be like for those who have the resources and freedoms that most lack.

    At the beginning of the their short video they cite quotes like “Life is either daring adventure or nothing at all” by Helen Keller and “Buy the ticket, take the ride” by Hunter S. Thompson.

    The video is very powerful in that it leaves the viewer wondering how they can see elephants and monkeys in nature, dive off of majestic cliffs, meet beautiful people on beaches, try authentic ethnic food, and gaze down at breathtaking waterfalls and still pay their bills.

    I find the video to be inspirational because it challenges people to step into their lives a little more, see natural beauty, observe different cultures, and have a lot of fun along the way.

    If you had only ten days to spend and were planning to travel across the world, what cities would you prioritize and why?

  • Google’s Social Network (Orkut) Gets More Musical

    Google seems to be taking a page out of the Facebook playbook and giving its social network a more musical experience. Unfortunately for many of you, we’re not talking about Google+, but Google’s other social network, Orkut.

    “What could be better than listening to your favorite favorite music? Sharing the experience with your friends!” writes Google engineer Eduardo Ferreira. “Now you can do this directly from your Orkut page: just type in the artist or band name on the YouTube search bar while we select a playlist for you to enjoy. You can watch your favorite video clips while using Orkut, or you can minimize and leave them as background music.”

    Google, YouTube Playlist

    Songs users listen to will be posted as activities on their homepage, and friends can listen, he says.

    Google, of course, does have the YouTube playlist feature on Google+:

    Google, YouTube Playlist

    It’s not quite the same social listening experience they’re offering with Orkut, however.

    Though it was recently surpassed by Facebook (it’s quite noteworthy that it was only recently), Orkut is pretty popular in Brazil and India, even though it did not have the same level of success in other countries, like here in the U.S.

  • YouTube Live Celebrates One Year Anniversary

    In celebration of YouTube Live’s one year birthday, they are rolling out new features.

    Wirecast for YouTube Live

    A new software that comes free to YouTube Partners. It allows people to produce and stream live events directly on YouTube from their desktop. Features include the ability to capture and switch live between multiple video sources, roll in media files and add effects and overlays live. If you have livestreaming enabled, you’ll be able to download Wirecast in your YouTube account.

    Publishing Flows and Real Time Analytics

    A guided flow is now available to set-up and preview events before you go live. You can now see real time data like playbacks and concurrent viewers by geography and format.

    Monetize Live Streams

    Make money from live events with advertising or paid options. Live events can now be claimed in the video manager like any other video. Paid options and pricing can be set by country. For now, pay-per-view is only available for purchse in Canada, Japan, France, The USA and the UK.

    As GigaOm notes, YouTube has been experimenting with Live pay-per-view for some time now, including a potential contract with UFC. These new features to Live may be the welcome mat for other sporting events to broadcast live on YouTube.

    YouTube Live is still in the process of being rolled out, a year later. Access has not been granted to all yet, only a few select publishers. YouTube asks for patience if you haven’t been given access to the feature yet. “If you’re one of the many people who’ve asked for YouTube Live but don’t have access yet, we want to thank you very much for your patience. We’ve developed these features with the expectation many more of you will eventually use YouTube Live, and like we said last year, this process takes time to roll out broadly.”

  • YouTube API Adds Watch History Support

    YouTube API Adds Watch History Support

    The YouTube API supports a number of video feeds that users can draw from for their applications and whatnot. Another video feed has been added today that should be of great use for those who want to better target videos at users.

    The YouTube API blog today announced today that a user’s watch history is now supported by the YouTube Data API. This means that API users can retrieve their own YouTube viewing histories. You can not retrieve the watch history of any other user though.

    The watch history obviously includes a list of video that a user has watched on the YouTube Web site. It can also include embedded videos watched on other sites if the user has the YouTube login cookie. Unfortunately, it can not pull videos that users watch on mobile devices.

    As for the order of the feed’s entries, they are in chronological order starting with the most recently watched video. Watching a video multiple times puts each occurrence as a separate entry in the feed as well.

    For examples as to how this new functionality can be used, the YouTube API team offers a few examples. The first is a site that offers recommended videos for people to watch. Taking advantage of this update to the API, you can exclude results from the list that the user has already watched. Another example has a Web site owner including a video that the user has repeatedly watched.

    For more information on the watch history feed and how to implement in your Web site or app, check out the Web page for it. It’s important to note that you can only use the watch history feed with API version 2.0.

  • Grand Theft Auto V Release Date in October?

    Grand Theft Auto V is being developed by Rockstar North studio located in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to his LinkedIn page Alex O’Dwyer is employed as a character animator at Rockstar North and stated that Grand Theft Auto V will launch this October.

    O’Dwyer has taken down his CV and edited his LinkedIn page since the leak so for now joystiq.com says it is just a rumor for the time being.

    Some fans of the game tweeted that they are not moved and claim that it is just another bleep from a rumor mill. Others fans are ecstatic and hope to interface with the new virtual world as soon as possible:

    @jimreilly
    Jim Reilly    Somehow I don’t think we’ll see BioShock Infinite and Grand Theft Auto V released in the same month. 17 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @lukibas21
    Lukito Baskoro    Puking rainbows–> “@gamespot: Grand Theft Auto V is coming this October, according to an employee’s resume. http://t.co/Dz8uUMUV“ 6 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @gamespot
    GameSpot.com    Grand Theft Auto V is coming this October, according to an employee’s (since removed) resume. http://t.co/w5AyPENI 11 minutes ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @ElectronicsLvr
    Jim Fischer    Gameranx: There ‘s no real reason to expect that any of what I ‘m about to post below is true, althou #games #gamenews http://t.co/sZA7NkZu 3 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @kkiller14
    Keshav    Grand Theft Auto V release date leaked ? http://t.co/dbozwGLa via @theINTELblog 5 days ago via dlvr.it ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    The trailers for the game have attracted millions of viewers.

    The following YouTube video is the first official trailer for the game:

    Do you think that this will be the best Grand Theft Auto ever?

  • YouTube Founders Start Magazine Publishing Service

    Steven Chen and Chad Hurley are already starting their next project, Zeen. The YouTube Co-Founders now run AVOS, which was just started last year. It appears they are now attempting to get their feet wet in the Magazine publishing game under this moniker, Fusible is reporting.

    Few details are available about the project except the promise to “Discover and create beautiful magazines”. On Zeen.com you can reserve a URL for later use, but that’s about it.

    In preparation for launch, AVOS has purchased other “zeen” domain names, including, zeen.me, zeen.info, zeen.xxx.

    Zeen has both a Facebook and Twitter account. However, being relatively new, there is little information there, either.

    @zeen_com
    Zeen    Thanks all for checking us out. We’re reserving usernames at the moment and will have more to share later. http://t.co/VMLmxkAX 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    The “Information and Disclosure” section of the their Privacy page gives some clues about the site, including the ability to share your magazines across various social media platforms. The magazines will give you the ability to share links, images, videos, text, sounds, comments, and notes, and will be publicly viewable to other members of the site. The site will include e-mail look-up service. People attempting to find your magazine may use your e-mail address to do so. They also talk about obtaining aggregate Information and Log Data to share with third parties, possibly for advertising.

    Few other details are available, but e-zine services are not a new thing. It will be interesting to see what the YouTube entrepreneurs do with the concept.

  • Walking Dead Mad Men: The Advertising Agency Has More Brains Than Ever

    What happens when you mix Mad Men and The Walking Dead TV shows together? You get “Walking Dead Mad Men!”

    The four minute parody of the two shows starts out much like the intro to Mad Men with a male figure falling from a skyscraper until he hits the ground by a bunch of walkers.

    “Walker Don” continues to use up his secretaries but instead of sexually exploiting them he gnaws on them. Joan is still alive but has grown twice her size and shoots walkers as she shimmies down office aisles. Rick devises strategies to get back control of the office and access precious resources like the water cooler. And Carl is out poking walkers with sticks while the rest of the crew tries to envision an ad campaign focused on brains.

    The YouTube video has already been viewed by over 50,000 people since it was posted yesterday.

    Here are some of the comments posted under the video on YouTube:

    “Rachel is a powerful assertive woman and that is so much hotter than a barbie doll body. (That said, 1:47 is still the best part of this video.)”

    “OMG! Best video i have seen in a while.”

    “Finally my two fav shows together.”

    “Fuckin Carla is always gone! Ugh! That kid needs to die!!”

    “GENIUS!!! Love Mad Men, it was pretty accurate character portrayal.”

    “I’m in love wit the red head whats her name i wanna eat her………brains lol she hot.”

    Apparently the actress who portrayed Joan has a growing fan base.

    What do you think of the parody?

  • YouTube Ordered to Answer to Viacom Suit

    Google-owned YouTube has been newly ordered to defend a lawsuit filed by Viacom Inc. over copyright violations. Viacom has alleged that YouTube had knowingly hosted some of their content without authorization, including clips from “the Colbert Report.”

    Here is the new trailer for the Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures’ G.I. Joe: Retaliation, “legally” on YouTube:

    A lower court had initially sided with YouTube on the matter, but the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan reversed the ruling today, ordering Google to defend the case. In a 39-page decision, a two-judge panel wrote, “A reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity on its website.”

    Viacom first sued YouTube in 2007, seeking $1 billion in damages, alleging that the website’s users were posting thousands of Viacom’s clips, included those from “The Daily Show,” “South Park,” and from various movies from its Paramount Pictures branch. In 2010, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton found YouTube to be protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, because it removed the content from its site, after Viacom complained. Viacom countered, claiming that YouTube was aware of the copyright infringement when it displayed the videos in the first place.

    The case is Viacom International v. YouTube, 10-03270, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Manhattan). The lower- court case is Viacom v. YouTube, 07-2103, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

    It would seem that Viacom still doesn’t understand or care about the sheer amount of video content that’s uploaded to YouTube daily – Last year it was reported that 2 days worth of video is uploaded to Youtube’s servers every minute. How would it be possible to keep up with millions of users just constantly posting whatever? And surely Viacom has no problem with the site “officially” posting it’s marketing content.

  • Skyrim Theme Gets A Music Video You Have To See

    The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim is a daily topic of internet conversation since its release. A lot of that surrounds the actual gameplay elements, and even more it seems to involve people’s obsession with the game. I’m as guilty as the next guy – I mean, you’re looking at a guy who’s put 100+ hours into the game. We won’t go into how north of 100 hours that number goes.

    Another great thing to come out of the Skyrim phenomenon is the various works of art, music, and videos made by fans to show their love of the game – or sometimes their frustration. Between fan fiction, glow-in-the-dark T-shirts, graphing calculator ports, and Dovahkiin Britney Spears, there’s a lot of this stuff out there.

    Let me add another, for your consideration. This is over-the-top, awesome, epic, unnecessary, amazing, and intense all rolled into one. Feel free to tack on any additional superlatives, after your nerdgasm of course:

    This Skyrim theme music video comes to us from musicians Lindsey Stirling and Peter Hollens. This isn’t either of their first times creating viral YouTube hits. Stirling has won our hearts with her wonderful Zelda Medley and Dubstep Violin. Hollens has been uploading his music to YouTube for a while now – a mix of interesting covers and original tracks.

    If this song pumps you up and makes you want to visit Skyrim, console owners will discover that they have a new update waiting for them when they sign on.

  • YouTube In 3D Adds Automatic Conversion

    YouTube In 3D Adds Automatic Conversion

    Back in September of last year, YouTube released their 3D conversion feature in beta. Users could upload their videos in boring old 2D and convert them to exciting, glorious 3D with the click of a button.

    Today, they are expanding the beta by adding automatic 3D conversion to all short-form videos that are uploaded in 1080p. All you have to do to view the newly-uploaded videos in three dimensions is click on the gear box on the bottom video panel, select 3D, and put on some 3D glasses.

    If you’re unfamiliar with how YouTube’s 3D conversion works, here’s a little crash course, courtesy of the YouTube blog:

    • We use a combination of video characteristics such as color, spatial layout and motion to estimate a depth map for each frame of a monoscopic video sequence
    • We use machine learning from the growing number of true 3D videos on YouTube to learn video depth characteristics and apply them in depth estimation
    • The generated depth map and the original monoscopic frame create a stereo 3D left-right pair, that a stereo display system needs to display a video as 3D

    Youtube says that hundreds of thousands of videos have been converted into 3D already. With automatic conversion of these higher-quality vids, we’re going to start seeing a lot more opportunities to browse YouTube in more dimensions.

    Have you been watching YouTube in 3D since they debuted it last year? Let us know in the comments

  • 86-Year-Old Gymnast Dominates the Parallel Bars

    This viral video from Mainz, Germany will put you to shame for ever complaining about growing old. Take a tip from 86-year-old retiree Johanna Quass, who has stayed healthy in her senior years by practicing daily on the parallel bars.

    She has won 11 medals in the German senior citizen championships, and by the looks of it, she could win a few outside of the senior games.

    This video captured at the Cottbus Challenger Cup gymnastic competition shows Quaas performing a full planche on the bars, a move where you hold your body parallel to the bars while supporting yourself with your arms alone. This advanced move would be difficult for a gymnast half her age. I doubt most non-gymnasts can do it regardless of age or sex.

    In her floor exercise routine she does handstands, cartwheels, and rolls with ease.

    The two YouTube videos of her performances have accumulated over two million views a piece in a little over a week. She has been causing quite a stir, being featured in articles from msnbc to Mashable.

    Quaas has given up competitive gymnastics, not because she can no longer do it, but because she got tired of winning all the time. “I want to give the others a chance too.” she said to German television station MDR. She no longer has anyone her age to compete with, most of the people in her group are in their 70’s or younger.

    Though she has retired from gymnastics and the demonstrations at the Cottbus Challenger Cup were just for fun, she is getting more media attention than most professional gymnasts ever get. She has had to hire a media agent in Berlin to handle a recent onslaught of interview requests.

    And I can’t even touch my toes…

  • Google Gets Paramount Movies On YouTube, Google Play

    Google is partnering with Paramount Pictures to add Paramount movie rentals to YouTube and Google Play. A Googler laid out the following highlights in an email to WebProNews:

    • Nearly 500 titles available for rent including new blockbusters like Captain America, Hugo, and The Adventures of Tin Tin together with classics like Coming to America and the Godfather
    • These Paramount Titles will be available to users in the US and Canada on Google Play and YouTube (www.youtube.com/movies)
    • In 2011 we focused on signing deals with the indie and major studios and scaling our rental service globally:

      – We now have movies from 5 of the 6 major studios (Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers) and over ten indie studios: Lionsgate Films, Magnolia, Starz, Weinstein, etc.)

      – In the last 10 months we’ve launched rentals in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and (last week) France

    • Rentals will be priced at $3.99 for new releases; most older movies are $2.99. Almost all titles will be available for 48 hours once you begin watching. New releases HD version will be $4.99. Older releases HD version will be $3.99.

    Malik Ducard, Director of Content Partnerships for YouTube, says, “Paramount Pictures is one of the biggest movies studios on the planet. We’re thrilled to bring nearly 500 of their films to movie fans in the US and Canada on YouTube and Google Play.”

    This is a huge deal for Google as it tries to make a bigger impact on the movie rental scene. The competition in this space is getting more interesting by the day. Content selection is obviously one of the main factors that consumers take into consideration, and original content is ultimately going to be the determining factor for many, when it comes to using a service like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. That’s why they’re all going the original content route. There just may be room for all to co-exist into the future. Don’t forget, Redbox has a streaming offering in the works.

    Image from “Coming To America”

  • The Guild – I’m The One That’s Cool, Other Geek & Sundry Shows Premiere

    As an avid ‘The Guild’ fan, it’s been interesting to witness the evolution of the show throughout the years. From watching the first season, when the show was relatively unknown and looked like it was on a shoestring budget to the present. Now, The Guild is watched by millions and Felicia Day, its creator, has her own official YouTube channel called Geek & Sundry (link isn’t to the channel, but the site itself).

    While the fifth season of the show hasn’t started yet, a music video was released to coincide with Geek & Sundry’s official start. Along with the music video, three shows on the channel received premieres which you can view below.

    The Guild – I’m the One That’s Cool

    – I still think ‘Do You Wanna Date My Avatar’ is their best video, but there’s no denying the improved production value.

    The Flog: Blacksmithing

    – Depending on how much you’re charmed by Felicia Day’s aura will determine your enjoyment of The Flog. It’s basically Felicia Day’s own video blog, but unlike amateurs she goes out and visits places. If you’re curious how blacksmithing works, I can recommend the episode.

    g

    Dark Horse Comics – The Secret: Chapter 1

    – Of the shows I watched on Geek & Sundry, this was by far my favorite. Go ahead and sign me up on the prospect of more motion comics. The Secret isn’t the first, but is of high quality.

    TableTop Ep. 1: Small World

    – The show has a well done intro, and Wil Wheaton brings a much needed flare to a show that’s about people sitting around playing board games. While I can’t recommend this for everyone, if you like board games and want an interesting way to watch your hobby take place, then give it a go.

    Overall, I enjoyed the Geek & Sundry premieres. While I won’t be keeping up with all of them, there’s no denying the effort that went into the channel, and in turn the shows. With a high variety of subject matter, there’s bound to be something that will catch your interest and suck away your time.

  • YouTube Offers New Tool to Maintain Anonymity

    YouTube is offering a new tool that will protect the identity and location of individuals featured on YouTube videos by blurring their faces and other information.

    According to Chris Claburn, a writer for InformationWeek Security, YouTube decided to release this technology in “An effort to serve the human rights community and to address privacy complaints from people featured without permission in other people’s videos.”

    The following YouTube video will show you how you can blur out peoples faces in videos and make them anonymous:

    After you have your footage the first thing that you will need is a converter program called Format Factory that you can download for free here. This will convert the audio and video into the appropriate formats.

    Once you have completed the necessary steps in Format Factory you will move on to change the pitch of the audio track by using Audacity which is free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.

    After you have successfully altered the pitch you will need to access Wax 2.0, a high performance and flexible video compositing and special effects software that you will use to edit the audio file.

    The process might seem overwhelming at first but the value and importance of protecting certain information may make it well worth the effort.

    YouTube plans on adding a blurring tool to its video editing toolkit in the near future. This would make the blurring process faster because users would not have to use the software programs that I listed above.

    Do you think this tool will motivate people to become more open about the issues that they face?

  • MusicBeautyLife: Dianna Hampton is the Beauty Guru YouTube Contest Winner

    YouTube innovators were given the chance to raise their career to higher levels by entering The Next Beauty Guru Contest from YouTube Destination Beauty.

    The winner of the contest that started in January is Dianna Hampton. Her tutorial on how to attain an elegant and classy look got her a lot of attention. In the following YouTube video Hampton emphasizes the importance of layering and blending colors to gain depth and drama.

    Hampton and a range of beauty tips are available for viewing on YouTube’s MusicBeautyLife channel.

    Some of the prizes she received include a trip to NYC and a year’s supply of L’Oréal Paris products.

    The new YouTube star posted on her Facebook page that she was very excited about this new opportunity:

    (image)

    Dianna resides in Athens, Greece and the following is her bio on FB:

    (image)

    Congratulations Ms. Hampton. Hopefully this achievement will help you on your quest to become a professional singer.

  • David Lynch’s “Crazy Clown Time” Video Is A Big Ol’ Dose Of David Lynch

    If you’re familiar with the work of filmmaker David Lynch, the video you’re about to see shouldn’t be too jarring. If you haven’t seen a lot of David Lynch films, your response might be a resounding WTF.

    Even as someone who’s familiar with Lynch (and harbors mixed feelings about his work), the just-released video for his song “Crazy Clown Time” is pretty surreal. And odd. There’s a football player, a pretty righteous mohawk, fire, some moaning naked girls, a bit of beer wasting, and a couple of instances of ear-piercing screaming. All in all, it amounts to one of the strangest backyard parties that I’ve ever seen.

    It’s Lynch’s song, and he also directed the video. Check it out below (kind of NSFW):

    The song comes to you from Lynch’s debut solo album “Crazy Clown Time,” which released last November to mixed critical reception. Lynch decided to try his hand at putting what goes on inside his head into a cohesive musical experience – a challenge indeed. Lynch, of course, is probably best known for his films Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, as well as the cult classic TV show Twin Peaks. but other than being a legendary filmmaker and now a solo artist, Lynch is a visual artist and coffee enthusiast.

    The video debuted today on the Noisey YouTube Channel. Noisey, the music discovery company that got their start at SXSW 2011, had this to say about the video:

    “Crazy Clown Time” unveils a majestic, yet powerfully idiosyncratic vision of “modern blues” that could only be drawn from the mind of David Lynch. Filled with foreboding soundscapes, hypnotic rhythms and enigmatic lyrics, this is music that will resonate not only with fans of Lynch’s films, but also to listeners who appreciate daring, experimental music.

    The YouTube commentary mirrors the response to most of Lynch’s work – all over the place. “Captivating, daring and absolutely mad, LOVE IT!” writes one viewer. “It’s crap and sorry, it’s just pretentious,” writes another. The most accurate is probably “What the f*ck did I just watch?”

    To sum it up, David Lynch makes a David Lynchian music video for a David Lynchian song and receives David Lynchian response. Questions? Let us know what you think about it in the comments.

  • YouTube’s New Ad Model: Channel Sponsorships

    YouTube is rolling out a new ad model option for 96 YouTube Channels. Rather than selling television style ads to certain demographics, they will now sell full sponsorship for certain YouTube channels. The ads include display, overlay and pre-roll; so basically they will cover the entire page with an ad preceding the video. The annual price tag for sponsorship is around $4 to $10 million.

    YouTube will cover cost of production for certain channel producers, and the producers themselves will share equally in advertising revenue, once YouTube recoups the original investment. Production costs range from a few hundred thousand to a few million for most channels.

    YouTube has struck deals on the new advertising scheme with brands like Toyota, GM, AT&T, and Lowes. As part of the deal, buyers will also be investing in other videos, with their ads appearing in non-channel videos as well. The channel sponsor ads comprise just 20% of the total ad campaign revenue for investors, with the other content being run on the rest of YouTube’s videos.

    Unilever will be sponsoring Young Hollywood Network channel for a reported $10 million. Toyota is to sponsor Cafe Mom, Kin Community and Mom’s View for $10 million, and GM will sponsor a package of automotive channels including Red Bull’s action sports channel for $5 million. Chrysler, AT&T, and Lowes also have agreements, but details on those deals have not been released.

    YouTube is asking brands to get on board for sponsorship of groups of channels as part of a package deal. According to AdAge, a one year exclusive contract in the music and pop culture categories would cost as much as $62 million a package. Sports would cost $40 million, and automotive would run you about $16 million.

    This new advertising model comes after a recent redesign of the channels look for YouTube. As more attention is being shifted from television to online video entertainment, YouTube is trying to stay ahead of the game with improvements to their channels offering, giving a more professional feel to original content and offering new ad opportunities to investors.