The Indian government has initiated legal proceedings against a number of search, social networking, and technology companies. The government found sufficient cause to pursue prosecution of the companies for refusing to regulate offensive content. Ten of the 21 companies are based outside India. These include Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, and YouTube. The companies are required to present themselves to the court at a hearing on March 13th.
The government of India made worldwide news early last month when it was revealed that Kapil Sibal, India’s minister of telecommunications, was planning to meet with representatives from several tech and social media companies in order to request that they pre-screen and censor “offensive” content from their sites. Facebook and Google, which were among the companies asked to censor their content, responded that they would enforce their terms of service and abide by the law, but no more. Meanwhile, in response to the storm of criticism generated around the world by news of his office’s meetings, Sibal denied that his office had requested censorship of political content. He insisted that the only content he wanted removed was that which would be offensive to the religious sensibilities of the Indian people.
The Denver Broncos play the New England Patriots this Saturday night for the right to go the AFC Conference Finals, so you know what that means, right? Of course you do. It’s Tim Tebow time. As we already know, the man they call Tebow rules ESPN, and the Twitterverse, which means this upcoming weekend already belongs to him.
If you thought last week’s excessive coverage was bad, Heaven help us if the Broncos actually beat the Patriots. That will mean Tim Tebow will be one game away from the Super Bowl, which, in turn, will mean “Tebow Time” to a level approaching the Nth degree. Such a level would actually be surpassed if the Broncos actually do make the Super Bowl, but that’s another story for another day. If the Broncos were to actually win the whole thing, you’d have to cancel your cable and your Internet subscriptions to escape the inevitable tidal waves of Tebow mania.
Since we’re not quite at the point yet, let us simply enjoy the current wave of “Tebow Time” we’re enjoying, encapsulated beautifully with the lead image and the following video, termed loving as, “Sh*t Tebow Says.” Courtesy of the Mentality Magazine site (hat-tip to With Leather for pointing it out), the video does a good job of capturing the man (the myth) in all of his divine glory:
While the video is indeed entertaining, the lead image, courtesy of Kissing Suzy Kolber’s Matt Ufford, it is an incredible testimony to the entire Tim Tebow saga, at least for his professional football stage. There’s not much else out there that can sum up Tebow’s NFL journey than an image of previous Denver Broncos hero John Elway (and current executive VP of the franchise) riding on a Tebow centaur.
In fact, the image does such a great job of capturing what “Tebow Time” really means, it has to be considered a work of art.
Reuters announced yesterday that the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring a list of “publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards.” The list includes:
* Facebook
* Myspace (they note that Myspace is difficult to search – imagine that)
* Twitter
* ABC News’ “The Blotter”
* Huffington Post
* Wired blogs
* Jihadwatch
* Hulu
* Youtube
* Flickr
The DHS says that they monitor these sites to “collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture…. and to provide… more timely information for decision makers.”
In other words, they read blogs, look at Facebook and watch Youtube to see what’s going on in the world.
Back in the 1980s, a group known as “the Brat Pack” were right in the middle of some of Hollywood’s finer moments, including such gems as The Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire. The group consisted of a who’s who of 80s actors, with such names like Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy appearing prominently.
As indicated, one of their better known movies was the coming-of-age melodrama called St Elmo’s Fire. Aside from giving such awesome images like the following:
The movie also provided us with an incredible self-titled theme song, written and performed by John Parr, who, in case you forget, had this amazing head of hair:
Apparently, however, along with his staggering mullet, Parr’s other remaining cool quotient points have been exhausted as well, thanks to the news that he rewrote the St Elmo’s Fire theme song to match the Tim Tebow football miracles that took place in Denver this past weekend. Josh has already informed you about Tebow’s Twitter impact, but I don’t think anyone foresaw John Parr’s masterpiece being rewritten for the quarterback even Lady Gaga acknowledges.
As an aside, Gaga claims to be a New York Giants fan, but has she ever made a tweet about Eli Manning? Not to my knowledge. As you can see, the power of Tebow is great enough to break even the most jaded person’s resolve.
Back to John Parr and his theme song masterpiece, yes, the unthinkable has happened. Parr has indeed rewritten the song’s lyrics to attempt to pay homage to the one they call “Tebow.” Granted, Tebow’s greatness is so far off-the-charts, even if Parr’s magnificent mullet remained, he probably still wouldn’t have enough Sampson-like power to create a song worthy of Tebow.
With that in mind, the non-mullet’d Parr was simply not up to the challenge. First, the original masterpiece:
Now for the Tebow’d version. Warning, it may just crush your soul, especially if you aren’t onboard the Tebow bandwagon:
It should be noted that John Parr is from England, not the United States, which clearly demonstrates the power of Tebow knows no bounds, not even international borders. According to Wikipedia, Parr redid the song for ESPN’s First Take during an appearance in October of 2011. However, the recent Tebow heroics against the Pittsburgh Steelers evidently motivated ParrFox 31 in Denver to release the remake to the world; via YouTube, of course.
Much like the most popular comment offers, this is about the only reaction I could come up with after enduring that:
“I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry, so I laughried.
As Tim Tebow demonstrated, the sports world is always a great way to get the masses talking on Twitter, and while the LSU/Alabama BCS Championship Game didn’t break the records Tim Tebow’s overtime pass did, it’s still the talk of the web. Be it sports blogs, mainstream media web outlets, or Twitter, folks are still reacting to the Alabama’s crushing defensive performance, some, however, are at the expense of LSU quarterback, Jordan Jefferson.
As of this writing, there are three Twitter trends devoted to Alabama’s BCS title-clinching win, two, however, are focusing on Jefferson’s mistakes rather than Alabama’s impressive shut out. Even the infamous LSUFreek weighs in with this appropriate mashup:
This is true, Jefferson’s Twitter account is gone. If it was up last night during the game, there’s really no telling the types of posts he had to deal with. It must have been incredibly ugly, but then again, so was his play against Bama’s defense. Speaking of, while Jordan Jefferson is getting drawn and quartered across the Internet, some folks actually remembered to give credit where it’s due, as opposed to piling on a kid who played poorly against one of the best defenses ever in college football:
@AmbianPancakes BryanThe last time I saw a Tiger get beat that bad his wife had a golf club.
That last one just about sums things up, at least from Alabama’s perspective. In case you missed it, here’s the only touchdown from last night’s game, courtesy of Trent Richardson:
To the victor goes the spoils, and, as is the case nowadays, all of the Internet trends, at least for a little while.
YouTube’s been doing their part to help their partners (which, as far as I can tell, are business entrepreneurs who’ve posted videos to YouTube in order to showcase their wares) get more exposure through their On The Rise program. YouTube explains the concept better than I’ll be able to:
For those new to the series, here’s how it works: we identify four YouTube Partners who are steadily growing but haven’t yet hit the 100,000 subscriber mark. You watch their videos, then vote for your favorite in the top right corner of this blog. The channel with the most votes at the end of the week will be featured on the YouTube homepage and videos page. In past months, winners like evmoneyTV and ThePortraitArt have seen growth in their audience and video engagement thanks to your support.
This month’s partners share a common theme of locomotion: skate boarding, gardening (plants move, y’know), yoga, and travel tips for California (people sometimes move, y’know). The four videos can be viewed below:
To vote for your favorite video, visit YouTube’s blog and you’ll find a poll in the top-right corner of the page. As of writing this, there are seven days remaining to cast a vote for your YouTube partner of choice.
In case you have trouble finding your way around the busy CES business this week, Google’s posted in their blog today about where convention goers will be able to find Google and YouTube events.
We’ll kick things off at 3:00pm PT on Tuesday, January 10 with chairman Eric Schmidt speaking at CNET Presents – The Next Big Thing in CE, in Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) North Hall N255-257. On the following day, January 11, we have a bunch of events across topics:
Google’s senior policy counsel Rick Whitt will participate in the Innovation Policy Summit Session: Spectrum for Wireless Broadband: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together in LVCC North Hall N264 at 10:15am PT.
On the education front, Angela Lin, manager of YouTube EDU, will present on “High Tech U”—digital tools and services that are changing the traditional ivory tower—at 3:00pm PT in LVCC North Hall N256.
End the day at 5:00pm PT with CNET’s Women In Tech panel, featuring Marissa Mayer, VP of product management, in LVCC South Hall, Upper Level Lobby – CNET Stage.
On Thursday, January 12 at 10:00am PT, YouTube will be keynoting the Entertainment Matters program in the Las Vegas Hilton Theatre. Robert Kyncl, VP of global content, will share his thoughts on the evolution of the entertainment industry, and he’ll later be joined by partners and friends for a panel discussion.
There will also apparently be some Google TV and YouTube demos around the convention center. Chances are, though, that you’re going to encounter some Google or YouTube-ness whether you like it or not, but at least now you can know where to be (or not to be) when they’re putting on the ritz.
G-Form makes a wide variety of impact protection gear. Though they mainly focus on sports – biking and skateboarding, particularly – they also make a variety of gadget cases, including cases for the Kindle Fire, the iPad, and laptops. Of course, if you’re going to make high quality pads and cases, you have to test them, right? Of course you do! And what better way to test your super-durable iPad case than letting it float nearly 20 miles into the air on a weather balloon, then letting it plummet back to the rocky Nevada desert?
Yes, really. Don’t believe it? Well, apparently they thought you might not, so they rigged a camera to the iPad and put the video on YouTube. Check it out below, then let us know what you think in the comments.
Did you really expect the “inventor” of the Internet to agree with a bill that’s so potentially damaging to the foundation on which the web resides, even if he himself doesn’t know anything about DNS? Truth be told, considering the fact that Al Gore is a Harvard graduate, he probably has a very good idea about the potential threats the oft-discussed protection acts pose to both the structure of the Internet and various freedoms of expression.
In fact, from Gore’s perspective, “there is hardly anything as important as to save and protect the vibrancy and freedom of the Internet,” which should provide all the insight you need to grasp the former Vice President’s position. These words were offered by Gore at an event held by CareerBuilder, and, of course, there is video of his response:
While Gore is often made fun of for the “creating the Internet” stuff — something he was actually quoted by CNN as saying — the fact is, Gore played a crucial role in bringing the Internet to the American masses during his tenure as Vice President. While APRANET represents the true beginning of the Internet as we know it, the adoption of the Information Superhighway came about under Gore’s tenure under Bill Clinton, thanks to the Vice President’s advocacy.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why Gore is so opposed to the idea of SOPA/PIPA. While he acknowledges content creators need protection as well, he doesn’t believe the current bills under review are the way to go about protecting them.
Too bad Gore’s words, like most of the SOPA/PIPA opponents out there, will fall on deaf ears; at least as far as Lamar Smith is concerned.
Earlier this year, the Casey Anthony trial captivated America, and then, it went into overdrive mode when she was acquitted for being responsible of her daughter’s death. Once news of her non-not guilty verdict hit the wires, it effectively burnt down Facebook, Twitter and whatever other link-sharing outlets you can think of as people scrambled to react to the news.
Shortly thereafter, Anthony effectively disappeared from the news’ eye, although, there were sightings of her in various parts of the country. Ohio State fans, in particular, took notice of a specific Anthony sighting, but by and large, she’s disappeared from the public’s eye. Until now.
That’s right, the ex-mom you love to hate has surfaced again, this time in a YouTube video, doing what appears to be the first in a series of video blogs. While the video is dated 10/13/2011, it was only discovered recently; and now, the mainstream media news cycle has a hold of it, which means welcome back, Casey.
Just when you thought she was gone, too. Here’s the video that’s burning up the media:
As you can see, if that really is Anthony — others believe it is her — she’s dyed her hair and is apparently happy about having things she can call her own. She also mentions how surreal her life as been since the summer, but does not mention her daughter at any point. According to official reports, Anthony’s lawyer has responded with neither a confirmation or a denial about whether or not her client stars in the video diary, but it’s clear the mainstream media thinks it Casey Anthony, and is treating the video as such.
As for the video’s YouTube uploader — therealcptsonyablade — it was stated that they found the video an uploaded it, meaning it’s doubtful Anthony is the one who put it on YouTube. In fact, the uploader explains how they acquired the video in question in the video’s comments:
I’m not Casey Anthony or trying to impersonate her… I just found the video and posted it… SMDH…
I found it floating on facebook, tracked it until I found the code, downloaded it to my realplayer, and uploaded it on here.
So, would you watch more video content from Casey Anthony, provided she does another video, or is she simply something you’d ignore? Let us know what you think. If it’s anything like Twitter, it should make for a great comment thread:
@laugh_out_Ioud Chrisi think people would be more likely to forgive Chris Brown for beating women if he started dating Casey Anthony.4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
Earlier this week, Representative Lamar Smith, one of they key sponsors of the oft-discussed SOPA legislation, issued something of a challenge to Reddit users, calling them a vocal minority who’s fears concerning SOPA were unfounded. Smith also challenged the Reddit community to point out the areas of SOPA that will damage the structure of the Internet, as he firmly believes there is none present in the SOPA bill. In the words of Reddit users all over the world, the response to Smith was simple:
The response was done in video format and it comes in two parts, both of which appear on YouTube. According to the description, the first video was a trial run, and the second represents more of what the creator was aiming for:
To add some much needed levity to the situation, the uploader, who goes by CopyrightActivist, features a “Remix this video” option, effectively demonstrating the idea of fair use, an idea the entertainment industry, particularly the RIAA, is strongly opposed to. Sometimes, the most effective demonstrations of protest are the simplest ones.
As for the videos, the creator takes Smith’s challenge and confronts it head-on, pointing out various stanzas from the SOPA bill, and discusses how they empower the copyright holders, and the potential havoc they could unleash. Unfortunately, however, it’s likely the content of this video will never be seen by Smith, and even if it is, it will be disregarded or ignored. It’s clear Smith made his point without the thought of a response, and his labeling of the Reddit crowd gives us insight into how such users are perceived by the establishment.
That is, they are a minority and, apparently, their words, opinions, and beliefs don’t count as much as Smith’s agenda, one that’s been largely financed by the entertainment industry.
Now that Smith’s challenge has been accepted and responded to, will Smith adjust his thinking or will he simply relegate and/or ignore sites like Reddit, seeing how he considers the users there to be in the minority in regards to their anti-SOPA stance?
It’s almost that time of the year, folks. The time when people take to subways across the globe in the middle of winter sans trousers.
But why?
According to the stagers of the annual No Pants Subway Ride event, long-time viral stars Improv Everywhere, it’s simple:
Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.
Easy enough right? And sure to freak out/thoroughly amuse at least a few subway riders.
The event originated in New York City, but has spread to locations all over the world. Cities that have No Pants Subway Rides scheduled for this year include Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Calgary, Madrid, Jerusalem, Sydney, Taipei, Warsaw, Lisbon, and Prague.
Each city’s details are different, but for instance, New Yorkers who wish to participate can meet at one of six different meeting points. From there, they will be broken down into groups and given a specific train car. Then, participants go about their business – read a magazine, play on their iPhone or whatever. When the car leaves the stop before the designated one, they take off their pants, put them in a bag, and get off at the next stop.
Participants stand on the platform, pantless, and wait for the next train. They then enter in the exact same place they exited. The performance involves acting as if all the other pantless people on board is just a coincidence.
But really. Why do people do this? The same reason anyone does something silly just for the hell of it. Whatever that is, of course.
People are being asked to participate on Twitter as well, by using the hashtag #NPSR.
Here’s some discussion of the first No Pants Subway Ride, set to appear in a documentary on the Improv group (currently a Kickstarter project).
A lot can happen in one hundred years. Lots of bad, lots of good, but lots of change nevertheless. A couple of days ago a YouTube user, derDon1234, uploaded a video compiled of some of the most notable moments in the past hundred years and after watching I’m actually sincerely surprised that any of us are even still here. If the video is to be a glimpse of civilization in miniature for a small period of time on earth then its hard to believe that this wasn’t the worst one hundred years in history. Seriously, from what this video highlights, I don’t think there was ever a minute in the past century that wasn’t clouded with bomb smoke and deafened with the cry of millions being murdered.
There are a few good moments in humanity’s past highlighted here, such as the first moonwalk by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 but, good lord, the sweetness of those memories are obliterated by the endless footage of death and destruction that seemed to infect every single moment of the one hundred year period. And sure, people will argue that significant moments were left out of this compilation (like the Dust Bowl in the United States during the 1930s or the political assassination of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973) but I guess you have to pick and choose your abject miseries.
It goes without saying that the Hans Zimmer soundtrack to the video doesn’t really help ease the dreadful intensity of the footage, either. At any rate, it’s a new year and lets all collectively exhale a deep breath that we even survived the past one hundred years and hope that the next hundred won’t be so incredibly devastating.
After rebounding from a blunder-filled start to 2011, the PlayStation 3 network, as well as the buzz around the system (and the company) died down to the point where it was acceptable to be a PS3 owner once again.
However, if the mischievous Internet collective known as Anonymous has its way, the PlayStation Network (PSN) will once again be brought to its knees. Because of Sony’s support of the SOPA legislation, they are once again a target of the infamous hacking collective. Perhaps these two entities collaborated in order to get more coverage, seeing how the hubbub surrounding both parties, Sony and Anonymous, has been relatively quiet after a busy spring/summer.
While that’s about as ludicrous as it sounds, stranger things have happened. As for Anonymous’ message, here it is, in YouTube format:
In case you don’t want to listen to the computerized voice, the video’s YouTube page features a transcription of Anonymous’ latest intentions:
Hello, SONY.
We are Anonymous.
It has come to the attention of the Anonymous activist community that you have chosen to stand by the Stop Online Piracy Act. This act will halt online businesses and restrict access to many sites for many users. Supporting SOPA is like trying to throw an entire company from off a bridge. Your support to the act is a signed death warrant to SONY Company and Associates. Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not. Sony, you have been warned.
To those doubting our powers. We’ve infiltrated the servers of Bank of America, The United States Department of Defense, The United Nations, and Lockheed Martin. In one day.
For their approval to SOPA, we have also declared that our fury be brought upon the following persons. Justin Bieber. Lady Gaga. Kim Kardashian. and Taylor Swift.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Supporters of SOPA, you should’ve expected us.
There are even instructions listed for those of you who’d like to help Anonymous takedown the PSN:
How to join the attack:
1) Download NetTalk6.exe
2) Connect to this IP address: irc.anonops.li OR ipv6.anonops.li
3) TYPE IN: /join #opsony
It’s surprising that Sony hasn’t asked YouTube to pull the video, considering the directions in the description. Granted, Anonymous could broadcast these instructions over many different web mediums, but the fact remains, the attack directions could be inferred as inciting others to act in a destructive manner.
Ocean Marketing is the talk of the Internet at the moment, thanks to some really, really poor customer service techniques. The story was documented by WebProNews earlier today, and as the fallout continues from Ocean Marketing’s actions, the company is getting lampooned again and again on a number of sites.
You know a topic has hit the critical mass when its parodied on YouTube, much in the manner Ocean Marketing is in the following video (warning, NSFW language):
Now, if you missed the story, the video may not make as much sense as it would to those familiar with the meme, but rest assured, while it is in parody form, the video captures the mood — and Ocean Marketing’s actions — quite well. You can read about how the incident started over at Penny Arcade. An example of how the company in question corresponds to its customers, which led directly to the incredible amount of ridicule Ocean Marketing and/or Ocean Strategies is receiving (emphasis is ours):
LOL Thanks for the Free PR I know the Editor N Chief of Kotaku , IGN , Engadget I’ll be meeting them at CES .The noise complaint was for people high up on the food chain in a corporate world of real estate you have no clue about. Thanks for the Rice Rocket Compliment too love me some motorcycle . Send that over to Engadget you look like a complete moron swearing and sending your customer service complaints to a magazine as if they will post it or even pay attention do you think you’re the first or the last what are they going to do demand us to tell you were your shipment is or ask for a refund on your behalf … Really … Welcome to the Internet ? Son Im 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls and before it was the internet, thanks for the welcome to message wurd up. Grow up you look like a complete child bro. I Don’t have my controller so im gonna cry to the world … Really ?? Hey take that free time and do something more productive. All you had to do was check the like everyone else , people have inquired but you’re the douchiest of them all…
One wonders if this is the same strategy WalMart used when they were taking over the department store world. I mean, did the now infamous Paul Christoforo actually think a customer this committed to tracking down a product they paid for would remain silent after such a response? If so, it’s amazing Ocean Marketing or whatever they’re called now succeeded enough to get one client, let alone one good enough to catapult them to Internet infamy.
In what is probably a surprise to nobody who uses the Internet with any kind of regularity, Google was the most visited U.S. web brand in 2011. As reported by Nielsen earlier today, the search engine juggernaut maintained an average of 153.4 million unique visitors per month in 2011 while Facebook, the second top-ranked web brand, attracted 137.6 million unique visitors each month.
If it’s any consolation to Facebook, they obliterated all other social networks and blogs this year. Blogger, Google’s blogging service, was a distant second to Facebook’s top-ranked social networking site with 45.7 unique visitors per month. Twitter trailed even further behind the two online services with 23.5 million unique visitors followed by another blogging service, WordPress.com, at 20.3 million unique visitors. One telling detail of this data about social networks is that Myspace.com – Myspace! – was the fifth top ranked social network/blog in 2011 with 17.9 million visitors – over twice as many unique visitors as Google+. Really, Google+, you couldn’t even keep up with Myspace? While Google may be the top web brand in the country this year, they’ve still got some distance to cover in the social networking arena.
Also, there’s this report from CNET earlier today that says that Google+ surpassed 62 million users. Something isn’t adding up. Granted, the CNET report says that a quarter of all Google+ users joined in December and the Nielsen data doesn’t include December, but that’s still a huge discrepancy in these numbers. Maybe Google’s fudging their numbers by synchronizing Google+ with Gmail accounts so that they can include Gmail users as Google+ stats. I mean, I technically am a Google+ user because I use Gmail but that doesn’t mean I actually use Google+ for anything. I don’t see how else these numbers can be so starkly different.
Google shouldn’t hold its gigantic G-shaped head too low, though, because they also dominated among online video providers this year. YouTube, Google’s video service, attracted 111.1 million unique visitors this past year. The closest any other video service came to that number was VEVO, who attracted 34.5 million viewers. One notable stat in this data set is that Netflix took the Elevator of Winning all the way down to the Basement of Losing because they eked into the last spot on this list with 7.4 million. They’re probably lucky they even showed up on this list after spending their totally fubar summer trying their very best not to admit to everyone, “Hey, look okay, we have no idea what we’re doing!” Given that the DVD and streaming service is now split and nobody really wants to pay twice as much for both services now, I bet Netflix doesn’t even show up on this list next year.
It’s probably a moot question to ask at this point, but is anyone even surprised by these rankings? When was the last time anyone even logged into a Myspace account? Watch this space this time next year to find out what 2012 does to shake up the hierarchy of online media titans.
Some people regard the end of a year as an opportunity to plot the changes they’d like to make in their lives in the upcoming new year. Some people feverishly plan to get wasted on New Year’s Eve. Some people don’t care about the transfer into another year. If you happen to work in the media, the impending end of the year means you need to make a mad dash to compile as many meaningless Best Of lists as possible before January 1. It’s an imperative of journalism. If writers and websites don’t make as many lists as possible at the end of the year then the neutrinos at CERN get space-rabies and start to devour our reality like piranhas feasting on a bleeding two-headed cow carrion.
YouTube’s done their part to carry on this tradition. First they issued the most popular videos of the year, which is general enough that people’s interest probably justified the list’s creation. Then they reminded us which companies did the best job of mind-wiping us with marketing campaigns and compiled a list of the top advertisements of 2011. Sometimes, yes, even commercials can manipulate our emotions enough to stir within us a reaction while simultaneously beaming the Pavlovian command line “Buy Buy Buy” into our brain. People like to re-watch these commercials sometimes so, again, this list is justified.
Still trying to cover all of the made-up bases of Best Of lists, YouTube has now compiled a list of Most Viewed Food Videos of 2011. No, seriously. This is a list they made for people to watch. And here they are, in order of popularity:
Actually, if we’re going to validate this list with any integrity, this next video, which is the #5 Most Watched Food Video, should have been #1. Not only does this list prove that YouTube employees have nothing better to do this time of year except troll around their own website trying to think of different lists to make but they also have completely arrested sense of humors. Anyways, this is my favorite: Vegan Black Metal Chef!
YouTube still has three whole days before 2012 hatches so expect many other superfluous Best Of lists to be forked our way sometime soon. My hope is that we’ll see lists like Best High School Fight Videos, Most Popular Videos Of People Impersonating Animals, and Most Painful Cheerleading Fails and Most Painful YouTube Reactions to Most Painful Cheerleading Fails (a twofer!), and Best Liked Watching of Hotdog Eating Lady GaGa Impersonation Contests. You got any suggestions for YouTube Best Of video lists? Let us know below with your comments!
Once, the only aisle in the toy store that was mostly pink was the Barbie aisle. In the last few years, however, the pink has spread. Toy makers are increasingly marketing their products to girls and boys separately. Moreover, in a trend many find disturbing, the marketing of these toys shows a tendency to confirm certain gender stereotypes. The girls get the princesses, the boys get the superheroes. The girls get the makeup, the boys get the chemistry sets. The boys get Star Wars and Harry Potter LEGOs, the girls get LEGOs with boobs.
Attention to this phenomenon has been on the increase in the last couple of years. Books like Cinderella Ate My Daughter and Pink Brain, Blue Brain, as well as blogs like Princess Free Zone have attempted to draw attention to the increasing gender divide in the way our culture markets to and educates young children.
Well, it turns out that parents and child development experts aren’t the only ones noticing this trend. A video recently began circulating in which a young girl complains about the problem, too. The video, which has nearly 2 million hits on YouTube, shows a young girl named Riley making her opinion on the marketing of children’s toys clear: “the companies that makes these try to trick the girls into buying the pink stuff instead of stuff that boys want to buy.”
What do you think about Riley’s rant? Let us know in the comments.
Everyone who’s ever had kids knows that sometimes a child’s disappointment over not getting the gift they want can be an ugly thing. Children’s Christmas morning frustrations have provided many parents with the opportunity to try and teach their kids a lesson in gratitude and humility.
Sometimes those lessons don’t take, though, and the kids in question wind up becoming spoiled brats. Brats with expensive tastes. And Twitter accounts. And thanks to the work of Jon Hendren, we get to read those hilarious hissy fits in one convenient location: his Twitter feed. Even better, we get to listen to them set to music, as in the video below. Watch, enjoy, and thank God these aren’t your kids.
Google’s YouTube team and its Google Research team have teamed up to launch YouTube Slam, which is basically a way for you to rate YouTube videos against one another.
They’re calling it an experiment, and a way for YouTube users to discover the next “Charlie Bit My Finger”.
“This is the place for discovering talented amateur singers, the most adorable clips and the craziest videos on YouTube,” it says on the YouTube Slam site. “Watch pairs of videos and vote for your favorite. Videos are scored based on your votes, and the best videos are featured on the slam leaderboard.”
Each week, they put up a new crop of videos, and users can earn points for predicting crowd favorites.
Users can also subscribe to the Slam channels, which include: Bizarre Slam, Cute Slam, Music Slam, Dance Slam and Comedy Slam.
I can see where this could be addictive. It should be a good discovery tool for YouTube. It will be interesting to see if they integrate it into the YouTube experience itself.
The advance of technology always brings with it a certain amount of trepidation. The smarter our machines get, the more convinced we are that some day they’ll decide they don’t need us anymore. Whether it’s Skynet, GLaDOS, the machines from The Matrix, or even some poor old guy’s electric razor in the Twilight Zone, we have a deep subconscious fear that our machines secretly hate us and want to be in charge.
But not Siri, right? Siri is so nice. She talks to us in that sweet voice from inside our magical iPhones. She gives us information and directions, and she just seems so darn nice. She even makes jokes! But what if she isn’t really as nice as she seems? What is Siri is just a little too smart? What if she’s just biding her time, waiting to make her move? Check out the video below and decide for yourself.
