WebProNews

Tag: YouTube

  • Fox News / Google Debate Available on YouTube, Asking For Your Feedback

    Last night’s Fox News / Google Debate featured questions from YouTube users all over the country. The candidates were asked more than a dozen of the top-voted questions throughout the night, which saw Bachmann and Perry spar on the HPV vaccine, Ron Paul talk about abortion and Herman Cain talk about overcoming colon cancer.

    All of those exchanges are now available on the Fox News YouTube Channel, as are dozens of other clips from last night’s debate. All in all, 39 clips are available to watch.

    The official YouTube Blog has a post today talking about last night’s debate. In the post, they ask you to continue talking about the candidates’ performances on the Fox News YouTube channel. Post your comments and grade the candidates on their responses on certain topics.

    In addition to giving the candidates a grade, when you visit the Fox News YouTube Channel you’ll find a “pulse” tab that shows data visualizations based on the debate.

    Over on the Google Public Sector Blog, you’ll find some pretty interesting search trends from last night.

    For instance, searches for former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who was participating in his first debate, spiked all night – well over the frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And every time Herman Cain mentioned his “9-9-9” plan, searches concerning it skyrocketed.

    Also, Mitt Romney’s book “No Apology” was searched more than Rick Perry’s book “Fed Up.”

    In case you missed it, you can watch the entire debate below –

    What did you think about the debate? Who had a good night? Whose performance hurt their chances? Let us know in the comments.

    And remember to also submit your comments to the individual clips on the Fox News YouTube channel.

  • Want To Watch Your Dreams on YouTube? Scientists Take The First Step

    Well this just might be the coolest thing you’ll see all month.

    UC Berkeley scientists have found a way to use brain activity to recreate moving images, i.e. movies. Basically, they were able to record signals in people’s brains, and then they used that data to reconstruct visual images.

    The researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to see how the subject’s brains processed visual stimuli, and applied that knowledge to the recreation of images using existing YouTube clips.

    Here’s how they did it:

    [The subjects] watched two separate sets of Hollywood movie trailers, while fMRI was used to measure blood flow through the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visual information. On the computer, the brain was divided into small, three-dimensional cubes known as volumetric pixels, or “voxels.”

    “We built a model for each voxel that describes how shape and motion information in the movie is mapped into brain activity,” lead author of the study Shinji Nishimoto said.

    The brain activity recorded while subjects viewed the first set of clips was fed into a computer program that learned, second by second, to associate visual patterns in the movie with the corresponding brain activity.

    Brain activity evoked by the second set of clips was used to test the movie reconstruction algorithm. This was done by feeding 18 million seconds of random YouTube videos into the computer program so that it could predict the brain activity that each film clip would most likely evoke in each subject.

    Finally, the 100 clips that the computer program decided were most similar to the clip that the subject had probably seen were merged to produce a blurry yet continuous reconstruction of the original movie.

    Here’s the amazing video showing what those recreations looked like as compared with the original film clip –

    As of now, the science can only reconstruct images from movie clips that people have already viewed. It can’t simply pull images right out of the brain and create a video of what someone is thinking.

    But imagine the possibilities – dream mapping, reconstructing memories, and helping people with neurodegenerative diseases or people in a coma who can’t communicate verbally. The prospect of being able to record and then see a visual manifestation of your mind’s eye is terrifyingly awesome.

    The researchers say that they are decades for the scientific breakthroughs to do this, however. It will be quite awhile before you’ll be able to read someone’s thoughts by monitoring their visual cortex.

    But damn, isn’t this fascinating?

  • Fox News / Google Debate Live Tonight, Still Asking For Your Participation

    UPDATE: Remember, just in case there’s any confusion, you should direct any questions to the Fox News YouTube channel.

    At the beginning of the month, partners YouTube and Fox News announced the interactive Fox News / Google debate that would feature the Republican Presidential Primary candidates answering questions from the online community.

    Tonight’s the night for the debate. It will be streamed live on YouTube over at the Fox News channel starting at 9 pm EST. (It will also air on the Fox News TV channel)

    According to a Google blog post, over 18,000 questions have been submitted on the Fox News YouTube channel, ranging in topics from immigration reform to health care to social security.

    Like discussed before, the debate will feature some of these pre-submitted questions along with live submissions during the debate from folks online. Google will also be setting up real-time voting on the issues and on the candidate’s responses via the YouTube broadcast.

    Even if you’re watching on TV, you can visit youtube.com/foxnews during the debate to vote on real-time polling questions and submit live commentary. Throughout the evening, we’ll share Google politics-related search trend information and public data that will provide context to the issues discussed. Fox News moderators will ask specific questions that were submitted by citizens through YouTube, and we’ll be looking at overall trends that emerge from the questions in aggregate.

    YouTube will also be hosting a live pre-debate show starting at 8:30.

    The debate will be hosted by Fox’s Bret Baier.

    Remember to submit your questions to the Fox News YouTube channel.

  • YouTube Rolls Out 3D Conversion, Long Form Videos

    Whether you’ll use it or not is another matter, apparently, but that hasn’t stopped YouTube from introducing the ability to convert videos into the 3D format. While the feature is in the beta stage, it’s still an option available to anyone who uploads a video to YouTube’s index.

    It’s true that 3D has been taking a beating lately, although, the re-release of The Lion King in 3D, and the resulting success, may hold off pushing the 3D format back onto the gimmick pile. Digression about the format itself aside, YouTube uploaders can now convert their videos in a post-production format with the click of a mouse.

    From YouTube’s blog entry:

    Today we’re launching 2D to 3D conversion. Once you’ve uploaded your 2D videos to YouTube, you can convert them to 3D with the click of a button. Converted videos will be viewable by everyone in 3D. You’ll still get best results with a 3D camera, but it’s a great new way to let people enjoy your finest moments. You’ll find this feature by selecting “Edit Info”, then “3D Video” on a video you’ve uploaded. (Note, you’ll still need glasses to watch on most devices.)

    It will be interesting to see just how many jump on the “YouTube videos in 3D” bandwagon. With that in mind, do you still consider 3D to be a gimmick or is it a feature that couldn’t get here soon enough?

    Other features introduced by YouTube includes the video time limit removal for verified accounts. Until today, the time limit, even for YouTube power users, was 15 minutes. If you meet YouTube’s criteria as a verified user, you can now upload full-length videos. To facilitate these longer uploads, YouTube has also introduced a “resumable uploads” feature, something that does pretty much what it says. If your connection fails during an extended upload, you can resume it once the connection issues are resolved.

    In the link YouTube provided, it’s also revealed that the size limit for these larger uploads is 20GB. From their explanation:

    Chrome and Firefox 4+ users can not only upload files of a size up to 20GB, but it is also possible to resume uploads if your connection drops, and recover uploads even if you leave the page. When you return to the upload page and attempt the same file again, the progress bar will jump to where it was before.

    Another feature YouTube uploaders will be able to enjoy is the ability to edit and add effects. While on-the-fly editing has been launched already in YouTube, their blog entry actually introduces two new editing services uploaders will now have access to in YouTube’s Create area:

    We’re adding two additional video creation platforms for you to make your videos even better: Vlix and Magisto. Vlix lets you spice up your videos by adding cool effects and text to the video intro and closing. Magisto takes your unedited video and automatically edits it into short, fun clips.

    There’s a video of both services in action, as well:


    While YouTube was never in danger of falling back to the pack, at least at this juncture in our lives, such capabilities will only make the service stand out even further, especially once you add the 3D conversion to your video.

  • Starbucks Barista Song Goes Viral, Gets Barista Fired

    Starbucks Barista Song Goes Viral, Gets Barista Fired

    Apparently, the lessons about creating viral content about your employer and the subsequent damage the mocking kind of content can do needs to be taught over and over, unless, of course, getting fired was the intention of the one who made the content to begin with.

    Such is the tale of Christopher Cristwell, a Starbucks Barista from California. Cristwell, in an apparent effort to voice his frustrations with customer service, created “The Starbucks Rant Song,” and posted the video on YouTube. While the video/song is an attempt at voicing frustration through humor, it was enough to cost Cristwell his job, which, after hearing the lyrics of his ditty, might have been his goal all along.

    The song in question:


    Cristwell probably sealed his fate with the “serve another Latino an extra caramel frappuccino,” although, the entire song is essentially a big middle finger to the variety of Starbucks customers he waits on a daily basis.

    While the term “viral” has been used to describe Cristwell’s creation, the YouTube only has a little over 30,000 views, but once the Starbucks Gossip blog got a hold of it, it was only a matter of time before the ax fell on Cristwell’s Starbucks “career.” In fact, it only took 18 days between the blog’s post that highlighted the video and their follow up post concerning Cristwell’s elimination from the Starbucks crew.

    Cristwell actually commented on the Starbucks Gossip post detailing his song, explaining his motivation:

    I am actually the guy who did this video.

    On that note I just wanted to say that I understand all of the negative critique and accept it. I can’t make everybody happy. I actually love my job and love making the best drinks.

    I made this video not for the customer, with whom I love deeply, and not for my managers, with whom I respect and appreciate, but for my fellow baristas. If I was able to provide just a few with some comedic relief after a stressful shift, than I can accept the consequences of my actions.

    I’m sorry if it offended you, really.

    Yeah, no. At least, that’s what I imagine Starbucks’ reaction to his explanation was.

    If you’re in a customer service job and you trash customers in a song and you post a video of the song online, as soon as your superiors find out, you’ll probably be in the unemployment line, and if Cristwell really did value his job, he should’ve known better. All in all, it sounds a lot like Cristwell was backtracking a little in an effort to let his superiors know the song was a joke meant for other Baristas who may be frustrated with their day-to-day duties.

    As for Cristwell now, he’s just another victim of viral content fun that gets ruined because it pisses the management off. In other words, he has no one to blame but himself for not being a Barista any longer, but again, considering the lyrics, while throwing out his “oh, wait” explanation, it’s doubtful Cristwell actually cared about being a Starbucks employee, something he doesn’t have to worry about any longer.

  • The Muppets Trailer Channels The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trailer

    If you’ve been to a movie in the theaters recently, then you’ve probably seen the new trailer for the upcoming American version of the Swedish crime thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It’s been the talk of the internet, as many are saying it’s one of the best trailers they’ve seen in a quite some time. I’ll admit, it’s pretty good.

    The American version is set to release this December and is directed by Fight Club and Social Network‘s David Fincher. The American version is based on the Swedish film that is based on the incredibly popular novels of the same name…you get the picture.

    But now we can add one more layer of “based on” to the mix, as the new teaser trailer for the new Muppets film The Muppets has just hit the interwebs. “The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo,” as you might guess, parodies the TGWTDT trailer. It might be the first time that a film’s trailer parodies another film’s trailer, both of which are set to premiere around the same time.

    And it’s funny – a really good viral ad. It’s already been mentioned on the YouTube trends blog as one of the viral hits of the day.

    Check it out below. (Tip: If you haven’t seen the trailer that The Muppets trailer parodies, you might want to skip a little further down and watch it first.

    The Muppets is coming out November 23rd and sports an all-star cast including Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, MIla Kunis, Amy Adams, Zach Galifianakis and Ricky Gervais.

  • America’s Got Talent Winner Sings Sinatra, Impresses Twitter

    In a primetime rags-to-riches story, 36-year-old Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. walked off the stage last night as the winner of this season of America’s Got Talent.

    He beat out teen pop band PopLyfe, and two dance groups Team iLuminate and Silhouettes for the title. He’s now the proud owner of $1 million and a future in Vegas.

    Murphy is a resident of West Virginia, and it was a running storyline on the show all season that he has worked as a car washer for the last 10 years. America’s Got Talent has always pushed the sentimentality factor, and it really couldn’t have worked out better than Murphy winning it all.

    Murphy had two things going for him all season. First, the man’s a pretty good singer. Second, he had the element of surprise, as the judges put it. It’s just a fact of life – nobody expected a guy who looks like Murphy to sound like Frank Sinatra.

    But here he is, singing “My Way” at the final performance show –

    And here is his winning moment from last night –

    To take it all back to the beginning, here’s his initial audition where he performs Sinatra’s “I’ve got you under my skin” Both the crowd and the judges seem completely wowed –

    Twitter was buzzing about Murphy following his victory –

    @ryanathorn
    Ryan Thorn    Congrats to Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. on being the America’s Got Talent Champion. Making West Virginia proud! #AGT #WV 12 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @enrogers
    Erica N. Rogers    I can’t even put into words how proud I am that #WV native Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. won #AGT tonight! I wanna hear him sing Country Roads! 10 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @broGeorge
    George McCanne    Congrats Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. I hate reality contest tv shows but your rags to riches story & Sinatra voice belong in Vegas. Cheers. 8 hours ago via txt · powered by @socialditto

    Did Landau deserve to win? Let us know what you think.

  • Edit YouTube Videos Without Re-Uploading Them

    YouTube announced the launch of a new edit button, which lets you improve video quality and add effects. Users can now edit videos without having to re-upload them. Now, you can edit uploaded videos from YouTube itself, and maintain the same video ID.

    “Users have long requested a way to make quick edits to new and previously uploaded buttons without having to re-upload the video,” a spokesperson for YouTube tells WebProNews. “Users can enter this tool from the Watch page of one of their videos when logged in or from the video upload page.”

    Included in the new release are the ability to make quick fixes, such as trimming, rotating, stabilizing, contrast, brightness, color intensity and color temperature. 14 stylized effects are included, such as sepia, pixelate, comic book, etc. Audio tracks can also be swapped with songs from the YouTube audioswap library.

    It will all roll out globally this afternoon, YouTube says.

  • Even the Zombie Apocalypse Can’t Escape the Power of Social Media

    Even the Zombie Apocalypse Can’t Escape the Power of Social Media

    How often do you think about the zombie apocalypse? If your answer is less than twice a day, then you’re doing it wrong. Sure, filling your head with thoughts of Scarlett Johansson and your fantasy football team is more pleasant – but those thoughts waste time. Precious preparation time.

    Now that we live in a world permeated by social media, it’s safe to assume that things like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will play a pretty big part in the zombie apocalypse.

    And that’s exactly what this video explores. Recently posted by the Pixelpersecond channel, #Zombies: Followers of the Dead takes on the form of a documentary, set 6 months after the zombie outbreak. Those who survived tell their stories. It becomes apparent that social media played a crucial role in the aftermath, as it both helped and hurt the cause.

    Apparently, Twitter was a force for good – providing clever hashtags, spreading the word on safe zones and supply locations. But it was also a force for evil – spreading lies and rumors about improper ways to fight the horde. Crosses don’t protect you against zombies, idiots. That’s vampires – and it doesn’t always work with them anyways.

    And unfortunately, their depiction of the purpose YouTube would serve during the ZA is probably pretty accurate.

    Check out the extremely well-done video below –

    Now that you’ve seen it, I can tell you that they claim (on YouTube) that the entire thing was unscripted. Pretty impressive.

    Back in May, the CDC tweeted a link their own zombie preparedness guide, which was featured on their blog. This tweet resulted in the crashing of the blog due to the amount of traffic. Strangely enough, the preparedness guide makes no mention of good strategies fro the utilization of social media during the outbreak.

    That’s a shame, because you better believe that the first thing most people will do after witnessing their deceased loved one rise, is tweet about it.

  • Citizen Kane Now Available on YouTube

    Just in time for its 70th anniversary, one of the best films of all time is now available for you to stream on YouTube. Orson Welles’ seminal classic Citizen Kane has joined the growing catalog of films available in YouTube’s screening room, youtube.com/movies.

    Citizen Kane on YouTube is a 24 hour rental and it will cost you $2.99.

    YouTube movies houses new releases ready to rent as well as a selection of complete films available for free. Some classic free films you can watch include Battleship Potemkin, Nosferatu and the absolutely fantastic Touch of Evil (more Orson Welles for you).

    The YouTube blog post announcing the new offering mentions a series of reasons why Citizen Kane is worthy of your viewing, you know, AFI voting it #1 of all time, its influence and such. I could tell you how Citizen Kane influenced so many films that followed it, but it’s probably better to let Martin Scorsese do that –

  • Winklevoss Twins’ Wonderful Pistachio Ad References Facebook, Idea Theft

    For the past couple of months, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have been trying to get various judges to believe that they deserve more than $65 million for their part in the creation of Facebook. You know the story – they claim Zuckerberg stole their idea, he says no way, and there was a movie about it. A good movie, mind you.

    Earlier this year, the Winklevii decided that their $65 million settlement with Zuckerberg and Facebook wasn’t good enough, so they attempted to go back on it in order to seek more. In April, an appeals court judge ruled that the Winklevii must accept the $65 million settlement. They filed another appeal to have their case heard by more judges – and it failed as well. Then they announced that they were taking the matter to the Supreme Court, but later thought better of it.

    Now that it looks like our long national nightmare is over, what are the Winklevii to do?

    Apparently, that answer is “make commercials.”

    The now infamous zombie litigators are starring in an ad for Wonderful Pistachios, you know, the guys that love lime green clothing and minor celebrities. They have previously called upon the talents of people like Snooki and Rod Blagojevich.

    This ad has the twins referencing the whole Facebook thing with a crack about idea theft. The voice-over then says “The Winklevoss Twins do it cautiously,” referencing how they crack their pistachios, or whatever. Check it out below –

    Since the video debuted on YouTube last Friday, it’s gotten some negative feedback. Haters gon hate, right?

    Tyler Winkevoss is proud of it, at least –

    @tylerwinklevoss
    Tyler Winklevoss    Check out Wonderful Pistachios commercial @winklevoss and I recently did http://t.co/Xvq0oIr #GetCrackin‘ 9 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    I, for one, have always applauded the Winklevoss’ use of Twitter.

    What do you think of the ad? Let us know in the comments.

  • Darth Vader’s Star Wars Blu Ray Dialogue Finds Its Way Into Classic Films

    A couple of weeks ago, the internet exploded over one particular addition to the upcoming Blu-ray edition of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

    On August 31st, a YouTube clip emerged that claimed to come from the upcoming Blu-ray for the seminal Star Wars film. In that clip, a particularly climatic scene from the movie has been altered by an extra piece of dialogue, one coming from Darth Vader. This extra line of dialogue was later confirmed by Lucasfilm – the changes will be reflected in the upcoming release.

    If you haven’t seen the clip, here’s what everyone is buzzing about –

    So Vader shouts “NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” That’s new. Personally, I’ve lost my ability to even complain anymore when George Lucas makes some sort of change to a classic film. I guess it’s a little upsetting that I’m going to have to find some old VHS’ to show my children, because that’s the only way I’ll be sure I’m exposing them to the original.

    But this isn’t an anti-George Lucas diatribe, as there is always this to consider.

    But it’s pretty clear that this new “NOOOOOO” is a little beyond unnecessary. CineWeekly decided to see how awful Darth Vader’s new exclamation would sound in other classic movies. From The Godfather to Reservoir Dogs, this viral vid proves that some things are best left alone.

  • 9/11 Attacks, Ground Zero As Captured From Space

    9/11 Attacks, Ground Zero As Captured From Space

    On September 11th, 2001, Astronaut Frank Culbertson was the only American not on the planet Earth. He was aboard the International Space Station, the only American on the crew.

    He happened to be flying over the New York City area when the World Trade Center attack went down, and he decided to document the events from above. The result is some amazing photo and video documentation of what it all looked like from miles away.

    NASA has put some of those photos on their site as part of a NASA Remembers September 11th tribute. The photo you see in the lead image was taken by Culbertson on the morning of 9/11. What you see is the smoke and debris rising up from ground zero, a truly heartbreaking and amazing sight.

    Culbertson also documented his thoughts about witnessing 9/11 from space in a public letter, which NASA has posted in its entirety on their site. Here’s an excerpt from what he wrote on September 11th, 2001 –

    The smoke seemed to have an odd bloom to it at the base of the column that was streaming south of the city. After reading one of the news articles we just received, I believe we were looking at NY around the time of, or shortly after, the collapse of the second tower. How horrible…

    And this is from the very next day –

    It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point. The dichotomy of being on a spacecraft dedicated to improving life on the earth and watching life being destroyed by such willful, terrible acts is jolting to the psyche, no matter who you are. And the knowledge that everything will be different than when we launched by the time we land is a little disconcerting. I have confidence in our country and in our leadership that we will do everything possible to better defend her and our families, and to bring justice for what has been done.

    Culbertson talks about the experience in this NASA video. In it, you also get glimpses of the video that he recorded from the ISS on 9/11.

    NASA captured other photos from high above NYC. This photo was taken the day after, by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) aboard the Landsat satellite –

    “Other than the emotional impact of our country being attacked and thousands of our citizens and maybe some friends being killed, the most overwhelming feeling being where I am is one of isolation,” said astronaut Culbertson on 9/11.

    I can’t even imagine what that felt like, seeing it all unfold from space.

  • Super Poke Pets Find a New Resting Place

    Super Poke Pets Find a New Resting Place

    Ever since Google announced that they were shutting down their recently acquired social game company Slide, users of one particular casualty of that decision have made their feelings quite clear.

    Super Poke Pet users are pretty upset that Google is shutting down the game, a move that will eliminate a hobby in which many users have invested hundreds of dollars.

    Last week we posted some YouTube videos that show an admittedly atypical portrayal of a Super Poke Pets user. In the videos, a woman goes on quite the epic rant when she can’t get the app to load. Some SPP users made it clear that these videos were a poor representation of the SPP community. Other SPP users got a good laugh out of it.

    Many Super Poke Pets players have wondered what will become of their pets. Today, they get their answer.

    [Note: This video is intended to be humorous. To our knowledge, the SPP Cemetery doesn’t exist (yet). Many people care a great deal about the game, and we know that. But sometimes humor is a good way to deal with things, don’t you think?]

  • Jimmy Kimmel’s Uncle Frank Tribute Remembers Wonderful Man, Terrible Singer

    A couple of weeks ago, fans of Jimmy Kimmel Live were saddened by the news that Frank Potenza, the beloved “Uncle Frank,” had passed away.

    Uncle Frank, who played the loveable security guard on the show, participated in many of the show’s best bits. Potenza, who was 77, was a New York City police officer and former security guard in Las Vegas.

    As far as the cause of death is concerned, Jimmy Kimmel has said that Uncle Frank had “a few different kinds of cancer.”

    Last night, Kimmel tearfully unveiled a tribute to Frank, one that has now hit YouTube. It features some of his most memorable moments from his many years as an integral part of the show and is set to Sinatra’s “My Way.”

    Check it out below –

    Before he played the video tribute on his show last night, Kimmel said that Uncle Frank spent his last days in the hospital surrounded by family. He also showed the audience old photos and shared stories about the late man who obviously meant a lot to him.

    What were your favorite Uncle Frank routines? Let us know in the comments.

  • YouTube Still A Huge Mistake For Google, Says Mark Cuban

    Dallas Mavs owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban was critical of Google’s decision to buy YouTube when it happened back in 2006. Apparently, those sentiments haven’t changed.

    Appearing on the CBS What’s Trending show, he received a question submitted from Twitter about how he feels about the YouTube acquisition, now that we all know how big it has become. The latest figures show that about 1 in 4 Americans watch a video on YouTube every day. And that’s not even considering its impact around the world.

    “I said it was a huge mistake back then, and I still think it’s a huge mistake.” he said.

    He continued:

    On one hand you say “Wow, YouTube has got all these people that come to their site,” but think about what’s really going on at YouTube.

    And I really like Google – they are a good company that’s done a lot of great things. All YouTube is, is Google subsidizing the bandwidth of every individual in the world.

    Check out the video below. He starts talking about YouTube around the 6:30 mark –

    They haven’t really accomplished anything. There’s what – 9 zillion minutes – 9 zillion hours uploaded every minute and the reality is, people just use it to put up their baby videos to show grandma.

    If you look at online video, there’s only one company making money and that’s Netflix.

    There are some things that do well – you can name 100 people who are doing well and then there’s 9 zillion who suck.

    So it seems that Cuban is focusing on the monetization of YouTube. But to say that they haven’t accomplished anything seems to be a stretch and to suggest that Google shouldn’t have acquired the video site? I mean, 3 billion views a day, and 3 billion monetized views per week globally.

    Just think about it this way. What if Google announced tomorrow that it was shutting down YouTube. Can you even imagine the response? I’m sure it would trump the still impressive outcry of the Super Poke Pets shutdown.

  • Twitter: We Are Faster Than An Earthquake

    Twitter’s new promotion is that their service moves faster than an earthquake.

    The impetus for this little video posted on their YouTube channel is obviously the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the east coast late last month. The quake, centered in Virginia, was felt from Washington D.C. to New York and beyond.

    Although the quake was felt by many, it kind of became a joke on the internet, fueled by the contrast between the ridiculous amount of internet chatter compared to the actual damage done by the quake. Popular jokes on Twitter referenced how the west coast wouldn’t have even felt a 5.8 magnitude quake as well as the meta-effect of Twitter complaining about Twitter’s hype of the whole thing.

    We dealt with a little bit of that later with the whole Hurricane Irene media coveragething. In that case, however, the event had a little more bite to back up its bark.

    Anyways, check out Twitter’s video which makes reference to the fact that you really do hear about things quickly on the service:

    One top YouTube commenter points out that xkcd has already published their take on the Twitter/earthquake concept –

    Whats events did you first hear about via Twitter? Let us know in the comments.

  • Fox News / Google Debate Wants Your Participation

    In what will be one in an already packed schedule, Google and Fox News are teaming up for a Republican Presidential Primary Debate this month.

    The debate will take place in Orlando, Florida on September 22nd and will be broadcast live on the Fox News Channel as well as streamed live on YouTube.

    According to the YouTube blog, this debate will be interactive and rely heavily on user-submitted questions. Beginning today, interested parties can submit their questions for consideration to the Fox News channel via video or text.

    Viewers will be able to vote on which questions they want to see the candidates debate –

    The Fox News/Google Debate will combine the questions you submit on YouTube with maps, facts and information to enrich and guide the discussion. You can vote thumbs up or down on the questions using Google Moderator, and many of the top-voted will be put straight to the candidates to answer.

    From the Fox News side of it, they have announced the moderator for the debate: Fox News host Bret Baier. Fox News’ Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly will also be on the panel.

    During the debate, the broadcast will include real-time public data and search trends from Google – a way to visualize the chatter about the questions and the candidates’ answers.

    The debate is set to kick off at 9 pm ET.

  • Lanvin Dancing Models Ad Campaign Goes Viral

    High fashion design company Lanvin is making a viral splash with a video for their 2011 Fall fashion campaign.

    The video, which has already amassed more than 150,000 views on YouTube in a matter of days, features dancing models. Part of the charm of the ad is its lighthearted nature, contrasting with the all-to-serious tone of many fashion campaigns.

    The video features models Raquel Zimmerman and Karen Elson, the latter being the former wife of White Stripes frontman Jack White. Back in June, the two threw a party in Nashville to celebrate both their anniversary and divorce. “Please help us celebrate together this anniversary of the making and breaking of the sacred union of marriage,” the invitation said.

    Also, watch for a cameo by Lanvin artistic director Alber Elbaz near the end.

    Check it out below –

    Apparently, fashion watchers are praising the ad campaign for its self-parody nature and general emphasis on goofy fun. Some of the top YouTube comments –

    I love how self-deprecating this ad is. And Alber appearing in it makes it even cooler. It’s nice to see a designer not take themselves too seriously.

    HA HA HA – Alber appearing at the end: just HILARIOUS! ;)))))
    wonder if Karl Lagerfeld would ever do anything like this… 😉

    absolutely adorable! the intentional poker faces and moves parody a high fashion photoshoot, and the dance and designer appearing at the end makes it light hearted <3 taking away snobbiness and inaccessibility from ~high fashion~

    The YouTube viral hit comes weeks after the print ads were debuted, featuring the same models in the same setting. Along with the lead image, here is another one of the stills –

  • Hurricane Irene Coverage Finds Some Levity From Howard Stern’s Captain Janks

    If you are feeling fatigued by all the Hurricane media coverage, this might be the antidote.

    Prankster and self described “phony phone call artist” Captain Janks, best known for his appearances on The Howard Stern Show, has been making the rounds, calling in to local news affiliates to report on Hurricane Irene.

    Janks, real name Tom Cipriano, has been getting on air by pretending to be authority figures involved with hurricane management. Once he gets on the air, he proceeds to divert slightly from the topic at hand.

    On Saturday, Janks targeted WRAL, posing at North Carolina Emergency Management spokesman Ernie Seneca. After suggesting that residents get the the highest points in their houses to avoid the flooding, Janks describes the suspected cause of the hurricane: A draft of wind from Howard Stern’s a**hole. Check out the YouTube vid below, which shows the lead-up to the on air segment as well –

    Funnily enough, Ernie Seneca really exists. Here’s what he had to say about the incident, according to the Miami Herald –

    The real Ernie Seneca said he began getting calls shortly after the interview, including from a co-worker who said the caller did not sound like him. Seneca said he has a good sense of humor and took it it stride. “There are a lot more important things in life than some jokester,” he said.

    Janks tweeted (@Captainjanks) the other videos had hit YouTube that show additional Irene-themed prank calls to local news stations. These two prank calls were made to Channel 2 in NYC and Channel 3 in Philadelphia, respectively. Each time, Janks poses as an emergency management director.

    Natural disasters, as serious as they can be, are fertile ground for comedy. I’m sure that we will see more attempts to disrupt the media coverage of the storms during Hurricane season, especially if Tropical Storm Katia threatens the east coast later this week.

  • Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga Videos Pulled From YouTube [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: All of the Bieber Vevo videos, Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The USA” and Rhianna’s “What’s My Name” have been restored. Lady Gaga’s official video for “Bad Romance” still seems to be missing.

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE: If you’re browsing the Twittersphere right now, you might notice that the trending topics list is saturated with pop music references. Many TTs are due to last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, but some are there thanks to the work of one iLCreation.

    Music videos from the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and more are officially down on YouTube right now.

    First, and most importantly to the tweens on Twitter, is the outage of the Justin Bieber VEVO channel. All of his videos have been removed based on a copyright claim from iLCreative (as you can see from the lead image).

    Other casualties of iLCreative’s rampage? Rhianna. Her video for “What’s My Name?” currently bears the same takedown notice. Users on Twitter are also reporting missing videos from Bruno Mars, Beyonce, and Miley Cyrus.

    Twitter’s little monsters are also enraged that Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” video has disappeared. There’s no takedown notice, it is simply gone. When you search for it on YouTube, the only results you get are a live version and a behind-the-scenes”making of the video” clip. Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The USA” has also suffered the same fate.

    Who is this iLCreation? Besides being the most hated person on Twitter right now, the only trace on YouTube that I can find is a channel seemingly devoted to cricket videos.

    There’s also a brand new Facebook page called iLCreation that may or may not actually come from those behind the video takedowns. Under the info, under “mission,” it reads DELETE CHANNEL JUSTINBIEBERVEVO OFFICIAL OF YOUTUBE! WE FINALLY UP!

    The Twitter outrage is amusing, to say the least.

    @MonsterSam
    Sam † Lady Gaga    #BringBadRomanceVideoBack – but don’t be in a rush to put Justin Bieber’s VEVO back up 😉 45 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @jessicadmara
    JessConstancio    #BringBadRomanceVideoBack
    #WeWantJustinBieberVevoBack
    IM GONNA FIND YOU ILCREATION!!!!!!
    IM GONNA COME AT YOU LIKE A SPIDER MONKEY FOOL! 1 minute ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @xoholliebieber
    verified belieber ✔    really iLCreation? REALLY!? justin bieber, lady gaga, rihanna, miley cyrus, bruno mars.. what is wrong with you? 11 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Whoever is behind this – the pop music terrorist, wreaking havoc on the millions and millions of Bieber fanatics – deserves our deepest gratitude derision!