XOLO.TV interview with David Sifry or Technorati

"WATCH ME @ XOLO.TV "Technorati"

XOLO.TV has great interviews with people in and around the world of blogging and video blogging. In this interview Gabe of XOLO.TV interviews David Sifry of Technorati.com. Note of caution, on many of their interviews and segments have really poor audio... which follows a good, but relatively loud and longish intro. Keep your volume contols handy.

Word to XOLO. Great videos guys, keep working on the sound!

Watch movie (Quicktime, 5.5 min, 69.3 MB)

Original post, from WatchMe at Xolo.tv:

Shownotes: Technorati, Les Blogs, David Sifry Click here to download the show Tags: lesblogs video podcasting technorati david sifry

(Re-vlogged with Mefeedia)

Friendster Misses You

mmeiser : HA!
mmeiser : I just got an email from friendster
Raymond M. Kristiansen: friendster
Raymond M. Kristiansen: ?
mmeiser : it's taken on the personality of a needy child
mmeiser : friendster
Raymond M. Kristiansen: ahh
mmeiser : google's "social network"
Raymond M. Kristiansen: "come back"
mmeiser : it says "Friendster misses you" in the subject
Raymond M. Kristiansen: haha
Raymond M. Kristiansen: blog that
Raymond M. Kristiansen: please
mmeiser : OK
Raymond M. Kristiansen: omg i need to do some expanding of my brain

This goes to what I was saying about social networking being a means to end end, not an end unto itself. My response...

But friendster... I know we're friends... but it's not my fault we have nothing to talk about anymore. I told you all about my hobbies... we talked about my favorite movies... books I've read... but now there's nothing left to talk about. :(

Perhaps if you would have focused just a little more on the conversation itself we'd have something to talk about. :(

Fixing itunes - on iTunes lack of permalinks

I posted this earlier on the Yahoo videoblogging group. It's a little wordy, but it's important.

If Apple isn't going to fix iTunes and put links (permalinks) back to the original weblog post directly from iTunes then I think it's high time we fix it for them and perhaps in the process show them we as a community of podcasters and vloggers mean business.

I don't do this often, but this is the only way I know to get Apples attention. (They don't return my phone calls :)

So, please join me in asking the wonderful team at Feedburner to impliment a "fix itunes permalinks" feature by commenting or reblogging as you will. Hopefully the combination of our efforts will get Apple's attention.

Details below.

On Dec 17, 2005, at 4:01 PM, Michael Meiser wrote:

Howdy Rick, My compliments on the new features Feedflare.

http://www.burningdoor.com/feedburner/archives/001543.html

This is an open letter to ask if you and the guys at feedburner would be willing to fix itunes.

What specifically I mean is itunes supports plain-text ONLY, no formating, no links in their silly comments box. They do in fact NOT have any links anywhere back to the permalink page on which the podcast or video was posted.

I find this a slap in the face of podcasters and vloggers everywhere as podcasting and video blogging have the opportunity to be much more than simply a broadcast medium. In fact many would say being able to comment is an essential feature of videoblogging and podcasting. Which is why EVERY OTHER RSS READER HAS CLICKABLE PERMALINKS. Sorry, I just wanted to be clear about that.

Anyway, my friends try to console me in my constant bitching that it's not that apple is evil, but just that they didn't have a good mechanism for displaying rich text, that they're sort of clueless. And so I've waited. However it's been to long, I would have thought they'd fix it by now in one of the many version updates that have come out. In fact apple has now put in links back to the homepage of the blog for every post, right near the podcast title, but STILL no link directly to the permalink page... I'm beginning to find it impossible that they're that clueless and am beginning to wonder if it's not part of some diabolical plan to either undermine the success of podcasting, or just to see if they can't piss absolutely everyone in this community off. Well, I'm pissed off, but I don't get made I find solutions... and maybe get even. ;)

So how can you help?

Simple... you should, might, could, add in plain-text permalinks into a feed at the end of the description field.. it would then be readable and copyable right from itunes info box. Easy for you to implement in a feed and much better than thousands of users having to go to a blog and browse around and look for the right post so they can read or comment upon it. Example below.

Comment!
http://permalink.com/blog/post.html

Well, you get the idea, i just wish apple did. Of course you could add your other features of your FeedFlair like emailing and delicious too. Just as long as your urls aren't to long. And of course you have control of that too.


How to do this...

1) Well the easiest way would just be to put a switch into the feed and just allow people to turn it on.. call it the "fix itunes" switch. I'm sure it'll not only get peoples attention, but get blogged about a bit too. ;)

2) Option two, detect feed calls from itunes... would work great, but requires some spryness on your part... then just put in the permalink at the very end of the post no matter what. Won't get you much publicity though, just help out the community.

I suggest option one, you might put have an optional checkbox put in where people can add the additional feature as follows.

Tell apple to fix these permalinks in iTunes!
http://feedburner.com/form/to/email/apple/support

Be as nice or evil about it as you like, but if nothing else all the attention and publicity you'll get out of it will help you, help your customers and give apple a wake up call so maybe they'll fix it a little sooner.

Thanks!

-Mike

Michael Meiser

fix-permalinks-in-itunes@mmeiser.com

http://mmeiser.com/blog - fun stuff
http://mmeiser.com/backchannel - del.icio.us link blog
http://evilvlog.com - serious lunacy has a new domain
http://mefeedia.com - I love mefeedia

And before long, they don?t seem like strangers anymore - on video blogging

One of the best articles I've read on videoblogging.

News & Features | I like to watch

A pretty artist chats silently with a toy giraffe. A guy sifts through his garage-sale junk, reminiscing about his old new-wave buttons. A man driving in his car talks to his wife about their thrilling weekend jaunt to CVS. Band nerds kill time at a high-school football game while the gridiron jocks kill each other. These are the people in your neighborhood. And they want you to see what they?re up to.

Once upon a time, blogging promised anonymity. One of its big selling points was that it allowed desktop philosophers to pound out their opinions and broadcast them to the world, all while wearing their pajamas. But the past year has seen a profusion of video blogging ('vlogging,' if you prefer neologisms). People can now videotape themselves in their pajamas, and post it online with a few simple steps.

It?s the next stage in blog evolution. Cheap digital cameras, free editing software, and video-hosting services have made production and publishing easy as pie. RSS aggregation technology offers the means to distribute content to loyal viewers. Broadband connections make watching it a snap. And every new iPod comes equipped with video capabilities.

Even as the iTunes music store rushes to stock up on U2 videos and episodes of The Office, the increasing plenitude of video blogs points to a real democratization of media. No one owns the means of distribution anymore, so more and more people are making their own shows. Some offer scattershot glances at fleeting moments. Others are meticulously edited and set to music. There are video diaries. Self-produced sitcoms. Citizen journalism. Talk shows. These real-time glimpses into strangers? lives ? funny, serious, contemplative, provocative ? are almost always compelling. Sure, they vary wildly in quality. So do all blogs. They?re made by artists, news junkies, pop-culture addicts, high-school kids, even the politicians. And before long, they don?t seem like strangers anymore.

THE VLOGFATHER

If anyone can be called the father of video blogging, Steve Garfield is him. And not just because his vlog was one of the first. The fortysomething Jamaica Plain resident, a freelance photographer and video producer, is one of vlogging?s biggest proponents, a cornerstone in the burgeoning vlogging community. Just try doing a Google search on the subject without seeing his name or his wide-grinning mug pop up: 'I want YOU to video blog!'"

Read the hole thing. I demand it. :)
News & Features | I like to watch

The Washington Post is video blogging

So, the Washington Post very quietly rolled out an RSS 2.0 video feed this last week. They may be the biggest media company to start vlogging (aka. "video podcasting") yet, though who can keep track.

Let's take a look at one of their latest videos in their feed, shall we.

The National Zoo's giant panda cub Tai Shan made his public debut on Thursday before an adoring audience of all ages.

Video: 120805-8v.m4v

Some thoughts on what's going on here...

• no homepage... no permalinks... no comments! ... no trackbacks! Oye! They're missing the whole point! I can't believe they don't at the very least have a ling to an associated article!
  
  
• makes a lot of sense for a traditionally print news company who doesn't have access to the TV/Cable platform to move into IP based video media... let the floodgates open... I suspected that most of the early adoption would happen from those just outside the realm of satelite/cable media... small and large size publishing companies who want to leverage their knowledge and expertise... finding new ways to connect with their demographic... this is a primary example
  
  
• hmmm... putting a skip-able ad on a downloadable and editable file... genius's eh? damn straight they are! big media companies have been WAY, WAY to uptight about their content with DRM and streaming media... such inaccessibility of content fuels black markets.... With content as accessible as this from the washington post why would anyone bother editing out the ad and redistributing or even skipping the add when the washington post has made it so convenient and easy just to download and watch it from anywhere anytime. Ubiquity, convenience, accessibility and usability will be the killers of p2p blacknets.... say hello to the lightnet of the future... open, accessible, social and beneficial to everyone.
  
  
• now that it's not streaming media people can link directly to it and re-vlog it... even redistributing it to their friends... Just like I'm doing right now! how evil is that? Not at all! I'm giving the Washington Post free press and exposure... just by doing this I'm giving them somewhere around 300 to 400 new sets of eyeballs... Them and their advertiser... and yet I'm getting to explicitly reference and talk about the video will those who subscribe to my blog... That 300-400 people that will see this video... should they find it interesting may each pass it on to a 100 more... who may pass it on to 100 more.. Now that's potentially a LOT of people... and no small matter! Just from one vlogger... Of course it depends on how interesting the subject matter is, but being able to share and explicitly reference media is one of the primary advantages of social media, aka open media, aka portable media.
  
  
• now that it's not streaming media it can be taken anywhere... or at least put on the iPod... they need to use mp4 it's not only compatible with the ipod but also the PSP and much easier to play on all platforms... expect vlogging such as this to expand to more platforms like the Tivo and elsewhere rather quickly in 2006. It's already starting in fact.
  
  
• the content doesn't have any narration and little editing! in fact without the text intro you might not even know what it was about. crazy! but it works... Actually they might want to put at least some minimal narration on it just in case it does get separated from it's description
  
  
• the format is a short bit sized piece pertaining to only one story or issue... new media favors convenient bite size pieces of media that can quickly be sifted through, watched, referenced and shared...
  
  
• the content - I find this to be the most amazing aspect... even for a huge media company this content is perfectly typical vlog media, it's just a slice of everyday life... simply some raw camcorder footage of new panda at the National Zoo! Not much different than making videos of your cat except a lot more people will find it interesting. Expect the quantity and quality of content to improve very quickly.

In conclusion... this my friends IS the future of video based media... the VERY humble beginnings... It may not seem like much but the everything is in place, including the economics. When it becomes so ubiquitous and accessible that everyone is doing it and you can get everything and anywhere you want it and watch it anytime... well then these humble little pieces of micro-content are going to start changing things in a very, very profound way. But for now... one humble piece of content at a time eh. :)

mefeedia - Washingtonpost.com Video

Vlog subscriptions on the rise

Mefeedia has worked with feedburner to more accurately report the number of people subscribed on mefeedia to feedburners stats as a result there should be an upswing in the amount of subscribers video blogs using feedburner report.

Not technically more subscribers, just more accurate reporting. :)

BTW, Don't mind the crazy jump in Ryanne's blog, just a minor data glitch I hear... the data is already fixed. We'd all love to see her jump that high, and she and Michael Verdi did get some great NYTime's press, but she's not quite that popular just yet. :)

Read about it: Mefeedia blog - Blog Archive - Feedburner stats for Mefeedia

BTW, the chart is from the excellent Vlogmap.org

Also, for those of you who didn't know it mefeedia.com has rolled out with services including the ability to manage your subsriptions and queue/unqueue videos right on mefeedia... and it's completely compatible with the iTunes/iPod combo, FireANT, DTV and the PSP so you can use any software or device for watching your videos... or even all of them. I do! :)

In fact, a little birdy told me a whole new version of Mefeedia was going to roll out sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours. Look for whole lot more personal features and some ongoing updates to make it even more fun to use. However, I must admit, I'm a little biased. I've begun to help Peter and the Mefeedia crew with a little direction and usability, including the subscription management and queuing. So, I guess I'm no longer impartial.

Oh, and btw, the Washington Post now has a video blog! More on that in a bit.

ban/sign the man - michael verdi remixed

I couldn't not not not revlog this. Michael Verdi is on the road to stardom with his recent mention in the new york times along with a few others... he's also one of the most loved vloggers... aparently all the energy he's generated, plus the amazing mad remixing skills of Raymond K at dltq.org Erik Nelson of Bottomunion.com and evilvlog.com have made a powerfully explosive remix...

(Update: Raymond informs me that this is evidence of the mad skills of Erik Nelson of Bottomunion.com fame.)

Most of people who are not vloggers won't get this at all... but those of you who are and know Mike V will probably fall out of your chairs... In my opinion this IS the future of media... It's media deconstructed to it's purest and most personal and communicative form. It's not for everyone, but that's precisely the point... this ain't no TV.

For those of you who don't get it... well if you're a blogger think of it as your absolute favorite insider blog... the blog of your friend of friends. The one you check out ten times a day to see if there's a new post... the one noone else but you and you five friends get... That's the future of media. Why? ...because media doesn't have to be accountable to the masses any more and indeed what's most relevant to you probably has absolutely no use to the other 9.999% of people on the planet, and that's not just fine, it's great!

So, enjoy!


evilverdi001.mov

via evilvlog.com

Del.icio.us gets yahoo'd

Not another one... all my favorite services are getting bought up. This is like a mini version of mergers and aquisitions trend that happnened in the 80's.

We're proud to announce that del.icio.us has joined the Yahoo! family. Together we'll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community. We're excited to be working with the Yahoo! Search team - they definitely get social systems and their potential to change the web. (We're also excited to be joining our fraternal twin Flickr!)

We want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way - our employees, our great investors and advisors, and especially our users. We still want to get your feedback, and we look forward to bringing you new features and more servers in the future.

I look forward to continuing my vision of social and community memory, and taking it to the next level with the del.icio.us community and Yahoo!

I don't think there's any denying that we're in a bit of a bubble at this point. This bubble is defined by the winners of the last .com boom buying up the new potentials.

At least it's much more efficient and less speculative of a bubble then the 1999/2001 bubble, when millions of ametuer investors invested in the market blindly. No we've got google, yahoo and a couple other big savy companies on competing shopping sprees.

The disadvantage though is the investment opportunities aren't well distributed either... less risk distribution but also less wealth distribution. Although I do wonder how this wealth is trickling down into the pockets of millions of developers in the space working on small independant projects. Perhaps they'll be the real winners in this bubble. Oh, and FYI, I don't think we can call it just a "tech bloom" anymore.

Maybe it's a "tech blossom". :)

And don't even get me started on the Web2.0 hype. I'm officially sick of it.

LOL

del.icio.us: y.ah.oo!

Killing the TV channel - new subscriber models

With lots of folks suddenly debating a la carte channels for paid TV systems, thanks to the FCC's sudden change of heart, it looks like Tom Evslin has come over to our view that it isn't the bundles that are outdated, but the concept of the channel. Evslin predicts that the next generation of children will have no concept of what a channel is because they'll just subscribe to shows individually. The thing is, just as setting up a la carte channels would mean a big change for cable companies, setting up the ability to subscribe to individual shows would be an even bigger leap. That's why it's unlikely the cable companies will be the first to go there (though, they've done some experiments with on-demand shows). It's the perfect way, however, for the telcos pushing IPTV to jump into the game, by offering something a lot more interesting and different than just a cable copycat.

Sounds a lot like vlogs, podcasts and the RSS subscription mechanism... So how long is it before apple mimics or just plain uses the RSS subscription model so used in their podcast directory to deliver a seasons of shows in their store. RSS distribution is perfectly compatible with DRM'd videos or songs. Technically Apple doesn't need the RSS, but they do need a mechanism for allowing your to "subscribe" to a season of shows and automatically deliver each new episode as they come out. Right now you have to keep coming back and buying each show one by one as the season progresses. I randomly pick their January expo for this to roll out... but must admit it's probably not high priority for them.... at least not untill they have a larger variety of content and sales have become more robust.

As for TV channels... I think they're going to be here for a long time to come in satelite and broadcast TV... but no... channels make NO sense whatsoever in the digital domain... just like "streaming media", which I wish would just die already.

Techdirt:Forget A La Carte Channels -- Unbundle The Shows

Regarding web 2.0 companies who don't get web 2.0, namely Odeo

In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I'm a huge fan of Odeo. Not only does it have a lot of potential, but it's actually not bad for a beta. That said it's got a lot of show stoppers and I keep hitting them. To me they're obvious things too. But anyway I'm going to make this about more than just odeo. What this is about is sometimes companies, even the most of progressive of companies become nameless faceless tools. Seriously, it sound bad, but it's true. I don't need another nameless, faceles tool. I'll go use an ATM, I'll shop at walmart. Anyway, sometimes these well meaning companies that fail to be more than tools they need guidaince. They need tuff love. They need someone to scream at the top of their lungs, wake up!, wake the fuck up!

It sounds harsh, but the truth is that it's just to important not to do, because it's life and death for many of these companies. Especially the new startups. No matter how genius you are, I don't care if you are Evan Williams creator of the famed (and now lamented) Blogger.com, no amount of genius can execute and create a thing of beauty and sucess in a vaccum. Why? Because markets and communities and cultures are incredibly fickle and they are completely subjective. So at some point you have to actually listen to them.. ESPECIALLY in this market where customers and community are the driving force of innovation.

Plus, I'm doing this for my own sanity, because in order to keep using a tool with so much promise and flickr that's so god damn infuriating I have to do this, or I have to leave them. I have to do it to make it fun. So, with out further adieu. I give you my "feedback to Odeo" I posted in thair crappy feedback form five minutes ago. Complete with misspelrings and gramtical errs.

An open letter to Odeo.

This should be fun. :)

Ok, not sure what "past downloads" is doing but it appears to be only things I previous downloaded. In which case I say, WTF, as in why in the hell would I want to know just what I previously downloaded!?

I donloaded them goddamit I've got them on my hardrive and on my iPod, don't you think I know that.

Here's a though. Don't you think it would be a whole lot more useful to be able to see what I missed!? As in, I was on the road for two days, now I'm back, let's see what I missed... This as opposed to your thinking... I'v been out of town for a few days.. let's go see a blank list of stuff I didn't download so I can not do nothin with it. WTF? Clue in already.

So, here, how about this, DON'T choose one or the other, just call the god damn thing "history" and put everything that crossed my queue on it and hilight those items which weren't downloaded as "not downloaded". That way I can selectively re-queue them. Wow, that woud be kickass eh!?

I've written you about this before, but I'm writing again, just to make sure I'm short sucinct and clear about it and of course just ot put some emphasis on the issue.

And on a side note where's the damn Odeo user group!? I'm going to harp about this until it exists.

Start a damn user group already! So I can stop being a dick and being bitter and sending messages into this black whole of a feedback form where who knows if the nameless faceless machine that is Odeo will respond or even register my glorious awesome and genius ideas. (I'd be more modest btw, but if I didn't think they were all important to your existence I wouldn't bother, because of this GOD DAMN USELESS FEEDBACK mechanism. Am I beling clear! Am I beling beligerent(sp?) enough? I mean common, this form is tiny and it doesn't even have a fuscking spell check. Stop shitting on my god's gift ideas already.

It's a bout a partnership with your community goddammit! What do you thing this is web 1.0?

Go flock yourself!
http://flocksucks.wordpress.com/

... and then when your done...

PUT SOME SKIN IN THE GAME! It'll be the best thing you can do for yourself. Help me, help you!

Let the users help you polish your website and help you make it HUMAN and useable. They want too... because they use Odeo, the love odeo, and they want to see it succeed. But if you keep ignoring them they're gonna get lost. I'm gonna get lost. And you don't want that, because you obviously are missing half your clue. The half of clue that makes your site usable and humanly accessible. You machine, you tool you.

Sweet! I'm glad we got that out of the way.

love, mike of mmeiser.com/blog

For more things that are broken visit thisisbroken.com They have a nice new site and snazy new domain name.

Poop. Mr. Hankey was right. Poop does make the world go around.

TV Experiments Just Keep Coming

Man, I just love techdirt.com. They're not always right, but there always up on the latest happenings, and they "get it' like noone else. I need not even put in my two cents on this, they just nailed it. We're definitely entering a little bit of a craze. I wouldn't even call it a boom, some people might call it a tech bloom.. I'd call it a new media bloom... that's creating a very rapid incumbent media panic. The market is exploding, I've lost all track of the number of audio and video podcasts. I think it's somewhere around 10,000 audio and 2000 to 2500 video podcasts.

There has been an awful lot of experimenting from TV executives lately. It mostly started about a year ago, but in just the last few months it's really heated up, from the Cartoon Network's streaming of Adult Swim to UPN and Google streaming Everybody Hates Chris to Apple and ABC offering $2 downloads of shows to be viewed on the new iPod to NBC and CBS selling extremely limited versions of shows for a dollar. Now we can add to the list that AOL is streaming free versions of classic sitcoms (well, depending on your definition of "classic"), with commercials. On the good side, it's clear that TV execs realize they need to do something. They need to change and they're trying out a lot of different things. That's a step forward. However, all of these experiments have problems. None of them really take advantage of the medium, and all of them practically scream out how afraid the TV execs are of losing "control" on the internet.

Read the rest: Techdirt:TV Experiments Just Keep Coming

POD people - Audio and videocasts are a big hit

Well you can't really complain about a headline like this from the New York Daily News now can you? I'll just worry about reading it later. ;)

POD people - Audio and videocasts are a big hit (New York Daily News)

I'm please, but I won't consider that we've actually "arrived" until the New York Times and Washington Post come out with similar headlines.

Furthermore I won't be truely happy untill everyone in the world, including people in third world contries have access to portable network connectable devices at rates well below $100 dollars.... plus sub $100 network connected cameras that can automatically push video, photo and audio directly to web based video blogs. Perhaps they'll one day be a sub $100 device that goes both ways. :)

These devices don't need to be "always on", they just need to be able to independantly connect through open wifi or highspeed cellular services or even wimax. Perhaps just at a cybercafe.

What's important is that we need to quicken the pickup on the other side of the digital divide. That's going to be where it really gets tough, but it's also the most promising. I'm not going to repeat myself about exposing inhumanities in every dark corner of the earth to many more times. Nor even begin to conquer the privacy issues here.

Furhtermore... Almost on a side note, I want to see every fat cat politician in Washington DC and every Wall Street trader embracing portable media and portable media devices as closely as they clutch their Blackberries. I hear government workers were 10% of the Blackberry market. Crazy.

Here at M. M. and Eiser .com we're developing the systems for piping media from anywhere to everywhere,

...and we won't stop untill everyone, and we do mean EVERYONE is in the game.

Current TV is video podcasting, but are they 'getting it'

Current TV has finally started to deliver some of it's content via RSS enabled video feed. They have custom feeds for iTunes, Quicktime, and WinMedia format. All powered through Feedburner.

Current TV video blog

Current TV Quicktime RSS feed

Via: Current TV // Blog // Feeeeed me

The promise of Current TV...

Unfortunately there are no comments or conversational mechanisms on Current TV's video blog so it's really just a one way conversation. Current TV talking to you and not the other way around. It may be on the internet, but it's still just more broadcast.

There's so much more potential here! Current should be an advocate in helping their community make media, because in addition to all the indirect social benefits in the end that citizen made media will become a pool of content on which Current TV can draw.

There's three things Current MUST do.

1) Current should be promoting media education, educating people on how to make their own media through workshops, conferences, and other programs.

2) Current should be partnering with not for profit and community groups like OurMedia.org and Node 101 whom will help provide these facilities and training.

3) Current should then encourage people to not only submit their individual videos to Current, but videos from their vlogs or even submit their whole video blog! That way Current TV will have an ever growing pool of content to draw on. A pool of content that will come from a community that's both self sustaining and growing.

Without these three things Current is working on an unsustainable model. It's unsustainable because it's "one way".

Current's submission system is NOT sustaining. Who has time to create one video to submit just to Current TV? Especially when the majority of the time that work will simply be rejected and will never be seen by public eyes? If people want to create something bad enough that they'll create it and submit it to Current, then they want it SEEN. While current doesn't have enough time on it's cable channel or even website to showcase every piece of media submitted, they can help people to help themselves.

By stopping to think about what it's customers need which is a community, some visibility, and a voice (NOT just to see their videos on TV) Current can light a fire in the community. It's not even a big step, it just involves implementing a strategy that is a little less selfish and a tiny bit more altruistic.

Video blogs are a great source of citizen made media with benefits for both Current and the individuals that create them. By encouraging Current viewers to create their own video blogs as well as submit media directly to Current everyone wins. On the one hand there will be an established and growing independent, self sustaining community which will not only entertain itself through social interactions, and on the other side Current will in so facilitating this community build a huge base of content and a community of media creators from which it can readily draw on. A community of media makers who've "partnered" with Current by saying "my creations are available to Current TV to use."

Some details...

I could see an "I video blog for Current TV" badge campaign by users who've successfully submitted videos to Current TV. I could see Current creating a standard creative commons like license by which media creators can openly deed the work on their video blogs so that they have a pre-established legal relationship with Current TV where by they'll be compensated.

I could see Current tracking the popularity, comments and "interestingness" of those video blogs to mine for potential videos, stories and leads.

Best of all I could see current living up to and creating a new standard in TV where those such as CNN or MTV have before.

So how about it Current?

It's time to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. MTV and CNN showed how to take niche markets like 24 hour music videos and 24 hour news world wide... The hallmark of this new revolution in media will be that network that can position itself to really feed upon and take advantage of the tremendous amount of independent citizen made media bursting forth from the internet. It will be that network whom connects to this, the new generation whom demand something more than the weekday sitcom.

Instead of 24 hour news bits or music video bits the next big revolutionary TV cannel will be 24 hour citizen media bits.

Establish the infrastructure...

So Current, come join the vlogosphere and use it as a pool on which to draw. Take the time to establish those connections, educate and facilitate. Give a little something to the community and it will give back to you a thousand fold. Take the time to establish the infrastructure by which you can fit into your communities lives, and they can fit into yours. Infrastructure that will allow you to interact with each other on a higher level than just a form on a website. Help build the infrastructure with legal frameworks, blog mechanisms, and media creation facilities by which we can better interact with you.

It's time for the "great debate" to be elevated to the next level. We're not just screaming at TV's anymore or writing letters to editors. We're making media. We're establishing the legal groundwork and we're communicating with not just text, but video and audio. And we're not just talking on our cell phones either. We're having personal conversations in open forums. Though it may seem odd to all the old school crowd, we're talking openly because we're inviting each other into our personal conversations, we're you in. Just as I'm inviting others into this conversation though it's become a personal message to YOU. Come work with us on a new level. That's the promise. That's the vision.

Enough of the silly forms and your bureaucratic systems... stop being so hierarchical and elitist... stop being the judges... and come join the hive. Once you establish the relationships you can then "curate" your channel. We're a lot more sophisticated and ready for you than you think. Take the leap of faith. It's a very small one. We're spelling it out, what more do you want? Do want us to do it all for you? Because we're pretty much doing it.

Doing it: 20051109_ToraBora2.mov
(video/quicktime Object)

Via: Current TV // Current International // The Caves of Tora Bora

An open invite to David Cross and the Arrested Development Crew

You know, I may not be one of those crazed fanatics that has watched every episode of the TV show Arrested Development multiple times, but I do believe David Cross hits the nail on the head in this clip which seems to be a tailor made reponse to Fox who yesterday pulled the plug on the critically acclaimed show.


watch it (Quicktime)

Dear Dave and the gang,

Please consider this an open invite.

You're just our type of people here on the internets and we love your odd sense of humor. Please, don't throw in the towel just because Fox cancelled its order, just ditch those dudes and come on down to the new game in town.

You can call it internet TV, Video On Demand, IPTV or whatever you like, but it's a great time to jump in the game. Everybody's doing it. And some are doing it well.

I'm sure we can hook you up with a few hundred thousand paying subscribers since the internet reaches a hare more people than the WB network. And if you're worried about protecting your IP, well I'm not the biggest fan of DRM, but if it'll make you feel secure in the transition, well I'm sure Apple would be happy to bring Arrested Development to iPods, computers, and TV's everywhere via iTunes and the Apple Store. It's a wining combination and a sure bet.

Just follow the lead of those not so desperate 'Desperate Housewives' and the not so poor 'Lost' souls. I hear they made a million or so in their very first week. Not bad for a first week, eh?

So call me! ;)

PS. Long live internet TV! There's enough channels and a big enough market for all of us. Not to mention a lot less commercials. Not that I have a problem with commercials. I just think there should be a little more "show" in the average TV show than there are commercials. Is that so much to ask?

-mike of mmeiser.com

Via: Raishad.com - There is/are no god(s) :(

BTW, the video clip interestingly enough comes as an extra on the Season 2 Arrested Development DVDs.

Official Google Video Blog

I love it. I just noticed google has a video blog to go with their new(ish) video search. It doesn't have a full RSS 2.0 video podcast feed because all the links point to google's website for video playback in their Flash player, but it does at least have an atom feed.

Link: Official Google Video Blog

Some side notes: Google has some VERY significant legal issues with their video search. It's spectacular but unbelievably they re-compress and re-compress and redistribute EVERY video so it can be played back in their standard Flash player. Not just a legal issue, but also a HUGE logistical undertaking. I can't imagine them re-compressing videos in real time to stream to you, but I also cannot imagine them caching what appears to be every video on the web!?

Personally, I think we have to rethink what it means to "redistribute" content. I'd not consider codec shifting (aka. format shifting) to enable playback on different platforms to be redistribution as long as it doesn't break any DRM, but I highly doubt the rest of the world sees this as fair use. One thing is certain though, we need this type of forward thinking innovation to push the resolution of copyright issues in this digital age.

That said Google is way to progressive for the current legal climate. By moving videos into their interface they could arguably deprive video creators of traffic and ad impressions. I'm also a little curious as to why google provides no links back directly to the video, nor information about the original format making it at times very hard if not impossible to find the link to the original video. I thought this was a search engine. If I can't actually find the original video exactly what is the point?

Now, just for the hell of it I'm going to try re-blogging one of google's Flash videos. I doubt this will work in iTunes, but hopefully it will work in FireAnt.

Watch it in Flash: Sandboarding in Chile (.swf)

Well, I couldn't find the original from google's site. (Great search engine eh.) So enjoy this video of Cameron Diaz going sandboarding in Chile instead of the non-flash version: Cameron_Diaz_trippin_in_chile_sandboarding_HQ.wmv
(23.3mb)

(via google's video blog