The X-Play host is done for now, but that’s not because of her show’s viewership and ad revenue. Continue reading “Morgan Webb Exits Web Video”
Morgan Webb Exits Web Video
Tag: Internet
Hemp-mote is a Wiimote with a Hemp exterior. Wait, what?
People love modifying things. A google will show you the plethora of inventive PC case mods that have been churned out by human hands. But I can bet you’ve seen nothing like this.
This man named DHRECK,whose blog feed I’ve added to my Google Reader just now, is the inventor of the Hemp-mote. Alright, just a catchy name. What it is, is a a standard Wiimote with a hemp exterior.
As the creator describes it, “In stark contrast with the original Wii-mote set, what was once sleek, cold, white and hard plastic has now become a slightly fuzzy, natural, warm and textured concoction. No more bland, branded and boring but mottled, flawfull, rough and a tad sweat absorbing.”
He also describes the creation procedure in detail at his blog here. While the remote itself works perfectly, the exterior isn’t exactly as durable as good ol’ Nintendo plastic. That makes the Hemp-mote a rather unsatisfactory controller for daily use.
Still, I think it’ll more than just impress your friends. DHRECK is going to create some more Wiimote mods soon, so I’m interested in what can come out of that brain.
Facebook Video now HD and Embed
One of the best social networking websites out there Facebook.com now allows for HD 720p video content to be uploaded and streamed to users. Facebook Video also now allows for videos to be embedded on other sites. The embedded videos will not be played back in HD format. In order to see those videos you have to be on the website.
From what it looks like, Facebook Video continues to be for the public and isn’t directly competing against YouTube.com. Facebook Video is for sharing favorite video moments with real friends while YouTube is for releasing videos to the world-wide web.
It is pretty amazing amoungst my friends how many more comment on my videos uploaded onto Facebook as opposed to my videos uploaded onto YouTube. It would be great if Facebook introduced a program like YouTube Partners where it allowed more serious content producers to generate revenue off of their videos, but for now that doesn’t seem like it’s the direction Facebook plans on taking its video service.
Here’s my first ever Facebook HD video!
Check out the picture below and see how the HD video looks on Facebook. There’s an option to view the video in regular quality. The video itself has the ‘HD’ written on the thumbnail and even ‘HD’ by its title.
Overall I’m happy with Facebook going HD. It’s just as simple to upload videos and tag friends. If anything that is still what sets it apart from other online video services.
ISeeYou.com: A Web of Comic Dysfunction
ISeeYou.com
Filmquest/Warner Bros.
Starring Beau Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Matthew Botuchis, Shiri Appleby, and Hector Elizondo
Not Rated – contains sexual situations, language, and other silliness
Run Time: 93 minutes
Available Now
We have become a people addicted to entertainment. Whether it’s TV, movies, or the web, we seek stimulation out on a daily basis. ISeeYou.com is Continue reading “ISeeYou.com: A Web of Comic Dysfunction”
Google to Buy Valve? WTF?
Holy shit, did anything even remotely think of this? The Inquirer reports a breaking that Google may be buying Valve any second. And why this seemingly random move? Google most probably wants to acquire Steam, Valve’s trusty and super-successful content distribution service. So is Google taking it’s first step in the video game industry by bridging the Internet and video games?
There is no doubt that Steam is the greatest, most effective and most awesome content distribution ever. It looks like Google is interested in distributing content around. Owning Steam would definitely be profitable for Google, but it would only enforce peoples’ opinions that Google is turning into a Microsoft-ish monopoly with their webby hands over everything related to the Internet.
I personally think that the acquisition will still give Valve some space, a bit like the Activision-Blizzard merger, I’m thinking. But Google will definitely want Steam for itself. I just hope they don’t change the default theme to their boring white-blue nonsense, that just sucks.
Pandora Internet Radio to Fall; Grooveshark to Rise?
I remember first going to Pandora. The site asked me to enter some of my favourite artists. I did. And then it told me that it will play other artists similar to the one I entered. “Excellent!” I utter. I expected a chat room where someone will search up artists. But nope. It was all automated. It was amazing.
It wasn’t perfect, and Last.fm was larger and more attractive, but Pandora was unique. It was the most accurate when it came to recommendations, because of the Music Genome Project, while Last.fm relied on users’ listening habits. But it did not last. As royalties for Internet radio were on the rise, Pandora had to cut access to foreign visitors.
That left me cut out, although I do remember accessing the site once without a proxy and using it for some 20 minutes before expiring my song quota. Could never replicate that moment, but what the hell, it was cool. I really sympathised with Pandora, partly because of the polite apology letter they left for foreign visitors.
Looks like it’s finally time for Pandora to hang up its boots once and for all. SoundExchange is putting on some draconian fees for Internet radio, which is going to hurt Pandora like hell. Royalties have been projected to reach 2.91 cents per listener at 2010. Pandora and others are attempting to petition SoundExchange, but we all know how petitions work.
If it ends up unsuccessful, Pandora will have to pay a whopping 70% of their projected 2008 revenue. Tim Westergren, owner of Pandora says that the minute such an event occurs, Pandora may have to shut shop, which isn’t very surprising. Will this be the demise of free, dynamic Internet radio?
Meanwhile, a new contender has come up to rise the ranks of Internet music. Grooveshark appears to be a brand new site similar to Pandora and Last.fm in that it is a music recommendation system. It appears to be undergoing maintenance right now, so I can’t check it out, but the guys at Mashable seem to have really liked it, so take a look.