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The Top 10 "Old Jews Telling Jokes"
Richard Blakeley · 11/10/09 01:04PMMichael Moore's "Slacker Uprising" kind of available free online
Jackson West · 09/23/08 03:20PMClick to viewThe latest shockumentary from portly auteur Michael Moore, Slacker Uprising, has launched today. To watch the film, you have to sign up with an email address. While Moore says his fans should go ahead and download it, there's no actual link to do that. And you can't embed the whole film on third-party sites without pulling some code from the bowels of the HTML source — which I've done here, while also restoring the "share" button so you can easily post it yourself wherever you like. Heck, if Moore just wants the film out there, why not distribute it on BitTorrent and save on bandwidth costs?Presumably because The Weinstein Company, Moore's studio, wouldn't want to be seen as somehow legitimizing file-sharing. And it would like to keep your email address on file, the better to flog paid downloads on Amazon.com and iTunes, as well as the DVD, when those are available. But really, Moore doesn't want to make a dime on this thing. He just wants you kids to get off your butts and vote. Free Internet distribution serves his political agenda; paid downloads serve Weinstein's commercial goals. With two masters to serve, is it any surprise Moore's film is making an awkward debut?
Michael Moore's latest agitprop will be free at Blip.tv
Jackson West · 09/05/08 01:00AMSlacker Nation, which focuses on chubby doc jock Michael Moore's trip around the country to drum up support among the youngs for "voting," will be distributed online for free. Online video site Blip.tv will be hosting the download in a nice little marketing coup (the fact that Blip.tv cofounder and CEO Mike Hudack loves him some Obama couldn't have hurt in striking that deal). "This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans," Moore said in a prepared statement. Time will tell if it's a gift to the Democratic party — Moore's stunt tactics, like his ramen noodle giveaways featured in the trailer, often galvanize older Republicans who actually do show up to the polls on election day, unlike young Democrats.
YouTube spends on new features for users, but has forgotten video creators
Jackson West · 07/31/08 01:20PMYesterday, YouTube acquired Omnisio, a Valley startup that developed tools to allow users to trim online videos and assemble multiple clips together. The company also started deploying speech-to-text technology to create searchable data from within videos, starting with videos from the Obama and McCain campaigns — this will make opposition research so much easier! But have you tried uploading a video to YouTube recently? The experienced hasn't changed in months, if not years.Basic tools to help creators and other uploaders — like an upload status bar or a timer to let you know when an uploaded clip has been transcoded — are missing. For large clips, this can be maddening. Make a mistake uploading a clip? Good luck trying to replace the clip you've already uploaded with another. And if you accidentally upload the same clip twice, that's just time lost, since even with new descriptions set it'll be flagged as a "duplicate" and deleted. If your audio suddenly sounds terrible, its because YouTube forces it through a blunt compression filter. But hey, you can add funny captions to your videos! When it comes to user experience for content creators, Vimeo and Blip.tv beat it soundly. But then why should YouTube care? If you want access to viewers who will inevitably slag you and your work in the comments, you'll have to put up with it to a degree. Better to post your content to YouTube via third-party tools like TubeMogul, which will also cross-post your video to multiple sites — making it the one-stop shop for content creators looking to publish that YouTube might have been.
Blip.tv's Dina Kaplan saves Ryan's privates
Jackson West · 05/09/08 06:40PMNew York-based online video distribution startup Blip.tv went weekend warrior on file-sharing startup Pando in a game of paintball. Pictured here are the bruises left from getting hit on the leg of COO Dina Kaplan. But her colleague Ryan Chambers really took one for the team — right in the, ahem, family jewels. Click through for Kaplan showing off more battle scars and Chambers describing his harrowing brush with infertility.
Blip.tv deems "TechNigga" work of art
Mary Jane Irwin · 08/22/07 04:44PMA few words associated with former PodTech videoblogger Loren Feldman, infamous for his political correctness, might include "chaff," "talentless," "idiot comedian," or "racist." "Artistic inspiration for generations to come" wouldn't be the first phrase to come to mind. But Charles Hope, a blogger for online video site Blip.tv, says that Feldman could be responsible for "a deeply moving work of art." Huh?