• I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods. The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe.
• Golf Writers’ Association of America president Vartan Kupelian • Regarding this morning’s Tiger Woods press conference, which we plan to cover the crap out of in a few minutes. He isn’t allowing questions, he’s controlling the flow of information, and he’s really hurting his cause. Tiger’s handling of the whole situation is pretty deplorable, we think, from a PR standpoint. The timing – during the Olympics – is suspect. source

• This is Roger Ebert. He’s not looking like he did during his heyday, worn away by thyroid cancer. But even though he can’t speak, eat or drink due to the removal of his jaw, he’s still an amazing personality, something his blog (and this immaculate Esquire profile) emphasizes. He’s put on a brave face despite what’s happened to him, and it speaks volumes of him that he’s still a vibrant human being despite his condition. You rule, Roger. source

• He was arrested today on suspicion of murder charges. BBC host Ray Gosling may regret his profound admission on “Inside Out” (here’s the video), now that he’s in the hands of authorities. Gosling, who admitted on the show to killing a former AIDS-stricken partner, was arrested for the act. “I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead,” he claimed. “The doctor came back and I said ‘He’s gone’. Nothing more was ever said.” Assisted suicide is illegal in the U.K., by the way. source

• Well, that was a bit unexpected. Ray Gosling, the host of BBC show “Inside Out,” claimed that he killed his very sick AIDS-stricken gay partner on last night’s show. And now police are investigating his claims, which he laid out in great detail. Assisted suicide is illegal in the U.K., by the way. source

• 2008 Just days before the release of “Zach and Miri Make a Porno,” Smith told the L.A. Times that he broke a toilet. He milked it.
• 2010 Just days before the release of “CopOut,” Southwest Airlines booted Smith off a flight for being way too fat. He milked it. source

• What Google was for search, YouTube is for video. Five years ago, the little-video-site-that-could registered its domain. And despite some early changes, it hit the popular consciousness fully-formed and just about perfect at what it did. And as huge fans of the site, we’d like to offer a little history on YouTube.

Early 2005: The (somewhat-disputed) roots

• The company storyline YouTube started after a group of friends (who were former PayPal employees) were at a dinner party and realized there wasn’t an easy way to share video. So they made it themselves. The rest is history.
• The other storyline YouTube came about as an attempt to make a video version of HotOrNot (yikes), but the model eventually (and fortunately) evolved into something a lot less like Chatroulette. The rest is history.
• Why two storylines? The masterminds behind the site reportedly realized a good origin story was the best way to push the idea to angel investors. Whether or not that’s true, it totally worked. The rest is history. source

May 2005: The first video

• The guy in this video, Jawed Karim, worked with founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen to start the service. While he didn’t have a huge role over time, he’s immortalized in the site’s first video. The lesson to learn from this? Bring more to the table than “Elephants have long trunks.”

Early 2006: Three reasons why Youtube got huge

• embeds YouTube made Flash embed codes a downright essential part of sharing video online. It was the spark that brought blogging to its logical next step.
• ease YouTube wasn’t first to the game. Vimeo had been around since 2004. But YouTube made it so easy, anyone could upload. Which helped it blow up quick.
• ethics At first, one could argue that YouTube’s ethics were light, which meant copyrighted stuff got on the site easily. But it also helped it build an audience overnight.

Mid-2006: The Google buyout

• $1.65 billion to hitch its wagon on the next big thing

• » At the time: It seemed questionable to many whether or not Google’s purchase was the right way to go. It was Google’s biggest purchase ever up to that point, and even if the site was heads and shoulders above Google Video, the fact it had no revenue model was risky.
• » Today: It’s pretty clear that Google was the right company to buy YouTube. Their support brought a lot of innovation, bandwidth, clout and opportunities to monetize. And it helped Google itself learn how to diversify its model. Even though it’s super-expensive to run due to the high bandwidth costs (and Google has yet to recoup its investment), it’s something of a crown jewel.

2006-2007: Three iconic early videos

• 
  “Charlie Bit Me” It has 160 million views, and counting. It’s the most-viewed video in the site’s history, and quite possibly the cutest thing we’ve ever seen. Besides this.
• “The Bus Uncle”This odd little bit of arguing in Cantonese was one of the earliest clips to gather a huge audience and draw massive media coverage in Hong Kong (of all places).
• “Guitar” Pachelbel’s Canon, as famous of a piece of music as it is, probably never got 69 million views before this South Korean kid got his grubby hands all over it.

2007: Growing pains

• $1 billion the size of the lawsuit Viacom hit the site with in April of that year; it’s still pending to this day (and we still miss Daily Show clips on YouTube)
• 10% the amount of traffic YouTube takes up over the ENTIRE Internet in 2007; it’s more than the Web’s entire bandwidth size in 2000

2008-2009: Growing gains

• 25% share of Google searches from YouTube source

• » Lots of videos: By October of 2009, YouTube was shoving through 1 billion views a day, a point which suggests the site’s gone beyond mere fad and is simply a part of everyday life.
• » Lots of bandwidth: YouTube’s bandwidth costs, depending on who you ask, are astronomical, but Wired notes that Google has so much clout (thanks to all the fiber optic cable they own) that bandwidth may in fact be a non-issue.

2008-2009: The mainstream takes notice

• 
  “Pork And Beans” Over time, the mainstream media got really good at manipulating the medium, and Weezer’s viral-encompassing clip was the best example. YouTube > MTV.
• “JK Wedding Dance” As great as this clip was (and it sure helped Chris Brown’s sagging career), the way it was used as a financial vehicle for the record companies was most interesting.
• 
  Boyle-mania The second-best-selling album of 2009 was sung by a middle-aged virgin with a heavenly voice. How? Simple. YouTube made Susan Boyle into a new kind of superstar.

2010: YouTube’s next step

• The Internet evolves at break-neck speed. We launch products quickly and constantly iterate to stay one step ahead of it. Our goal? To set the standard in online video delivery.
• YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley • In a message noting the company’s fifth anniversary. YouTube is big enough that it can set the standards for online video, and their next step will be by pushing HTML5 and high-definition video into the woodwork, along with growing the library of content to include more traditional types of video to complement its user-submitted offerings. A good start for a big player. source

• Dude, I know I’m fat. That’s not why I was truly thrown off that plane because I fit perfectly in the seat.
• Director Kevin Smith • On day three of SouthwestGate, which is proving to be a bit of a boon for Smith, who has a new movie (starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan!) coming out next weekend. Smith has threatened to “scorch the earth” with his complaints. Even though Southwest had the lowest level of customer complaints of all airlines in 2009, Smith is also enough of a PR genius to know how to ride a golden pony like this for days. He survived “Jersey Girl” without too much damage, right? source

• Why? Because they’re boring and mind-numbing. Nothing against Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn and all the other star athletes, but we have no desire to watch or cover the Winter Olympics. (We’re slightly friendlier to the Summer Olympics, in the same way a pit bull is slightly friendlier than a lion.) Part of this is that the Olympics are boring in every way, shape and form. Part of this is because Dick Ebersol is a jerk and we don’t want to support his work. But let’s put it this way – if you’re wondering why we haven’t covered the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver, it’s because we don’t care. Thanks for listening.