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30 Dec 2011 00:36

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Culture: Ben Breedlove’s death touches many — including his favorite rapper.

  • A tough teen with a gripping story: Ben Breedlove, a high schooler with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (and a YouTube personality known for offering dating advice to others), passed away from a heart attack on Christmas Day. It was only afterward that his parents discovered these two videos from Ben in which he told stories of coping with his disease, including three near-death experiences. In his third one, above, he describes an experience, while being revived by EMS paramedics, where he was with his favorite rapper, Kid Cudi. After watching Ben’s videos and hearing about his death, the artist wrote a message about Ben on his blog. Ben’s mother said that the videos were a “gift to us, and for him to be so confident and unafraid of death and to share it with other people was so touching.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Sep 2010 10:23

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Biz: Blockbuster’s bankruptcy: Sorry, there’s something in our eyes

  • Let’s face it, this is the possible death of an American icon. Or at least a sign of the times. A once iconic business model – Blockbuster’s movie-rental biz – is facing a tough Chapter 11 challenge, in part because of the insane amount of debt it has. So now it’s going to try to fix itself. Good luck trying to survive with Netflix and Redbox in your face. Some numbers:
  • $1Bthe amount of debt the company has right now; time to reorganize!
  • $100Mthe amount of debt it plans to have after bankruptcy ends
  • 3,000 number of stores the company has; expect that to go down source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2010 21:39

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Tech: We hate Shane Dawson and his money-milking Youtube clips

  • $315,429 made by that stupid prick
  • YouTube’s model is broken. Here’s why. A kid like Shane Dawson can prime the pump of YouTube’s model and make clips that are the unfunniest things you’ve ever seen. We couldn’t even make it though the first minute of this piece of crap here. This guy isn’t the only insane YouTube moneymaker out there, either. All of these guys brand the heck of of themselves, and some of them are pretty unfunny for the most part. We don’t understand their appeal at all.
  • The annoying orange This video, which is minorly charming, got approximately 29 million views since its October launch. Since then, its creator has made $288,375 from YouTube and has a TV deal in the works.
  • Ray William JohnsonThis guy is something of a low-rent Tosh.0, who basically re-appropriates viral clips for his own brash commentary and quick edits. Funnier than Shane Dawson, he made $278,048 from YouTube.
  • Philip DeFrancoAs overly-popular YouTube figures go, this guy is better than most. In this clip, he make fun of his long-windedness using that Radiohead cover from “The Social Network” trailer. He made $181,706. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

13 Jul 2010 21:43

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Culture: Again, Old Spice sets the standard for viral-aware advertising

  • You know, this ad campaign just keeps getting better. First the original, then the sequel, and now these awesome vignettes. All of them based off of real tweets. Here’s our favorite. HuffPo has many, many more. This is what advertising needs to be. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Mar 2010 19:07

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Politics: ACORN closes, James O’Keefe succeeds, Twitter reacts



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2010 10:41

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Tech: Italy’s mind(#(& of a decision on YouTube video just wrong

  • We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question. Throughout this long process, they have displayed admirable grace and fortitude. It is outrageous that they have been subjected to a trial at all.
  • Google’s VP and Deputy General Counsel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Matt Sucherman • Regarding a decision by Italian courts to criminally convict three Google employees for allowing a video to be posted to YouTube. The video showed schoolboys making fun of an autistic classmate. Despite the fact that Google took it down, the Italian court convicted them anyway – for not having a process of pre-screening videos so it would go up in the first place. In other words, kids, this ruling goes against everything that makes the Internet a cool place. If we were Google, we’d pull out of the Italian market entirely, just to show leadership there how ass-backwards this decision is. We’re sure that after two or three days without cat videos, there will be riots in the streets. Awful decision, Italy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2010 11:02

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Music: Who is iamamiwhoami, and why are her videos so AWESOME?!

  • Over the last week or two, a YouTube user named iamamiwhoami has been uploading these insane music videos, featuring a blonde singer who vaguely looks like Christina Aguilera (along with a bunch of Europop stars) The videos are simply insane. The music sounds awesome, all distorted and electronic. Who is it? Is it a hoax? Is it an alternate reality game that someone’s about to dish out? We want to know. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Oct 2009 04:52

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Tech: Hulu just made bloggers’ lives incredibly easier. Thanks!

  • The video site’s new publisher tools look awesome. Hulu went from preliminary laughingstock to second-greatest video site on the planet within months (sorry Vimeo), and they keep bringing on the awesome. The newest tool in the TV-company-run site’s stable? Hulu Labs, which offers new approaches to watching funny videos from SNL. Even better? “Publisher Tools,” which gathers links and embed codes for popular videos online at sites far beyond Hulu, so you don’t have to spend an hour hunting for the latest and greatest video. That sounds awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2009 13:43

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Culture: Friend of the site: Check out Most Horrible Thing Ever

  • Killer concept. Scary videos. One of our favorite humorists, David Putney, has been hard at work on creating Most Horrible Thing Ever, a site cataloging some of the scary things he’s found on the Internet and on YouTube. On top of such videos as the Gymkata trailer and Carl Lewis singing about world peace, there’s lots of distinctly Putneyian humor – a unique natural resource that must be experienced. Plus, it’s got some of the same short-form style you dig reading here. Check it out! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Mar 2009 14:48

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Music, Tech: Must-see: Kutiman’s ThruYou YouTube mashup mixes

Like Girl Talk on speed, dude mashes tons of different YouTube videos into solidly-structured, funky songs. Freakin’ amazing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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