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07 Feb 2010 10:47

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Music: Pop song rhythms + stock market volatility = An awesome graphic

  • This is kind of awesome. Comparing stock trends with pop hits (complete with links to YouTube videos for each song) is pretty brilliant. In case you’re wondering, the songs are chosen not by their popularity, but by their beat variance. They represent the average. Which is why Erasure’s 1994 hit “Always” got picked over Bon Jovi’s 1994 hit “Always.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 22:26

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Tech, World: Italy’s trying to screw over YouTube for some stupid reason

  • The background In 2006, a video of a child with Down’s syndrome getting attacked showed up on YouTube. Italy has gone after Google for the video big time, suing major executives and arguing that they should screen their content. Google argues this is a bad idea because it’s impossible.
  • The changes Now, Italy is considering taking the policy a step further. They want to force user-generated content sites like YouTube to be liable for what it posts by screening all the content that goes through and getting licenses to distribute the content online. Gah. What a bad idea.
  • The motives? Who’s the Prime Minister? Oh yeah, Silvio Berlusconi. Anyway, some suggest the government’s putting the hammer down due to Berlusconi trying to protect the content of his total-conflict-of-interest media and entertainment companies. Tinfoil hat time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2010 20:16

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Tech: Why not? The Pope wants his priests to be bloggers for the Lord

  • The evangelicals are way ahead of you, boys. In case you were wondering if this social media thing was going to be a mere fad, a whole decade after blogging was the hip new thing, Pope Benedict XVI is ready to confirm its importance. “The world of digital communication,” he proclaimed on YouTube, “with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.'” It gets better. The theme for his World Communications Day message in May is “New Media at the service of the Word.” Our boy Benny really gets it! Next up: condoms. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2010 22:10

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U.S.: Prop 8 trial: No cameras in the courtroom. Thanks, Supreme Court!

  • 5-4 the righties beat the lefties again at the High Court source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2010 20:27

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Tech: We watch a lot of videos, guys, mostly on YouTube

  • 31B videos were watched online in November alone
  • 40% came from Google – 99% of those from YouTube
  • 3% came from Hulu – a distant second place source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 01:17

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Music: Michael Jackson gives us “Another Day” to wonder what if

  • This isn’t the full song, but it’s enough to let you know that Michael Jackson still had it late in his life. “Another Day,” a collaboration with Lenny Kravitz reportedly recorded last year (unlike earlier “Dangerous”-era tune “This is It”), sounds like the work of the someone who had something to say. It’s sad that we won’t get the full answer as to what that is.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Dec 2009 10:36

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U.S.: Cyber-bullying constitutional, which means we can make fun of you

  • People don’t appreciate how much the First Amendment protects not only political and ideological speech, but also personal nastiness and chatter. … If all cruel teasing led to suicide, the human race would be extinct.
  • UCLA law professor and First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh • On his criticism of cyber-bullying laws. It was an issue that reared its ugly head in a court case involving a YouTube video that made fun of a middle-school aged girl. The court ruled in favor of the girl that posted it, saying that the school violated her First Amendment rights by suspending her. We totally support the First Amendment, Eugene, but you’ve apparently never dealt with 14-year-old girls. Just sayin’ dude. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Nov 2009 10:36

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Tech: YouTube connects citizen journalism with real news organizations

  • News organizations can ask for citizen reporting; nonprofits can call-out for support videos around social campaigns; businesses can ask users to submit promotional videos about your brand. With YouTube Direct, the opportunities to connect directly with the YouTube community are endless.
  • The announcement on YouTube Direct • Describing how the service can be used for citizen media in conjunction with the mainstream media. This is cool. If it makes AP a little less stogy and stuck in its ways, it’s a smart idea. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2009 11:35

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Politics: The DMCA (and Fox News) strikes again: We’ll miss you News1News.

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  • It was perhaps the best news-related channel on YouTube. You know our weekly Max Headroom feature? The one that features all the clips from all of the talk shows? Well, it may have just suffered a pretty terrible blow. Fox decided to go after News1News, a talk-show-clips channel, and YouTube ended up straight-up removing it, despite the fact that it was, well, an amazing resource and often continued the conversations that began on Fox News. Was it political? Gawker suggests it might be – especially since many liberal bloggers used it. We understand its removal but think it’s shortsighted. Too bad, though. It was one of our faves. On the plus side, it’s back up over here. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

12 Nov 2009 21:43

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Culture: Clicker.com wants to be the TV Guide of Internet television

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  • Can a TV Guide specifically for the Web work? Clicker.com seems to think so, even though it has a ton of competition already, including from TV Guide itself, and, uh, YouTube. This isn’t going to be one of those things we hear about and then completely forget, like Cuil, is it?source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 
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