youtube

The Barenaked Ladies, the Canadian pop group that's churned out radio hits like "One Week" and "Old Apartment" over the past decade-plus, might have a user base that's slightly older than the average MySpace user. But that hasn't stopped them from gaining a particularly tech-savvy reputation: recently, they've become somewhat of anti-DRM figureheads. Their latest video, "Sound Of Your Voice," will undoubtedly add to that buzz. It doesn't feature the band at all, but rather a whole bunch of popular YouTube personalities lip-synching to the song. Among those featured … Read more

>> Google Reader and the Google home page now provide readerships. Google's popular RSS reader and personalized home page now lets publishers know how many people have subscribed to their content feeds. Most of the Web has patiently been awaiting Google to provide advanced traffic data, and this might be the first big step. On a related note, if you're using either service you can subscribe to the Webware RSS feed using the link under 'Webware Feeds.' (Official Google Reader Blog)

>> Google snags AdScape for $23 million, source says. AdScape does in-game advertising, the kind … Read more

I got a press release about Nintendo's new social democracy channel this morning, but not before I had already noticed it while checking the Wii's weather channel between bites of cereal (yeah I'm that guy). The new channel--called "Everybody Votes"--is a simple yes-or-no voting system with a gorgeous interface. It might be the most colorful and well-designed Wii channel yet.

Everybody Votes allows Wii users to vote on simple questions. It also allows you to suggest your own poll to be featured on the service. The entire voting process is done using your self-created … Read more

Microsoft unleashed its Soapbox Web video platform to the unwashed masses yesterday, taking the service out of private beta. We covered Microsoft Soapbox in September. The service has a clean and simple layout, and manages to keep both the MSN moniker and the often-clunky Windows Live Login (formerly .NET Passport). What baffles me about this is that despite having access to all your personal information, Soapbox won't parse your Windows Live ID to fill in simple profile information like your name and location, unless you've recently gone through and updated it since opening a Hotmail account in the … Read more

Happy Valentine's Day from Webware. We don't have chocolate, flowers, or cheesy cards for you, but we do have a roundup of Valentine's Day-related Web services and specials for you to get in touch with that special someone.

>> YouTube is offering video valentines. You've got six kitschy and humorous videos to choose from, featuring a slightly overweight cupid who causes more harm than good. For quick and easy personalized Webcam videos to your sweetheart, try out Viddler or Gabmail.

>> If your honey is stuck in the office all day, cheer him or … Read more

>> MTV online strategy to help Viacom take on YouTube? Viacom wants you to watch clips of its popular TV shows on the Internet, but it doesn't want you to do so on YouTube. At the beginning of this month, Viacom had YouTube take down more than 100,000 clips of Viacom-owned content. Now it's spreading them out among its sites, including ComedyCentral.com and MTV.com.

>> Belgian court rules against Google over copyrights. Belgian newspapers apparently don't like Google, as they've barred the company from caching its stories for news clippings. The … Read more

As popular social-networking and video-sharing sites continue to gain popularity, a new class of start-ups is attempting to cash in on the bonanza.

Several companies that debuted at Demo '07 showed off slick new applications that are ready-made to take advantage of the content and audiences of successful sites like YouTube, MySpace.com, Facebook and others. Web apps like Panjea, Vuvox and Share2Me enable users to re-share media content that's already been uploaded on the Net.

Though building a company based on a single feature usually is not a wise idea, VCs are all over this stuff, shelling out … Read more

Web site discovery and recommendation site StumbleUpon, best known for its thumbs-up-or-down recommendation and discovery system for Web sites, has given its Stumble Video product a makeover that targets the coveted demographic of Wii addicts. The site now has an interface specifically designed for the Wii's Opera browser so that Wii owners can use their consoles to find cool new videos from YouTube and other sites, targeted specifically toward their prior StumbleUpon rating histories. It's a bit like Netflix's recommendation service.

StumbleUpon, which claims nearly 2 million registered users, has also released the 3.0 version of … Read more

It's really impossible to follow any tech blog these days without hearing something about Joost, formerly known as "The Venice Project," the mysterious online video start-up from the same minds that brought us Skype and Kazaa. There's been a lot of speculation, a lot of hype (usually involving the phrase "YouTube killer"), and a lot of hush-hush. That's because Joost, as I learned upon signing up for the private beta test, has a very strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Consequently, it's been difficult for me to address some of the more pointed questions … Read more