videos

Trust me--I know procrastination. But this one really takes the cake.

JibJab, as you probably know already, made a name for itself by creating corny (yet socially relevant) musical skits that superimposed the heads of politicians and celebrities onto cartoon bodies. Now that user-generated content is nothing new, it almost seems overdue that JibJab would introduce a "make your own" feature. But now, at long last, here it is: "JibJab Starring You!"

The concept, at least according to the creators, is to JibJab yourself by uploading a photo, easily crop it with the Flash-based tools … Read more

The high hopes we had for the iPhone-esque Venzero Slickr media player have unfortunately come crashing down. This stunning, little German gem is woefully short on substance, but damned if it's not purty to look at. You can check out our full report on the Slickr over on CNET reviews, as well as our First Look video. Or, for those with short attention spans, take a gander at our annotated slide show.

Some Web 2.0 concepts don't make sense to people unless you break it down to them in ways they can understand. We do our best with our Newbie Guides for things like Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader, and Facebook. Along similar lines comes a video about Del.icio.us, and social bookmarking in general, from Common Craft--a consulting company that does Web videos. This may be viral marketing, but it's very well executed and a joy to watch. I'd hire these guys for my start-up video.

[via Digital Inspiration and DownloadSquad]

reporter's notebook I've done a lot of risky things as a reporter over the years. I've knocked on doors in the sketchiest of crime-ridden neighborhoods, done midair flips with an acclaimed stunt pilot, and even let Lorena Bobbitt--famous for cutting off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife--give me a manicure using sharp instruments.

But no assignment scared me as much as asking Web fashionista William Sledd to critique the way I dress.

I'd been working on a profile about Sledd, 23, the former Gap manager from Paducah, Ky., who has become an online celebrity … Read more

.Mac, the popular Web services suite from Apple is getting an update this morning. Among the newer features is a much-needed upgrade to .Mac's Web photo gallery service, which now ties in with the freshly updated iPhoto '08 and the iPhone. Users will also be able to upload photos to their online galleries via a specialized e-mail address. The new iPhone integration mirrors some of the options that are already in place to shuttle off photos from the device, with a new option to "send to Web gallery," which lets you send photos to their.Mac Web … Read more

In an announcement that was confirmed earlier this week, Microsoft has officially announced that its Xbox 360 console price will drop across the entire line. For those who are keeping score, the Elite version will go for $449.99, the Halo version for $399.99, the premium version for $349.99 and the core version for $279.99. And while I applaud Microsoft for making some headway in reducing prices, why can't the same be said for the entire video game industry? Why are prices so high? Forget movie theater tickets, the real robbery is found on video game … Read more

I've spent the better part of the day today checking out a new web video creation site, called Animoto. The concept behind Animoto is that you upload images to the site, either from your computer, or online photo sites, such as Flickr, Facebook, or Photobucket, pick a song to go along with it, and Animoto will automatically create a cool video for you. Unfortunately, right now Animoto doesn't include support for putting videos into your masterpiece. Yes, there are already services out there that make it easy to create picture slideshows, but Animoto takes it a step further.… Read more

"Bree" is no more.

In the "season finale" of the Web series "Lonelygirl15," which was broadcast in a well-publicized event on Friday on the MySpaceTV platform, the cute teenage protagonist met her death at the hands of a religious cult's sacrifice. A dramatic, soap-opera worthy exit indeed--especially considering that Lonelygirl15's videos were mundane enough at first to fool scores of viewers into thinking they were the real Webcam diaries of a flesh-and-blood teenager.

Lonelygirl15 was exposed as an actress last September, but the video series continued and grew increasingly elaborate. Leading lady … Read more

There's a new social network/video discovery service on the way. It's name is Knocka.TV, and I've got to hand it to them--the service isn't even open to the public yet, and there's already a play reel of nearly 30 video clips on the landing page that make it look like a lot of fun. It looks like a hybrid of Joost, StumbleUpon, and YouTube, with some TV-like qualities such as timeslots and user-controlled programming (akin to MTV's Total Request Live and Direct Connect). There could also be a social networking component with … Read more