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YouTube tweaks interface, adds Digg-like features

YouTube's interface underwent some tweaks yesterday. Aimed mostly at improving community interaction with videos, ratings, comments, and search have been given more presence on the site.

The most dramatic of the changes is the commenting system, which now closely resembles Digg's with two buttons to recommend or bury a comment. Each comment gets its own ratings counter, and there's a master bar on the top of the page to sort comments within various rating thresholds. Once you've buried a comment it will disappear, and the system is set up by default to hide comments that are … Read more

Interrogation camera in a coffee mug

It may seem surprising, but it's not often that Crave gets to write about an item with this kind of description in its product literature: "Great for use in interrogation rooms for law enforcement agencies."

We'll have to take StarTech Outlet's word for it, as that's how the site describes its "2.4GHz Coffee Mug Wireless Camera." In fact, with a name like that, there's really not a whole lot more that needs to be said.

The mug is outfitted with a minuscule camera and video transmitter that sends images in … Read more

Coming soon: Outstanding mobile video search from Veveo

I got a demo today of a new mobile video search product called Vtap, from Veveo. It's hardly the only video search engine out there (see Blinkx, Truveo [review], and Google), but it has special powers on mobile devices. In fact, it's mobile-only. Despite a Web-based version that the company created for the iPhone, you can't access the service on a non-mobile browser.

CEO Murali Aravamudan told me that his service does not dive into the actual audio or video content of files to create its search index. Rather, it uses the metadata (tags, and text on … Read more

MySpace, MTV team up for one-on-one presidential dialogues

In an appeal to the coveted youth vote in the upcoming presidential elections, MySpace and MTV announced Thursday that they have joined forces for a series of "one-on-one dialogues" with all the major candidates from both political parties--televised and Webcast events in which presidential hopefuls will answer questions from MySpace members and MTV watchers. Formally, it's a collaboration between MySpace's "Impact" political channel and MTV's "Choose or Lose" election effort (which it has been operating since the dinosaur days of the 1992 election), and it's the first collaboration that the … Read more

New ads jar some YouTube fans

Fans of Google's YouTube are starting to react to overlay advertisements the company began testing on Wednesday. Some find them jarring, some in international quarters wish they could see them, and still others are wondering if they can make money off their own videos with these ads. While there's hardly a unanimous opinion, one thing is for certain: Google is finally looking to cash in on its $1.65 billion YouTube acquisition.

The ads appear at the bottom of a video shortly after the clip starts to play and disappear after 10 seconds. They resemble the TV-style ads … Read more

CNET TV 2.0 beta launches

You may have noticed something new at www.cnettv.com over the past few weeks. We've been letting a small portion of our daily visitors test out the new CNET TV 2.0 beta and provide their feedback. Well, today the test is over, and we are opening the floodgates. All visitors will now get the new CNET TV 2.0 beta. We've been working on this for many months and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, or, worst case, at least surprised. We've redesigned and rebuilt TV 2.0 largely based upon your feedback. I'… Read more

Rouxbe helps you to be a better chef

Rouxbe provides both seasoned foodies and clueless cooks with top-notch, how-to recipe videos. Product reviews, chef profiles and other articles are coming soon.

Both the content and images in Rouxbe's ad-free videos are terrific. You can download them for an iPod or at HD-quality to a hard drive. You can rate, bookmark, and print each recipe. Click on an exotic tool or condiment, and Rouxbe explains it and provides the option to make a purchase on Amazon. Nice touches include letting you control the volume separately for narrative instruction and music. The videos aren't personality-driven, unlike so many … Read more

Twitter goes to the MTV Video Music Awards

Could this finally be what breaks Twitter out of the early-adopter geek set and into the population at large? The microblogging service has partnered with the inarguably mainstream MTV for its upcoming Video Music Awards (or VMAs), according to an e-mail sent to Twitter members by founder Biz Stone.

So far, the partnership isn't totally clear. A Twitter account has been set up for the VMA "Moon Man" mascot, the pop-culture awards' equivalent of the Oscar statue. In Stone's e-mail, he elaborated that the VMA Twittering will expand, too: "(MTV has) some fun ideas which … Read more

Google ties YouTube videos to news stories

Google is combining YouTube videos with Google News to offer users what it hopes will be greater perspective on news stories.

The company announced on its blog that visitors to Google News will see a "Video" prefix next to news stories. Clicking on these links will take them to a YouTube page where they can watch video about the subject.

Google is still testing the offering with news sources such as CBS, Reuters and local TV stations owned by Hearst.

"Today, viewing news videos or other content types on the Web can be a frustrating experience," … Read more