youtube

Death in a supermarket

This vid's been making the viral rounds in my Twitter friends list and such, accompanied by claims of "greatest prank ever" and what-have-you. Personally, I think it's clever, but I can't seem to believe that people actually fell for it--and the camera angles and quality are suspiciously professional, not hidden-camera caliber. Still good for a few laughs, though.

Google to filter copyright videos by September

YouTube will launch a system in September designed to prevent pirated material from going up on the site, a Google lawyer said in court on Friday.

Google, which acquired YouTube in October, plans to generate a library of digital video fingerprints that would be used by a computer system to screen clips being uploaded to YouTube, said Philip Beck, one of the attorneys representing Google and YouTube. Beck added that the screening process would take only a few minutes to determine whether a clip is copyright material.

Google, Viacom and the class of copyright holders that have filed suit against Google and YouTube within the past year, were in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for a scheduling hearing.

Beck's statement is significant because it would appear to be the first time that anyone from Google has set a firm launch date for a filtering-system roll out. The company has frustrated numerous media executives by promising to produce better copyright protections for YouTube but not delivering. Critics are quick to note that many of YouTube's competitors already screen content.

What may not go over well in Hollywood is that Google appeared to hedge once again when asked to respond to Beck's statement. … Read more

MXPlay mashes up with Firefox

Today, MXPlay--the digital-music player that focuses on customizing and enhancing your playback sound, while also letting you mash up streaming audio with Web videos (covered previously)--launched a Windows-only add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Called MXPlay Web, the Firefox add-on part is a simple orange MXPlay button that sits in your toolbar. Whenever you navigate to a Web page that includes MP3 files, the button transforms into a musical note. Click that note, and you can "play" that Web page in a pop-up music player.

After you select "Play this page," MXPlay Web will list all of the available MP3 songs on that Web page. You can then mark any of your favorites and save them to a personal playlist. Unfortunately, once you create that playlist, MXPlay Web somewhat randomly puts them into an order that you cannot change manually.

Just like the full app, MXPlay Web lets you customize the sound of the music using the same unique graphic interface. Drag and drop the head icon (the listener) and each of your available speakers to a specific location on the screen, which affects sound levels and direction. A blue circle in the upper left lets you control the size of your virtual room, and the bars in the upper right offer three levels of reverb.… Read more

Report: Former YouTube CFO jumps to Facebook

Gideon Yu, YouTube's former chief financial officer, has been hired as Facebook's new CFO, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

Yu, 36, replaces Mike Sheridan, who joined Facebook in September, according the Journal story. Why Mike Sheridan is leaving remains unclear.

Facebook is the place to be right now, as rumors of a sale or possible public offering continue to follow the company. Employees stand to profit in the event of a sale or IPO and this hasn't hurt Facebook's recruiting efforts.

"We're not looking to sell the company, and we'… Read more

YouTube users take on the Democratic presidential candidates

The questions in presidential debates have traditionally been determined by whatever media outlet happened to be running the show. CNN and YouTube are looking to change that tonight. As you may know, YouTube is working with CNN to hold a presidential debate where all of the questions will asked through YouTube videos that have been submitted since early June.

Even though users can submit their own questions, CNN is ultimately in charge of picking the questions that are going to be asked. Still, this is a promising development. According to an article on CNN.com, there is a small committee … Read more

Hype or hope? CNN-YouTube debates make a splash

CNN and YouTube have created a virtual town hall for the Democratic and Republican candidates for president. (Well, the questioners will be there virtually; the Democratic candidates will be sitting in a CNN studio in Charleston, South Carolina and the Republicans will be in Florida for theirs.) It's been quite extraordinary to watch the lead up to this and the grand attention it's been getting. But is this event, touted even in the venerable New York Times as a "first of a new kind of political debate" truly something new or is it simply an interesting, … Read more

YouTube cracking down on child users

YouTube is getting strict in enforcing its age requirements on the popular viral video site.

YouTubers have been complaining that the Google-owned company has been suspending accounts associated with several well-known YouTube child stars and providing no reason.

In response to queries by CNET News.com on the matter, a YouTube spokeswoman provided this statement on Thursday:

"All YouTube users must agree to and abide by our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines when they register for a YouTube account. This includes providing accurate registration information and being over the age of 13."

"We understand that young … Read more

YouTubers protest account suspensions of kid videos

YouTube users are complaining that the viral video site is suspending accounts that feature videos with children in them without stating why. So far, at least three channels--Jesari, YoungTubers and Galipoka--have been suspended, all featuring popular young YouTubers.

Is it age discrimination? Or is it overzealous enforcement of a child protection policy? A spokesman for YouTube's outside public relations firm said he would look into the matter and get back to CNET News.com. A Google spokesman directed all questions on the matter to YouTube.

According to the terms of service, people have to be over the age of … Read more

Sony announces new pocket camcorder, claims it isn't 'full of stars'

If you ever wanted to videotape your pets fighting to Romanian dance music while on a trampoline, Sony has a new pocket camcorder for you. Sony's NSC-GC1 Net-sharing CAM is targeted specifically at the YouTube crowd, with a low enough price tag and just enough power to throw clips up on the Web. The Net-sharing CAM can shoot video ranging from QVGA (320x240) at 15 frames per second to VGA (640x480) at 30 frames per second. It records to Sony's Memory Stick DUO memory cards, so if you already have a PlayStation Portable or a Sony Cyber-shot digital … Read more