Plug and Play for MillionDollarWebTV.com

The plug is here, the play is still a few months off...we can't afford "Plug and Pray" experiences, unlike you know who.



MillionDollarWebTV.com will provide a guaranteed 10+ years of front page web video exposure for you in the "Pay Per Pixel" advertising format. You can display your image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you purchase,

AND

have the image click through to your own website, video page, or video blog,

AND

have your web TV ad/clip display in a separate player window. You can embed one or more links in your video to take your viewers to your website or blog. Cool!

BUT THERE IS MORE...

As an advertiser, you also receive a PROFIT SHARE certificate, entitling you for a proportional share of profits from the operation or sale of MillionDollarWebTV.com. That's really cool!

The pixels you buy will be displayed on the homepage permanently, which will not change. They will be online for at least 10 years, but hopefully much longer. Our aim is to make it into a kind of Internet TV time capsule. We think the web TV ads/clips will offer good value right away, especially if you replace them with new ones regularly. In the long run, the pixels will offer good value too. Internet TV is just taking off and you will have a piece of the action and a piece of internet TV history.

P.S. We are also testing distribution quality here from Blip.tv.
P.P.S. So far results are mixed at best, with the video and everything underneath disappearing in IE 6.x and 7.0. NOT GOOD!!!! Switching over to a feed from Veoh now...
P.P.P.S ...which crashed IE 6 AND 7, forcing me to test a bunch of other video sharing services and find a REAL GEM in vSocial. The result above speaks - okay, plays - for itself!

Net Symphony on Eyephedrine

Haven't had so much fun with e-music ever! Courtesy of Mike Calore's Monkey Bytes blog on wired.com, I downloaded Sound Of Traffic, a nifty Java code, created by none other than John Weir of smokinggun.com fame. His Java Synthesizer converts the IP/TCP message headers of the data packets traversing the net into music notes that you can individually manipulate. Cool!

This, enhanced with Apple's Garageband and combined with the Eyephedrine (by GioFX) visualizer on the iTunes client can produce some deeply resonating, addictive audiovisual experiences...for me, at least! If you're into mashups, send me a comment and I'll point you to the FTP directory where you can download the sound and/or the video file, under the Creative Commons Attribution license.



Sound of Traffic is available , totally free, for Mac, Windows, and *nix at:

http://www.smokinggun.com/projects/soundoftraffic/. Thanks, John!

P.S. Net symphony music is here for all to mash-up, play with, or contribute to. It will, eventually, find a home on my website to be, netsymphonix.com.

P.P.S. And yes, this video is streamed from UnCut Video, aka AOL. We try them all!

iTunes Announces Swimsuit 2007 Videos

"Sports Illustrated and iTunes have come together to bring you a more-in-depth showcase of this year's swimsuit issue. Here you'll find a variety of videos featuring models like Anne V and Marisa Miller on location. Watch the behind-the-scenes-antics via candid footage with the models and photographers. In order to help conjure up these changes in latitude (an attitude), we've also got an exclusive video from Jimmy Buffett, who had an enviable position of being on location during the photo shoot."





I'd be sold if I weren't happily married...but you can tune in, if you're not. Comments are encouraged!

Internettvlist.com, As The "Premier Resource for Internet TV???"

Trying to find new marketing venues, I clicked my way to Internettvlist.com, which touts itself as "The Premier Resource for Internet TV, online TV Guide & Pre-Recorded, Live TV webcasts." These it supposedly serves up in a number of ways:

* Internet tv
* Web video clips
* Music videos
* News
* Tv shows
* Tv broadcasting
* Shoutcast
* Webcasts
* Streaming video
* Live TV
* Online TV Guide
* Live TV directory

I'm already lost here as to the difference between any of these as far as the delivery medium is concerned. Except for the online TV Guide / live TV directory, the rest must be broadcast the same way on the web, regardless of it being called "Internet tv," Web video," "Webcast," Music video," whatever. But why confuse when there is nobody to convince? Ahhh - I know - Usama must be watching!

Maybe not - Al-Jazeera is not featured, or I couldn't find it. On the other hand, they have listings from Canada, the UK, Russia, and by languages: Spanish, Portuguese, German and French. By random selection, I go to:

1) The German internet TV channel:
- The latest news from French National Assembly??? also in French and English...and
- Bloomberg Television - yes in German, French, and thank God, English too!!! The fun really starts when you click on the link . I got the "Sorry, the page you requested does not exist or cannot be served at this time" message. Wow! Obviously, Bloomberg checks where you come from so I was spared from reading the error message in German....

2) The German Web TV list:

- The latest news from French National Assembly...and
- Bloomberg Television....



Just how German is that? And what's the difference between web tv and internet tv? See what I mean?

Now, clicking on ANY other "Watch it..." link in ANY channel produced nothing else but a link to a website. NO web tv or internet tv here! DON'T BOTHER to list your own program or channel on this "Internet TV list!" Notice: I'm not even giving you a link to it here. What a waste of time, except to show, literally, that the difference between web tv, itv, etc. is a HUGE ZERO.

Tickle me Picklish 0.5b

I'm always on the lookout for quick - and preferably clean - Flash video conversion tools. Came across this one today:


Instructions read: Creates great-looking, customizable Flash photo and video galleries. Just drag and drop your photos and videos onto the creator. I did in a flash...and my 2 minute trial and error session ended in error after draggin'-droppin' just one small video file into the image well. Verdict: This incarnation most likely works well with images...do NOT use it with videos!

Created by Geoff Gaudreault, the mastermind behind SlideRoll™, the aptly named photo slideshow maker that you use to create slide shows with your photos. Publish your slideshows on the web, put them on MySpace or YouTube, or e-mail them to friends. Best of all, you can try the Slideshow Creator Demo on Geoff's site free.

Another Webcam Bites The Pixel Dust

Ebay to the rescue? I bid for and won another cam with great specs: 4 MP resolution, built-in microphone, digital zoom, guaranteed to work with Skype video, etc., etc. all for about $35! See the pix here:



All right, overseas shipping cost just as much, pound for pound, if you know what I mean.

Installation is almost a charm - everything works except voice input. Bam! BAM!! BAM BAM!!! Can't even start the webcam app next day - it just crashes and crashes...so does Skype. A frantic emailing session and new driver download later the same sequence of events repeats. Yuck!!!!

While I do make a point of buying from or supporting small vendors like myself, there comes a time when I can't be a guinea pig anymore. I must say, on the other hand, that the seller, UK Tech has proved to be very helpful in trying to make this thing work and accepting its return for a refund. I can heartily recommend them - but not for Mac gear....

P.S. The saga continues...the Microtek MV500 combo camcorder/webcam is already on its way!

Do You Root For Grassroots Media?

That's where the action is going. You must get familiar with Ourmedia if that's where you are headed too.

What do they offer? A lot, like:

* Publishing and storing video, audio, manuscripts, and other media that you create
* Sharing your own and discovering others' independent media.
* Learning how to create citizens' media - that is, yours
* Sharing: RSS feeds, email to a friend, direct link to files from your own site or blog
* FREE storage, sharing & bandwidth forever
* NO ADS!

Downside (as it is):

* Requires an Internet Archive account too
* Slow to upload and view during most of the day
* Keeps your content in its native format. Both good and bad. It doesn't recompress your video - good, but requires viewers to have several different media players installed (not so good)

The Learning Center

My favorite is the Learning Center, which has everything you'd ever want to know about user-created citizens' media. With all the hoopla about copyrights, illegal downloading, Viacom vs. YouTube (see previous post), you DO want to know about your options. One of the best is the Creative Commons license, at work all over the site itself, making it very easy to grasp the concept as well as its execution. Nearly all contributions are shared that way, so other sites can republish bits and pieces from this open-source learning project.

So what can we learn about copyright and the law?

How about:

* Fair use in the digital age
* Online libel and defamation
* What is Creative Commons?
* Filmmakers' best practices in fair use
* Documentary filmmakers, fair use and 'free use'
* Legal issues in creating your podcast
* Release waivers - there is a link to forms
* Terms of Service comparison for video hosting sites
* Publishing public performances

Listen to Lauren Gelman, associate director of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, as she discusses copyright, fair use, and grassroots media. (You need a media player that works with industry standard MPEG-4 video, to watch.)

Lauren Gelman on copyright and personal media

Viacom Demands That YouTube Yank 100,000 Clips

Comedy Central's and MTV's daddy, the mighty Viacom henceforth demands that your favorite Tube yank all of its video clips, after negotiations failed. About 100,000 video clips are to be erased from You Know Who Google Tube's servers.

Viacom says its pirated programs on YouTube generate about 1.2 billion video streams. You read it right - we talk BILLIONS here. But don't you think that's the reason for Viacom to be so PISSED OFF. NOoooo Sireee! What they are REALLY ticked off about is the irreverence some YouTubers display - literally - by mocking their fabled logo. See for yourself - here is the "Viacom V of Doom" from just one of the MANY offenders, Doom (811 Productions):


You'd be steamed up about a sacrilege like that at your corporate logo, wouldn't you?

To be fair, YouTube has not been without controversy, as clips from copyright protected TV programs, shows, and other legally protected media have made their way onto their site. That, however, didn't seem to bother other major media companies, such as CBS and Universal Music Group. They went ahead and struck distribution agreements with YouTube prior to its love-in with Google. Go figure....

P.S. Didn't take long for Google, after having come into existence only nine years ago in 1998, to be slapped with a billion dollar suit too ... by Viacom, of course!