WeShow the Best Videos Everywhere

As the title says ... but there is more to WeShow than self promotion. The, by now obligatory, "Beta" sign for example....



They actually have live editors who choose what makes it to the site's three sections from YouTube, Metacafe, DailyMotion, MySpace, and many other websites:

WeShow Videos

"Selecting and organizing the best videos worldwide for your entertainment" is the subtitle. You will find really cool stuff here, despite the hype.

WeShow Awards

Okay, they call it the "world's biggest online video contest." Choose your favorite videos among more than 200 channels. There is a new competition every month. Voting your favorite the "WeShow Video of the Month" is cool, if you have a lot of time. Otherwise I don't see the point.

WeShow TV

22 channels, from Autos, through TV. There are four, specifically, nor found on a lot of other sites:

* Commercials
* Games & Toys
* Learning
* People & Vlogs

I can see me suggesting our video commercials and this blog for inclusion. As a member, I'll also receive a weekly selection, defined by me, by email.

Interestingly, the site has British and Brazilian editions, just a click away. Find the flags (in the upper right corner)

Cybercast credit: YouTube. I find this funny.

Vakaka, the Chinese Joost

The latest online video innovation comes from IPTV startup Vakaka, in China, which launched its X-TV beta this week.

Unlike Joost or Babelgum, Vakaka X-TV plans to provide BOTH Video-on-Demand (VOD) and live streaming at the same time. That means you'll be able to view a VOD film and a real-time concert at the same time. Why you'd want to do that is beyond me, especially if both of them are in Chinese,

The site will sport a Joost-like interface, including channel zone, widget zone, playing control zone, and setting zone. We'll see. I just need an interpreter, although Google Translation (beta, of course) does a pretty credible job. (See below.)



They claim to have 3,000 hours of video programs online already, including the latest films and the hottest soap dramas in China, with many under 500 kbps, to accomodate lower bandwidth users.

Like Joost, they are not alone. Other Chinese competitors include PPlive, PPstream, UUsee, and QQlive, though they are focused on streaming rather than VOD. Is this good? Bad? Indifferent? I guess for most of us, it's the third....

Hey!Spread Your Video

This latest (beta, of course) video uploading service will deliver your videos to multiple sites.



Create an account; upload your clips and shows; then send them to any or all of these destinations:

* YouTube
* Google Video
* Yahoo Video!
* MySpace
* Dailymotion
* Blip.tv
* Photobucket
* Metacafe
* Bolt
* Putfile

Now comes the fun part...

If you haven't yet, set up your Blip.tv account, to syndicate to all other popular video sharing, downloading, and social networking sites:

* Flickr
* Facebook
* iTunes
* Akimbo
* AOL Video
* Blinx
* MeeVee

You can, as I just did, create your own branded player, video-on-demand (VOD) feed, video roll, etc., etc. I'm evaluating the branded player to replace vSocial's, which is a real pain to use, as it has to be set up for every clip and its quality varies too. Here it is:





So, in 2 steps, I'll be able to syndicate to most of the web video sphere, spread the word through del.icio.us, Digg, PopCurrent, FeedBurner, and just have a blast doing it all!

Cybercast credit: Blip.tv. What da ya think?

Feu D'artifice 2005 à Paris Sur Tour Eiffel

Of course, we all know this means "Fireworks in 2005 at the Eiffel Tower in Paris." Don't we?



A wonderful spectacle nevertheless - unlike the other Paris, a total tête d'air (air-head) this side of the Atlantic...

Cybercast credit: YouTube. (Yes, they still have good videos.)

VideoCounter Will Count Your Video Views

Now you can monitor the success of your videos for free on:

- YouTube
- MySpaceTV - wouldn't work with my URL:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6569195
(probably still looking for video.myspace.com URL)
- Revver
- iFilm
- Dailymotion

and these German video sites:

- Clipfish
- Sevenload
- Videotube

with VideoCounter for an unlimited period. Sign up free to add up to five links of your videos or up to five video sharing sites they are on. Log in daily to check your report like the one below.



A great service, developed by Dr. Robert Biermann. Read why he developed this site on the "About Us" page:

"I run VideoCounter.com together with VCTech. I am fascinated by the possibilities offered by video portals. In my professional capacity for the company Webeffekt AG, which specializes in search engines, I use video portals and video communities to provide information about internet marketing topics. You can look for my contributions by searching for the keyword 'webeffekt' on the portals. I was very interested to find out how often my videos were watched in different video communities and how this developed over the course of time. Even though increasing viewing numbers are great it did take me some time to collect the data manually on a regular basis. This is the idea behind VideoCounter.com, which regularly performs this task for me. Free online tools that I am also involved with are:

- AdLog24.com allows checking the success rate of online-advertising
- Termprofile.com helps translators with quality control
- Komerca.tv is an editorial video search service for significant videos
- Linkpartner.de is a platform for exchanging links between websites
- VideoOnlineMarketing.de offers systematic video online advertising"

I say here is one busy man!

Is National Banana Funny Or Die?

National Banana is in its beta birth stage, and you're invited to the delivery. It is being brought to life by no other than Hollywood’s Jerry Zucker, known for hilariously satirical movies such as “Airplane” and “Naked Gun.”

Like Funny or Die (see my posting) and Revision3, another video site, it cybercasts its comedy in episodes. Nothing original yet, just the usual adolescent fare to appeal to the masses (most of us who never really grow up...), like this spoof of "Girls Gone Wild."





As venture capital deals go, they are a poor man’s version of Funny or Die with Will Ferrell. He had a hit debut after receiving an undisclosed amount of backing from Sequoia Capital (the same firm that had backed Google and Yahoo among others.) Now, other venture firms are following. National Banana has received more than $1 million from US Venture Partners. That's what I call green banana!

Tuned Into iTunes

With full seasons of "Lost," "CSI," "Battlestar Galactica," and now "The Closer" and "Days of our Lives," you will never miss your favorite shows again. And with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees even "CSI" or "The Closer" is a cool experience...





Movies, movies, movies: "No Direction Home" (Bob Dylan) and "Finding Nemo" were just added to the repertoire.





Stay inside and enjoy!

FYI - we are an iTunes store affiliate.

Stumbling Upon FastTVdownloads.com

Are you into downloading TV shows? How about downloading entire episodes of your favorite TV shows for a one time membership fee of $34.95?

During my search for the most reliable and scam-free TV show download sites, I was thrilled to stumble upon fasttvdownloads.com. And no, it didn't happen through StumbleUpon, another social bookmarking site becoming popular with the web crowd. (Should have started there.)



Fast TV Downloads is the most popular TV show download site today, with more than 5 million shows, games, music, and movies on their "shelves." As a member, you get:

* Unlimited downloads
* DVD quality movies & TV shows
* Unlimited CD/DVD burn

What really impresses me is that they don't just offer the latest shows and blockbusters, but that they have them in DVD quality. Also, I have yet to see another download site that can achieve their download speeds. Check them out!

Mega What Dot TV???

Megawhat.tv, a spankin' new web TV series, is out to get you plugged-in to the world of gadgets and technology. We are talking about the wonders of miniaturization here. Where does "Mega" fit in here - except to create a "mega" image for marketing?

They promise to bring you a special episode each week, along with a fresh selection of videos featuring news, reviews, tips, tricks and much more; all available to view on your PC, iPod and anywhere else you want. Of course. See for yourself.





A leading gadget expert and technology journalist, Stuart Miles from the UK will review everything from mobile phones, to digital cameras, to cars, to games consoles over the coming weeks.

Browse the menus to see full-length weekly episodes, quick reviews, inside tips or to find out why there are some gadgets they just love.

Cybercast credit: Google Video (while it's still around)

Do You Watch TV on Your PC / iPod / Smartphone?

A bit of interesting trivia from eMarketer™ Daily: more and more people are watching TV on their PCs, iPods, and mobile phones:

Desktop computer— 75%
Laptop computer— 46%
Portable video player— 16%
iPod— 13%
Mobile phone— 13%

How are you watching your favorite TV shows? I hardly watch any (History Channel or National Geographic anyone?), but when I do, it's on our large screen Samsung LDP projection TV. How retro ... but it's 16:9 HDTV dimension, I wrote about in a previous post.



Picture courtesy Viewsonic Corp.

MySpace TV Is After You(Tube) Big Time

MySpace is creating a new video hub at myspacetv.com to host a mix of amateur (you and me) and professional media content (the big guys claiming their piece of the action.)

The home page -- also accessible via a link from the main MySpace site -- features the "Hot Video of the Day," several other clips, and a "My Videos" section where you can create your own personalized channels or playlists. The clicker, so to speak, is that you can embed video in your MySpace profile with just one click, or post it as a "bulletin" for people on their friends lists.

There are 16 categories, many of which reflect the kinds of content that have proven most popular with the Web's viral-content crowd: animals, animation/CGI, automotive, comedy and humor, entertainment, "extreme" videos, instructional, music, news and politics, school and education, science and technology, video blogging, sports, travel and vacations, video games, and "weird stuff." Here is one the more weird ones, "Chicken Suicide:"




MySpace TV has deals in place with a number of partners, including National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times and fellow Fox brand IGN Entertainment. There is a music channel featuring music videos from some of the most popular artists with MySpace profiles.

The new, easier-to-navigate interface could make it more of a direct competitor to YouTube, which is THE name in web video. While YouTube seems to be squarely in MySpace's cross hairs, third-party content on MySpace--including embedded YouTube videos--remains, at least for now.

This comes as YouTube is working hard to build in more social networking features, so that it doesn't lose ground to MySpace or Facebook, both fast-growing networking sites with video. YouTube is now allowing users to chat while they watch the same clip and share their favorite videos.

Let the games begin! Continue? End, if you've has enough of putting up and watching mostly silly nonsense, amateur or professional?

Broadcast credit: MySpace TV