South Park creators get web revenue cut. Sweet!

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have signed a revenue-sharing deal with Viacom-owned Comedy Central, their long-time television network.





This continues a shake-up in the way big-media works, the latest in a trend giving more power to artists and less to the big media companies. Normally, television owners keep revenues, and separately negotiate payment with artists. In their deal, Parker and Stone get a cut of the proceeds from wherever the show appears on the net, mobile platforms or video games.

South Park is popular for skewering celebrities and status quo ideas. It has spread virally over the internet without Viacom getting paid, through free, full-length episodes. The show’s libertarian creators have said they are in favor of free downloads of episodes because it helps more people watch the show, which of course is contradicted by this latest deal.

It is a deal both parties describe as an attempt to become a major player In Hollywood's transition to the Internet. Or, as South Park’s lawyer said, a demonstration to new video-entertainment start-ups (think YouTube et al.) that they’ll have to pay premiums for top content creators.

Parker and Stone originally retained the rights to a percentage of revenue brought in by non-cable distribution channels, the web, mobile devices and video games, due to a subtle clause signed as part of a contract renewal between the parties during the dot-com bust years.

The caustic duo are guaranteed advances from profits on merchandise, DVDs, international sales and methods of syndication. The agreement will also include a talent studio called SouthParkStudios.com. The deal is worth $75 million to the two creators over the next four years, the article says; the show has already made hundreds of millions for Viacom.

Cybercast credit: Comedy Central / Viacom

Eat Some BRAINS the JibJab Way

Or do one better - clown around in your own JibJab movie. At least, that's the idea, according to their mission: To give you funny jokes, animated videos, cartoons, flash movies, hilarious clips, parody and such, created by YOU. How is it supposed to work?

1. Sign up
2. Go to your page
3. Head over to "Starring You"
4. Click on the "My Heads," "JibJab Heads," or "Public Heads" tab to upload your photo or choose one
5. Don't wait too long if nothing happens…

which is exactly what I experienced three times in a row. So, until they fix things, here is some brains, cooked sometime previously when the chef seems to have been on duty....




Cybercast credit: JibJab

PaltalkScene Makes a Video Scene

Paltalk, an online chat network, has added video screening rooms for viewing, along with voice and text chatting.



The updated application expands on Paltalk Messenger's existing multimedia capabilities with Screening Rooms--private and public chat spaces of up to 5,000 viewers where users can watch, voice chat, and instant message about uploaded user videos and Paltalk's new shows.

This fall, they will also show several original series that have been produced to fit the updated chat platform, now called PaltalkScene (download here.)

For Joel Smernoff, Paltalk's president and COO, the messenger upgrade and move from mere hosting to active programming hammers in Paltalk's stake in "socialcasting," which can be loosely defined as an interactive online experience that splices social networking attributes with online entertainment. "What that means is allowing multiple users to watch videos and interact with each other and with the guests in real time," Smernoff said in an interview.

As an example, guest Chevy Chase extended his 15-minute interview by a half hour during the Sept. 2 LateNet with Ray Ellin to answer and pose questions to Paltalk's Internet audience, whose contributions were beamed onto the wall of New York City's Gotham Comedy Club, where the show broadcasted.

Paltalk's Web site has the full schedule of shows.

In the Blinkx of an Ad

Blinkx's new video ad service is, to say the least, questionable: It lets you place contextually relevant text ads inside videos you embed on your site, even if the videos aren’t yours.





To test it, I pulled the YouTube video about Halloween made by One True Media, above and inserted ads on to it. Now, we could make money on it, if we wanted. See an example (not ours) below.





They even give you the option of showing the ads inside or outside of the video. I’d certainly not insert anything into anyone else’s content, so in this regard you are protected if you go with their “outside the video” ad-serving concept. I think. Your lawyer may disagree.

Cybercast credit: YouTube

* ALERT * Infectious Online Videos Are Predicted

Greg Bluestein of the Associated Press in his 10/2/07 article says some videos online might already be conduits for malicious code that can infect your computer.

As anti-spam technology improves, hackers are finding new vehicles to deliver their malicious code. And some could be embedded in online video players, according to a report on Internet threats released Tuesday by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center as it holds its annual summit.

The summit is gathering more than 300 scholars and security experts to discuss emerging threats for 2008 — and their countermeasures.

Among their biggest foes are the ever-changing vehicles that hackers use to deliver "malware," which can silently install viruses, probe for confidential info or even hijack a computer.

"Just as we see an evolution in messaging, we also see an evolution in threats," said Chris Rouland, the chief technology officer for IBM Corp.'s Internet Security Systems unit and a member of the group that helped draft the report. "As companies have gotten better blocking e-mails, we see people move to more creative techniques."

With computer users getting wiser to e-mail scams, malicious hackers are looking for sneakier ways to spread the codes. Over the past few years, hackers have moved from sending their spam in text-based messages to more devious means, embedding them in images or disguised as Portable Document Format, or PDF, files.

"The next logical step seems to be the media players," Rouland said.

There have only been a few cases of video-related hacking so far.

One worm discovered in November 2006 launches a corrupt Web site without prompting after a user opens a media file in a player. Another program silently installs spyware when a video file is opened. Attackers have also tried to spread fake video links via postings on YouTube.

That reflects the lowered guard many computer users would have on such popular forums.

"People are accustomed to not clicking on messages from banks, but they all want to see videos from YouTube," Rouland said.

Another soft spot involves social networking sites, blogs and wikis. These community-focused sites, which are driving the next generation of web applications, are also becoming one of the juiciest targets for malicious hackers.

Computers surfing the sites silently communicate with a web application in the background, but hackers sometimes secretly embed malicious code when they edit the open sites, and a Web browser will unknowingly execute the code. These chinks in the armor could let hackers steal private data, hijack web transactions or spy on users.

YouTube from the Moon?

The X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. has announced the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a $30 million prize purse.



Private companies from around the world will compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.

"The Google Lunar X PRIZE calls on entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity," said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation. "We are confident that teams from around the world will help develop new robotic and virtual presence technology, which will dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration."

Cybercast credit: YouTube

Knock Them Dead, Knocka.TV!

Knocka.tv will be a new video site from the creators of ICQ, the first successful early instant messenger service. Remember them, anyone? I'm from the pre-first bubble age, so I do.

The site, as yet to launch publicly, boasts a new form of television that is “hyperinteractive” and “democratic,” if the frenetic promotional video on their preview site is an indication of where they are heading.

This ad features tiny clips of user-generated video, spliced together and set to a perpetually shifting soundtrack. Among other things, we see sexy women strip teasing, a man dressed in a lab coat destroying an iPod in a blender, and a brief animated clip of a creature with a cleaver lopping the heads off of cute animals.

At some points, a counter in the lower left corner seems to measure the number of people watching at the moment. In two clips, it says “producer online now,” suggesting that viewers may be able to engage the content's creator as they watch.

The site is in "private" beta. "Private" beta? Even the ancient Greeks and gods must be scratching their heads at that one....

From the looks of it, they want to build a network of producers and make an online TV station that will let viewers interact with the content (and each other) to determine what gets played. The interactive functions they are touting suggest a desire to be a destination site. If this is the case, Knocka will have to be both revolutionary and highly successful to attract and keep content producers.

Will be back with the "public" beta....

Criss Angel Levitates on LiveDigital ... Sort of

Courtesy by A&E as posted by Suzyqnsd

LiveDigital is the “rich media” offshoot of Oversee.net, a technology-driven media company. It enables you to not only host and share content, but also broadcast hundreds of channels of high-quality programmed entertainment. Launched in 2006, it claims to webcast hundreds of thousands of videos daily in over 50 countries.

Interestingly, even a year and half later, the site logo still says “beta….”

Not so interestingly, their embed code sometimes doesn’t work … so that’s what the beta is for!





Here is a direct link, if you still want to see Criss’s stunt. Also, you have to sign up to watch in high-def - now that’s another bummer!

So why is this worth my digital ink?

If you upload your videos and create a channel, you can add ads and select which ones will appear on your channel, as well as specifically where advertisements will be displayed.

With “Ad Picker,” channel programmers (as they call you) are able to select from six different ad placements and several different ad types, including leader boards (728 X 90), squares (300 X 250) and banners (468 X 60). Alternatively, you can opt to allow LiveDigital to automatically choose advertising for each placement. They have partnered with several advertising networks to provide hundreds of advertisements across 27 categories ranging from dating to travel.

The top 25 channels are guaranteed to receive a minimum of $200, with the remaining money split among those channels according to their respective ratings. For example, if a channel receives 80% of all traffic on LiveDigital, you (the channel programmer) would be eligible to receive $16,000.

Cybercast credit: LiveDigital

Woo Me Now - in a Minute Tops!

If you had a minute to speak with someone over a live video connection, could you decide whether you would date them? That’s the question for WooMe, a startup aiming to bring the world of speed dating online.

It has just launched a “test version” a few days ago, but will open for all in a couple of months. Sign up here.

Unlike most other dating sites, you don’t have to answer dozens of questions or fill out an application form. Nor will you be forced to go through the grueling process of reading others’ rambling essays.

Instead, speed dating sessions with up to 16 participants, eight of each sex, will be the way WooMe users gauge their interest. The sessions are intended to run in live audio-video, although only audio can be selected; participants never type to one another, although they can classify the other participants with tags for future reference.

Competition like Match.com, once considered a thriving dating community, lacks hipness. eHarmony, another large player, caters to older individuals. While they are somewhat successful, they have not been able to reach the holy grail: Online dating that everyone uses.

WooMe is dirt cheap. After a conversation, if you are guy and say you like the girl and she says she likes you too, all you pay is $1 to get the girl’s contact details. The date may not be cheap but getting there is!

Sick and Sicker

From someone - namely Logan Darrow Clements of FreeStar Media, who we should all listen to and support, comes Sick and Sicker, a feature-length movie that explores the ethics and realities of a government take-over of the medical profession. Not sick yet? Watch the trailer ...



Sick and Sicker, a feature-length movie that explores the ethics and realities of a government take-over the medical profession.
Sick and Sicker investigates whether government intervention in the U.S. medical system is the cause of, or the solution to, our problems and whether Canada is really the health care utopia that politicians tell us it is.

This won't be a dry documentary that will put you to sleep. No, Logan brings abstract concepts to life in dramatic and surprising ways. If he can show how a monkey with darts can beat the investment return of Social Security then you know it will be a movie you won't forget.

CONTACT Logan Darrow Clements, Executive Producer by email and put "Sick and Sicker" in your subject line. Your health needs your support!

Cybercast credit: YouTube