Do you have a Gmail account? Google now allows you to chat with people via video whenever you use Gmail. The video below explains it all…

Tags: chat, Google, Video

This is for my fellow geeks who like to do things differently. (smile)

Tags: Cool, Funny, geek, Video

Jake and Jim spin off their list of cool web sites, tease a major announcement and just get plain weird on you. Don’t believe me? Tune in to see for yourself.

2:08 - Moofing
3:31 - Crowdsound.com
3:50 - Digg.com
5:41 - BlogActionDay.org
8:50 - Blahgirls.com
11:43 - Snapvine.com
12:40 - Secret Signals
13:14 - Say “no” to drugs
13:56 - Reach out, get love

Tags: ashton kutcher, blahgirls, blogactionday, cool tools, crowdsound, digg, Jake Press, jim stroud, moof, moofing, snapvine, telecommuting, Video

Everyone expects Google to beat its competitors each month, but few expected the kind of attention US viewers are giving to online video. According to the figures, 75 percent of all Americans viewed an online video in July and the average viewer watched 235 minutes of video during the month. More importantly for Google, the average YouTube user watched 54.8 videos in July, while the average MySpace viewer watched just 7.8 during the same period.

(Wow)

Source: TechCrunch

Tags: Google, Video, youtube

In case you ever wondered if there was a viable career for playing video games, check out this video.

Tags: arcade, entertainment, gamer, games, geek, tech, Technology, Video, wii

If you are a fan of Flickr, a very cool site used for sharing photos, then you might raise your eyebrows when you read this quote from Dan Farber, a blogger over at CNet.

After spending a few hours at the Flickr fourth anniversary party in San Francisco on Saturday night, the “coming soon” line was uttered by various Yahoo people, including Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Upon further investigation, it appears that “coming soon” means that Flickr Video will debut in beta next month.

SWEET! I wonder what this means for YouTube? Oh, let the speculation begin.

(Click here to read the rest of the story)

Tags: flickr, photo sharing, social media, Video, yahoo

Wow! I just read an article about an EXTREMELY popular video that has catapulted to the top of YouTube’s video charts. Its called “My Hot Hot Sex by the Brazilian electro band Cansei De Ser Sexy.” Here are some of their stats to date…

In One Year:

• It was viewed 91,195,785 times.
• It was given 3 stars out of 6,126 votes.
• It was commented on 4,685 times.
• It was favorited 11,206 times.

Check out the video below!

Are you impressed by the band? Were you one of their screaming fans? Probably not. As a matter of fact, the views on this video were so high that YouTube began to smell a rat and wondered if somebody was hacking the system. The speculation now is that this video happenned to be in the right place and seen by the right people at the right time. For the full scoop, read Numbers don’t tally for clip.

Tags: Cool, marketing, music, social media, Video, viral, youtube

Found out what YouTube is up to courtesy of a post on Beta News. Take a peek

While YouTube is best known for its work in promoting social video, the company is looking to live video as its next format. In an interview with NewTeeVee, YouTube founder Steve Chen said that the company plans to introduce a new live feature sometime this year. He said that the company had always wanted to do it, but didn’t have the resources. Now that YouTube is owned by Google, Chen said the resources are now at their disposal.

Analysts say that YouTube is likely to quickly build momentum in the marketplace, which is primarily due to its already strong presence in social video. “Like video, content creators want to be on the service that gives them the most exposure, no matter how good the alternatives are,” Duncan Riley wrote for TechCrunch. “YouTube already has the user base; live video streamers will flock to YouTube like a moth to a flame.”

I agree with the analysts on this one. YouTube going live is going to be H-U-G-E for no other reason than that they have a large fanbase already in place. Keeping my eyes on this development. Make me wonder how long before they begin showing Hi-definition on their channels as well. Or, are they leaving that up to my other favorite video hosting company- Vimeo.

What? You did not know that you could post high definition videos on the web and let others embed them on their sites? Well… now you you know. Check out a sample video below.

Oooohh… Don’t that look purrdee?! ( I love Hi Def )

Tags: social, user generated content, Video, vimeo, youtube

Oooohh!!!! I found out about movies on flash memory cards from an article on CNet. I like this one and I think it will fly once it hits the malls in America. (At least, among those early adopters like myself.) This is why I think (or hope) movies on flash memory cards is a good thing.

1. Unlimited inventory! Imagine having access to thousands of movies with new titles coming in every hour (if not minute) to a kiosk near you. I could review a bunch of trailers, make a selection of one (or several titles) and then download them instantly to a drive. A lot quicker than my beloved Netflix (sorry guys) and just as convenient.

2. It won’t matter how fast my computer can download huge files. Although I download a lot of things, many people are adverse to downloading files as large as movie files. I think the idea of renting (or buying) a bunch of movies in one sitting and then they sit on a device for me to play whenever I want to is too irresistible. Plus, I can store more Flash drives on my shelf that DVD covers; somewhat the same way DVD covers replace those big VCR tapes I still have scattered about.

My only wish is that Comicbook companies would jump on this bandwagon. I would LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT if I could buy say… the last decade of Batman comics and have them on a flash drive for me to read at my leisure. Pretty much like I do now with my MP3s, but hey, maybe that’s just me.

Anyways, here is a clip from an article that sparked off my little rant…

***

GALWAY, Ireland–PortoMedia is probably the only start-up in the world inspired by the movie Carlito’s Way.

Company founder Chris Armstrong explains: Four years ago, he set out to his local DVD store to rent a movie. First, he stopped at the ATM to get cash. The store didn’t have Twelve Angry Men, the movie Armstrong wanted. He settled for Carlito’s Way instead. He then waited in line, paid for his rental, and returned to his car.

Then he remembered another movie, Gone in Sixty Seconds, the title of which got him wondering why the process of renting movies, from start to finish, can take so long.

While other companies see the Internet as the answer to that question, Armstrong has another idea. PortoMedia is setting up kiosks that will let consumers download movies to a flash memory key or portable hard drive.

The kiosks will be packed with hard drives that can hold 350 to 5,000 titles. Users then plug in a memory device from the company, enter a PIN code, and buy or rent a movie. When consumers get home, they simply slide the memory device into a dock connected to a TV.

(Click here for the rest of the story)

If anybody stumbles across this tech in a mall, please send me a video? I would love to see it in action. And in case you had no idea what a flash card looks like, a picture is posted below.

Tags: consumer technology, movies, Technology, Video

Are you a news junkie? Or rather, do you stay informed on International Events? I try to, but not as much as I suppose I should. This is why I was so intrigued with this new product I found online called - Livestation.

Livestation is (more or less) a desktop application that streams news from all over the world to your computer screen. Once you download their product from their homepage and install it, you will see a sign-up window pop up. Fill out the info and then click the sign-in button.

Here is a sample shot of a news broadcast from France. Its broadcast in French (oui, oui monsieur), but someone is translating it for me which I do so appreciate as my french is very rusty. What immediately impressed me about Livestation is the picture and sound quality. It looked like it was in high-definition!

The other thing that somewhat disappointed me was that there were so few channels for me to review. However, I was pleased to find out from their website that more channels were on the way.

“Discussions are taking place with other major broadcasters who want to be art of the Livestation platform. New channels will be added as they become available.”

As you can see below, I could only access five international channels and two of those were radio stations. (BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service)

I also noticed from their website that depending on where you are in the world, you might have more access to channels than I do. Here is a list of the channels that are ultimately available.

TV Channels
* Al Jazeera (English)
* BBC News 24 (English)
* BBC World (English)
* Bloomberg (English)
* EuroNews (English)
* EuroNews (French)
* France 24 (English)
* France 24 (French)
* i>TELE (French)
* Sky News (English)

Radio Stations
* BBC Radio 4 (English)
* BBC World Service (English)

I recommend: Livestation

Its easy to download, does not seem to slow down my systems, excellent picture quality and no spyware as far as I could tell.

Enjoy…

Jim

Tags: livestation, Technology, tv, Video, web 2.0, web2.0