So, after poking around the Web a bit, I came across Jamendo, a site I had never been to before. It’s a place where artists can upload tracks and albums that they want to share with the world, music which is covered by the Creative Commons license, allowing people to share and make use of their work without having to specifically ask for a license. Anyway, I found a track to use and created a video using it. But I wanted to mention the site on my blog so that I can return back there next time I needed some music. I’ve also downloaded a few tracks to listen to, maybe I’ll get to find some new exciting bands. Here’s the video I created:

They’re photos from a weekend we spent down in Butlins. We had an awesome time as you can see from the photos. Loads of swimming, photos with Bob the Builder, live entertainment, candy floss .. you get the picture. We’ll be back!

It’s interesting to see that YouTube has announced it’s move towards bringing a widescreen format to it’s website. Here’s the basic announcement:

We’re expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don’t worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player.

This is not the first time widescreen videos have been spotted on YouTube however it’s a definite shift in that this will be the default format and uploads will be expected to follow in this format, even if it’s not what user’s expect.

A number of sites are talking about how this is just one of a number of moves that YouTube is making to start making inroads into the living room. The availability of higher definition movies, full length movies and live streaming all point in this direction. Many items we live with today have managed to become part of our everyday lives, from intelligent shoes all the way down to Christian books. It seems Google is working hard to make YouTube fit into this category, all they need to do now is improve application availability and make sure the Cloud is always available and I’ll be ready to hook up my TV.

Interesting news this morning that YouTube has announced that they are going to start featuring full-length movies and episodes which will include in-steam video ads to keep the broadcasters happy. This seems to be a move directed to counter the threat that Hulu affords them, particularly as they have launched similar features to them in the recent past. It seems that shorter videos will still be ad-free, but the full-length features will need to be monitised to support the model they have pursued with their advertisers.

So, down I popped to give it a try and here’s what I get:

Hmm, seems like they’ve decided to omit 95% of Internet users by restricting usage to just one country. I’m hoping that this is for scaling/trial reasons rather than something their broadcasters are insisting on (which is probably the case). The reality is, if they restrict access to this material, then it will just drive users to seek out other services and this will really prevent users from adopting their services.

So, before you throw away your TV, invest in some new modern furniture and high speed satellite internet and a new giant monitor for your computer, check if the service works in your area. You may be disappointed, I know I was.

Interesting huh?

• Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem
• Secret #2. Content is NOT King
• Secret #3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page
• Secret #4. Title Optimization
• Secret #5. Thumbnail Optimization
• Secret #6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself
• Secret #7. Releasing all videos simultaneously
• Secret #8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole
• Secret #9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness

While some of the techniques are questionable and contravene YouTube‘s Terms of Service, some offer good insight. Techniques like “releasing all videos simulatneously” are something that I would never have considered, though things like strategic tagging and the correct use of metrics and tracking are essential for any sort of information release.

What is particularly interesting though, is the comment trail following the post. These range all the way from “Thanks, what an excellent post” to “Techcrunch is now advocating deceiving viewers”. Mike Arrington, who is responsible for TechCrunch had been a pretty staunch adversary of PayPerPost‘s initial non-disclosure attitude, and was quick to leave a comment that he did not agree with the post. He says he’ll be posting a response to it soon, so we’ll have to wait and see what he things. Still, it’s a testament to the Techcrunch that the post wasn’t deleted outright but allowed to take part in the discussion.

Or was it? The whole post screams LINKBAIT to me. It’s the sort of thing that gets people linking to your website, posting about the issue and generating huge amounts of traffic for your website. If anything is viral about that post, it’s the post itself, more than it’s content. You can read more about this particular post here,? here, here, here and here. Great work Dan, you’ve certainly managed to get everyone talking about your company!

Anyway, the film is out in the U.S. today, and the film studio is making good use of the Internet to spread information about the film. I actually watched the trailer on YouTube even though the film won’t make it to the Isle of Man for a few weeks yet. In the meantime, here’s the trailer to watch:

[gv data="UKE_EPps07I"][/gv]

I like the way YouTube gives you the code you need to embed the videos you upload and make them look as part of your site. For example, the video above uses the following code:

<object
width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/a8OZZ7CuQ4Y"></param><embed
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/a8OZZ7CuQ4Y" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"
height="350"></embed></object>

Have a play with it, but don’t forget to make sure you don’t walk into any copyright issues