Posts Tagged ‘YouTube’

You Too Can Watch U2 on YouTube

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

It’s hard to resist borrowing this play on words from the title of a TechCrunch article, but it’s true!  The mega-band U2 played live in Los Angeles on October 25th, simultaneously broadcasting on YouTube.  In fact, it was promoted as the first global concert webcast on “U2ube”.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t available live to the *entire* globe—out of the over 190 countries in the world only 16 countries saw it live: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, U.K., and of course, the U.S., where the concert took place.

During the show, YouTube also featured a Twitter widget below the video player that displayed tweets from people who used the #U2webcast hashtag.

“U2 and technology have long gone hand in hand,” writes MG Siegler of TechCruch. “Their ZooTV tour famously featured a massive amount of television monitors and live streaming video from all around the world.” Later, U2 got chummy with Apple, releasing their own branded iPod. Then after U2 lead singer Bono became a partner in a firm that purchased a huge stake in Palm, U2’s recent tour has been sponsored by Palm and BlackBerry.

10 million people viewed the live stream on YouTube that night, according to Variety—and it went impressively smoothly. Though 10 million is nothing compared to some of the most popular television shows, but we’re starting to see audience of comparable sizes from all over the world.

And, as our title declares, the recorded version of the full 2-1/2 hour concert is now officially being shown on YouTube, and it had over a million views in the first 3 days. A little over a week later, it has had 1,932,240 views.

It’s a brave, new, rockin’ world, made possible with internet speed.

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Digital Literacy Depends on Internet Speed

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Continuing with the reasons that Americans need access to high-speed internet, we’ll look at some of the benefits of a digitally literate society–with information from Speed Matters.org .

Digital literacy refers to the skills involved with using a computer and being able to navigate the Internet, which can be extremely beneficial in today’s world.

For one thing, a digitally literate person is more attractive to prospective employers–in any field. As more services go online, the digitally versatile have an advantage over other job hunters, making them able to benefit from the growing field of information technology (IT) or be hired by more well-equipped and upscale companies. Digital skills apply to and can transfer across many professions, and even enhance a worker’s ability to apply for a job, or start and run a home-based business.

• Digitally literate students can do better in school because they can easily access the myriad of online resources about any subject. They can watch lecture videos online, access library databases and correspond with their own professors, or even experts in the field they’re studying.
The internet makes more of the world’s knowledge available, no matter where a student is studying.

• Digitally literate people save time by using internet speed to their advantage–paying bills, applying for jobs, doing their taxes and banking online. They also have the ability to be better informed about the world. Shopping online makes it possible to get products shipped directly to your doorstep, which allows people to make better buying decisions regarding price comparisons, and environmental and ethical considerations. They may also be able to keep in better touch with family and friends across the globe, thanks to social networking sites, VoIP phone products and webcams and YouTube.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Google Really Big in India and Brazil

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

“Google’s dominance of the Internet in the United States is hard to overstate,”  says Miguel Helft of the New York Times.  According to his information from comScore, in the U.S. Google is No. 1 in areas like maps and blogging, accounts for two-thirds of all Web searches, and they own YouTube which is 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. Over all, Internet users in the United States spend 9 percent of their time online on some Google service. Globally this average is 9.4 percent.

But in two global markets growing with internet speed, Google is even more dominant. In terms of Internet use globally, India is ranked seventh, and Brazil ninth. But In Brazil, Google accounts for nearly 30 percent of people’s online minutes and about 29 percent in India.

Google’s social network, which has been a failure pretty much everywhere else in the world, is No. 1 in those two countries.

In Brazil, Google captures nearly 90 percent of all searches, 71 percent of the time spent on maps (compared with just 42 percent here in the U.S.) and 43 percent of the time spent on blogs (compared with 30 percent here).

In India, it represents 88 percent of searches, 64 percent of maps and 48 percent of blogs. Gmail accounts for nearly half of the Indian Web e-mail market, compared with just 6.4 percent in the U.S..

“Part of the explanation was that Google emerged onto the scene at the time these markets were developing,” says Andrew Lipsman, director of industry analysis for comScore. “As Google became the default search engine, the brand extended to these other services.”

But Google has not been able to beat local brands in China, the Internet market with the most users, where it lags behind Baidu. In Russia, Yandex is the leading search engine.

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Watching TV on your PC

Friday, September 11th, 2009

The L.A. Times Tech blogger, David Colker pointed us to a survey by the nonprofit Conference Board that was released this week. It shows that almost 25% of households in the U.S. now watch their TV shows online.  That’s up from 20% who watched television programs on the computer last year.

Nearly 80 percent of consumers rely upon their high-speed internet for entertainment daily. In fact, entertainment is cited as one of the most important Internet activities, behind only personal communication and work-related activities. 

This quarterly Consumer Internet Barometer survey found that news programs are viewed by 43% of online watchers—who might want their news with internet speed, rather than waiting for scheduled programs. 35% watch sitcoms, comedies and dramas. Then it goes down to 19% who view reality shows and 18% favoring sports (that number might be higher if more live sports events were shown free online).

And Hulu.com is fast becoming the hot site – just behind YouTube.com – for watching TV programs. In fact, the number of households visiting Hulu.com has increased almost fourfold in the last year. Offering shows from NBC, ABC, Fox and others, Hulu didn’t debut until March 2007.

Consumers are moving away from “appointment” TV, preferring to watch programs whenever they choose. Being able to view favorite shows at any time, along with personal convenience, are the two major reasons cited by more than half of consumers for turning to online TV. Consumers also cite portability as another benefit.

“Online viewing allows users to watch TV on their own schedule, catch up on missed content and focus on their favorite programs,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “As result, about 20 percent of consumers say their traditional TV viewing has declined.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Ghostbusters Showing on a Computer Screen Near You

Friday, August 14th, 2009

“YouTube and Sony are crossing the streams” says David Sarno of The L.A. Times tech blog. Well put, we say!  In honor of the 25th anniversary of Sony’s comedy classic “Ghostbusters”, YouTube is now hosting a week-long showing. All you need is a computer and internet speed.

But don’t expect to watch it on the good ol’ YouTube jumbo HD player. Instead, you’ll see the film in a 16×9 aspect ratio at high quality resolution via Sony’s Crackle service.

YouTube has been showing videos via Crackle for months now, and just so you know, Crackle  is “a multi-platform next-generation video entertainment network that distributes digital content including original short form series and full-length traditional programming from Sony Pictures’ vast library of television series and feature films.”  Their “About Crackle” page goes on to say “Crackle reaches a global audience through its impressive online and mobile distribution network.” However, be warned that if you are  enjoying some global internet speed and trying to watch Ghostbusters online from outside of the U.S.,  may get you the following message: “This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions.”   :(

Also be prepared that the anniversary showing will include seven or eight in-stream commercials. A studio’s gotta make money somehow. Plus it’s a great chance to promote the upcoming Ghostbusters 3 film, which may start production by the winter, according to Ghostbusters co-creator, Dan Akroyd.  Earlier this year, the movie was released on Blu-Ray at the same time as the video game was launched.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

YouTube and Ukeleles

Monday, July 27th, 2009

We all know that YouTube can have a big impact with the instantaneous nature of internet speed, but who knew it could revive the sales of the tiny Hawaiian guitars known as ukeleles? (Pronounced “you-kuh-lay-lays”). It’s not just YouTube that’s causing the sudden popularity, but the internet in general, including websites and applications for smart phones. 

The L.A. Times tech blog ran a story called “Ukeleles Have Gone Viral” which was such a strange combination of words we had to check it out. They explain that while ukuleles were hot in the 1920s and again in the 1950s, it was only after the passing of Beatle George Harrison in 2001 that the instrument became popular once again. It seems Harrison was well-known in the uke world, but when Paul McCartney played the ukelele in George’s 2002 tribute concert, the world reawakened to the small stringed instrument.

On YouTube, Jake Shimabukuro became a huge hit with more than 3 million hits, playing Harrison’s “My Guitar Gently Weeps” which has been on YouTube since 2006. It’s earned him tours with Jimmy Buffett, a recording session with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and various television appearances. Then over the last two years, singer-songwriter Julia Nunes has performed many of her own uke compositions on YouTube videos, and her online stardom got her invited to last month’s Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee. And you don’t want to miss the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain–eight men in tuxedos performing hits like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, “Hotel California”, or “I Will Survive”. Only in cyberspace can the popularity of a relatively obscure instrument spread with viral internet speed.

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

From YouTube to Your TV

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Internet speed isn’t just for computers anymore. In an article cleverly entitled “YouTube Moves Closer to the Boob Tube” from the New York Times’ Bits Blog, they tell us how YouTube is moving forward with the plans they rolled out in January. Then, they made a version of their site tailored just for the TV screen, called “YouTube.com TV”. This version took away the comments and scroll bars to look more like what you’re used to seeing from your cable setup. But it only worked with certain connections—like with game consoles connected to a TV set, or via TiVo, Apple TV or certain TV’s.

But on Tuesday, they launched a new and improved version that gets them closer to their goal of providing interactive TV. It works on any web browser connected to any TV or computer screen, though it’s intended for large screens, hence the name, “YouTube XL.” Keyboards and some remote controls work with it and it has also the ability to run a series of clips continuously. I can imagine that running in the background of a themed party—like for a graduation party, you could play several clips that have graduates tripping and falling on the way to claim their diplomas.

Currently the regular YouTube service offers some full-length TV shows for viewing from your computer. Some of the most popular include Jimmy Kimmel Live, Weeds, Britain’s Got Talent, and a variety of documentary TV and anime shows. But YouTube XL hasn’t yet secured all the rights from media partners. They’re working on it though. And right now, don’t include ads, but that’s likely to change if TV networks and film studios are going to agree to make their content available on the extra-large screen.

Tags:
Posted in Download Speed, News, connection speed | No Comments »

From YouTube to Carnegie Hall

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Several people have made it to Carnegie Hall with internet speed. 

On Wednesday, April 15th, the concert at the famed Hall will be performed by an orchestra assembled online. The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is a promotion by Google to make its video-sharing site an online destination for classical music and creative alliances.

“I think of this as setting a new trend in online artistic collaborations,” says Tim Lee, a former project marketing manager for Google in London who came up with the idea. Down the road, says Mr. Lee, rock bands or Broadway musicals looking for talent could audition parts globally using YouTube.

In December, aspiring orchestra members downloaded the scores for their instruments from a piece commissioned from the composer Tan Dun (who wrote the score for the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), then posted videos of themselves playing on YouTube. Users uploaded more than 3,000 audition clips in two months, according to Google.

Then, professional musicians from groups including the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic narrowed the field to 200 finalists. YouTube users then voted on their favorites.

Google is paying the airfare and expenses for the 96 winners, who range in age from 15 to 55 and hail from 29 different countries or territories. Though many are professional or semi-professional musicians, a few are amateurs. Regardless, they’ll have only a few days to rehearse together as an orchestra, as well as in the chamber ensembles and improvisatory and solo arrangements in which they’ll play during the concert.

Ed Sanders, YouTube’s project marketing director for Europe, says the concert will be more of an “experience” than a traditional concert, with multimedia effects and videos from Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang and others. Video of the concert will be available on YouTube the day after the event.

Tags: ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

YouTube and Internet Speed

Monday, March 9th, 2009

YouTube has changed the way the world uses the internet. And if you haven’t been able to participate, it’s probably because your internet speed is too slow.  Their system requirements include a minimum broadband connection of over 500 Kbps.  Here’s a quote from their site:

“Still rockin’ the 56k? No problem. As you may already know, a slower connection simply means slower delivery of services. You only need a little more time and patience than with a faster connection. For best results, you may want to start the video player and then click on the PAUSE button immediately. Then, wait until the red progress bar has reached the end of the video before playing it. Allowing the entire video buffer lets you watch it without interruption. Remember, the shorter the video, the shorter the amount of time it takes to buffer.”

But what if you want to share a video with the world? 

“Depending on your connection speed and the size of the video, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours to upload a video. Generally, if you have a high-speed Internet connection you can expect the upload to take somewhere between 1-5 minutes for every 1MB. However, the experience is different for every user because of the variation in connection speeds.”

There are other issues with accessing YouTube, such as the one that President Obama is having.  According to Read Write Web:

“Relatively archaic government policies, rules, and customs that impede progress are being covered by the Washington Post and reach the highest levels of government. To this day, Department of Defense workers, even some of whom are in charge of new media output, cannot access YouTube.”

So don’t feel too bad, internet speed is not the only thing that might be keeping you from enjoying YouTube.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Download Speed, News | No Comments »