As the opposition coalesces around Mohamed ElBaradei, the White House is trying to figure out if he is someone with whom the United States can deal.
Monday, January 31, 2011
And If He Isn't?
Nytimes.com front page teaser to this article:
Egyptian protest footage on YouTube
It’s been hard to open a laptop or turn on the television over the last week without hearing news of the unrest in Egypt. On YouTube, thousands of videos of the protests have poured in, whether as unfiltered footage from the demonstrations themselves, or as news reports from our media partners around the globe.
We understand how closely the world is following these events, and want to help people access and share this information quickly and easily on YouTube. We’re helping people do this in three ways:
Here’s a playlist of videos that have come in:
YouTube has used similar tools and live streaming technologies in the past to give our users access to information on major world news events, such as the Haiti earthquake and the protests in Iran. We hope this footage provides a unique window into the events unfolding in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and many other cities across Egypt.
Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “28th Jan. 2011 - Storyful - Kasr Al Nile Bridge clashes.”
We understand how closely the world is following these events, and want to help people access and share this information quickly and easily on YouTube. We’re helping people do this in three ways:
- Highlighting the latest footage on CitizenTube, our news and politics channel, and inviting people to submit video they’ve come across.
- Pointing our users directly to these videos through banners at the top of YouTube pages, and through links alongside YouTube videos.
- Streaming live coverage of Al Jazeera’s broadcasts about the unfolding events, on both their Arabic and English YouTube channels.
Here’s a playlist of videos that have come in:
YouTube has used similar tools and live streaming technologies in the past to give our users access to information on major world news events, such as the Haiti earthquake and the protests in Iran. We hope this footage provides a unique window into the events unfolding in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and many other cities across Egypt.
Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “28th Jan. 2011 - Storyful - Kasr Al Nile Bridge clashes.”
I'll Play One On This Blog
Obviously deep weeds constitutional lawyering is not my thing, but my common sense, as opposed to understanding and having deep knowledge of precedent, view is that the nonseverability issue isn't actually crazy.
The Rural Counties Are Sucking Us Dry
As a good liberal I certainly don't mind if some of my tax dollars are siphoned off to pay for things in other places, and contrary to the way things are often portrayed, there is a lot of rural poverty that I am happy to redistribute a bit of wealth to. But there's certainly nothing wrong with highlighting this fact (actually have no idea what the fact would be in my state), nor is there anything wrong with questioning whether the degree of regional redistribution is appropriate or communicating just why things are the way they are. More than that it is commonly believed - erroneously at least in some places - that it's those in the Big City who are taking all the state money.
Silly Digby, We're All About Increasing Patchouli Rations
I'd say the only non-jobs/economy issue that The Professional Left was focused on before the election was DADT. Most of us have been begging them to do something.
Bye Bye HCR
Federal judge strikes down whole law, sez mandate is unconstitutional and cannot be severed from rest of law.
Maybe we'll return to my crazy idea to pay for it out of taxes.
Maybe we'll return to my crazy idea to pay for it out of taxes.
Crazy People With Cars Who Will Probably Kill People
Jeebus.
One thing which always flabbergasts me is the degree to which people think their mad driving skills make it unpossible for them to get into an accident.
One thing which always flabbergasts me is the degree to which people think their mad driving skills make it unpossible for them to get into an accident.
If Only They'd Listened To Me
Yes I've been pushing bankruptcy mortgage "cramdown" for years. Yes it would've, to a great degree, provided a fair and efficient way for dealing with this foreclosure mess. The administration claimed to support it but didn't put any muscle behind it. But, you know, fixing the economy is hard work. Especially if you don't go for the obvious solutions.
Complements
Back in the dark ages when I was in grad school, right about the time of the dawning of the Glorious And Bountiful Age Of The Internets, there was a lot of talk about how all this new technology would allow for long distance interaction. With plunging long distance call prices (they actually used to cost real money!), and the rise of email and the potential for videoconferencing, none of us would ever have to interact in person again. This would mean that we would all telecommute, the cities would depopulate, business air travel would become practically nonexistent, etc. Obviously things didn't quite work out that way. Someone (Ed Glaeser maybe?) wrote a basic paper pointing out if face-to-face and distance interactions are complements, rather than substitutes, then your conclusions flip, and that all the technology simply reinforces the benefits of personal interactions, whether in consumption or production.
I still don't think we're close to knowing how all of this technology is going to impact things. I know when I overhear the kids talk today they sound a bit like they're coming from another world, and not simply because I'm too old to know who this Bieber dude is.
I still don't think we're close to knowing how all of this technology is going to impact things. I know when I overhear the kids talk today they sound a bit like they're coming from another world, and not simply because I'm too old to know who this Bieber dude is.
Heckuva Job
Just because I'm petty and George Bush was very proud of the increase the home ownership rate under his presidency, latest census figures out today have the home ownership rate at 66.5%. It peaked at 69.2% in 2004, falling to 67.5% as Bush was about to leave office.
66.5% brings us back to 1998 levels. While this is a bad thing to some extent due to the fact that it's in part a symptom of other bad things, there really isn't any reason that everyone should feel inclined to own a home.
...CR has more.
66.5% brings us back to 1998 levels. While this is a bad thing to some extent due to the fact that it's in part a symptom of other bad things, there really isn't any reason that everyone should feel inclined to own a home.
...CR has more.
You Mean They're Mooslims Too?
As Roy says, it's all Demcracy, Whiskey, Sexy! until it occurs to some of them that the likely successors are also araby muslimy types. Which is, you know, why I was a bit skeptical of all that democracy promotion talk.
Not Like Other Places
The view from DC is a bit different.
The rebound has given a lift to the local economy and begun to ease the pressure on many struggling homeowners, who became more vulnerable to foreclosure when the equity in their property evaporated.
Single-family home prices have soared 27 percent in the District and 26 percent in the Virginia suburbs from the low point, according to a Washington Post analysis of sales records. In the Maryland suburbs, where housing prices fell later and not nearly as far, the rebound has been more modest, 3 percent since their bottom early last year.
The Flash Bus & DVDs are Now Live
UPDATE: Several cities have sold out, and many more are getting close. Latest info: NYC, SF and Buffalo are probably next to go.
Thanks so much for your patience over the last few days. As you can imagine, it has been quite the madhouse around here lately.
Fun fact: I was scheduled to turn 46 years old yesterday, but that has been postposed until next week. No time. (Plus, I just might be onto something with this deferred aging thing.)
Be that as it may, hit the jump for registration and DVD links. Read more »
Thanks so much for your patience over the last few days. As you can imagine, it has been quite the madhouse around here lately.
Fun fact: I was scheduled to turn 46 years old yesterday, but that has been postposed until next week. No time. (Plus, I just might be onto something with this deferred aging thing.)
Be that as it may, hit the jump for registration and DVD links. Read more »
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Actual liberals
Chicago Dyke and I are doing Virtually Speaking Sundays at 5:00 PM Pacific/8:00 PM EST tonight.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Signed,
Not Atrios
Geography
It's real, though it's from several months ago. I think this picture of supposedly scary Iranians doing scary things on the nonexistent border with Israel tops it however.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Meet the Press has Clinton, McConnell, Tim Kaine, and a former ambassador to Israel.
This Week has Clinton, Brzezinski, and the Egyptian ambassador to the US.
Face the Nation has Clinton and Bill Daley.
Document the atrocities!
This Week has Clinton, Brzezinski, and the Egyptian ambassador to the US.
Face the Nation has Clinton and Bill Daley.
Document the atrocities!
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors
Egypt Shuts Down Al Jazeera Cairo bureau.
UPDATE: If you don't have it, here's the live stream in English.
Egypt Shuts Down Al Jazeera Cairo bureau.
Wow."The information minister [Anas al-Fikki] ordered ... suspension of operations of Al Jazeera, cancelling of its licences and withdrawing accreditation to all its staff as of today," a statement on the official Mena news agency said on Sunday.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said it strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. The network received notification from the Egyptian authorities on Sunday morning.
"Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt," the statement said.
An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the company would continue its strong coverage regardless.
UPDATE: If you don't have it, here's the live stream in English.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Clearly
The best next step is a 150,000 person US occupation of Egypt so we can write their constitution, figure out who their interim leader should be, and then spend 10 years training security forces.
Also mercenaries. Lots and lots of mercenaries.
Also mercenaries. Lots and lots of mercenaries.
The Real Reasons
I've been informed that the real reason for the protest in Egypt is widespread anger at high deficits and a too generous retirement program.
What Washington Wants
I also find this stuff* dreary because it's clear that the Very Serious People in Washington want obedient client states in the Middle East. But Very Serious People also have a Very Deep Commitment to Democracy and Human Rights, because that's what we're all about you know, so depending on the person they're either a) completely full of shit or b) get all Tom Friedmanesque about lecturing the "Arab Street" about making "right choices" or some such crap. Great White Father demands his subjects do his bidding and thank him for the opportunity.
*By this stuff I mean the discourse surrounding events like these, not necessarily the events themselves.
*By this stuff I mean the discourse surrounding events like these, not necessarily the events themselves.
Someone Forgot To Pick A Twitter Avatar Color
I think the internet is great, include all the social media, but I get a bit fed up with the ultra-serious tweeting and retweeting the revolution stuff which happens when Big Events are going on.
Introducing: Strobist Lighting in Layers DVDs
UPDATE: Now available as an instant download. See below.
UPDATE 2: The full gear list for the video series is here.
In May of 2008, this site introduced its first commercial offering, the Strobist Lighting Seminar on DVD. It was a start-from-zero tutorial, complete with a newb discussion, a lighting seminar and a set of bonus shoots which were mostly designed around teaching different basic lighting techniques.
A lot has changed since 2008.
The number of photographers using small flashes creatively has exploded, all over the world. And the way photographers share techniques and knowledge has evolved, too.
As a result, people's understanding of lighting has gotten more nuanced. Photographers around the world are pushing their small-flash skills into different outlets and business models. But others are still mired in the technical, searching for outlets for their new-found techniques.
Or spending way too much time photographing the cat in their basement studio.
To that end, I am happy to announce Strobist.com's second DVD installment, "Lighting in Layers"... Read more »
UPDATE 2: The full gear list for the video series is here.
In May of 2008, this site introduced its first commercial offering, the Strobist Lighting Seminar on DVD. It was a start-from-zero tutorial, complete with a newb discussion, a lighting seminar and a set of bonus shoots which were mostly designed around teaching different basic lighting techniques.
A lot has changed since 2008.
The number of photographers using small flashes creatively has exploded, all over the world. And the way photographers share techniques and knowledge has evolved, too.
As a result, people's understanding of lighting has gotten more nuanced. Photographers around the world are pushing their small-flash skills into different outlets and business models. But others are still mired in the technical, searching for outlets for their new-found techniques.
Or spending way too much time photographing the cat in their basement studio.
To that end, I am happy to announce Strobist.com's second DVD installment, "Lighting in Layers"... Read more »
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday Night
I imagine the CIA and State have a good dictator/bad dictator list lying around somewhere.
Since We Rule The World
I get depressed by the fact that whenever there is a major event somewhere in the world few people can manage to go past the question of, "What should we (the US) do?" I know that things are a bit more complicated, and our being involved in everything already complicates them further, but the answer, mostly, is "nothing."
The Economy Still Sucks
At least older urban hellholes have some amount of services to help deal the poor and homeless, but newer growth areas don't.
I think we missed our Sputnik moment.
Much of the money for such schemes comes from different local, state and federal government agencies. But all are tightening the purse strings. The county’s revenues have fallen with property values, so it is cutting back. The state, meanwhile, has cut its grants to Mr Martin’s outfit by 80% over the past four years. Many of the federal grants come courtesy of the stimulus bill of 2009, and so are quickly drying up. When the federal money runs out, says Carolyn Mason, a county commissioner, “that’s pretty much the end of the road”.
Moreover, cities like Sarasota are unsympathetic places for those down on their luck. One of the reasons they grew so fast in the boom years were their low taxes, leaving little money for social programmes. Homelessness is often seen as a threat to migration and tourism. Sarasota city council made several attempts to outlaw sleeping rough, finally finding a formula that passed muster with the courts in 2005. That year it was named the meanest city in America by the National Coalition for the Homeless. All the other cities in the top ten were also in the sunbelt.
I think we missed our Sputnik moment.
Rape Fans
Obviously attempting legally redefine rape in this fashion is horrendous, but more generally I've always found the "rape or incest" exception to be moral gibberish. It's moral gibberish which might have some practical value for victims, of course, but gibberish nonetheless.
Number 9
I get a wee bit uncomfortable at the way people enthusiastically cheer on revolutionary movements in other countries they don't know much about. I'm not defending bad governments, just objecting to the notion that revolution=democracy. It's never clear what will emerge on the other side.
Morning Thread
Rick Santorum is running for president.
I wonder how he's been making a living since losing the election.
I wonder how he's been making a living since losing the election.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Your Interview with President Obama
Earlier today, for the second year in a row, President Obama sat down with YouTube for his first interview after the State of the Union speech. The President took the opportunity to respond to the protests in Egypt for the first time, to address your concerns on jobs, the debt, and health care, and to answer a series of more personal questions that you submitted in video and text over the past few days on YouTube. The interview took place in the Diplomatic Room in the West Wing, which is the same room where FDR used to deliver his fireside chats.
All told, you submitted almost 140,000 questions to our Google Moderator platform over the past few days, and you cast more than 1.3 million votes on which questions you wanted to have asked. With so many compelling questions, it was a challenge to determine the final list to bring to the White House. Our goal was to cover a wide range of issues that were relevant following the State of the Union speech; to remove duplicate questions; and include video questions wherever possible. With those criteria in mind, we looked at the top 5% of the questions you voted to the top in order to determine which questions to pose to the President. None of the questions were chosen by the White House, or seen by the President before the interview. Here is a playlist of all the video questions that were asked:
We’ll be conducting a similar interview with U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner in a few weeks - stay tuned for more details. And we’re also expanding this YouTube Interview program globally as part of YouTube World View, a series of interviews in 2011 that will give you even more access and insight into leaders and elected officials from around the world.
Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, recently watched “Behind the scenes: Before and after the YouTube Interview with President Obama.”
All told, you submitted almost 140,000 questions to our Google Moderator platform over the past few days, and you cast more than 1.3 million votes on which questions you wanted to have asked. With so many compelling questions, it was a challenge to determine the final list to bring to the White House. Our goal was to cover a wide range of issues that were relevant following the State of the Union speech; to remove duplicate questions; and include video questions wherever possible. With those criteria in mind, we looked at the top 5% of the questions you voted to the top in order to determine which questions to pose to the President. None of the questions were chosen by the White House, or seen by the President before the interview. Here is a playlist of all the video questions that were asked:
We’ll be conducting a similar interview with U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner in a few weeks - stay tuned for more details. And we’re also expanding this YouTube Interview program globally as part of YouTube World View, a series of interviews in 2011 that will give you even more access and insight into leaders and elected officials from around the world.
Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, recently watched “Behind the scenes: Before and after the YouTube Interview with President Obama.”
Looking at 2012
Just saw on Rachel Maddow that Rudy Giuliani is telling people he is considering running for President. Of the United States. As a Republican. ("Looking at 2012."). After a day of scraping, digging and shoveling snow, I would like to thank American's Mayor® for a much needed laugh.
Update: Michael Steele just said he would love to seen an Obama - Newt debate. Stop, you're killing me!
Update: Michael Steele just said he would love to seen an Obama - Newt debate. Stop, you're killing me!
Driving In The Urban Hellhole
Obviously deaths per miles driven isn't the only thing that matters, but it is useful bit of information to highlight the somewhat amusing fact that non-urban dwellers are often completely petrified about driving into the city. Some of this is probably completely rational, as the highways into the city and their offramps are a bit scary (older urban highways often weren't designed awesomely), but once you get used to it actually driving around the city isn't especially hard. I used to be scared of urban driving, too, and now I'm more scared of driving on highways and the burbs. Except in Rome. Damn scooters.
Something To Look Forward To Over The Next Several Months
Dozens of press conferences by Republicans no one has ever heard of announcing that they are not running for president.
We Were Winning The Revolution Until The Hippies And Negroes Screwed It Up
DougJ "Son Of DougJ" DougJson writes:
Having not lived through the 60s this is something I only sort of understand, but there is a segment of white male "liberal" technocrats of a certain age who thought they were remaking the country into a "liberal" utopia, which may or may not have included women, and all was going swimmingly until dirty hippies and black radicals screwed the whole thing up. That maybe white male liberal technocratic quiet Americans probably fucked the whole thing up by embarking on our grand Vietnam adventure, or that there are any parallels to today, never occurs to them.
Also, angry bloggers.
I realize times have changed, that national media is more diffuse, that nothing as cinematic as the Patty Hearst kidnapping has taken place yet. But it’s still amazing that so many journalists (Joe Klein, for example) is looking for black panthers under his bed, while cheerfully shrugging off today’s political violence as isolated incidents.
Having not lived through the 60s this is something I only sort of understand, but there is a segment of white male "liberal" technocrats of a certain age who thought they were remaking the country into a "liberal" utopia, which may or may not have included women, and all was going swimmingly until dirty hippies and black radicals screwed the whole thing up. That maybe white male liberal technocratic quiet Americans probably fucked the whole thing up by embarking on our grand Vietnam adventure, or that there are any parallels to today, never occurs to them.
Also, angry bloggers.
Your YouTube questions for the President
In around an hour’s time, U.S. President Barack Obama will sit down for his first post-State of the Union interview – and you might be the interviewer.
Last week we announced that the President would address a selection of your questions in a special YouTube interview. The deadline for question submissions was midnight ET on Wednesday, January 26, and at that time more than 190,000 people had cast more than 1.3 million votes on nearly 140,000 questions.
Tune in to youtube.com/askobama at 2:30 p.m. ET to see and hear the President’s responses to a selection of your top-voted questions, streamed live from the White House.
Here’s a selection of just some of the thousand questions that were submitted, on topics ranging from health care, to university education, to jobs, to sports.
Olivia Ma, News and Politics Manager, recently watched "Ask President Obama."
Last week we announced that the President would address a selection of your questions in a special YouTube interview. The deadline for question submissions was midnight ET on Wednesday, January 26, and at that time more than 190,000 people had cast more than 1.3 million votes on nearly 140,000 questions.
Tune in to youtube.com/askobama at 2:30 p.m. ET to see and hear the President’s responses to a selection of your top-voted questions, streamed live from the White House.
Here’s a selection of just some of the thousand questions that were submitted, on topics ranging from health care, to university education, to jobs, to sports.
Olivia Ma, News and Politics Manager, recently watched "Ask President Obama."
Can't Win Don't Try
It could be that the political geniuses in the White House know exactly what they're doing, pre-compromising and failing to illustrate a strong alternative vision of what they do want, though the results of the last election suggest otherwise.
Obviously if the economy turns around they'll be more right. I'm just not very confident that a turnaround is inevitable.
Obviously if the economy turns around they'll be more right. I'm just not very confident that a turnaround is inevitable.
Stay Home
I know I speak from place of privilege on this matter given that I work from home and have no children to ferry around, but hearing tales like this can I suggest that when massive snowfall is forecast to hit before rush hour more people consider staying home or finding alternative means of transportation? Yes I know lots of people have little choice and I'm also directing this at employers who can provide people with that choice, but really people should just learn that "driving automobile" and "fairly large snowstorm" just don't combine very well. Sometimes you just have to surrender.
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
In the comments to this post I learn that Rich Lowry wrote a work of fiction. In this opus, the protagonist is named Peter Johnson.
Peter. Johnson.
If I wrote a book in which there was some fictional conservative writing a novel with a protagonist named "Peter Johnson" I'm pretty sure the editor would make me change it.
Peter. Johnson.
If I wrote a book in which there was some fictional conservative writing a novel with a protagonist named "Peter Johnson" I'm pretty sure the editor would make me change it.
Bike Fight!
I guess my basic take is that, yes, much as I think jaywalking across an empty street can be perfectly fine at times, that there are certain activities cyclists can harmlessly engage in which aren't perfectly legal. The problem is that any deviation from the laws are unexpected and it seems many cyclists have an exaggerated expectation about what kind of awareness pedestrians and drivers should have of them even when they are engaging in nonstandard behavior. And "I don't have to stop because I can see that no cars are coming" should be accompanied by "I need to stop because there are pedestrians in the intersection." I shouldn't have to dodge cyclists when I'm crossing with a light, and frequently I do. Your vehicles can hurt, too.
Join Life in a Day tonight for its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival
On July 24, 2010, thousands of people around the world uploaded videos of their lives to YouTube to take part in “Life in a Day,” a historic cinematic experiment to document a single day on earth. From Australia to Zambia, more than 80,000 videos, totaling 4,500 hours of footage, were submitted to the project. After months of hard work, Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald and a team of editors have created a 90-minute documentary film that gives a surprising, honest and entertaining self-portrait of our world.
While “Life in a Day” will be officially released later this year, tonight you have a very special opportunity to tune in to the world premiere direct from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The premiere will be followed by a live Q&A with Kevin Macdonald and key contributors to the film. You can submit questions for the Q&A here.
Tonight’s stream begins at 5pm PT/8pm ET on the Life in a Day channel. If you’re outside of the United States, you can catch a rebroadcast on Friday, January 28, at 7pm in your local time zone, captioned and subtitled in 25 additional languages, with an additional option for audio description (AD) in English.
We hope you enjoy the film!
Tim Partridge, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Life in a Day: A new type of filmmaking”.
While “Life in a Day” will be officially released later this year, tonight you have a very special opportunity to tune in to the world premiere direct from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The premiere will be followed by a live Q&A with Kevin Macdonald and key contributors to the film. You can submit questions for the Q&A here.
Tonight’s stream begins at 5pm PT/8pm ET on the Life in a Day channel. If you’re outside of the United States, you can catch a rebroadcast on Friday, January 28, at 7pm in your local time zone, captioned and subtitled in 25 additional languages, with an additional option for audio description (AD) in English.
We hope you enjoy the film!
Tim Partridge, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Life in a Day: A new type of filmmaking”.
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
454K new lucky duckies. That is not good, and no I don't believe it has anything to do with snow as claimed.
Keller
Bill Keller, in what seems to be a promotional piece in this week's NYT Magazine for a forthcoming ebook describes how the journalistic mettle of the Gray Lady has made real journalism out of the material provided by Icky Assange.
He is very insistent, by the way, that when someone like Assange gets material from a leaker, he doesn't become a journalist. He somehow also becomes a "source." Or at least, is "treated" as a source. More than a few people have noted that WikiLeaks seems to be more like Woodward than Deep Throat. Deep Throat in this case, of course, is alleged to be the jailed and uncharged Bradley Manning.
Last I looked, Scooter Libby was still walking around, free.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
HULK SMASH
No knowledge of this other than what I've just read, though I admit it's pretty funny.
TALLAHASSEE — Hoping to fend off a rash of overdoses in Florida during the upcoming spring break, Attorney General Pam Bondi has outlawed a synthetic drug cocktail masquerading as "bath salts" that has apparently give users super-human strength and has similar effects to LSD, heroin and cocaine.
Share and share alike: we’ve acquired Fflick
Many of the YouTube videos you watch and love are also shared on sites beyond YouTube.com. Our site is built, in part, on social tools like comments, video responses and ratings. In recent years we’ve worked to integrate these social signals across other popular social platforms. For example, we see more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link, and over 150 years worth of YouTube video is watched on Facebook every day.
We've always believed that there are great conversations happening all the time off of YouTube.com, and that commentary has the potential to enrich your experience when watching and discovering video on YouTube itself. So today we're excited to announce we’ve acquired Fflick, a talented team that analyzes social media data to surface great content and the discussions around it.
We were impressed by the technical talent, design instincts and entrepreneurial spirit of the Fflick team. As part of YouTube, the Fflick team will help us build features to connect you with the great videos talked about all over the web, and surface the best of those conversations for you to participate in.
We look forward to rolling out more features that help you enjoy and discover new videos to watch, so stay tuned!
Shiva Rajaraman, Group Product Manager, recently discovered “Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic - Smooth Criminal” on Twitter.
We've always believed that there are great conversations happening all the time off of YouTube.com, and that commentary has the potential to enrich your experience when watching and discovering video on YouTube itself. So today we're excited to announce we’ve acquired Fflick, a talented team that analyzes social media data to surface great content and the discussions around it.
We were impressed by the technical talent, design instincts and entrepreneurial spirit of the Fflick team. As part of YouTube, the Fflick team will help us build features to connect you with the great videos talked about all over the web, and surface the best of those conversations for you to participate in.
We look forward to rolling out more features that help you enjoy and discover new videos to watch, so stay tuned!
Shiva Rajaraman, Group Product Manager, recently discovered “Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic - Smooth Criminal” on Twitter.
69 Is Old
I do not understand why people with cushy jobs as senators fail to realize that. I will give Lindsey credit for one thing, however, he at least acknowledges - unlike many - that the retirement age is already scheduled to increase to 67.
Your Modern Republican Party
I'm so old I can remember when "building federal highways" wasn't a particularly controversial idea, for better or for worse.
Hopefully True
CBO:
It's maddening that I see this as optimistic. 9.2% unemployment at the end of 2011 means that we will have had 32 straight months of >9% unemployment.
Maybe there's a sputnik moment here somewhere.
As the recovery continues, the economy will add roughly 2.5 million jobs per year over the 2011–2016 period, CBO estimates. However, even with significant increases in the number of jobs, a substantial reduction in the unemployment rate will take some time. CBO projects that the unemployment rate will gradually fall in the near term, to 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, and 7.4 percent at the end of 2013. Only by 2016, in CBO's forecast, does it reach 5.3 percent, close to the agency's estimate of the natural rate of unemployment (the rate of unemployment arising from all sources except fluctuations in aggregate demand, which CBO now estimates to be 5.2 percent).
It's maddening that I see this as optimistic. 9.2% unemployment at the end of 2011 means that we will have had 32 straight months of >9% unemployment.
Maybe there's a sputnik moment here somewhere.
Really?
I'm one who thinks earmarks are fine, though we can argue about process and transparency, but does anyone really believe Obama will veto any bill with earmarks in it?
Strange Obsession
The obsession with getting readers to pay for news products is just bizarre. Newspapers were always advertising supported businesses for the most part. I get that if that model falls apart, companies are going to hunt for new revenue streams, but charging people seems to be the least likely successful route.
And the much overhyped but potential modest value of the iPad for news services is that it has the potential for delivering superior advertising to eyeballs than the web does generally.
And the much overhyped but potential modest value of the iPad for news services is that it has the potential for delivering superior advertising to eyeballs than the web does generally.
So, Uh, What's Next?
I have a hard time caring about the politics-as-theater aspect of politics anymore, so I'm not too interested in SOTU-type events (though I did watch). I get that the president doesn't control Congress, but the speech was lacking in "here's what we should do" specifics. Is that good, bad? Well, depends on what the point of the speech is, and I'm probably not its target audience.
Dealing With The Real Problems
So glad.
In New York, a bill is pending in the legislature’s transportation committee that would ban the use of mobile phones, iPods or other electronic devices while crossing streets — runners and other exercisers included. Legislation pending in Oregon would restrict bicyclists from using mobile phones and music players, and a Virginia bill would keep such riders from using a “hand-held communication device.”
In California, State Senator Joe Simitian, who led a successful fight to ban motorists from sending text messages and using hand-held phones, has reintroduced a bill that failed last year to fine bicyclists $20 for similar multitasking.
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors
Ah, Kentucky! First you give us Rand Paul, and then you indulge your fetish for that great American tradition: treating poverty itself as a prima facie evidence of criminality.
Thanks!
Ah, Kentucky! First you give us Rand Paul, and then you indulge your fetish for that great American tradition: treating poverty itself as a prima facie evidence of criminality.
Thanks!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Life in a Day, now at Sundance
We recently gave you a sneak peek at “Life in a Day”, and mentioned that Director Kevin Macdonald had selected a group of contributors to join him at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for the film’s world premiere. The documentary film is a collaboration between Macdonald, Ridley Scott, YouTube, and LG about a single day on earth.
These contributors have now arrived in Park City, Utah from as far afield as Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, and Japan. Many of them are travelling overseas for the first time. Starting today, you can see their Sundance journey on the Life in a Day channel, where we’ll be posting daily video updates of their experience, as well as interviews with Kevin and the Life in a Day crew.
You can tune in to the live stream of the world premiere from the Sundance Film Festival this Thursday at 8pm ET/5pm PT. There will also be an additional option for audio description (AD) in English. If you’re outside of the United States, you can also catch the rebroadcast on Friday, January 28, at 7pm in your local time zone. The rebroadcast will be closed captioned and subtitled on YouTube in 25 languages.
These contributors have now arrived in Park City, Utah from as far afield as Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, and Japan. Many of them are travelling overseas for the first time. Starting today, you can see their Sundance journey on the Life in a Day channel, where we’ll be posting daily video updates of their experience, as well as interviews with Kevin and the Life in a Day crew.
You can tune in to the live stream of the world premiere from the Sundance Film Festival this Thursday at 8pm ET/5pm PT. There will also be an additional option for audio description (AD) in English. If you’re outside of the United States, you can also catch the rebroadcast on Friday, January 28, at 7pm in your local time zone. The rebroadcast will be closed captioned and subtitled on YouTube in 25 languages.
While the final film contains 1,025 videos that give an honest and compelling glimpse of our world, the film itself is only one part of the Life in a Day story. To celebrate the many and varied contributions from people around the world, we’ve created a special exhibition at the Sundance Film Festival to allow visitors to browse the tens of thousands of videos submitted to the project. You will be able to see the exhibition from the 'Experience Sundance' page on the channel.
Remember to subscribe to the Life in a Day channel for the latest news on the project, and tune in on January 27 for the live premiere.
Tim Partridge, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Life in a Day Teaser #2: Ron."
#SOTU Winner!
Rep Raul Broun (R-GA) wins the Twitter!
Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism.MORE. George Romero wishes he could have produced footage half as creepy as that Michelle Bachmann trainwreck...
No, Pete Peterson, You Cannot Demand An Embargo Without A Bag Of Cash Attached
Just because he's an evil asshole, not because you care what he has to say.
***EMBARGOED UNTIL 9:00 PM***
January 25, 2011
STATEMENT BY PETER G. PETERSON, CHAIRMAN OF THE PETER G. PETERSON FOUNDATION, ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
“In his speech this evening, President Obama rightly addressed the need to achieve economic stability and promote growth. While it is certainly important for the President to focus on economic recovery and job creation in the short term, reducing our projected federal debt is essential to the nation’s economic health and prosperity in the long term.
“A spending freeze is a step in the right direction, but it is only one element of the long-term fiscal plan we need.
“As we work to strengthen our economy today, we cannot afford to turn our backs on the future. We must couple current efforts to stimulate the economy with a long-term plan that reduces the ballooning interest costs which buy us nothing and crowd out deeply needed investments. We cannot become more of an investment economy if we don’t have future resources to invest.
“A variety of organizations, including the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, are coming forward with pragmatic solutions to our long-term fiscal challenges. The magnitude of the problem is so great that spending cuts or revenue increases alone will not be enough. This year, the President and Congress must work together to agree upon a comprehensive, bipartisan plan to be implemented when the economy recovers, in order put our nation on a sustainable long-term path to recovery, competitiveness and prosperity.”
If Elected He Will
Obviously the only reason the Chicago mayoral race is getting any attention at all is because national political reporters know one of the candidates. None of them know what kind of mayoring Rahm will do, and none of them seem to be interested either.
Sack of Shit
I think big shitpile was a bit prescient.
Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Ally Financial have been accused of cheating and defrauding investors through the mortgage securities they created and sold while at Bear. According to e-mails and internal audits, JPMorgan had known about this fraud since the spring of 2008, but hid it from the public eye through legal maneuvering. Last week a lawsuit filed in 2008 by mortgage insurer Ambac Assurance Corp against Bear Stearns and JPMorgan was unsealed. The lawsuit's supporting e-mails, going back as far as 2005, highlight Bear traders telling their superiors they were selling investors like Ambac a "sack of shit."
...
The traders were essentially double-dipping -- getting paid twice on the deal. How was this possible? Once the security was sold, they didn't have a legal claim to get cash back from the bad loans -- that claim belonged to bond investors -- but they did so anyway and kept the money. Thus, Bear was cheating the investors they promised to have sold a safe product out of their cash. According to former Bear Stearns and EMC traders and analysts who spoke with The Atlantic, Nierenberg and Verschleiser were the decision-makers for the double dipping scheme, and thus, are named as individual defendants in the suit.
Simple Answers To Simple Questions
Steve asks:
No.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
I'm really not sure what to make of this. In fact, I'm a little surprised CNN would agree to this, just as a matter of fairness -- viewers will hear one speech from a Democrat, followed by a speech by a far-right Republican, and then followed by another speech by a far-right Republican? If a liberal Dem announced this morning that he/she is delivering some remarks reflecting on the SOTU tonight, would that also be aired on CNN's national airwaves in its entirety?
No.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
Austerity
It was never a good idea for the UK, and even less of one now that their GDP is falling.
But I imagine the powers that be will continue to try to destroy the place. It's fashionable.
But I imagine the powers that be will continue to try to destroy the place. It's fashionable.
Road Trip.
NOTE: This is one of two big announcements coming within a few days' span on Strobist. (Announcement #2 is here.)
I don't really know how to set this up rather than just to come right out and say it: Dude, I'm going on a 13,000+ mile teaching road trip with Joe Fricken' McNally.
We have cleared our calendars for March and April. We've got a totally fly set of wheels, an excellent radar detector, a trunk full of speedlights and a mapped list of every Chipotle in the United States.
It's gonna be epic... Read more »
I don't really know how to set this up rather than just to come right out and say it: Dude, I'm going on a 13,000+ mile teaching road trip with Joe Fricken' McNally.
We have cleared our calendars for March and April. We've got a totally fly set of wheels, an excellent radar detector, a trunk full of speedlights and a mapped list of every Chipotle in the United States.
It's gonna be epic... Read more »
Tune in tonight: The State of the Union, and your questions
Tonight at 9 p.m. ET, U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver his second State of the Union address - and for the second year in a row, you can submit your follow-up questions for him right here on YouTube. Tune in to youtube.com/askobama and be sure to submit a question for the President (video questions preferred) and vote on your favorites. On Thursday January 27, at 2:30 p.m. ET, we’ll bring a selection of your top-voted questions to the President at the White House in an exclusive, live YouTube Interview.
Just as interested in the GOP’s plan for America? Speaker of the House John Boehner will be doing a YouTube Interview within the month, so stay tuned for more announcements on when and how you can participate. You'll be able to see Rep. Ryan deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union on YouTube after the President’s address as well.
Thursday is your chance to be part of history, so when you sit down to watch the State of the Union tonight on YouTube, grab your video camera, cellphone, or webcam and record a question as the ideas strike you. This is a unique opportunity to have direct access to the President, and if you’re still not sure what to ask, check out this playlist of submitted questions for inspiration.
The deadline for your question submissions is midnight ET on Wednesday, January 26.
This YouTube Interview with President Obama is the beginning of the YouTube World View program, a series of interviews with public leaders and big thinkers who will be answering tough questions all year on YouTube.
Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched, “Sheila’s question, from New Brunswick, Ohio.”
Just as interested in the GOP’s plan for America? Speaker of the House John Boehner will be doing a YouTube Interview within the month, so stay tuned for more announcements on when and how you can participate. You'll be able to see Rep. Ryan deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union on YouTube after the President’s address as well.
Thursday is your chance to be part of history, so when you sit down to watch the State of the Union tonight on YouTube, grab your video camera, cellphone, or webcam and record a question as the ideas strike you. This is a unique opportunity to have direct access to the President, and if you’re still not sure what to ask, check out this playlist of submitted questions for inspiration.
The deadline for your question submissions is midnight ET on Wednesday, January 26.
This YouTube Interview with President Obama is the beginning of the YouTube World View program, a series of interviews with public leaders and big thinkers who will be answering tough questions all year on YouTube.
Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched, “Sheila’s question, from New Brunswick, Ohio.”
Old Media
It is not really something new that television programs with low ratings have a disproportionate influence on public discourse. James Fallows wrote about that years ago in Breaking the News. The Sunday morning shows, with minuscule viewership and defense contractor sponsors have long set the weekly news agenda. Now, of course, cable shows like Countdown, O'Reilly, and the Daily Show have an influence way beyond their audience numbers.
However, the (growing!) cheap ubiquity of tools for making and broadcasting video may change things faster than we expect.
Oh, and Wikileaks.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Respect Internet Traditions!
BJKeefe gets the credit for the only thing about Red State Dot Com you will ever need to know, namely this graphic:
Brendan will let you steal it, but credit where due as well!
Brendan will let you steal it, but credit where due as well!
Taking Up Space
Years ago I was at a talk where someone pointed out that the entire downtown area of Providence, RI, where I lived at the time, could easily fit within the footprint of the parking lot of suburban malls. I don't want to push environmental arguments for urbanism too far, but I do remember when cities were seen as "not green" because they were urban hellhole concrete jungles lacking trees and grass. I'm glad that in recent years there's been an increased recognition that whatever one personally thinks of cities (live where you want!), from an environmental perspective they're probably an improvement. People gotta live somewhere, but they don't necessarily have to take up that much space.
The Silliest Season
It won't be too long before political news is entirely dominated by Republican primary talk. I figure hours of teevee time daily will be given over to random people who claim to represent the "Tea Party" or other nonsense.
I can't even remember the 1996 primary. Didn't everybody just agree it was BobDole's turn?
I can't even remember the 1996 primary. Didn't everybody just agree it was BobDole's turn?
So Maybe They Could Come Close To Doing The Right Thing?
I'm sure Republican infrastructure ideas don't, for the most part, include my beloved SUPERTRAINS, but even this car hater recognizes that there are a few bridges out there that could use a few bucks for repair. If Republicans can actually recognize that maybe they can not be destructive assholes on just that one issue?
Nah...
Nah...
Rahm
No knowledge of specific details of law or court reasoning for throwing him off the ballot in Chicago, but I do think residency requirements of that type are bad law.
Breathe Easy For Another Week
It does distress me that I spent my days worrying about whether a Dem president and a Dem controlled Senate are going to gut Social Security, but it looks like we can stop worrying for another couple of weeks.
I just wish Democrats would understand that there's no grand bargain to be had between people who want to preserve the program and people who want to destroy it. The latter will keep coming after it forever.
I just wish Democrats would understand that there's no grand bargain to be had between people who want to preserve the program and people who want to destroy it. The latter will keep coming after it forever.
Abortion
While some obviously do care a lot, I've decided that most wingnuts really don't actually care about the abortion issue much either way but know that it really pisses off liberals.
If There's A Will
This terrorism in Moscow is horrible and a reminder that if people are willing to get caught/killed/die in the course of blowing up lots of people they are going to do it. Absent identifiable organizations dedicated to terrorism in our country, I'd guess the amount of law enforcement resources that can be usefully applied to stopping such events is pretty close to zero. I remember during the exciting post-9/11 days we'd regularly hear new warnings about possible targets. Shopping malls! And, well, duh, any places were crowds accumulate are possible targets and there isn't much we can do about it.
I was in SoCal post 9-11 and for some reason the powers that be were greatly concerned about car bombs at the airport. Car bombs. At the airport. Why? I have no idea. What makes airports special are...airplanes. Otherwise they might as well be a big shopping mall. Nor did I have any idea why the solution - only cabs and buses were allowed at the airport terminals, no private vehicles - would solve this (hint: not hard to obtain a cab). Anyway, I'm meandering a bit here, just making the point that if people want to blow stuff up they're going to and there isn't much we can do about it.
I was in SoCal post 9-11 and for some reason the powers that be were greatly concerned about car bombs at the airport. Car bombs. At the airport. Why? I have no idea. What makes airports special are...airplanes. Otherwise they might as well be a big shopping mall. Nor did I have any idea why the solution - only cabs and buses were allowed at the airport terminals, no private vehicles - would solve this (hint: not hard to obtain a cab). Anyway, I'm meandering a bit here, just making the point that if people want to blow stuff up they're going to and there isn't much we can do about it.
New York Times Anthropologists
I do always love it when the New York Times travels and marvels at the surprisingly civilized customs of the local natives.
Pro tip: Philly's best eating bets are its BYOBs, the one good consequence of our absurd liquor laws.
Pro tip: Philly's best eating bets are its BYOBs, the one good consequence of our absurd liquor laws.
The Worst People In The World
I certainly don't like calls for violence or the actual violence it can inspire, but what I hate most are armchair revolutionaries.
Military Jargon
Jargon exists in every field, and in every field is a way of excluding outsiders and privileging insiders, but even in addition to acronyms I've found that military types add in an additional layer along the lines of "how dare you disrespect all of the people who have died for your country by not knowing 100% of our obscure terminology."
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Blogger Life
This isn't actually about any specific issue at the moment, but one ongoing thing is that often people perceive my failure to comment on issue X as some sort of...well, I don't know, as meaningful in some way. Sometimes I just don't really have anything to say.
More Thread
The results of [insert local sporting event here] has great implications for [insert relevant political party here].
Believed Or Hoped?
But, yes, Obama was the anti-war candidate (to the extent that any of the main players were, of course), and we know America hates dirty hippies and loves endless war. Scoop Jackson!!!! The Joe Liebermans of the world probably did believe he was doomed.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
Very unsurprised that casino revenues are way under projections.
The casino "trolley" - meaning the casino sponsored free shuttle - has been routed deeper into residential neighborhoods as the dreamed of convention center crowds haven't been showing up. Of course putting the damn thing closer to quality mass transit* would have made too much sense.
*It's actually relatively close to a subway stop, but the walk from the stop to the casino isn't appealing (under major highway overpass, across high traffic boulevard.)
The casino "trolley" - meaning the casino sponsored free shuttle - has been routed deeper into residential neighborhoods as the dreamed of convention center crowds haven't been showing up. Of course putting the damn thing closer to quality mass transit* would have made too much sense.
*It's actually relatively close to a subway stop, but the walk from the stop to the casino isn't appealing (under major highway overpass, across high traffic boulevard.)
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has President McCain and Chuck Schumer.
Meet the Press has Cantor and Clyburn.
This Week has Conrad, Saint Lieberman, Hutchison, and 3 Republican House members.
For those keeping score, D 3, R 6, CfL 1.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Cantor and Clyburn.
This Week has Conrad, Saint Lieberman, Hutchison, and 3 Republican House members.
For those keeping score, D 3, R 6, CfL 1.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Europe Not Sucking
When I was in Yurp in the late 90s, the locals had a kind of "maybe America is actually aweseome and we're doing it wrong" attitude. But that was then, and this is now.
And Brussels was the first place I lived where home broadband was an option, so they caught up pretty quickly on the internet front too.
And Brussels was the first place I lived where home broadband was an option, so they caught up pretty quickly on the internet front too.
Fee Fees
We've gone from saying small government is good to saying that unless top CEOS are sufficiently worshiped by the masses they rule over then the economy will tank.
I do not believe there is an economic model which actually suggests this.
I do not believe there is an economic model which actually suggests this.
Back To The Future
Wonder how long it'll be before the "no liberals allowed on the teevee" rule is back in effect.
Maybe Lanny Davis could get a show.
Maybe Lanny Davis could get a show.
JoshSundquist is January’s “On the Rise” star
Congrats to Josh Sundquist, who edged past Luke Conard in the final hours to win this month’s edition of On the Rise, the program where you decide who goes on the homepage based on a shortlist of channels that’ve experienced fast growth in the last month. Josh is on the homepage today, thanks to your support.
Josh’s list of talents seemingly has no end. He’s an author, a skier, a rapper, a motivational speaker and, naturally, a skilled videographer:
Here’s more from the man himself:
“The growth of my channel is due entirely to the awesomeness of the YouTube community. I especially want to thank iJustine. Even if I wanted to, I could not possibly exaggerate how much she has helped my channel. Also thanks to KsicsFaces for his vids about me, to the VlogBrothers for the stage time at VidCon 2010, to ShaneDawsonTV and Smosh for tweeting my vids, to WillOfDC for promoting my tour, to sxephil, LinzLoves and WHATTHEBUCK for tweeting my book, to Catrific and ItsMeJennaE for putting me in their box, to MissGlamorazzi for her shout-out, to Lisa Harbin for all her behind-the-scenes assistance, and most importantly, to you, my viewers. Without you all watching, talking into a camera would be a very weird hobby. Which is to say, more strange than it already is.”
And that’s not all. Due to the fun we’ve had since starting this program, we’ve created a channel to house regular playlists of even more rising YouTube stars -- because so many more channels deserve a wider audience. These playlists will be featured on the browse page and Tweeted, and will be updated several times a week. Make sure to check back often as your own channel might be featured!
Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched “Amputee Rap.”
Josh’s list of talents seemingly has no end. He’s an author, a skier, a rapper, a motivational speaker and, naturally, a skilled videographer:
Here’s more from the man himself:
“The growth of my channel is due entirely to the awesomeness of the YouTube community. I especially want to thank iJustine. Even if I wanted to, I could not possibly exaggerate how much she has helped my channel. Also thanks to KsicsFaces for his vids about me, to the VlogBrothers for the stage time at VidCon 2010, to ShaneDawsonTV and Smosh for tweeting my vids, to WillOfDC for promoting my tour, to sxephil, LinzLoves and WHATTHEBUCK for tweeting my book, to Catrific and ItsMeJennaE for putting me in their box, to MissGlamorazzi for her shout-out, to Lisa Harbin for all her behind-the-scenes assistance, and most importantly, to you, my viewers. Without you all watching, talking into a camera would be a very weird hobby. Which is to say, more strange than it already is.”
And that’s not all. Due to the fun we’ve had since starting this program, we’ve created a channel to house regular playlists of even more rising YouTube stars -- because so many more channels deserve a wider audience. These playlists will be featured on the browse page and Tweeted, and will be updated several times a week. Make sure to check back often as your own channel might be featured!
Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched “Amputee Rap.”
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors
There was a time when Keith Olbermann was the only person who drew attention to the deep, deep veins of damage in our public life.
The first time he came to my attention was in 2004, when he focused like a laser on the electoral irregularities rife in Ohio, both on Countdown and his old blog Bloggermann, with a simple, straightforward shrug: "I'm a sports guy. I look at the numbers." (I may have that quote wrong, but it was similar to that.)
As he developed a clearer voice in his broadcasts, including the often hotly-awaited Special Comments, I didn't always agree with him, but he always seemed to speak from a principled position. He is a good American, and we need him.
He will be missed.
There was a time when Keith Olbermann was the only person who drew attention to the deep, deep veins of damage in our public life.
The first time he came to my attention was in 2004, when he focused like a laser on the electoral irregularities rife in Ohio, both on Countdown and his old blog Bloggermann, with a simple, straightforward shrug: "I'm a sports guy. I look at the numbers." (I may have that quote wrong, but it was similar to that.)
As he developed a clearer voice in his broadcasts, including the often hotly-awaited Special Comments, I didn't always agree with him, but he always seemed to speak from a principled position. He is a good American, and we need him.
He will be missed.
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Onion’s A.V. Club “Inventory” lists become YouTube videos
The folks at the A.V. Club (the pop culture wing of The Onion) have a new series debuting on YouTube this week called “Inventory,” based on the popular lists by the same name at avclub.com. If you chug pop culture, but like it served up with a twist, “Inventory” will delight every nerve in your nerdy body.
1) What was the genesis of the Inventory program?
Inventory started as a weekly feature on avclub.com in 2005 -- we've done something like 300 of them now! We wanted to challenge ourselves to do a list-type feature in our own way, without being trite or boring like so many lists are. We never wanted to do anything like "10 sexiest movie scenes" or anything; we'd rather do "14 movies featuring tragic masturbation scenes." (Like the one in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. You know what I mean.) It quickly grew into our most popular feature; our readers love to comment on what we missed, and what they agree/disagree with.
2) How does YouTube help in your process, if at all?
We use YouTube all the time to embellish the text Inventory pieces. We'll very frequently reference movie scenes or particular songs, and it's great to be able to show and tell. Sometimes the Inventories are really long -- I've had people tell me that they spent hours just reading one and watching all of the accompanying YouTube clips. Probably while they're supposed to be working.
3) How can the YouTube community get involved in the show, making recommendations or other?
We're often inspired by commenters with new Inventory ideas, and we've always positioned Inventory as an incomplete list of whatever we're talking about. If we have 24 great films too painful to watch twice, for example, we'll learn of a dozen more that could've been on the list from our commenters. We like to think of the feature as the beginning of a conversation, not the end of it.
4) What's a little known fact about Inventory that you'd never know by watching it?
Maybe that we argue amongst ourselves about what should be included. Sometimes people read Inventory as a definitive list of things, not realizing that there are half a dozen people in a room, often vehemently disagreeing on whether something should be included.
5) What question would you ask yourselves if you were doing this interview?
Are you hungry? Can I get you a snack?
Josh Modell, General Manager, The A.V. Club, graciously answered these questions but points out that “pretty much everybody in The A.V. Club had a creative hand in these video segments.”
1) What was the genesis of the Inventory program?
Inventory started as a weekly feature on avclub.com in 2005 -- we've done something like 300 of them now! We wanted to challenge ourselves to do a list-type feature in our own way, without being trite or boring like so many lists are. We never wanted to do anything like "10 sexiest movie scenes" or anything; we'd rather do "14 movies featuring tragic masturbation scenes." (Like the one in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. You know what I mean.) It quickly grew into our most popular feature; our readers love to comment on what we missed, and what they agree/disagree with.
2) How does YouTube help in your process, if at all?
We use YouTube all the time to embellish the text Inventory pieces. We'll very frequently reference movie scenes or particular songs, and it's great to be able to show and tell. Sometimes the Inventories are really long -- I've had people tell me that they spent hours just reading one and watching all of the accompanying YouTube clips. Probably while they're supposed to be working.
3) How can the YouTube community get involved in the show, making recommendations or other?
We're often inspired by commenters with new Inventory ideas, and we've always positioned Inventory as an incomplete list of whatever we're talking about. If we have 24 great films too painful to watch twice, for example, we'll learn of a dozen more that could've been on the list from our commenters. We like to think of the feature as the beginning of a conversation, not the end of it.
4) What's a little known fact about Inventory that you'd never know by watching it?
Maybe that we argue amongst ourselves about what should be included. Sometimes people read Inventory as a definitive list of things, not realizing that there are half a dozen people in a room, often vehemently disagreeing on whether something should be included.
5) What question would you ask yourselves if you were doing this interview?
Are you hungry? Can I get you a snack?
Josh Modell, General Manager, The A.V. Club, graciously answered these questions but points out that “pretty much everybody in The A.V. Club had a creative hand in these video segments.”
This Week's Trends: Fan Anthems, New Dances
Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of the cool stuff we've come across recently:
Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends
Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "60 Second Fight Club"
- We discovered a new dance craze popping up in Taiwan called "Bobee."
- We tracked how the fan-anthem "Black and Yellow" as well as how parodies of that song have grown in popularity with the NFL playoffs kicking in.
- We enjoyed hip-hop from around the world.
- We collected reactions from comic book fans to the announcement of new Batman villains.
- We saw on-the-scene footage from the mudslides in Brazil as well as the unrest in the streets of Tunisia.
- We looked back at how the YouTube community responded in the week following the shooting in Tucson.
- And we examined how amateur weather reports were popping up in the southeast after a big winter storm. Among them was this tongue-in-cheek report that became one of the week's most-shared videos:
Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends
Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "60 Second Fight Club"
Send Me Stuff Or Bags Of Cash
I joke about this regularly on the twitter machine, but one curse of the blogger is the immense amount of PR emails you get. I accept that it just comes with the territory, but I actually wish PR people would be... well, better at it. I don't actually need bags of cash, but if they sent me, say, screeners of movies and TV shows instead of links to their exciting websites and TRAILERS I might actually watch them and talk about them. I don't do it as much as I should, but I actually believe in using my mighty microphone to share good stuff, even good stuff produced by giant megarich corporations. I'd share the good stuff if they sent me the right good stuff.
Or bags of cash.
Or bags of cash.
Joe
As we prepare to (eventually) say goodbye to Joe Lieberman, I suppose this passage from Philip Roth's The Human Stain is as good of a sendoff as any.
The summer that Coleman took me into his confidence about Faunia Farley and their secret was the summer, fittingly enough, that Bill Clinton's secret emerged in every last mortifying detail—every last lifelike detail, the livingness, like the mortification, exuded by the pungency of the specific data. We hadn't had a season like it since somebody stumbled upon the new Miss America nude in an old issue of Penthouse, pictures of her elegantly posed on her knees and on her back that forced the shamed young woman to relinquish her crown and go on to become a huge pop star. Ninety-eight in New England was a summer of exquisite warmth and sunshine, in baseball a summer of mythical battle between a home-run god who was white and a home-run god who was brown, and in America the summer of an enormous piety binge, a purity binge, when terrorism—which had replaced communism as the prevailing threat to the country's security—was succeeded by cocksucking, and a virile, youthful middle-aged president and a brash, smitten twenty-one-year-old employee carrying on in the Oval Office like two teenage kids in a parking lot revived America's oldest communal passion, historically perhaps its most treacherous and subversive pleasure: the ecstasy of sanctimony. In the Congress, in the press, and on the networks, the righteous grandstanding creeps, crazy to blame, deplore, and punish, were everywhere out moralizing to beat the band: all of them in a calculated frenzy with what Hawthorne (who, in the 1860s, lived not many miles from my door) identified in the incipient country of long ago as "the persecuting spirit"; all of them eager to enact the astringent rituals of purification that would excise the erection from the executive branch, thereby making things cozy and safe enough for Senator Lieberman's ten-year-old daughter to watch TV with her embarrassed daddy again. No, if you haven't lived through 1998, you don't know what sanctimony is. The syndicated conservative newspaper columnist William F. Buckley wrote, "When Abelard did it, it was possible to prevent its happening again," insinuating that the president's malfeasance—what Buckley elsewhere called Clinton's "incontinent carnality"—might best be remedied with nothing so bloodless as impeachment but, rather, by the twelfth-century punishment meted out to Canon Abelard by the knife-wielding associates of Abelard's ecclesiastical colleague, Canon Fulbert, for Abelard's secret seduction of and marriage to Fulbert's niece, the virgin Heloise. Unlike Khomeini's fatwa condemning to death Salman Rushdie, Buckley's wistful longing for the corrective retribution of castration carried with it no financial incentive for any prospective perpetrator. It was prompted by a spirit no less exacting than the ayatollah's, however, and in behalf of no less exalted ideals.
It was the summer in America when the nausea returned, when the joking didn't stop, when the speculation and the theorizing and the hyperbole didn't stop, when the moral obligation to explain to one's children about adult life was abrogated in favor of maintaining in them every illusion about adult life, when the smallness of people was simply crushing, when some kind of demon had been unleashed in the nation and, on both sides, people wondered "Why are we so crazy?" when men and women alike, upon awakening in the morning, discovered that during the night, in a state of sleep that transported them beyond envy or loathing, they had dreamed of the brazenness of Bill Clinton. I myself dreamed of a mammoth banner, draped dadaistically like a Christo wrapping from one end of the White House to the other and bearing the legend A HUMAN BEING LIVES HERE. It was the summer when—for the billionth time—the jumble, the mayhem, the mess proved itself more subtle than this one's ideology and that one's morality. It was the summer when a president's penis was on everyone's mind, and life, in all its shameless impurity, once again confounded America.
SUPERBUS
There has been an absolute explosion in inter-city bus service from and to my urban hellhole. I'd add "convenience and transparency of internet booking" to the list of reasons why.
Things Change
So I was recently in LA for a little bit, and it has certainly changed since the last time I spent much time there. Basically, it seems to have filled in a bit and there was actual foot traffic in places like downtown LA even on weekends. It's still a place where the car is king, of course, with much of it, though theoretically walkable, really built at a scale which isn't really pedestrian friendly. Still it is dense enough - and as I said seemed to have filled in a bit since last I was there - that one can get around to some degree without one. Rode their local SUPERTRAINS from the airport to downtown and they were pretty full on a Sunday.
Your questions, your State of the Union
It’s the biggest speech of the year, and next Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET, people across the country and around the world will sit down to watch. But as President Obama delivers the 2011 State of the Union Address, which will be streamed live on YouTube along with the Republican response, you can do more than just watch the speech: you can also submit your questions for the President for an exclusive YouTube Interview that will take place just two days later, on January 27.
In fact, you can get started today. Health care. Education. Foreign policy. What would you like to ask the President about the most important issues our country faces? Go to youtube.com/askobama to submit your question now, or watch the speech on Tuesday night with your webcam or video camera nearby so that you can record and submit your question as soon as it strikes you. This year, you'll also be able to ask your question via Twitter: just include the hashtag #askobama in your Tweet. And be sure to have your say in what should be asked by voting on questions submitted by others, too.
A few suggestions before submitting your questions:
President Obama’s responses to a selection of your top-voted questions will be streamed live from the White House on youtube.com/askobama at 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday January 27.
This interview is the first in a series of world leader interviews coming to YouTube in 2011 as part of YouTube World View. These interviews will give people around the world the chance to engage in conversation with their elected officials and other influential people from the world of business, philanthropy, technology, media and the arts. Check back on the channel in the next few months for more opportunities to participate.
You have until Wednesday January 25 at midnight ET to submit your question for President Obama. The YouTube community made history last year when the President answered your questions in the first ever citizen-powered interview of a United States president. If you didn’t get an opportunity to ask the President a question last year, make sure you don’t miss out this time -- get your submission in early.
Remember, after the President’s address you’ll have the opportunity to watch Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union as well. And within the month, we’ll be holding a similar YouTube Interview with a prominent Republican leader - more details soon.
*Update - that should read "You have until Wednesday January 26 at midnight ET to submit your question for President Obama".*
Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Submit your question for President Obama”
In fact, you can get started today. Health care. Education. Foreign policy. What would you like to ask the President about the most important issues our country faces? Go to youtube.com/askobama to submit your question now, or watch the speech on Tuesday night with your webcam or video camera nearby so that you can record and submit your question as soon as it strikes you. This year, you'll also be able to ask your question via Twitter: just include the hashtag #askobama in your Tweet. And be sure to have your say in what should be asked by voting on questions submitted by others, too.
A few suggestions before submitting your questions:
- Video questions are highly preferred (though we also accept text). Videos should be about 20 seconds long and be sure to ask the question directly.
- Speak clearly and try to film in a place with minimal background noise. Keep the camera as still as possible.
- Feel free to be creative (use props, charts, etc.) to help your question stand out. If you have time, find an interesting backdrop that may help reinforce your message.
- Submit your question early. The final deadline is Wednesday January 26 at midnight ET.
President Obama’s responses to a selection of your top-voted questions will be streamed live from the White House on youtube.com/askobama at 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday January 27.
This interview is the first in a series of world leader interviews coming to YouTube in 2011 as part of YouTube World View. These interviews will give people around the world the chance to engage in conversation with their elected officials and other influential people from the world of business, philanthropy, technology, media and the arts. Check back on the channel in the next few months for more opportunities to participate.
You have until Wednesday January 25 at midnight ET to submit your question for President Obama. The YouTube community made history last year when the President answered your questions in the first ever citizen-powered interview of a United States president. If you didn’t get an opportunity to ask the President a question last year, make sure you don’t miss out this time -- get your submission in early.
Remember, after the President’s address you’ll have the opportunity to watch Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union as well. And within the month, we’ll be holding a similar YouTube Interview with a prominent Republican leader - more details soon.
*Update - that should read "You have until Wednesday January 26 at midnight ET to submit your question for President Obama".*
Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Submit your question for President Obama”
Pennies
As I said before, actual proposed budget cuts, as opposed to "let's just wish the budget was smaller," will mostly be about pissing off liberals.
$18.9 Million In Irvine
Such a thing would only be desirable if you entertain. A lot. Do people who buy them really entertain that much?
5 Questions for Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn, Pomplamoose
What you hear is what you get with YouTube Partners Pomplamoose. Every sound you hear in their music videos is produced by an instrument you see played in their music videos. It’s a novel idea they call the “videosong”. And, in a world with so many artificial, over-produced sounds, Pomplamoose provides refreshing covers and original music. Brands are taking notice of this authenticity, too. If you've been living in a hole for the past few months, you might have missed their Hyundai commercials over the holidays.
Continuing on their quest to make music (and musicians) more accessible, we asked Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn about how they got their start, what it’s like working with brands, and buying Etsy chandeliers to create your very own mysterious aura.
You should also tune into their live webshows on Tuesdays at 6:30pm PT at www.pomplamoose.com.
Shenaz Zack, Product Manager, recently watched, “Pomplamoose - If You Think You Need Some Lovin”
Continuing on their quest to make music (and musicians) more accessible, we asked Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn about how they got their start, what it’s like working with brands, and buying Etsy chandeliers to create your very own mysterious aura.
You should also tune into their live webshows on Tuesdays at 6:30pm PT at www.pomplamoose.com.
Shenaz Zack, Product Manager, recently watched, “Pomplamoose - If You Think You Need Some Lovin”
Heroism
Read enough conservative blogs over the years, and you get that most of them have a pretty intense hero fantasy. They get off on war porn, fantasies mostly involving other peoples' heroism as most of the 101st keyboard commandos have never had any intention of enlisting. But many of them are gun nuts, and like all gun nuts I've ever known (I don't mean all people who own guns, or hunt, or whatever, I mean gun nuts), they have a hero fantasy which involves them killing an assailant with their gun.
So this kind of heroism probably doesn't really resonate.
So this kind of heroism probably doesn't really resonate.
What's Good For GE Is Good for America
And if we just babble cliche modern capitalism talk the jobs pony will finally come.
Democracy
In one of the webcast things I do, Marcy Wheeler said that one of the things that is evident in the WikiLeaks cables is the degree to which democratic processes are held in contempt by the people in what Assange calls the invisible government. We're seeing this now as we wait, breath bated, to see whether the State of the Union will include an incredibly unpopular call to cut Social Security--with no policy discussion about the merits of doing so taking place in the public sphere.
Likewise, there are gun regulations that have extremely broad support, but are very difficult, for some reason, to implement.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
They Get Death Threats
Glenn Beck targets Frances Fox Piven. (Who is...? Why, she is someone Glenn Beck targets.)
At what point will Fox, and CNN before them, be compelled to concede that it might have been a mistake to make this nut a star?
Beginning in September of 2010, Glenn Beck started branding Piven, a distinguished professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, as an “enemy of the Constitution.” Piven, well known for advocating for the organizational rights of the poor and encouraging voter registration, has since received threatening phone calls and letters, and has become the subject of many death threats left open to the public on Glenn Beck’s website, The Blaze"...Should Professor Priven be worried? Yes. She should.
The Center for Constitutional rights details a backlash through some of the many violent quotes on Beck’s website. Examples include, “Maybe they should burst through the front door of this arrogant elitist and slit the hateful cow’s throat,” “We should blow up Piven’s office and home,” and “I am all for violence and change Frances: Where do your loved ones live?”
Read the rest."You need to go back to June --- June of this year, 2010," said would-be mass murderer Byron Williams, referring to Glenn Beck in a jailhouse interview. Williams had been stopped by police in a San Francisco shoot out on his way to assassinate members of the ACLU and the progressive Tides Foundation in July of 2010. "Look at all his programs from June, and you'll see he's been breaking open some of the most hideous corruption," Williams, who viewed Beck as a "schoolteacher on TV", later said.
In case you are wondering about Beck's comments in the video above, thinking it must be out of context or something, it's not.
At what point will Fox, and CNN before them, be compelled to concede that it might have been a mistake to make this nut a star?
Things I Believed
I certainly didn't believe in #s 1, 3, or 5, though I probably thought them to be more true than I do now. I didn't believe 2 completely, but close enough. I did believe in 4. Oh well.
Can't Run From Your Signature Policy
Whatever its merits or lack of, it was truly bizarre watching Democrats run and hide from their signature policy because, well, there wasn't actually any way to run from it. Either stand up for it or don't pass it in the first place. Glad they've finally come around.
Rosco CalColor: The "Whatever You Want it to Be" Gels
At this point, most of us are probably pretty familiar with the gel fixes for fluorescent and tungsten ambient light situations. And for the trickier sources, you can check Rosco's free FIlter Facts booklet to learn what filter combinations can be used to balance lights such as sodium- or mercury vapor, etc.But what about really weird, non-standard lighting environments, like a high school gym with sodium vapors and a brightly colored wall affecting the overall ambient color?
There's a gel kit for that, too. Read more »
Real Amurrikah
Despite months of media fluffing of Tea Partiers and decades of demonizing anything that sounds remotely like socialism... Socialism wins!
Lady Boobs
One things I've come to realize is that there are a lot of people (men, mostly, of course) who don't realize that there is no way for women with larger breasts to dress "modestly," if you define "modestly" as dressing in such a way that the world is unaware of your breasts.
Twin Turbos
The WaPo newsroom is apparently filled with more hideous people than even I could imagine.
Screening Room now showing short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival
Can’t make it to Park City, Utah to mingle with independent film’s glitterati at the Sundance Film Festival this year? We’ll bring the magic to you.
To celebrate the kickoff of one of the world’s most acclaimed independent film festivals, YouTube and the Sundance Film Institute are teaming up to present a collection of past and present short films in the YouTube Screening Room. Over the next few weeks, we’ll feature:
- Four career-starting short films from past Sundance Film Festivals
- Four short films from past participants in the Sundance Director’s Lab
- Twelve short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival
This week’s installment includes four new films from up-and-coming directors. The films’ settings range from a virtual, retro-gaming world to the very real struggles of contemporary Afghanistan.
8 Bits Witness a fight between an 8-bit superhero and a high-def boss, set in a retro-gaming world. Directed by Valere Amirault, Sarah Laufer, Jean Delaunay and Benjamin Mattern.
Andy and Zach Andy tries to set up a new life when his roommate and best friend, Zach, moves out. Directed by Nick Paley.
Skateistan: To Live and Skate in Kabul Skateistan is an oasis where children can be children and build the kind of cross-cultural relationships that Afghanistan needs for future stability. Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel.
The High Level Bridge Trevor drops his camera from Edmonton's High Level Bridge in memory of those who have jumped. Directed by Trevor Anderson.
Check out the Screening Room again on January 27, 2011, and February 3, 2011, to catch the next two installments of short films from this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Kinzie Kramer, Associate Product Marketing Manager, just watched Battle of the Bands
Blogging Like It's 2002
This story of mass mob arrests inspires me to do some Sopranos blogging. I've been slowly working my way through the series over the past couple of years, which I'd never seen before, and am nearing the end. I have no clue of the deal of realism of its portrayal of mob life, but one thing which has consistently struck me about the portrayal is how even the relatively senior people in the organization don't actually seem to make very much money. Seems to be a relatively high stress 'job' for so little compensation.
No Urgency
While I'm generally on board with Summers bashing, I'm not sure I quite agree with Felix that the Baker NYT piece makes him THE bad guy. I'd say, if anything, it makes Obama the bad guy, and not simply in the kossacks just work for the Czar sense. I think "they" believed in December of 2009 through the Summer of 2010 that they'd fixed it. And "they" includes the guy in charge.
Being Bold
One way to be bold on the economy would be to fix the damn foreclosure crisis. They had a $50 billion slush fund to spend on it, and they didn't bother.
It isn't some tremendous mystery why the economy didn't turn around, and the administration didn't use the tools they had at their disposal which didn't require President Snowe's approval.
It isn't some tremendous mystery why the economy didn't turn around, and the administration didn't use the tools they had at their disposal which didn't require President Snowe's approval.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Picking Winners
In the wake of the news that Evergreen Solar is shutting down its US manufacturing I've seen a lot of trite and lazy commentary about US manufacturing and "picking winners." Some conservative critics see an opportunity to bash, well, stuff liberals support, but I think they're mostly* misguided on a number of levels.
I deleted a longish and rambling draft of this post, so I'll just point out that the greater degree of financial support (not even counting the managed float of the RMB) is more important by a factor of 2-4 in the lower cost of Chinese PV modules, rather than labor costs or environmental regs, so it isn't inevitable that US manufacturing can't compete. First Solar is proving that pretty well, and the Chinese firm Suntech is opening US manufacturing now. If 10% of the annual cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were pumped into solar to reduce the capex of domestic producers, we'd be making the least expensive, most efficient modules in the world in short order.
Anyway, for the sake of brevity here, I'll just say that I'll be happy to explain the fate of Evergreen for the price of a beer sometime. Suffice it to say, String ribbon wafers were an important and potentially disruptive technological advance, but both outside forces and apparently fundamental limitations of the process have hindered the technology, and the company. I should add that I do not work for Evergreen or any PV module manufacturer.
*There are obviously important debates over various aspects of the issue about which reasonable people can disagree, but Michele Malkin and her cohorts are not reasonable people.
I deleted a longish and rambling draft of this post, so I'll just point out that the greater degree of financial support (not even counting the managed float of the RMB) is more important by a factor of 2-4 in the lower cost of Chinese PV modules, rather than labor costs or environmental regs, so it isn't inevitable that US manufacturing can't compete. First Solar is proving that pretty well, and the Chinese firm Suntech is opening US manufacturing now. If 10% of the annual cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were pumped into solar to reduce the capex of domestic producers, we'd be making the least expensive, most efficient modules in the world in short order.
Anyway, for the sake of brevity here, I'll just say that I'll be happy to explain the fate of Evergreen for the price of a beer sometime. Suffice it to say, String ribbon wafers were an important and potentially disruptive technological advance, but both outside forces and apparently fundamental limitations of the process have hindered the technology, and the company. I should add that I do not work for Evergreen or any PV module manufacturer.
*There are obviously important debates over various aspects of the issue about which reasonable people can disagree, but Michele Malkin and her cohorts are not reasonable people.
I Tried To Warn Them
But no one listens to me.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's apparent willingness to consider cuts in Social Security benefits may be winning him points with Washington elites, but it's killing him with voters, who see the program as inviolate and may start to wonder what the Democratic Party stands for, if not for Social Security.
That's the conclusion of three top progressive pollsters who spoke to reporters Wednesday at a briefing sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, the Century Foundation and Demos.
"For the public, cutting benefits is the problem, not the solution," said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart.
New YouTube homepage launches to all users
You may have noticed we've been experimenting with a new YouTube homepage. After countless user studies and community surveys, one thing came in loud and clear: the homepage in its current form doesn’t mean much to most of you, and could be more personally relevant. So the goal of this experiment was to put more of an emphasis on "videos for you.”
To pave the way for this experiment, we removed some of the less-used modules such as "Videos Being Watched Now.” Then we moved modules like "Spotlight" and "Featured Videos" over to the right side. All of these changes were to make room for a combined list of personally relevant videos made up of recommendations for you, your subscriptions activity, and videos being shared by your friends.
Recently we opened up the experimental homepage to anyone who wanted to try it out. Millions of users opted in and now have this new version set as their homepage. Many of the people who tried the experimental homepage filled out our feedback form. While not everyone loved it, most people thought the new homepage was better than the old homepage.
Here are some of the enhancements offered by the new homepage (logged in users only):
Although some of you might miss some features, we think this latest version is a step in the right direction. It’s simpler, more personal, and it makes it easier to follow and watch the videos that are meaningful to you. So today we're rolling out this new homepage for all logged in users worldwide.
We're dedicated to making YouTube the best place for you to discover and share great videos. Please send us your feedback in a video, in the forums, on this blog or on Twitter. As always, we’ll be listening and taking your feedback very seriously.
The YouTube Team
To pave the way for this experiment, we removed some of the less-used modules such as "Videos Being Watched Now.” Then we moved modules like "Spotlight" and "Featured Videos" over to the right side. All of these changes were to make room for a combined list of personally relevant videos made up of recommendations for you, your subscriptions activity, and videos being shared by your friends.
Recently we opened up the experimental homepage to anyone who wanted to try it out. Millions of users opted in and now have this new version set as their homepage. Many of the people who tried the experimental homepage filled out our feedback form. While not everyone loved it, most people thought the new homepage was better than the old homepage.
Here are some of the enhancements offered by the new homepage (logged in users only):
- Increased focus on videos that matter to you (subscriptions, friend's sharing, recommendations)
- You can easily filter your homepage to show only the latest uploads from your subscriptions
- Don't miss anything; if a channel uploads four videos in a day, you’ll see all four - instead of just the latest video
- Quick access to the inbox when you have new messages or comments
- Knows what you have seen (videos you've watched are grayed out)
- Remove any video (hover and click the "x" button)
Although some of you might miss some features, we think this latest version is a step in the right direction. It’s simpler, more personal, and it makes it easier to follow and watch the videos that are meaningful to you. So today we're rolling out this new homepage for all logged in users worldwide.
We're dedicated to making YouTube the best place for you to discover and share great videos. Please send us your feedback in a video, in the forums, on this blog or on Twitter. As always, we’ll be listening and taking your feedback very seriously.
The YouTube Team
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