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Searchles: Searching goes Web 2.0

As everyone knows, you only get one shot at making a first impression, and my first impression upon visiting Searchles was one of bewilderment. I received a couple e-mails from an employee at Searchles and decided to check out what the site was about. I was greeted with a search box along the top of the screen, and a feed of recent posts running down the left. A listing of groups and tags filled up the rest of the real estate.

Not sure where to begin, I typed Iraq into the search box and returned a query of 3,188 results. The top result was culled from October of last year and the top 10 posts seemed to be all over the map including videos from the Iran-Iraq war. So perhaps the site isn't geared toward current events, but each subsequent search I performed yielded an equally diverse set of posts. The group functionality seemed a bit more utilitarian, but it took some time before I stumbled onto the part of the site where Searchles really does excel.… Read more

YouTubers protest account suspensions of kid videos

YouTube users are complaining that the viral video site is suspending accounts that feature videos with children in them without stating why. So far, at least three channels--Jesari, YoungTubers and Galipoka--have been suspended, all featuring popular young YouTubers.

Is it age discrimination? Or is it overzealous enforcement of a child protection policy? A spokesman for YouTube's outside public relations firm said he would look into the matter and get back to CNET News.com. A Google spokesman directed all questions on the matter to YouTube.

According to the terms of service, people have to be over the age of … Read more

Mesmo knows what your friends are watching

Several weeks ago I learned about Mesmo.TV, a social site for video recommendations. I tried it, found it confusing, and didn't write it up. This morning the Mesmo site officially launched. It's still confusing. But Mesmo's Facebook app is a different story. It's much cleaner and easier to get into than the Web site. It's also more powerful, since the community is built in.

Simply, Mesmo lets you flag the video content you like--TV shows, online video clips, and video podcasts--and also see what your friends like. When you want to expand your viewing … Read more

Sony goes snap Crackle and pop

Online video is all the rage and everyone wants in on the action. One year ago Sony acquired Grouper for $65 million dollars and today that enterprise is known as Crackle. In an effort to distinguish itself from the crowded competition, Crackle has chosen to dangle fame in front of would be producers young faces. Given that the elusive hope of fame has fueled a pilgrimage to Hollywood for close to 100 years, such tantalizing promises will likely deliver the goods.

In order to ensure that the lure of fame resonates with Crackle's audience the company is currently offering three contests that will likely advance the careers of the lucky winners.The High Wirecontest will allow the funniest individual a chance to perform at the IMPROV. The Shorts contest offers a $15,000 purse and the winner an opportunity to pitch his or her best idea to Columbia Pictures. Finally, the Wet Paint contest winner is open to aspiring animators and also comes with a $15,000 cash prize as well as a trip to the Sony Pictures Animation Studios. Participants should expect a rotating array of enticing contests.

… Read more

Sony announces new pocket camcorder, claims it isn't 'full of stars'

If you ever wanted to videotape your pets fighting to Romanian dance music while on a trampoline, Sony has a new pocket camcorder for you. Sony's NSC-GC1 Net-sharing CAM is targeted specifically at the YouTube crowd, with a low enough price tag and just enough power to throw clips up on the Web. The Net-sharing CAM can shoot video ranging from QVGA (320x240) at 15 frames per second to VGA (640x480) at 30 frames per second. It records to Sony's Memory Stick DUO memory cards, so if you already have a PlayStation Portable or a Sony Cyber-shot digital … Read more

'Harry Potter' and 'HairSpray' appear at Google Video.

The hits just keep coming to Google Video.

Pirated versions of Hairspray, Bruce Willis' Live Free, Die Hard and last weekend's top grossing film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, were available at YouTube's sister site on Monday.

The films were first flagged by the National Legal and Policy Center, a watchdog group that tries to prod public figures to act ethically. The NLPC argues that Google treats the entertainment industry unfairly by allegedly looking the other way when users post pirated material to its sites.

For a month, the NLPC has dug up hundreds of … Read more

Sony veers away from video sharing

YouTube's dominance in video sharing has prompted Sony to take a new approach to the sector.

Grouper, the video-sharing site acquired by Sony last August for $65 million, announced on Monday that it is dropping its name and changing its business plan. Grouper from here on out will be known as Crackle.

"User-generated video is dead to us," declared Josh Felser, Grouper's founder who is now Crackle's president. "We are definitely leaving video sharing and focusing on emerging talent."

In the past, visitors to Grouper could post videos to the site and eventually … Read more

Michael Rosenblum launches new initiative for citizen journalism

If you visit ctzn.tv, you won't find anything beyond the company logo. But according to an e-mail I received from Ken Krushel, the president of CitizeNews, ctzn.tv will soon become a portal aggregating "the very best work of the very best video journalists in the world" while providing compensation for its content creators and developing itself as an agency for content distribution networks yet to be announced. Ctzn.tv expects to launch in August.

Prior to starting CitizeNews, Ken Krushel developed Proteus and worked as an executive for NBC. Alongside Krushel, controversial video visionary Michael Rosenblum will work to bring ctzn.tv to life. Rosenblum is best known for coining the term VJ (video journalist) and teaching the principles he developed to television stations large and small. His approach has completely changed the way local San Francisco station KRON gathers news, and these techniques have been adopted most recently by the Travel Channel.… Read more

Camfrog: First Look

If you're a social creature, Camfrog is a megapopular internationally-trafficked chat site that seamlessly integrates video and text chat, the Web 2.0 version of the old "party lines" that people used to call in to.

The schmoozing features include regular quizzes, as well as guitar instruction and deaf-specific chats, among others. Watch this First Look at Camfrog video to see if it's your kind of party.