Category: YouTube

Perennial geek idol and gloomy music star Trent Reznor is not making any friends at his record label, Universal Media Group (UMG). At a concert Sunday night in Sydney, Reznor let loose on the music industry. Commenting on the fact that CD prices had not dropped after an outburst in May (see below), he asked, "Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. ...

If you don't watch 'Robot Chicken' on Cartoon Network, here's a quick primer: Actor Seth Green (of 'Austin Powers' fame) and friends film lightning-fast pop-culture spoofs using toy action figures and stop-frame animation ala Gumby. Nothing is sacred and nearly everything is ingenious. This skit from the latest episode takes aim at the legendary Nintendo game, 'The Legend of Zelda' and reveals ...

With classes like 'Philosophy and the Simpsons' and 'Star Trek and Religion' already being offered at various American colleges in exchange for actual credits toward graduation, a class based around YouTube was inevitable. Alexandra Juhasz, a media studies professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, California found herself generally underwhelmed by the quality of videos on YouTube, but ...

Prince (The Artist Formerly Known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), is taking on three sites that he says are primarily responsible for the online piracy of his music. Prince and a company called Web Sheriff are working closely together to get the offending material pulled from both YouTube and eBay. The third site named in the suit is Torrent peer-to-peer file sharing network / ...

If you aren't a regular visitor to Tech Digest's excellent 'YouTube Video of the Day' column, well then you're probably much more productive than we are. But, hey, it's Friday and it's a slow news day, so we couldn't help but share this awesomely stupid clip of a man whose vacuum cleaner sounds a lot like Han Solo's number one homeboy, Chewie. It's uncanny, really. Steak knives that sound like ...

Thanks to the iPod's success, and Sony's bumbling, the legendary Walkman brand has seen its prominence in the marketplace diminish, but don't ring the death knell yet. Today, Sony started selling two new Walkman models that offer increased flexibility over previous models and are the first ones to offer video. Sure, it's almost two years since Apple first launched video capability on the iPod, ...

Has anyone else noticed that those annoying onscreen overlay ads on YouTube -- such as the above one for 'Hairspray' -- seem to have vanished? When Google annexed YouTube to be a part of its sprawling media empire, the search giant promised to someday monetize YouTube videos with an advertising system that would be unobtrusive to users. About a week ago, Google attempted to make good on that ...

In case you hadn't heard, Google Video is closing up shop. When the initial announcement was made, Google explained that videos purchased through Google Video would cease playing, but that all money would be returned in the form of Google Checkout Funds, which are kind of like those credit card points you get to spend online, but only at participating retailers. Now, if there's one sure fire way ...

When this video's owner set up surveillance video cameras up around his house, he probably thought he'd catch a couple of kids cutting through his yard, someone stealing his paper or maybe the neighbor's dog using his lawn as a urinal. Instead, he struck gold with tape of a lazy UPS guy hurling a package at the front door from a neighboring yard. Hello, Customer Service complaint! Remember that ...

In what promises to be the most entertaining court trial since 'My Cousin Vinny,' Google is throwing down a challenge to Viacom, which is suing the search company cum omnipresence to the tune of $1 billion for copyright infringement. The challenge: Google wants two of Viacom's best known personalities -- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert -- to give depositions. Before Viacom and YouTube ever ...

Helio is not resting on the rave reviews it got for its iPhone-killing Ocean device. Today, the boutique cell-phone carrier is launching the FIN, which is, at .43-inches, the slimmest folding phone available in the U.S. (making the FIN, potentially, a RAZR2-killer, or at least a strong alternative to all the other super-slim phones out there). Besides its thin profile, the $175 FIN has a bunch ...

Way back in the day (a whole four years ago) the Internet was primarily a tool of communication -- e-mail, message boards, instant messaging. Then somewhere along the way things began to change. Content became king. A study conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings over the past four years has shown that almost half our Internet lives are now spent devouring content (like this blog). Since 2003, the ...

NBC is gearing up to launch its second YouTube competitor, Didja.com. The first is a yet-to-be-named joint venture with FOX to offer TV shows for download. So, what's Didja, then? Didja will show only advertisements. Sure there's a certain irony to a Web site that will sell advertising space on a site designed to show ads, but hey, who are we to judge? Didja.com will be loaded with classic ads, ...

Video games and temper tantrums have been linked ever since the days of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde boxing Pac-Man into a corner. Who among us hasn't kicked an arcade machine, or thrown a controller out of frustration? That's somewhat normal. What isn't normal is what you'll find below and on the following pages: So much screaming, yelling, swearing and violent physical flailing, you'd swear ...

Those of you working in cubicles may have encountered some Web sites your job doesn't want you to visit, like YouTube or MySpace. Sure, you should probably be working instead of watching videos of idiots throwing hot sauce at drive-through employees, but we all need a little reprieve now and then. A Wall Street Journal article called 'Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You' shares some ...