Technologizer

Is Sezmi a Cable TV Killer?

Monday, November 16, 2009

I’ve written periodically of my flirtation with dumping cable for an Internet-only approach to my TV watching. I haven’t, however, pulled the trigger–mostly because cable still has a lot of live programming, such as news and sports, that I can’t replicate over the Net alone. That’s why I’m intrigued by Sezmi, a TV service that’s announcing [...]

AIM Gets More Social

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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I use AOL’s instant-messaging network all day long, but I’m not sure when I last used the AIM software itself (with the exception of the iPhone version). I’ve associated it with feature bloat, annoying ads, and a sort of old-timy, Web 1.0 feel. So I long ago switched to other clients that support the AIM [...]

New RealPlayer Moves Web Video to Devices

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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Want a reason to check out RealPlayer SP, the new beta of the next version of RealPlayer, a media player that most of us have used at one time or another but which is no longer omnipresent? It’s got a new feature that’s pretty cool: the ability to easily download video from YouTube and other [...]

YouTube Tries Choose-Your-Own Ads

Monday, June 15, 2009

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In a clever move by Google, some YouTube content will present viewers with a choice: Select from two advertisements to watch at the beginning, or intersperse a grab bag of ads throughout the video. This idea, which is being tested on a small number of premium YouTube videos, is far more preferable to those floating ads [...]

5Words for Monday, June 1st, 2009

Monday, June 1, 2009

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Greetings from LAX, tech lovers… “Netbook” trademark spat is over. Advertising invades the Kindle. Sorta. Should YouTube charge for uploads? Hey, it’s Space Invaders soap! U.S. may get streaming BBC. Om Malik’s Palm Pre impressions. eMusic gets older Sony music.

Porn Prank Pesters YouTube

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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Pranksters from the Web sites 4chan and eBaum’s world converged on Google’s YouTube video service today for a stunt organizers called “Porn Day,” Ars Technica is reporting. Porn day participants “carpet bombed” YouTube with pornographic videos throughout the day as YouTube struggled to remove the offending content. Explicit images remained in video thumbnails even after the [...]

5Words for April 23rd, 2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

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Hey, BlackBerry fans, good news: Spy shots: Skyfire’s BlackBerry browser. YouTube gets a chat feature. New Ubuntu available for download. Microsoft: still under antitrust watch. $9000 Leica camera: pretty, white. MSI readying Android-based netbooks? OQO’s future doesn’t look bright. Trade your HD-DVDs for Blu-Ray. Lost laptops cost $50,000. Supposedly. Asus releases a 17.3″ notebook. Amazon deletes bribe-revealing reviews.

5Words for April 20th, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

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Wow, Oracle will own Java… Larry Ellison is buying Sun. Adobe puts Flash on TVs. The post-Windows era begins. TiVo to sell user data. YouTube’s new comment filtering system. Toshiba’s netbook starts at $600. iPhone refurbs: a good deal. Apple leads in customer experience. A review of iPhone Quickoffice. Microsoft gets $15 per netbook.

Fix Your Font Hassles, Save Music From YouTube

Friday, April 3, 2009

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You have problems, I have answers, and that’s what I’m tackling in this week’s story: Two of your gnarly issues. I can see you now, quickly composing a message with your long-repressed computing crisis. Don’t start hyperventilating. I gave up answering e-mailed PC troubleshooting questions years ago. However, some computing hassles, aka kvetches, are broad enough [...]

Is YouTube a Massive Money Loser?

Friday, April 3, 2009

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International financial services company Credit Suisse has burst Google’s bubble: Its analysts report that YouTube could be on track to lose $470 million this year due to outrageously high operating costs and a poor business plan. Credit Suisse estimates that YouTube has a gross income of $240 million a year, but that its expenses far exceed [...]

China Allegedly Blocks YouTube

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

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Google has found itself on the other side of China’s “great firewall’” of Internet censorship. YouTube is presently inaccessible in China, while its foreign minister has assured Reuters that the ruling party is “not afraid of the Internet.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters that he had no knowledge about YouTube being blocked, but Google [...]

Good Grief, Another Significant Gmail Enhancement: Previews

Thursday, March 19, 2009

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I’ve officially given up trying to keep pace with each and every feature Google adds to Gmail, but this one looks neat: There’s a new Gmail Labs option that enables in e-mail viewing of Flickr and Picasa photos, YouTube videos, and Yelp reviews. Gmail notices links to this content, and simply embeds it in your [...]

The Joy (and Hazards) of Watching YouTube on TV

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

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Have you ever wanted to watch YouTube on your TV? I have, ever since Tivo started allowing YouTube streaming to their DVRs back in July 2008. And I’m here to confess: I’m a huge fan. Watching YouTube on my HDTV has radically changed how I “watch TV”. One night I decided to do an experiment. I skipped [...]

White House No Longer Using YouTube

Monday, March 2, 2009

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It appears as if the Obama Administration has decided to stop using YouTube as a method to embed its videos into websites for the Government. Starting with this weeks address, videos are now served in Flash through technology provided by Akamai. While most seem to be labeling it as a way to answer privacy concerns, I [...]

5Words for February 23rd, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

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Monday? Again? Here’s what’s newsy: AOL beefs up Bebo service. Microsoft wants severance money back. Ten iPhone Apps Apple Nixed Web radio: In trouble. Still. Sorry, no YouTube Oscar clips. Yahoo management shakeup imminent. Microsoft offers free tech training. Streaming-only Netflix coming. Eventually. That Last.fm RIAA story? Fiction. America: Tops in broadband. Really? J0bs misses Apple annual meeting.

YouTube Goes Downloadable

Thursday, February 12, 2009

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Some observant folks noticed last month that YouTube was dabbling with letting users download videos from the site to their hard drives. The YouTube blog just made it official: The company is permitting content providers to allow their videos to be downloaded, either for a fee (via Google Checkout) or for free. It still sounds fairly [...]