by Livia Iacolare on July 9, 2007
The ultimate trend is to record videos through web-based services and then paste them into web pages. It’s a nice way to leave short messages around without having to plug in a camera and upload files on video sharing services.
Yesterday I have published a roundup of the coolest online video recorders available on the Web: they are free, very easy to use and do not require any particular ability (except being capable of clicking the “record” button…).
They are an excellent way to personalize a post on your blog and you can use them to transmit messages that would otherwise lose intensity if put into written words. Check them out, pick the one you prefer and embed a video message in the comments, if you want (I wished I could post one here, but my webcam doesn’t work… sob!).
by Livia Iacolare on July 6, 2007
Today a friend of mine told me that he would like to do some vodcasting and asked me to suggest him some resources for online video editing and publishing. I pointed him to a very useful website called Make Internet TV, whose homepage states:
This guide has step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing, and publishing online videos that can be watched and subscribed to by millions of people.
And I must admit it does its job pretty well!
The site explains how to find the right equipment, shoot, edit, license, publish and promote your own videos in a very simple language. I really recommend it not only to newbies but also to traditional video-makers who would like to learn how to publish their videos online. The project was conceptualized and executed by The Participatory Culture Foundation.
Another interesting resource is the Video Toolbox that I put up with the other guys at Mashable: it features more than 150 resources for online video publishers (from video sharing sites to video mixers, mashups and converters). And if you are into screencasting the solution has a name (and a price, alas…): Camtasia (but check out also the free CamStudio).
by Livia Iacolare on July 4, 2007
I believe there are many ways and styles of blogging and they change according to the personality of the blogger. The birth of these brand new “miniblogging” tools is a proof for that. I have the feeling that the Internet population is fastly abandoning the old school blogging stylebook to embrace a new concept of blogging that makes more room for instinct and feelings.
I see a popular blogger like Marshall Kirkpatrick spending more time on sending messages via his Twitter account than he does on writing posts for his own blog. And the messages that arrive via Twitter are usually more interesting and fascinating than his blog posts, because they reveal a lot about his personality.
Miniblogging is easier than blogging and richer than text messaging: in order to write a three paragraphs blog post I need to spend at least 30 minutes adding tags, links, rewording phrases, formatting, etc., which makes it hard to keep warm the sudden feeling that inspired me to write.
On the other hand, miniblogging allows me to express my emotions in a more immediate way. Moreover, the necessity to keep my text within 140 characters makes me concentrate on what I want to say and thus I tend to give more weight to my own words. Still, I can post links into my text, which makes my messages arrive straight to the public and lets me get immediate feedback.
And I have noticed something funny: the most curious persons are more into miniblogging than blogging. They feel the need to immediately share their discoveries… and nothing is better than a twit when you feel the urge to be in touch with people.
In my opinion, text messaging (SMS) is going to leave the place to miniblogging: nowadays, cellphones integrate Internet (I guess in the future they will integrate also laundry machines) and I am sure that people will use Jaiku or Twitter rather than the standard text messaging service.
What do you think?
by Livia Iacolare on July 2, 2007
Sam Sethi announced today the official launch of Blognation, a brand new blog network that aims to cover the Web 2.0 ecosystem outside of the Silicon Valley. The mission of Blognation is to make available in English language all the information coming from different countries around the world. Sam started with the UK edition, but in the next weeks he will add many more (my friend Michael Pick will edit the Japanese one). This is an amazing project and I am sure it will succeed.
It is hard to get a different viewpoint on Web 2.0 entrepreneurship, startups and web apps in a Web that is almost completely dominated by major blogs such as TechCrunch, and the birth of this network will certainly bring a valuable contribution to the global conversation. Sam estabilished a partnership with the supercool Intruders TV - a new Internet television focused on the same topics as Blognation - which will provide video content to the network. You really need to check this out.
