Fan of Vimeo : Its Pretty

ok, so not for this to sound like some weird plug (and i promise i don't have anything to do with this company) but i loooooove Vimeo (a nifty transliteration of the word "movie" btw)...its yet another in the long laundry list of video hosting & sharing sites (although, launched in 2004, it was actually around a year before YouTube-- note I did not link them) but being a sucker for excellent design--this one takes the cake (its like, prettier than Virb) and I will be hosting all my videos here. So yes, Vimeo is pretty, but it also functions very well and not only allows for easy sharing with one-click integration with faves like Facebook, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and Digg, but it also lets users download the original file (not too many sites allow for the download)...Oh, and it has Flickr plugin to stream your Flickr account on your Vimeo page...nice. Just look at how awesome the player looks:




Loitering from alisa on Vimeo.

ps- and apologies for the unnecessary parentheticals and for the non-capitalization...i'm campaigning for the MLA to do away with capitalization

Kickass App of the Week

If there is any word that can get me all hopped up and excited, its "widgetize." I love widgets. I love everything about them-- their cute, button size, their portability, and how they are changing everything. TechStars startup champ MadKast is a new little widget that makes for intuitive, one-click blog sharing. MadKast gives user the ability to share blog content through email, MMS text, IM, and social bookmarking sites....and for publishers, this nifty little number provides bloggers with analytics and revenue sharing. Holla.

Flickr Feed Outs Computer Klepto

Ah, the beauty of social media....new use?--to catch a thief! Several computers were stolen from Canadian company Workspace, which offers a sweet, shared work environment for independent types in downtown Vancouver. Little-known to the klepto, one of the Macs he stole had the Flickrbooth application installed which automatically uploads PhotoBooth pics to the associated user's Flickr account. So every time little boy genius snaps a lovely tatooed pic of himself, all the world can see! Its not absolutely certain yet that this is in fact the thief, but the pics began to appear in the feed after the Mac went missing...so suspicious, yes? I just wonder how long before our little friend discovers he's the talk of the blogosphere...and how long before the Canadian police can nab him....but then we wouldn't have these sweet pics.

EU Crackdown

As part of an effort to overhaul consumer protection from aggressive and bully marketing tactics, the EU has passed an initiative to ban "sock puppet blogs" (fake blogs) and anonymous and/or false identity commenting on blogs. The catch is that not only will perpetrators of these tactics will be held liable, publishers and bloggers themselves will be held accountable for monitoring their blogs for anonymous commenting. The measure is expected to go into effect December 31st of this year. Its a bit alarming-- from a net neutrality stand point. I understand the concern to deter fraud on the internet, as harmless as a little anonymous self-promotion may seem--but to place the burden on publishers? I just wonder what this means for bloggers state side...The UK Times-Online first broke the story here.

Stoked About RCRD LBL

Peter Rojas, of Engadget fame, will be launching his new "online label" this fall in conjunction with Downtown Records (indie faves Art Brut and mega-toothed Gnarls Barkley). The label dubbed, "RCRD LBL," will offer all its music for free, and generate revenue from from offering "highly targeted sponsorship opportunities.".....And straight from the horse's mouth, er, blog rather, Peter had this to say: "So, yes, the New York Post got the scoop on this new record label I’m working on. They got a few things wrong, though. For starters, contrary to what they reported, we do actually already have a bunch of bands signed up, we just aren’t announcing them until we launch. We’re not in stealth mode or any of that nonsense, but the simple truth is that the site isn’t going to be ready for a few months and so I’m probably not going to say much about it until we’re closer to launch."

TC40: Session 6 Revenue Models & Analytics

So TechCrunch 40 wrapped and perhaps my favorite update from Duncan Riley was on the Revenue Models & Analytics...some interesting, although not too compelling, services are highlighted including Spott, Clickable, PubMatic, and GotStatus. Get the full details here.

Its That Time of Year: Summit Season & Launch Pad 3.0

....and attention all startups, this year's Launch Pad is now VC-sponsored...that's right, there is no fee for companies involved and the format has changed somewhat with the emphasis leaning on actualizing VC funding. The judging panel will consist of six VC's who will choose 8 finalists to give a ten minute pitch to the panel and the entire Web 2.0 Summit audience. The judging panel may also, at any time, offer applicants non-binding term sheets for financing. The submission deadline for Launch Pad 2007 is October 1st and you can get the submission form here.

Participating VC's for this year include Christ Albinson and Mike Jung from Panorama/JP Morgan; Mark Jacobsen from O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures; Michael Skok and Dayna Grayson of North Bridge Venture Partners; and, Jim Lussier of Norwest Venture Partners.

Past Launch Pad participants include:

Adify
Instructibles
Sphere
Flock
Orb
Socialtext
Wink
Zimbra
Zvents

its called the internet, dad

this is awesome

...and this sucks