Viddling Around™

I don’t know what she’d say about the current web video explosion in this context, but I think she and I would agree that with 170+ video sharing sites out there, sharing videos over the web is not a business, but is really only a a feature.
Years ago — sometime around 1990/1991, Esther Dyson was speaking at a “Multimedia industry” conference. For those of you who are old enough, remember that back in those days, there was a new Multimedia company starting every day, getting gobs of venture backing, and all of them got pages of coverage, all the while being darlings of the industry conferences dedicated to “Multimedia”. PC-CDROMs were all the rage, and to get your Windows box to play sound or a video, you had to purchase the “Multimedia Expansion Pack for Windows”.

Continue reading ‘Esther Dyson is still right.’

Deepest apologies there folks for the extended absence. What with it being August and all, and the girlfriend was out here for the summer, traffic was a bitch, the sun was in my eyes, and the dog ate my homework.

Nonetheless… we’re back in the saddle again, and will try to catch up over the next few days with all the latest & greatest news and goings on. Plus a few fresh prespectives gained from significant beach time.

As reported by arstechnica, AOL is set to launch its beta video site this week, incorporating tech from its Singingfish and Truveo acquisitions, its VideoEgg licensing deal, and content from everyone - literally. AOL’s site will incorporate video from;

• YouTube
• GoogleVideo
• AtomFilms
• 45 channels of content from
• Viacom
• Turner Broadcasting
• MTV Networks

Continue reading ‘AOL attempts to capitalize on the trend’

Today’s Guardian Unlimited is reporting that Alexa has ranked YouTube higher than MySpace for the past three months, with a 3.9% share of daily visits. What’s most significant to us here at Viddling Around is the that the average YouTube visitor spends 28 minutes on the site. That is simply amazing stats. As the web continues its shift from Pageviews to Time Spent, this puts YouTube in a strong, strong lead.

Just as important I believe is the fact that YouTube metrics are inherently “honest” traffic. If you have a MySpace account, you know how much “spam” you’re getting in bogus friend requests from various advertisers. The problem with the recent rise in MySpace stats is that it doesn’t filter out the marketing crap. So, all those ‘bot’ accounts, marketing accounts, advertising-based friend requests, et cetera are still being counted admist the traffic numbers for MySpace.

Continue reading ‘YouTube now Numero Uno?’

Word is out that Actimagine - the European company behind the ultra-efficient mobile video codec “Mobiclip” - has raised €3MM from GRP Partners of Los Angeles.

There’s no question that the mobile video market needs a better  solution than traditional MPEG codecs, particularly when you consider the constraints of processing capacity and power consumption on mobile devices.  The question does remain however, whether the market has the appetite for yet-another-codec.

Continue reading ‘Actimagine (makers of Mobiclip) raises €3MM’

My apologies, and I hate doing this so early in this blog’s young life - but my posting will be a little lighter over the next couple of days as I’ve got company visiting from out of town. Please Stand By.

Reports are surfacing that Apple’s new widescreen video iPod may be delayed until 2007. I guess we’ll all know more in a couple of weeks once Apple’s WWDC takes place.

If true, it’s a shame that it is taking Apple so long to develop what some Asian manufacturers have been able to get into the market over a year ago. Yeah, yeah - I know… Apple wants to get it “right” and all that, but still (keep those flamethrowers turned off folks - remember, I’m a big fan of Apple). Then again, given all the manufacturing problems Apple’s been having with the MacBooks (heat, fan whine, discoloration), maybe they need to avoid another fiasco, and get all the issues worked out first.

Tim Arango over at the New York Post had a piece this morning, claiming that the YouTube boys think they’re valued at $1B. That’s right - say it in your best Dr. Evil voice - $1,000,000,000. Now I can’t claim to speak for Chad Hurley or the backers behind YouTube - but for a site - no matter how popular, to have almost no revenue to speak of, and no discernable model, and claim that kind of valuation is total B.S. There’s no public market driving up these numbers, and while YouTube’s VC’s would definitely welcome a big payday, what is anyone paying for here? Dear god… not the old “eyeballs” mantra again.

Basic VC questions arise - what’s to keep the audience from using any of the myriad of clones out there? Chad and the boys best strike while the iron is hot, but a $1B valuation runs the risk of burning us all.

Update: John Batelle’s got an excellent take on this as well, over at his blog.

In yet more news this morning, Dabble has officially come out of closed beta.

Don’t know where exactly they rank in the list of 170+ YouTube clones, but at first blush around their site, it’s extremely difficult for me to figure out where their differentiation or advantage is. They haven’t yet matched the list of YouTube features, their categorization model is simplistic at best (and no, I don’t mean “simple”). The only somewhat distinctive feature that I noticed is their “Request” menu choice, which offers a way for audience members to post requests for specific footage. There’s Calls for Entries for various contests, folks looking for any footage someone might have taken of a specific event like a protest march, et cetera.

Continue reading ‘“Dabble” might be a fitting name’