It pisses me off when I blog about a vid...

It pisses me off when I blog about a video (see the post below) and the big-wigs decide it needs to be removed.Why doesn't someone create a video hosting site by simply purchasing a skin or using an opensource product to whip up a YouTube rip-off where all and only "pulled down" videos are on show? I think it's a winner. Do it.PS: Why not call it: NoTube, no video goes unwatched. Or something better of course.

What was sprite thinking? Let me hazard...

What was sprite thinking?Let me hazard a guess:

Sexy German Sprite Ad - BJ from Max Isaacson on Vimeo.

Could it possibly be that Sprite took a risk and wanted this advert to be banned? Could it possibly be that Sprite is illustrating a movement in to the social media and "viral" space through controversy?I think that Sprite made use of the German standards to benchmark a campaign that would expand much further than the initial launch of the advert in Germany. I think they were banking on their advert being banned from Germany, finding it's way online and spreading across the world.Did anyone notice the new can in the adverts? I did. It could even be said that Sprite is rolling out a world wide relaunch of their brand and this is the mechanism they have chosen to introduce users to this new brand. Perhaps.

Qik is just that, a quick way to stream live video

I am incredibly impressed with Qik and the service it offers.Basically it's a live mobile streaming service. You download the software to your phone. Open up the application and click "Stream". The video is then recorded and streamed live to your Qik profile.Find me at qik.com/nicharry

Coolest guy on the internet

I couldn't help but reblog this: Coolest guy on the internet. hahahahahaha... let's see how this turns out.

ComedyTwist.co.za - Have a laugh on your phone

Last night I attended an absolutely hilarious opening. No it wasn't a joke, but there were lots of jokes present.It was the launch of a new mobile "service" called Comedy Twist Mobile.You can visit the website at comedytwist.co.za. And with that we have a problem number 1.The website isn't live and the launch was held last night to the media. That's bad. Even though the official launch is 1 September 2008, surely if you hold a press conference, comedy event and big fancy "Howzit" type party, you make your website live, even for a second to preview. We got nothing.There was a glimmer of potential when the host of the evening plugged in his cellphone and visit the WAP site, which we were never given the URL for. Oh well, no preview.I'm jumping ahead a bit. Let's go back a step.

What is Comed Twist

The basic idea behind Comedy Twist (CT) is comedic content supplied to you on your cellphone wherever you are. To quote from the flyer I received:

"It's a new digital content platform, offering high quality video and audio material for an extensive variety of South Africa's talented comics - all for mobile phones."

Phew, that's fairly intense. They are doing a lot. Or are they?From what I can see CT is trying to duplicate the success of sms subscription services that already exist with one exception, they offer video and audio and ringtones all about comedy. It's a relatively good twist I think (maybe that's where the name came from "twist"). The country needs comedy, I love comedy and I want to try this service.Enter issue number 2.

Premium Content

This is a very strange choice. I suppose that many social media, content producing, user generated content websites have struggled in the past with monetizing good ideas. But Comedy Twist think they have a solution. Make people pay for content.In my opinion this could be the downfall of the entire concept. The prices for what seems to be "On-Demand" content:

Video - R10

30-50 second live joke

Audio - R5

30-70 second live joke

Ringtones - R15

15-30 second looped funny ringtone

Video Discount Basket - R5

15-30 second live jokesThis brings up my next question: What does "Live Joke" mean? Anyways, that's besides the point.You do have another option, you can subscribe to the service which has a "revolutionary" one-click-opt-out. Nice selling point, but not new. You can SMS "comedy" to 38370 and a video will be sent to your phone every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Three videos.

Target Market

This seems to be a good idea, decide who you are targeting. Comedy Twist is targeting LSM 7-10. My immediate reaction is that's where the money is, they will pay for the content. But then my research tells me that LSM 7-10 have cellphones, they have cellphones that are able to receive video but they a) are not interested in SMSing a number to subscribe to a service that is going to bug them every other day of the week, comedy or not and b) LSM 7-10 have trouble visiting WAP sites on the their phones and by that I mean that many don't actually know how. This is not an insurmountable problem, but it will take a fair amount of marketing, above and below the line and a lot of education.That is not to say that LSM 7-10 wont be successful if targeted correctly and with money behind the project (I can't say how much money is behind the project) so who can tell how it will go.It just leads me to wonder about the approach. I know alot of kids (in their teens) who spend hours and hours playing games with others on their mobiles, blowing cash to interact, chatting on Mxit and using other free and subscription services. Why? Because they know how and they know that LSM 7-10 Mommy and Daddy will pay for their usage. Simple. To get to the money, go through the children. It's worked well so far.

Almost a potentially great mobile social network

I don't want to go on about this but Comedy Twist had the potential to be a cracking social network on the mobile platform. People love to laugh, people love jokes and love comedy. Even more so, people love to laugh at themselves, their friends and other people making fun of other people. This could have been used VERY effectively to create a social network around laughter, jokes, pranks and anything else in the genre.

It will survive

Why? Because some of the funniest people in South Africa are on board for the ride. Trevor Noah to just name one that I saw at the event. The man must be the funniest guy I've had the pleasure of seeing live. The comedians will save this ship from a certain premium-content go-slow.

Zoopy alters their views per video

I always thought the views per video that Zoopy showed on each video were a bit low. Now I know that they were.How I know is quite simple, Zoopy blogged about it:

As of last night, ‘views’ on Zoopy means the number of times the media item’s page has been viewed on Zoopy, plus the number of times the media item has been viewed when embedded on the home page or on other websites. We hope that the new figure will give Zoopy users a better idea of how many times a video has been watched, or how many times a photo has been viewed.

The above basically means that the numbers will become more representative and holistic including embed views as well as pageviews on the media item page on Zoopy and on the homepage of Zoopy. This is definitely a step in the right direction and a move that couldn't have come at a better time. I was really beginning to think that Zoopy was slowing down. Now we can all see that things are picking up!

Web 2.0 in under 5 minutes - it can be done

For those of you who took part in the Carte Blanche debate, here is a video (thanks Shaun) that can explain things simply, easily and... SHOCKING...in under 5 minutes. How long was the Carte Blanche piece? No main character, no interviews, no mobile, no random pics of children holding cellphones for no apparent reason.I have seen this before a while back but it is appropriate for right now.Remember, under 5 minutes:There it is. It is simple and basic but it is one of the most succinct explanations I have seen yet.

Is Big Think the future of online information?

I think it just might be.Big Think is a video site along the lines of a YouTube or Revver. But there is one major difference:

Our task is to move the discussion away from talking heads and talking points, and give it back to you. That is Big Think's mission. In practice, this means that our information is truly interactive. When you log onto our site, you can access hundreds of hours of direct, unfiltered interviews with todays leading thinkers, movers and shakers.

I love the idea and the implementation is brilliant. The site is light and easy to navigate. You can search the brains or the topic that the brains are talking about. The list of people who have opinions on the site is endless and will keep you busy for hours.You can also create ideas to throw in to the mix. I am not exactly sure how your ideas are added and who gets to feature on the site and who doesn't.Nevertheless I think that principal behind the approach is an essential one that will start to become very important very soon. That point is excessive and irrelevant information overload online.I can't get through it all. Big Think seems to be one of the first to boldly state that they have authoritative people speaking about topics that interest readers. This is a smart move. Make a statement and run with it.What I love about the site is the focus no the idea that the author or speaker is talking about. You can agree, disagree or stay neutral in your opinion and vote accordingly. You can join debate around the idea and maybe even chat to the brain behind it. The topics are current, relevant and debated in detail. The substance is substantial and allows for intellectual people to interact on relevant levels with one another.Information is going to have to become more relevant, centred, informative and important. The source of the information is also extremely important. Blogs have almost made the source irrelevant as many people read an opinion and adopt it. This is great to a point and for me that point is fast approaching. I find myself looking for people's blogs who actually have experience, knowledge, qualifications and provide me with a reason to read them other than "I have a pc and internet and I can like to use blogger".Information is king, content is king and we have known this for a while. But it's time that this becomes a focus for websites. I think that Big Think has done just that and at just the right time.

Mac VS PC the ultimate video

I love these Mac ads. Sheer brilliance. Finally I found a video that mashes a whole bunch of them together, here you go: