Online video now easier to navigate

clicker

A website is offering what it’s billing as the TV Guide of online video. Clicker.com brings together links to around 400,000 TV episodes, 50,000 music videos and 30,000 movies in an easy-to-navigate directory.

The idea of the site is to bring together all forms of video so that you can find the content you are looking for without having to work out the best source. While video search engines already exist (such as Google Video), they generally only cover short clips. Clicker brings together such clips along with the full-length episodes from sites such as Hulu and NBC, plus content sold for streaming via Netflix and Amazon.

When I tried Clicker, I found it surprisingly useful. It does a good job of organizing results by source, which makes it much easier to find particular types of clips. It really does break down the barrier between “real TV shows” and online video content.

The most useful aspect is that the site includes video content which is exclusive to a website such as the network the TV show airs on or a page for the TV show itself. That’s timely given the growth in the number of TV shows which have exclusive additional content online these days. Another neat touch is that there are holder pages for shows which aren’t legally available online yet, which lets you know not to waste your time looking for official sources.

There are also additional services if you register for a free account, including creating a playlist and even setting up a Tivo-style season pass for future episodes from the same source.

Unfortunately for overseas viewers, the site does work much better if you are based in the United States. That’s because many of the videos indexed on Clicker, particularly full-length episodes, are on sites which are only available to US viewers. While it might prove a fair bit of work, it would be a very neat feature to be able to filter results to show whether or not they have regional restrictions. (It would be even neater if the guide had a built-in proxy server that allows you to bypass such restrictions, but I can see how that might not be a goer.)

Another feature which would be extremely useful would be the ability to filter results by length. This would be an easy way to find full-length episodes rather than the short preview clips that networks often put up on their own site or on YouTube.



Update on Teapot Blowing Phenomenon + Youtube Clips

When I asked you guys to send us pictures of yourselves blowing into teapots, little did I know that this would become one of our most popular posts of all time. I still can’t believe that in less than 2 months, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to us to see this. Sites from all the around the world have talked about what is being dubbed as “a new artform.” Heck, we’re even supposed to be featured on a major television network in the upcoming months (more details about this soon)!

So today, while searching Google to see the evolution of “teapot blowing” throughout the web, I noticed that a few people had posted videos of themselves practicing the sport. Check these out :)

I couldn’t help myself but laugh along with these guys:

Ok, the following one is a bit long, but basically, these girls tried to blow into a cream pot, and failed epically at it. the fun starts at 1:12

Artist Recreates Mona Lisa Portrait Using Motherboards

Displayed in the lobby of Asus’s headquarters in Peitou, Taiwan, this recreation of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was made using old PC motherboards.

[Via [H] | Flickr (CC)]



Dollhouse Canceled; What’s Next for Joss?

FOX has just announced that the Joss Whedon series Dollhouse has gotten the mid-season axe. Though the show has received mixed reviews, it has a pretty devoted fan following, and I was rather fond of it myself. The real tragedy is that it was just getting good – or rather, it started getting really good the last few episodes of last season, and despite some hit-or-miss episodes so far in the new season, seemed to be hitting a stride. However, this isn’t really a new phenomenon when it comes to Whedon’s projects; he’s been called a notoriously slow starter. Most Buffy fans would agree that the show didn’t really start to pick up until Season 2, and then of course there’s the ill-fated Firefly that wasn’t able to hit its peak fast enough to save it from FOX’s ax (at least Dollhouse made it past the first season!).

For fans, the good news is that it will air the thirteen Dollhouse episodes that have already been ordered. Additionally, if you haven’t seen last season’s thirteenth episode that didn’t air, you can find it on the DVD. Interestingly, it would have served as a great series finale as it jumps years into the future for the show’s characters. Also, it guest-starred Felicia Day.

So with no more Dollhouse, what’s next for Whedon? One upcoming project we know about is The Cabin in the Woods, a horror film he co-wrote with the screenwriter of Cloverfield. And like most of his projects, the cast features some of Whedon’s frequent fliers: Amy Acker and Fran Kranz (who were both in Dollhouse) and Buffy’s Tom Lenk. In the immediate future, he’ll be directing an upcoming episode of Glee.

Fans may also remember rumors of a Buffy spin-off based on the character of Rupert Giles. The previous word on Ripper was that it was being developed as a mini-series for BBC, but was stalled because both Whedon and Anthony Stewart Head were tied up with other projects. So perhaps now it will get pushed a little further up in the queue…

And for those of you who were watching Dollhouse because of Eliza Dushku… not sure what’s on the horizon for her, though her wikipedia page lists a couple of upcoming small films. Of course, if you just want to hear her voice, you can pick up the PS3 and Xbox 360 game Wet – or wait for the animated Noah’s Ark.

Microsoft to Xbox modders: See ya!

Newxboxdashboard

Microsoft has banned owners of modified Xbox 360s from its online gaming service Live. The precise numbers haven’t been revealed but estimates put it between 600,000 and a million.

Microsoft hasn’t said how it has detected which machines have been modded but insists all affected users have breached terms and conditions. Anecdotal reports suggest it covers a wide variety of modification types, though some people with modded consoles claim to have evaded detection. The bannings do not affect a player’s ability to use the console offline, only to use the online services.

The situation is something of a moral minefield. It’s tough to complain in any manner about players with pirated games losing the ability to play online (though one British player is quoted as saying the punishment is “like telling someone their dog’s just died.”)

However, when it comes to modifications which merely improve the gaming experience rather than cheating firms of money, it’s a different matter. It certainly seems harsh to deprive somebody of a key feature of a console merely for adding their own hard drive. In such a situation Microsoft appears to be entirely justified in legal terms, but not so much in terms of fairness. As for players banned for modding their machines to allow them to cheat in online gaming, that’s either an outrage or a blessing depending on your perspective.

While much of the coverage is about the losses suffered by the players, it’s worth remembering that these actions will have a price for Microsoft itself. It’s not clear yet whether Gold subscribers to Xbox Live will get any form of refund after being booted off.

But even if the answer is no, Microsoft will wind up losing revenue in future years from Gold gamers who will no longer have any reason to subscribe. Leaked figures suggest 56% of Xbox Live users are on the paid option so if that proportion holds up among modded users, go by the 600,000 bans figure, and take an average annual fee of $49.99, the bannings would cost Microsoft more than $16 million a year.

Legend of the Seeker Returns for Season Two: +2 Con, -2 Int

Legend of the Seeker - Season 2

I was reluctant to watch Legend of the Seeker to start, owing to the fact that I was very lukewarm about Terry Goodkind‘s books in general, and had just come off of a Battlestar Galactica high (followed by a low…). On the heels of disappointment I decided to try out Legend of the Seeker just to fulfill my weekly swords and corsets quota, because you know, I’ve got to get it somewhere.

Surprisingly, I was hooked. I mean, I admit it: I loved Raimi‘s Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in the 90s, and his (loose) adaptation of Goodkind’s books adds that humorous element that I found so often lacking in the actual novels. Sure, it’s not necessarily Emmy-winning writing, and quite a few of the episodes really read like hour-long dungeon-crawls (not that I’m opposed to that, actually) but the fight scenes are definitely worth a watch.

In fact, in general, I like television series quite a lot more than the books (gasp!) because they combine a light-heartedness with a genuinely intriguing plot, if not a little hackneyed in that fantasy epic kind of way. The bulk of the cast is really strong, and even though the plots hold very little in common with the original vision, I find myself watching because the characters are endearing (which, come to think of it, is the only reason I kept reading Goodkind’s books, too… but I gave up somewhere around the fifth or sixth finally).

For those of you who haven’t watched the first season’s finale, well, let’s just say I was gravely disappointed. And I should have been disappointed enough to expect the second season to follow suit. But call me a glutton for punishment (or long fight scenes, washboard abs, gorgeous landscapes, and Bruce Spence) because I sat down again to watch the premiere this past weekend.

And… well. No, I didn’t ever think this would be the fantasy equivalent of BSG (I read the books, after all) but I did hope the premiere might redeem itself a bit after the first season’s finale. Instead, I found that Richard has more facial hair, Charisma Carpenter makes a cameo for the fanboy contingent (and really, she was the least intimidating Mord Sith I’ve ever seen–I don’t think she was even convinced), and instead of developing plot this season the writers decided to up the ante into the second book, Stone of Tears, and dump tons of exposition on the audience. Even the actors appeared baffled delivering the lines.

But, in the end, I didn’t walk away completely disappointed, considering there were still awesome fight scenes and a rather impressive (for TV) CGI monster. I think I’ll continue watching the show, but I really won’t be expecting much content wise; it’s still not as bad as it could be (a glowing recommendation, I know).

I hope they’ll surprise me this season, but I’m not counting on it. In the mean time, I’m waiting with bated breath for George R. R. Martin’s HBO A Song of Ice and Fire series which, hopefully, will demonstrate to a wider TV audience just what one can do with the fantasy genre (beyond the magic swords, prophecies, and wizards, that is).

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Trillions: A Short Expedition into the History of Computing

Produced by design consultancy corporation Maya, Trillions is a short film putting some perspective on the invisible but fast approaching challenges and opportunities in the pervasive computing age.

Star Wars Gangsta Rap Chronicles

Remember the original Star Wars Gangsta Rap? Well folks, what you’re about to see is the official sequel to the 2002 Internet phenomenon. Enjoy!

MCs Vader, Skywalker, Palpatine and Trooper are back with another edition of the hit animated series Star Wars Gangsta Rap. With surprise appearances from Leia, Lando, and all your favorite flow from a galaxy far, far away.

Want more? Hit the jump for an extra Star Wars gangsta rap video with some slightly risque but hilarious lyrics.

Continue reading ›

3D short of the day – Pigeon: Impossible

A rookie secret agent is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.

British politicians engage in modern warfare

Keith VazTwo British politicians – both from the governing party – have clashed over the newly released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Half of this story comes as no surprise. With the game inevitably (and almost certainly intentionally) attracting controversy over an optional scene where the player must pose as a terrorist during an airport massacre, one politician condemned the game in both the media and Parliament.

Keith Vaz first (pictured top right) told a newspaper “’I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks.” He then asked a government minister what steps were being taken to prevent it being played by children. (The answer was that the game is rated 18, meaning nobody under that age is allowed to buy it.)

However, what happened next was more unusual. Fellow Labour party member Tom Watson (pictured bottom right) joined the debate, saying in Parliament that “I have seen the content of the video game. It is unpleasant, although no worse than in many films and books,” and said that it would be better for politicians to “support the many thousands of game designers and coders, and the many millions of game users.”

Tom WatsonWatson has since created a Facebook group entitled Gamers’ Voice with the description “Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up.” (In the interests of full disclosure, I should state that I have joined this group.)

There’s certainly a debate to be had about the morality of combat games and the potential effects if children are allowed to play them. But it’s certainly refreshing to see that, just as Vaz has become the media’s go-to guy for condemnation of violent games, Watson appears to be getting rapidly adopted as the spokesman for the positive side of the gaming industry, a particularly effective voice because he is a political colleague rather than opponent of Vaz.

In an unconnected note, Watson was the man responsible for one of the better (OK, one of the few) online pranks pulled by a British politician. Click to read and be sure to scroll to the bottom.