Skippable Video Ads Have Finally Come To YouTube

Even as consumers come to terms with the fact that some measure of advertising is required for free online content, there is still a negative perception of ads.  An awful lot of people just don’t like them.  Of course, some ad formats are easier to take than others.  As video sites continue experimenting with advertising, [...]

What Video Marketers Can Learn From Annual Lists Of Top-Searched Keyword Terms

For many years in a row, the top search query was Britney Spears.  When sharing this fact with clients and during seminars, I often joke that one would think we’ve learned everything there is to know about Miss Spears by now.  And it seems as though that might finally be the case.  Yahoo has released [...]

Run And Gun Video Production Strategies For Video Marketing

Some marketers find themselves in a situation ripe for shooting video, but are required to do so with little or no time for preparation or pause. This is what is referred to as “run and gun” video production. To help explain this type of shooting (which is becoming more common for video marketers looking to capture real-time quality content), I interviewed three notable video production professionals.

Online Video Moves: 4G Film, Mpeg-2, Acquisitions And A Blackberry On Top

Life is sweet, like a well-made dessert. But we’ll have to wait until the moment before it’s ready to eat to find out about that Blackberry on top. If you’ve got a keen mind or a sharp eye, you already know what that ominous fruit is up to. If not, it’s like a chef’s surprise [...]

Soon Branded Video Content Will Just Be Called Video Content

In my post yesterday entitled “The Future of Online Video, From Someone Who Should Know,” we took a look at a post by Google’s Director of Product Management Shishir Mehrotra that laid out four ways that online video is currently evolving right before our eyes.  One of those evolutions was the surge in creative video [...]

Ooyala On How To Measure Social Video Marketing Success

Grant Crowell interviews Bismarck Lepe, co-founder and President of Products for one of today’s leading online video platforms, Ooyala, about how to work with your online video platform provider for doing “social video marketing,” and discuss how “social needs to be a standard part of everybody’s targeting for delivering a message to consumers” today.

iPhone App Slows Down Music When You Speed

The Slow Down App from OVK on Vimeo.

While driving, it’s tempting to hit the gas when one of your favorite jams plays on the stereo, but a new iPhone app discourages music-induced speeding.

Shown in the video above, the app Slow Down uses the iPhone’s sensors to track how fast you’re driving. If you go a few miles over the speed limit, it slows down the tempo of any track playing from your music library. And if you exceed by more than 6 miles per hour, the music stops completely until you resume driving at a normal speed again. Goofy but clever, though I’d imagine it getting annoying when you need to pass people up on the freeway.

Slow Down is a free app [iTunes] in the App Store.

See Also:

• Zipcar iPhone App Makes Car-Sharing A Breeze
• RunKeeper Is a “Nike+” for, Runners, Cyclists and More
• Use Your iPhone While Driving. But Not While I'm on the Road …
• Two New iPhone Apps Go Beyond Navigation

Man Claims Droid 2 Smartphone Exploded in His Ear

A 30-year-old Texas man claimed this week that he was talking on his Motorola Droid smartphone when it exploded in his ear.

Wearing a bandage over his head, Texas resident Aron Embry showed broadcast reporters his Droid 2 phone, which appears to be cracked with a burn.

“I heard a pop, I didn’t feel any pain initially, I pulled the phone down, I felt something dripping,” Embry told Fox News in a video interview.

Motorola has said it’s investigating the claim. The company has not acknowledged a manufacturing defect.

Incidents of exploding mobile devices have made rounds on the web in the past, and often times the cause seems to be faulty batteries. For example, amid incidents of iPod Nanos catching on fire in Japan, Apple in August 2008 issued a recall for a small number of iPod Nanos (0.001 percent) containing defective, potentially hazardous batteries. Also, in 2006, Apple issued a recall for iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 notebooks, because their batteries contained cells manufactured by Sony, which were causing batteries to explode.

From Switched

How to Print With Any Printer From iPad, iPhone

Apple’s latest mobile operating system update introduces a much-demanded feature: wireless printing. Problem is, it will only officially print from printers labeled “AirPrint-compatible,” which you likely don’t own. However, if you want to print from just about any printer, there’s a mod for that.

AirPrint Hacktivator offers a solution for Macs to set up wireless printing with iOS 4.2 with any printer shared on your network. Here’s how to set it up, with instructions courtesy of the hack’s maker, Netputing.

You will need:

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.5
• iTunes 10.1 (if you have neither, select the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen and click “Software Updates” to download the latest software.
• iOS 4.2.1 on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad (click “Check for Updates” in iTunes if you don’t have the latest iOS.)
• AirPrint Hacktivator [.zip]

Instructions:

1. Copy the AirPrint Hacktivator software into your Applications folder, then launch the app.

2. Toggle the switch to “ON.”

3. Enter your admin password.

4. A window will prompt you to add the printer you want to use with AirPrint.

5. The hack will launch the Print & Fax utility in your Settings folder, and you’ll be able to perform the add-printer task here.

6. And you should be ready to start printing!

See the video below by Netputing for a visual tutorial.

London Restaurant Orders Up Interactive Tables

In London, it’s hard to find a restaurant without a gimmick. And Inamo has probably the biggest gimmick of all. If you’re a hungry, tech-loving nerd, that is.

The restaurant, which just launched a new venue on London’s, tries to do away with almost all waiterly duties, apart from actually carrying plates around. A projector sits above each table and turns the table into a computer-screen (the projector is hooked up to a Windows XP machine). Using a touchpad, you can browse the menu and place your orders, and when you select a dish, a picture of it is projected onto an empty plate already on the table.

Whilst dining, you can choose various “wallpapers” (table-cloths?) to be displayed on the table, and there are even some games, although not any you’d actually play – the folks from UK tech blog Pocket Lint headed over to a pre-launch party and report that one of the games is Battleship. Really?

When you’re done, you can order up the check and call a cab, all from the comfort of your table.

I just hope the bosses at Inamo have some fallback plans. Tech has a way of failing in the catering industry (I was in the game for 15 years), and that’s robust, purpose-built gear. Imagine the poor customer trying to place an order and getting the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. On the other hand, at least a PC can’t come to work drunk.

Inamo hi-tech restaurant hands on [Pocket Lint]
Photos: Paul Lamkin / Pocket Lint

See Also:

• 'Table Connect' Turns iPhone into (Fake) Big-Ass Table
• Microsoft Surface
• Video: Command and Control Robots with Microsoft Surface
• D&D + Microsoft Surface = Unheard-of Levels of Radness