Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

In a study carried out by Nielsen Media Research, it has been concluded that Google is the number one website in the U.S. The number two spot is taken by Facebook, followed by others, such as Yahoo!, MSN, YouTube and Microsoft in that order. There are some interesting facts to consider. The study was completed between January and October, this year. The ranking displayed based on the number of average unique visitors that accessed each site. Google took a lead of roughly 11 percent in terms of these numbers, over Facebook. The data was collected based on computers used in offices and homes. Some 153.4 million visitors from the U.S accessed Google. on an average per month.

Although this was a study done by Nielsen in the U.S, similar patterns are expected for other countries around the world, including India. The use of Google is obvious, whereas Facebook is a major phenomenon these days. Microblogging services like, Twitter didn’t not figure in that list - sites like Wikipedia, Apple and Ask.com did. The study shows without a doubt, the dominance of Google on the web and these numbers reported don’t even include international traffic.

Source : Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

YouTube Slam launched by Google destination for cute, crazy, funny videos

Retiring at the end of a long, tiring day, watching crazy, cute videos, or getting blown away by videos of amateur, but talented singers trying their hand at singing; on YouTube is something we've all indulged in. Needless to add, searching for these videos on the site is tedious, to say the least. Now, Google has introduced a latest addition to YouTube, which brings all these 'slam-y' videos under one roof.

Called YouTube Slam, this section of Google's popular video viewing website aims to be the one-stop destination for the most quirky, but interesting videos housed on YouTube. YouTube Slam, according to its description on the site is "This is the place for discovering talented amateur singers, the most adorable clips and the craziest videos on YouTube. Watch pairs of videos and vote for your favorite. Videos are scored based on your votes, and the best videos are featured on the slam leaderboard. Start voting today and be the first to discover the best videos on YouTube!"

YouTube Slam now has a collection of videos categorized under headers like - Cute Slam, Bizarre Slam, Comedy Slam, and Music Slam. There's also a section on YouTube Slam (placed on bottom right) called Slam Leaderboards, wherein essentially users can vote for their favorite videos and also view the ranking to Top 10 videos, within each category. Users can gauge the changes in these lists, either over a week or go straightaway to viewing the 'all time' best videos. With the platform expanding, and content of varying levels making an entry; YouTube Slam will surely be one interesting place.

Source : YouTube Slam launched by Google destination for cute, crazy, funny videos

New YouTube Channel For Bollywood Blockbusters

Popular video-sharing and streaming website YouTube has launched an exclusive channel known as YouTube Box Office, which will put online one new blockbuster movie every month and you don t need to pay anything for watching. The service will start off with Yash Raj Films' Band Baaja Baaraat.

Other than Bollywood movies, this online channel will also feature regional movies and is already boasting of over 1500 such movies in its catalogue. This channel can be accessed only by users in India and will be blocked to the rest of the world. Chip-maker Intel is a primary sponsor with YouTube in this one-of-a-kind venture.

Gautam Anand, Director of YouTube Japan-APAC Content Partnerships said, "We wish to create a destination for users which is easily discoverable and also help our content partners get more viewers for their premium content. With over 48 hours of content being uploaded on YouTube every minute; this is our attempt to curate premium and exclusive content which our users enjoy. This initiative also opens up a new window of opportunities for marketers to utilise the platform and engage the YouTube community".

Sandeep Aurora, Director of Marketing, Intel South Asia added, "Intel is extending the 'Smart visuals, brilliant performance' positioning of its latest second generation core processors with this association. The YouTube Box Office channel provides the consumers an opportunity to view premium, high quality movies on their PCs".

YouTube has plans to collaborate with partners in India to work on a revenue share basis towards bringing more premium content and fresh offerings to this channel.

Anand Gurnani, General Manager of Digital and New Media, Yash Raj Films stated, "Apart from offering tremendous reach, evolved digital platforms like YouTube also enable the monetisation aspect through advertising revenues in an unobtrusive manner, while offering a great online viewing experience to the users. We are sure this project will throw up interesting insights and consumption patterns of the digital-friendly audience".

Recently, IPL was made available live on YouTube for cricket-lovers in India, and it met with a tremendous response. The blockbuster Dabangg, which was also available on YouTube got over 1.3 million views. It is not surprising that YouTube is looking at a very lucrative market in India.  

 

Source : New YouTube Channel For Bollywood Blockbusters

YouTube Founders Buy Delicious

Yahoo! today announced that Delicious, a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks has been acquired by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen who are the founders of YouTube. The deal was settled at $5 million when it was rumored to have been available for up to $3 million. Yahoo! bought Delicious for $30 million in 2005, and dealt a huge loss to a service that was touted to bring the company a lot of profit.

Yahoo! states that the founders of YouTube are committed to running and improving Delicious! They have experience in enabling millions of users to share their experiences with the world as creators of the largest online video platform: YouTube.

Yahoo! will continue to operate Delicious until around July 2011. This will enable a smooth transition period for both the users and the companies. User’s information will be moved over to Delicious’ new owner once the transition is complete.

From today onwards, when users login to Delicious, they will be prompted to agree to let Yahoo! transfer their bookmarks to the new owner.
 

Source : YouTube Founders Buy Delicious

LG launches Cinema 3D TVs based on FPR in India

After getting a firsthand experience at Seoul, LG has finally launched its Cinema 3D TVs based on its new patented FPR technology in India. The best part is the pricing which is pretty aggressive as compared to existing 3D TVs. Prices start from Rs. 94,990 for a 40-incher and goes all the way up to Rs.1,64,990 for its flagship model.  

LG will also be launching its Smart TV line-up which will give users access to Internet apps like YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc as well as India centric content through various tie ups with Hungama, NDTV,  Indiatimes, CarWale and Zapak. All Cinema 3D TVs will come with patent technology like 3D Light Boost for a brighter and vivid picture, 2D to 3D conversion on the fly and DivX HD support. The initial roll out will include a total of seventeen models in various price segments and they will be bundling four sets of glasses with every TV. Additional glasses are considerably cheaper compared to shutter glasses at just Rs. 1,000 a pop. The Cinema 3D TVs should start rolling out in all major stores in the coming weeks.  

Source : LG launches Cinema 3D TVs based on FPR in India

YouTube Introduces Movies On Demand Service

Life just got better for all YouTube loyalists. After a dull week, rife with updates on how to transfer videos from a slowly dying Google Videos onto an over-worked YouTube, the worst seems to be over.

YouTube has now officially entered the online movie rental space. The service that is all set to launch this week will charge users for streaming mainstream Hollywood movies. YouTube is poised to give the popular iTunes service a stiff competition. iTunes currently is the most popular paid video streaming service, and now with YouTube entering the space with a host of big names backing it; the competitor seems to have toughened overnight.

YouTube, to say, was in plans of launching its own video streaming service since long. But, it was in the process of getting in the biggest names in the market under its hood. YouTube has so far managed to get in studios like Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal, as also independent studios like Lionsgate and Kino Lorber. However, Paramount Pictures, Fox and Disney have not given in their consent to licensing their movies, as yet.

Hollywood, however,  is now optimistic about YouTube’s this move, since its being seen as an excellent revenue generating mode. All the more crucial, since the revenues coming in from the home entertainment sector has been on a steady decline.

Source : YouTube Introduces Movies On Demand Service

Google Is Shutting Down Google Video

Google sent out an email to all Google video users saying that the service will no longer be available come May 13th. They said that users who have videos up on Google video will be able to download their videos via a download button that Google will add to the page. On April 29th, videos that are on Google video will not longer be available for playback and users have till May 13th to download their videos. If you don't want to download your video, you, of course, don't have to do anything.

 

Google recommends users upload their videos to YouTube after downloading. For users who have multiple videos up on Google video, they recommend using the paging controls on the bottom right of the screen. To download your video, go to the video status page, and then click on download video on the right side of the video in the action column.

This shut down has been a long time coming, especially since Google bought YouTube in 2006. They stopped uploads to Google video in May 2009 in their attempt to make YouTube profitable. Shutting down Google video just seemed like the obvious next step.

Source : Google's Shutting Down Google Video