ArnoldIT Announces New Gourmet De Ville Video Shorts
May 15, 2013
Gourmet De Ville, a new ArnoldIT information service launched in January of this year, will now be adding a video service to its print coverage of artisanal food and spirits.
Jasmine Ashton, editor for Gourmetdeville.com, will be hosting the weekly videos spotlighting innovative recipes and the latest industry trends.
Ashton remarked:
“I am very excited to be a part of this new service and look forward to sharing my insights on the craft food and beverage sector with viewers. I believe that the demand for information on gourmet food, beverages, and industry leaders is exploding. Gourmet De Ville makes high value information available in a concise, easy to understand format. Our videos will simply be another avenue to explore this content.”
In her first video, Ashton covers Limoncello Tiramisu. She introduces the video by saying:
“In Italy, it’s common to have a bottle of Limoncello brought out after dessert. The tangy lemon liqueur is believed to help you digest all that great pasta and rich sauces.
But we heard about a chef in Florida who makes Limoncello Tiramisu — an after-dinner drink and dessert all rolled into one.”
We are looking forward to watching Gourmet De Ville’s video coverage in the coming weeks and believe that they will be a refreshing addition to the content that is already available on the site.
Ric Manning, May 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Current Technology: Hollywood Perception Versus Reality
May 6, 2013
Technology has saved the day on more than one occasion but Ars Technica discusses a recent situation where it fell short: identifying the images of the Tsarnaev brothers. The article “Boston Police Chief: Facial Recognition Tech Didn’t Help Find Bombing Suspects” tells us more.
Where the Boston Police Commission’s facial recognition system failed, good old video surveillance was there to pick up the slack.
The referenced article quotes from the Washington Post:
‘’The work was painstaking and mind-numbing: One agent watched the same segment of video 400 times. The goal was to construct a timeline of images, following possible suspects as they moved along the sidewalks, building a narrative out of a random jumble of pictures from thousands of different phones and cameras. It took a couple of days, but analysts began to focus on two men in baseball caps who had brought heavy black bags into the crowd near the marathon’s finish line but left without those bags.’”
While technology may look glamorously at its zenith, this recent situation makes it clear that we are not necessarily light-years ahead of the technology available to consumers. Software still has some hurdles to clear despite science fiction movies’ assertions.
Megan Feil, May 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
YouTube Is Safe From Copyright Laws
May 5, 2013
YouTube is a hotbed for illegal video uploads and it has been brought to court multiple times to put an end to these acts, but once more according to CNET,“YouTube Defeats Viacom Copyright Lawsuit…Again.” This case marks the second time in three years that YouTube has beaten Viacom. Viacom has accused the video-sharing Web site to ignoring illegal video uploads. US District Judge Louis Stanton that YouTube is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor provisions.
Viacom issued a $1 billion lawsuit in 2007, stating that YouTube was profiting off illegal TV and movie clips. Stanton sided with YouTube in 2010, but the case was appealed. In response, YouTube showed 63,060 that violated copyright and challenged Viacom to prove adequate notice of infringement was given. Viacom was using a pre-digital copyright law that no longer has any precedence.
“ ‘The burden of showing that YouTube knew or was aware of the specific infringements of the works in suit cannot be shifted to YouTube to disprove,’ [Stanton] wrote. ‘Congress has determined that the burden of identifying what must be taken down is to be on the copyright owner, a determination which has proven practicable in practice.’ Google welcomed the ruling, calling it a victory for all Internet users.”
To rub in the burn, Chad Hurley, YouTube founder, taunted Viacom via Twitter. Gotta love the passive aggressive capabilities of the Internet, but it also begs the question who is in the right, court ruling or no?
Whitney Grace, May 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
The Boston Marathon Bombing And Video Analytics
May 4, 2013
While the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing continues on with the perpetrator’s trial and discovering how far his plans extended, the “Video Images Yield Two Possible Boston Bombing Suspects.” A department store camera caught one of the bombers leaving a backpack and then another camera caught the pair acting undisturbed by when the bombs went off, thus singling them out. The authorities relied on photographs and video evidence to piece together the events, which augmented the collected physical evidence. Already the disaster is being deemed the most photographed bombing in history. Authorities used sophisticated software with algorithms that can track patterns, i.e. clothing color and object movement.
“’The question that is most often asked is, is there a button we can push to make this happen as quickly as the general public thinks we can, from watching television and movies,’ said Larry Compton, operations manager at Forensic Video Solutions Inc., a firm that serves as a consultant to law enforcement. ‘The answer is no. These tools and techniques are really designed to focus the analysts,’ he said.”
As seen the technology does have its weaknesses, mostly due to low-resolution and lack of visual detail, which is why the authorities turned to the public for help because cell phones have higher video resolution. Analytic software has its weaknesses, but the collaboration between the public and private law enforcement worked together to exact justice.
Whitney Grace, May 04, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Viacoms Legal Strategy Fails to Impress Courts: Youtube and Google Victorious
May 1, 2013
In the article Youtube Wins Yet Another Complete Victory over Viacom; Court Mocks Viacom’s Ridiculous Legal Theories on Techdirt, the sweeping victory of Google and YouTube in the ruling delivered on April 18 is discussed. Viacom’s entire legal strategy was dismissed out of hand, their attempts to place burden of proof on YouTube and dispel safe harbor laws were rejected. The article summarizes the courts ruling as follows,
“Basically, Viacom has wasted an incredible amount of money on a massive lawsuit based on a very, very shaky premise that the court didn’t buy the first time around… This was the crux of Viacom’s argument. That because they could show a lot of infringement, and here and there point to some evidence that some people at YouTube might have known of general infringement, then the burden should be on YouTube. But the court clearly calls them on this”
Calling Viacom’s argument to be both “extravagant” and “Ingenious” in turn, the court has granted summary judgment to Googe/ Youtube. We have to note, Google is on a roll with Youtube.
Chelsea Kerwin, May 01, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Video Search: Will It Get Better Post Viacom?
April 19, 2013
I know there’s a push to make sense out of Twitter. I know that millions of people post updates to Facebook. I know about text. Searching for text is pretty lousy, but it is trivial compared to video search. Even the remarkable micro-electronics of Glass are child’s play compared to making sense out of digital video flooding the “inner tubes” of the Internet.
This issue is addressed in part in “Why Video Discovery Startups Fail.” Startup video search and discovery systems do face challenges. The broader question is, “Why doesn’t video search work better on well funded services such as Google YouTube or in governmental systems where “finding” a video needle in a digital hay stack is very important?”
The article says:
Video discovery startups are flawed products and even worse businesses. Why? Because they don’t fit into a consumer’s mental model.
The article identifies some challenges. These range from notions I don’t understand like “context” to concepts I partially grasp; namely, monetization.
My list of reasons video search and discovery fails includes:
- The cost of processing large volumes of data
- The lack of software which minimizes false drops
- The time required for humans to review what automated systems do
- The need for humans to cope with problematic videos due to resolution issues
- The financial costs of collection, pre processing, processing, and managing the video flows.
What happens is that eager folks and high rollers believe the hype. Video search and indexing is a problem. If we can’t do text, video remains a problem for the future. Viacom decision or no Viacom decision video search is a reminder that finding information in digitized video is a tough problem which becomes more problematic as the volume of digitized video increases.
Stephen E Arnold, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext
Pegleg Points the Way to Full Length Films on YouTube
April 12, 2013
I can’t imagine motion picture executives are thrilled with this service. TechCrunch declares, “Pegleg Wants to Help You Find All Those Free, Full-Length Movies on YouTube.” The article introduces Pegleg, an app created by Torontonian Mina Mikhail that makes it easy to locate the full-length movies lurking on YouTube. The app began as an exercise for Mikhail, who was practicing development in Meteor.
Users can browse or search links to movies that Pegleg already knows about. If the film a user is looking for is not yet in the list, the app will suggest possibilities. Many of the links to which Pegleg points have disappeared, and it is quite possible their listing in the app hastened their demise. The article tells us:
“As far as Mikhail is concerned though, that’s just the nature of the beast. Takedowns can and will happen, but he finds it unlikely that these sorts of film uploads will ever completely disappear from YouTube. As some films are unceremoniously yanked from YouTube, others will certainly be uploaded in their place, and the ceaseless dance between copyright holders and YouTube-savvy film buffs continues on. Mikhail doesn’t intend for Pegleg to go dark anytime soon unless something truly dramatic happens, but let’s face it — people are going to upload and share these movies on YouTube no matter what ultimately happens to Pegleg.”
The developer elaborates on this response in this blog post at the Pegleg site. Will studios try to stop the service, or keep using it to find targets for DMCA takedown requests?
Cynthia Murrell, April 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
YouTube Reaches Massive Milestone in Entertainment
April 3, 2013
It’s official; YouTube is one of the world’s most prolific Internet web sites to date. What started out as a small test case by Google has blossomed into a platform for budding musicians, artists, filmmakers, comedians, cats and much more.
On March 20, the company announced that YouTube is now a billion strong. According to “YouTube Hits a Billion Monthly Users” the site now boasts a billion unique users each month. So what’s next for the growing platform?
“In the last eight years you’ve come to YouTube to watch, share and fall in love with videos from all over the world. Tens of thousands of partners have created channels that have found and built businesses for passionate, engaged audiences. Advertisers have taken notice: all of the Ad Age Top 100 brands are now running campaigns on YouTube. And today, we’re announcing a new milestone: YouTube now has more than a billion unique users every single month”
Advertisers were right to stand up and pay attention. Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visit YouTube and monthly viewership is equal to around 10 Super Bowl audiences. One really ridiculous fact is, if YouTube were a country, it would be the third largest in the world behind India and China.
That is a lot of viewers. It seems like Google and YouTube may be giving television a run for its money soon. How big can Google’s rich media operation big? Answer: Really big.
Leslie Radcliff, April 3, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Simon Cowell Debuts Latest Competition on YouTube
April 3, 2013
As the lines between “television” shows and Internet content continue to blur, we see evidence of rapid consumerization of Google through its property, YouTube. Perhaps mogul Simon Cowell’s involvement was inevitable; SlashGear announces, “Simon Cowell to Launch Next Competition on YouTube.”
The new competition, called unsurprisingly “The You Generation,” will be judged by executives from Cowell’s production house, Syco, accompanied by a rotation of featured celebrities. Hopefuls enter by uploading their audition videos, and a new finalist will be announced every two weeks. Interesting.
Writer Brian Sin notes a few more new initiatives from YouTube:
“Alongside the launch of Cowell’s new competition program, YouTube will be launching a series of other new series. Ricky Gervais will be launching a series of ‘brand new personalities, sketches and comedy creations’ through his YouTube Channel. Reddit has started a new series called ‘Explain Like I’m Five‘ which breaks down complicated topics into an explanation that is understandable by even (and literally) five year olds. These are important steps that YouTube is taking in order to make itself a viable alternative to regular television.”
Yes, but will it work? We have seen from watching the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and HBO that the world of online entertainment is much more complicated than it should be, not because of technical limitations, but due to squabbles over rights and profits. Will original programming allow YouTube to sidestep that tumult?
Cynthia Murrell, April 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
It Is Movie Search Time
March 25, 2013
Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo are the preliminary search engines users turn to for locating information. One of the problems, even with advanced search options, is sifting through the search results. Any search expert will tell you if the desired information is not in the first or second page of results, users move on. Does this call for a specialization in search engines? It just might for a subject as all encompassing as movies. MoreFlicks searches through the popular video streaming Web sites:Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, Fox, Crackel, and BBC iPlayer for movies and TV Shows.
It takes a page out of Google’s book by displaying basic facts about a movie or show: summary, genre, release date along with where it can be viewed online. Search results can be sorted by genre, most popular, new arrivals, and what is soon expiring. It will come in hand when you are searching for an obscure title. Downsides are that it only browses through legal channels. YouTube has been given the boot for these results. MoreFlicks is a niche search engine, possibly the lovechild of Google and IMDB, but how long it stays depends on content relevance or until Google snaps it up. Zeus eating Athena anyone?
Whitney Grace, March 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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