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
The Future of Surveillance
March 12, 2013
It seems ironic that video search is still terrible, but video-tracking of individuals is becoming very good. Scarily good, we learn from InfoWorld’s, “Nowhere to Hide: Video Location Tech has Arrived.” The International Computer Science Institute at UC Berkley, with funding from a U.S. intelligence agency, is quickly making progress on a project that should interest us all: They are devising a way to build location-centric databases by analyzing videos and photos posted online. This will allow users to determine where other videos and photos were shot, even when posters do not include any identifying information.
With this method, the development of which is being funded by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, visual and audial clues are analyzed and compared to samples for which the location is known. Something as seemingly neutral as a train whistle in the background has been used to pinpoint a location (Tokyo, in this case.) So far, 14 percent of the time, researchers are able to determine the location in which a video was shot to within 33 feet. Naturally, they intend to keep working on that percentage.
Reporter Bill Snyder, who visited the Institute, writes:
“Jaeyoung Choi, the lead researcher on the project, downloaded thousands of videos from Flickr that contain embedded geographical information. That data may include location tags (aka geotags), visual cues such as textures and colors, time stamps, and sounds such as birdsong. The attributes of a test video are then compared against these profiles, and its location is estimated. As more videos with embedded geographical information are downloaded, the researchers will use them to train the software to recognize more and more locations.”
Like a lot of technology, this development offers potential for both weal and woe. Combined with ever-improving and increasingly available facial recognition software. . . the capability is staggering. While it is true that such a tool could help our agents rid us of terrorists, it could also be used by repressive governments to target protesters. What happens when organized crime gets a hold of this? So much for witness protection. Or how could giant corporations use this? The possibilities are endless.
Now, I am not one to say we should hold up progress because of the potential for problems. We couldn’t if we wanted to. But, as Snyder concludes, our society needs to have a serious conversation about this “tagging of America,” before the technology surges way ahead of the public’s awareness.
Cynthia Murrell, March 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
dtSearch Harnesses TV Power
February 19, 2013
Written tutorial guides do not help visual learners, so when videos were added it became much easier to learn and troubleshoot with someone doing the process in “real time.” The dtSearch Corporation is a renowned software company, specializing in text search and spidering for desktops and networks along with a range of search products for enterprise search, and engines for Linux and Windows. The dtSearch Corporation decided it was time to take to the Internet TV waves and make their own tutorial videos. Several videos about dtSearch have been posted on eDiscovery TV-Law Meets Technology. Each of the videos walks users through how to use dtSearch and take advantage of its many features. The tutorial comes in five parts:
With eDiscovery becoming more prevalent in the legal world, dtSearch created AccessData: “AccessData provides court-validated, state-of-the-art computer forensics, eDiscovery and cyber security solutions. Built on its gold-standard forensics technology, Forensic Toolkit, AD eDiscovery is a comprehensive electronic discovery software solution. In addition, AccessData’s legal review technology, Summation, is used by more law firms than any other solution.” EDiscovery is working its way through the news and dtSearch does not want to be forgotten. These videos are instructional, but they could be a push for legal technology conference attendees.
Whitney Grace, February 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Google Wants Video Money
February 10, 2013
While this is kind of surprising, it also is not: “YouTube Set To Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring” comes from Adage. Rumors have been flying for years about users having to start paying for their Web content and it may happen with YouTube. This spring Google wants to make a little more cash from its video sharing service with paid subscriptions. Google is also trying to hook content producers, users’ attention spans, and advertisers away from the television. TV wars anyone?
YouTube has already asked some of its channel producers to create new channels where users paid a small monthly fee for access. The fee will range from $1-5 and it will not just be for a Web series, but also content libraries and live events.
“YouTube has been talking about the possibility of paid subscriptions for some time now. A year ago, at AllThingsD media conference, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar talked on stage about the potential to poach second- or third-tier cable networks that were having trouble building big enough audiences on cable TV to command subscription fees from distributors. Internet distribution, the thinking goes, would give some of these networks a more direct line to their passionate base with lower costs.”
Right now, Google and YouTube are treating this like experiment. The profits will be split 45-55, similar to how ads are already set up. Users do want different content and are willing to pay for it. But is it cheaper to pay a flat cable/dish fee for television, than individual channels on the Internet? The small data fees add up, trust me.
Whitney Grace, February 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
The Toping of YouTube
January 25, 2013
YouTube reigns supreme over Internet video distribution, but could its dominance be over in 2013? All Things D predicts in, “YouTube’s Reign Threatened By A Spotified Revolution, And Other Reel Truths For Video In 2013” that things are going to change this year. Internet video consumption and creation has grown considerably with the mobile market, but along with this record growth people are becoming more discerning where they get their content:
“People are still watching just as much video — but they are now looking to different sources on the Web. In the past five months there has been a 34 percent drop in the total volume of video consumed on YouTube compared with the rest of the Web. YouTube views peaked in June 2012 at 18.3 billion, but have since declined to 12 billion on November 2012. comScore’s Video Metrix measured total Web video views in June 2012 at 32.9 billion; fast-forward to November 2012 and total video views across the Web hit 40 billion. While YouTube lost about six billion views within that five-month period, the other half of Web video shot up by 13 billion.”
Other predictions include TV networks and other major media outlets will look for ways to gain more viewers by experimenting more with web content. Also no one has even tackled video discovery to meet the needs of mobile and social Web. Whoever creates that algorithm will be writing her or his own check. Google’s YouTube may see a steady stream of competition, but do not forget that Google is always planning and working on new projects. The search engine giant will not fall this year.
Whitney Grace, January 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Media Mogul Ribs Google Over Original YouTube Content
December 30, 2012
When can a $100 million investment be considered “cute”? When compared to an investment of billions, it seems. ReadWrite declares, “Time Warner CEO Thinks YouTube’s $100 Million Content Investment ‘Cute’.” At Business Insider’s recent Ignition conference, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes downplayed Google’s efforts, comparing them to his company’s $5 billion per year. D’oh!
Though Google‘s venture into original programming for YouTube has garnered a lot of attention in the tech community, big media players can be forgiven for seeing their investment as a paltry sum. Indeed, the coup Google is trying to pull off here would, upon close examination, seem nigh impossible. Writer Fruzsina Eördögh recalls the words of an anonymous “LA-based YouTube-centric executive”:
“This executive explained Google’s current funding comes out to ‘$1,000 a minute’ but ‘$1,000 a finished minute is not enough’ and requires you to pull ‘favors every time you do a shoot. If you’re just pulling a location permit in L.A., it’s going to cost you $900.’
“In order to produce the quality content Google wants – or at least quality the masses on YouTube want, the cost per minute needs to be ‘around $2,100,’ the exec said.
“To put things into even clearer perspective: Each episode of Showtime’s hit show Homeland costs $3 million to produce, roughly $50,000 a minute. Is Google really ready to compete with that?”
To which I submit, they very well might be! Google’s forte is finding novel ways of doing things. Sometimes their attempts work out, sometimes they don’t, but that try-it-and-perhaps-it-will-work spirit has elevated the company to its current lofty position. Google’s YouTube experiment might crash and burn, but it might also become a humongous success. Only time will tell.
Cynthia Murrell, December 30, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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