Yahoo vs YouTube

So I have heard that Yahoo is going to offer a competitor to YouTube.  I am kind of excited about this idea.

Don't get me wrong.  I love YouTube.  Anyone who has read this blog knows that I watch a lot of JVloggers, and spend more time than I should watching old TV shows and clips online.  I even have some videos on YouTube.  I think I have about ten.  They haven't gone viral (and I wouldn't receive any money even if they did) and only one of then has had a really strong number of views--though I am not sure what the attraction is, and nobody has commented on it.

I guess I just want to be there, on the ground floor when it happens.  While it won't be a new thing (like YouTube was), I would like to say I was there from the beginning.  I want to be one of the originals, even though the idea won't be that original.

There are problems, however.  What kind of content should I put up?  I am not in Japan, so JVlogging is out.  I live in Canada, and while I love my country, I cannot see any blogging potential there.  I love my hobbies, but since I switch them around so much and am rather lax on completion, I am not sure there is anything there either.  I love to rant (check out my other blog site to see what I mean) but I have a face for radio--and who would want to see a static image of a wall or picture while I rant away?

I am excited and I want to participate, but I don't know how.

On another note, I still don't know what they are going to call this thing.  YouTube is a brilliant name.  Yahoo tube sounds derivative.  YahooTV doesn't sound cool.  They already have Yahoo Screen--so I guess that's not it.  I suppose, if I were to name it, I would call it OnYahoo.

A Modern Day Dilemma

I can be a bit of die hard.  I can hang on to technology far longer than some.  I haven't gotten a Blu-ray player or flat screen TV yet.  On the other hand I have an eBook reader, and I was the first to get a DVD player.

The question is whether it is time to go completely digital where my music is concerned.  I already have an MP3 player and have most of my library on my laptop.  I could put every single CD I have onto my computer and then either store or get rid of my CDs.  This would have been unthinkable years ago, but now...

When cassettes became passé they ended up in the trash (or recycling box...which then probably got put in the trash) or got sent to people who still had cassette players in their cars.  I didn't get rid of my LPs and now they seem to have come back in fashion.  I may have to go and dig them out of their storage/hiding spot.

This is such a first world problem.

Passion Lost

 

I just finished watching the Indy 500 on television.  I have to say that there was a time in my life when that was really important.  There was a time when I looked forward to it all week.  There was a time when I planned my snacks for the big event, like I do for the Grey Cup.  That time seems like a long time ago.  I guess it just doesn't capture my imagination like it used to.

I still like motorsports.  I dedicatedly watch the British Touring Car Championships.  I love the speed and the technology.  When I write like that, it is hard to understand why the 500 just doesn't do it for me.  I can hardly understand myself.

I am not going to repeat those oft cited 200 laps of left turns.  Those never made sense to me before, and they aren't going to start now.  I also am not one of those people who watch for crashes.  Thankfully safety technology has cut down on the fatalities in auto racing.  Sadly, they have not been eliminated entirely.

Maybe it is the commentary.  Despite the in car views, telemetry and abundant stats, I find some of those racing comments like nails on a chalkboard.  I don't blame the commentators entirely.  I blame them (and all commentators) for relying on cliche and hackneyed expressions, but I know that some of those are directed at less than knowledgeable and casual fans.  In this great high tech, high bandwidth TV universe, couldn't we have a secondary channel where they didn't state the obvious, didn't speak to me like I was five years old?  Let me choose, I might surprise you.

A Valiant Effort

I am not really a basketball fan, but the Toronto Raptors certainly had my attention.  Although they did not win game seven and will not advance to the next round, they have earned everyone's respect and should be thanked.  They brought a winning, can do attitude to a city that seems stuck in a sporting slump (except the Argonauts or the Rock).

I was shopping today and I heard the stock boys and cashiers discussing the score.  Every few minutes another voice would ring out, begging for an update.  I don't remember the last time I witnessed something like that.  It was great.

They might have lost, but they aren't losers.  They along with the fans (die hard and bandwagon types alike) are the winners.  It was a great playoff series, and they deserved to win.  They deserve some respect.  They earned some respect.

Thank You.  You have done an amazing job.