Magnify.net Blog For November 2006

Magnify gets "Wired!"

November 22, 2006 - Steve Rosenbaum
Well, ok - gosh. Its nice to be growing. And its to have great video sites being created. But we didn't think that Bob would acutally use that quote about the 'creepy blue light'. Yikes! In WIRED, no less.

Here's the link: http://adage.com/article?article_id=113249

Here's a few hilights -

Until about five minutes ago, remember, almost all video-entertainment content was produced and distributed by Hollywood. Period. That time is over. There was a time when advertisers could count on mass audiences for what Hollywood thought we should be watching on TV. That time is all but over. There was a time when broadband penetration was too slight and bandwidth costs too prohibitive for video to be watched online. That time is sooooo over. "The era of the creepy blue light leaking out of every living room window on the block is now officially at an end," says my pal and occasional colleague Steve Rosenbaum, founder of video-sharing startup Magnify.net and one of the inventors a decade ago of citizen video. "The simple, wonderful, delirious fact is that people like you and me can now make and share content."

Delirious or not, it's a fact that Buzzmachine.com's Jeff Jarvis believes has changed the meaning of TV. "Just a... [More]

Some Amazing Sites - this week!

November 12, 2006 - Steve Rosenbaum
There's great entrepreneurial energy fueling sites and exploration - a few that deserve a shout-out: thetimemachine.magnify.net went ahead hand built a 'network' of more 107 sites (one for each year!) and even built a 'network' pull down menu! So cool. Over at www.yousurftubes.magnify.net there are more than 50 active members posting, reviewing, and sharing comments. DCSmitty is building quite a community of Surfers! But last weeks explosive growth was at britneyspearsorg.magnify.net - where Rajiv Doshi is adding videos to his already super popular Britney fan blog. He's using Magnify both with a widget and with embedded video links to specific stories - and the results are impressive. Blogs and video - perfect together.

WSJ features Media Village, NYHH!

November 08, 2006 - Steve Rosenbaum
Congrats to Jack Myers and Jessica Wells for great notice in todays Wall Street Journal!

Coming to Your TV -- Homemade Hamster Videos? By PETER GRANT November 8, 2006; Page B1

Web sites like YouTube have vaulted into the vanguard of Internet entertainment by providing a medium for people to post videos of practically any imaginable activity, from bizarre pet antics to teenagers riding shopping carts into walls.

Now some of the country's largest telecom operators, including Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., are trying to determine if there's a business in putting such videos on television.

On Monday, Comcast launched a trial version of ziddio.com, a Web site that uses contests to attract homegrown videos, with the best then available for Comcast's video-on-demand TV service. Verizon, meantime, is close to a deal with YouTube, according to people familiar with the matter. If it happens, Verizon TV subscribers are likely to be able to watch the top YouTube videos of the day for a fee.

A trial version of ziddio.com, a Comcast site that seeks homegrown videos for possible use in the company's on-demand TV service.

Such moves illustrate the new battleground that's emerging as phone and cable compa... [More]

New content for your site

November 04, 2006 - Steve Rosenbaum
For sites that have lots of video, but want to offer more text - we've added FreshContent.com news headlines to the growing collection of widgets you can use to customize your site. You can choose from more than 70 subject specific feeds - and instantly - your site has news streaming in in real time.

New Home Page Tools are live

November 04, 2006 - Steve Rosenbaum
If you've been wanting to customize your site, add more features, or create a mix of 'featured' content and user-submitted content - the new design features should really be a ton of fun. Just log in as your sites Admin, and then click on the Design menue item. You'll find new tools that are drag-and-drop, with the ability to customize content, shapes, sizes, and layout. Have fun!