YouTube Pay for Play Could Trigger Revolution
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 1:30 PM on May 5, 2007
YouTube will start paying some "select" uploaders, doling out wads of hard cash to video makers with ongoing series that have proven to be popular with viewers. YouTube's mentioned this idea before, and is still not saying when the largess of its parent company Google will start billowing out, but it's now asking for all interested YouTubers to speak up and start begging for the alms. Hope the company is set for a deluge, because anybody who makes a video thinks it's just ahh-some, don't they?
Come to think of it, this is going to be revolutionary. The prospect of pay-for-play could create a whole new class of videomaker, not a dweller of the Ivory Tower of broadcast but a middle-class erstwhile vid-volunteer who will suddenly be awash in cash. With the prospect of a hit video that pays big, this adds a whole new element to the uploading jones. Roll the open, cue the upheaval.
YouTube starts paying 'select' uploaders [The Register, via CrunchGear]

It had to happen. Someone is now selling Nothing, and undoubtedly, some suckers are buying it. It's a piece of packaging with a clear plastic sphere sticking out of it that contains absolutely nothing. Well, there's something in there, but it's just the same as what's outside it: thin air. And get this: It costs $6.28. It's Nothing for something!












Who'd have thought that months after the release of the PlayStation 3, the book of PS3 Melee Watch would get another chapter added to it. A San Francisco man was stabbed to death Monday night when he tried to help two women who were getting their PlayStations stolen by the man they were selling it to. The women chased down the thief, reclaimed the PS3, but the helpful citizen was stabbed in the fight afterwards.
Really into DJ-ing? Pacemaker's pocket-sized DJ lets you practice your song mixing skills on the wheels of molded plastic, all from the comfort of your own pants. The Pacemaker has a 120GB hard drive, USB 2.0 support, a touchpad, and various other DJ-ing functions (including loop-in, loop-out, re-loop, cue point search, and other things we have no idea about).


I'm sure there's a non-perverted reason to own a night-vision webcam, but I have no idea what it is. Anyone? No? That's what I thought.




The Wall Street Journal says that Microsoft and Yahoo are back to talking about a merger, after a serious flirtation a year ago. Seems the Goog has grown stronger of late (something to do with utter dominance of online advertising, coupled with new and promising consumer software apps) and one thing Yahoo and Microsoft can do about it is get together, like platonic friends from college who meet up again, desperate and lonely, at their 10-year reunion. Will it work? Can you imagine the branding nightmare? They say "merger" but can you really see Gates, Ballmer and the rest of Redmond sharing the keynote stage, especially with Terry Semel? Feel free to share your vision of the scariest (or most surprisingly utopian) Microsoft-Yahoo mashup. 
We've seen phones with lots of crazy features, but in my opinion BenQ's fat-measuring phone beats them all. The alleged phone keeps track of your pudge by shooting out a micro-current that travels through your body.