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SECOND UPDATE: Check the end of this post for some more information from Facebook and ViddYou.

I think most of the Web has reached the consensus that Facebook Platform, the social networking site's new initiative to open up its service to third-party companies' specially-designed applications, has been a resounding success. Anecdotally, I can say that "techy" people I know, who had originally dismissed Facebook as a glorified address book, are now starting to think that it has a whole lot more street cred. And I know some people who are more or less addicted to some of the new features (throw a sheep at me, will ya?)

But whispers have been spreading that perhaps Facebook--generally known for being methodical and well-organized, choosing to roll out features incrementally rather than going for huge revamps--might not have predicted just how popular the new Platform would be, and wasn't ready for the onslaught of bandwidth activity. Yesterday, there were some rumors going around that Facebook had had to sell a full 10 percent of its shares in order to purchase enough hardware to handle its rapid user increase. Looks like the original story was reported on the Web site of the U.K. newspaper The Times and was then pulled. (Conspiracy theorists may point out the fact that The Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which also owns Facebook's chief rival MySpace. Personally, I think it's more likely just a case of some reporting that turned out to be based on unsubstantiated rumor.)

If true, basically, it would indicate that Facebook, often singled out as a red-hot potential acquisition target, wasn't as financially stable as the tech community would have thought. Tough to believe, since we've had every indication that the company is extremely well-funded, financially efficient, and has pulled in adequate advertising revenues. So, like most others following the social networking scene, I dismissed it as speculative gossip.

And I still think the original claims in The Times were untrue, but some more concrete signs have indeed indicated that Facebook wasn't fully ready for the whirlwind success of the Platform. While logged onto Facebook this morning in an attempt to engage in a SuperPoke war with one of my friends, I saw this:… Read more

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--In the inaugural draft of the Championship Gaming Series, a new professional video game league, the biggest surprise may have been first: a woman was the first player chosen.

It's not, of course, that there aren't top-notch women video gamers, because there are, and many. There are even sponsored all-women teams. But it's no secret that the majority of hard-core gamers are male.

So when San Francisco OPTX General Manager Kat Hunter chose Dead or Alive player Vanessa Arteaga with the draft's first pick, a lot of people here at the Playboy Mansion, … Read more

Heavy, the online video site with a distinct focus on the Jackass demographic, announced Tuesday that it will be using the IP Intelligence technology from Digital Element in order to "geotarget" its advertisements, language, and video content based on where a visitor's IP address is located.

This means a couple of different things. One, by knowing where its visitors come from, Heavy can run locally targeted advertisements, which can make it a more appealing buy for advertisers. This, as we've seen with many of Google's locally-oriented applications, can be very lucrative.

And two, imagine the … Read more

Camcorders have come a long way since the old VHS monsters we used to lug around. The last couple of years have brought us DVD and Harddisc based camcorders which is nice, but I have noticed a troubling trend. Camcorders have become so cheap that many companies are taking away some of the features that are a must for filming sports motion. They are dumbing down the camcorders and stealing some of the features that we sports junkies must have for analysis. Whenever filming sports in motion if you want to slow it down and analyze it you must have … Read more

When Electronic Arts and Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference Monday that the publishing giant would be bringing a host of its biggest-name games to the Mac, it signaled that the platform is being taken increasingly seriously by the video game industry.

EA said that it plans this summer to release hit titles like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Need for Speed: Carbon, Battlefield 2142, and that later in the year, it would publish a series of sports games, including Madden NFL '08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 for the Mac.

The Mac has long … Read more

We've just wrapped up our review of the BlueRaven MediaMate 7000 PVP over on CNET Reviews. The thing is gigantic! If you're in the market for a wide-screen PVP with built-in DVR capabilities, but the Archos players are out of reach, the MediaMate might be an acceptable alternative. It's bulky, and could really use a higher screen resolution--but it'll get the job done. Here's our slide show.

Video-sharing site Revver said Thursday that CEO Steven Starr has stepped down, in the company's second executive shakeup in the past six months.

One of the sector's pioneers in sharing revenue with videographers, Revver said in a statement that Kevin Wells, the company's chief operating officer takes over for Starr, who will now serve as Revver's chairman.

Revver competes in a crowded video-sharing market by billing itself as a friend to artists. But what many performers prize most is an audience. Revver's has never come close to the size of YouTube's, the sector's … Read more

ooVoo is a free, standalone desktop chat application that has both a text and video chat capabilities. Its official launch is next week, but the beta has been available since mid April. I took it for a spin this morning and came away impressed.

There are a ton of chat clients out there, so one of the things it has done to differentiate itself is multiperson video chat. ooVoo can handle as many as six people in one video conference, which is two more than what iChat is capable of. Users can drop in and out of conversations, and the video windows will scale with a similar effect to iChat's "swoop." Along with video, users can chat among themselves with their computer's microphone or a headset. There are volume controls for both speakers and the microphone right in the chat window, a handy addition.

I found the video and audio to be fairly clear, even when topped off at six users. ooVoo's creators tell me that when running full six-user video, it will take up only half the bandwidth on a low-end DSL connection. Assuming you're not downloading or uploading large files in the background, your connection shouldn't drag to a halt.

In addition to live video and text chat, ooVoo doubles as a video e-mail service. Users can send each other video messages as long as a minute in length that are available right in the app or via e-mail. Users who get the e-mail are also provided a link that takes them to a live flash version of the video, so they can access it while away from their home machine.

For people interested in adding a quick way to be reached on their social networking profile or Web site, ooVoo gives users the option to embed a quick contact button that will automatically launch an ooVoo conversation if installed. I've posted an example image of this on the left side of this post.

ooVoo is not alone in the multiperson video chat space; competitor SightSpeed also offers a free video and text chat service. The main difference is that SightSpeed is aimed at businesses and limits video chat to four users at a time with a monthly subscription fee.

ooVoo is currently available only for Windows users, although the team is releasing a beta for Macs in about six weeks. Users on both platforms will be able to chat with one another using the same client.

You can download ooVoo over at CNET's Download.com. For more shots of the service, keep reading.… Read more

Major League Baseball might not be a fan of Sling Media, but the National Hockey League on Wednesday announced its support of a forthcoming Sling feature called "Clip + Sling."

The NHL is the first pro sports league to make a deal with Sling. Clip + Sling is a feature that will allow Slingbox users to select clips of live or recorded television and share them with others. Though the content can only be clipped by Slingbox users, anyone can access the Web portal that will host the clips. The 2-year-old company also has a Clip + Sling licensing deal with … Read more