youtube

reporter's notebook I've done a lot of risky things as a reporter over the years. I've knocked on doors in the sketchiest of crime-ridden neighborhoods, done midair flips with an acclaimed stunt pilot, and even let Lorena Bobbitt--famous for cutting off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife--give me a manicure using sharp instruments.

But no assignment scared me as much as asking Web fashionista William Sledd to critique the way I dress.

I'd been working on a profile about Sledd, 23, the former Gap manager from Paducah, Ky., who has become an online celebrity … Read more

Apple's iWeb, one part of the iLife consumer apps suite, has received an interesting update this morning. iWeb is Apple's consumer-level Web site creation tool, and it gives users a simple way to drag and drop various Web site elements as well as fill in the included templates. The latest version is getting integration with two of Google's services: AdSense and Google Maps. iWeb users can now sign up for AdSense right inside the application, and pick how they want it to show up on their site. From the looks of the screenshots, it's much easier … Read more

.Mac, the popular Web services suite from Apple is getting an update this morning. Among the newer features is a much-needed upgrade to .Mac's Web photo gallery service, which now ties in with the freshly updated iPhoto '08 and the iPhone. Users will also be able to upload photos to their online galleries via a specialized e-mail address. The new iPhone integration mirrors some of the options that are already in place to shuttle off photos from the device, with a new option to "send to Web gallery," which lets you send photos to their.Mac Web … Read more

There's a new social network/video discovery service on the way. It's name is Knocka.TV, and I've got to hand it to them--the service isn't even open to the public yet, and there's already a play reel of nearly 30 video clips on the landing page that make it look like a lot of fun. It looks like a hybrid of Joost, StumbleUpon, and YouTube, with some TV-like qualities such as timeslots and user-controlled programming (akin to MTV's Total Request Live and Direct Connect). There could also be a social networking component with … Read more

Bob Tur, the chopper-piloting journalist who was first to file a copyright lawsuit against YouTube, will join a class action suit that is led by England's Premier Soccer League.

Tur, who has accused YouTube of encouraging users to pirate copyright material, is dropping his individual suit against the company.

"I carried the ball against YouTube for a year now," Tur said in a statement. "After careful analysis and consideration, I have concluded that the (Premier League) class action is the most effective way for independent copyright holders to secure the judicial remedies that I am seeking.&… Read more

A group of Japanese entertainment companies is criticizing Google for not doing enough to keep pirated material off YouTube.

The group also said that it wants Google to disclose more details about the technology it plans to use to protect copyright and said the search company was taking too long in unveiling the technology, according to The Associated Press.

"YouTube has to stop how it runs its site and get rid of the illegal clips. We want them to reset the service," composer Hideki Matsutake is quoted as saying at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.

"… Read more

My, my, Lonelygirl15 sure has come a long way. Not so long ago, everyone thought the too-cute videoblogger was, well, a too-cute videoblogger. Then some online video fans with a shocking amount of time on their hands deduced that she was likely an actress in a staged series of video episodes. (They were right.) Now, leading lady "Bree" (played by Jessica Rose) has gone all professional on us--the new MySpaceTV video portal will be hosting Lonelygirl15's season finale.

Season finale?

On Friday, MySpaceTV--which launched in June and has been rolling out content deals ever since--will broadcast the … Read more

The actual merit of this month's CNN-YouTube Democratic debate has proven arguable, but it at least appears to have been influential, as more and more "traditional" news outlets are turning to the power of YouTube and its ilk as a way to breathe some new life into participatory citizenship.

One CNET News.com editor directed me to a relatively new feature offered by the online operations of the California regional paper Contra Costa Times--"Your Views," which allows users to submit their own photos, videos, and cartoons. The whole system is provided by a … Read more

Among the many features of the iPhone I am evaluating, the YouTube feature is an absolute treat. The picture quality is jaw-dropping. Downloading some of your classic favorites is the best way to impress people. Showing it off never entered your mind? Yeah, right.

Also excellent is the Safari browser. It truly is as easy to enlarge a page as it seems in the ads. Speed? Well, it's EDGE, so forget broadband. But with Wi-Fi, it's fast enough.

Of course, the bad thing about Wi-Fi is it eats up your battery. So you need to get into the … Read more