15 Incredible Videos Shot on a GoPro
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/27/awesome-gopro-videos/
Pianist’s Classical Cover Is a Modern-Day Masterpiece
The key to a good GoPro video is, well, in D Minor.
Sure, you’re probably accustomed to seeing the POV camera used for recording extreme sports (black-flipping off a canyon or ski flying in Norway). But in a recent YouTube video from ValentinaLisitsa, the camera is used to showcase one pianist’s rapid finger movement in Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17.
“This video just proves that playing piano is just as exciting as mountain biking, paragliding or just doing silly stuff with GoPro camera as a companion,” the video’s description reads.
Now that deserves a standing ovation.
BONUS: 15 Terrifying GoPro Videos to Make Your Heart Skip
GoPro Sweats
Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/06/piano-gopro/
Kill 49 Minutes By Watching This Dude Give His Cat 11,453 Stern Looks
Is This What it Takes to Market Vodka? Pitchmen Pose as Window Washers
How do you reach white-collar professionals who routinely work 80-hour weeks? Ultimat Vodka offered one answer to that question, though it’s not clear how scalable it is.
The vodka brand dispatched a dapper-looking gentlemen in New York and Chicago to pose as a window-washer outside office buildings. Peering in from the windows, they shook the workers out of their stupor with an honest admission written on a placard: “You people are hard to reach.” The spokesmen then beckoned the workers to get out in the fresh air — preferably before 6 — and have a drink.
If the video above is to believed, the technique worked: The office drones cracked smiles and met the Ultimat pitchman later for cocktails.
Though sending Ultimat’s window washers out to recruit more fans would be challenging on a grand scale, thanks to the magic of YouTube, a million or so people have been won over since the video went up on July 26.
What do you think? Would you take Ultimat’s spokesman up on his offer? Do you give the brand points for cleverness? Let us know in the comments.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/30/market-vodka-pitchman-window-washer/
12 Memorable Mashable Videos of 2012
We’ve had a lot of interesting moments at Mashable in the past year — and luckily, we also happened to be filming many of them. In 2012, we followed an Internet celebrity singing with a turkey leg, talked to folks who lined up for the iPhone 5 for a week, and a tracked down a filmmaker who did documentaries for the Arab Spring. We also peered into Martha Stewart’s bag and survived a takeover attempt from Conan O’Brien.
1. Conan O’Brien Buys Mashable, Ousts Pete Cashmore as CEO
In an April Fools’ Day prank, TeamCoco and Mashable got together to create a zany story line that includes Conan buying the site and ousting founder and CEO Pete Cashmore. The Conan O’Brien takeover launched at midnight on April 1 in a 24-hour story arc that shows O’Brien’s attempts to make paper-based tweeting happen.
2. Mashable Goes ‘Behind the Launch’ With New Documentary Series
We follow the journey of Vungle, an in-app advertising startup, as they court investors, hire new employees, and finally launch their company. Catch up on all fourteen episodes here.
3. How to Learn a Language on YouTube
Reporter Neha Prakash embarks on an attempt to learn Russian from YouTube tutorials, which culminates in a trip to a Russian restaurant as she tries to order from the fluent waitress. Her favorite word? C??????, which means “thank you.”
4. What’s in Martha Stewart’s Tech Bag?
America’s pioneering DIY expert has three iPads. What else does she carry in her seemingly endless bag of gadgets?
5. Watch Calexico Play Two Songs Live At Mashable
Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico fill Mashable HQ with the distinctive sound of the American southwest. They talk about their new album, Algiers, being a musician in the digital era, and sticking to an analog recording experience.
6. What Does Siri Know About the iPhone 5?
Tech editor Pete Pachal grills Siri for inside information about the phone, only to get coy replies.
7. Who Lined Up For the iPhone 5?
Meet the colorful characters who camped out at the Apple flagship store for a week.
8. iPhone 5 Line: Unnecessary But Fun
We do an early morning stakeout at the Apple Store right before it opens its doors.
9. This Is What Happens When Comic Con Attendees Try to Impersonate Bane
At the New York Comic Con, we asked everyone from Wolverine to Batman himself to demonstrate their finest Bane super-villain vocal talents, with mixed results.
10. This Man Fights in and Films the Last Gasps of the Arab Spring
Activist and filmmaker Matthew VanDyke spent years traversing North Africa and the Middle East by motorcycle, befriending Libyans and other travelers along the way. We talk to him about his work in this two-part series.
11. Nicole Westbrook Talks Turkey With New Yorkers
Watch 12-year-old YouTube viral video star Nicole Westbrook as she interviews people on the street with a turkey leg. You can’t make this stuff up.
12. Internet Feline Luminary Talks Big Data and Facebook Stock
Watercooler Editor Annie Colbert picks the brain of one of the Internet’s foremost felines, Grumpy Cat.
BONUS: Mashable Isn’t the Only 7-Year-Old Digital Expert
When Mashable turned seven years old, it got us thinking: How does a 7-year-old media company compare with actual 7-year-olds? We talked to kids from 92nd Street Y’s Camp Yomi to discuss Facebook’s valuation, LinkedIn tips and the fate of the BlackBerry.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/12-memorable-videos/
Netflix Aside, Emmys Jury Honors 4 Interactive Digital Media Programs
LOS ANGELES — During the tape-delayed Primetime Creative Arts Emmys aired on Saturday, Netflix wasn’t the only web entity winning awards. A YouTube series and several TV networks’ digital media programs were honored for their achievements in multiplatform storytelling, interactivity, social TV experience as well as user experience and visual design.
Although the television academy has recognized interactive media in the past, it placed a bigger emphasis this year on the digital content and second-screen experiences from creators on platforms like YouTube or from major networks.
In addition to the four juried Emmy winners (below) in interactive categories, the Emmys added an Outstanding Interactive Program category, which ComedyCentral.com won for its Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs. The special featured Katy Perry’s viral “Firework” duet (pictured, above) with a girl living with autism.
“More than ever before, television has become an interactive medium in which the audience has a role in driving the storytelling, participating as a fan and engaging in community and sponsorship activities,” Lori Schwartz, a governor on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Interactive Media Peer Group, said in a statement earlier this month.
Here are the Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media winners:
Multiplatform Storytelling
Winner: Top Chef’s Last Chance Kitchen at BravoTV.com
“We are honored to be recognized for achievement in multiplatform storytelling,” Lisa Hsia, EVP of digital media at Bravo, told Mashable. “Top Chef’s Last Chance Kitchen was a wonderful confluence where great content met the desires of the fan and our partner Toyota. The digital series impacted the results of the on-air show. The second-screen participation and social conversation amplified it even further. Multiplatform storytelling turns our one-hour show into a seven-day-a-week experience.”
Jurors’ Comments:
Top Chef‘s award-winning linear series was expanded into a comprehensive digital “buffet” and tantalizing interactive experience for foodies with the companion Last Chance Kitchen series. This component, available on web and mobile platforms, Bravo’s Now app, VOD and EST, required active input from the viewing audience, which in turn influenced and impacted events on the linear series on. Each week, as Top Chef competitors were eliminated, they got a second chance to battle that week’s winner on this digital series. Fans interacted with the contestants and judges, and even got cooking themselves to determine which of the dismissed chefs would be the last one standing in the digital series and would have a chance to appear on the Top Chef finale. 52% of Top Chef‘s on-air audience engaged in Last Chance Kitchen and experienced the series in a collaborative way.
Recipients: Bravo Production Team, Magical Elves Production Team, Bravo Digital/Social Team and Bravo Creative Team
Social TV Experience
Winner: Oprah’s Lifeclass at Oprah.com/Lifeclass
Jurors’ Comments:
The award-winning series Oprah’s Lifeclass is a richly interactive, worldwide social experience for millions of students who participate in inspiring conversations with Oprah Winfrey on-air, online and via social media. For each class, Oprah is joined by a hand-picked expert, and together they interact with viewers to share principles and tools that can help people live more meaningful and fulfilling lives. Prior to the scheduled airing of Lifeclass on OWN, key influencers in the social sphere on that topic are given a sneak peek of the episode, and invited to participate in the Sunday night social dialogue. Lifeclass consistently ranks in the top ten “most social shows” in primetime, according to BlueFin Labs. After airing, the conversations continue throughout the social space and in a digital classroom at Oprah.com, where tools are provided to help viewers reach their own “Aha” Moments via an extensive companion curriculum, including class notes (thanks to Storify) and assessments, and Life Work questions that can be saved in their custom profile.
Recipient: OWN Digital
User Experience And Visual Design
Winner: The Nick App from Nickelodeon
Jurors’ Comments:
The Nick App is a branded experience that allows kids to watch and play Nick in unprecedented ways. This free App features a moveable tile layout that can be swiped in any direction, promoting discovery and exploration and offering kids instant and on-demand access to more than 1,000 pieces of Nickelodeon-themed content. It includes short-form videos of original skits, sketch and comedic bits, behind-the-scenes clips and photos from Nick stars and animated characters, full episodes, polls, new games, and surprising random hilarity. The Nick App supports the full Nickelodeon on-air line up as well as specials such as the annual Kids’ Choice Awards. The App boasts new content daily and includes fun and funny interactive elements such as the “Do Not Touch” button that triggers an array of disruptive comedy and surprises. Nickelodeon’s goal was to go beyond a typical app that offers free video viewing and instead offer more interactive content, games, and video not seen on television — whenever and wherever the user wants it.
Recipients: Nickelodeon Digital
Original Interactive Program
Winner: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube from Pemberley Digital
Jurors’ Comments:
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is the award-winning, record-breaking, modern multiplatform adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” based around a fictional vlog kept by Lizzie Bennet, a 24-year-old grad student with an uncertain future, a mountain of debt and her best friend Charlotte behind the camera. When the LBD began in April of 2012 with two videos a week posted at Lizzie’s YouTube channel, there were only four characters appearing on screen. Unbeknownst to the audience, several other characters were conversing with each other over social media which kicked off a rapidly coruscating expansion of the LBD storyworld. Characters that only existed on Twitter soon began appearing on camera and even started their own channels, with one of them posting song recommendations and movie check-ins a full 10 months before they were to ever appear on camera. Throughout the entire process, the LBD characters used their social media presence to interact with the audience, creating an addictive world of engagement, while driving important plot points for the main video through their separate channels.
Recipients: Transmedia Producer Jay Bushman, Executive Producer Bernie Su and Transmedia Editor Alexandra Edwards
On Sunday, be sure to follow Mashable’s entertainment editor Brian Anthony Hernandez, who will be providing live coverage on Twitter (@BAHjournalist) and Instagram (BAHjournalist) from the Emmys red carpet and inside Nokia Theatre during the awards ceremony.
If Emmys Were Awarded Based on Facebook Buzz
Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/09/21/emmys-interactive-digital-media-winners/
‘Simon’s Cat’ Partakes in the Animal Olympics
A new “Simon’s Cat” video hit the web Saturday, and this one gets into the competitive spirit of the Olympics … with a snail race. Check it out above.
For the uninitiated, “Simon’s Cat” is created by English animator Simon Tofield, who regularly uploads new short films to YouTube. He animates each frame by hand. Twelve to 25 drawings are required to create just one second of a “Simon’s Cat” film.
Revel in some more hand-drawn kitty-cuteness in the slideshow below.
More of “Simon’s Cat”
What Happens Every Time Gotye Starts Playing
Music snobs may try to scoff at Gotye’s megahit “Somebody That I Used To Know,” but when the catchy tune comes on the radio for the 843,201,743rd time, they belt it out just like the rest of us singing superstars. Well, superstars in our own car and showers at least.
Sing it, ladies and gents — we’re not judging.
This Week’s Hot Viral Videos
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/12/gotye-song-in-the-ar/
China’s Video Sites Ordered to Censor Content
China’s new online video censorship rules came this week via the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), China’s official broadcast regulation bureau. SARFT made the pre-screening policy known through a statement released to Chinese press that was later reported on by The Register.
Chinese video websites can be held legally liable if they fail to comply with the self-screening and censorship policy.
SARFT claims that the target of the new rules is content which depicts “violence, pornography and some swearing,” adding that the pre-screening policy is a response to pressure from Chinese citizens to “protect young people’s physical and mental health in accordance with the law.”
However, a spokesperson from popular Chinese video site Youku told the BBC that if content is “anti-[Communist] party and anti-society,” it will “definitely… not pass,” a condition which may alarm Internet freedom advocates around the world.
The Chinese government is known for aggressively censoring online content.
Its “Great Firewall of China” blocks Chinese citizens from accessing many foreign websites — including the popular video-sharing platform YouTube.
On top of that, it has a team of hundreds of official censors who actively crawl the Chinese web looking for content the government deems questionable. Those censors often play a game of digital cat-and-mouse with Chinese Internet users, most recently when users were looking for information about Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.
Foreign companies employ a variety of methods to do business in China. Google China, which has a fractious relationship with the Chinese government, houses its servers in Hong Kong, which has a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The New York Times, which recently opened a Chinese-language platform, also hosts its content outside mainland China.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/11/china-censorship-video/
Mashable Weekend Recap: 65 Stories You Might Have Missed
The weekend started off with a bang, thanks to the dazzling opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. That was spectacular enough to get everyone super-ready for the athletic competition involving our entire planet.
There were plenty of stories about the Olympics, and at the same time, your intrepid Mashable team discovered so much more — happenings in the digital world, tech innovations that felt like they were from a future world, and GIFs, comics and weekend fun that seemed to be from another world entirely.
Best of all, we’ve gathered all those stories here for you, in one big easy-to-peruse package. So take a look at the latest Weekend Recap, where you can catch up with the entire weekend of delightful news and views, right here:
Editor’s Picks
James Bond and the Queen Parachute Into the Olympics [VIDEO]
Please, NBC and IOC, Learn How to Share the Olympics
13 Surprising OS X Mountain Lion Facts [SUNDAY COMICS]
Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week
Mountain Lion Vs. Windows 8: Which One Is Better?
Best Pics Yet: This Could Be the Real iPhone 5
How to Watch the 2012 Summer Olympics Online
Spoilers: Angry Olympics Fans Tweet Their Protests, NBC Responds
News & Opinion
Marissa Mayer Brings Free Food to Yahoo, Eyes Acquisitions [REPORT]
MTV’s ‘Teen Wolf’ Facebook Game Is Feast for Fans in First 5 Weeks
Where to Get Back-to-School Deals on Tablets, Computers
How Dictation Tools Can Help Speed Up Your Workflow [INFOGRAPHIC]
Russian Cargo Spacecraft Docks With Space Station on 2nd Try
Olympic Check-Ins: Hot Foursquare Deals and Badges for London 2012
Record-Setting Electric Plane Flight Almost Didn’t Make It [VIDEO]
Mysterious Billionaire Commissions World’s Largest Yacht [VIDEO]
Twitter Jokester’s ‘Bomb Threat’ Charges Dropped [VIDEO]
Olympic Popularity: Starcount Reveals Which Olympic Athletes Are Trending
Amazon Sales Tax — What it Means for You
Down to the Millisecond: All About Olympics Timing
Trioh! The Flashlight You Can See When The Power Goes Out
On Reddit, Rapists Say They’re Sorry
Latest Apple Ads Take a Turn for the Worse
Why the London 2012 Olympics Is the First Real-Time Games
The 9 Most Important Tablet Mysteries of 2012
Device Turns Eye Movement Into Handwriting
Apple Considered Investing in Twitter [REPORT]
Hidden Genius Project Provides Tech Mentorship for Young Black Men
What Higher Education Will Look Like in 2020 [STUDY]
Why Do We Keep Going Back to Mars?
This Is What the Olympians From 100 Years Ago Looked Like
Shedding Light on Mitt Romney’s Unexplained Twitter Surge
New Leaked Pics May Hint at iPhone 5 Design
Chick-fil-A PR Chief Dies as Company Battles Controversy
Hacking the Olympics Opening Ceremony
Romney Advisor Tweets ‘Follow Friday’ List of Potential VPs
Facebook’s Not the Only One Struggling With Mobile Advertising
Weekend Leisure
This Cute, Cubed Bamboo Speaker Packs Crazy Sound [VIDEO]
9 Nifty Laptop Feet to Keep Your PC Running Cool
Kickstarter Project Is a ‘Smartwatch’ for Your Smartphone
‘Fund Me Maybe’ Is Tech World’s Parody of ‘Call Me Maybe’ [VIDEO]
10 Stylish Onesies for Baby Geeks
12 Pictures of Animals Being Forced to Marry
It’s Official: This Is the Cutest Picture on the Internet
Twitter Doghouse Lets You Temporarily Dump Annoying Tweeps
Boys Will Be Boys In This ‘Girls’ Parody [VIDEO]
10 Brits Snubbed from the Olympic Opening Ceremony
You Have Upset The Tetris God [VIDEO]
Sneak Peek: Justin Bieber Teases ‘As Long As You Love Me’ Video
If ‘A Space Odyssey’ Were Remade as a Hollywood Blockbuster
Forget Traditional Tours; Vayable Helps You Discover New Ways to Travel
Listen to Talk Radio on Your iPhone? You’re Probably a Liberal
You’ll Grin and Bear it With This Wild Live Video Stream
Mr. Bean Gets Carried Away During Olympics Appearance
Helpful Resources
Everything You Need to Know About Foursquare’s New Merchant Tools
How to Structure Your Daily Job Search to Help Land Your Next Job
50 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
6 Key Software Updates You Should Be Doing
The Beginner’s Guide to Socialcam
4 Reasons Why Recruiters Should Stop Accepting Traditional Resumes