YouTube stars migrate for moolah

[From IHT]

Lonelygirl15 has moved to Revver. Smosh has moved to LiveVideo.com. And Ask a Jew guy is being lured by Metacafe, ManiaTV and others.

Online D.I.Y video enthusiasts that have become pageview-magnets are being courted to be the talent/celebrity of the new media age.

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Meanwhile, Joost, the next creative endeavour of net-cloggers and Kazaa/Skype founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, is set to take off - via legal means.

The Scandinavian duo behind the file-sharing software Kazaa and the Internet phone service Skype are doing everything by the book.

An agreement has been signed with Viacom to broadcast the "mother lode of television programming" - shows from MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and other Viacom networks - online. Viacom and Joost will share revenue from advertising as part of the deal.

"The reason we're doing this is because of our history," said Friis said. "We know how these things work. And above all, we know that we don't want to be in a long, multi-year litigation battle."

This month, Viacom ordered YouTube to remove more than 100,000 clips of its programming because the two companies had not reached an agreement on licensing and revenue sharing.

The Joost format, said Friis, will differ from YouTube, which allows users to upload video snippets of TV programmess or their own self-produced content. "It's not Web video, it's TV," he said...

...somewhat ambigiously.

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Prada LG iPhone-lookalike

Prada and LG's obvious stab at the iPhone - the LG KE850 - suggests more imitators to come.



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High speed Internet - the Wok way

From Oamaru Mail in New Zealand:

Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective?

This is exactly how North Otago's newest television station 45 South is transmitting its signal from its studio to the top of Cape Wanbrow, in a bid to keep costs down.

45 South volunteer Ken Jones designed the wok transmitter in his spare time last year when he wanted to provide wireless broadband to his Ardgowan home.

"A group of us wanted to connect our computers to each other and then we worked out a way to get of getting the signal between two points," he said.

He discovered satellite dishes were between $100 to $400 retail and that smaller dishes, the same size as a wok, were $80.

Mr Jones thought he could do better.

Along with friend Murray Bobbette they worked out mathematical equations to prove the curved metal face of a wok would have the same effect as a small satellite dish.

"We have spent a lot of time getting it right -- the first time we installed one we had it up a pole with the handle still on the end of the wok," he said.

"We had it connected to the woolshed and initially you couldn't get a signal the width of the paddock and now it can reach up to 20km."

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Telling the story in new ways

Stumbled upon this site. Intrigued at how a story on mental illness could be told in such a simple, effective form that leaves one more aware, and immersed in the pain of the subjects.

Penguin kicks off a wikinovel

Can a novel be created with a million editors?

Penguin begins a wiki novel as "...an experiment in creative writing and community. Anyone can join in. Anyone can write. Anyone can edit."

Sounds scary. Writing by committee?

Let's see how this pans out.

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Great links from Journerdism

Journerdism just ran its longest blog post and, boy, does it have some gems.

Some choice ones:
1. Adrian Holovaty's profile in AJR referring to his Post Remix site of web mash-ups.
2. Winners of the Edgies.
3.Can Online Ads Save Us?
4.Does my website suck -- checklist.
5.Tools of the mobile journalist.
6.Building a niche site.

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