| OCR Text |
Show ' v Special Features 28 Friday, Sept Upload it, link it, download arid take it with you. Whether It's a movie trailer or a bikini contest, viral video clips' are taking^ over blogs and flooding e-mail inboxes. MICRC MOMENTS These clips are part of the Internet video revolution — a few of the hundreds of mini moments lhal millions have seen. Jon Stewart on "Crossfire" During the 2004 presidential campaign. Jon Stewart's appearance on CNN's "Crossfire" became stuff of TV legend. The normally laid-back comedian turned on the show's hosts, berating the network and host Tucker Carlson's penchant for wearing bow ties. The clip of Stewart's appearance spread through e-mail inboxes like wildfire, marking what many consider the birth of microchunking. PORTABLE PLAYERS Apple iPod Creative Zen VleIon:M SanDlsk Sansa e200 Capabilities: Plays video and music; displays photos Memory: 30 GB or 60 GB Play time: Two hours of video, 14 hours of audio Size: About 2 inches by 4 inches, about 0.5 inches thick Cost: $299 (30 GB); $399 (60 GB) Feedback: The king of portable players, the iPod is popular for its sleek design, sharp display and trendiness. However, after just two episodes of "Desperate Housewives," the iPod's battery is finito. Capabilities: Plays video, music and radio; displays photos Memory: 30 GB Play time: Four hours of video, 14 hours of audio Size: About 2 inches by 4 inches; about 0.75 inches thick Cost: $299 Feedback: A crisp display and longer battery life make the VisionrM a good contender for the ubiquitous iPod. One problem: Creative has yet to synch with a provider that rivals Apple's iTunes service. Capabilities: Plays video, music and radio; displays photos Memory: 2GB, 4 GB or 6 GB Play time: 20 hours of audio Size: About 1.7 inches by 3.5 inches; 0.5 inches thick Cost: S180 (2 GB). S230 (4 GB), S280 (6 GB) Feedback: Its main competitor is the iPod nano, though the nano can't support video like the flash-based Sansa c200. The price is reasonable, but some users find the e200's scroll wheel a bit difficult to use. loMf nrj nn Qon\\u QwnonDtyi •IO0 V^VOCAB mlcrochunk, n. A clip of video cut from a longer piece, such as a TV show or movie. Can be easily c-mailed and quickly downloaded. Arches Gmlnl 500 "Lazy Sunday" Two average dudes pass a mundane Sunday afternoon rapping about cupcakes, the merits of Google Maps and their intenl to see "The Chronicles of Narnia" in a '"Saturday Night Live" skit that became an Internet phenomenon. Thanks to hilarious rhymes and an addictive refrain, "Lazy Sunday" increased YouTube's traffic by 85 percent as millions (locked to view the clip. NBC demanded the video's removal, only to promptly post it to its own site. Capabilities: Plays video, music and radio; displays photos transferred directly from digital camera —..—^ Memory: 30 GB or 40 GB - v ~Ji-__. Play time: Five hours of video, •»• 15 hours of frudio *,. Size: About 5 inches by 3 inches; 1 inch thick Cost: $199 Feedback: So new, the jury is still out. But its predecessors have been well received by those looking for video on the go. * All media players pictured at approximately 80 percent actual size. Toshiba Glpbeat 8 Capabilities: Plays video, music, radio; displays photos Memory: 2 GB Play time: 25 hours of audio Size: About 2.7 inches by 1.8 inches; about 0.6 inches thick Cost: $199 Feedback: "Why only 2 gigs?' cry the Internet masses especially when everything else seems to work on this UP player-thai-could Early reviews call the clix user-friendly, well integrated with Windows and fairly priced. "myspace: the movie" This independent short satires the cultural phenomenon MySpace. the online social network service that boasts more than 68 million users. Various fictitious MySpaccrs go through some typical motions (setting up a blind dale, refusing to pass along a chain message), only to have disastrous results. The MySpace universe gobbled the clip up. and the fake profiles set up for the movie's characters now boast thousands of proclaimed "friends." Capabilities: Plays video, music and radio; displays photos; downloads from T1V0 Memory: 30 GB or 60 GB Play time: Two and a half hours of video, 12 hours of audio Size: About 2.4 inches by 4 inches; about 0.6 inches thick Cost: S299 (30 GB), $399 (60 GB) Feedback: Its compatibility with Napster, TiVo and Vongo gives this player instant access to music, television and movies. The long screen can be switched to landscape display for optimal video viewing. ii 3 d d b o ft K 6 tftfftj" <••<•;;• 0 2 h OK Go's "A Million Ways" video With enough gootball panache to span continents. OK Go's clip for their song "A Million Ways" features the band performing a disturbingly synchronized (and cheesy) dance, routine in a suburban backyard. Millions downloaded the amateur video, though it was originally only a practice session for a live show. It spawned a frenzy of imitation clips from fans,' and an invitation to perform the dance on "Good Morning America." Research and design by Sainantha Riepe, McClatchy Newspapers iTunes www.apple.comAtunes/ Late last year, Apple made video available through its iTunes Music Store. Initial offerings included whole episodes of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives"; the roster has since expanded to include NBA games, "24," "Prison Break" and "SpongcBob SquarePants," among others. Most videos sell for $1.99. YouTube www.youtube.com Exploding in popularity after its launch in early 2005, YouTube allows registered users lo post and share video content with little restriction (though obscene and copyrighted material is not allowed). Everything from unicycle team performances lo on-camera poetry readings are on the site, which boasts more • than 200 million page views a day. MSN Video video.msn.com A largely free service supported by ad revenue, MSN's video service gels content via partnerships with MSNBC, Fox sports, iFilm and others. This summer, they plan to allow users to upload and tag their own videos. Google Video video.google.com Amateur videos and viral vids can be searched and viewed through this service, while Ihc Google Video Store sells CBS shows and NBA games starting at $1.99. Historic films from ihe U.S. National Archive are also available. vlogger, n. A person that posts regular entries to an online journal, in a video format. Derived from "blogger/* (a person that keeps a weblog of typed entries). MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE 9 V Yahoo I Video video.yahoo.com This site allows a user to search for videos all across the Web, culling its results from many oilier Web sites and blogs. Yahoo! also hosts usersubmitted videos, which are tagged, indexed and included in search results. SOURCES: PLAYER INFORMATION AND IMAGES FROM APPLE COMPUTER, CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY, BANOI9K. ARCHOS. I RIVER AMERICA, TOSHIBA. REVIEW INFORMATION FROM CNET.COM. VIDEO SCREENCAPTURES FROM COME0YCENTRAL.COM. NBC.COM, 0AVIDLEHRE.COM. OKGO.NET VIRAL VIDEO q i 7 d a s •?, n d |
