B00mbox – Collaborative Playlist Management
You must have seen video playlists by different users on YouTube. Now you can make it even better by asking other people to contribute and build a playlist with input from your friends, colleagues and loved ones. B00mbox, a free service, lets users achieve this without hassle, quickly and comfortably.
B00mbox lets users pick different YouTube videos, add them through a web interface to the collection and finally use this collection as a playlist by flipping through different slides. There are some already nice collections like top songs of 2010 and beautiful travel destinations open for input. Sadly there is no option to delete the video from the slideshow through B00mbox interface.
B00mbox is powered by slidebomb and each collection is hosted there.
What they say about themselves
B00mbox is great because it lets people work together to make something. If we find a way to turn this exposure into dollars we got a hit.
Why it could be a success
Asking others about their opinions on a certain subject is a way to add diversity. If you are trying to find something, searching for it yourself may take a long time, whereas if you ask other people to chip in, you will quickly get the desired results. The service can be used for fun, education or quick surveys.
SproutPitch – Entrepreneur Video Pitches
If you enjoy watching entrepreneurs pitching their ideas on television shows, or if you have a pioneering idea you’d like to pitch, you can make a video and post it on SproutPitch. I took a look at it wondering if the entrepreneurs with the best ideas would be hidden beneath the mass, but instead each pitch I looked at made me want to visit their website. The video doesn’t have to be highly professional so long as the idea is good and you put it across well in the short time allocated.
Pitches have to be for a product, service or project, and the designers call it an ‘elevatator pitch’ as it should take roughly the same amount of time as an elevator ride. They advise users to describe what the product service or product is; say what it offers the buyer, investor or sponsor in terms of benefits; and to conclude by saying who you are and why your idea will be successful
Take a look if you would like to put your idea across or to find some innovative projects worth considering. To submit a pitch you need to make your video, post it to YouTube and then tag it with SproutPitch. It should be no longer than 60 seconds, and it’s surprising how much you can say in that time, then fill in the form on the SproutPitch website with the YouTube link and they will see if it’s acceptable. This selection method does mean that the content is worth viewing and it’s a helpful place to be seen.
Gygan – Share Large Files
Many of us need to share large files and they can’t be sent easily by email so it’s necessary to use special services. One of the latest is Gygan, a site that lets you download free software to let you share large files in a way they claim is easy and fast. There’s no cost for uploading and downloading files and they state there is no limit on transfer speeds.
This is the Beta version of Gygan, and along with the downloadable software there’s a website with forums for discussion. I’ve tried the software and it’s easy to use and to organise files for upload and download. Free downloads up to 2GB are available, and this system is ideal for large files such as videos, high res photos, and audio. It could also be used for distributing software to clients. Files can be kept private for security reasons, and there’s no limit to the number of files you can store on the system. Although it’s still at Beta testing stage it’s worth a try if you need to work with large files or share video, audio and photos with family and friends.
Webotify – Share Spotify Tracks with Video
Now and again I find a website that gives real pleasure and this is one of them. Webotify lets you share your favourite tracks from Spotify with friends, or on Twitter, and adds a video from YouTube. Whether or not you want to share the track it’s also a joy to choose favourite artists from Spotify then use Webotify to enjoy them with a surprise video automatically selected. It could be the singer performing, the words to let you sing along, or a set of images that go with the track – something fitting will be chosen.
The website consists of just one page where you enter the link to the Spotify track, and this is where the design could be improved. There are no instructions, just a picture of the Spotify screen with the menu choice highlighted that you would use to copy the URL. There’s a brief description of what Webotify does and space to enter the URL of the track on Spotify, so it really lacks a simple instruction to guide users. The process is straightforward: select tracks on Spotify then right click on them and click on the menu to either Copy Http Link or Copy Spotify URI. Paste this on the Webotify website and enjoy the track and video.
Webotify provides a URL you can copy and paste to share the track and video with friends whether or not they have Spotify. There’s also a one-click button to let you post it to Twitter and Webotify generates a message to show what you’re listening to. This is a website I’ll be using regularly and I hope to see some brief instructions as Spotify isn’t the most instinctive website to use either – and it’s another good one.
MaYoMo – User Generated Journalism
MaYoMo stands for Map Your Moments and invites users to act as journalists and videojournalists from all over the world to create an international news channel. The site is attractively presented with a world map covered yellow indicators wherever news stories have been created. Hovering the cursor over these indicators shows thumbnails of video stills plus the headlines, and viewers can click to watch the whole story. The variety of subjects covered is comprehensive, and stories remain available long term with a slider below the map to choose a date range. Viewers can browse by hovering their cursors over the general world map to choose a story, or select from the subjects on the menu.
Citizen journalism has become important in countries where the press are having trouble gaining entry, with video from mobile phones filling in the gaps television journalists can’t fill. There is potential for this website to fulfil a significant purpose. It’s also fun, with lifestyle and entertainment sections. The journalism and videos vary in quality, from those presented by skilled writers and videomakers, to the extremely amateur, although even the unskilled can broadcast an important video. One showing Michael Jackson stepping from the coroner’s van and asking if he was still alive show the potential for scams and misinformation. Despite this there’s no doubt citizen journalism is with us, fills an important role, and lets everybody have their say. The way MaYoMo has presented such a massive project in such a clear and well-organised way is impressive.
Socially!