More American Idol Audition Videos

Meet Douglas Davidson. He thinks he can sing. He thinks he can become the next American Idol. He's going to be taken away by security.

Tragically Funny!

iTunes Movies Disappoint Older Video iPod Owners

After MacWorld two weeks ago, we brought you a blog post describing how iTunes movies could be an important and popular new technology. Today the product is getting headlines, but not for the right reasons.

Evidently, the new service is incompatible with most existing video iPods. Even those purchased as recently as five months ago, won't work.

It turns out that fifth-generation video iPods purchased as recently as five months ago won’t play those iTunes movie rentals — and not because of any hardware deficiency. Current generation iPods, per the footnote in Apple’s press release here, include only the “iPod classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch.”

That's got to be frustrating. It's even more frustrating because consumers have been conditioned that most new technology will work with old technology. The concept is called "backwards compatibility" and technology manufacturers, especially those in the computer industry have strived to maintain it.

We're investigating whether our video converter CinemaForge will address this issue. It may be an upcoming product enhancement if we can get it to work. Either way, we'll let you know.

Famous for Being Famous

The widespread access to media through TV stations, websites, blogs, radio stations and so forth has created a whole new type of celebrity - people who are famous for being famous, even if they have no distinguishable talent.

Consider the video in this post. Those two are known as the Chinese Backstreet Boys or Back Dorm Boys. They rocketed to fame when this video was showcased on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Even more remarkable was once they got famous, they got paid. In China they were signed by Motorola as spokespeople. They also got signed by Sina.com, a Chinese web portal. Two years ago they were signed to create videos of lip synced songs.

The reason I mention these guys is I saw them on TV the other day. They're still being talked about as Internet phenomenons. I suppose the point is, if you're trying to be famous, it's probably a good idea to utilize all the media available to you, especially the Internet.

Anatomy of a Blog Post - Embedding Videos Quickly

If you've been following this blog at all, you've probably guessed there's not much rhyme or reason to it. We're here to show off our video player and converter software and try to have fun with it. Coming up with new stuff every day can sometimes be a challenge. Sure it's easy when a theme is already established like with our political video of the day. We just find a video, update our playlist and it gets automatically added to the blog.

Inspiration

But finding something interesting, that shows off our products can sometimes be difficult. Like many bloggers, we often turn to the news to seek inspiration. Sometimes we look at other blogs. Sometimes it's as easy as looking out the window. Today it has snowed for most of the day. We're not talking about a little snowstorm. We're talking about inches of snow piling up in minutes with wind gusts blowing it everywhere. Streets are closed and the local canyons leading to the ski resorts are closed down because of avalanche danger. A quick glance online shows Utah isn't the only place in the world getting dumped with snow.

Theme

A very popular video last year showed car after car on a Portland street ricocheting down the road hitting everything in sight. It was sad and funny at the same time. A quick search on YouTube found the popular video. Now, we could have easily copied the YouTube embed code to show it off here. Or using CinemaForge we could copy it locally or post it to StageGold. We could have downloaded directly to StageGold and put a custom themed skin on it too.

Zoink Technology

We decided this would be a good time to show off our direct pointing or "zoinking" capability. We simply pasted the YouTube link and added a title. Now it shows up on YouTube and StageGold. We can also generate StageGold embed codes to show it off here.

Video Summary

Search for video
Copy selected video using Zoink
Paste embed code

Voila -

Cnet Praises our YouTube Conversion Software

Cnet recently did a review on popular and useful flash video converters and downloaders for YouTube videos.

We're pleased to say they liked our CinemaForge software the best -

Out of all the downloader/converters I tried, nothing felt more honest than CinemaForge, with its homegrown UFO-shaped interface.

We've had over a million downloads of CinemaForge since we launched the program and we're always trying to make improvements like adding a stand alone flash video player in release 2.6.

The editors at Download.com recently gave the program 4/5 stars. Best of all, CinemaForge is a free download.

Band Promotion Online

It's no longer a secret the Internet is a powerful place for music or band promotion.

Two years ago the Oakland Tribune reported on the power of social networking sites in promoting musicians...famous or not.

Through promotional deals with record labels, over the past couple of months MySpace has debuted albums from the Black-Eyed Peas, Weezer and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan before they were available in stores. The records are streamed, which means they can't be downloaded.

Corgan and Rivers Cuomo, the singer for Weezer, also keep active MySpace blogs. It's a win-win deal for both MySpace and the labels: The former wants folks to hang out on the site and look at their banner ads; the labels and bands get buzz and promotion for their music.

According to MySpace's publicists, more than 320,000 sites have been created for musicians or bands.

In December Vibe magazine conducted a search online for rappers in all 50 states, plus D.C. Amazingly, rappers and M.C.s were found in places like Utah, Idaho and Montana. All were found through their MySpace page.

One of those newly discovered rappers hails from Salt Lake City. Originally from Indianapolis, 2uce Betta is riding a wave of popularity following his win in the Vibe contest. A recording deal looks imminent because of the publicity from his MySpace page.

Bands interested in promoting themselves online should use all avenues of promotion the web offers. The StageGold video player is a powerful, free tool because it offers a variety of custom skins, playlists and is compatible with most blog software and social networking sites, especially MySpace and Facebook.

American Idol Auditions - The Best of the Worst

Exposure and promotion can be a good thing, or a bad thing. American Idol is a great example of this. The best can go on to successful music careers, even if they don't win the whole thing. The funny thing is the worst can do just as well.

Who can forget William Hung with his poorly performed, but entertaining version of She Bangs? This season of American Idol is bringing out the best of the worst. In the first clip of this video, you'll see an entertainer. In the second, you'll see someone to feel sorry for. Be sure to use the "playlist" menu to see the video of your choice. Either way, these performers got what they wanted...to be on television.

Cause We're Family - Member Spotlight

Those funny guys Robert Adamson and Tony Longo are back at it again with four new entries in their short film series Cause We're Family. Longo has had a long career in TV and movies including roles in Angels in the Outfield and the Flintstones - Viva Rock Vegas. Adamson currently stars in the ABC Family series Lincoln Heights.

Take a look at these new episodes of Cause We're Family, exclusively on StageGold.

Remember Your Spam Filters

When you register for StageGold membership or Spotlight membership, remember to turn off your spam filter or add stagegold.com to your safe list.

We're seeing anti-spam filters delaying registrations and confirmation emails. If you've tried to sign up for either service and didn't get the confirmation, that's probably why.

Add stagegold.com to your safe list and try again.

Custom PS3 Skins Video

There are custom skins for just about everything these days. Pretty cool!

American Idol Videos

It's finally here. The new season of American Idol. Though we're early on in the process, I think we've found William Hung 2008, otherwise known as Renaldo Lapuz. Enjoy!

Embed Video Player - Tips for Firefox

A fact of life about technology, especially software, is sometimes "bugs" find their way through to the final product.

One of the known bugs in our embedded video player is an incompatibility with the Firefox browser. We've since fixed this bug in our embed code, but if you have an older embed code, you may be facing this problem.

There are two ways to fix the bug. The first is to generate new embed code and paste it into your website code. If you don't feel comfortable editing code, this is the method we recommend.

The second method is to edit your existing embed code. Add the bolded part of this example to your existing embed code.

Once either step has been completed, your embedded StageGold video player will work on Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Apple Unveils Hint of Video Future at MacWorld

Apple founder and CEO kicked off MacWorld with new product and service announcements. Though the new MacBook Air, an ultrathin (.75" thick) notebook, will probably get the most airtime, a key development in digital movie delivery should make us take note.

New release movies will now be available for on demand download through iTunes.

Consumers will be able to start renting movies through the company's iTunes store by the end of February, Jobs said. The company will send out a software update to Apple TV products in two weeks that will make it compatible with the new service, he said.

At launch, the rental service will offer 1,000 movies, including 100 that will be available in high definition. Movies will be available 30 days after they come out on DVD. Apple will charge $3.99 for a new movie and $2.99 for older ones - and $1 extra each for high-definition versions.

How well this service will do is up for grabs. It is Apple's second attempt with its TV top box called Apple TV. What is important is Jobs got all the movie studios to agree to sign on, something that has never been accomplished before. This signifies the last barrier to on demand movie downloads using the Internet as the delivery mechanism.

We're not there yet, and we may not be there very soon, but today's announcement suggests Hollywood finally "gets" their movie delivery system is going to change. This is great news for movie fans.

MySpace Video Player

With 185 million registered users, MySpace is one of the most popular social networking site on the web. It's no wonder those numbers generate a lot of interest by companies pursuing applications that can be adopted by MySpace users. StageGold spent a lot of time developing its MySpace video player combining multi-functions with ease of use.

StageGold users can search MySpace's 60,000 new videos per day directly from the website. Users can embed videos from anywhere on the web on their MySpace page using the StageGold player. CinemaForge allows MySpace videos to be directly downloaded.

Flash Video Players - Why You Need One

We've been talking recently about the utility of CinemaForge in converting web videos to be played back on video iPods. The truth is web videos can be complicated to playback on demand for many devices.

The growth of high-speed Internet connections during the .com boom of the late nineties served as a great incubator for the video technology we see on the web today from YouTube, Revver and MySpace video. The catch with video is it's slow to playback high quality, especially on the web. Flash video on the other hand, allows faster playback with higher quality.

Have you ever tried to download a Flash video directly from the website you found it on? You can't. StageGold allows you to point to it (zoink) and import it into your playlist, but you don't have a copy on your hard drive. You'll also have to wait for it to reload should you want to view it again.

CinemaForge solves this problem in a couple ways. First of all, CF allows direct download of Flash videos (.flv), so you can have a local copy. Until version 2.6 was released earlier this month, you'd still have to upload your video to StageGold in order to play it back. CinemaForge 2.6 has a flash video player in it now that allows playback of locally stored videos. No more waiting for a website to load!

This new flash video player has menu functionality that includes full screen playback and playback of local or StageGold hosted videos. The best part of CinemaForge? You get all these features for free! What are you waiting for? Download your copy today.

iPod Video Converter - Update

As anyone who has downloaded a video from the Internet knows, unless that video is in .MOV format, it won't work on an iPod with video capability like the Nano or Touch. A converter is need because most web videos are in .avi, .wmv, or .mpg formats. Videos from YouTube and most video sharing sites including StageGold are in Flash or .flv format.

CinemaForge is our conversion software that can be used to convert downloaded videos to be used on video iPods. Don't take our word for it. Take the word of the nearly million users who have downloaded CinemaForge.

Consider this email we got the other day -

I just wanted to thank you for Cinemaforge. I spent long frustrating hours over 2 days preparing my daughter's new Ipod Nano and 99% of the time was spent trying to convert video files to play on it. I downloaded Videora and Wonderspace and neither was satisfactory. By the time I downloaded Cinemaforge I was ready to give up. What a joy to have your program work so simply and smoothly.

Thanks for the feedback. We're happy to supply such a useful product.

Blogger Tips for Using StageGold

Here's a tip if you're trying to embed a video into the Blogger platform. Use the smallest size embed code from StageGold to ensure fast and smooth loading.

If you want a larger size video, be sure to select one that begins with "CA." These are the new player skins that support full screen video.

This allows you to have a smooth loading page, while providing a full screen view for your visitors that want it.

Create Your Own Video Player With StageGold

StageGold lets you create your own video player. More importantly, you control what's in your playlist. We have dozens of video player skins to suit your blog, website or social media (MySpace, FaceBook, etc.) profile. More are coming soon.

What sets our video player apart from anything else available is the capability to make playlists from multiple sources. Someone could have a playlist made up of videos from StageGold, YouTube and other sources all contained within the same player, with the ability to be embedded on a personal page or blog. It's cool and flexible.

Don't settle for the color schemes in our custom skins. When you select the player, you can change the color to match your site. Self expression!

When you create your own video player, choose StageGold for the best technology and best skins.

Political Videos Will Dominate 2008

Happy New Year 2008!

And welcome to election year 2008. The Iowa caucuses kick off the election season tomorrow and by November another aspect of the Internet will have been changed by politics.

It was the 2004 election cycle that turned blogs from being online diaries into a trusted and reliable new medium. We forecast 2008 will do the same thing for web video.

Technology improvements and greater access by web users to high speed Internet connections are allowing web distributed video to become part of many marketing campaigns. The politicians and political bloggers commenting on them from the sidelines will take web video to a new level this year.

StageGold is happy to be part of the process. We have recently added full screen viewing capability to our Flash video players, along with custom player skin selection. We'll have more functionality soon.

Perhaps the area our player excels at the best is the ability to create custom playlists. It's not necessary to add a different page slowing video player to every post. Our player can accept any number of videos to be added to it. That not only supplies faster page loads, but one place to find all the videos of a particular topic or candidate. Once this feature is well known, we think use of our player will increase substantially.

CinemaForge 2.6 Now Available

The new version of CinemaForge we mentioned the other day, V 2.6, has been released. You can download it from CNet here. Make sure you uninstall the old version of CinemaForge before you install version 2.6.

One of the key features of this version is the addition of a stand alone .FLV, or Flash video player. You may have noticed if you download a video using CinemaForge, it won't playback on Windows media player. With the new Flash player in 2.6, you'll be able to playback videos direct from your hard drive, with no wait time. Very cool!

We've also added some functionality to make CinemaForge run smoothly. Take a look at the original post to see all the new features.