Gawker
Television
Posts Tagged “
Web 3.0
”
Television
things we actually like
IFC And Nerve's Unashamedly Sexy Web Show
Since "Young American Bodies" has the same theme as every other "serious" web show, I figured this series about several young people's romance and sex lives would be trash, only this time with some naked shots. But it turns out the show on IFC.com (which first ran on Nerve.com) is good honest filmmaking. Like most mumblecore the dialog may seem pedestrian, but that's part of the refreshing realism: no one's overacting, none of the characters are hotshot rockstars or heiresses, nothing is "aspirational" or "viral," and I find myself actually wanting to watch the whole story. Below is the second episode, which begins with a dangling dick and ends in a smirk-worthy sad-sack moment. More »
photoshop
What If Websites Were Realistic?
What if Facebook let you properly express your rage against the tool who just added you to the "Buying and Selling Friends" app? What if Netflix knew you'd skip to the dirty bits? I paid Jay Hathaway a slave's wage to draw up what this would look like. More »
internet
Top 50 Web Video Censors
Viacom is—as one might expect—the fiercest US defender of its video content on Youtube. The media conglomerate, broadcaster of shows such as Jon Stewart's Daily Show and The Colbert Report, is suing the web video service's owner, Google, for massive copyright infringement; Viacom has had 352 videos taken down for copyright violations, according to MIT's Youtomb project. The Church of Scientology has used Youtube's takedown provisions to stop critics disseminating and mocking its promotional videos, but Tom Cruise's sect is a relatively modest censor—only 48th on our list.
web 2.0
Should We Just Decide Every Single Thing By Online Vote Now?
Country music singer (and former Renee Zellweger husband) Kenny Chesney was "honored but upset" to win the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year Award for the fourth time. Why? Because this year, it was someone's idea to decide the thing by a freaking online vote, instead of by Academy members. That's country music's version of the Oscars being decided by the clicks of AOL users. Chesney told the AP that the process was "disrespectful" and turned the awards "into a sweepstakes to see who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet." God, it's almost like being paid in pageviews. Sure, this is the age of 2.0, and it's not 2.0 without "audience participation," but just because the Person of the Year is You does not mean we need to turn every single event into the Teen Choice Awards in a desperate attempt to shore up interest and make people feel included. [NYT]
The Future is Meh
How Web 3.0 Will Work
I still don't understand what Web 2.0 is, but the next version is coming and I fear it. I don't want my MacBook getting inside my head—hell, even I don't want to be in there! "[T]he Web 3.0 browser will act like a personal assistant. As you search the Web, the browser learns what you are interested in. The more you use the Web, the more your browser learns about you and the less specific you'll need to be with your questions. Eventually you might be able to ask your browser open questions like 'where should I go for lunch?' Your browser would consult its records of what you like and dislike, take into account your current location and then suggest a list of restaurants." More »
the internet is dismaying
Amanda Congdon Would Like to Mutter At You
Remember Amanda "Rocketboom" Congdon, that thing with boobs that did stuff on the internet and parlayed her success into a job at ABC News? Yeah neither do I. Well, whoever she is she lost her job at ABC because nobody cared and she's now returned, sad little pink hat in hand, to the internet. She's launching a new blog news internet website called Sometimes Daily. And she would like to market it to you! Mostly via a completely nonsensical video featuring her brother (?), a strange park bench, and a dildo with little fans attached to it. If someone could please explain to me what is going on in the video, it would be greatly appreciated. I think it has something to do with Amanda Congdon? Maybe? Please watch, after the jump, and elucidate. [Thanks Jossip!] More »
clarifications
Lydia Hearst and Her Money Are Just Fine, Thanks
Newspaper heiress/Page 6 Magazine contributor Lydia Hearst doesn't have a website that she's not paying the bills for. She writes us, "I wish I did not have to contact you, as I'm sure you will most-likely print this (but if you do, please respect me enough to keep my E-mail address private), but I'd like to clear something up. I do not own the site to which you are referring. I have never had an official web page, nor am I aware of who owns the site claiming to be my 'official' page. I do however have an official fan-page on Facebook. Say what you will, but please check your facts. Also, if you actually look at the page it is obvious that whoever owns it just typed those words across the screen. Have a lovely weekend. All the Best, Lydia".jpg)
asking for it
Emily Brill to Dad: Internet Notoriety Is a Job!
Today on Essentially Emily, Emily Brill asserts that Nick Denton is not the only reason why people bother to read Essentially Emily. No, they care about the pseudo socialite who is "friends" with Kristian Laliberte because of her dad, former media tycoon and current airport security specialist Steve Brill, and not because Gawker occasionally highlights her wit and wisdom. Emily claims, "Nick's greatest fantasy, indeed, would have been a public feud with Steven Brill over his humiliated daughter." I've been to Nick's apartment, and his fantasies have nothing to do with Steve Brill. More »
make it stop
AOL Finally Automates Blogging
Guys, we can pack it in. AOL finally finished work on their advanced blogging android, programmed to churn out and rehash Funny Internet Content in unlimited combinations. They've given their Blogbot a site called "Urlesque" and now it will set about destroying Best Week Ever, Buzzfeed, Rex Sorgatz, Gawker, Tumblr, Funny or Die, The Superficial, Stuff White People Like, Cracked, and people who forward funny things—by becoming them. It's all automated now! There's a machine in Estonia that churns out LOLcats and most "people" on Vimeo are animatronic. Jason Kottke is actually three lines of code. Activate Muxtape-creation sequence! Unleash the Diggbait List algorithm! Taze humanity, bro! YAHH TRICK YAHH! [Urlesque]
socialites
Derek Blasberg, Barbara Bush, And Hockey
Page Six's item earlier this week about first daughter Barbara Bush's attendance at a New York Rangers game, and the accompanying wholly unsubstantiated speculation that maybe she's dating a Rangers player, prompted a sports blogger to engage in some journalism (take that, Washington Post!). He dug deep in the photo archives and uncovered the haunting connection between Barbara Bush and the hockey team: Style.com writer, socialite, and Fifth Column Of The Gaydom Derek Blasberg! More »
scandals
Spitzer Hooker #2 (?) Update: Everyone Is Lying, Says Everyone Else
Here we are in the fifth day of the Possible Spitzer Hooker #2 saga, and the tabloid accusations continue to fly back and forth like so many bullets made of sex. Kristin Davis, who everyone agrees ran several high-priced call girl rings, also stands accused by the Post of servicing Eliot Spitzer himself; the Daily News says she has no connection to the Love Guv. The latest developments: Daily News sez madam serviced big sports star; No way, sez Post. Plus: Is the Kristin Davis "Black Book" client list a hoax? The Post says yes, for some reason! More »
clips
"The Internet Is Full Of Words Written For No Money At All"
"And you make money for that?" is the first question I get when I tell my extended family about my life as a professional sweatpants-wearer. I'm not too good on the numbers, but some bloggers do get paid and apparently quite well. I think it has something to do with page views? This amazing AP clip about bloggers who are "happy to serve as ultra low cost freelancers" can teach you about how the internet thing sustains itself. Click through and judge this dumbed down explanation of Web 2.0 economics! More »
my comment
Who You Are, Why You Are So Mad
Yesterday, I very earnestly asked who you commenters are and what you get out of the whole commenting experience. Except for a few people who fairly criticized me for just trying to drum up comments, almost everyone responded with equal earnestness. For the most part, people seem to just enjoy the community in the comments. For some, it's a distraction from work, when YouTube is blocked. For others, it's a distraction from the people at work, where everyone is old and no one gets Breakfast Club references. Prolific commenters claim to get laid through Gawker. I find that both depressing and inspiring, since actually writing for the site hasn't done the same for me, though I wouldn't want it to, either. Jenniferhdaniel said that if I write an essay commenting on the commenters, I would be the lamest of the lame-os. Harsh. Well, how lame would I be if I wrote about the comment reading experience?More »
Web 2.0 Etymology
I've never used, or even felt anything approaching ZOMG until I heard that Facebook was launching a chat program. According to Wiktionary, ZOMG is an "overzealous typo of OMG, resulting from the proximity of z to the shift key." That sort of reminds me of the Facebook group, "I Prematurely Release The Shift Key!!1", whose members are "interested in earning big $$4."
I've never used, or even felt anything approaching ZOMG until I heard that Facebook was launching a chat program. According to Wiktionary, ZOMG is an "overzealous typo of OMG, resulting from the proximity of z to the shift key." That sort of reminds me of the Facebook group, "I Prematurely Release The Shift Key!!1", whose members are "interested in earning big $$4."
facebook
ZOMG! Facebook Launches FBChat
It's so hard to reach out to people these days. How can I connect? I only have a cell phone, email, gchat, AIM, a personal website, Facebook and MySpace. But good news: Facebook is launching FBChat in two weeks. Finally, another medium for witty inside jokes! If you Facebook messages are primarily for getting laid, FBChat has the potential to spread crabs through UC Davis like whoa. Video demonstration after the jump. More »
open thread
Who Are You People, and Why Are You So Mad?
This post is about comments. Consider that your invitation to tell me I have it all wrong. To be honest, I don't know that much about the commenting scene. I'm not above making anonymous judgments or being bored at work, I just never understand the motivation of blog commenters. Is it winning a commie? Being quoted in the New York Times public editor's column? I get that being anonymous makes people more free to revert to their Lord of The Flies side, but why is everyone always so rude? And is that rudeness destroying society? More »
web 2.0
Gay Porno Actor Unable To Attend College In Peace, Surprisingly
OMG, you can't even go to college any more without people talking about your sex life or saying mean things about you, and it's all because of the internet and this thing called JuicyCampus. You already knew that, but did you know about some of the specific awful things being revealed about college students on JuicyCampus, sometimes making them cry? These terrible things will make you want to change the internet laws and make our universities pure again:More »
