Youtube - Orangescale.NET / Thomas Arie Setiawan

YouTube Embed with New Player Design

In my previous post, I mentioned about YouTube’s new player design. Right now, it only works on YouTube site — not for videos embed externally. But, with a small modification on its player parameter, we can have the new player design for the video. Example? This is the original embed code:

<object width="560" height="340">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XdQxtQFfxiM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XdQxtQFfxiM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed>
</object>

Now, look at the this line of code:

http://www.youtube.com/v/XdQxtQFfxiM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0

To have the video inserted using a new player design, just put version=3 parameter there. So, it will be like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/XdQxtQFfxiM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&version=3

You will have YouTube video displayed like what you see below. Of course, you can still modify out it looks using another player parameters.

I personally like the new player design. So, I modified all video codes used at my videoblog to have the new look. It didn’t take much time since I replaced the codes using search and replace plugin. :)

YouTube Now Has a New Player Design?

I just visited dadio.tv channel on YouTube, I saw something different with the video player design. Looking at the new design in brief, I think I like the new one — all the player elements are there without any significant changes. I’m not sure whether it’s already announced or not, but it’s new for me. Here’s a new video player on YouTube.

And, this is the previous design:

Compared to the previous video player design, here are few things to notice:

It’s more polished, I think.
But, I’m a little bit annoyed by the frame “Seek” bar there, it covers some video area. It’s only displayed for few seconds and it becomes a tiny indicator.
Volume indicator is displayed horizontally. Both designs are fine, but I prefer the volume indicator on the right, not left.

This new player design is only visible when you visit videos directly on YouTube. If you embed YouTube videos in your site/blog, they’re still using the old one. Maybe later.

Videoblog. Again.

With my friend, I decided to create a new videoblog. Previously, I had one at orangebox.tv, but since I was busy and almost had no time to maintain it, I left the domain expired. Now, it has a new domain name, with a new concept. I will not talk about technology or other geeky stuff. If you like technology, you should visit Webicara, Notsogeeky, or Macindos.TV. Our new videoblog will focus on daily life.

Right now, almost all videos take Jakarta as the object. But, for me personally, I see many interesting stuff here in Jakarta — I’ve been staying in this city for almost three months. Last month, we went to Kalibata and Pasar Minggu. Not only to have durian, but also witnessing another area in Jakarta, at night. Not really at night, but can I say early in the morning?

What makes this videoblog different — from my previos one — is that I do it with a partner. He’s a good friend of mine since high school. The other important thing is that we share a same concept and understanding. It makes the videoblogging process easier. We do this videoblog mostly on weekend since we’re both working.

Anyway, the videoblog is using dadio.tv as its domain name. And we put our videos on YouTube. What does it mean? It might be meaningless in English, or in Indonesian language. But, you understand Javanese language, you’ll get the meaning. Yeah, it’s not a television, anyway. :D Okey, there are already some videos to watch. We have some videos on the stock about Betawi culture, food and also train (the economy class!).

Vimeo Desktop Uploader

Few days ago, when I went to Kalibata Street and Pasar Minggu, I also made some videos. Yesterday, all videos were ready to upload. My plan was to upload them to Vimeo, not blip.tv or YouTube. Reason? No personal reason. I uploaded using browser in classic mode.

But, it did not work. When it was about to finish, the upload page brought me to http://settings/. I asked this to Vimeo Staff. They gave me a link for a solution. Then, I pushed my luck by giving Vimeo Desktop Uploader a try.

And, it worked!

I think I’ll use this uploader as my primary tool when I upload my videos to Vimeo.

YouTube is about to say goodbye to IE6

A good news! YouTube will stop its support for old browser — in this case, Internet Explrorer 6. Visitors who visit YouTube website using IE6 will have an alert like this (click to enlarge). Let’s bring IE6 down!

(info via TechCrunch)

Vimeo Plus is Available for International Users

vimeo_plus

Vimeo, my favorite video sharing provider, offers its Vimeo Plus for international users. Right now, Vimeo offers two types of account: free and Plus. I’m using the free account, and it’s more than enough for me.

With Vimeo Plus, we can get these features:

5GB of upload space per week
5000 free HD embed plays with purchase
The ability to control which domains can embed in HD
25fps/PAL support for HD (up from 24fps)
Make your videos private on Vimeo.com while still able to embed them on your site
One-button upgrading of your existing videos to the latest high-quality format without using additional upload space
No banner ads
Unlimited Groups/Channels/Albums
Priority uploading.
Full control player customization

All for $59.95/year. For free accounts, I got these features:

500MB of storage per week
Standard quality Video
1 HD video per week
Basic player customization
1 group, 1 channel and 3 albums

This is very a great offer for those who have many videos in HD quality. All my videos are still in standard quality. Well, only capture video using my mobile phone and digital camera. :)

But, when I have my own video recorder that support HD videos, I might upgrade my account. Anyway, among the video sharing providers, I like Vimeo. I tried to upload a same video to different providers like YouTube, blip.tv and Vimeo. And it seems Vimeo is the best solution for me, right now.

Videoblogging, anyone?

I decided to start a videoblogging now. When I am with my camera digital, sometime I capture videos and photos. So, why not bring the videos online? I know it is probably not popular — especially in Indonesia. But, why not?

After doing comparison steps among some video hosting providers like Vimeo, YouTube, blip.tv, Yahoo! Video, Google Video, etc, I decided to host all my videos to Vimeo and embed to my videoblog. I capture all videos using both camera digital and my mobile phone Nokia. Just in case you find a low-quality videos, you know the reasons. :)

My videoblog is built using WordPress and Viper’s Video Quicktag plugin with template modifications — also some other plugins. Right now, not every video has a story/descrption, but I will add some later. Okey, here is my videoblog URL: http://video.orangescale.net

Good bye YouTube

The decision is final, YouTube is blocked in Indonesia, from internet access using Indonesia Internet Exchange (IIX). Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia (Indonesian Internet Service Providers) came into this disappointing decision.

According to the news, this decision was triggered because of the case of an uploaded video entitled “F**na”. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of The Republic of Indonesia said that they already contacted YouTube to remove “F**na” from the website. The govt of Indonesia gave two days for YouTube to remove it. But, it seems that YouTube did not gave an expected response.

What does this affect the Indonesian blogosphere? I visited some blogs having embeded YouTube videos, and all failed — of course, because my internet connection is blocked already. Some people said that they still can access YouTube… But, I think it’s about time.

I just don’t get it. YouTube has move good contents (compared to ‘bad content’), I think. Argh!

Update (9 PM): The information said that there was a technical error about the blocking. It’s said that it’s related to human error (wrong blocking mechanism). Many people are still able to visit YouTube, some are unlucky. My ISP has some proxies and right now, I can still open YouTube — not like this morning. BUT, I found some sites (BIG sites!) already blocked.

721 claps per minute!

How many claps you can make in one minute? 60? 80? 100? What about 721 claps in one minute? I had to admit that I was amazed by this world record. Kent “Toast” French holds a record for The World’s Fastest Clapper. You can see the video on Youtube, Metacafe, or ifilm. 721 claps in one minute? Wow!