July 1, 2008 2:51 PM
Article RoundUp: Fundraising Webcast, Video Everywhere, and A Personal Journey
Been heavy on the hardcore policy and fiber advocacy recently, and wanted to take a moment to share some less esoteric fare.
Super Mario Marathon Raises Over $11,100 For Child's Play
Over the weekend three friends set out to play all seven Super Mario games in a row. What might have been nothing more than a lost weekend turned into something more when they decided to webcast live video of this feat through Ustream.tv and solicit donations for their favorite charity: Child's Play, which provides games, books, and cash to children's hospitals around the world. Using Ustream.tv's free platform, they managed a sustained audience of over 2000 and to date have received nearly 150,000 views of their Ustream page here. And as a result they've raised more than $11,100 for Child's Play. While the games they played don't use broadband, it's still fascinating to see how these innovative gamers were able to use to create an event and raise money for others.
Hollywood big screen in an instant message
Hollywood's historically tight grip on its content continues to loosen as they find new ways to distribute and monetize in it. In this case through a new service called PopTok. It gives instant messaging users the ability to embed clips from famous movies in their text chats, even going so far as to enable users to create conversational threads by sending clips back and forth. This is a prime example of how formerly bandwidth-light applications are becoming increasingly bandwidth-intensive through the introduction of video. Plus it points to a future where content will be available in many forms for many different purposes.
Time Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2008
This came out a few weeks ago, but it's worth bringing up as if you have 5 minutes and want to go hunting for new applications this is a great place to start. It covers the gamut, from gaming to social networks to informational sites. If you're on top of everything new that's coming out online you might not find a lot you don't already know, but if you're more of a casual observer interested in a taste of what's out there, this is a list of proven sites that were of enough value to compel people to vote for them.
