Video sharing site Dailymotion has announced a partnership with the One Laptop Per Child Foundation to let OLPC XO computer users share videos online.

Beneath its toylike exterior, the XO is an advanced device with a rotating screen, dual laptop-tablet modes, a regular color display for photos and videos and a high-contrast black-and-white mode for daylight visibility. It uses a Linux-based OS and and user interface, named “Sugar”, designed specifically for children.

The OLPC is not, though, compatible with the Adobe Flash player that video sharing sites rely on.

Dailymotion has therefore partnered with the OLPC foundation to consider new projects involving video, and to create a dedicated space to save the videos created by XO users: olpc.dailymotion.com. This page begins with the content of the Dailymotion OLPC group and hopes to bring together fun and educational videos for children from 6 to 16 years-old.

Jeff Green and Scott Asnault were recording the latest episode of the 1Up podcast, when, in Green’s words, “the main sprinkler BLEW THE F*** UP.”

Fortunately, they made the most of the situation and shared the video so you could avoid a similar mishap – or at least enjoy the carnage…..

Viddler has launched 15s, a site that lets you create short webcam videos and post them to Twitter. 

In other words, it’s a 12seconds-killer, with 25% more video hosting power. We can see where this is heading – a short video arms race…..

Here’s an example, via a naked Gary Vaynerchuck:

In July, we reported on the open-source movie community A Swarm of Angels – a group that hopes to update “the current filmmaking models of Hollywood and independent film to create cult cinema for the digital age.”

They’ve announced what they are calling the world’s “first open source film trailer,” for The Unfold, a sci-fi thriller being made open-source style:

The trailer is at the forefront of new creative processes empowered through the Internet of crowdsourcing, and peer production. Finished with title design by the internationally recognised graphic talents of Matt Pyke of Universal Everything collaborating with Maxim Zhestkov, it is a stunning glimpse into a world being created by a global membership fueling a pioneering people-powered film studio.

Rancel has evoked a powerful unfolding world created in 3D from 2D images created by Japanese photographer Palla. Through community feedback and discussion at the forums of aswarmofangels.com the initial ideas developed into a spiralling, shearing cityscape synchronised with an otherworldly soundtrack developed by Abadia. The online collaboration encompassed a team of participants from Spain, Belgium, the North and South of England, Japan, as well as Russia (not including members who participated in votes and posts via the forums).

The trailer and all accompanying source files are released under a Creative Commons CC-NC-SA-3.0 license, allowing full non-commercial remixing and sharing (embed codes for Youtube, blip.tv & hi-def Vimeo). Join the Swarm to help make the film and get further details for the open source package (register here, full member details here).

While the trailer doesn’t tell us much about the movie, I’m intrigued by the open-source approach to movie making. If you don’t like the trailer or the final movie, you can make your own version and share it.

The open source approach has worked for Linux, Apache & WordPress, but will it work for making movies? We’ll find out, with A Swarm Of Angels’ The Unfold.

TubeMogul has announced a new service, TubeMogul Marketplace, that is designed to hook up video producers with advertisers:

We just launched “TubeMogul Marketplace,” a “dating” site aimed at connecting online video producers with advertisers, investors and others looking for opportunities in new media.

The site features searchable profiles of Web shows, including each show’s cross-site viewership data. Anyone browsing profiles can narrow their search by show category (i.e. “Vlogs & People”), predominant audience demographic (i.e. Male, 18-24) and minimum audience size.

Profiles also contain details about each show, including a sample video, description and contact information for the show’s creator. All viewership data is certified by TubeMogul.

The service makes it easy to see the top video producers distributed via TubeMogul, and also that everybody is getting pwned by a 14-year old kid:

Video blogger Brigitte Dale, above, has announced that she’s moving to ABC Family.

Dale’s video blog, which covers news, pop culture and twenty-something issues, will be featured on ABCFamily.com starting this month.

Ms. Dale will continue to write, produce and edit the video blog, which will be produced in partnership with Stage 9 Digital Media.

“We are very excited to have Brigitte’s fresh perspective and insights. She brings a clever, quirky look at pop culture and is just plain fun to watch. We look forward to further extending Brigitte’s reach to our millennial audience,� Vickie Collier, VP of digital media for ABC Family, said in a statement.

Newspapers sales are plummeting and, along with them, newspaper revenues.

Total newspaper advertising revenues fell by $3 billion in the first six months of this year to $18.8 billion, the lowest level in a dozen years, according to data from the Newspaper Association of America.

While the decline of print sales is on ongoing trend that you can correlate to the rise of the Internet, newspapers’ online income is dropping, too. 

Interactive revenues dropped by 2.3% in the second quarter of this year to $776.6 million.

The challenge to newspapers is to reinvent themselves via new media and to put the news where people’s attention has moved to. The drop in online revenues indicates that newspapers are failing to make that jump. 

via Alan Mutter

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is going the route of Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead and others and releasing his latest work, Slacker Uprising on the Internet as a free download. According to Moore, it’s the first major feature-length film by a noted director to debut for free via the internet.

Slacker Uprising traces Michael Moore’s 62-city tour of the swing states during the 2004 Presidential election.

Moore, who has made three of the five top-grossing documentaries of all time (including “Fahrenheit 9/11″), said he is doing this giveaway for personal reasons.

“I realized that in a few months it will be the 20th anniversary of my first film, Roger & Me,” he said. “I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have so many people come to my movies over these two decades, I decided why not bypass the studios and the exhibitors and make one that the fans can have for free, as a show of my profound appreciation of their support.”

The free download is being organized and distributed by Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films. The download itself is as a free download. Note: the download is only available free to those that click a box saying they are residents of U.S. or Canada, and an email address is required.

Want to improve your love life?

A new survey has found that digital video recorders are not just indispensable, they may even improve your love life.

More than 70% of the people that own DVRs (digital video recorders) say that they cannot live without their DVR, according to a new survey commissioned by digital television technology provider NDS.

According to the survey, which asked respondents to rank relative importance of a list of household appliances, apart from the washing machine and the microwave oven, no other household item was deemed more essential than the DVR in today’s homes.

Surprisingly, Italians surveyed ranked the hairdryer higher than a DVR.

When it comes to essential technology gadgets, the DVR is second only to the mobile phone as the item people can’t live without. The vast majority of respondents would rather give up their landline phone, dishwasher, radio and MP3 player than their DVR.

DVR’s Good For Your Love Life

The survey also found that over 60% of DVR owners with a partner felt that having a DVR had improved their relationship. In the US, UK and Australia, respondents attributed this improvement to having the ability to watch their own programmes while sharing their favourites with each other. Surveyed Italians feel that their improved relationship happiness is due to the DVR allowing them to plan their evening’s viewing better.

More than three quarters of DVR owners with families in the US, Italy and Australia also feel that having a DVR has improved their family relationships, eliminating arguments over TV and allowing for the whole family to join the dinner table. In Britain, the figure was around two-thirds.

Other report highlights

Other key findings from the survey include:

• DVR owners watch on average slightly more than four hours (4.075) of recorded and live television a day
• 89% of Americans, 81% of British, 80% of Australians and 78% of Italians all reported that the DVR has improved how much they enjoy watching television
• Nearly 61% think that a DVR is much easier to operate than a video cassette recorder
• Almost 58% find that they are watching more interesting TV programmes since getting a DVR
• More than three out of four agree that since getting a DVR they are more likely to find something to watch, when they want to watch TV
• Many respondents with only one DVR are keen to get a second one: 30% of Brits, 52% of Americans, 49% of Australians and 57% of Italians

Amazon today announced Amazon Video On Demand, a new video service that lets customers watch ad-free movies and television shows on Macs or PCs.

Previously, customers could only download titles and watch them on a PC (using the Amazon Unbox application) or on their TiVo box. Now customers can either watch instantly within their web browser or download using the Unbox application and watch anytime.

Customers can also rent or purchase Amazon Video On Demand movies and TV shows directly through Sony’s BRAVIA Internet Video Link device on compatible BRAVIA television sets (currently in beta).

A free preview of the first two minutes of each movie is available.

According to Amazon, Amazon Video On Demand is the only U.S. digital video service that gives customers the choice to stream or download premium movies and TV shows. 40,000 licensed movies and TV shows are available through the service.

Amazon’s move raises the stakes in Internet television, because it looks like Amazon is building a platform that it will make available to a variety of TV makers, rather than a closed system like Apple’s iTunes/Apple TV solution.