TechCrunch Disrupt Impresses with Live Video

Thousands of viewers are enjoying the Live and Recorded video streams from TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference. Disrupt, being presented in New York City on May 24-May26, will be broadcast live on TechCrunch’s LiveStream Channel. Streams will be recorded and archived so you can view the various presentations and events when you have time.

The first day of the show debuted a cool visual user feedback system. Attendees were assigned a certain amount of “play money” to buy and sell “play shares” of the companies presenting during today’s conference presentations. Real time charts were displayed showing the value of different companies shares as people in the audience bought and sold shares based on the information they were receiving. This is a very cool way to see what the audience is really impressed with. A prize will be awarded to the person who holds the most play money at the end of the show.

The range of start-up companies presenting today was impressive. During the panel I saw, Viewers saw all kinds of start-up companies ranging from Databasing, Financial, Music Software and more industries.

An expert panel was on hand to ask questions and throw in their 2 cents. It is interesting to see these business ideas picked apart. There are many good tips being thrown around that should help folks strengthen their own presentations. Overall the mood of the conference is very fun and light hearted.

Watch it yourself here.

YouTube Layout Changes Disappoint Users

The new YouTube layout changes have been met with a lot of criticism from users for a good reason. I have to admit for a week I thought something I changed in my browser settings was causing YouTube’s layout to break .. but then I realized it was showing this way for everyone, on purpose.

A few weeks has passed and I’m still amazed no changes have been made. I decided to do a quick search on google for anything posted in the past 24 hours related to Youtube Layout Changes. This forum was near the top of the results and I clicked it. Notice how every single post is negative? Here are some posts I’d like to highlight:

Furburt: “Let me just say this here. Youtube is the worst (noticeable) online community there is. Worse than 4 chan, or Something Awful or Gamefaqs. As a video sharing website it’s fine, but as a community, you could not do worse, unless you search for bad communities intentionally. ”

FFS-dontcare “The previous system was good enough. We should be given a choice between this new system and the old one by way of selecting it in account options or something, not be forced to use the new one. The old one was more than adequate, and it was easily straight-forward.”

Samurai Gumba “YouTube would have to dispense diamonds onto my keyboard before my experience would be measurably improved.”

Alucard “I dislike the new layout, I dislike the new rating system, and I especially dislike the new Beta channels that they thought necessary for all users to have. My “related videos” are not even related to the stuff I like to watch either, or at best only tangentally related. With each “improvement” it gets worse.”

Is anyone at Google noticing the dislike to what YouTube is Doing? Some people are starting to get the feeling they aren’t. Are YouTube’s legal issues distracting them? Maybe the continued financial losses are just killing morale?

Sooner or later jobs will be lost over this at YouTube one way or another. The backlash and negative impact can’t be avoided now. A mistake this big can’t be swept under the rug. Google has to realize the YT devision is backfiring more than a 83 Gran Torino and it’s only a matter of time before they put in a new pit crew.

My hope is the fresh group that comes in has a better understanding of easy design improvements can be if they build them around community suggestions and listen to user feedback. Call me overly optimistic, but I think their ability to lose more money than anyone else for more years than anyone else in the entire video space gives them about 25 more lives.

MyLife.com Drops Ads from Facebook

Has MyLife.com banned the use of Facebook and MySpace as sources of traffic in their affiliate program?

I received the following email on April 6th from one of my associates that seems to indicate it’s true:

“Dear Valued Affiliate,
Effective today, all MyLife affiliates are restricted from advertising on Facebook and MySpace. Please make the change on your end immediately. Your cooperation is appreciate”

Is this the end of an era or just a nasty hoax of some sort? The MyLife offer helped launch several careers and assisted many networks with their social advertising initiatives. This leaves me with just one huge question, how on earth will people find out who has been searching their name now??

Blogger.com Traffic Explodes, Media Looks Foolish

Blogger, a popular blogging network, is blowing up it’s overall reach. Look at the ramp they have seen in the start of 2010

Near the end of 2009, many mainstream media outlets were reporting blogging was becoming less popular..blah blah blah. I think they understand bloggers are putting them out of business and a propaganda campaign was their only weapon. Turns out they were way off base. A month later, most blogging networks are at or hitting new traffic peaks.

Is it a coincidence ABC News laid off 25% of it’s editorial staff a month after Blogger and other blogging networks posted these monster gains ?

You can just feel the momentum continuing to flow away from cable news and into the blogosphere.

Are bloggers cashing in? Mostly not. It’s rare to be a good blogger, CEO, advertising account rep, and billing staff all in one person. Bloggers don’t need cash coming in right now to keep up their work ethics, while ABC news does.

The illusive pot of gold jackpot at the end of Web 2.0 rainbow should keep bloggers going for at least a few more years. Expect more job cuts at ABC.

Kim Kardashian Tosses Carl Jr’s Salad

First off, Kim Kardashian doesn’t eat at Hardees, or Carl Jrs, or whatever they call themselves depending on which state you are in.

If you think she does, you probably also think she uses the Teeth Whitener you’re still getting rebilled for, or the amazing Berry Juice you don’t even notice getting billed to your cell phone.

The best things in life are messy? She is taking a bath with a crouton..and blowing a piece of fruit. WTF is this commercial?

Here is the commercial:

If I see a bunch of construction workers murdering these salads the next time I go to Hardees I will apologize for this article. Please, someone, anyone, find a way to get her to stop endorsing more products! I’m tired of getting punched in the ribs every time one of these come on Television!

Teeth Whitener I can understand..but do ppl really buy this load of crap?