YouTube, in an effort to tame and restrict some of the naughtier bits of content that make it onto the site, announced new community guidelines today. –Sniffle– Our little YouTube is getting all growed up.

Accordng to a YouTube Blog post, the new rules are:

• Tightened standards for what is “sexually suggestive.” Anything deemed as such will be not viewable by those under 18 (good luck with that).
• Sexually suggestive videos and videos that contain swearing will be “algorithmically demoted” on the Most Viewed, Top Favorite and other browse pages.
• Thumbnails will now be selected algorithmically. You can choose from three different options, but the images will not be automatically picked from the quarter-way, halfway, and three-quarter-way points in the video.
• Stricter enforcement of video information. No more gaming views by creating misleading video description, tags or other metadata.

From the copious use of the term “algorithmically,” it looks like YouTube is using its copyright ID system to analyze other forms of content on the site, though it’s not going so far as to remove offending content, just demoting it. Ironically enough, actively monitoring what goes up on the site and removing what’s deemed to be objectionable sounds an awful lot like what YouTube, in its ongoing legal battle with Viacom, is saying it can’t and/or won’t do.

Like the pimply-faced teen wearing his first tux for prom, YouTube is also cleaning up its act to persuade Madison Ave. that the site is advertiser-friendly. After all, the company needs to start monetizing those 344 million global uniques. The vestiges of the Wild, Wild West, video free-for-all that YouTube once was are disappearing, making room for professional content such as that of networks, full-length films, and a even a high-falutin’ classical music contest. Even the YouTube L!ve event a couple weeks back was a slickly produced event that was just as much (if not more) about Katy Perry as it was about Michael Buckley.

br /What it doesbr /br /In a nutshell, Tizmos is a personalized homepage that enables you to visualize thumbnails of the sites you always visit in the same place, and dispense with visiting them out one by one to see if they have been updated. br brEach site that you add to your homepage is entitled “Tizmo”, and you can manage these easily online as Tizmos can be dropped, edited and deleted in no time at all. Moreover, you can add tags for browsing convenience. br brAs you probably have realized, this solution has the added advantage of enabling you to access your favorites from anywhere there is a web-enabled computer available. Also, since this service is provided SaaS there is no need to worry about maintenance and related considerations. br brYou will probably enjoy a visit to the site if you have been looking for a free and supple solution for maximizing your time on the Web. All it takes to get started is creating a free account and you are ready to start rolling. brbr /br /Why it might be a killerbr /br /It is a smooth way of keeping track of all the sites that you like in the same place. br /br /Some questionsbr /br /How many Tizmos can make up your homepage?br /br /In their own wordsbr /br /“Like most people, we have a handful of sites we check every time we get on the internet. Checking these sites usually involved navigating to the sites manually or going through the browser's bookmarks/favorites menu. The problem with the latter approach is that you can't access these favorites on different computers unless you install some sort of plugin. With Tizmos, you can open your browser on any computer, go to Tizmos.com and see the sites you usually check and get to them easily.”br /br /Link: a href='http://www.tizmos.com 'http://www.tizmos.com /abr /Our Review: a href='http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/tizmos-com-your-own-personalized-homepage'http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/tizmos-com-your-own-personalized-homepage/abr /br / nbsp;div class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=JhN8atmH"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=fsyb4OPy"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=UuA1mwOq"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=UuA1mwOq" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=CW97NgqW"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=CW97NgqW" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=Yq6Tcvsj"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=43" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=SLfQeLuh"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=SLfQeLuh" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/killerstartups/BkQV/~4/3LvQ45X2Ug8" height="1" width="1"/

div class="rxbodyfield"p page="1" class="ArticleBody"When Microsoft, Mozilla, or a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Apple+Inc."Apple/a comes out with a new version of a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Microsoft+Internet+Explorer"Internet Explorer/a , a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Mozilla+Firefox"Firefox/a, or Safari, it makes news -- mainly because most of us use one or more of these three Web browsers. In fact, with the exception of a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/inform.do?command=searchamp;searchTerms=Google+Chrome"Google#39;s Chrome/a (which made a big splash, mostly because it came from Google), most of the alternative browsers out there tend to get lost in the shuffle./pp align="right"a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" /img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"And it#39;s too bad, because some of these relatively unknown browsers are good -- and could be better for some users than the ones they#39;re using now. We asked three of our writers to take some lesser-known browsers out for a spin and see how they do./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"b[ Discover the top-rated IT products as rated by the a href="http://www.infoworld.com/testcenter/?source=fssr"InfoWorld Test Center/a. ]/b/pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"They chose six candidates: Camino (for the Mac), Maxthon (for the PC), OmniWeb (for the Mac), Opera (both the Mac and the PC versions), and Shiira (for the Mac). Which is the best? It all depends on what you need from a browser./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"For example, Camino is for those who want a simple, basic browser, while Maxthon is overflowing with every power feature in the book. OmniWeb offers speed and an interesting approach to tabbing (but, at a base price of US$14.95, is the only browser in this roundup that isn#39;t free), while Opera brings with it a number of features it has pioneered over the years, along with a strong fan base. Finally, Shiira has an interface that is more Mac than Apple#39;s own Safari./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"It#39;s possible that none of these will do what you need better than the browser you#39;re already using. But as we all know, sometimes you have to step outside of the tried and true in order to find something really great./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"Check these browsers out -- one of them may work for you./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"strongCamino 1.6.4br//strongCamino, an open-source browser based on Mozilla#39;s Gecko rendering engine, is clearly designed to be a simple, easy-to-use, yet fully functional browser. With a look and feel very similar to Safari and Firefox, almost anyone will find it easy to work with in seconds; I found myself completely at home with Camino from the second I launched it./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"One major difference between Camino and Firefox is that Camino was designed and programmed specifically for the Mac instead of ported over as Firefox was (so it#39;s less likely to a href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9099959"quot;feelquot; like a Windows application/a ). In addition, one gets the impression that the developers of Camino didn#39;t try to duplicate all the features of Firefox and focused on the core browsing functionality, which probably results in leaner code overall and thereby increased performance and stability./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"Camino isn#39;t big on flashy features. It does have a few that, while not unique, are nice to have. For example, Camino lets you save the URLs for all pages currently opened in tabs as a set that re-opens all of them -- in the same positions. This is a pretty nifty feature if you repeatedly open the same set of pages every morning when checking sites (or if you use a number of Web-based applications every day)./pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"Beyond that, the features and preferences options are pretty standard browser fare, though I do have to commend Camino#39;s developers for including a Web features tab in the browser#39;s preferences that includes the options to block Flash animations and advertising as well as to prevent Web animations from repeating./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"Given that many Web browsers now try to implement too many features, some of which are better left to separate applications (RSS being a common example, which Camino eschews), I found Camino#39;s straightforward focus refreshing. The approach leads to a simple design that implements the core features in an uncluttered fashion. Combined with the Web features options that put a user in control of just how much distracting Web content he wants to see, I couldn#39;t help thinking that this would be the perfect browser for people like my father -- you know, the type of person who wants a cell phone that#39;s nothing more than a phone./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"Since Camino keeps its feature set small and targeted, I was not surprised to find it to be very stable; it renders content both well and quickly. As with Shiira, Camino handled Flash, scripting and other complex Web technologies very well. When I compared it to Safari, Firefox and Shiira on the Mac, it outperformed those other browsers in rendering some pages. Sites heavy with Flash content and animations, in particular, seemed to load, render and function faster when I used Camino./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"I should note that some a target="_blank" href="http://pimpmycamino.com/"Camino add-ons/a are available. Like the add-ons available for Firefox, these tools offers various capabilities, from backing up bookmarks to changing the look using themes or skins, though the choices for Camino are more limited./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"All in all, Camino is probably not the perfect browser for everyone. If you#39;re looking for a more full-featured browser, you may want to opt for Firefox, Safari, or Shiira. But if you want a stable, simple and no-nonsense Web browser (or one that can easily limit distracting content) Camino is a good choice./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"em-- Ryan Faas/em/pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"strongMaxthon 2.1.4br//strongIf you#39;re looking for a browser that bristles with power features, and don#39;t mind a somewhat unattractive interface and some confusing configuration, then Maxthon is the browser for you. It#39;s got just about every feature built into competing browsers, and many that you won#39;t find anywhere else -- such as a quot;file snifferquot; that makes it easy to download YouTube videos and a pop-up notepad for pasting or dragging text you want to save. Power users will love it. Those who like sleek design will turn away./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"The interface is quite cluttered, with a file menu, Address Bar, Favorites Bar and other toolbars, and stray icons near the top and bottom of the screen. Think of it as the un- a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicamp;articleId=9114048"Chrome/a . But there#39;s a reason for the clutter: The browser has so many features, they need to fit somewhere. And you can customize the interface, if you like, to cut down on the clutter./pp page="2" class="ArticleBody"Maxthon has far too many features to cover in a short review, but among my favorites is its great tab and window handling. You can, for example, create two side-by-side browser instances, each with their own tabs; you can create tab groups; you can quot;tear offquot; a tab into a separate browser instance and then recombine it; you can assign a shortcut key to any URL and visit that URL just by pressing the key -- and that#39;s just for a start./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"The browser also uses quot;mouse gestures,quot; so that you can navigate forward, backward and so on by moving your mouse in a certain way. It has a great tool for filling out Web forms, a built-in screen capture tool, and an innovative search screen that lets you do a search and then click on tabs in that screen to see the results from various search engines. And there#39;s a CPU Saver mode that minimizes Maxthon#39;s processor use, freeing up your CPU for other tasks./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"All that is to the good, but there are some problems, mostly because Maxthon uses the same Trident rendering engine used by Internet Explorer. For example, click Tools --gt; Internet Options, and you#39;ll come to a familiar tabbed Internet Options screen. In fact, it looks like the screen for changing Internet Explorer#39;s options -- because that#39;s exactly what it is./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"There#39;s far more than all this, and there are a target="_blank" href="http://addons.maxthon.com/en_US"plug-ins available as well/a . You simply won#39;t find a browser with more features./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"In fact, when you make a change to the Maxthon Internet Options screen, you#39;ll also make changes to Internet Explorer. And while this screen has an option for setting your home page, it won#39;t work for Maxthon -- you need to select Tools --gt; Maxthon Setup Center and make your changes there. I contacted Maxthon, and a rep told me that the Options screen is used to control the Trident rendering engine only, and doesn#39;t affect other Maxthon options such as setting the home page./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"Still, if you#39;re a power user, you can get used to those eccentricities. If you#39;re looking for the most features in a browser, live with Maxthon a while, and you may learn to love it./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"em-- Preston Gralla/em/pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"strongOmniWeb 5.8br//strongOmniWeb has been around longer than Mac OS X, dating back to the NeXT platform of the 1990s. Throughout its history, OmniWeb has always been an excellent citizen of technologies specific to the NeXT -- and later, OS X -- platform, and the polish shows through in even minor details./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"Even though OmniWeb was one of the first native browsers to grace OS X, with an interface that has remained top-notch, it has faced rivals such as Firefox and Camino that are powered by speedy Gecko-based rendering engines -- not to mention Apple#39;s own Safari browser, which has been integrated with OS X since 2003. That#39;s kept OmniWeb#39;s browser share limited to a fairly small audience. However, the advances seen in OmniWeb since its rendering engine revamp in 2004 may mean it#39;s time for surfers to give this browser another serious look./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"OmniWeb, now at Version 5.8, is easily one of the best examples of a properly implemented interface on the Mac today. The Omni Group has always taken care to make sure that its products feel like native Mac applications instead of ports from other platforms, and the attention to detail makes using OmniWeb a joy./pp page="3" class="ArticleBody"Some of OmniWeb#39;s best features include extensive (if not zealous) ad-blocking, auto-saved Web browsing sessions and site-specific preferences. From the unique tab drawer -- more on this later -- to support for browsing Web pages using OS X#39;s built-in Speech Recognition, OmniWeb#39;s embrace of Mac-specific technologies wrapped in a clean and uncluttered interface makes the product a delightful browser alternative./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"It renders Web pages quickly, easily on par with the fastest of the competition, right up there with Safari and Firefox. That#39;s significant because rendering speeds used to be a major source of disappointment, something that changed with Omni Group#39;s embrace of Apple#39;s own open-source a target="_blank" href="http://webkit.org/"WebKit/a frameworks. WebKit is used by Apple itself in several of its software packages -- Mail, Safari and Dashboard, to name a few -- and the Omni Group#39;s adoption of this technology allowed it to focus on designing an elegant user interface instead of worrying about updating its rendering engine with every new Web standard./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"Among the interface niceties is the aforementioned tab drawer. Instead of offering up a layout like its competitors -- with small tabs displayed horizontally near the address field -- OmniWeb shows a resizable window pane attached to the browser. The pane, which can be displayed on the right or left side of the main browser window, previews tabs as mini-Web pages rendered in real time. The real-time page rendering allows you to skip on to other sites when one is loading slowly, while still keeping an eye on the site#39;s progress./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"OmniWeb#39;s user experience is top-notch and Mac-like -- something that can#39;t be said about competitors like Firefox -- but that experience comes at a price. At a time when most Web browsers are free, a license for OmniWeb 5.8 costs $14.95, while an upgrade license from earlier versions costs $4.95./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"Even if you don#39;t want to pay for a browser, I still recommend downloading the software and taking it for a free 30-day test run. The thought of paying for a browser probably won#39;t sit well with those accustomed to free alternatives -- especially since the alternatives themselves are good -- but after using OmniWeb for a few days, you might decide it#39;s worth the price./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"em-- Mike DeAgonia/em/pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"strongOpera 9.6br//strongOpera is a Windows-based browser that has been ported to many different platforms, including most Unix variants such as Mac OS X and Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris; cell phone operating systems, including Windows Mobile, PalmOS, BlackBerry OS, and even the popular Wii gaming station. But despite its ubiquitous nature, Opera has so far only captured 2% of the browser market. That#39;s something of a surprise, because it isn#39;t as though this browser lacks ability or features./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"Version 9.6 for Macintosh is a fast, option-laden browser that represents a formidable entry in an extremely competitive product category. Opera uses its own proprietary rendering engine called Presto to display Web content; this engine is almost as capable at rendering code as the Gecko engine used by Firefox and Camino, and nearly as fast as Safari and OmniWeb#39;s WebKit engine. In fact, there were some sites that Gecko had trouble rendering accurately, but Opera displayed most sites properly./pp page="4" class="ArticleBody"There are many things to like about Opera, including customizable skins, live preview of Web pages when you mouse over tabs and a welcome full-screen mode -- especially useful for recent Windows converts who are accustomed to viewing Web pages using every bit of screen real estate possible./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"One of Opera#39;s standout features is the Speed Dial startup page. Speed Dial lets you customize a page with up to nine different sites, with each site#39;s content displayed in miniaturized format. Clicking on the mini-page brings up the site in a full browser window./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"Another Opera plus is the extensive search engine support built into the browser. As well as the usual suspects like Google and Yahoo, Opera also supports Ask, Wikipedia, eBay, and Yahoo Shopping. Interestingly enough, Opera also supports Bit Torrent searching and downloads, as this browser doubles as a Bit Torrent client./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"Opera also offers support for widgets. Although similar in function to those found in Mac OS X, Opera#39;s widgets are freed from the restraints of the Dashboard, instead floating on the desktop like any application window./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"The Opera interface is a little more cluttered than some of the other browsers I#39;ve looked at, but skin support in concert with the ability to alter interface details means you can customize to your heart#39;s content. With the addition of Mouse Gestures, it#39;s entirely possible to browse pages without using any of the interface elements at all, relying instead on mouse or trackpad swipes to navigate pages./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"The bottom line is that Opera is a good example of healthy competition in the browser market, and the price of admission -- free! -- is certainly worth giving this program a once-over./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"em-- Mike DeAgonia/em/pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"strongOpera 9.6br//strongThere was a time, years ago, when Opera seemed to be giving Internet Explorer and Netscape a run for their money. Now it#39;s the great forgotten browser, rarely mentioned or used./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"And that#39;s a shame. Opera sports a clean interface with easy access to its innovative capabilities, and is a model of simplicity and elegance, with attractive icons and tabs, and plenty of features within easy reach. If you#39;re looking for a powerful alternative to your existing browser, you won#39;t go wrong with Opera./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"Much has been made of browser Address Bar tools such as Chrome#39;s Omnibox and Firefox#39;s Awesome Bar. But no one bothers to mention that Opera has already been there and done that. As with those browsers, type parts of a URL into Opera#39;s address bar, and you#39;ll get a list of likely matches. Better yet, type in search terms, and Opera will do a Google search for them./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"That#39;s just one of the innovative features you#39;ll find in Opera; there are too many to mention them all. What Opera calls quot;Speed Dialquot; is also useful. When you open a new tab, Opera opens a page with space for multiple thumbnails of Web pages. Click on any blank thumbnail and enter a URL, and from then on, when you open a new tab, it will open to a page with those thumbnails. To visit any page, click it./pp page="5" class="ArticleBody"Opera also features an excellent download manager that lets you pause and resume downloads, and then open any files you#39;ve downloaded. For each download, you#39;re also shown information such as where it was downloaded from, where you downloaded it to, file size and so on. There#39;s also a progress indicator showing you current download speed./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"Useful for anyone who fills out Web forms (which pretty much means all of us), is the Wand, which not only remembers passwords and fills them in, but also fills in other information, such as name, address, e-mail address and so on./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"Opera sports many other features as well, such as a quick way to turn off all images on a Web site with the single click of a button, and a way to view every single link on a Web page./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"Opera#39;s main drawback is that it doesn#39;t have add-ins as Firefox does, so you won#39;t be able to extend the browser#39;s features. You can download Opera widgets, but they aren#39;t really add-ins -- they#39;re instead gadgets that live on your desktop./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"Apart from the lack of add-ins, though, you#39;ll find Opera an excellent browser. If you#39;re looking for a great blend of simplicity and features, it#39;s well worth the download./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"em-- Preston Gralla/em/pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"strongShiira 2.2br//strongShiira is a relatively new entrant to the Mac Web browser market. Like Apple#39;s Safari and Google#39;s Chrome, Shiira is based on WebKit./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"One of the first unique interface elements that I noticed was Shiira#39;s PageDock. The PageDock provides the same functionality as tabbed browsing, but with complete thumbnails of every page that is opened./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"At first, I saw this as something that took up valuable screen real estate, but after a little use, I found it to be an invaluable addition to the browser experience -- making it easy to see not only what each quot;tabquot; was (beyond just a name), but also what was happening on each page, which proved particularly nice with any page that sported dynamic content (from Facebook chats to sites featuring animation elements). For those who prefer traditional tabbed browsing, the PageDock can be turned off./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"As I explored Shiira, I noticed that many of its features and interfaces took cues from Apple#39;s Mac OS X interface. There#39;s a button that displays all open pages next to each other like Apple#39;s Expos? feature, making it easy to pick one page to work with. Bookmarks, history and RSS feeds can also be browsed from floating translucent pallets reminiscent of Apple#39;s iLife and iWork applications./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"The preferences dialog borrows heavily from the look of the Mac#39;s System Preferences application. Even the bookmarking tool that Shiira refers to as the Shelf offers column and list views patterned after the Mac#39;s Finder window (as is the customizable window toolbar)./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"All of these made Shiira seem more Mac-like to me than Apple#39;s own Safari browser. What I found particularly nice was that, much like the PageDock, these features all served useful functions rather than just being eye candy./pp page="6" class="ArticleBody"I also found a couple of unusual features that seemed so intuitive that I couldn#39;t believe they weren#39;t more common in other browsers. These include menu items for automatically e-mailing the URL or entire contents of a page with a single click, and a very effective full-screen-mode option that would be perfect for presentations or watching video./pp page="7" class="ArticleBody"As far as performance, I found Shiira to be very solid. It loaded pages of all kinds, rendered Flash animation with no problems, and even beat out Safari and Firefox in terms of rendering speed on a couple of pages (albeit not by a particularly noteworthy margin). The browser was also very stable. All of this is important because, bells and whistles aside, the most important piece of a browser to me is that it can actually surf the Web painlessly and quickly./pp page="7" class="ArticleBody"Unfortunately, I did see some unfinished aspects of this open-source browser. Some of Shiira#39;s preference options seemed unfinished. For example, the RSS feed preferences pane refused to open at all (even so, the built-in RSS reader functioned fairly well -- though being used to full featured stand-alone RSS readers, I#39;m not sure it would be my first choice). In addition, the pane in the preferences dialog called Key Mappings, which should allow users to assign keyboard shortcuts to menu items, does not seem to be implemented yet (though I was able to open the pane itself)./pp page="7" class="ArticleBody"Even so, the combination of good features, Apple-inspired interface and overall performance left me convinced that, with a little more development, Shiira could easily give other Mac browsers a run for their money. Without a doubt, Shiira is definitely worth a look, but be prepared to spend a little time getting used to its interface./pp page="7" class="ArticleBody"em-- Ryan Faas/em/pp page="7" class="ArticleBody"a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/index.jsp"emComputerworld/em/a emis an InfoWorld affiliate./em/p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a href=http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=441148379d17113dca789008e7c0a466p=1img alt= style=border: 0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=441148379d17113dca789008e7c0a466p=1//a img src=http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=441148379d17113dca789008e7c0a466 style=display: none; border=0 height=1 width=1 alt=/

YouTube is trying to clean up its act by cracking down on sexually explicit videos that are just short of porn and spam videos with misleading titles and descriptions. (Porn has always been grounds for removal). On its most visited pages, YouTube will now apply a “stricter standard for mature content” and demote sexually explicit or graphic videos from its “most viewed,” “top favorited,” and other popular pages. Also, thumbnails will now be algorithmically selected.

These new standards are not just about YouTube trying to class itself up. The more it polices itself, the less likely that Congress or the FCC will try to police it in the future. (For the FCC, its jurisdiction would probably be limited to mobile devices that access the Web over cellular networks).

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

As a community, we have come to count on each other to be entertained, challenged, and moved by what we watch and share on YouTube. We've been thinking a lot lately about how to make the collective YouTube experience even better, particularly on our most visited pages. Our goal is to help ensure that you're viewing content that's relevant to you, and not inadvertently coming across content that isn't. Here are a few things we came up with: br ul liiStricter standard for mature content/i - While videos featuring pornographic images or sex acts are always removed from the site when they're flagged, we're tightening the standard for what is considered "sexually suggestive." Videos with sexually suggestive (but not prohibited) content will be age-restricted, which means they'll be available only to viewers who are 18 or older. To learn more about what constitutes "sexually suggestive" content, click a href="http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=117432topic=10551"here/a./libr liiDemotion of sexually suggestive content and profanity/i - Videos that are considered sexually suggestive, or that contain profanity, will be algorithmically demoted on our 'Most Viewed,' 'Top Favorited,' and other browse pages. The classification of these types of videos is based on a number of factors, including video content and descriptions. In testing, we've found that out of the thousands of videos on these pages, only several each day are automatically demoted for being too graphic or explicit. However, those videos are often the ones which end up being repeatedly flagged by the community as being inappropriate./libr liiImproved thumbnails/i - To make sure your thumbnail represents your video, your choices will now be selected algorithmically. You'll still have three thumbnails to choose from, but they will no longer be auto-generated from the 25/50/75 points in the video index./libr liiMore accurate video information/i - Our a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines"Community Guidelines/a have always prohibited folks from attempting to game view counts by entering misleading information in video descriptions, tags, titles, and other metadata. We remain serious about enforcing these rules. Remember, violations of these guidelines could result in removal of your video and repeated violations will lead to termination of your account./li /ul The preservation and improvement of the YouTube experience is a responsibility we share. Let's work together to ensure that the YouTube community continues to thrive as a positive place for all of us. brbr a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines"The YouTube Team/a

Direct Mail 2.1.5Direct Mail is the best mailing list management and mail delivery software for Mac OS X. Its user-friendly interface and powerful mail delivery engine let you stay in touch with your contacts quickly and easily — without worrying about the details of mail server configurations.
WHAT'S NEWVersion 2.1.5:

• New: Direct Mail can now import over 60 fields from your Apple Address Book contacts.
• New: Edit menu now includes “Paste and Match Style” option.
• Improved: The Import Addresses sheet is now resizable.
• Improved: History item thumbnails now show bounces (in orange).
• Improved: Direct mail now uses locale-aware number formatting.
• Fixed: No longer crashes when invoking “Undo” command.
• Fixed: No longer crashes when attempting to print purchase receipt.
• Fixed: Validate feature (in the Addresses) menu has been changed to only check that addresses are syntactically correct.
• Fixed: Quick Import feature now correctly recognizes lists of email addresses appearing on the same line.
• Fixed: Quick Import feature now correctly recognizes email addresses with country TLDs.
• Fixed: MySQL groups and the MySQL import feature now correctly respects text encodings.
• Fixed: Date header on outgoing messages now set correctly for deliveries scheduled in the future.
• Many more enhancements.

REQUIREMENTSMac OS X 10.4 or later.
DEVELOPERe3 Software
DOWNLOADS22017
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img src="http://photoblog.jbuhler.com/thumbnails/thumb_20081130015528_20081129-l1004328.jpg"br/

Nikon Transfer 1.3

Nikon Transfer is a software application that allows for the simple transfer of images captured with a Nikon digital camera, or images recorded to media such as memory cards, to a computer. It also allows for back-up copying and embedding of information including copyright into image data during transfer.

• Nikon Transfer allows you to specify a software application to launch automatically after images are transferred. When ViewNX (image browser), or the optional Capture NX2 is selected, smooth collaboration with ViewNX allows for natural operation. Use of these two applications together is recommended. See information regarding ViewNX.

Does not support the .NRW (RAW) format.

• Labels and ratings, as well as information including titles and creator, can be applied to images as they are transferred.
• Image attributes and transfer status can be verified in the Nikon Transfer thumbnail list area, and thumbnail display can be categorized by shooting date, file type, or camera folder setting.
• Nikon Transfer allows for specification of a second destination folder, in addition to the primary destination, for saving images to two folders for back-up purposes. This provides back-up of important images in case of deletion of image files from the computer, or similar such accidents.
• Independent sound files (.WAV) recorded by cameras with the voice recording function can be transferred.
• Nikon Transfer can be used to upload images to Nikon's convenient, easy-to-use online photo management service, my Picturetown. Save important images to my Picturetown to increase the ways in which photos add to the enjoyment of your lefestyle (Internet connection required).

Supported Cameras: D3, D2Xs, D2X, D2Hs, D700, D300, D200, D100, D90, D80, D70s, D70, D60, D50, D40X, D40 (The D1X, D1H, and D1 not supported on computers with Intel CPUs running Mac OS X 10.3.9). Coolpix Cameras: All USB connected Nikon Coolpix cameras except Coolpix 880/990/800/900. No serial port connected cameras are supported. Please use a memory card reader for these cameras.
WHAT'S NEWVersion 1.3:

•  A function that allows for the creation of subfolders within the primary destination folder has been added to the Primary Destination panel
• One of the following options can be selected in the Primary Destination panel:
• • Create subfolder for each transfer: When Create subfolder for each transfer (default setting) is selected, a new subfolder is created with each transfer and named, as before, following the rules applied in the Folder Naming dialog.
  • Choose subfolder under Primary Destination path: When Choose subfolder under Primary Destination path is selected, a new subfolder can be created by entering a name for the folder in the combo box at the end of the Primary Destination path in the upper right corner of the dialog, or by selecting an existing folder, previously used, from the pull-down menu.
  • Don't use subfolder: When Don't use subfolder is selected, a subfolder is not created.
• Corresponding to my Picturetown restrictions, the maximum file size for a single file to be uploaded to my Picturetown is now 2 GB.
• Corresponding to Mac OS restrictions, the maximum file size for a single file to be transferred from a camera to the computer is now 2 GB.

REQUIREMENTSMac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
DEVELOPERNikon
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HD Log 6.0HD Log is a powerful tool for indexing and cataloging video from analog or digital sources in preparation for editing, archiving, or sharing. It is especially helpful in long form projects, transcriptions, and extracting frames for printing. Save time and hard disk space, and free the editor equipment for revenue producing activities.

HD Log Features:

• P2 Viewing and Media Management: Instantly view and manage Panasonic P2 MXF video clips. Even combine P2 clips from various cards to save as a new P2 Volume!
• Offload P2 Cards: Make automatic backup copies of P2 cards or Volumes. Printable Verification Report.
• Repair MXF: P2 Clip Repair Wizard builds valid P2 Volumes from damaged ones. Repair one clip at a time or entire folders of MXF files.
• Archive: Create permanent archives for clients with integrated Quantum A-Series Tape Drives.
• Video Assist: Auto-digitize QuickTime preview clips from CamCorders on the fly (Silver/Gold versions) with instant mirrored playback on video monitor.
• Transcribe: Type in long descriptions and notes (unlimited text fields).
• Custom Templates: Design your own. Log the data YOU want, in the style you want.
• Print: Create storyboards or a concise table of thumbnails and data.
• Search: Field specific, complex, or simple searching helps you identify clips or text--fast!
• Designate the best shots: Mark just the clips you want to output or print.
• File Sharing: Log files are easily searched and passed between all your producers and editors.
• Save time and disk space: Directly controls RS422 or FireWire decks or cameras without having to digitize.
• Field Logging: Grab timecode right off the camera with a portable USB Timecode Reader.
• Automated Index: High speed clip detection for DV tapes, QT files, or from analog streams.
• Compatibility: Your logs work with any NLE editor (FCP, Avid, Adobe, etc.)

WHAT'S NEWVersion 6.0 now supports the new Panasonic AVC-Intra Codec, and addition of deluxe media card offloading functions.
REQUIREMENTSMac OS X 10.4 or later, QuickTime 7.2 or later.
DEVELOPERImagine Products, Inc.
DOWNLOADS2769
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Greetings all,

I am a recent convert to the Mac platform and I'm struggling with the best way to do set up a workflow. When I set up the Mac I imported my photo images to iPhoto.

Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom 2 are the other applications I have on my computer. The Mac version of PSE does not contain the "Organizer" which is in the Windows version and that's fine; and LR2 has something called the "Catalog".

Here are some of my questions:

1. Is the LR2 catalog another full copy of all the image files or simply an index with thumbnail images? If it's an index what is the best way to keep it in sync with iPhoto?

2. Depending on the answer to #1, how do I import the images from iPhoto into the Lightroom 2 catalog? When I try the LR2 import function, the iPhoto library is not selectable. I have been told iPhoto uses some sort of Apple proprietary software.

The bottom line is, what is the best way to set up an efficient workflow so I can use PSE6 and LR2? Should I forget about using iPhoto? I have not yet figured out a way to open any photos in LR2 that are in iPhoto; and the same applies to PSE6.

Thanks in advance
Hector Caroselli

So I have created a video presentation for a project I am working on using Final Cut Pro. I noticed Final Cut Pro creates a default folder in Documents called "Final Cut Pro Documents." This folder contains six additional folders:

1. Audio Render Files
2. Autosave Vault
3. Capture Scratch
4. Render Files
5. Thumbnail Cache Files
6. Waveform Cache Files


Is it safe to delete these six folders? I wouldn't otherwise care, but collectively they are taking up 25 GB on my HD. I'm not planning to delete the actual FCP project files and their attached media, but rather the above six folders which appear to be cache...? Do I run any risk of losing my entire presentation if I delete these six folders, or is it simply a matter of just re rendering my project if I delete them?

Today is World Aids Day, and as a region with a relatively high number of people living with HIV/AIDS, you would think that bloggers Caribbean-wide would be very outspoken about the issue - but Jamaica is the only regional territory whose blogosphere - as a unit - seems to be adding its voice to the global discussion.

Stunner recognizes the occasion as “a day when the world pays even more attention to the ruthless killer. A killer disease that knows no bounds and respects no life, man, woman, father, mother, child, it kills indiscriminately”:

HIV/AIDS has made such an impact on our world's societies, since it first manifested itself and it still continues to claim many lives despite the desperate attempts of our leading researchers.

But even worse is that there are a lot of persons living with this infection and don't even know. This is also so true of our tiny island Jamaica and many of our neighboring Caribbean islands. Despite the many AIDS campaign and effort to curb the rate of infection, this malady continues to grow like an unstoppable monster.

On learning that “AIDS is the second leading cause of death for youths between the ages of 15 and 24″ in Jamaica, Iriegal's main concern is the young people. In another post, she writes:

I feel that more education needs to be given to the school children at an early age. Not talking about sex is not going to have it go away.

At the same time, she feels torn over her country's newly adopted National AIDS/HIV Workplace Policy:

The policy it seems will enable countries to screen employees for the virus as a means of preventing the spread of the disease. There is also support for many who have already contracted the disease.

I don't know how I feel about this. Is it and invasion of privacy? Aids still has so many bad stigmas to it. I can imagine and employer who finds out his employee has AIDS or HIV POSITIVE might use this as a means to have them fired or (with the current homophobic atmosphere on the island) place them in danger.

What happens when the investigations turn to the schools? I fear for the young children who already have the virus. Being ostracized is the least of their concerns.

Jamaica Salt is a tad more optimistic and believes that Jamaican celebrities have a key part to play in education and HIV/AIDS awareness:

It is being reported how there has been a thirty per cent decrease in the number of new AIDS cases being reported which is certainly good news and reflects the huge work that has gone into raising awareness.

I think that in particular the drive to include dancehall artists and promoters for music events in bringing home this message is a good idea. I went to a concert which which was giving away free condoms and had an information stall and there were artists there too talking on this issue. It is with getting these high profile and influential guys and girls to do something useful with their fame.

Meanwhile, Life, Unscripted, on the Rock has a few ideas about “what can you and I do to fight the far greater epidemic of fear, ignorance, and prejudice against HIV/AIDS, and persons living with the disease”, while Stunner reiterates the steps everyone can take to help protect themselves “from ever contracting the disease”, adding:

We are all affected by this disease in some way or the other as it is a worldwide disease and not limited to any nationality or ethnic group. So let us always protect ourselves from this killer disease. Also HIV/AIDS does not discriminate, so neither should we, and as such we should treat people living with this disease as a fellow human beings.

“World Aids Day, December 1″ - Thumbnail photo by by Sully Pixel, used under a Creative Commons license. Visit Sully's flickr photostream.

span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image"img alt="Thumbnail image for 1201_tina_fey_palin_00.JPG" src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com/2008/12/01/1201_tina_fey_palin_00-thumb-450x449.jpg" width="450" height="449" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;"//span Tina Fey is standing by her Sarah Palin impressions and claims they weren't mean-spirited. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Tina defends her portrayal of the sassy Alaska governor who either captivated your heart or frightened the living piss out of of you. a href="http://www.hollyscoop.com/tina-fey/tina-fey-proud-of-sarah-palin-impressions_18593.aspx"Hollyscoop/a reports: blockquoteVoted one of Barbara Walters "10 Most Fascinating People of 2008," Tina told Babs: "I never did feel that we were mean to her. We stuck to a lot of things that she herself had said, and I think there is a very strange double standard because it's a woman portraying another woman. The jokes we used to do about George W. Bush were that he was an idiot. The jokes were aggressive. No one would ever stop and say, 'Oh, that seems kind of mean.' "/blockquote "A very strange double standard because it's a woman." Oh, boy, here we go. It's 2008, Tina, not the 1970s. Men and women are completely equal now. In fact, once my secretary brings her sweet tush in here with my coffee, I'll gladly bring you up to speed. div class = "credit"Photos: WENN/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/cGYrtTSbMESzzf-ZdqK2libXNw4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/cGYrtTSbMESzzf-ZdqK2libXNw4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesuperficial/SNxk/~4/BzQdIVeyT7k" height="1" width="1"/

PTGui 8.1b1

PTGui is panoramic photo stitching software. Originally developed as a Graphical User Interface for Panorama Tools (hence the name), PTGui now is a full featured photo stitching application.

Use PTGui to stitch any number of photos into a panoramic image. Some benefits of PTGui, when compared to other stitching software:

• PTGui can stitch multiple rows of images
• Create 360 degree cylindrical panoramas, 'flat' partial panoramas and even spherical 360x180 degree panoramas
• No need to keep the camera level: PTGui can stitch rotated and tilted images
• Virtually unlimited output size: create Gigapixel panoramas from hundreds of images!
• Layered output allows full control over the final stitched result
• PTGui stitches most panoramas fully automatically, but at the same time provides full manual control over every single parameter. This enables stitching of 'difficult' scenes, where other programs fail.
• Full 16 bit workflow for best image quality
• And much more...

WHAT'S NEWVersion 8.1beta1:

• Support for reading most types of camera RAW files. RAW support is provided through the (bundled) dcraw executable.
• PTGui Pro: new Batch Builder for automated detection and stitching of a large number of panoramas. The Batch Builder is launched from the Tools menu. Panoramas can be detected based on the EXIF shooting date, or PTGui Pro can create projects for all images in each subfolder.
• PTGui Pro: new tab: Project Settings
• PTGui Pro: behaviour of the Align Images function is now completely configurable (Project Settings tab). You can for example tell PTGui Pro not to choose a suitable projection and field of view, but instead keep the current project settings. This is in particular useful when working with templates.
• PTGui Pro: default output file and folder names are configurable per project and per template (Project Settings tab).
• PTGui Pro: Batch Stitcher can generate control points and align images (if configured in a project's Project Settings tab).
• PTGui Pro: Batch Stitcher can load and save 'Batch Lists', which contain a list of jobs to be stitched.
• Batch Stitcher: pause button
• Batch Stitcher: redesigned Jobs list. When a batch stitcher job is finished, the job is marked as 'done' but stays in the list.
• Batch Stitcher: in case of an error, the error is logged and the batch stitcher continues with the next job
• 'Send to Batch Stitcher' is replaced by 'Save and send to Batch Stitcher'. In previous versions a temporary copy of the project was sent to the batch stitcher, but now the actual project file is sent (this is necessary for the batch stitcher to be able to add control points to the project).
• Windows: The smartblend/enblend console windows are now hidden by default (can be made visible through Options/Advanced). This allows PTGui to capture and display any error messages.
• If a project is switched from Advanced to Simple mode, all advanced settings (i.e. the settings that become invisible in Simple mode) are reset to their default values
• Crop settings of all images are now linked by default: changes to the crop of one image are automatically applied to all images. One can use 'individual crop' to override the crop settings for an image. Crop linking correctly handles the case where some images are rotated (as is the case when a nadir image is taken with the camera's rotation sensor enabled).
• If no template folder is configured, PTGui will create and use a default folder in the user's home directory (Application Data / Library)
• New function: File -> Save as Template. This saves a copy of the project to the template folder but keeps the current project open
• Control Points / Crop tab: rotation is now done by buttons instead of a drop down listbox
• Control Points tab: bottom panel can be resized by dragging a splitter
• Transparency is now indicated by a white/grey checkered pattern
• Mac: Batch Stitcher and Help window now popup above the PTGui main window, instead of behind it
• AltiVec / SSE acceleration can be disabled (to work around CPU bugs)
• Blending in Panorama Editor can be disabled (in the Panorama Editor Mode menu)
• The menu bar has been reorganized: Utilities menu is combined into the Tools menu; Auto Update Warped thumbnails setting is moved to the Panorama Editor menu; Recent projects list is now a submenu in the File menu
• Quickly open one of the relevant folders (e.g. source image folder, output folder, template folder) in Explorer or Finder: Tools - Open Folder
• Right-clicking in Source Images tab opens context menu
• New function: Image->Open Containing Folder: shows the source image folder in Explorer/Finder
• Simplified layout of the Project Assistant tab
• If the output folder does not exist, PTGui now aborts with an error before the stitching starts (instead of at the end of the stitching process)
• Option to remove the current PTGui registration key from this computer (About - Register - Deactivate)
• The registration key for a company license can now be stored for all users on the current computer. To do so, go to About - Register and re-enter your existing registration key.
• Mac: Fix: drag and drop to batch stitcher did not always work
• Support for true relative file names for source images. Previously the absolute path of source images was always written to the project file, except when the source image resided in the same folder as the project file. Now relative paths are used when the source image is in any folder (but in Windows restricted to the same drive). This can be disabled per project in the Project Settings tab in PTGui Pro.
• New configuration file: C:Users<user>AppDataRoamingPTGuiConfiguration.xml (Vista) C:Documents and Settings<user>Application DataPTGuiConfiguration.xml (XP) /home/<User>/Library/Application Support/PTGui/Configuration.xml. The registry is no longer used on Windows. When moving PTGui to a different computer, only this folder needs to be copied to keep the entire configuration.
• Fix: Problem with automatically reloading of source images: sometimes reload would be initiated while the other application is still busy writing the modified image. Now waits until no changes have been made to the file for at least one second.
• New function: Project -> Initialize and Optimize: this will arrange the images from scratch, based on the control points, and then do a full optimization. Can be used to recover from the situation where the optimizer gets stuck in a local minimum.
• New menu item: Project -> Align Images, with the same functionality as Align Images in the Project Assistant
• If the optimization result is very bad, PTGui will offer to do Initialize and Optimize (see previous)
• By default, images with EXIF 'Orientation' tag are now loaded rotated. Previously the images were loaded unrotated but the roll was set to +/- 90 degrees. The old behaviour is kept for projects originally created in a previous version of PTGui, and in PTGui Pro this behaviour can still be overridden in the Project Settings tab (but only before loading the first image). The new behaviour is compatible with Photoshop and other image editing applications.
• OpenEXR images are now loaded according to the configured display window (previously the data window was used and the display window was ignored)
• Fix: Stitching 16 bit source images to 8 bit output could result in visible banding

The following bugs are known and will be fixed in the next beta version:

• Documentation is not yet updated
• Windows: display glitch in the thumbnails in the Image Parameters tab

Since this is a beta version it may contain bugs; therefore your feedback is much appreciated. Please post any bugs, comments to the PTGui Google group.
REQUIREMENTSMac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
DEVELOPERNew House Internet Services B.V.
DOWNLOADS10200
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