As
discussed over the weekend, in less than two weeks the millions of videos uploaded to six-year-old erstwhile YouTube competitor Google Video will
no longer be viewable. Though a download button has been added to each video page for easy back-up,
that will only be available though May 13th, and the company will not be offering transfer service for users with YouTube accounts. The search giant has been slowly winding down the service over the years since their billion-dollar buyout of YouTube, controversially
revoking purchased content (with a refund) in 2007 and
disabling new uploads in 2009. The shutdown is a big blow to the web video ecosystem, as Google Video was one of the few major services to allow free hosting of long-form video, including the content for many popular MetaFilter posts. But all is not lost! Reddit users have organized
a virtual potluck to share the most interesting and unique videos not available anywhere else, and the
Archive Team, preserver of doomed web properties like Geocities (
previously), is partnering with Archive.org to
back up as much content as possible. In that spirit, click inside for a list of some of the most popular Google Video-centric content posted here over the years.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 18, 2011 -
54 comments
Building and flying free flight model airplanes is a pastime so obscure it doesn't even register on the geek heirarchy. But in the period between Lindberg's flight across the Atlantic until the start of the Second World War,
thousands of boys (and some girls)
around the
world succumbed to the allure of rubber,
lube, and
dope.
[more inside]
posted by gamera
on Aug 6, 2009 -
13 comments
Writer's Links. Write better, or at the very least, more authentically, with this list of hundreds of resources for writers of all shades. For example, writing a jazz age screenplay? This guide to
1920's slang will be handy. Need help getting your procedural legal drama accurate? Try the
Jurisdictionary. Enjoy tormenting your readers? This list of
Tom Swifties will do the trick nicely.
[more inside]
posted by jonson
on Sep 9, 2007 -
14 comments