I heard it through the

January 26, 2013 6:56 PM

Vinepeek shows you a continuously updating stream of uploads to vine, a recently launched video clip sharing startup that Twitter acquired last October. Fascinating, mesmerizing 6-second clips of life from all around the world. (via)
posted by yourcelf (64 comments total)

This is great.
posted by clockzero at 7:04 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Curse you. I've only popped back in here to curse you. Now I must go watch more.
posted by Glinn at 7:07 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

This will definitely be the new thing, and deservedly so - it's fascinating!
posted by BishopsLoveScifi at 7:11 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Totally mesmerizing. It's like cable access with ADD!
posted by R. Schlock at 7:13 PM on January 26, 2013 [6 favorites]

Two additional comments:
1. Dog content underrepresented, and 2. I hope that handsaw sitting ominously on that workbench does not make an additional appearance or five.
posted by Glinn at 7:13 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

So, how long until this turns into Chat Routlette?
posted by Mezentian at 7:15 PM on January 26, 2013 [9 favorites]

Glinn: "2. I hope that handsaw sitting ominously on that workbench does not make an additional appearance or five."

I think you can relax, Chekhov's gun probably doesn't apply to random amateur internet videos.

But what if it did!?!?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:16 PM on January 26, 2013 [3 favorites]

I just watched a 6 second Green Lantern stop motion, this is great.
posted by arcticseal at 7:28 PM on January 26, 2013

A note:

People using this service are probably excited to share clips of events or parties or concerts or apparently parkour training facilities, so people look like they lead very exciting lives.

So, you should not feel guilty that what you don't see are people laying in their bed on their side mindlessly watching this realtime feed of these clips.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:30 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

WAIT!

I take that comment above back! I just saw a clip of someone filming themselves watching that same Parkour facility clip on this thing!

Is someone having a laugh? Is the photographer coming from IN THE HOUSE?
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:31 PM on January 26, 2013 [9 favorites]

I guess in the future everyone will be Internet famous for six seconds.

I wonder if we will see Vine wars someday?
posted by Mezentian at 7:33 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Fuckin Awesome.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:40 PM on January 26, 2013

What is the software or app they're using that makes those jerky start-and-stop video clips?
posted by Lukenlogs at 7:40 PM on January 26, 2013

It's the Vine app itself, apparently.
posted by briank at 7:44 PM on January 26, 2013

I watched a guy peeing.
posted by nev at 7:46 PM on January 26, 2013

I watched a guy peeing.

Anyway, what’s this Vine thing your talking about?
posted by bongo_x at 7:50 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Now somebody create a site that converts them into gifs!
posted by sonmi at 8:05 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yup, this is neat.
posted by pwally at 8:08 PM on January 26, 2013

I give it two months before it's nothing but penis.
posted by HuronBob at 8:11 PM on January 26, 2013 [5 favorites]

This one made me laugh quite a bit. What a great idea for a website.
posted by hames at 8:12 PM on January 26, 2013 [6 favorites]

I got a dog on an elevator, a sideways shot of a bar, and a guy talking to his macaroni. Thank you for this beauty, internet.
posted by reductiondesign at 8:26 PM on January 26, 2013

It's pretty random... kind of interesting. I have to admit it, though -- don't really get it.
posted by ph00dz at 8:29 PM on January 26, 2013

holy blipverts
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:30 PM on January 26, 2013

I appear to be trapped in a series of (mostly Mexican) videos of young girls dancing.
And people eating nachoes.
And various drunken antics.
Lots of drunk people.
posted by Mezentian at 8:31 PM on January 26, 2013

My daughter was enjoying it until a clip of some birds in a cage came on, and then all she wanted was more birds, so I had to switch to YouTube.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:42 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

ZERO #METAFILTER TAGS FOUND. Time to change that.
posted by roger ackroyd at 9:21 PM on January 26, 2013

Vine, the app, is currently Ios only, fwiw.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 9:26 PM on January 26, 2013

I do not know what to make of this even after watching for 22 straight minutes. Although I must admit 3 minutes of it I was stuck on one vine-eo and did not even notice.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:51 PM on January 26, 2013

I just spent the last half hour recording vinepeek on vine. Time well spent.
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:00 PM on January 26, 2013

oh shit, is it the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment already?
posted by mannequito at 11:14 PM on January 26, 2013 [4 favorites]

Now that cats have jumped the shark....
posted by a non e mouse at 11:31 PM on January 26, 2013

Two conclusions:

1.) Everywhere has bad furniture

2.) Everywhere has lasers
posted by Bohemia Mountain at 11:35 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw lots of parties, none of which looked at that rad. Plus I got in a loop where I repeatedly had to stare at some dude's ass. Mind, his ass is better than mine, but that may be the very lowest bar.
posted by maxwelton at 11:42 PM on January 26, 2013

Can someone make me a link to the cat videos?

I'm really only interested in cat videos.
posted by Sara C. at 11:59 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's not a cat, but you can have a dog.
It's not doing much.

No, wait, cats! And some guy called Matt.
posted by Mezentian at 12:10 AM on January 27, 2013

This is something I don't want to like but like.
posted by zardoz at 1:22 AM on January 27, 2013

So far I have seen many more dog videos than cat videos. That can't be right.
posted by Bektashi at 3:38 AM on January 27, 2013

This will be huge. About time animated gifs got sound, and the 6 second constraint is just fantastic. No need to feel you are competing with Blair Witch or Spielberg. But for Christ's sake, get it out of the Apple locked box and let us all play with it!
posted by stonepharisee at 3:55 AM on January 27, 2013

Animated GIFs were the death knell for casual still photography.

This is death itself waiting in the corner of the room.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:34 AM on January 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Interesting. It's like Fail.com, but without the skateboard to the crotch.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:44 AM on January 27, 2013

I got some girl in Red Square, filming stuff, and news.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:23 AM on January 27, 2013

Can someone make me a link to the cat videos?

Download the app (it's free). Explore the #cat tag. The best thing to happen in my life today. Why yes, I do want to see an endless stream jerky 6 second videos of other peoples cats doing completely mundane things and sometimes exciting things.
posted by bobobox at 5:40 AM on January 27, 2013

If you prefer your shorts with a little more three-part dramatic structure, there is Five Second Films, which promises to "waste your time, but not very much of it".
posted by autopilot at 5:45 AM on January 27, 2013

Download the app (it's free).

I'm not on Apple, so I can't.
But what's the quality like on, say, #boobs, or something salacious like that?
Because that has me scared.

(Yes, scared. Complete derail flag: but I came across https://twitter.com/ItsGiovannaP today, the story of a young girl who did something quite disgusting -- or mocked it, not sure) to get Internet Fame. Because: Fame. And I realise I don't understand the kind of exhibitionist world something like Vine relies on.)
posted by Mezentian at 5:52 AM on January 27, 2013

I just saw, like, the fattest cat ever. Pretty cool, but are they really random? I'm seeing themes: wind towers, coffee machines...
posted by DarkForest at 6:16 AM on January 27, 2013

but are they really random?

You're seeing them as people post them, and sometimes people post a series. I saw two windmill ones, and two that were different clips of the same family in the woods.

As its Sunday morning in the US right now, I'm seeing lots of coffee-making clips.
posted by memebake at 6:25 AM on January 27, 2013

Bizarrely compelling...
posted by msbubbaclees at 6:28 AM on January 27, 2013

If there was sufficient volume of videos, and they were nicely tagged, maybe you could watch channels of new videos: cats, music, protests, hipsters, coffee machines etc. youtube could probably do this.
posted by DarkForest at 6:38 AM on January 27, 2013

Now we know what those evil villain masterminds were watching on their mass arrays of massive displays.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:00 AM on January 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have made two Vine posts and they were both cat videos. So I'm doing my part. Also, I have no other ideas what else to film.
posted by marylynn at 8:57 AM on January 27, 2013

So I'm doing my part.

And yet here we are... without links.

Also, I have no other ideas what else to film.

More cats.
posted by Mezentian at 9:01 AM on January 27, 2013

I maked vines out of vines
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:05 AM on January 27, 2013

Hehe. The first vine I saw when I clicked today was this one from a familiar face. This is a great and fascinating look into everyone's life around the globe - had a hard time not being totally mesmerized by it last night...
posted by gemmy at 9:31 AM on January 27, 2013

He could have made his bed..
posted by a non e mouse at 3:03 PM on January 27, 2013

Damn hipsters.

/click

Oh, tea bags. I have those!

Michael Jordan. Wonder what he's been up to?

Is that Rio de Janeiro?

nice fire lol that pug has fangs hey more tea bags with lemon and sugar? mmm beach what's dkny yum corn dogsthatguyhasourbenchtophippos
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:04 PM on January 27, 2013

Pornographic video clips already showing up on Twitter's Vine.

I'm surprised it took this long - or maybe it just took this long for the numbnuts in the media to notice.
posted by Pudhoho at 4:44 PM on January 27, 2013

Puppy, puppy, kitty, beef stroganoff sautéed in pan, hipster in bar, Spanish language video, kitty

I call that a win
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:03 PM on January 27, 2013

I have the app but it keeps breaking my clips. Either that or I suck at making them. It's hard to tell when you're recording and when you aren't, because there's no visual difference.

And yet I want to much for it to work for me, mostly because of the 6-second constraint and the ability to include sound. I've long complained about how many people include a good minute or two of nothing-happening in their YouTube before the cat falls off the bed or whatever.

I watched someone get their cupcake baking down to 6 seconds and it reminded me of Edgar Wright's fast-cut sequences of people doing paperwork in Hot Fuzz.
posted by harriet vane at 9:20 PM on January 27, 2013

This is all the historians will have to work with.
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:43 PM on January 27, 2013

So I've tried it out a few times, with intermittent technical difficulties, and got:

Some crude stop motion animation

A nicely edited little narrative about going to WalMart late at night to satisfy a craving for Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which I can totally get behind, as someone who frequently uses willpower to keep from doing this sort of thing.)

CATS!!1!!11!!

Some guy boarding a plane

A Kaaba-themed wall clock, ticking away 6 seconds
posted by Sara C. at 9:56 PM on January 27, 2013

Puppy, puppy, kitty, beef stroganoff sautéed in pan,

I read that as one thing.
posted by bongo_x at 9:58 PM on January 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's hard to tell when you're recording and when you aren't, because there's no visual difference.

If you're touching the screen, you're recording. If you aren't touching the screen, you aren't recording. The green bar at the top shows how much of your six seconds you've used.

These started popping up on my Twitter feed a couple days ago, so like a lemming, I downloaded the app and have been playing with it. I love watching the videos both in the app and on Vinepeek. Little slices of life from around the world. Like most social media sites, choosing who to follow will make it what you want it to be. I'm finding people who post artsy things, landscapes, cityscapes, and slices of their actual mundane lives (and cats, of course).

As far as making Vines, I like the six second constraint. I can either decide to do something and plan out how to make it fit, or I can just capture a moment in time (with sound, which is so awesome), and it won't be a huge production number that takes a lot of time like making something for YouTube. It's fun, and it doesn't take any time at all. Sometimes I just want to show my friends the awesome sunset I'm seeing (and the birds chirping in the background).

The porn is going to be a problem though. If they don't figure out some way to deal with it, this will become another chat roulette, which would be unfortunate. I've decided on a one strike rule for people I follow: post porn once and you're off my list. I had to unfollow someone today who had been doing some really creative things, but he couldn't resist posting a six second shot of his naked penis. Sad I'll miss out on his other stuff, but I can't have that kind of thing popping up on my phone while I am riding the bus or whatever.
posted by Orb at 10:39 PM on January 27, 2013

vinecats.com (cannot believe it took someone this long...)
posted by marylynn at 4:03 PM on February 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Vinecats. Now we can all enjoy vine.

Of course, Vineporn.com is also registered, but I am afraid to view it without my blockers switched off.
Seems to be a front for advertising.

Vinegirls.com also seems to be taken.

But vinedogs.com seems to be the domain of GoDaddy.

Vinerabbits.com is free.
posted by Mezentian at 5:37 PM on February 5, 2013