Busted

The other day, I got the following email from the YouTube Content Identification Team.

Dear rShannonSmith,

Video Disabled

A copyright owner has claimed it owns some or all of the audio content in your video One Step Away. The audio content identified in your video is Black And White by Three Dog Night. We regret to inform you that your video has been blocked from playback due to a music rights issue.

Replace Your Audio with AudioSwap

Don't worry, we have plenty of music available for your use. Please visit our AudioSwap library to learn how you can easily replace the audio in your video with any track from our growing library of fully licensed songs.

Other Options

If you think there's been a mistake, or you have other questions, please visit the Copyright Notice page in your account.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

I wonder if it was difficult for the super sleuths at YouTube to determine what song I had used given that I put the song title and artist in the credits?

I used their AudioSwap application and was able to find another song that works. The application was very easy to use and has some decent music.

Have you ever been busted by YouTube, the RIAA, or the law in general?

Twitter Enhancements: Revisited

I just saw where twitter has a secondary application that allows you to search all of twitter for certain words so you can see what the buzz is about that word, e.g. "Palin" or "Hanna" or "Crunch-n-Munch". They even have an advanced search that really lets you narrow down your search. I think this twitter search thing could be used to give me almost every I want from my 'Searching' request.

I thought of another enhancement I'd like to see...

4. TinyURL
   
   I've noticed that sometimes when I enter a URL in a twitter update, twitter automatically uses TinyURL to shorten it. I'm not sure what is the determining factor for when they shorten it and when they don't. It's probably a length threshold.
   
   The first time I saw them do that, I was reminded of TinyURL, which I hadn't used in a really long time. Since, I have been shortening my URLs to give me more characters for the rest of my update. However, when I want to do that, I have to go to TinyURL.com, create my shortened URL and then, copy and paste it into my update.
   
   I would like to see a widget on the twitter site where I could create my shortened URL. I imagine that I would paste the the "long" URL into a field and then click a button. When I click the button, twitter would TinyURL-ify my URL, and the resulting shortened URL would be automatically be placed in my update.
   

I mentioned yesterday that I use Twitterific and in a comment Zack mentioned that he uses Twhirl.

What twitter apps do you use?

Twitter Enhancements

I'm a big fan of twitter. A couple of months ago, they had some problems handling the load imposed on them by their users, but they seem to have gotten those kinks ironed out. Now, I can go on their site and quickly let the world, or at least the 83 people that follow me, know what I am up to. If you want to be number 84, you can follow me here: @rshannonsmith.

I also have my twitter updates go to my Facebook status and when I update using Twitterific, my Google Talk away message is automatically updated. It is quite the convenient service for those people like me that want to keep the world up to date with what's going on in their lives.

There are, however, a few things I wish twitter did that they don't, yet.

Here are the ones I am thinking about today...

1. Grouping
   
   I follow several people, 63 to be exact. These are people that I know personally, people that I know through others, and some people that I don't know at all except through what they post on the internet. I wish twitter had a way for me to create groups in my Recent feed.
   
   For example, Visio Dei has quite a few tweeters. I'd like to be able to see a feed of what my Visio Dei people are saying, separate from all the other updates. The same goes for people at work. I could have a group for them as well.
   
   If you work for Twitter and you are reading this, I would also like the ability to have a followee in multiple groups. I imagine it to be more like the labels in GMail, than a folder. I have co-workers that also happen to be apart of Visio Dei.
   


2. Sorting
   
   As far as I can tell, there is no method to the way followers and followees are listed on their respective pages. It just seems like some random list of tweeters. I'd like the ability to sort them alphabetically, by date added, and by date of last update.
   
   There are times when I am looking at my own followers and followees and I have to search for someone specific. However, I imagine I would also use this when looking at other people's followers and followees when I am looking for new people to follow.
   


3. Searching
   
   My updates are sort of like a timeline for my life. I update several times a day with whatever I have going on. Sometimes it is about what I had for lunch. Other times is can be about something I read. I'd like the ability to search updates.
   
   I'd like to be able to search my updates for a certain phrase, e.g. "Jesus for President". I'd also like to be able to search other people's updates. Maybe I could even search within my Visio Dei "group" for a certain phrase.
   
   I'd also like to search by date. Say I wanted to know what I was doing on July 4, 2008. I'd like to be able to put in that date and have it pull up my updates from that day.
   

Now, I know there are applications out there that are taking twitter data and making some of these functions available. However, I'd like to see some of these things available directly from Twitter; consolidated right there on Twitter page.

Do you have any enhancements you would like to see?

Cuil = Cool?

I just saw this article on BBC News. Some former Google employees have created their own search engine, in an attempt to rival the internet powerhouse.

Here's what they say makes them different/better...

Instead of just looking at the number and quality of links to and from a webpage as Google's technology does, Cuil [pronounced "Cool"] attempts to understand more about the information on a page and the terms people use to search.

I decided to give them a shot to see if they really are "cool". They failed miserably.

If I search for "shannon smith blog" on Google, I come up number four. If I search for "shannon smith blog" on Cuil, I am not even on the first three pages of results.

What are your thoughts on Cuil?

What's in a name?

I am interested in acquiring a domain for my blog. kimandshanon.com is not bad, but I have other ideas for that site. I'd like to give my blog a new home.

Any thoughts on what domain I could use?

I tried to get leadfollow.com and lead-follow.com, but they were both taken.

Do you think having a .net is lame?

Please weigh in.

How To of the Day

In my iGoogle, I have the WikiHow "How To of the Day" gadget. Every day they provide a link to a different WikiHow page. Today's link was How to Lose Weight. Due to my participation in the Ragamuffin Top Challenge, I found it to be an interesting article.

Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Google Sets Up Shop in NC

Google recently opened up a new data center here in North Carolina. One might think that Google would be found in RTP, Research Triangle Park, nestled among the other geeks and nerds. However, they aren't in RTP. They aren't even in the Triangle. I know what you are thinking, "Well, if they aren't there, then the have to be in the Triad." Nope. Not there either.

Wanna know where they are? Or, are you still having fun guessing? I'll go ahead and tell you.

The new new Google data center is located in the technology mecca of Lenoir, North Carolina. "Where?!?" You know, "Where the High Country Begins".

Lenoir is located on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When I think about places like Lenoir, I lump them in with Alamance County, where I grew up. People there still don't even have internet access and some of those that do still use dial-up. My stereotyping my be wrong, but to me it is kind of funny that an internet big wig has set up shop in a place like Lenior, NC.

You can read more about it here.