VYou is a shortform conversational video social network that has recently been given a boost both in terms of money and publicity. And it’s pretty addictive to use.

VYou

I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of VYou until recently, but when a startup manages to raise $3 million in Series A funding it’s a sign that you really should check out the site. And I’m very glad I did because there is a lot of promise there.

In essence VYou is a social networking platform which revolves around video. Once you create an account you can build an online persona through posting videos and respond to those posted by others.

You can also follow the various celebrities and brands which have already seen fit to take advantage of the opportunities VYou affords them. This includes the likes of Deepak Chopra, Moby, The Daily Beast, and Simon and Schuster.

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Google TV 2.0 is well on its way. And the first screenshots of the improved user interface and the Android Market running on the Honeycomb update have turned on the Web. They’re hot.

Google TV

Google TV has been with us for almost a year now, but its first incarnation was never going to the best or final version. As is Google’s way, the company releases a product and then beavers away improving it with subsequent releases.

This is exactly the treatment Google TV has been rewarded with. There were strong rumors that the improvements would be displayed in brief at Google I/O this week, and that has indeed turned out to be the case.

Although it’s far from being a complete unveiling, it is at least something. And the screenshots are kinda hot, in a very geeky way.

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Have you always wanted to create a YouTube video but were unable or unwilling to do so? Now is your best chance of doing so, thanks to a trio of third-party apps YouTube has teamed up with to help you do so in the simplest way.

YouTube Videos

YouTube currently gets more than 35 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute of every day. Which is more than I can possibly conceive of. You’d think that would be enough to sate Google’s desire to remain as the number one online video destination, but apparently not.

Keen to help out those people who haven’t got access to any kind of camera – whether it be a Webcam, video camera, or smartphone – and those who don’t feel comfortable showing their faces on the Web, YouTube has teamed with three third-party apps.

These apps – collectively known as YouTube Create – all allow you to create a video for free with nothing other than the tools provided.

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YouTube is about to take a gamble in offering viewers of long-form video content the option of choosing which advert they want to watch, when they want to watch it, or, controversially, whether they want to watch it at all.

Video Advertising

Video advertising takes many forms. From video ads embedded (often annoyingly autoplay) on sites across the Web, to viral ad campaigns such as the ones for Old Spice and Tippex, video advertising is both varied and increasingly popular.

It makes sense for sites which display online video to use video advertising. Hulu does this extremely well, but YouTube has somewhat struggled thanks to concerns over the type and legality of content on the site.

However, YouTube is confident its new approach is a good one.

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Those of you planning on buying a Google TV-powered device in the near future will now be able to make full use of YouTube Leanback, which has now been fully rolled out. And it’s actually pretty damn easy to use, even from 10-feet away.

Google TV Arrives…

The first Google TV products are on sale this weekend in the U.S., with Sony’s impressive yet expensive range of Google TV sets, and the Logitech Revue Google TV set-top box now being available to buy.

There’s no guarantee consumers are going to go for Google TV at this early stage of proceedings, but that isn’t stopping Google forging ahead with its plans to really push itself and its online video properties into the living room.

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YouTube is being used as a means to get Spanish used more extensively on the Web, with the classic novel Don Quixote de la Mancha being read out in 2,149 separate segments.

The Language Of The Web

Like it or not, English is the language of the Web.

There are, obviously, other languages present, with sites in probably every other language of the world. There are also translation options for those sites not available in your mother tongue. But overall these are sidelined somewhat by English

It’s obvious why English became the standard language of the Web, with the U.K., U.S., and Australia all being big users of the Internet. But nations who have given the world other widely-used languages are keen to change this.

One is using YouTube to try and affect this change.

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Move over Old Spice, Tippex has taken on the viral video advertising mantle. And while the new campaign doesn’t use social networking as the source of inspiration, it uses YouTube to its full potential.

Viral Video Advertising

Companies are becoming increasingly keen on using video technology and the viral nature of the Web to sell their products.

Viral video has the power to spread across the Internet at a rate of knots, with embeds and linking via social networking sites disseminating the message to all corners of the Web.

Some firms have taken a subtle approach, hiding the brand or product away somewhere. Others, meanwhile, have taken the more direct approach, putting the company name or product center stage.

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