Happy Mother's Day, moms

A heartfelt Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there reading this. I'm off to the Poconos to spend the day with my mom and step mom, but I'll be back later on this evening with plenty more. Enjoy the day, wherever you are - fortunately, here in Philly, the weather is nice to begin the day, but it looks like it's going to get ugly later.

On a day like today, I count my blessings for having a wonderful, caring mother who did a terrific job of raising me and instilling in me the values I have. I also count my blessings about how fortunate I am today, especially when I see the tornadoes that wreaked havoc on the Midwest yesterday, as well as the tens of thousands dead in Myanmar. Please donate to the relief efforts if you can - I haven't done any research yet, but I know Google is matching donations up to $1 million. The Red Cross is always a good choice as well.

Bravo: Blogger pays attention

It's always refreshing when a company pays attention to its customers' need and wants by continuously working to improve its service(s). In that light, I have to talk about Blogger for a quick second - the company that hosts this site (Blogger is now owned by Google).

I know, this will only interest bloggers, so I won't spend too much time on it.

Recently, Blogger has added plenty of new features, and continues to roll out new features on a consistent basis. The latest are the new format, new templates to choose from, and the one I love most - AUTO SAVE!

I cannot even put into words how angry I used to get when I was typing something for a half hour or so, and Blogger would crash or I'd hit the wrong key and my whole post would be gone. I've done this more than once. I know, it's my own fault, but when I get lost in thought, or I have something on my mind and I'm trying to get it down, I often don't want to stop to save - it's an interruption, and I often lose my thoughts when I do it (I love getting older.)

A few days ago, Blogger introduced Auto Save, a feature that backs up your posts as you type. No more stopping to save, or worrying that you'll lose a long post if your computer crashes. Once every minute, the program automatically backs up your post on Blogger's servers. That way, if you browser takes a crap (and if you're using Internet Explorer, you know exactly what I mean) you only lose stuff that you've been typing for under the last minute.

I love the new features, Blogger. Keep up the good work, and I may just stay here for a little while. Sooner or later I'm going to have to move CMB to another server with more flexibility, but that's off in the unforeseen future.

Who knows? Maybe Blogger will get so good, I won't want to leave. These new features sure don't hurt.

Now, if only other Internet sites would get the message that Blogger did - I'd love for Yahoo! to introduce a feature similar to Blogger's Auto Save. I can't tell you how many e-mails I've lost when I hit send, and it comes up Page Not Found. You hit Back, and viola! Your e-mail is gone. That's when I have to get up from my keyboard and go for a walk, to say the least.

YouBoobs: Viacom & Google head to court

The first major YouTube lawsuit has been filed, and this one could get ugly. Viacom has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google, the parent company of YouTube, for what it calls "massive intentional copyright infringement," citing 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming on the site that have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times, according to an Associated Press story I read earlier today.

It's going to be real interesting to see how this one plays out. The lawsuit certainly will determine the fate of YouTube, but not Google, the world's most popular search engine. However, it could make Google's $1.65 billion price tag for YouTube one of the worst acquisitions in recent corporate American history (with a well-deserved nod to CNN Time-Warner's acquisition of AOL).

As usual, one of the cooler things online isn't going to last. Technology giveth, and corporate attorneys taketh away.

If Google loses the YouTube case, you can probably say goodbye to a cool Website. If it wins, it's only a matter of time before another company sues over YouTube copyright infringement. So, Google is in a no-win situation. Say hello to the 21st century's Napster.

I have to be honest, I'd consider paying a small fee per year to have access to a YouTube with extensive content. If Google doesn't prevail in the case, it will be pay to play, of YouTube calls it a day.

In the end, the inventors of YouTube are probably the two smartest guys regarding YouTube - invent something great, and get out before the bottom falls out. Above, YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley, 29, left, and Steven Chen, 27, pose with their laptops at their office loft in SanMateo, Calif., early last year, before becoming very rich before Google purchased their Website.

I'm pulling for YouTube, but I'm not thinking they'll come out of this intact, but I don't think it will happen.

Corporate America wins again.

Photo from AP

YouTube & Viacom are at it again

Just when I think it's over, it's not over. YouTube and Viacom are at it again. The two sides were unable to come to an agreement that would allow Viacom's content to legally remain on YouTube's Website, so on Friday Viacom requested that over 100,000 clips of its programming, including my beloved Daily Show, be removed from the site.

Sigh.

This is getting frustrating, annoying, and frankly, I'm beyond caring about it now. I'll simply check back every once in a while on YouTube to see if the stuff's back up. Or, I may simply find another Website that does the same thing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Google's purchase of YouTube effectively ended its coolness, because Google has one thing, money, that content providers covet. Funny how Viacom wasn't too concerned about Daily Show clips on YouTube when it was owned by its creators, who didn't have enough money to bother with a court case.

I still have faith that Google and Viacom will somehow come up with an agreement, though. Google has to act, or the $1 billion+ it paid for YouTube will be the biggest waste of money since... since... Time Warner bought AOL.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have a bunch of Daily Show clips stored, and when they are allowed, I will upload them again so they can be found in my blog's archives and so I can bring you some yet to be posted cool clips on here.

YouTube's coolness reborn?

About a month ago, I bemoaned Comedy Central's removal of all its video clips from YouTube. This came as no surprise, following Google's purchase of the very popular Website. After all, deep pockets = big lawsuits.

However, today I was doing some general browsing on YouTube and I found page after page of Comedy Central clips, specifically TDS, my favorite political show ever.

So, perhaps reports of YouTube's demise were greatly exaggerated? I'm not convinced yet, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll resume bringing you some of my favorite clips from TDS shortly, and we'll see how long they stay up.

After thinking about it for a while, it makes sense that Google will strike deals with companies to allow video clips to be displayed on YouTube. After all, it didn't spend $1.5 billion on the Website, only to have its hits evaporate as a result of pulling so much content, illegal or otherwise. So, some deal making was/is inevitable. I haven't heard or read anything about a deal with Comedy Central, but there was a handshake somewhere, or I wouldn't be finding all of this content.

Stay tuned.

Let the YouTube lawsuits begin

I'm disappointed, but not surprised.

Today, Viacom, the distributors of Comedy Central, ordered YouTube to take down all clips of Comedy Central and The Colbert Report.

Funny how this announcement happens a mere weeks after YouTube sells out (pun intended) to Google. Now that the source of so many TV clips has deep pockets, you just knew that these clips would suddenly become a copyright concern. Duh.

It won't be long before I'm over YouTube, honestly. Or, I'll be moving on to the new YouTube. There will always be one out there.

As of a few minutes ago, there were a few clips still up in my archives, but a quick check revealed more Comedy Central clips removed than remaining.

That sucks, but that's media conglomerates for you.