James Loney

The situation isn’t that uncommon.  You have a couple of friends over, pop out the beer, and you fire up the LCD TV to show off the latest viral video of the day.  But for a while, YouTube had been looking rather hideous from eight feet away on the couch.  All of this lies in the site’s original design intended for smaller computer monitors.  Typically computer users would be watching YouTube clips in short bursts on a computer monitor 1-2 feet away from their eyes. But with the widespread use of laptops connected to HDTVs that keep plummeting in price, YouTube had to make some changes for a new generation of living room viewers.

Following in the footsteps of the Boxee folks who have designed their computer media centre solution with a “ten foot user experience” in mind, YouTube has liberated our TVs from it’s one foot design to what it calls YouTubeXL.  It’s YouTube, but for the big screen — and yes, it does look pretty slick.  Video, text, and buttons are now much bigger — an essential design point for users seated eight+ feat away from their HDTV.

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Check it out @ YouTube XL

Looks to be a viral video designed to promote the Third Annual Media Convergence Forum, but this piece actually does have a host of valid points. It really speaks to our online, socially-networked media climate and contrasts this against the more traditional media vehicles. Certainly an eyeopener. The stats do seem a little questionable and the sources appear cherry-picked, but for the most part, a highly valid summary of the social media landscape.

Fascinating idea right here. A Brazilian village has employed rooftop-mounted bottles filled with water and bleach to light buildings and amplify exterior sunlight during daylight hours. Canadian winters might intimidate some from doing it over here, I wonder if some fearless entrepreneur could produce a weatherproof version for tougher weather conditions…