Viddler

Are you interested in knowing more about how the game industry works, what it takes to make a video game these days, or maybe even what it takes to get into the gaming industry? Players Only (friend: PlayersOnly) and Scott Steinberg are back with another great episode called “Game Business 101″ that showcases all of these things through interview with actual industry pros.

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

We’re really sorry that some of you are experiencing longer-than-normal encoding times. One of our points of pride over the last year and a half has been our ability to keep our encode queue chugging along fast enough to keep up with the amount of video we have being uploaded at one time. Lately, we’re not doing a great job at this, but we’re working on it.

Encoding your videos from whatever video type that you upload into Flash video is an arduous process. It is, by far, the most tasking process that our servers have to undertake in order to make Viddler work. Due to the ever increasing volume of uploads per-day, we’re starting to see a bottle neck.

The good news is, we know how to fix it, and we’re going to do so. We’re going to be making some small adjustments to help the situation short term, and be making changes and additions to our infrastructure to help with the problem long-term.

We’re a small company with lots to do, so we know what it is like to need something to work well and work fast. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure Viddler does both of those things. Thank you for your patience.

If you have any specific questions regarding this issue, ask them in the comments!

Today is a fun day for me, and it’s Monday for all of you, so I thought we could use a fun video to either pick us all up on a Monday or help celebrate.

Amanda (friend: amandolinb) and her sister made a dance/lip-sync video to cheer up a friend and the results are pretty fun. I didn’t expect to like the Social Distortion version of “Tainted Love” but it’s actually not bad, and the faster pace seems to lend itself to more enthusiastic dancing.

Great job, girls! I hope your friend loves the video!

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

Clintus (friend: clintus) recently caused some major jealousy on my part with this cool underwater footage (taken with his Sanyo Xacti E1, introduced to H2O for the first time in this video). Looks like it was a really fun day with a really cool camera!

*WANTS ONE*

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

Rox of Beach Walks with Rox (friend: beachwalks) recently took a walk and talked about a topic that spoke to me: acceptance.

We’ve featured Rox’s beautiful and insightful walks on the beach before, but this one seemed special in that it didn’t go as planned (impending rain, uncooperative pup) and that in and of itself spoke to the topic, which Rox is always so great at thinking about out loud.

We are often so easily frustrated by glitches in “the plan,” and seeing someone else talk about how she’s slowly realizing that acceptance is not a weakness (perhaps it’s a strength in some situations?) helped me to also see that a little more clearly myself.

How about you? Are you gifted at the art of acceptance, or are you still learning (like so many of us) to sometimes deal with the unexpected?

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use

Many of you know that Viddler has changed a lot over the past year in a lot of really amazing ways. (Heck, I’ve gone from new member in June of 2007 to talking to you via the official blog in April 2008!)

A lot of those changes have meant more top dogs on the front page, where first time visitors to our site can see that we have a lot of really special people, shows, and high quality content here at Viddler.

It’s important for that first time visitor to know that they can find people and shows like Leo, iJustine, or Wine Library TV right here on Viddler, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also important for YOU to feel special and acknowledged from time to time as well.

Hence, Community Spotlight.

What I’d like to show you here in the Community Spotlight are new users who need a welcome or a few friends to get them started, groups that are taking off with great content or maybe groups that have a great idea but not enough members to really get their group going, video challenges, crazy amazing MeToday videos, users with new babies or jobs or any really exciting news, basically any and all of you who deserve a shout out somewhere so that we can all rally behind you in the very special way that Viddler does.

Here are some of the things that I’d like to try out, and I want to get some feedback from all of you:

New member features - Once a week, give a shout out to a few new members, so that everyone can go say hi and friend them up.

Tag features – Once a week, I let you (the community) pick a tag and I’ll go find a video to feature that has that tag.

VidChallanges – This community will get a lot more official, and I will start featuring the winner of each challenge (picked by YOU – whichever video gets the most favorites!).

Group features – Once a week, I would talk about what’s new with a particular group (including a feature of one of that’s group’s videos), and then someone from that group will pick the group to be featured the next week.

What do you think? Give me some input, and we’re going to start implementing this very soon. This will be YOUR section, so help me make it exactly what you want it to be!

Andrew Winton is an award-winning Australian singer-songwriter who recently made a few videos for Ellis Guitars (friend: ellisguitars) on lap guitar, his main instrument. His hammering technique and his music in general are pretty amazing, and after chatting with him briefly, I discovered that he plans to send a lot more great video footage our way this year, because he’s releasing a new album.

Check out all the Ellis videos if you’re into guitars, because there are a lot of really great videos featuring music played on Ellis instruments, including a couple more from Andrew Winton, and if you’re a musician yourself, check out some of the guitar-related groups on Viddler. I’d love to see more from our Viddler musicians!

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

Engadget (friend: engadget) recently convinced Ben Heck to follow up his Xbox 360 laptop and Wii laptop with a portable PlayStation 3 unit, and this 16-pound laptop is the result. This device has 17″ screen, a built in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, and a headphone jack, all built around the 60 GB PS3. It’s pretty darn impressive, and a lot of fun to watch.

Do you have any fun gaming videos of your own? Drop them into the Gaming group, where you can also browsing other members’ gaming videos.

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

Kevin and Annmarie Gianni of the Renegade Health Blog (friend: kevingianni) recently posted a delicious looking raw food recipe for raw vegetable wraps with collard greens and tahini sauce.

Kevin “almost 100% guarantees” that if you have guests over and serve these tasty looking (and quite healthy) treats, your guests will love them, and I have to say, I was really hungry for one by the time the video was over.

For a tasty dessert, check out the coconut chocolate macaroons Kevin showcased a few episodes later. (For those of you who shy away from the greens or simply want a tasty dessert after eating your greens.) Yum!

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.

Lindsay Campbell of Moblogic (friend: moblogic) headed to the upper east side of Manhattan recently to talk to people about the recent New York Times article that reported a record number of people in our country receiving food stamps (waivers for food that are given to low-income individuals and families).

There are a lot of interesting comments and not a lot of solutions offered. What do YOU think we can do about the state of poverty in our country right now? Is there a solution? The video provides some food for thought.

If you would like to suggest a video to be featured on our blog, feel free to send me a message, use our forums, or just comment on this post.