Viddler

We’re barely half-way through November 2nd and already many NaNoWriMo participants are busting through word counts like tomorrow is Judgment Day. Dun dun dun!

Since 2007 Viddler has been the official place for Nano vloggers to post their videos, share their ideas, and show their progress.

Here’s the official welcome message from the NaNoWriMo HQ:

Of course, this year we have our regulars back and in force; motivating everyone to keep on writing. One such person is Viddler veteran Jason (friend him up). He has some really good motivation this year that I think will get you all writing many, many words!

There’s also some Nano veterans which are newcomers to the Nano video scene. Be sure to friend them up! Here’s a video intro from NaNoWriMo user ‘BreezyShrugged’:

If you’re writing your own NaNoWriMo novel this month, then be sure to join in the vlog group to stay motivated and share your progress.

Be sure to visit nanowrimo.org and follow @NaNoWriMo for official updates.

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video for a feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

Last week I had the privilege to sit down and interview Gary Vaynerchuk about his show Wine Library TV.

Gary’s the kind of guy who completely immerses himself in the things he’s passionate about. His office sits atop two stories of wine, inside is enough valuable Jets memorabilia to open a small museum, and scattered throughout the room you’ll find all kinds of video equipment that is used for his show. Anyone who passes through his doorway encounters two giant crates of WLTV-branded armbands that say “Bringing The Thunder” on them; one right outside his door, and one right inside his door. The man loves armbands.

Walking into Gary Vaynerchuk’s office is like walking onto a TV set. “Oh wow,” you think. “I’ve seen this couch before. It looks so much smaller in person!”

But despite the cameras, the lights, and the familiar set pieces, you quickly realize the biggest difference between Gary’s office and a television set: Gary’s office is a place where real things get done.

He’s constantly hustling. In the short time we were there he handled several meetings and filmed three videos (not including ours). No spare moment went to waste. In the few extra minutes he had while we set up our lights and cameras, he hopped on his computer and engaged with his fans, responding to emails, replying to tweets, and even snapping a picture for his DailyBooth account.

At Viddler, we’re infinitely grateful that Gary has brought this passion and work ethic to our video platform. He’s played a role in using Viddler to promote his personal brand, his best-selling book, and even his sports heroes. But Gary’s flagship show, Wine Library TV, is possibly his most impressive use of Viddler. Just a few weeks ago, Wine Library TV surpassed 900 episodes, and Gary shows no signs of stopping.

To share how all of this got started, and how video continues to add value to Gary’s businesses, I created a video profile where Gary discusses WLTV’s beginnings and the long-term impact the show has had on his life. I hope you find it as inspiring to watch as it was for me to make.

Here at Viddler, we have traditionally known that it is almost NFL time when traffic to our office is swamped with Escalades and high profile cars driving to Eagles training camp here in Bethlehem (we are 2 minutes away from Eagles preseason training facilities).

Now we have something else to remind us that NFL is coming, that being Joe Nameth’s new video blog, BroadwayJoe.tv:

I know that many of you are infected with Garyvee’s NJ Jet passion so make sure to get your additional fix on his new daily show:

• Facebook
• BroadwayJoe.tv – make sure to subscribe to newsletter or RSS
• RealJoeNameth on Twitter
• Broadway Joe Shwag

His first episode focuses on offensive line. And I couldn’t agree with him more!

WoW! It’s E3 time again. The 377 days since the last E3 seem to have whooshed by — don’t you agree?

Today is Day One and Microsoft already made all their announcements at their keynote yesterday afternoon. They revealed the Xbox 360 Slim, Kinect (code named Project Natal), and a slew of games for the Xbox 360.

If you’re not a gamer, then take note that the gaming industry has just as many rumors and leaks as the technology industry — albeit probably not as widely circulated as Apple rumors.

This year the hot items are definitely Microsoft’s and Sony’s 3D motion controllers; the Kinect and Move, respectively. They’re basically like a Nintendo Wiimote controller with more advanced tracking sensors. No doubt there will be demonstrations of these two devices all throughout E3.

With the obsession of 3D in the cinema and television industries I reckon there’s going to be some introduction of 3D gaming on 3D televisions. Talk about interactive!

We’ll keep an eye on E3 and update this post with any sweet videos that come out of the event.

Update 1: June 24th, 2010
Here’s an interview Joystiq had at E3 with Shuhei Yoshida, President Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios:

There’s tons of game trailers out from E3 and you can see them on Joystiq’s video page. My favorites are Sonic 4: Episode One and Gran Turismo 5.

Update 2: June 28th, 2010
The Game Show did a really great job of recapping E3 2010 in this episode:

There’s a bit of swearing in this video, so take caution blaring it on your speakers.

You can find much more videos from E3 by searching the E3 tag on Viddler.

If you have an event coming up or have covered one recently and would like us to give it a mention on the Viddler Blog, then send me a message and tell me all about it.

Something fun for Friday. Viddler member nonelikejoshua puts together some really great remixes that he raps to. This one, which features a track from Ronald Jenkees (who is also a Viddler), is particularly great.

Thanks to nonelikejoshua for sharing his remixes with us. We’ve put one up on the frontpage for the day.

I’ve been a fan of Wine Library TV since Episode 7. Shortly after that WLTV’s host Gary Vaynerchuk and I worked together on several projects. Next I came and started here at Viddler in early 2007 and, naturally, asked Gary to come with me (he’s an Advisory Board Member and active user of Viddler with his own personal account, Wine Library TV, Obsessed TV and Gourmet Library.)

That is why I am extremely proud to announce that I’m on today’s episode of Wine Library TV with my good friend Gary drinking some excellent Port wine. I’m also proud to announce that Wine Library TV is now available, from their site, on the iPad and iPhone thanks to Viddler’s still-in-beta HTML 5 support.

Thanks for working so closely with me over the last few years Gary and for having me on the show.

After giving Bing a try for a few weeks (via Google Chrome no less) I found it to be pretty great. Their commercials aren’t half bad either. The latest one, about NYC, is pretty good simply because it is voiced by Modern Family‘s own Ty Burrell.

There are a few other commercials too. Go forth and Bing!

Many of us on team Viddler are gamers. Heated debates about PS3 vs. Xbox 360 are pretty much a daily occurrence at Viddler HQ. The team plays everything from first-person shooters to MMORPGs. That is why if any of us were to work anywhere besides Viddler it’d probably be at Gamervision.

Gamervision, a Business Services customer, is an online gaming magazine that has one of the best company cultures I’ve ever experienced. After visiting their headquarters in Doylestown, PA (just a stones throw away from Viddler HQ) a few months ago we knew we had to start our Business Profile videos with them. And so we did.

Billy Disney, who is off on vacation somewhere in some tropical location burning his legs to oblivion, helped us put together this video profile on Gamervision and we think it is great.

We’ll be putting this video up, as well as a use case for Gamervision, on our Business Services site soon and we’re already planning many more of these videos with our incredible customers so stay tuned.

Thanks to the entire team at Gamervision for being so willing to put up with our cameras in their faces as well as for being absolutely great customers.

Howdy Viddlerians!

No doubt you’ve been inundated with tweets, e-mails, and feeds containing those big four letters — SXSW. It’s on again!

Rachel (Community Support) and I are heading to Austin, Texas, to attend the interactive portion of the event, and we’re excited to hang out with you all again!

Just like last year we’ll be giving away some Viddler goodies, recording tons of video in an around SXSW, and having lots of fun!

We also have a huge box of candy, chocolates, and other treats. Keep an eye on the following Twitter accounts to find out where we are and you’ll be able to pick up some of our goodies: @Viddler, @djsteen, @heyitsRachel.

Of course, all the best videos from SXSW will be at sxswvideos.com — tag your videos with ‘sxsw’ for your video to appear on there.

See you all there!

Good Morning, folks!

If you’ve been following @RSHotel on Twitter, then you’ll know that they’ve been giving away free nights at their hotel in NYC. They have been giving bloggers the power to give away these free nights valid for redemption during the month of January (2010).

Today it’s Jill Hanner‘s (friend her up!) turn to show off one of the rooms you could be staying in!

Just leave a comment on her video here stating what two things you would do in New York City. Pretty simple, hey!

Make sure you go and leave a comment before 4pm EST today!

Unrelated: Happy Australia Day, everyone!

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video for a feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.