Video Post: New tablet a recipe for success?

At CES in Las Vegas, a lot of tablets were unveiled. Steve takes a closer look at a particular tablet called the Qooq. The Qooq was designed specific for use in the kitchen. Tablet trends are showing a growth in niche markets like this, but time will tell if they can last:

There is Something More Than Youtube: The New Vimeo

When we think of video-sharing on the internet, the default website is Youtube. In all honesty, it is the second largest search engine, second to only Google. Where else can you find a whole series of videos about bacon? With all the hype of Youtube, other sites are often ignored.


The video-sharing website Vimeo just went through a complete re-design. This is the first time since 2007 they changed anything about their interface. Because of this, I have decided to take another look at the often overlooked Vimeo.

The first thing to notice is the crisp, clean design of Vimeo. Through the new design, the videos on the page are larger, a new content browser is provided, and convenient keyboard shortcuts have been added. When logging in, the user is brought to the inbox. When I first heard the term “inbox” I was thinking “mailbox,” but this is anything but that. What the inbox provides is a real time news ticker. The user is able to add contacts, subscribe to videos, and follow specific keywords and phrases. The latter is my favorite of these new features.

Once I started watching the uploaded content of Vimeo, one thing struck me. Vimeo chose not to litter their uploads with advertising! As I’m sure everyone has noticed, Youtube has stepped up their profitability by adding commercials to the start of all their “partner participator” uploads, not to mention the pop ups that are added a quarter of the way through their videos (Hey Ron Paul, I’m talking to you! I don’t really care to watch your ads bashing Newt Gingridge when I’m trying to watch videos about bacon). 


Vimeo has made it a goal to put a greater focus on your videos. With all the distractions Youtube provides, users can lose their audience quick. Vimeo, on the other hand, gives you a greater chance to keep YOUR audience engaged to YOUR content. It is this reason I believe really sets Vimeo apart from Youtube.

The one thing that is missing from Vimeo is an internal video editor. While I edit my videos through Final Cut Pro, not everyone has access to editing equipment. That being said, I do use Youtube editor to add annotations to my videos to make them more interactive. It is my biggest disappointment that Vimeo didn’t step up this technology. I want the option to annotate my videos to external websites!

Is Vimeo ever going to be able to take the market share that Youtube has acquired? Most likely not. And in all reality, I don’t think it needs to. Vimeo, in the high school of video uploading, is the cool artistic kid and not the bullying jock.

All the cars @ CES

The North Hall at the Consumer Electronics Show this month looked more like an auto show ... Audi, Ford, OnStar, and Cadillac, to name just a few, all had major displays, and there was a gaggle of car customizers taking the car makers' basic designs to the outer limits. Most of the original equipment manufacturers were showcasing their 'voice command' systems that fight driver distraction by allowing you to turn on the heat, or switch radio stations, or make a phone call with either a quick touch of a steering wheel button or just a voice command like "call my wife."

Although the avowed purpose of all this technology is to make your driving experience safer and more enjoyable, the dashboards of these cars are starting to look like the cockpits of Boeing 747s. I highly recommend you check out some of these new models at your local dealer, but make sure you get a 30-minute crash course on how to use this stuff before you get on the road...if you're still driving an older car with just basic controls, you're going to get overwhelmed in a hurry. And if you don't own a smartphone, don't even bother, because most of the systems depend on your phone for a lot of their functions.

Personally, as much as I love technology, I wouldn't buy a car or truck solely for its computer brain. I still value the simplicity and joy of just driving the car with the top down and the radio/GPS/radar detector/bluetooth phone/iPod, etc., in the OFF position!

SOPA crumbles under the weight of the Internet

Just two days ago, I wrote about Lamar Smith refusing to back down on his much-aligned Stop Online Piracy Act bill despite the tremendous online protest.

On Wednesday? That post was completely true. On Thursday? The same story. But today, amid the fury of Internet giants and commoners alike, Smith has officially withdrawn his SOPA bill.

It's a big win for countless content creators, many of which voiced their strong opposition to the bill Wednesday. Sites like Google, StumbleUpon, Facebook and Wikipedia blacked out their sites in a united protest of what they considered extreme censorship.

Video Post: Quora's Success is a Question that Remains to be Answered

In today's Daily Axioms video post, Steve discusses how the Q&A site Quora overhauled itself in 2011 by borrowing elements from other social networks: