new media

Underground smooch caught on tape… and viewed by thousands

Julien — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:36:21 +0100

Filmed in September and posted online a few weeks ago, this video had been watched by 15,000 people just two days after being posted on YouTube. Now, after an investigation by Shanghai's metro rail authority, one of the employees responsible has been fired, while the other two had already resigned. The couple, who were filmed at Youyi underground station while being mocked by the voyeurs, say that their privacy has been violated. Although they were issued a formal apology by the rail authority, they still plan to take them to court. Since the incident, the man has quit his job due to insulting telephone calls.

Video posted on YouTube by 'greatsunrise', 18 January 2008

Extracts from the translation:

"Oh la la"

"She just wants to seduce him."

"Ah, did he come back?"

(rire)

"It's a bit hardcore for me"

"The girl's pretty."

"Prettier than the guy!"

"What idiots, doing that here."

(rire)

"More more!"

"Come back tomorrow, again again. Now go find a hotel."

Pop Idol from Iraq to Russia

Julien — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:17:00 +0100

Since the launch of reality TV pop-star contests, thousands of talented and talentless people have been able to get their 15 minutes of fame on primetime TV. Britain's Pop Idol concept is so popular in fact, that it has been sold to 110 countries worldwide. And there seems to be no cultural boundary that the more recent Star Academy can't cross. It's the fist Spanish TV product to be sold to both American and Arabic countries. Here is our pick of the most entertaining auditions and performances.

First aired on British television in 2001, Pop Idol is a TV contest that lets the audience decide on the winner. Star Academy, created by the makers of Big Brother, used the same concept with an added "I'm watching you" 24-hour-CCTV feel. Talent is not the only criterion for bagging votes on the programmes - public sympathy also plays a part. The winner of the first series of Pop Idol spoke with a lisp, and the second edition saw a clinically obese woman claim first prize. And the first male to win Star Academy suffered from cystic fibrosis and died shortly after his triumph.

The format of these Saturday prime-time shows modernised audience-voting with the introduction of SMS and digital ballots ("Press the red button on your remote to vote for Michelle"). The format was highly successful; the final of the third edition of Pop Idol attracted 10.6m votes.

Kenyan web users gang together on ‘Google Maps’

Julien — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:32:04 +0100

Homepage of the Ushahidi site

Text messages played an important part in the Kenya protests at the end of last month. Now, Kenyan bloggers have found a new way to circulate information about the riots, rapes and murders that tear through their country. Our Observer Daudi Were, one of the project organisers, explains to us how it works.

The video that tipped the democrat voters?

Julien — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:12:09 +0100

Barack Obama is a star in the internet community, making regular appearances on Facebook and YouTube and bagging a mention in every second blog. But today, with the help of a video posted on YouTube, Hillary Clinton has made a fierce comeback online. Staring into ABC's cameras, she brings herself to tears explaining that the difficult battle she's fighting, she does so ‘thinking of her children'. These images, which have humanised a candidate who until now has been criticised for her stony personality and reckless ambition, have already been watched 300,000 times on YouTube.