The Week That Was, September 27th, 2012
The new MySpace
Having already brought ‘sexy back’, Justin Timberlake is at it again this time bringing back the old and largely forgotten MySpace. With new and improved appeal, the teaser video released this week offered us an insight into what the ‘new MySpace’ will look, feel and function like, and to our pleasant surprise….it looks brilliant! Debuting a left-to-right timeline frame (evidently with tablets in mind), emphasizing visual imagery and media player capabilities for playlist compilation, it seems that MySpace is going back to its roots utilizing music as the main attraction point.
Check it out for yourself:
The new Myspace from Myspace on Vimeo.
Read more here.
Gangnam style breaks record
The ridiculously catchy Gangnam Style by South Korean rapper, PSY, has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest number of ‘Likes’ on YouTube, surpassing previous record set by LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem (1,574,963), Justin’s Bieber’s Baby (1,327,147) and Adele’s Rolling in the deep (1,245,641). Racking up a massive 227 million views, Gangnam style is also teetering on the edge of YouTube’s 30 most-viewed videos ever.
Commenting on the achievement, Guinness World Records Community Manager, Dan Barrett, said: “Having been the ‘Have you seen this?!’ video of the last two months across the web, it’s great to be able to award a record for this tremendously popular video. In years past it was unthinkable that something would be viewed a hundred million times, and now “Gangnam Style” has achieved more than twice this figure in just three months on YouTube. PSY – your certificate is waiting here at our office, come pick it up any time!”
Not seen Gangnam style yet?
Read more here.
Google shows off underwater street maps
No longer limited to land, Google is now venturing into the seven seas with underwater maps, allowing users to browse stunning panoramic images from under the sea. Areas of underwater exploration include Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii’s Hanauma Bay and Apo Islands in the Philippines. In total, there are panoramas of six of the ocean’s coral reefs.
Google stated on its official blog; “We’re adding the very first underwater panoramic images to Google Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive accurate and usable map of the world. Now, anyone can become the next virtual Jacques Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish and manta rays.”
Linking to the World Wonders Project, Google hopes that this will provide users a new way to learn more about the Great Barrier Reef.
Read more here.
In other news…
YouTube starts video translation service for over 300 languages
Yesterday YouTube announced a new service, whereby users will be allowed to translate their videos in up to 300 languages. This service is an expansion of their existing Captions service, but with almost complete control given to the users and the community. Read more
Twitter announces users will be able to download their tweets by year’s end
During a keynote conversation at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo confirmed that users will be able to download their entire archive of tweets by year’s end. Read more