Posts tagged Videos Of The Week

Videos Of The Week – Robots, Time Travel and More

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10 years
by in Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

#1. Humans Need Not Apply

Created by the analytical and political master of Youtube, CGP Grey, Humans Need Not Apply is an admittedly terrifying and incredibly interesting video on how humans are doomed to be one day pushed out of the way by robots. We don’t recognize it now, as the best robots we have currently rely on heavily depend on human control and monitoring. But as AI advances, there may become a point in time where robots are just more useful that humans in every field. And as CGP Grey explains, with an analogy of horses, that’s not necessarily a good thing. There may become a time, in the far off future, where we become something resembling…

The Borg. *shudder*

(just a joke for all you Star Trek fans out there)

But seriously, as CGP Grey points out, we have to prepare for what’s to come. And with technology increasing in quality and power so rapidly, that time may be something we don’t have. Forty years ago, computers didn’t even exist in any useful consumer form; forty years from now, who knows where humans and computers will stand?

#2. Three Time Travel

Have you ever wanted to time travel? To unwind some previous mistakes, or just out of curiosity? If you said yes, I know you’re not alone, and if you said no… stop lying.

But seriously, time travel is one of the most used science fiction cliches, and yet no matter how many blockbuster movies continue to use this trope, nobody can get enough of it. Unfortunately, there are many paradoxes that happen easily when one time travels, such as the Grandfather Paradox and more. In this Vsauce3 video, Jake (not from State Farm, but from Vsauce2) cleverly weaves many of these philosophical paradoxes about time travel into one video, all the while the video *spoiler alert* is a paradox itself. The main point that I drew from this video, although it has many, is: as much as you would like to go back in time to tell yourself to shave off that ridiculous mustache, or to give yourself the answer to a important test, or not to wear that shirt to the interview, it not only is not possible but also a really bad idea. Plus, Bill Nye has a cameo. That guarantees it’s good.

#3. Where’s Our Future Technology

Why don’t we have flying cars, moon colonies or hoverboards yet? No, seriously. For many decades, these future technologies have been promised, and the age old “In 20 years that technology will be common.” saying has been used over and over. Why haven’t these technologies actually become common, or at least possible? Well, there are multiple reasons, and it really depends on what tech you’re talking about. For instance, a moon colony may very well be possible sometime around 2030, but flying cars just don’t work in many different ways, including safety and logistics as two examples. But, there are many more technologies that we all have inside secretly been hoping for (like teleportation!) that Kevin from Vsauce2 explains in this great video. 

And hey, another Vsauce video with a cameo by Bill Nye! Awesome! (and hey, even though he’s only on camera for 10 seconds in this one, just his being there makes the video seem all the more reputable)

 

If you like these videos, and want more of videos of this quality, check out Video Shakedown! Run by the people behind FFtech, Video Shakedown features the best videos from around the internet every day. Click HERE to go to videoshakedown.com!

Videos Of The Week – Pixar’s Inside Out and More

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10 years
by in Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

#1. Inside Out Trailer

This short, quirky, trailer for Disney’s’s upcoming movie Inside Out shows what’s really going inside the minds of teenagers and parents alike. Featuring the five personified emotions controlling your brain, Fear, Anger, Disgust, Joy, and Sadness, the film is still very vague in its storyline but promises to be entertaining none the less. Releasing in June, 2015, the film will be Pixar and Disney’s first film after the 2013 Monster’s University, and will, hopefully, be as good as the trailer is. 

#2. Likehunter

Likehunter, a short film by Dissolve,(a stock video site) is a satirical video mocking the addicting effects of social media on every type of person imaginable.  In the form of a video game, the video documents adventurers traveling for likes, dads playing with their kids for followers, and of course, cats going viral. And it’s true, to a certain extent, as I know many people who take their Instagram very seriously and make sure all their photos are edited, tagged, a perfect comment is written, and that they have the most followers and likes possible. I can relate, as posting your life on an app does have it’s upsides, such as interaction with your friends, but some people go too far.

Anyway, this short film in entertaining and fun, and also is very truthful. A great ad.

#3. Submarine Sandwich by PES

The newest creation by hit stop motion animator PES, Submarine Sandwich is the de-facto successor to the Academy Award nominated Fresh Guacamole, a great film taking normal objects and using them to create guac. In this film, PES, uses old sports gear, like a soccer ball, baseball gloves, and baseballs to create a sandwich. That sounds simple, but the seamless animation, great transitions and amazing props make this video a superb work of art.

Seasonal Best:

Nick Offerman’s Twas The Night Before Christmas Reading

As Christmas comes around the bend, I thought I would share with you my favorite of this season’s videos, when Nick Offerman went on the Tonight Show to tell a shortened version of the classic Twas The Night Before Christmas. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

 

 

FastNews: Turn Down For 2014 – A Complete Yearly Youtube Review

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10 years
by in FastNews, Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

That’s right, Youtube Rewind 2014 is here. Every year, for the past two years, the Youtube team has called all the major viral and popular Youtube creators together to create a crazy, amazing, random, but overall very entertaining mashup of all the popular trends. Last year, the topic was What Does The Fox Say; the year before that, Gangnam Style. This year: Turn Down For What.

Ok, ok, if you actually watched the video (and if not, watch above) you know that unlike 2013 and 2012, the “Turn Down For 2014” title didn’t totally fit with the video itself. In 2013 and 2012, Gangnam Style and What Does The Fox Say were the talk of the town, going mega-viral. They deserved to be the title and subject of the yearly summary. The problem is, 2014 didn’t have a standout trend. Sure, you could say “Happy”, by Pharrel, or Frozen, or “All About That Bass”, by Meghan Trainor, and of course all of those were featured in some way, but if you think about it none of those trends were nearly as popular as Gangnam and the Fox, for not nearly as long. Even Flappy Bird had it’s 7 seconds of fame in the video. So even though Turn Down For 2014 doesn’t nearly accurately represent the trends for the past year through the whole video pretty much every giant trend to small viral channel is featured.

Despite the fact that there isn’t a clear topic for the video, that doesn’t mean that the video won’t be filled with the best Youtubers there are. For instance, PewDiePie, the most subscribed Youtuber to date, opens the video, and is followed by the likes of HolaSoyGerman (20m subs), Smosh (19m subs), Jenna Marbles (14m subs), ERB (11m subs), TheFineBros (10m subs), skydoesminecraft (10m subs), Freddie Wong (7m subs), Michelle Phan (7m subs), Pentatonix (7m subs), Prank VS Prank (6.5m subs), and many, many, more. For the full list, click HERE and open the description.

Overall, the video is great, nicely weaving together pretty much all of the trends and viral videos from the past year. It’s nice to see Youtube (technically, Google) creating a video at the standards of filming, editing and animation that the best creators of Youtube itself have been setting. The video even gives people like me who follow Youtube, and know many of the stars in the video, a sense of nostalgia and wonder for what the next year in Youtube will bring.

Top 6 Educational Youtube Channels

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10 years
by in Recent Posts, TOTWs

As everybody knows, Youtube is a gigantic resource of video of any kind – short film, instructional, comedy, talk show, pets, sports, entertainment, music, vlogs, adventure, news, historical, everything. And of course, educational, which is a growing part of Youtube, and one of my personal favorite categories. Although most of the top 100 most subscribed Youtube channels are entertainment, comedy and music, some of the best educational channels have been rising up the ranks. And so, after about a 1 and a half years of casual watching, I have put together what I think is the top 6 educational Youtube channels:

#1. Crash Course


(the video above is my personal favorite of the channel )

Crash Course, run by brothers John and Hank Green, is one of the best and most comprehensive archive of easy to understand, enjoyable and educational Youtube videos about any and every subject. From the history of life on earth, to Romeo and Juliet, to electrons, to Indus Valley civilizations, to you’re sleep and dreams, Crash Course’s brilliantly animated, written, and performed videos are a joy to watch and always interesting. Averaging about 10 minutes long, Crash Course’s videos give a complete view over the specific subject of that video, which is dependent on which of the 9 series the video is in: World History 1, World History 2, Big History, Ecology, Psychology, Chemistry, Literature, Biology, and Us History. Seriously, I can’t recommend this channel any more.

#2. Vsauce

Vsauce, unlike Crash Course, has very little animations, is much less structured, and has a tendency to go off on small tangents. (all the while interesting, I have to say) Created by Micheal Stevens, Vsauce is a channel that dives into different scientific, mathematical and philosophical questions in great detail. In so much detail, in fact, that by the time you’re done watching the video you have a whole new idea of what the question was in the first place. Vsauce’s unique style of filming and editing is very easy to understand, and has now became a trademark of the channel. (there has even been a Vsauce parody video made) If you want to be entertained, and like learning new and interesting things, this is a good channel for you.

#3. CGP Grey

CGP Grey is yet another very informative and interesting channel, but instead of actually filming someone, CGP Grey’s technique is just voicing over not super great yet still fun, enjoyable and understandable animations. CGP Grey, like Vsauce, goes over lots of different questions, none of them really having to do with anything. But, unlike Vsauce, CGP Grey’s questions are usually not scientific or philosophical but political, historical or factual. And although there is much less interpretation in CGP Grey’s videos, they are still as enlightening, and interesting, making you want to go tell everyone you know about some random fact like whether Macau is a country or not.

#4. Veritasium

Veritasium, a name derived from the latin Veritas, meaning truth, and the suffix ium, used often in the periodic table, is another great educational youtube channel. In total, the name means “the element of truth”, a common phrase and, of course, a reference to science and the periodic table. Run by Derek Muller, Veritasium is like a lot like Vsauce, but also very different. Most of Derek’s videos are about some sort of question, but instead of just explaining the question, the videos usually have Derek going out and experimenting, actually figuring out the problem for himself and for us watching. In the videos, he does a great job of explaining each experiment in a very simple way, so even if you don’t have a physics or some kind of scientific degree you can understand and get information out of all his interesting videos.

#5. Kurzgesagt – In A Nutshell

At a measly 330,000 subscribers, compared to 2 million of Crash Course and the 8 million of Vsauce, Kurzgesagt is a smaller channel that is devoted teaching the listener about lots of different topics, usually about science, astronomy and controversies like Ebola and Iraq. Like CGP Grey, Kurzgesagt is only animated, along with a voiceover, except Kurzgesagt’s animations are top class, in the newest flat style, seamless, easy to understand, and overall just fun to look at. Even doing some animations for the vlogbrothers, (John and Hank Green) Kurzgesagt’s videos are not only animation masterpieces but also very informative and interesting to watch.

#6. Minute Physics

One of the founding channels of the now popular drawing film technique, Minute Physics is a really great channel featuring interesting topics, mostly physics but also occasionally biology, geology and earth sciences.  All their videos are real time drawn (or now sometimes animated), and then sped up, with a voice over on top of all that. In total, the videos have very interesting material, along with the visualizations, which are very easy to understand as they are being drawn right at the right time. Overall, the channel has tons of videos, and in my opinion has the best physics videos on youtube for beginners. (or average people)

 

Honorable Mentions

Asap Science

Numberphile

Minute Earth

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Videos Of The Week: E3 Edition

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10 years
by in Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

There are many big technology conventions every year, for every topic, and the one all gamers wait for every year is E3, the annual big gaming conference. At E3, tons of new games are released, some just trailers, other in full. Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo all release all their best new games. Besides for the trailers I have highlighted here, there were many more released. But, I picked the 3 that surprised and impressed me the most.

#1. Destiny

Destiny, the very highly anticipated first person shooter by Bungie, the creators of Halo, is a post-apocalyptic space game, in which you, one of the last survivors on earth, has to defend and defeat what looks to be aliens with incredibly sophisticated technology, called “the darkness”. And this is all after the human race was at it’s peak, traveling space and living up to 3 times as long. The “cowboys in post apocalyptic space” vibe it’s giving off certainly enhances the excitement over this game, and the expensive and very well made certainly trailer shows that off. After all the hype, the release of Destiny was one of the highlights of E3.

#2. Nintendo Amiibo

This cheesy video by Nintendo introduces, Amiibo, Nintendo’s line of toys that interact with their console Wii U. You can use these toys to gain points and experience with the same character throughout some different Nintendo games, including Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Of course, this isn’t a unique idea, and Disney Infinity and the original Skylanders both are the exact same game as Amiibo, except they only play their own game, one an adventure and one an open world game. It seems as if this is Nintendo’s last ditch attempt to catch some of their success, because after all, both of those game can use Nintendo’s consoles.

#3. Legend Of Zelda open world

Like Nintendo Amiibo, this video is introducing another one of Nintendo’s games at E3, but this time just another update to the long and storied Legend Of Zelda series. Zelda has always been one of those “open world but not really” games, where you can move around but are very restricted. In this new release, Legend Of Zelda will be going full open world, and the amount of graphics put behind this is amazing. Everything from each individual blade of grass to Zelda’s horse is exquisite.

Screenshot 2014-06-08 17.05.12

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
10 years
by in Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

Here are the top 3 videos of the week:*

#1. Look Up


This thought provoking video is a spoken word poem about the downsides of the global addiction to the internet, and how you can miss so many chances is you stay on your phone rather than going outside. Although everybody can relate to this on some level, the video fails to mention all the interesting, educational, amazing, fascinating and lifesaving videos and articles on the internet. Just like in real life, you can show and release you feelings, through whatever form you choose; writing/blogging, making videos, gaming, anything. I’m not the only one who thinks that the video has an extremist point of view, and there is even two parodies of the video, in the same poetic style, that says the exactly the opposite.

#2. A Future With Superhumans

Will we eventually become superhumans, looking along the line of a mix Captain America and the Hulk? It is an interesting question, answered in this video, which is basically a animated interview with the sci-fi theorist/robot expert Daniel H. Wilson. If you have the option to become artificially super smart, super fast, super everything, would you take it, even if it means putting a chip in your brain? What would this do to society? Would the standards of intelligence be raised? By the end of this video, with all the unanswered questions and daunting problems that come with this futuristic idea will make you almost want it to not happen.

#3: Festo – BionicKangaroo

As you can probably tell, this video is of a very accurate robotic version of the complex movement of the Kangaroo. Kangaroo’s have an odd way of moving about, using their long legs with ridiculously big feet and tail to propel them along. You would think this would be impossible to replicate in a robot, as just making a humanoid walking robot is hard, but Festo did it. That’s why this robot is so awesome.

*Not all these videos were made this week. That just happens to be the time I’m featuring it.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
10 years
by in Videos Of The Week

Here are the top 3 tech videos of this week:

#1. Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways

Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways is a quirky, funny yet at the same time very serious video promoting a great and innovative Indiegogo campaign for, you guessed it, solar roadways. These roadways are relatively small tiles, that yes, do generate energy using the sun, and with a great quantity of it, will pay for itself and overall help the world, but the problem is the very hard and expensive manufacturing process. The materials and solar panels do work, they just need your money to get it up and running. This great video highlights all that and more about the plan, and after all, it’s solar FREAKIN’ roadways! How awesome is that!

 #2. moon hoax not

Beside for the unprofessional and grammatically incorrect title, this is a depth video on the conspiracy theories about the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the many, many many ways it isn’t possible is. From the technology needed to make the hoax to the video of the moon landing itself, this video will change the minds even the most paranoid conspiracists. As it says in the video, we weren’t there, so we don’t know for sure that it was really, but after watching this, I would be willing to bet my life on it.

#3: TV Globo Opening F1 GP Brasil 2013 Directors Cut

As a promotion for the Brasil Globo F1 Cup, (as the title states) this short but creative animated video documents the history of F1 facing using a kid’s racing toy cars, which take turns transforming into new generation cars. Each time a car transforms, it jumps ahead of the other one, just to find the other car had transformed into an even better car, and so on. Although it is short, the animation and idea was very cool and unique.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
10 years
by in Uncategorized

Last week, I wrote an article about the top 3 videos of last week, featuring Chalk Warfare. Since there are still so many videos out there, I thought I would do it again. Here they are:

#1. How To Survive A Robot Uprising (Robopocalypse)

Another great Epipheo video comes in first this week, this time highlighting what would happen and how to fight back when the upcoming robot uprising (robopocalypse) finally gets here. Amusing and great graphics accompany Daniel H Wilson, who is the author of many robot based best-sellers, through a educational and potentially lifesaving video.

#2. A Lovely Sunny Day


This charming video starring Bert (yes, from Sesame Street) and Zachary Levi is basically a fun way of saying to the whole population, “YOU’RE ADDICTED TO TECHNOLOGY!”, which is probably true. Along with a catchy song, this video is sure to atleast get a couple people out and about. Unfortunately, unlike Zach and Bert, I probably would miss my little screen.

#3. Humans VS Robots: Table Tennis

We know that sooner or later, robots will be better than us a pretty much everything. Skills such as speed, hand-eye coordination and fast thinking (such as sneaking up on somebody and throwing a water balloon at them) all are motor controls that we used to think were only human. Now, we know that’s not true. But have we gotten to the point that robots are better than us? This video shows what happened when the world class table tennis player Tim Boll was matched up against the Kuka KR Agilus, the fastest robot on earth.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
11 years
by in Videos Of The Week

There are tons of videos out there on the web, utilizing pretty much every different aspect of technology: VFX, augmented reality, robotics, animation, smartphones, everything. Unfortunately, there is a enormous amount of technological videos out there, way too many to go through in one day, so I have brought together the top three videos for this week. And yes, there will be one next week. Here they are:

#1: Chalk Warfare 3.0

Chalk Warfare is a brilliantly made video about a group of people playing a war game, using only chalk to draw on their surroundings. Once they draw, their drawings come to life, creating weapons from bows and arrows to shotguns, and from the Halo energy sword to a full on Iron Man suit. Directed and edited by 17 year old Sam Wickert and Eric Leigh, the whole Chalk Warfare series (3 videos) is a great example of creative usage of VFX programs and Photoshop. 

#2 What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains

This great Epipheo video is about everything to do with the internet, and how our incredible dedication to our computers will affect our brains. The video goes way back to the dinosaur/caveman age to discuss why we like and are really internationally addicted to out computers, maybe even enough to in the future to give up our humanity. Along with the great content, the video is animated in a seamless way, creating a great watcher experience.

#3: Robot Band Squarepusher × Z-MACHINES

Squarepusher x Z-MACHINES is a video documenting what happened when Squarepusher (a digital music artist) teamed up with the robotic band Z-MACHINES. Z-Machines is a completely robotic band, consisting of a drummer playing 22 actual acoustic drums, and a 78-fingered guitarist, playing an actual electric guitar. Since these robots can move much faster than the average human, all the instruments (especially the drums) sounded amazing, and much more clean and consistant. (as you would expect from a robot) Add in great camera work, and you get a great video.

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