Firefox 1.5 launched last night - I’m currently in the process of downloading it at SpreadFirefox. I’m eagerly awaiting seeing their new viral video campaign. I’ll take a look at both and report more tomorrow.

I was struggling with whether or not I actually like FireAnt, the new media aggregator thats been featured on Rocketboom, Xolo.tv, and a host of other vlogs, tech shows, etc. When two of your favorite vlogs tell you something is good, well, you go download it and try it out.

I decided to test it over the holiday, and was immediately impressed by the wealth of content they had (including a great vlog for Kevin Smith’s Passion of the Clerks), as well as all my favorite vlogs to date - and some I wanted but couldn’t find on iTunes. I dug through their channel list, watched some of the videos that had downloaded and went to bed.

When I woke up, I had no memory left on my computer. Yes, FireAnt had taken over my all of my harddrive with videos. It reminded me of the early days of Napster when people (not me of course, but I’ve heard about them) would stuff from Napster, then realize that they had no room on their computer to do anything else. I’ve read that the same thing happens with new RSS adopters - they oversubscribe to things they’d never, in all seriousness, actually want to read nand thus get overwhelmed. So I spent the morning after the holiday deleting all those videos. I decided to park my FireAnt fun for the time being and go back to my regular way of imbibing media content (iTunes + Sharpreader).

However, this morning I started playing with FireAnt again, and discovered a few tricks that have (convinced me to convert. First, its an all-in-one RSS aggregator, meaning I can have my blogs, podcasts and vlogs all in the same place. To date, none of the other aggregators that I have used (Sharpreader, Podcast Pickle, or iTunes) appear to have that capability. (If I’m wrong, please let me know) If you are someone like myself, who gets distracted and grumpy due to multiple programs, FireAnt will be the best thing that has ever happened to you.

The second feature that I absolutly love is the “preview” feature - which allows you to listen to vlogs & podcasts without downloading them. I subscribe to a LOT of content, and am constantly doing the “deleting dance.” With FireAnt, I can preview, and then if I really, really want to keep it -it gets downloaded.

My only complaint is that it is not (at this time) compatible with iTunes, but it is compatible with PSP. I’m hoping that this will happen in the future. Until then, I’m fine with transferring the items I want to my iPod from FireAnt any time I need to update (which isn’t all that often).

Gawker had a post today about the Magazine Publishers Association’s campaign in which they are sending out current magazines to “advertising and marketing leaders” with wrapped covers dated 100 years in the future. While Gawker was pretty snarky about the whole promotion, the campaign made me think about “the physical” side of media.

I love magazines. I love getting them in the mail, I love buying them at the store. I love reading them, I passing them on to other people, I even love accidentally spilling my coffee on them. Same with books – downloading a book is just not the same as walking into Borders and coming out with 10 books that I hadn’t planned on purchasing.

In yesterday’s This Week in Tech podcast, the TWiT gang was discussing the audio quality of digital downloads and the quality of CDs (CDs won for the moment). They then went on to discuss whether or not digital distribution of video content (vs. DVDs) will be the way of the future. I’m not an audio addict in any way shape or form, but I know some, and they also love the act of buying music, and bringing it home. (As you probably have guessed, I’m a video addict – known to buy whole season of TV shows without ever having watched them, just because I’m interested.)

The only form of content I’m terribly interested in acquiring on an exclusive digital basis at the moment is video content – a point that is probably painfully obvious from this blog. I think that physical manifestations of content (magazines, books, DVDs, CDs, etc) can be powerful. What I’m looking forward to in the future isn’t to see magazines get totally replaced by online content, or books replaced by digital downloads, but seeing how the digital versions and the physical versions converge. This goes for CDs and DVDs as well.

In talking with a few people I know, they primarily mentioned the ability for magazines and books to integrate more fully with the web. As one friend put it, “Say I’m reading a magazine, and there’s an article about spaceships, and then they give a link where you can go and see a companion movie to the article. It could be so much than just posting the article online.” Like my friend, there’s a lot of thought out there on what this convergence will look like. I want to hear from you, about what you think we’ll be seeing. It could be soon (companion content for books and magazines) or in the future (digital paper is one of my favorites). Hit me up.

I decided to hold off on the Vlog reviews until today, to give you something to amuse yourself with now that everyone is back in the office from the holiday. The following vlogs are my absolute favorites, most of which I save to my computer so I can re-watch and show to others. As you can see, the five vlogs I’ve included vary in content, tone and video quality, and not even my definitive list – just what I consider to be the cream of the crop.

Rocketboom is at the top of my list. I’ve been watching since May, which is about half of their year long lifespan. They’ve made some changes over the last six months, including the addition of correspondents from other cities, making Rocketboom less NYCentric. Covering everything from Ball Machine to Bush’s approval rating, their content is always fun to watch. Every Friday they have a “Casual Friday” show, which can be funny, goofy or just silly.

Channel Frederator is one of several animation vlogs, and caught my eye thanks to the big red robot-guy that’s their logo. While this is animation, the content is more Adult Swim than Disney Afternoon, so don’t go showing your 3rd grader. Each short piece is user submitted, so you get a range of interesting content that varies in style and tone. My favorite part is in between each, they have title cards with pithy sayings on them.

Xolo.tv is hard to classify - they review and highlight a ton of video content. Xolo is handy if you’re interested in keeping up with the oodles of content that pops up every week. They also have interviews with interesting people (most recently they interviewed one of their girlfriends, who was an animator on the latest Harry Potter movie) and focus on both cool stuff happening online and Creative Commons-type issues. The best part is Xolo is longer than many vlogs and there’s a lot to watch. I highly recommend trolling through their backlog as well as watching the new episodes.

Four Eyed Monsters is a vlog by a couple who have made a movie about their relationship and trying to get that movie distributed. The videos, the editing and the stories told on the vlog are beautiful and sometimes heartwrenching (the latest episode discusses how their relationship has suffered since making the film). While it will be interesting to see if this vlog will help them get distribution, the human element is even more interesting. Part marketing tool, part reality show, part sad indie film and part diary of a dying relationship, I look forward to every single episode. Start at the beginning, as they’re only on episode three, to get a feel for the whole story. Bring tissues.

The 1Up Show is part video game reviews, interviews and discussion panels, part video game geek version of “The Office,” The 1Up Show is always interesting (if you like video games). While they discuss trends and new stuff in gaming, they also show what its like at the 1Up offices (and the offices of related magazines). I love it, because it’s an alternative to the slicked up editing of G4TV. I hope they keep the show just as bare bones as it is now.

Enjoy (but don’t yell at me if you get in trouble for not getting any work done). Part 3 will focus on other vlogs that I watch, but don’t have to watch.

Just in time for Black Friday if you’re still sitting at home in front of the computer like I am, instead of out and shopping at 6 am. BusinessWeek has an article highlighting that women make up a hearty chunk of tech consumers. The article states that “this year, for the first time, women are expected to outspend men in the $122 billion market, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn.”

So, gang, if you’re looking for a present, for the ladies in your life, just get something on CNET’s “Hot Tech Gifts for the Holidays” list. Just make sure they haven’t purchased for themselves already.

Clickz had an articletoday on a recent study done regarding how gamers feel about “in-game” advertising. Way back when (a year or so back) when in-game advertising (again) hit the press as an interesting alternative to reach gamers who were spending more time playing video games than watching television, the marketer in me got excited by the possibilites. The the gamer in me, however, wanted to run away back to the time where we were viewed as funny digital counterparts to DnD players, rather than juicy moneymaking opportunities.

The study states that if companies take a chance, and work with the gaming companies to deliver ads or branding in a subtle and realistic way, gamers are more likely to accept it. Which got me to thinking in what ways would I accept ads or branding within the games I play. There are obvious ones - it is a lot more fun to pretend that you can drive a Jaguar in a driving game, than, say “Anonmyous Red Sports Car #1″ or play with a real college football team than “State U!”

I play games that aren’t the standard “driving and sports” games, and the challenge for companies will be to ensure that the experience with Strategy and Simulation games is as realistic as possible. Take Civilization 4 - at first glance, not something that would make sense to stick branding and/or an ad in to. However, the land frequently has “luxuries” like wine, bannanas, silks- which as you find them, make your citizens happier. Fine when you’re in the medieval era, not so realistic in the modern era. I could easily see the modern era “luxuries” being iPods, Dells and/or HDTV(s). In my worldview, that would be realistic, because I’d much rather have an iPod or a new tv than silk. But then, that’s just me. RPGs are harder yet, which means that the day I have to play elf going on a quest to find the great lost city of Mall of America, I’m done, and I’ll just play my old Zelda games for the rest of my life.

In my earlier post, I went in search of video content on iTunes and came up woefully short. So I did what I do best: looked around on the web for stuff to watch. What I found was interesting, compelling…and some of it was really, really dumb. Before I share my favorite vlogs (or videoblogs, or vodcasts, or videopodcasts)* with you, I wanted to provide a rundown of the sites I used to find them. Not everyone is going to have my tastes, so I wanted to share my three favorite directories with you so you can go out and find your own favorite blog (and then send it to me - I need more video!).

Vodstock is an interesting directory. With only 20 categories (at the moment), Vodstock allows users to vote for their favorite vlogs, and provides a list of the most “popular” (or downloaded) . They also offer a “how to” so if you crave the spotlight of a few hardy souls, you can create your own vlog to share with the masses. The only drawback with Vodstock is that they have a snippet of video each show page - a nice thought, but it crashed both Firefox and Explorer multiple times - including while I was writing this.

VlogDir has a LOT more categories than Vodstock, but isn’t as organized. I like VlogDir because they endorse FireAnt , a vlog aggregator which I’ll touch on another day. The best thing about VlogDir is the variety. They have vlogs for the kidlets in the Kids Entertainment and the Family Fun category, as well as blogs of a more adult nature in the Fashion, Politics and Sports categories. Sadly, they don’t have a “Not Safe for Work” warning - and believe me, some of the vlogs are not safe for work.

Finally, I wanted to pass on my personal favorite method of learning about new vlogs - from VlogSoup!. VlogSoup is just one of the vlogs done by Steve Garfield, all round interesting guy, vlogger extraordinaire and frequent contributor to the only vlog I’ll never go without, Rocketboom. In each edition of Vlog Soup, Steve takes a “Talk Soup” approach to the world of vlogging - and at least 75% of what he shows has me in stitches. A great introductory vlog if I ever saw one.

*For the record, I prefer vlog, so we’re sticking with that.

I purchased my video iPod two weeks ago. For the first week or so, I spent most of my time downloading the pay content - essentially, catching up on the episodes of Desperate Housewives and Lost. Despite the small screen, most people who have had my iPod waved in their face with me going “Watch this!” think that the picture is amazing (and it is - better resolution than if you play the episodes full screen on your computer. ) The back episodes I have on my iPod have changed the way I watch television - I can go back to Lost and check scenes I missed (obsessively, but that’s another story). I no longer have to worry about business travel and missing my favorite shows - I can simply download Lost and watch it on the plane. My flights have been much shorter since I got it.

After I managed to watch anything iTunes was selling (aside from That’s So Raven), I began to look for free video content - video blogs, within iTunes. I was very dissapointed. Aside from the video blogs (such as Rocketboom and Tiki Bar TV) that were in the top 10 downloads, video content was hard to find. Since I’ve been following the vlogosphere for a while - once I got the podcast bug - I knew there was additional content out there. Over the next few days, I’ll be highlighting some excellent video content sites, and some of my favorite (and not so favorite) programs. I’ve found some great stuff, and I hope you like it as well. In the meantime, if you know of a great vlog, that will amuse and entertain me, hit me up.