Winnipeg Free Press - July 22nd
WHEN Russian teen Andrey Ternovskiy launched Chatroulette last November on a shoe-string budget, nobody really knew how much impact it would have on web culture. Bringing together random strangers via web cam, Chatroulette went against the grain of the social nature of the web and sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Instead of connecting people who already knew each other, Chatroulette was the Wild West of the web. You never really knew what you were going to get: a woman with a guitar, a man wearing a Mexican wrestling mask, a group of giggling teenage girls or some naked guy.
With over 1.5 million users and 35,000 on the site at any given time, Chatroulette quickly established itself as a major player on the Internet. As of last week, the site rolled out two new features. Along with offering a localized version where you can randomly connect with people in your area, the site is also offering channels that let you meet people based on mutual interests.
It’s no surprise that the sex channel is No. 1 and has the most active users.
META-MUSIC search engines are nothing new. Pulling streaming music content from across the web, Mix Turtle makes it easy to locate and listen to music from your favourite artists. Although you can’t download the songs you find, you can setup a custom playlist and be your own DJ.
Netflix To Launch Canadian Service
After a couple years of rumours and growing frustration from Canadians not able to access Netflix, the largest movie- and TV-streaming service in the United States, the company recently announced it would be rolling out a Canadian version this fall. While there is no word yet on if it will also offer home movie delivery service as it does in the U.S., the instant on-demand streaming of TV shows and movies is what consumers really want.
For a monthly fee, subscribers will be able to stream video content to their computers and iPads, or their TVs through devices like the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3. Already around for a few years in the U.S. (with over 13 million subscribers), Netflix was a game changer when it began offering on-demand video streaming as part of a subscription.
While movie stores won’t disappear over night, the company will instantly grab a huge share of the video rental market and make a major impact when it launches this fall. Canada is the first country outside the U.S. that Netflix will be operating in.
CAN a movie about social-networking giant Facebook actually be worth watching? Judging by this trailer, the answer is yes. Directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network hits theatres Oct. 1
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2010 E3
