Video tutorials on breaking and entering houses are reported to be raising concerns among homeowners.

This example is one of many breaking and entering videos on YouTube.

Jeff Turner of the Master Locksmiths Association said: “We wouldn’t want to cause undue worry but some of the techniques should not be in the public domain because of the risk they’ll be used by thieves.

“We see cases where people have been burgled but there’s no sign of a forced entry. The police say a key was used. The householder says that no keys are missing but even then the insurance company refuses to pay out.” Videos appear to have been put on the site by teenagers.

via This is London

BitTorrent, the home of the world’s leading peer-assisted digital content delivery platform, today announced a slate of partnerships with a wide variety of leading film and television companies. 20^th Century Fox, G4, Kadokawa Pictures USA, Lionsgate, MTV Networks (including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV: Music Television, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons Network, SpikeTV, The N, TV Land and VH1), Palm Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Starz Media will publish movies and TV shows on BitTorrent.com.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with world-renowned entertainment companies and TV networks,” said Ashwin Navin, President and Co-founder of BitTorrent. “This is a true testament to the value of our community, technology and the position we aspire to play in the world of entertainment and content distribution. Our audience has a voracious appetite for digital content and by offering the titles they want with a solid user experience; it’s a win-win situation for both content providers as well as our users.”

Through these new partnerships, BitTorrent customers will be able to select from a variety of popular film titles from 20^th Century Fox, Kadokawa, Lionsgate, Palm, Paramount and Starz Media such as “X-Men The Last Stand,” “Ringu,” “Saw III,” “13 Tzameti,” “Mission: Impossible III,” and “Ghost in the Shell.” TV programming will include hits like “Attack of the Show” from G4; “24” and “Prison Break” from 20^th Century Fox; “City of Men” from Palm; “Laguna Beach” and “Celebrity Deathmatch” from MTV: Music Television; Emmy and Peabody-Award winning “South Park” and “Chappelle’s Show” from COMEDY CENTRAL; “Hogan Knows Best” from VH1; “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” from Nickelodeon; and “Skyland” from Nicktoons Network. (more…)

Wal-Mart is selling an option for a digital video download when you purchase the DVD of Superman Returns. The move appears to be an experiment to test the interest in digital downloads among Wal-Mart’s customers.
40 percent of all DVDs sold in the U.S. are sold at Wal-Mart, but the company is facing future competition from digital moview services.
There are still many questions to be worked out with digital movie downloads. Wal-Mart’s pricing is confusing. Customers can pay $1.97 beyond the DVD price to play it on portable devices, $2.97 more to play it on PCs or laptops, or $3.97 more to play it on either portable devices or PCs/laptops.

There’s also the issue of digital media formats. Wal-Mart’s service doesn’t support the most popular portable media player, Apple’s iPod. According to the company’s Web site, “The Portable format is optimized for on-the-go viewing using ‘PlayForSure’ portable video players. If played on a PC, the image quality will not be as good as the higher resolution Standard format. These videos are not compatible with Apple iPods. Portable format videos are encoded at a 320 x 240 resolution with an average bit rate of 500 kbps.”

via Techcrunch

BloodSpell is video podcast that is pioneering the use of machinima in moviemaking.

Machinima are films that are made with real-time animation created using Unreal, Halo, The Sims and other popular video games.  The video podcast is made using the game Neverwinter Nights, and is written and directed by Hugh Hancock.

BloodSpell tells a story of “a world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power”. (more…)

Lonelygirl15 and the Numa-Numa kid may soon be on your cell phone.

YouTube is working with Verizon Wireless to bring a slice of YouTube to mobile phones.YouTube’s phone-based version will require a $15-a-month subscription to a Verizon Wireless service called VCast. VCast users will be able to view a selected number of videos approved by the companies.

“Everybody carries a phone with them, but they may not have a computer,” said Steve Chen, chief technology officer and a co-founder of YouTube. People can “take the phone out of their pocket while waiting for the bus” and watch a video, he added. (more…)