News Updates: Video

Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Sunday, August 30, 2020

YouTube collaborates with ABS-CBN in launching Super Stream

MANILA – YouTube has collaborated with ABS-CBN and other media partners to give netizens free access to video content across a variety of genres for a limited time.

Through Super Stream, YouTube users can watch over 300 hours of binge-worthy content including local blockbuster movies, hit shows, romance flicks, historic sports matches, inspiring documentaries and more, the video platform said in a statement.

Super Stream will run from Aug. 30 to Sept. 26.

“Every day, Filipinos go to YouTube to learn, share their passions, or be entertained. As people limit going out to remain well, we want to make staying safe at home better by introducing Super Stream so everyone can access movies, TV shows and more--for free until September 26,” said Gabby Roxas, Marketing Head of Google Philippines.

“Whether it is a box office hit, classic TV show, sports event, or documentary, there is Super Stream content for entertainment needs on top of the YouTube videos from favorite creators,” he added.

For its first week from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, the following movies from ABS-CBN will be available on YouTube’s Super Stream channel:

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
The Gift
Everybody Loves Baby Wendy
Allergy in Love
Barbara Reimagined
Agawan Base
Mamu and a Mother, Too
Baka Bukas
Tisay
Happyland
The Reunion
SPARK
Apple of My Eye

Meanwhile, daily full episodes of “Pangako Sa’Yo,” “Lovers in Paris,” “All of Me” and “Dolce Amore” will also be available for streaming.

The following digital series cutups and 25-minuter supercut movies will be on the Super Stream channel:

A Second Chance
The Unmarried Wife
All Times Seph Was The Reliable Friend
All Times Junjun Was The Wise Friend
Listen To Love: The Four Bad Boys and Me (EP 1, 2 and 3)

Under the variety show genre, netizens can watch “Love Out Loud with Kaorhys” and the first and second episodes of “Hello Stranger Finale FanCon.”

Lastly, the 17th episode of Toni Gonzaga’s “I Feel U” and “We Rise Together’s” 62nd,63rd and 64th episodes will also be available on Super Stream.

Aside from ABS-CBN, YouTube has also collaborated with GMA and TBA Studios for this new project.

news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Hailee Steinfeld talks about new music, directorial debut with 'I love You's'

Hailee Steinfeld recently released a new upbeat song titled “I Love You's,” which is inspired by Annie Lennox’s 1995 hit “No More I Love You's.”

The track is the lead single from Steinfeld’s upcoming two-part project, with the remainder of the first installment to be unveiled on May 1.

In a virtual press conference on Wednesday, the multi-platinum recording artist talked more about her new song and the message she wants to convey.

“I do think that with my current single ‘I Love You's,’ there’s such a strong message of self-love which seems to be a recurring theme in my music,” she began.

“I think this song is about being in a sort of confined space and losing sight of who I was and realizing that time alone and time for myself was what I needed and that wasn’t such a bad thing. I think sometimes the idea of being alone can be daunting or not necessarily desirable for some people. I was in a certain situation where that was like the last thing I wanted. But I knew it’s what I needed,” she added.

Aside from the message of the song, “I Love You's” is also special for the “Pitch Perfect” actress because she is making her directorial debut with its music video.

“When it came to making the video for ‘I Love You's,’ we actually had a version of the video that didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. When the time came to doing it the second time, I figured out I’d throw my hat in and make it happen and sort of just execute my vision the best I could. I did it with the help of Sarah McColgan who is amazing and we were just on the same page,” she said.

In addition to having her “two worlds collide” when making music videos, Steinfeld said she also got to enjoy wearing beautiful outfits when she filmed it.

“Somehow, with all of the outfits that I’ve tried on, we ended up getting all of my favorites in the video. I don’t know about a favorite from the video because they were all in there. But we did have this incredible moment with this Valentino and Versace look which I love so much.

“I always knew that the video would be black and white so it was important that each look was bold and it was more about the texture and the pattern rather than the colors. That one, I’ve always felt it stood out to me the most in the fitting room, on the rack and on the day of the video and, of course, in the video,” she said.

Meanwhile, Steinfeld shared what it is like to release new music during trying times like today.

“You know I always say and I really do believe that music has such a unique ability to connect people and bring people joy. As a fan of music, I am always looking for my favorite artist to put new tunes out. As strange as it feels to be putting music out, it almost feels like it’s the right thing to do because I think it continues to connect people,” she said.

The singer, however, admitted that being in quarantine like most people now has and hasn’t been beneficial to her, creatively speaking.

“I have days where I wake up and I feel like, wow I’ve got nothing but time. There’s so much freedom in that thought, not having to be anywhere at a certain time. But there’s also part of me that wakes up, nowhere to go and it feels like I don’t know what to do with myself. I normally always have somewhere to be. It’s been an adjustment but I’ve been trying my best to stay creative,” she said.

Like other artists, Steinfeld said she still feels fortunate to be doing something she loves even if it means overcoming struggles along the way.

“I think all of us know we’ve got to climb some hills to get to the top. That’s not always fun, that’s not always pretty, it’s not always exciting. Sometimes, I would question why I’m doing this sort of things and I know that it’s to get to the top of that one hill. I’m constantly reminding myself of that. There’s no denying that there are parts to this that I don’t love, but I do it for an ultimate reason and that’s what keeps me going,” she said.

To end the press conference, Steinfeld said she couldn’t wait to “celebrate music and celebrate life” again with everyone when everything goes back to normal.

Addressing her Filipino fans, she said: “I love you guys so, so much truly from the bottom of my heart and I miss you all. I cannot wait till we hopefully all recover from this very soon and get to be in one room, listening to music, celebrating music, celebrating life, celebrating each other. Stay safe everyone. I hope I get to see you soon.”

news.abs-cbn.com

Friday, April 17, 2020

Evolving entertainment: Virtual reenactment of 'Zombadings' will make you laugh out loud

MANILA — With the extended coronavirus lockdown and the suspension of TV and film productions come new forms of entertainment made from homes and streamed in homes.

Sure, there are established platforms such as Netflix and iWant that offer hours and hours of binge-worthy shows — and then there's a live movie reenactment via split screen, complete with musical scoring.

It was an image that encapsulates physical distancing in the time of coronavirus: Five actors, on video call from their respective homes, staged a live script-reading of the comedy flick "Zombadings: Patayin as Shokot si Remington."

Taking on the characters from the 2011 indie release were Christian Bables as Remington (originally portrayed by Martin Escudero), Paolo Ballesteros as Pops (Roderick Paulate), Gabby Padilla as Hannah (Lauren Young), and Vance Larena as Jigs (Kerbie Zamora). Kokoy de Santos was also on board.

The scene, which sees Remington confronting the person who "cursed" him to become gay, even had backdrops to indicate settings, and live sound effects and scoring that evoked the original's suspense element.

The reenactment was part of the April 17 episode of Lockdown Cinema Club, a fundraising program that aims to help film industry workers whose livelihood have been affected by the coronavirus quarantine.

Narrating the screenplay was director Jade Castro, who was also one of the writers of the movie.

In the virtual roundtable that followed the script-reading, producer Moira Lang, and original cast member Young joined, with Chico Garcia as moderator.

The "Zombadings" edition of Lockdown Cinema Club saw a unique, full-production take on live streaming, which has become the new normal for entertainment offerings during the lockdown.

Previously, the likes of ABS-CBN's "It's Showtime" televised a live episode also using the now-ubiquitous Zoom app, which allows conference video calls for broadcast.

With governments worldwide extending quarantine periods, streamed programs produced from home are expected to keep evolving, with elements that approximate TV or film productions.

Projects such as Lockdown Cinema Club are no expection, as it gears for another big event in the coming weeks: among them, "Gabi ng Himala," a co-production with ABS-CBN that will also feature live script-reading, as well as musical performances.

news.abs-cbn.com

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Zoom rolls out new measures as security fears mount

SAN FRANCISCO -- Videoconferencing platform Zoom is rolling out a number of measures meant to stem criticism over how it has handled security as users flock to the application during the coronavirus pandemic.

Zoom chief executive Eric Yuan laid out steps Wednesday that the company is taking against problems such as data hacking and harassment by individuals who crash sessions in what is referred to as "Zoombombing."

By week's end, paid account holders will be able to select which regions their data is routed through during their sessions in a move apparently aimed at concerns over information passing through China where it might be subject to snooping.

"As a reminder, meeting servers in China have always been geofenced with the goal of ensuring that meeting data of users outside of China stays outside of China," Zoom said in an online post.

The Silicon Valley startup also said that it was working with cyber-security firm Luta Security to overhaul processes and its "bug bounty" program that pays rewards to researchers who find security flaws in its operations.

Zoom also addressed a recent report that users' log-in information was being sold by criminals on the "dark web."

The credentials were likely stolen elsewhere on the internet, or by malicious code slipped into people's computers, according to Zoom advisor Alex Stamos, former chief of security at Facebook.

It is not uncommon for hackers to take passwords and account names pilfered in data breaches and then check whether people use them for other online services.

Zoom said it was building systems to "detect whether people are trying out username and password pairings and block them from trying again."

Improvements to Zoom security also include a toolbar to easily access features such as locking chats from strangers and making meeting password requirements a default setting.

"To successfully scale a video-heavy platform to such a size with no appreciable downtime and in the space of weeks is literally unprecedented in the history of the internet," Stamos said in a post.

"The related security challenges are fascinating."

India this week banned the use of Zoom for government remote meetings, saying it "is not a safe platform."

The New York school system has also banned the videoconferencing platform based on security concerns.

Prosecutors from several US states are meanwhile investigating the company's privacy and security practices, and the FBI has warned of Zoom sessions being hijacked.

According to Yuan, the number of people taking part in Zoom meetings daily eclipsed 200 million in March, up from just 10 million at the end of last year.

Agence France-Presse

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Lindsay Lohan says 'I'm back!' teasing new single amid pandemic

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Lindsay Lohan, whose promising movie career crashed a decade ago in a string of legal woes and substance abuse, on Tuesday announced she was making a comeback with a new music single.

“I’m back!,” the 33-year-old star of “Mean Girls” posted on social media, with a video compilation of news clips from the ups and downs of her career.

Lohan also posted a link for fans to pre-save her single on a music streaming platform. She offered no title, release date, or other details.

Her surprise announcement quickly became a top trending item on Twitter but caused mixed reactions.

“Sorry sis, we are in the middle of a global pandemic,” tweeted user CaliRae, referring to the coronavirus that has upended life around the world and killed more than 40,000 people.

Other Twitter users wondered if Lohan was pulling an April Fool’s Day stunt.

Lohan, once one of Hollywood’s most-sought after young actresses, went to rehab six times between 2007 and 2013, and was in and out of jail and court repeatedly for offenses ranging from theft to drunken driving and drug possession. She later moved to London, Dubai and Greece.

While best known as an actress, Lohan last released a single, the dancy “Bossy,” in 2008.

In 2019, she starred in the MTV reality show “Lohan Beach Club” about her efforts to launch a nightclub and restaurant business in Greece. She also appeared in a 2018 British television comedy crime series “Sick Note.”

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Tom Brown

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Branded podcasts a surprise hit with US consumers

The hit podcast “Serial” was the audio investigation that launched a thousand true-crime dramas, inspiring podcasters across the country to attempt ambitious reporting projects with gritty subject matter. There were “Dirty John” and “Hollywood & Crime,” “Death in Ice Valley” and “Atlanta Monster.”

And then there was “The Sauce.”

That three-episode “investigative podcast” was released last year by the media company Gizmodo and had somewhat lower stakes than the exoneration of a convicted murderer. With an eerie soundtrack meant to recall “Serial,” the show examined the “mystery” of how McDonald’s underestimated demand for a popular dipping sauce, enraging thousands of its customers.

The twist? The hard-boiled investigator scrutinizing that sauce shortage was McDonald’s itself.

“The Sauce” was a branded podcast that McDonald’s paid Gizmodo to produce as a tongue-in-cheek apology to disappointed customers. While it’s no exposé, the show offers a vivid illustration of how companies are increasingly using the tropes of popular podcasts in their own audio projects. These are not advertisements, exactly, but subtle brand-building efforts intended to entertain as well as persuade.

This year, Facebook began a podcast about entrepreneurship called “Three and a Half Degrees,” and technology companies like Microsoft and Lyft have their own shows. In June, New Balance began collaborating with podcasting company Gimlet on a show about clothing and sneaker culture.

“You get to catch that busy person where you couldn’t normally get them,” said Rob Walch, a vice president at Libsyn, a podcast distributor that works with companies developing branded content. “They’re listening with earbuds, and you’re literally inside their head.”

By some estimates, there are now as many as 750,000 podcasts, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that major companies are creating their own. What’s more surprising is that consumers, conditioned to skip past commercials on YouTube and install ad blockers on their browsers, are actually listening to them. Within a day of its release last year, “The Sauce” broke into iTunes’ top-100 podcast chart, reaching No. 94.

In general, companies have had the most success with shows that are not explicitly about their own products or services. In 2015, for example, General Electric released an eight-part science-fiction podcast called “The Message” that drew millions of listeners and briefly reached No. 1 on iTunes.

“What makes for a successful branded podcast are a lot of the things that make for a successful podcast, period,” said Matt Lieber, the president of Gimlet. “If a brand wants to make a commercial that’s 20 minutes long, it will fail.”

The exception seems to be Trader Joe’s, whose monthly podcast is dedicated entirely to the inner workings of its stores. After the first episode last year, “Inside Trader Joe’s” ranked No. 5 on the iTunes chart.

“This isn’t going to be a commercial,” Matt Sloan, one of the show’s hosts, declared at the beginning of that episode. But the podcast frequently promotes the chain’s products and trumpets its well-compensated staff; at some stores, it even plays over the loudspeakers while customers shop. One recent episode — titled “Why Is Everyone So Nice?” — features interviews with the company’s famously cheerful cashiers. About halfway through, one of the chain’s executives, Bryan Palbaum, offers a not-particularly-insightful answer about why they’re so pleasant: “Because they are.”

The supermarket’s loyal following doesn’t seem to mind the self-promotion. “Inside Trader Joe’s” has almost a perfect five-star rating on iTunes.

Companies have tried to reach consumers across a variety of mediums, from billboards to television commercials. In 1895, John Deere began printing a magazine, The Furrow, sometimes described as the “agrarian version of Rolling Stone.” Now it has a podcast, as well.

Over the years, these brand-building experiments have occasionally drawn criticism. In 2016, chip manufacturer Qualcomm released a half-hour commercial directed by an Academy Award winner. The short film raised concerns among some media critics about the blurring line between advertisements and entertainment.

Those same concerns may also apply to branded podcasts, said Mark Crispin Miller, a media studies professor at New York University.

“Propaganda — which, after all, is what this is — tends to be most successful when it slides into our consciousness without our quite perceiving it,” he said in an email.

But compared to other advertisements, industry experts say, branded podcasts appear relatively benign.

“Most of the podcasts are pretty transparent,” said Matthew Quint, a brand expert at Columbia Business School. “It seems to be a very good player amid other cases in which brands in all sorts of ways have their issues in protecting consumers and duping consumers.”

Branded podcasting actually predates the release of “Serial” by at least a year. One of the longest-running branded podcasts is an interview show called “Keeping You Organized” that began in 2013. It’s produced by Smead, a company that manufactures manila folders.

Every week, the show’s host, Smead marketing manager John Hunt, interviews a professional organizer about topics like how to efficiently dispose of the scraps left over from cutting coupons out of magazines.

“It’s not that easy to talk about things like file folders,” Hunt said. “But it is easier for us to talk about organizing.”

To some, that may not sound any more scintillating. Every week, however, around 6,000 people tune in to hear Hunt discuss decluttering or tax season.

“It’s not what you’d consider an NPR kind of podcast,” he said. “But if you were to put a value on having that kind of conversation with that many people directly a week, it’s pretty good.”

It’s unclear how much branded podcasts have helped companies generate sales or reach new customers. A strategically timed announcement on “Keeping You Organized” once helped Smead sell its inventory of 24-pocket folders, Hunt said. But for most brands, the benefits of podcasting are less tangible.

“We’re always thinking about how to make sure as a brand we’re relevant, we’re contemporary and we’re interesting,” said Linda Boff, chief marketing executive at General Electric, which began its second sci-fi podcast, “LifeAfter,” in 2016. “We get on the radar of future employees, young people who are making a choice as to where they want to work.”

The goal of the McDonald’s podcast was not simply to sell more dipping sauce. A few months earlier, the chain had been caught in a public-relations nightmare, when it severely underestimated consumer demand ahead of the reintroduction of its Szechuan Sauce, a teriyaki-flavored concoction made famous by the TV show “Rick & Morty.” At some of the chain’s locations, fights broke out as customers tussled over the scant supply of sauce packets.

“The biggest thing that they wanted to get across was that they were very sorry,” said Catherine LeClair, a freelance writer who hosted the show for McDonald’s.

LeClair, a vegetarian who rarely eats at the fast-food chain, was on the team that came up with the idea to frame the podcast as a spoof of “Serial.”

A longtime fan of the show, she listened to old episodes of “Serial” while composing the script for “The Sauce.”

“To try to emulate that,” LeClair said, “was almost like an honor.”

2019 The New York Times Company

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

How big is YouTube? It’s still anyone’s guess

YouTube probably generates $16 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue, making the video service big enough to crack the top half of the Fortune 500.

But that is just a guess. Even though financial analysts on Wall Street think YouTube makes about as much money as the Gap, General Mills or Netflix, the video service’s financial results are a secret. They are lumped in with the rest of Google, an even larger internet company that last year generated $137 billion in revenue.

That secrecy has led to growing frustration among analysts and investors, who will be looking for more details about YouTube when Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reports results for its second financial quarter on Thursday. Three months ago, Alphabet executives pointed to issues with YouTube as a factor in disappointing financial results in the first quarter.

“I think their reticence to provide information borders on paranoia, as if they would be admitting failure if they allowed us to discover whether one of their businesses was performing more poorly than expected,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

Big tech companies have been under pressure from regulators and lawmakers to provide more insight into how their businesses operate. The lack of disclosure around YouTube’s finances is a reminder that some of them have actually made understanding how they make money more difficult over the last year.

In November, Apple announced it would stop disclosing iPhone sales figures. The company had been providing that data for a decade. But now that iPhone sales are slowing, Apple argues that they are no longer representative of the strength of the company’s overall business.

In July, when Facebook reported slower than expected growth in users for its main service, the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, disclosed a new, more positive metric: 2.5 billion people used at least one of the company’s apps — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger — in June.

The obfuscation of information that investors want more of has become a “foundational practice” by tech companies, said Gene Munster, a managing partner at Loup Ventures, a venture capital firm, who was a financial analyst for 20 years. “Companies change the disclosures to change the narrative and make it more difficult to get to the things investors want to know.”

When it reports financial results, Alphabet groups YouTube with other Google properties like search, the Google Play app store and Gmail. Analysts who follow the company say putting everything under Google makes it hard to parse out the performance of YouTube, especially because search remains the biggest business at the company.

YouTube does not disclose revenue, profitability, how many ads it runs alongside videos, user numbers and how often those users visit the site — all metrics that would help an investor “understand the health of the business and its growth trajectory,” said Pachter.

“I don’t think the company provides anything that helps us understand the business,” he said.

More details around YouTube’s business may confirm that it does not compare favorably to Facebook in key metrics for gauging its popularity, such as how long users stay on the site and how frequently they visit, Pachter said.

An Alphabet spokeswoman, Winnie King, declined to comment.

When Alphabet last reported quarterly earnings in April, the company stunned investors as revenue came in $1 billion below Wall Street expectations.

In response to a question from a financial analyst about the company’s first-quarter shortfall, Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, said growth in clicks for YouTube ads had “decelerated” because of tighter restrictions in early 2018 on what videos could carry advertising. Porat said YouTube had made “important” and “strong” contributions to revenue, but was not more specific.

When Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, spoke about YouTube in the call, he announced new features or policy changes that for the most part had already announced. The new information he did reveal — such as viewership of Super Bowl commercials was up 60 percent on YouTube — was a narrow sliver of YouTube’s business.

Companies in the United States have significant leeway in determining what information is considered “material” and has to be disclosed in financial results reported to regulators.

In 1976, the Supreme Court in TSC Industries v. Northway established the definition of material as information that would have been considered important to a reasonable investor. The definition, however, was vague, and companies have generally been allowed to make their own decisions about what would be important to a reasonable investor.

When big tech companies have offered more insight into their far-flung operations, it has been well received by Wall Street.

When Amazon disclosed revenue and profit for its high-margin Amazon Web Services unit in 2015, it eased concerns about the company’s ability to turn a profit.

Last year, Google surprised analysts on an earnings call by announcing that its Google Cloud business had surpassed $1 billion in quarterly revenue. At the time, Google had been fighting the perception that its cloud business was struggling to make inroads against AWS and Microsoft’s cloud-computing competitor, Azure.

“Companies usually pull back disclosure when items turned negative, and then they try to offset with more positive disclosure,” said Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets who follows Alphabet and other internet companies.

He said he did not expect Alphabet to change its disclosure for YouTube anytime soon. But Mahaney said — frustration aside — that he did not believe more detail about YouTube’s business would alter investors’ perception of Alphabet.

Investors generally see YouTube accounting for about 20 percent of Google’s revenue. There are more questions around YouTube’s profitability, but he said the general view was that it was “modestly profitable but not dramatically so.”

Starting in July 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission sent three letters to Alphabet asking, among other things, for an explanation on why it does not need to break out YouTube from Google.

In its response, Alphabet said that since Larry Page, its chief executive, did not receive weekly updates on how YouTube’s business performed to assess the performance of Google, the disclosure requirement was “not applicable.”

Alphabet also said detailing its advertising revenue by different product areas was unnecessary because its goal was to sell one product — online advertising — regardless of how a customer paid for it or where that ad appeared.

In January 2018, the SEC said it completed its review with no further action.

Marcia Narine Weldon, a lecturer in law at the University of Miami who specializes in compliance and corporate governance, said the arguments made by Alphabet to the SEC for not disclosing YouTube separately “don’t hold water.”

“I’m surprised that the SEC hasn’t pressed it more,” said Narine Weldon. “It’s a legitimate question for shareholders given the size of the business.”

2019 New York Times News Service

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Taylor Swift releases song and petition calling for LGBTQ equality

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop singer and songwriter Taylor Swift on Monday released a star-studded music video that scolded social media trolls and urged fans to sign a petition demanding U.S. legal protections for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

The video for Swift’s new single “You Need to Calm Down” featured a surprise cameo by former rival Katy Perry plus a host of other celebrities. Perry’s appearance signaled an end to a spat between the two musicians which began in 2013 over backup singers in their shows.

Set in a pastel-colored trailer park, the video featured Swift, 29, relaxing in a pool while she called out her critics and those who attack LGBTQ people. “Shade never made anybody less gay,” she sang.

Celebrities in the video who identify as LGBTQ include Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, RuPaul, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Adam Lambert, Hannah Hart and Tan France.

Swift, all smiles and outfitted as French fries, hugged Perry, 34, dressed as a hamburger, a costume she wore to last month’s Met Gala fundraiser at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Social media posts in 2018 suggested an end to their spat, which had played out in their songs. On Tuesday, Perry posted a photo on her Instagram account, with Swift being tagged, showing a plate of cookies with the words “Peace at last” appearing to be written in icing.

At the end of the new video, two sentences on screen urged fans to sign a petition urging the U.S Senate to pass legislation that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. The measure has already cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally,” it said.

The petition had collected more than 222,000 signatures within a few hours.

Swift, who has more than 118 million Instagram followers, has been stepped into politics in 2018 by supporting two Democrats running in U.S. congressional elections in Tennessee. Voter registrations spiked in the state, but Swift’s preferred candidate for Senate lost the election.

Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Richard Chang

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Taylor Swift's 'ME!' breaks YouTube record

MANILA – Grammy winner Taylor Swift broke records with the release of her new single titled "ME!"

Citing a statement from YouTube, an article by Billboard said the music video of “ME!” recorded a total of 65.2 million views within 24 hours since its release on April 26.

This makes Swift the top “solo and female artist with the biggest 24-hour debut on YouTube to-date,” Billboard said.

Reacting to the wonderful news, Swift took to Twitter to express her disbelief over this new record made.

“GUYS!! YOU DID THIS!!!! CANNOT STOP SMILING,” she wrote, adding several heart emojis. “And I’m not trying to be loud but 65.2 million views... ?? and 6+5+2=.............”

"ME!" features Brendon Urie, the lead singer of Panic! at the Disco, who at the video's start is fighting with Swift in a conversation in French.

The video turns upbeat as the music starts. "I promise that you'll never find another like me," Swift sings. "I'm the only one of me. Baby that's the fun of me," she adds.

Swift, 29, had been teasing an announcement for days on social media with pastel images that turned out to be scenes from the new video.

"'ME!' is a song about embracing your individuality and really celebrating it and owning it," Swift said hours earlier during an interview with ABC TV host Robin Roberts on the network's broadcast of the National Football League draft in Nashville.

Swift began her career as a country singer in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 15 before branching out with pop hits such as "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood."

On Thursday afternoon, Swift surprised hundreds of her fans by joining them at the unveiling of a butterfly wing mural in the Gulch area of Nashville.

"ME!" was written in the center of the mural as a hint to her evening announcement.

The new video and single provided a stark contrast to her last album, 2017's "Reputation," which included songs such as "Look What You Made Me Do" that took aim at people who had attacked her personally and professionally. – with report from Reuters

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Jim Paredes' daughter takes break from social media

MANILA – Amid the controversy her father is currently embroiled in, the daughter of Jim Paredes has decided to temporarily leave social media.

In a series of posts on her Instagram Stories, Erica Paredes said she is taking a break from it because there has been “too much toxic energy” on social media lately, adding that “it’s not as fun as it used to be” anymore.

She also left a message to her followers.

“See y’all soon! Friends, you can still DM me. In the meantime, be nice. Mind ya business. Post things that will actually benefit society. Check on your loved ones often,” she wrote.

Erica likewise thanked those who sent her messages of support.

“I had an outpour of love and support in my inbox this morning. We are dealing with it. Just want life to go back to normal already. Whatever that really means in my not normal life,” she said. “Just wanted to say thank you. Means a lot.”

On Tuesday, Paredes confirmed the authenticity of his viral sex video but said it was not meant for public consumption.

"The video was real. It was private, and not meant for public consumption. I do not know how it became public," he wrote on his blog "Writing on Air."

The APO Hiking Society member said he was in a quandary after seeing the video leaked to social media but decided to come clean after praying about it.

"There are already too many lies and liars in this world. I do not wish to be a part of that cabal. I have chosen to be truthful because I know that painful as the truth can be, it will eventually set me free," he said.

The 67-year-old musician, known for being a vocal critic of the current administration, suspects the incident as politically motivated.

He also admitted he is "a flawed person, a human being, much like everyone else." He also begged for forgiveness from his family who are affected by the scandal.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Friday, March 29, 2019

South Korea spycam crimes put hidden camera industry under scrutiny

SEOUL - Shin Jang-jin's shop in Incheon offers seemingly innocuous household items, from pens and lighters to watches and smoke detectors, but with a secret feature -- a hidden one millimeter-wide-lens that can shoot video.

Over the past decade, Shin has sold thousands of gadgets. But his industry is coming under pressure as ultra-wired South Korea battles a growing epidemic of so-called "molka", or spycam videos -- mostly of women, secretly filmed by men in public places.

Shin insists his gadgets serve a useful purpose, allowing people to capture evidence of domestic violence or child abuse, and told AFP he has refused to serve customers looking to spy on women in toilets.

"They thought I would understand them as a fellow man. I turned them away."

But the 52-year-old admits he is not always able to spot unscrupulous buyers.

In 2015, he was questioned by police after one of his products -- a camera installed inside a mobile phone cover -- was used to secretly film women in a dressing room at a water park outside Seoul.

He had sold the device to a female customer and said he had no idea she would use it to film and distribute illicit footage online.

Under current regulations, spycam buyers are not required to give personal information, making it difficult to trace their ownership and use of the devices.

But some lawmakers are hoping to change that, co-sponsoring a bill in August that requires hidden camera buyers to register with a government database, raising alarm among retailers like Shin.

CRIME SURGE

Spycam crimes have become so prevalent that female police officers now regularly inspect public toilets to check for cameras in women's stalls.

In one case, offenders had live-streamed footage of around 800 couples having sex -- filmed in hotel rooms using cameras installed inside hairdryer holders, wall sockets, and digital TV boxes.

As well as secretly filming women in schools, toilets, and offices, "revenge porn" -- private sex videos filmed and shared without permission by disgruntled ex-boyfriends, ex-husbands, or malicious acquaintances -- is believed to be equally widespread.

In a burgeoning scandal that has shaken South Korea's entertainment industry, K-pop star Jung Joon-young was arrested this month on charges of filming and distributing illicit sex videos without the consent of his female partners.

The number of spycam crimes reported to police surged from around 2,400 in 2012 to nearly 6,500 in 2017.

According to official statistics about 98 percent of convicted offenders are men -- ranging from school teachers and college professors to church pastors and police officers -- while more than 80 percent of victims are women.

MALICIOUS INTENTIONS

"I turn customers away when it isn't clear why and what they want hidden cameras for," Lee Seung-yon, who customizes spycam gadgets in Seoul, told AFP.

But he admitted his approach was no guarantee against crimes.

With the bill currently under consideration by a parliamentary committee, gadget retailers like Shin fear it will turn away potential customers.

"More than 90 percent of spycam porn crimes are due to mobile phones, not specialized items," he said, adding that any crackdown on the gadgets was akin to blaming knife makers for knife-related murders.

While there is no official data to support Shin's claim, a police official told AFP that "most" spycam footage is taken using smartphones.

But women's rights activists say the claim is "misleading," citing numerous cases involving customized cameras.

Furthermore, they argue that since smartphones sold in the South are required to make a loud shutter noise when taking pictures -- a measure put in place to combat spycam crimes -- many offenders deploy high-tech devices or use special apps that mute the sound to secretly film victims.

"Victims in most spycam crimes realize they were filmed only after illicit footage had been shared online whereas crimes involving mobile phones are much easier to catch in the first place," said Lee Hyo-rin of the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center.

"The solo purpose of these gadgets is to deceive others," she told AFP.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

YouTube shifts to make new exclusive shows, movies free to users

SAN FRANCISCO - YouTube plans to make all future original programming available to users for free with advertising, as the video streaming unit of Alphabet Inc's Google seeks a bigger audience for shows and movies that had mostly been restricted to paid subscribers.

The shift in strategy means that starting in 2020, a YouTube Premium subscription will no longer be the only way to watch most original programs, with all users having some access.

YouTube's paid option will still remove ads from originals as well as all other videos, and it comes with music streaming privileges.

YouTube said earlier on Tuesday that the new strategy would kick in next year, but later noted that though it would apply to content planned in 2019, the actual programming will debut the year after.

YouTube has not disclosed the total number of subscribers for the paid offering, launched three years ago, which is available in 29 countries.

It said its move to make programming free was aimed at satisfying growing international user interest in original programming and advertiser demand to associate with special content. The move also gives the company more flexibility in marketing its programs.

Some future programming or behind-the-scenes content may remain exclusive to subscribers, if only for a brief time, a person familiar with the thinking said.

YouTube Premium costs about $12 a month in the United States.

The dozens of previously released shows and movies in YouTube Premium, such as the first season of popular action comedy "Cobra Kai," will remain behind the paywall, the company said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

YouTube star apologizes for viral suicide video

Actor and YouTube celebrity Logan Paul apologized for posting a video of a suicide victim in Japan that reportedly was viewed by six million people before being deleted.

Paul, who gained notoriety on social media and has a popular video blog or "vlog" on YouTube, filmed the video in Aokigahara, which is known as "the Japanese Suicide Forest" because of its reputation.

According to media reports, the video showing a man who had hanged himself, received six million views before being removed amid a firestorm of outrage on Twitter.

Adding to the anger were outtakes of the video -- which remained in circulation on Twitter -- in which Paul is seen laughing and joking about the incident.

"When my brother found my sister's body, he screamed with horror & confusion & grief & tried to save her," actress Anna Akana tweeted.

"You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness."

Another Twitter user wrote, "i'm truly sickened by this logan paul situation. i lost my brother to suicide... my brother took his own life by hanging himself... how insensitive and sick can you be to film someone in that state."

In his apology, Paul said he had posted the video in a mistaken effort to draw attention to the problem of depression and suicide.

"It's easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications," he said in the statement.

"I'm often reminded of how big a reach I truly have & with great power comes great responsibility... for the first time in my life I'm regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won't happen again."

Google-owned YouTube indicated the video was removed because it violated the terms of services of the video-sharing platform.

"Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video," a Google statement said.

The statement added that YouTube prohibits "violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner" and that such content is allowed only "when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

'Thriller' was made because Michael Jackson wanted to be a monster

VENICE (Reuters) - Music video “Thriller” was not the product of a brilliant idea but was made because pop star Michael Jackson wanted to be a monster, director John Landis said at the Venice film festival on Monday.

Landis was in Venice to present the 3D version of the video, which was made 35 years after the original. It was screened as a special event in the out-of-competition section.

“(Thriller) was nobody’s good idea, it was no brilliant business plan,” John Landis told journalists.

“It was a vanity video because Michael wanted to be a monster. And everything that came, evolved from that, was spectacularly successful and I was totally surprised.”

Landis said Jackson first approached him about making the video because he liked his work on “An American Werewolf in London” and the two, along with make-up artist Rick Baker, met to look at photographs from old monster movies.

“Turns out he hasn’t seen many horror films, they were too scary. I found him great,” Landis said, laughing. “He wanted zombies, but the big thing for Mike was turning into a monster.”

Asked about his first meeting with Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but died in 2009 at the age of 50, Landis said he was “joyful” and “childlike” and quickly became a close family friend.

“Michael was very determined that everything had to be the best, the greatest,” he said. “He had a spectacular work ethic, but he was an old pro, the guy has been performing since he was 8 years old.”

While making “Thriller” Jackson was happy to “show up and do whatever I wanted,” Landis said. It was different when they met again to produce “Black or White” in 1991.

“On ‘Black or White’ I was working for Michael. It was different. We were still fine, but ... he was much more guarded,” Landis said.

“I know it’s not easy being a celeb, but to be the most famous person in the world, to have that kind of celebrity is bizarre.”

“And here’s someone who was already working from a young age ... he never had a childhood. That’s one of the reasons he was so interested in pursuing one as a grown up.”

Landis, an American film director, screenwriter, actor and producer, jumped at the idea of converting “Thriller” into 3D, because “I really wanted you to experience it the way Michael wanted you to experience it”.

“We went through the whole movie frame by frame, and it was not intended to be in 3D, so we are not throwing anything at you or anything like that, but it does enhance certain parts of it tremendously ... the dance is much improved,” he said.

“My only disappointment is that Michael is not here to see it and hear it because I think he would love that,” he said.

Reporting by Agnieszka Flak

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

YouTube's first ever logo refresh comes with new features

MANILA - YouTube on Wednesday refreshed its logo and layout across platforms, bringing with it new features, as the internet video pioneer moved farther away from traditional television that it was touted to replace.

The redesigned logo removes the red highlight on "Tube," a television reference and instead placed a red "press play" icon beside "YouTube" in a narrower and bolder typeface.

It was the first redesign since Google-owned service started 12 years ago. YouTube said it aimed for a "more flexible design that works better across a variety of devices, even on the tiniest screens."

New features on mobile include vertical full screen video, the ability to watch videos and browse at the same time and make videos play faster or slower.

The desktop version now allows a dark theme to replace the white background, which YouTube said, would create a "cinematic" effect."

YouTube started supporting only one video format, 320x240 at 4:3 aspect ratio. Now it can play SD, HD, 4K, 360 and 3D.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saturday, August 5, 2017

'Despacito' is most-viewed YouTube video

"Despacito" -- the racy Spanish-language global smash hit throbbing with sexual innuendo -- racked up another record Friday, supplanting "See You Again" as the most watched video on YouTube.

As of early Friday afternoon on the US East Coast, "Despacito" had logged 2.995 billion views on YouTube, ahead of rap ballad "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth at 2.994 billion.

The triumph of Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi's song crushed a short reign for "See You Again," which only clawed into the number one spot last month topping the extraordinary four-and-a-half-year run of Korean artist Psy's "Gangnam Style."

"Wow," Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, who is featured on "Despacito," said to his nearly 17 million followers on Instagram. "Thank you all for supporting since day one!"

"Despacito" has already been named most streamed song of all time.

On July 19, the song's label, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, said "Despacito" in its original and remixed versions had reached 4.6 billion streams across platforms including YouTube and Spotify.

The track with its reggaeton beat went viral soon after its January release and found an even more colossal audience in April when pop star Justin Bieber appeared in a remix.

The Bieber version has logged 12 weeks at number one on the US singles chart, the first Spanish-language song to reach the top spot since "Macarena" in 1996 and matching the 12-week reign earlier this year of Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You."

"Despacito" means "slowly."

"See You Again" was featured in the 2015 action movie "Furious 7" and intersperses scenes from the film with Khalifa rapping and Puth singing as they overlook a sandy coast.

The song was a tribute to Paul Walker, an actor in "The Fast and Furious" film franchise who died in a car wreck.

In YouTube record terms, Psy's "Gangnam Style" was left in the dust Friday with 2.92 billion views.

The satirical take on the nouveau riche residents of the Seoul district by the same name found an avid fan base with equestrian-style dance moves set to an infectious pop beat. Few outside Korea had any idea what the lyrics meant.

That video became the first to reach one billion views on YouTube and caused the site's engineers to scramble to make changes when it topped 2.1 billion views, previously thought to be the maximum possible.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Video of Pinay's encounter with 'racist' driver goes viral

A video posted by a Pinay bicyclist on the internet has gone viral after it showcased an argument between herself and another motorist involving racial slurs.

Last Thursday afternoon, Paula Nuguid was biking with her 9-year-old daughter in Sunnyvale, California.

According to Nuguid, she was trying to make a legal left turn when a man began honking at her.

The argument then escalated into a racially charged exchange.

While the video has gone viral through multiple platforms, Nuguid’s original posting has been shared on Facebook almost 4,000 times, and has more than half a million views.

Read more on Balitang America:

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saturday, May 13, 2017

VIRAL: Mother's Day video touches hearts of millions

MANILA – Jollibee has done it again.

The homegrown fast food giant released its Mother’s Day commercial over the weekend and it became a viral hit, getting over three million views on Facebook as of writing.

It is a continuation of one of its previous videos, “Date,” which featured a boy spending quality time with his mother.

The new clip, titled “Parangal (Tribute),” showed the little boy all grown up and about to graduate with honors.

In his speech, he paid tribute to his mother, thanking her for sacrificing so much so he could continue studying.

Netizens could not help but be touched by the commercial, with many of them expressing their love for their own mothers.

Watch the video

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

WATCH: Regine belts 'Araw-Gabi' live on bus

MANILA -- Veteran singer Regine Velasquez-Alcasid once again showed off her powerful voice as she belted the OPM classic "Araw-Gabi" live on the Wish 107.5 bus.

The video of Velasquez's performance was uploaded on YouTube on Wednesday and has already been viewed more than 40,000 times.

source: news.abs-cbn.com