"Video Logs", or as it is known in the web parlance -- "vlogs"
(or, capitalizing on the blog fad, "Video Blogs" -- no word as to
where the 'b' went in 'vlog' if you want to be like a New York Lawyer), is what the some people would like
you to believe is the Next Generation of blogging. The idea behind
it is pretty simple and quite lame: Instead of typing their inane
thoughts directly into their blogs and hitting submit, these losers
use their $5000 Mac, $1000 camcorder, and their piece-of-shit iMovie
software to videotape themselves saying their thoughts directly to
the camera, importing the raw footage, editing it, adjusting sound
levels, adding transitions, credits, the "Creative Common License"
crap, etc., down-converting it to a web video format, uploading it
to their server, and hitting submit. Only five hours after deciding
to post to their vlog, there it is!
Now the difference between blogs and vlogs are pretty obvious:
While blogs take at most a few seconds to load (a few more if they
contain hundreds of giant wallpaper-sized images improperly scaled
down using HTML), a few more seconds to read, and another one or two
seconds to realize it's complete crap and frantically hit the "Back"
button, vlogs take a substantially larger time commitment from their
viewers.
See, with vlogs you first have to download the video in order to
watch it. This most likely involves attempting to obtain it from a
file hosting service, or
streaming it -- hoping that Real Player hasn't completely destroyed
your computer in its ongoing battle with Media Player. Then of
course you have to wait for it to buffer, wait for it to buffer some
more, then attempt watch the vloggers inane thoughts inbetween
bursts of "Internet Connection Problems, Please Wait..." messages.
Fun!
Here's some
examples. Amazingly enough, these people even have their own conference
where they breathlessly talk about vlogs taking over mass media, and
companies
making products specifically to cater to the vlog market.
You know what I think about vlogs? I think they
suck.
