YouTube has come to define the era of online video, so let's take a look at their most popular videos of all time. We first did this list in August 2007 , at which point Evolution of Dance by comedian Judson Laipply was number 1 with nearly 56 million views. The next update was September 2008 , when Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend pop music video was number 1 with 103 million page views (although commenters argued it may have gamed the system). How is Evolution of Dance doing now, given the influx of pop music and movie videos into YouTube? Not to mention all of those goofy comedic routines by teenagers and cutesy baby or animal videos. Let's check out the top YouTube videos of all time, as it stands today... Sponsor 1. Hari's comedy act ; 186,361,277 views Note: Some people claim that this video got to number 1 due to a hack. See this video response , although it contains no strong evidence and is also racially offensive at the end. 2. Charlie bit my finger - again ! ; 148,757,751 views 3. Evolution of Dance ; 134,412,139 views 4. Miley Cyrus - 7 Things - Official Music Video (HQ) ; 108,577,069 views 5. Jeff Dunham - Achmed the Dead Terrorist ; 104,013,553 views 6. Hahaha - Small daring boy ; 103,262,937 views 7. Lo que tú Quieras Oír ; 99,291,111 views 8. Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) ; 92,408,735 views 9. Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 ; 85,126,780 views Note: This video has been labeled "Embedding disabled by request" on YouTube, but we've embedded it below via Dailymotion : 10. Timbaland - Apologize (feat. One Republic) ; 81,299,096 views Discuss
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Top 10 YouTube Videos of All Time
In December, I visited Parrot 's development labs in Paris to check out the company's newest project. While Parrot is mostly known for its Bluetooth headsets and speaker systems, the company's newest project combines augmented reality with a remote controlled helicopter. This helicopter - the AR.Drone - features four rotors to keep it stable and a front-mounted camera that is linked to an iPhone or iPod touch. The rig is controlled via an iPhone or iPod touch and the device's screen can show an augmented view of what the helicopter's camera sees. Sponsor AR Meets the Real World What's most exciting about this product is how it combines a real helicopter with this augmented reality view. Instead of just looking at an augmented view of the world through the phone's camera, you get to see the world through the drone's camera. The iPhone takes the view of the camera (via Wi-Fi) and replaces markers with anything from walls to dinosaurs. During our discussion with Parrot in December, we couldn't get any information about the price of the AR.Drone out of the company's representatives. Given how sophisticated the hardware is, however, chances are that it won't be very cheap. The drone, for example, features two camera. Besides the camera that feeds the video to the iPhone, the drone also features a second came that is mounted underneath he structure and augments the drone's autopilot. Hands-On With the AR.Drone We got a chance to play with a prototype of the AR.Drone in Parrot's labs and while it took a while to get used to the controls (the app uses a combination of the phone's tilt sensors and on-screen controls to manipulate the drone). The video on the iPhone was surprisingly clear and didn't show any noticeable lag. Sadly, we didn't get a chance to try out the AR features of the app, though. Parrot will launch the AR.Drone later this year. The company plans demo the helicopter at CES this week but the exact date of the public launch remains unclear. A Drone for Developers In its current iteration, the hardware and software is clearly laid out for gaming, but Parrot also released an SDK that will allow developers to use the hardware for other purposes as well. It will definitely be interesting to see what games and other tools the developer community will come up with one the AR.Drone is launched. Parrot told us that it hopes that developers will look at the hardware as a platform and the company hopes to create an active developer ecosystem around the AR.Drone. More Videos Click here for more videos of the AR.Drone in action. Disclosure : Frederic met with Parrot during a trip that was partly sponsored by Parrot . An Early Demo Discuss
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Parrot's Remote Controlled Helicopter Takes Augmented Reality to the Next Dimension
You've probably never heard of Matt Mireles and Bjorn Liljequist but with a $4000 dollar budget and an engineering team paid in iPhones, the two already have Meebo founder Seth Sternberg as their advisor and praise from VC Fred Wilson . The duo's filtering service Speakertext will launch at tomorrow's New York Tech Meetup and the concept is a simple one - to make video interesting. Sponsor Like Tubechop , Speakertext allows users to omit the boring parts of a video; however, the service's transcription component offers a new and important twist. Says CEO Mireles, "At some point, longer videos become useless. It's the metadata and the fact that we're allowing it to be indexed that make this a great tool." The service uses the YouTube API and replaces the YouTube player with a Speakertext player. Users can search video text for relevant quotes and embed the linked quote or the Speakertext player and video into their blogs. To index your own video with the system, you can either transcribe it yourself or opt into a
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Search, Monetize and Fact Check YouTube Transcripts with Speakertext
In an ironic twist of fate for 2009, Fox's IGN Entertainment, a company known for its game reviews of products like Zombie Apocalypse acquired What They Play . The newest member of Fox Interactive is touted as the "family guide to video games" and offers reviews, warnings and suggested products. Under the umbrella company of What They Like , What They Play uses the "Entertainment Software Rating Board" (ESRB) to warn parents of games containing explicit lyrics, cartoon violence and drug references. Sponsor Editor's note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we'll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year - and ahead to what next year holds - we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It's not just a best-of list, it's also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb! In an age when gross-out sites like goatse are just a click away, a number of services offer parents the information they need to find quality online entertainment. While past generations were raised on unfiltered television and video games, today's parent take a more active role in the process of media consumption. AOL's PlaySavvy : PlaySavvy is another site that offers parents a chance to check out age-appropriate kids games. Similar to What They Play, this site lists the ESRB ratings next to games and information is categorized by topic and gaming system. Products for console favorites like Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are often featured on the site. AOL also offers parents daily articles and a section to view the most popular games. Parents' Choice : Established in 1978, this site is run by the Parents' Choice Foundation - a nonprofit organization that offers awards to the top children's media and toys. Some of the award categories include websites, video games, DVDs, software, television programming and toys. This site definitely skews towards narrative-based educational materials. If your kid has a shorter attention span, you might want to visit PBS Kids instead. Common Sense Media : Common Sense media is a nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering parents reviews and suggestions on appropriate content. The group produces movie, website, TV, game, book and music ratings as well as a number of educational tools for classroom use. The site can be personalized for kids between the ages of 2-17 years old and it's available in English and Spanish. This site tends to weigh the benefits of mainstream media sites. PBS KIDS Island : This site offers parents reading resources, videos and games in English and Spanish. While the majority of the content is best queued up by a parent or teacher, the videos are of particularly high quality and completely commercial free. National Geographic for Kids : This site offers kid-friendly games, videos, stories and activities for nature lovers. The same photography that has made National Geographic a hit with grownups is likely to please kids. Not surprisingly, the video content is equally compelling. Discovery Kids offers a similar experience and is a great site for visual learners. Totlol : Totlol is a parent-moderated version of YouTube. The site offers video options specifically designed for children and even offers "age optimized interfaces" to ensure that kids of different ages get the most appropriate content. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb covered Totlol's beta launch . As of today the site charges a $3 per month subscription fee or $54 until your child grows up. Photo Credit: Swaminathan Discuss
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ReadWriteWeb's List of Kid-Friendly Online Resources
Chances are that you are getting at least a few emails and IMs with links to YouTube videos every day. While watching these alone can be fun, Synchtube turns this into a far more social experience. Synchtube allows you to share and discuss a video in real time with up to four of your friends. The first person to enter the room controls the playback and also has the ability to change videos. Sponsor Features To get started, just head over to Synchtube.com and copy and paste a link to a YouTube video into the box in the lower right corner. Then send out the link to the room to your friends and start the video once they have arrived. In our tests, the service worked just as advertised. The chat room itself is basic, but it fulfills its purpose without getting in the way. The video sync sometimes lagged behind a bit by up to 4 seconds. This is definitely within an acceptable range, however. Just like these commenters on Reddit , we would love to see a few additional features in the app, including the ability to create playlists, search for videos within the app or give control over the room to another user. The developers have promised to continue to work on this app and plan to add more advanced features in the near future. Verdict For now, if you are looking for an easy way to watch YouTube videos with your friends without having to install a desktop app like DeskTube , Synchtube is one of the easiest apps to use. The app has some limitations, but for the vast majority of users, the current version should work just fine and most of the current issues will surely be fixed in the near future. Discuss
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Synchtube: Watch Synchronized YouTube Videos With Your Friends
It's been almost a year since I last worked with DIY repair site FixYa but I still remember the traffic spike we'd see every Christmas. While families would be thrilled to unwrap smart phones, netbooks and flat screen monitors in the early morning, they'd find themselves lost in a sea of instructions by noon. There is nothing worse than having a new shiny toy and not being able to play with it. In addition to FixYa, below are a few resources you can use to help set up your new gadgets. Sponsor 1. How Stuff Works : If you're looking for a basic understanding of your computer or device, you can always check out this site for some helpful videos. The site offers tips on everything from adding RAM to your laptop to deconstructing your wireless mouse. 2. Videojug : This site offers videos on everything from cooking to cars. The site's technology and cars section offers a variety of how-to information including how to get videos onto your iPod to how to set up your PlayStation. 3. Aardvark : When in doubt, ask the mob. While not specifically a gadget site, Aardvark allows you query your network for answers via email, instant message, iPhone app and web interface. Named ReadWriteWeb's Best Little Co. of 2009 , the beauty of this site is that only those with a self-proclaimed expertise will be asked to solve your gadget problems. 4. Gdgt : Gdgt is a social wiki site where users trade tips and tricks on their favorite gadgets. Launched by former Engadget editors Ryan Block and Peter Rojas, the site offers specs and reviews on some of the newest products on the market. If you can't solve your gadget-related issue on one of the video sites, it's probably because the product is too new to have how-to videos. Check Gdgt for the listing and look at the discussion page for details. 5. iFixit Teardowns : And finally, if you're feeling ambitious and you don't want to wait on the phone for a manufacturer's 1-800 number, iFixit offers user-generated teardown guides. The guides give a photo documentation of gadget disassembly as well as commentary on parts and hardware. Check your product documentation before venturing into this territory, you wouldn't want to void your warranty before getting the device working. Discuss
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5 Sites to Help You Set Up Your New Gadgets
Almost in the immediate wake of Google's announcing short URLs ( goo.gl ) and Facebook experimenting with fb.me links, YouTube has made a gesture toward shorter web addresses, as well. Today, the video site announced it's launching youtu.be links. They're not as short as the super-brief URLs users might see from Bit.ly or is.gd because each one contains a unique ID for the video it links to. But this extra bit of information makes the URLs more useful for developers, too. Sponsor While the resulting URLs aren't significantly shorter than a regular YouTube link, users will have the added benefit of knowing exactly what kind of content they're being redirected to, which isn't always the case with many shortened URLs. Also, with the video ID as part of the short URL, writes YouTube engineering manager Vijay Karunamurthy, "developers can do interesting things like show you thumbnails, embed the video directly or track how a video is spreading in real time." End users can shorten links manually simply by putting the video ID (the part of the YouTube URL that comes after the equals sign and before the ampersand, if there is one) after http://youtu.be/. For example, " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1acVM7_rWw4 " is the regular URL of an interview we did over the summer with a great startup advisor in Boulder, CO. The short version of that link would be " http://youtu.be/1acVM7_rWw4 ". Or, for those copy/paste-averse folks among us, links will be automatically shortened when broadcast thought the site's sharing mechanisms. Discuss
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YouTube Gets Short(er) Links, Too
