YouTube Thumbnail Selection

I used to wonder how YouTube picked the thumbnails that are displayed for videos. Sure, the person posting the video gets three options to choose from, but how are those three thumbnails selected? The answer to that question is posted on blogs and message boards around the web, so I thought I’d pass it along.

When a video is uploaded to YouTube, three points are referenced for thumbnails, here are the formulas: Thumbnail 1 = R x 0.25; Thumbnail 2 = R x 0.50; Thumbnail 3 = R x 0.75 (R is the running time of the video in seconds). So conceptually it looks like this:

Start —– T1 —–  T2 —– T3 —– End

Rhett and Link

I waste more time than I should on YouTube. But many clouds have a silver lining, and this onecertainly does. I have discovered many exceptional videos and quite a few worthwhile worthless clips. Recently I stumbled across Rhett and Link, and I’ve enjoyed the songs and sketches they have uploaded. Check out their tribute to Facebook:

Very nice.

Enough About Them, Let’s Talk About You

The fashion in which companies advertise their merchandise fascinates me. Most commercials rely very little on logic, fairness, or common sense. The intended result is to take your money, not make you happy or improve your quality of life.

One current advertising campaign that I find rather hypocritical is the current Apple Macintosh series (Hello I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC) that features Justin Long.

Throughout the series the PC character is petty, negative, and dishonest. The message is that PCs are inferior and annoying. What makes this funny, is that Apple is creating a caricature of their rivals. In this process they are acting in the very manner for which they are condemning their rivals. At the end of one of these commercials I wonder: what did I learn about Apple computers?

I really dislike negative advertising.

Tell me about your product. If your product is good, let it speak for itself. Don’t undermine your integrity by attacking your rival.