YouTube Adds “Shoppable” Channel Feature

Speaking of YouTube, they are now making the channels on YouTube “shoppable.” By commercializing more, they gain the “eyeballs” that are viewing on YouTube for ad sales. Pretty smart. But, is it going to be pretty annoying as well?

YouTube Makes Video Channels Shoppable

“YouTube is connecting people with products in a new initiative where they can now shop for products while viewing videos on YouTube channels. According to blog post by Google, which owns YouTube, people use the video site for entertainment, learning a new skill, find new information, and shop for products.

According to the blog post, YouTube offers an opportunity for consumer goods brands to reach shoppers in the moment and provide them with an easy way to go from watching a video to purchasing a product.

Google introduced a new channel gadget on YouTube that will enable consumer goods brands to connect consumers directly with retailers throughout the entire YouTube experience, according to the blog post. It will enable shoppers to move from browsing how-to videos and featured products to finding which retailers carry them, check availability, compare prices and make a purchase.

The first to partner with Google was Unilever, which is highlighting TRESemmé as the first brand to use this new YouTube channel gadget to showcase their line of hair care solutions, according to the blog post. TRESemmé has generated more than 2.7 million views on their channel. YouTube can now connect these consumers with products they’re watching in the demonstration videos in a faster more efficient way, shortening the shopping journey.

The new gadget will be available as a premium offering for Google’s consumer goods clients, produced through Gloto, according to the blog post.”

YouTube Competes With uStream and Others on Live Streaming

Yep, it was all the “buzz” in the Techpodcasts newsgroup. YouTube is now doing live videop streaming like uStream, and other providers…. BUT! There is a BUT. Turns out that you have to have at least 1000 subscribers, and then you have to apply for the new streaming capability. Sigh. I am not at 1000 YouTube subscribers… yet. Wanna help me out? SUBSCRIBE! I am at:

https://www.youtube.com/drbillbailey

Do me a favor and subscribe! Let’s get those numbers up, and I will try out their live streaming thang!

Geek Software of the Week: Postbox!

Not too many of the Geek Software of the Weeks are a “paid for” product, but this one is. I needed a simple, clean, very cool email client. I had been using Thunderbird, but there were some things I didn’t like about it, and they have stopped development on it. So, I found Mailbox! It is only $10.00. And, it is nice, simple, and clean!

Postbox Email Client for IMAP, POP3, etc.

Be focused, be organized, be awesome
Powerful, intuitive, and faster than a scalded monkey, the Postbox email client will help you stay on task, find information quickly and act, not react.

Conversation views give you the ‘big picture’
Postbox’s Conversation Views are powerful, actionable, and easy to use.

It works by gathering conversation fragments from multiple folders and presenting them in a unified view.

So the rumors are true, Postbox will actually make you smarter.

Powerful Tagging
Postbox Topics lets you organize your messages by keyword.

When you assign a topic to a message, it is also applied to other messages within the conversation, in addition to all future replies — a huge time saver.

Combine the use of Topics with the Focus Pane to attain a state of organizational bliss.

Awesome Gmail Support
Gmail Label support makes organizing easy.

Dedicated Important view for high-priority messages.

Send and Archive your messages in just one step.

Add detected dates to your Google Calendar.

Support for Gmail keyboard shortcuts for the power user.

Quick Reply
Quick Reply lets you reply to a message without the need to open a separate compose window, which is perfect for short, snappy responses.

It all happens within a message or conversation, so that you can get right back to what you were doing.

Use Quick Reply with Send and Archive to keep your Inbox tidy.

Send Dropbox links instead of large files
Drag files from your Dropbox folder to send them as links.

Messages send faster and you’ll save hard drive space.

Files can be updated outside of the email message.

You can also attach Dropbox files, but why would you?

Send emails with brains and beauty
Summarize in Compose creates a beautifully formatted who-said-what-when digest that cleans up messy email threads.

Format your replies with profile photos, or just text for business use.

Either way, you’ll look like a hero on each and every message send.

Track To-Dos within your Inbox
Our To-Do View lets you work on important tasks without distraction – within your Inbox!

Create new to-dos, annotate existing to-dos, and pin to-dos to the top of your message list so that they don’t fall out of sight/out of mind.

Combine the To-Do View with Unified Inboxes/Folders and the Focus Pane to crunch through your workload in record time.

Quickly find Documents and Images
Postbox gives you fast access to documents and images hiding within your email messages.

No more digging through email messages to find what you need!

It’s easy to save or send what you’ve found. Simply select a file or image, and click an action button.

Social connections add a personal touch
Auto-import profile photos from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Gravatar.

2Update your status on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

3Quick and easy links to sender’s profile pages.

Easy file searching within the Compose Window
The Compose Sidebar lets you search for documents and images while composing a message.

Open the Sidebar and start typing to begin your search. Then, drop what you’ve found into your message.

Reusing documents and images has never been easier!”