WorldTV

Here at WorldTV we love our music, we love Brasil and it would seem Brasil loves us. Now over 50,000 WorldTV channels have been created in Brasil- the most from any one country. Brasil has been one of our biggest countries since launch and Portuguese and Spanish were the first languages we added support for. To celebrate being Big in Brasil, we have selected a few popular Brasilian music channels for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Aqui na WorldTV nós amamos nossa música, nós amamos o Brasil e parece que o Brasil nos ama. Atualmente cerca de 50,000 canais de WorldTV foram criados no Brasil – mais do que em qualquer outro país. O Brasil tem sido um dos nossos maiores paises desde o começo e português e espanhol foram os primeiros idiomas que nós acrescentamos ao suporte do WorldTV. Para comemorar o quanto o Brasil tem sido Grande, nós selecionamos alguns canais de música brasileira para que vocês tenham o prazer de ver e ouvir.

Gilberto Gil - WorldTV.com/Gilberto_Gil

Gilberto Gil has been a key figure in the development of modern music in Brazil combining traditional samba sounds with his own style and wide ranging influences including The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, African & Jamaican Music, the list goes on..  Bizarrely exiled to London in 1970 by the Brazilian government with fellow musician Caetano Veloso, while there Gil performed with musical groups including Yes, Pink Floyd, and the Incredible String Band and was later inspired by working with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Fela Kuti. After a successful musical career Gil took Government office in January 2003 as Brazil’s new Minister of Culture.

Gilberto Gil tem sido uma figura chave no desenvolvimento da música moderna do Brasil, combinando sons do samba tradicional com seu próprio estilo e uma enorme gama de influências que incluem os Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Música Africana e Jamaicana, além de outros. Foi estranhamente exilado para Londres em 1970 pelo governo brasileiro com o companheiro músico Caetano Veloso. Enquanto morou lá, Gil tocou com grupos musicais, incluindo Yes, Pink Floyd e a incrível String Band e depois se inspirou ao trabalhar com gente como Stevie Wonder e Fela Kuti. Depois de uma carreira musical de sucesso Gil entrou para a chancelaria do governo em janeiro de 2003 como o novo Ministro da Cultura do Brasil.

Marisa Monte - WorldTV.com/Marisa_Monte

A classically trained opera singer Marisa Monte´s popularity really came to figure after the time she spent in Italy where she met producer Nelson Motta (then boyfriend) where her performer sound evolved into a mixture of Diva and Pop Rock . Much of her work has been in collaboration with other musicians/songwriters including Carlinhos Brown featured below.

A popularidade da cantora Marisa Monte que estudou ópera clássica realmente cresceu depois do período em que ela passou na Itália, onde conheceu o produtor Nelson Motta (seu namorado ). O som que ela executava evoluiu para uma mistura de Diva e Pop Rock. Muito do seu trabalho tem sido em colaboração com outros músicos/compositores, incluindo Carlinhos Brown, destacado abaixo.

Caetano Veloso - WorldTV.com/Caetano_Veloso

Heavily influenced by the bossa nova style of João Gilberto Caetano Veloso has been at the forefront of Brazilan music and with Gilberto Gil was a partly  responsible for developing Tropicalismo, a fusion of Brazilian pop, rock and  avant-garde music.  This musical movement that inexplicably resulted in Veloso and Gil spending several months in prison in 1969 afterwhich they were exiled to London.  Asked about his time there he says, “London felt dark, and I felt far away from myself.”  Errr yes, Brazil does tend to have more sunshine…

Muito influenciado pelo estilo da bossa nova de João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso tem estado na linha de frente da música brasileira e com Gilberto Gil foi responsável pelo desenvolvimento do Tropicalismo, uma fusão do pop brasileiro, rock e música de vanguarda. Esse movimento musical resultou inexplicavelmente na prisão de Veloso e Gil por vários meses em 1969, depois do que foram exilados para Londres. Perguntado sobre o tempo em que esteve lá, ele diz: “Londres era sombria e eu me sentia ausente de mim mesmo”. Errr sim, o Brasil costuma ter mais sol.

Carlinhos Brown - WorldTV.com/Carlinhos_Brown

Carlinho Brown became a percussionist from an early age with the mindful guidance of his parents.  After various collaborations in the 1980s he also cut his teeth in recording studios and began to collaborate with other artists and achieved success and international exposure as part of Caetano Veloso’s (above) band.  He was also the leader of the musical group Timbalada, a group of 100 percussionists and singers who recorded eight albums and toured various countries around the world.

Carlinhos Brown tornou-se um percussionista desde pequeno com a cuidadosa orientação de seus pais. Depois de várias colaborações nos anos 80, ele também ganhou experiência em estúdios de gravação e começou a colaborar com outros artistas e conquistou sucesso e projeção internacional como parte da banda de Caetano Veloso (acima). Ele foi também o líder do grupo musical Timbalada, um grupo de 100 percussionistas e cantores que gravou oito álbuns e percorreu vários paises do mundo.

Gilles Peterson -WorldTV.com/Gilles_Peterson

I know I know Gilles Peterson is NOT Brazilian.  However, if ever a man deserves plaudits for championing Brazilian Music in the UK then it is him.  From his early days as Talking Loud head honcho and more recently Brownswood Recordings and DJ on his weekly BBC Radio 1 show Worldwide Peterson has consistently acted as ambassador for Latin beats and his non native knowledge of their scene is second to none.

Eu sei, eu sei, Gilles Peterson NÃO é brasileiro. Entretanto, se algum homem merece aplausos por defender a Música Brasileira no Reino Unido, então ele é o próprio. Desde os primeiros dias como controlador chefe do Talking Loud e mais recentemente com o Brownswood Recordings e semanalmente como DJ no seu show Radio 1 Worldwide na BBC, Peterson tem atuado de forma constante como embaixador dos ritmos latinos e o seu conhecimento não-nativo do cenário é único.

Please feel free to suggest/recommend any other music channels on WorldTV that we have not reviewed yet @ reception@worldtv.com

Por favor sinta-se à vontade para sugerir/recomendar outros canais do WorldTV que nós ainda não examinamos em: reception@worldtv.com

Have you ever wished that you could add videos to your WorldTV channel more easily?

Thanks to a recent blog post by Fred Wilson, we were inspired to bring forward a feature that we’ve be planning for a while.

The new feature lets you add web videos to either your library or playlist, or both, as you browse supported video sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Metacafe etc. You don’t have to be logged in to your WorldTV Editor to do this, you don’t have to copy & paste URL’s. A single click on a ‘bookmarklet’ in your web browser adds the video instantly.

Setting it up takes seconds… Under the Promote tab in your Editor you choose the type of bookmarklet that you want (Add to Library, Playlist, Both) and then you simply drag and drop the generated link to the toolbar of your web browser.

With the bookmarklet installed all you need to do is browse to a video page like the Bruno / Conan O’Brien clip above and click the bookmarklet to add the video instantly to your WorldTV channel. A confirmation message appears to tell you the video has been successfully added.

There’s all kinds of great uses for this new feature. Here are some ideas…

• If you make use of our Twitter functionality (to send tweets automatically) you can use the bookmarklet to rapidly share video finds over Twitter - without ever having to log in to your WorldTV channel
• Create a separate WorldTV channel that is solely for your personal viewing pleasure and you can save and bookmark videos for later personal viewing. This is the original idea of Fred Wilson’s ‘Watch Later Project‘ - the idea that you can bookmark videos during the day as you find them (eg at work), and sit back and watch them in the evening.
• Using WorldTV’s RSS capability the videos that you bookmark become an RSS feed. There are many uses for this including the ability to watch the videos in a media browser like Boxee.
• A cool idea is to use Xmarks to synchronize your bookmarks across all the different computers and web browsers that you use. The WorldTV bookmarklet will then appear on your home computer, work computer, laptop etc, allowing you to save and bookmark videos into WorldTV wherever you find them. (Note you don’t need to use Xmarks to do this - you could simply add the bookmarklet to each computer separately… but Xmarks makes this easy to do and is generally very cool)

For the more technically inclined, each bookmarklet is tied to the WorldTV channel you generated the bookmarklet for. So you can create different bookmarklets for different channels if you like (if you run multiple channels). We’d recommend editing the name for each bookmarklet if you do this, within your web browser, so you can differentiate between them.

Our short-term plans for this new feature are to improve the look and feel of the confirmation message that appears after you’ve clicked the bookmarklet, and make the message auto-disappear after a couple of seconds (you currently have to click a close box).

We hope you enjoy the new bookmarklet feature on WorldTV and find many creative ways of using it!

Today on WorldTV we honour the life of a friend and music producer who sadly passed away on June 17th.

Ian Loveday was one of the pioneers of the UK house and techno scene, a DJ and music producer who is best known for his work as EON (Spice, Inner Mind, Fear is the Mindkiller) and his collaborations with S’Express, Bizarre Inc, Depthcharge and Peter ‘Baby’ Ford. He also recorded the sound effects that you hear on WorldTV when you use the live broadcasting / mobile phone video feature - it’s his voice put through a vocoder.

In honour of his life (his funeral is today) we’ve put together a channel featuring a selection of his work. There is also a discography, Myspace page, Facebook group and official website.

Ian was that rare breed of individual who you could reliably say there isn’t a person on the planet who would have a bad word to say about him. He was a genius, an innovator and an all round nice guy. He will be sadly missed.

Ian Loveday aka EON on WorldTV - worldtv.com/ianloveday

One of the lesser-known features of WorldTV’s highly flexible video platform is that you can create a playlist of videos out of FLV files, and generate an embeddable player, just as easily as creating a player for say YouTube or Vimeo videos.

If you have content in FLV format (or any format that is supported by Flash 10 - eg MP4 or M4V) and can host those video files on a webserver, you can easily string together those files into a playlist within the WorldTV system, and generate an embeddable player that you can host on your own website. WorldTV makes this extremely easy to do. Here’s how you do it.

Step 1 - Create the FLV files
Take your video content and convert it to FLV format. There are lots of programs that will let you do this. A good (paid) option is the Flix range of encoders. These are used by many professionals. For a free option, check out this easy-to-follow guide on our Founder’s blog.

Step 2 - Host the FLV files on a webserver
WorldTV does not typically offer hosting of FLV files although we do have a hosting solution for large customers. There are many excellent hosts out there and if you are reading this you probably know the options already or have your own hosting. If you don’t, we recommend establishing a hosting account with someone like Servint (we use them) or exploring cloud based hosting using Amazon S3. A low cost host we recommend is Gearhost who have packages starting at under $10 a month for 100GB of monthly transfer. Simply upload your FLV (or MP4/MV4/H264) files to your webserver, and write down the URL for each file.

Step 3 - Paste the URL’s into the WorldTV Editor
This step couldn’t be easier. Assuming you have already established a channel (account) on WorldTV, simply paste the URL’s for each FLV file into the ‘Add by URL’ box within the WorldTV Editor. An example of a URL might be http://www.somedomain.com/mycoolvideo.flv. Each video will immediately appear within your library, complete with a thumbnail, and you can double click it right away to preview it!

Step 4 - Arrange the videos into a Playlist
Simply drag and drop your videos into the desired order within the Playlist section of the Editor

Step 5 - Generate an Embeddable Player
Using the Promote tab within the Editor choose from a range of widgets and players. Grab the embed code and put it on your site.

WorldTV really is the easiest and best method yet to create a playlist out of FLV files to embed on your website. With full H264 support, and an expanding range of player skins and options, there really is no excuse not to have video on your website!

We are very pleased to announce two excellent new additions to our supported sites. These two sites are quite diverse in nature. The first is the international news agency Reuters which has managed to preserve its independence, integrity, and freedom from bias in its news reporting at a time when almost anything goes in broadcast news. Reuters’ reputation remains intact and they offer truly global news coverage with a team of several thousand journalists who over the years have covered all the major news events, while often seriously endangering their own lives. Reuters has a strict policy towards upholding objectiveness and they have refrained from using the word “terrorist” in their reporting unless it is as part of a quote. Reuters will be an excellent resource to channel creators who wish to have the best in objective news clips no matter what the direction of their channel. Check out this excellent channel which focuses on climate change and is made exclusively from Reuters’ news reports.
The second new supported site is the sometimes controversial yet always hilarious website that is Ebaumsworld. Home to numerous crazy pranks, hilarious wipeouts, classic commercials, wicked stunts, zany stand up routines and more, you cannot fail to find something entertaining at this popular website. You can also check out their flash cartoons, jokes and chatrooms amongst the entertainment media available at this web recreation portal.

We hope you enjoy these brilliant new supported sites and do continue to suggest other sites we should support by dropping us a line at reception@worldtv.com.

The smoke has finally cleared from this year’s awesome edition of The Global Marijuana March and The Toronto Freedom Festival. The festival featured many great performances by the assembled showcase of musical talent along with many thought provoking speeches given by the attending speakers. To see the footage captured by our team of videographers you can still go to the The Toronto Freedom Festival Channel here on WorldTV or if you prefer you can catch an encore audio presentation from our friends at DOPEfm on 93.3 CFMU McMaster Campus Radio.
Coverage of the festival will be rebroadcasted on DOPEfm on Saturday May 30th 2009 beginning at 1:30am Eastern Standard Time (Approximated) & repeating 4:30am EST (Approximated). The 90 minute production includes the following speakers from the day: Eric ‘Buzzzworthy’ Wood, Jonathan Dickinson, Dana Larsen, Marc Emery, Patrick Whyte, Sara Chekroun, Christopher Lawson, Alison Myrden & Vijay Sarma; plus the ‘themed’ music playlist of some DOPEfm favourites including: Kay & Cleary with The Chosen Few Band – What It Takes To Live, Madvillain – America’s Most Blunted, Nish Raawks – Canada’s Most Blunted, Singapore Kane – Do What I Wanna Do, Fly Guys – Fly Guys Rap.

To catch the encore audio presentation go to CFMU McMaster online or catch the live MP3 stream here. DOPEfm is also available by podcast from iTunes and directly here or here

Many thanks to all those involved and the over 30,000 people who attended the Toronto event for making the day such a smokin’ success!

This Saturday May 2nd is the Global Marijuana March organized by volunteers in 250 cities around the world. WorldTV will be reporting on the event from Toronto (traditionally the largest such event) and is inviting anyone to contribute video from their city or country. The event highlights issues relating to medical marijuana.

If you have the ability to send video by e-mail or transmit video via Qik, you can participate. We would like to add your video to the live broadcast.

If you would like to watch the event on Saturday, follow us on Twitter or visit worldtv.com/live on Saturday afternoon.

This is part of a continuing series of experimental live broadcasts and marks the debut of WorldTV’s new Projects page. We’ve always said we will offer ‘imaginative projects that people can get involved in’. Imagination should be in abundance this Saturday…

Learn how you can contribute video and Tweets to this Saturday’s live broadcast

We are delighted to announce two awesome new additions to our supported sites. They certainly are different in nature but both websites will offer genuine audio-visual riches for many of our channel creators and viewers. The first one is The Onion News Network - a ridiculously funny site (not intended for those under 18), where the masters of fake news push today’s politically correct boundaries in a zany, madcap way usually leaving the viewer in fits of hysterical laughter. Here at WorldTV, we are long time fans of The Onion’s crazy, satirical brand of humor and we are very excited to now be supporting their brilliant video content. You really must check out some of the hilarious clips we found on The Onion News Network, right here on our Best of The Onion News Network channel.

The second of our two new supported sites is the wonderfully diverse LiveLeak with its mandate of “Redefining The Media”. LiveLeak lets users post and share videos but unlike most video sharing sites out there, it really is super-keen to promote discussion and debate of controversial political, current affairs and real life footage of international events like wars and natural disasters. The site gives users a place to post, comment on and debate anything from citizen journalism, to celebrity gossip, to education reports, to news from the front lines of international war zones, to entertainment updates. To commemorate the addition of this awesome, original video site why not watch a collection of some of Liveleak’s most entertaining clips, according to us, here on our brand spanking new Best of LiveLeak channel.

We hope you love these excellent new supported sites and please feel free to drop us a line at reception@worldtv.com suggesting other video sites we should be supporting.

Last Friday we ventured into somewhat unfamiliar territory, having agreed to produce and direct a Live, two hour fly-on-the-wall documentary from one of London’s finest restaurants.

The idea was to film a special ‘tasting’ event for top London food critics and broadcast it to people around the world via the web. This is the story of how we did it, and what it might mean for WorldTV in future… Read the rest of this entry »

WorldTV in partnership with our friends at Ustream and London’s uber trendy restaurant Galvin at Windows is delighted to bring you our very first official LIVE broadcast taking place this Friday afternoon. It promises to be a truly groundbreaking event, and one not to be missed!

The event is an online stream of an exclusive Champagne and Oyster Tasting featuring some of London’s top food and drink personalities, all from the top floor of London’s famous Park Lane Hilton hotel. We are truly excited to be a part of it.

We will be capturing the event on three separate cameras to give the audience a unique insight into the proceedings and goings on. The restaurant itself is a truly legendary space with arguably the best view of London high above Hyde Park and with panoramic views from all sides.

A stellar selection of influential food, drink and lifestyle critics and bloggers are all attending and will be using social media applications like Twitter, Qik, live chat and so on to integrate their own audiences and followers. Guests will be presented with several exotic varieties of Oysters and Champagne from some of the finest houses including Galvin itself. Hosting the event for WorldTV is the BBC’s Food and Drink Expert Nigel Barden who will explain all the goings on to the audience following live around the world. Food and wine lovers will get a real treat and something of an education, and it can all be seen gratis at worldtv.com/live.

We are very excited to be producing such an original and innovative show as WorldTV’s first official live broadcast and we look forward to producing many, many more in future.

Don’t forget to tune in this Friday at 4pm UK time or 8am West Coast USA. Twitter users can follow @worldtv for a reminder and our founder @smashing who is producing the event. To follow all event activity use the search tag #galvinw.