Beyond YouTube

Each day, tens of thousands of videos are posted to YouTube, which is just barely three years old, but it hugely dominates the online video world. It's not, however, the be-all and end-all, and there are plenty of other video options out there. Here are a few more to consider.



VideoJug

www.videojug.com

Can you tie a Windsor knot? Select just the right wine for dinner? Hang a door? Plant onions? VideoJug gives itself the motto, "Life Explained. On Film." Or hundreds of short, usually entertaining videos on all sorts of do-it-yourself topics. (It's not all about carpentry and home improvement: one of the most-watched entries, incidentally, is on how to kiss passionately.) The bulk of the entries are made by pros, but any registered user is welcome to upload their own material for the forums section.



Video Sift

www.videosift.com

Thousands of videos are uploaded daily to YouTube - not to mention rival video sites. Who could possibly have time to sort through all that stuff? Video Sift helps, a little, by putting the power of the crowd to work; users tag what they like, others pile on (or don't), and items (ranging from talk-show excerpts, news items, music videos, homemade stuff) take on a life of their own.



Big Think

www.bigthink.com

If YouTube specializes in the short and snappy (and often, yes, silly; how many videos are there of pet tricks and motorcycle spills?), Big Think is definitely about the far more cerebral side of life. As a welcome video puts it, Big Think hosts comments from "the greatest minds of the planet, and we want you to join in." Well, golly, that's flattering! There are, indeed, some weighty discussions on hand, and I like how they cleave things between the meta and the physical. If you're looking for some meaning in life, you could do far worse elsewhere.



StumbleVideo

http://video.stumbleupon.com

StumbleUpon has emerged as a popular way to bring random surfing back to the web, while also offering some customization; when you click on something you like, for instance, the odds go up you'll see more of the same. Saying no means less. I often do neither, and just click "next." The video service works much the same way, and you have the extra option of searching for keywords.

Elsewhere this week



Hitchcock cameos

http://hitchcock.tv/cam/cameos.html

In this month's Vanity Fair, you'll find a splashy series of pages, with current stars (from Javier Bardem to Gwyneth Paltrow) recreating famous scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's best-known films. For the recreation of Lifeboat, I learned that Hitchcock had considered playing a floating corpse, in order to solve the logistical problem of fitting his obligatory cameo into the picture. Instead, he decided on appearing in a weight-loss ad in a newspaper held by one of the characters. You'll see that, and all the other remarkable cameos, with how-to-spot-him highlighting helpfully added to the individual frames.



Coder or Killer?

www.mattround.freeserve.co.uk/files/killerquiz.swf

I'm not sure what the makers of this British quiz are trying to imply, but the object is to decide whether each picture shown belongs to a computer programmer or, well, a vicious serial killer … or, as they put it, knowing your Java beans from your fava beans.



Fonejacker

www.fonejacker.tv

"Fonejacker" is a TV show in the United Kingdom, and apparently a popular one. It consists of audio recordings of prank phone calls placed to the likes of home electronics shops, with barebones but hilarious animation layered in on top.



John Gushue is a news writer for CBCNews.ca in St. John's. E-mail: surf@thetelegram.com. Read past Surf's Up columns and daily updates at his blog: johngushue.typepad.com.