Is there anything to be optimistic about regarding the financial bombs? Is everyone expecting the sky to fall? Should I worry about my content hoisted in those once shiny new Web 2.0 sites suddenly evaporating. And damnit, will I be slashing more tools from my 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story? (It might be more manageable at say, 25… but nearly as much fun).
Maybe is the answer to all. I’m not ready to scribble doom and gloom, but the Deadpool is rising. One of tools on my “to do”list for 50 Ways, Sketchcast disappeared except for a one page logo (no notice) and I heard people who used it got no notification either. My procrastination paid off there.
But the puckering sounds are hitting the once rock solids, the giants. Yahoo seems to be losing its happy yodeling sound. I got wind today when @soul4real tweeted the doors closing at Jumpcut:
Ouch, Jumpcut was one of the best full featured web based video editors.
You cannot tell anything is up from the happy, cheerful front door:
But if you try to upload, the sad news is there:
or
We’re sorry to announce that we are no longer accepting uploads to Jumpcut.
We will be keeping the Jumpcut site up and running for the foreseeable future so you”˜ll still be able to play, remix and share your existing movies ““ you just won’t be able to upload anything new.
If you’re looking for a place to upload and share your video, we recommend that you head over to Flickr: http://flickr.com/explore/video
So really Jumpcut still exists, but you cannot upload videos to it anymore; you have to plop them on Flickr (A Yahoo product).
I am not advocating falling of sky. And I always always advise that when you create the content in the cloud, you keep organized copies of all the assets that went into them.
But the FAQ does not inspire a rocket of confidence:
Why did you turn off uploads?
It was a difficult decision that we wish we didn’t have to make, but it was necessary in order to focus resources on other Yahoo! sites.
or “women and children first”?
Can I download my edited movies so I can upload them somewhere else?
Unfortunately, no. Jumpcut was built to assemble your movies in real-time so you wouldn’t have to wait for rendering. The flip-side of this design means there’s no single “file” to download.There are third-party tools like http://www.clipnabber.com that you can use to get a partial download of your Jumpcut movies in .flv format, but the files created won’t include any titles, transitions or effects that you added using the Jumpcut editor.
or “tough luck, sucker! we get yer movies right here!”
I love video editing. Are there other free tools I can use?
Yes there are. If you’re running Windows, you should have a program called Windows Movie Maker on your computer. If you have a Mac, you should have iMovie. You can use these applications to make movies and upload to other video sharing sites, such as Flickr.
or “This cloud computing stuff is for the daredevils. Go back to your desktop.”
More on this story from TechCrunch Yahoo Putting Jumpcut In The Deadpool?
My advice is dont panic, but make sure you are tracking your original content. Don’t bet the house on one media site. And by all means, Bring a Towel!
As for Yahoo, well I think/hope they will make it. There is the new spirit of being innovative in the down cycle, and maybe the free coffee and pool tables might have to go. But get back to the labs, and keep inventing cool stuff. The sky is not falling (the earth may be rising).
But it’s not all so happy in Yahoo Land
When I first started presenting at NECC in the mid/late 90s the exhibition hall was FILLED with the next best thing—and all of these things were “free”–Classroom Connect, eboard, BigChalk, RiverDeep, etc etc. A year or so later 90% of the next best things were gone and the rest charged a fee. I’m sure that’ll happen again–for two reasons. All (most) of these sites plan to earn money and who needs six online timeline generators!!
I keep telling people to backup their files or photos, but I don’t want to be Chicken Little.
Also during the dot.com bubble the exhibitors gave away phenomenal stuff for free software, computer bags, tool kits, year long subscriptions, books, etc—a couple of years later you’d be lucky to get a bookmark or catalog. haha
Just got noticed that Flickr Pro won’t be included free with my AT&T broadband connection. Will be interesting where it all goes. I know some are waiting for the “Google” shoe to drop, but have to figure their ad revenue will keep them going … right?!
Brian