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April 21 Official MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget ReleasedThe official MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget is now available for downloading and installing:
Some of the Highlights of the MSN Video Vista Sidebar Gadget:
· Display Localized MSN Videos with links to MSN Video Destination Site · Display Soapbox Videos and play natively Inline · Localized for over 30 countries and languages · Top-Level market Navigation · Numerous Sort-by options · Display Search terms · Display Related Videos · Customize number of thumbs and pages to show · Auto-scroll Pages at defined intervals · And much more……
The MSN Video Gadget allows you to dynamically track the viral and social trends of videos, using custom sorts of Categories and Search Terms:
February 02 MSN Video Now Available in Over 23 CountriesSeptember 28 Looking Ahead - MSN Video and Silverlight
The MSN Video/Soapbox team would like to say thanks to everyone, for all the positive feedback we have received since we released the all new MSN Video earlier this week. The response has been amazing as we delivered the best place on the web for users to enjoy and share video online. Now users enjoy uninterrupted access to the breadth of content, from news to entertainment to user-generated video, all in one place like never before.
A couple of our favorite quotes include:
“Surprise, MSN has built the video site of the future… while other sites (like YouTube and MySpace) keep pumping out the pageviews and trying to figure out how to best run ads - this new MSN Video site has hit on a formula that will likely represent the video portal of the future” Marshall Kirkpatrick- Read/Write Web
“Although this might sound even more annoying to viewers than the ’standard’ way of displaying ads, it should be noted that users who like to click on many videos and only watch a couple of seconds of each clip will surely prefer time-based advertising.” Stan Schroeder – Mashable
What about the future? One topic we’re talking a lot about is offering MSN Video and Soapbox with Microsoft Silverlight. Silverlight just shipped a few weeks ago with a lot of benefits, such as offering - up to HD quality video on the Web for Mac and Windows today, and will support Linux later this year. We’re excited to move to Silverlight in the future and are working closely with the Silverlight team, stay tuned for more details. ;) In the meantime, if you haven’t seen examples of Silverlight yet, check out the MSN Halo 3 video gallery, MSN Election Guide and Tafiti. September 26 MSN Video Relaunched - Combining Premium and User-Generated Video Content With New Innovative Ad ModelToday we removed the Beta - and are officially relaunching MSN Video.
What does this mean?
It means we have enhanced the MSN Video experience by improving your ability to find and discover premium and user-generated video content - all in one location. At the same time,
we are introducing a new and innovative, time-based video advertising model.
The new MSN Video makes it easier for you to find and discover the breadth of video content from more than 40 leading video content providers, as well as video from across the Web. MSN Video now also integrates Soapbox user-generated videos directly into the same easy-to-use destination, and enables people to search and browse the entire MSN Video catalog while concurrently watching a video on the same page. With the relaunch you can now do an integreated video search and find videos from MSN Video, Soapbox User Videos, and the Web, all on one page.
Our new advertising delivery model for MSN Video, is a first of its kind for a major online portal, now delivers advertising - based on the amount of time you spend watching videos, instead of by the number of clips you have watched. This improvement will provide a more predictable viewing experience and enable you to “channel surf” without being interrupted. You will now see pre-roll advertisements before the first video and then see additional advertisements no more than once every three minutes during your viewing session.
The new version of MSN Video is available today in the U.S. and in a beta version, in more than 10 countries worldwide, including Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the U.K. Over the next several months, MSN Video will be incorporated throughout all the MSN channels to creative a cohesive experience video experience throughout the MSN.com portal.
MSN Video's new In-Page Player can already be found on the new MSN Extra Channel utilizing our new time-based advertising.
September 21 Soapbox is Now Part of MSN Video BetaAfter working for several months, the Soapbox Team is proud to report - Soapbox is now fully integrated with MSN Video Beta.
Soapbox is no longer a dedicated site, but is now a part of the next-generation of MSN Video Beta.
If you take a look at the new site, you will see Soapbox User Videos is now a tab on the main MSN Video Beta navigation.
Some of the new features you will find on the new - MSN Video Beta:
Integrated Search Results from MSN Video, Soapbox, and Web Videos
Soapbox Embedded Player with FullScreen
Many new features are still being worked on, so keep checking back here, as well as updates from LiveSide.net and
September 06 Soapbox Integration With Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live WriterYesterday began with the release of a new generation of Windows Live software, designed to make it easier than ever to get connected to Windows Live or other services. This suite is now available at http://get.live.com/wl/all.
The software includes e-mail (Windows Live Mail), photo sharing (Windows Live Photo Gallery), a beta publishing tool that lets you post directly to your blog (Windows Live Writer), parental controls (Windows Live OneCare Family Safety), a new version of Windows Live Messenger (8.5), and more.
What makes this release noteworthy, is that both Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Photo Gallery, are tightly integrated with Soapbox.
Windows Live Photo Gallery
With this release, comes the second beta of Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Windows Live Photo Gallery allows you easily manage your photos and VIDEOS.
Even though the product is called Windows Live Photo Gallery, we have to emphasize videos, since Gallery does a great job of managing both mediums.
For a full details, you can read Brandon LeBlanc's review.
With Windows Live Photo Gallery, the main feature the Soapbox team is really excited about,
is the "Publish" dropdown on the main navigation.
This option allows you to easly publish your Photos to Spaces, or publish your videos to Soapbox, in just one click.
The steps are:
Highlight a video in your video gallery, select Publish and choose "Publish on MSN Soapbox." Easy as that.
Fill in the Title, Description and Tags, Category and Permission fields, and your video
willl be automatically uploaded to Soapbox. After uploading the video, you will be redirected
to your My Soapbox area, for processing status.
Windows Live Writer
Highlighted in a previous Team post, Windows Live Writer Beta 3 has won great reviews from folks who
are regular bloggers.
This update, now allows you to embed videos from your favorite video service - including Soapbox, using the "Insert from Web" option.
The Insert Video option also allows you to quickly publish My Videos and My Favorite Soapbox Videos, using the "Insert from Soapbox" option.
As an alternative to the built-in Insert Video feature, Scott Lovegrove has the number-one Writer Plugin Download
with his "Insert Video" Plugin.
Allows you more options, such as being able to insert a posterframe of the video, rather than the full flash player.
Give them a test drive and let us know what you think. July 09 Live Earth Makes Streaming Video History
Over the weekend, many of us were watching Live Earth, both on TV and streaming live on the PC or Mac. Live Earth is a series of live world-wide concerts to confront the threat of global warming, and increase the awareness of the climate crisis. MSN is the exclusive online media partner for Live Earth, and as of 3 p.m. EDT Saturday, had received a total of more than 10 million streams and the most simultaneous streaming viewers of any online concert - ever. Live Earth is set to be the largest online concert and when the final stats are in, will break the record for on-demand streams viewed. Eight individual live concert feeds, plus a ninth world feed were all fed simultaneously. For Windows users, a high bitrate Windows Media stream was delivered. For Mac users, a live Quicktime stream was delivered. This was a huge technical undertaking. Soapbox powered the Video Community section of Live Earth and allowed you to upload your videos that answered this question: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD TO HELP FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE? Entries were divided into 2 Categories: My Backyard: My Music: You can view the video entries on the Live Earth site, or you can visit Soapbox and click on the Live Earth Tab on the top navigation. The On-Demand streams for all concerts are still available for viewing on Live Earth. Each concert is now divided into artist and song for easy viewing. Hope you enjoy history...
June 01 Soapbox Is Now Open For Full Video ViewingWe have just opened Soapbox on MSN Video for full video viewing.
You no longer need to be signed into the service to view Soapbox videos!
However just as before, you still need to sign in to upload, comment, tag or rate videos.
The Embedded Player is also available for full viewing and embedding.
While it might not be visible, we have spent the last month working hard on improving our backend, to make encoding and performance as scalable as possible.
We are also now conducting proactive filtering of all uploaded content, using technology from Audible Magic.
Audible Magic bases their filtering on the video's audio track and their database is being updated
constantly.
By using this technology, we see this as an important step to ensure the viability and success of
Soapbox over the long run.
We are committed to provide a great experience for people to find and share their personal videos on Soapbox on MSN Video.
Please click on the Feedback link on the bottom of the Soapbox page if you have any comments or suggestions. May 01 Updated Soapbox Embedded PlayerWith the relaunch of Soapbox on MSN Video Beta, the embedded player has also be updated.
Some of the improvements to the new player:
With these improvements, has come a feature change that needs to be noted. In the past, the player window was always fixed at a 4x3 ratio. The window size was dictated by the height, defined in the embed code. No matter what width you defined in the code, the player window would always be fixed in design and aspect ratio. With this new Player, the resizing characteristics are similiar to Windows Media Player. When you resize Windows Media Player, the width of the player and controls will stretch, but the video window is always fixed at the correct aspect ratio. This has caused a few people some grief with players that were embedded in small page areas.
If the height and width are not set correctly in the new Soapbox Embedded Player, the window and controls will also stretch. The height will always define the size of the fixed 4x3 video window. It might take some tweeking of the width to get rid of the black borders on the side. All of the existing features are still included in this latest version. These include - the ability to embed playlists of videos from My Favorites, My Videos and any of the browse lists or search terms. The Player will also switch into a "compact mode" (no playlist or menu displayed) when a width of less that 300px is defined. For instructions of how to embed a player with multiple videos in your blog, take a look at this previous post.
With the Soapbox Embedded Player, you do NOT need to be signed into Soapbox to view embedded videos! The player is open and viewable to all. You can also copy the embed code under the menu>share panel of the player and embed it on your blog.
April 24 Next Generation of Soapbox and MSN Video Betas Launched!The Soapbox Team is happy to announce that after months of development, we are relaunching the new Soapbox on MSN Video Beta site.
Completely reworked from the ground up, the new Soapbox on MSN Video Beta, now offers a clean UI with improved navigation and performance.
Some of the Upgraded Features:
Some of the other highlights of Soapbox:
Although Soapbox is still in closed beta and is not accepting new members, existing Soapbox users can still enjoy viewing and uploading privileges. Embedded Videos on Blogs are still open, and do not require a signin to watch.
The relaunch of Soapbox on MSN Video is not the only news we are happy to report. At the same time, we are launching the next-generation of
MSN Video. Located at http://next.video.msn.com
MSN Video Beta, showcases the same consistent UI and functionality as Soapbox.
Drawing on the many Premiere-Level video content partners, such as NBC News, MSNBC, and scores of other networks and studios, MSN Video Beta has been redesigned to be versatile and flexible.
The original MSN Video can still be found at http://video.msn.com and will not be going away.
All of the same improvements found on Soapbox can be found on MSN Video Beta:
Improved Navigation, Single Page Browsing, Upgraded cross-platform Video Player.
All of these launches come on the heals of the redesign of MSN Entertainment last week.
The relaunch of these two products, have been a result of your honest feedback and comments. You told us what you liked and disliked,
and we were listening. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback....
Soapbox Down for Exciting New Upgrades!We have not posted to the Team Blog for while now, since all of us on the Soapbox Team have been working hard to upgrade Soapbox, to create a better user experience.
We have taken all of your feedback into account and spent the last few months redesigning and upgrading, both the frontend and backend
of the service.
As a result of these upgrades, the service will be down for a few more hours.
In the meantime, you will not be able to access Soapbox. The Gadgets and Embedded Player will also not be working for a while.
Stay Tuned!!!
March 01 Watch Soapbox Videos Fullscreen on your TVLooking for an easy way to watch Soapbox Videos fullscreen on your TV?
for Media Center, to include RSS Video feeds from Soapbox.
Big Screen Headlines is a Media Center Edition, MCE application that allows you to monitor and read text RSS feeds, as well as listen to podcasts and watch video podcasts.
The application uses a fluid and very clean MCE User Interface.
Here are the steps:
1. Download and install the application
2. Launch MCE
3. Select Online Media --> Program Library
4. Launch Big Screen Headlines
5. Select Presents --> Preset Feeds
6. Select MSN Soapbox
I just installed Headlines on my MCE box and personally, it is an amazing experience to watch Soapbox videos on a TV, on a couch with a remote.
Being so used to browsing and watching videos on the small screen, this new 10' living room experience is completely different.
Before I knew it, 2 hours had gone by!
Install this easy to use application on your MCE device, hook it up to your TV and you will be browsing Soapbox Videos fullscreen on your TV.
Big Screen Headlines recently won the 'Best Vista Media Center Application' award on the Media Center Show Awards 2006.
February 27 Vista Sidebar Gadget For SoapboxToddOs is on a roll and has just launched a new
The Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget, allows you to install a persistent search box on the Vista Sidebar.
This gadget allows you to easily search Soapbox Videos. Search results are displayed 9 thumbnails at a time, organized by page.
Background color is customizable, by selecting the settings option.
The gadget is already one of the most top-rated sidebar gadgets in the Windows Vista Sidebar Download Page.
February 18 New Universal Soapbox GadgetYou might have noticed a new Soapbox Gadget at the top of the page.
It is the most comprehensive Soapox Gadget for Live.com and Spaces, developed to-date.
You can browse all Soapbox Browse lists, as well as a User's Videos
and Favorites - all in one gadget.
ToddOs has spent the last few months developing the gadget and it shows.
Scroll through 20 videos at a time, all paginated, for a total of 100 videos.
Click on a thumbnail and the video will be displayed in the embedded player.
You can click through to the next video at anytime, as well as jump to the previous video.
Tip:
In order to find your author ID, visit Soapbox, click on "my soapbox" on the left nav, and find your profile link.
It'll be of the form http://soapbox.msn.com/?user=8475505343921084160, where everything after "user=" is the ID.
Give it a spin and tell us what you think.
February 15 Windows Live Writer Video Plugin
easily post videos. The Video Plugin is amazingly simple to use.
Just insert the Soapbox Video permalink, select the "Embed Full Code" option
and publish. If you choose to just post a thumbnail of the player with a link to the video on Soapbox, you can also do that. There is also and option to let the
plugin decide. This means the plugin will put the code in, so that if your blog supports embedding, it will have the embed code, if embedding isn't supported, then
you will get an image of the player. Scott has done a complete rewrite of the plugin and is looking for beta testers.
The new plugin has "improved performance, a new interface, new site support,
and biggest of all, the ability to resize your videos on the fly."
Download here. February 13 Soapbox Now in Public BetaWe just flipped the switch from an Invitation Only, to a Public Beta.
No need to request an invitation and sign in to watch videos on Soapbox anymore!
Have fun watching...
February 05 Soapbox PermalinksSince Soapbox is using an AJAX interface, the ability to cut and paste URLs from the address bar is limited.
However, we still offer the funtionality to link directly to videos and video lists, with these permalinks:
Search:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?searchTerm=SEARCHTERM"
My Videos:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?cid=USERID">
My Favorite Videos:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?favcid=USERID
User:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?user=USERID
Video:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=VIDEOID January 25 Embed a Video in a Windows Live Spaces Post!
Videos, videos and more videos!
From the Windows Live Spaces Blog:
You asked for it, we created it! We’ve built more rich media capabilities into Windows Live Spaces so it’s easier for you to display your favorite videos on Spaces. You can now embed videos directly into your Spaces blog entries. Adding a visual element to your blogs can help you tell your story.
A big thanks to the Spaces team, allowing you now to post videos in your blog posts! Check it out!
Feel free to change the width and height of the player to fit in your column size. ie. width=140 height=131
Make sure the width and height are proportional to 4:3, otherwise everything will be squished or stretched! |
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