And just like my last post I have redesigned my site - I think everything is working, but let me know if you see anything broken. Maybe I will actually write some posts describing some of the new features like I promised last time.

If you are reading this on chrispederick.com you will also see that I have redesigned my site. I am still working out some of the kinks so let me know if you see anything funky and look for some blog posts in the future describing some of the new features.

Last week I ordered a Gorillapod - a compact and lightweight alternative to a traditional tripod - and I was able to try it out this weekend.

Unique Design

The main difference between the Gorillapod and a traditional tripod is that the Gorillapod is designed to wrap around (or stand on) an existing object. This allows the Gorillapod to remain small and portable - when folded up it is not much bigger than my camera and comfortably fits inside a camera bag or even a pocket. The flexible joints along the tripod legs allow the Gorillapod to be quickly set up, but still be very stable. In fact a number of people watched as I wrapped the Gorillapod around fences and branches.

The only criticism I have so far is that the Gorillapod does not make it easy to set the camera up in a portrait position as opposed to a landscape position, but this is only a minor inconvenience.

Photo Examples

I used the Gorillapod to take a number of long exposure photos of a stream at Muir Woods and they came out well. Check out the Muir Woods album for more examples.

I would definitely recommend the Gorillapod if you are looking for a basic tripod that is lightweight and portable. Note that it comes in three different sizes and a new Gorillapod Solo model was just announced.

However, in the last year I have had three videos removed by YouTube for copyright infringement under the DMCA.

Videos

The three videos are all of outdoor sporting events filmed as a spectator: two of motor racing at Brands Hatch in England and one of the Red Bull Air Race over San Francisco. I have uploaded the three videos to Vimeo for reference, although I do not know how long they will last before being asked to be removed:

• Formula Renault
• Touring Cars
• Red Bull Air Race

Email Notification Of Infringement

The videos were up on YouTube for a few months before I received an email saying the two motor racing videos were being removed at the request of ITV and another email a few months later saying the Red Bull Air Race video was being removed at the request of IMG Media.

The emails were all the same with just the third-party and video changed. Here is what the Red Bull Air Race email said:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by IMG Media claiming that this material is infringing:

Red Bull Air Race

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

The copyright tips contain some examples of copyrighted content and this is most likely the one that applies to my videos:

Videos of live concerts, even if you captured the video yourself

Even if you took the video yourself, the performer controls the right to use his/her image in a video, the songwriter owns the rights to the song being performed, and sometimes the venue prohibits filming without permission, so this video is likely to infringe somebody else’s rights.

What Is The Point?

So it appears as though legally the third-parties are in the right in asking YouTube to remove these videos, but my question is what is the point? None of the videos is longer than 90 seconds and the quality is not great so I do not think anybody is really going to be watching these instead of the television footage.

Surely the more likely scenario is that someone might see these clips and think that touring car racing or the Red Bull Air Race looks cool and maybe they will check it out the next time it is on television or live in their area. By removing these videos it seems to me that they are just removing free advertising for their product.

Hopefully media companies will wake up to the possibilities of online video, but in the meantime I guess I’ll just have to stick to videos of cats like this one from Abby:

Dashboard

The dashboard provides similar functionality to the sidebar in that it allows content to be displayed without hiding the page for features like ‘Edit CSS’ and ‘Edit HTML’. However, because it is a custom component it can now be used in Mozilla and Seamonkey (as well as still supporting Firefox and Flock), docked to any side of the screen and supports using multiple sidebar features at the same time through the use of tabs. For example, you can now ‘Edit CSS’ and ‘Edit HTML’ on the same page at the same time.

Changes From The Beta Release

Changes from the beta release include the addition of search functionality to the ‘Edit CSS’ and ‘Edit HTML’ features and new icons by famfamfam, as well as a number of bug fixes.

Localization & Firefox Add-ons

The localized build is still version 1.0.2 as I do not have any updated translations yet, but once I receive a few I will update the localized build. If you would like to help localize the extension please read the localization documentation.

Let me know if you see any problems, but as long as there are no major issues I will be uploading this version to Firefox Add-ons in the next few days.