A book may not be the first thing that comes to mind when discussing innovation but as technology has progressed, the way we consume the information presented in books has made a steady evolution. From the audio book to the Kindle, technology has jumped in to make books easier to consume in a variety of formats creating a debatably richer experience.
New to the market is Vook. It is the latest innovation in reading that brings together books, video and the Internet. Vooks are available on the web and to download on a mobile phone. It’s an interesting idea with the goal of supplementing books with video and social content that aren’t available in the static format.
The web-based version allow for the reader to view the text of the book in a similar format to an e-Reader. Video is incorporated on the side of the screen so you can easily view complementary material without flipping between screens or from book to computer. It also includes social media capabilities by integrating with Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. The mobile format has similar features but due to the size of the screen, readers are directed to video rather than it being incorporated in the screen. Although I have yet to try it, I imagine this is incredibly useful for cookbooks and fitness materials more so than novels.
The book selection is on the smaller side and focused on fitness and cooking texts but the site is new and I expect their library to grow. I do wonder if they will attempt to turn some of the classics into Vooks, which could be very interesting to see.
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Video-creation service 
My Shameless Video Contest Entry…Disclaimer: Please Help :-)
by tarynsouthern on December 12, 2009
First off, thank you to Brian for allowing me to do a guest post on Bub. Last week I contacted Brian to solicit some advice on how I could get the word out about a little video I recently released on YouTube.
A contest video.
First, let me preface by saying that I’ve never entered a video contest before. The opportunity cost just didn’t make sense – taking time out from other work to essentially create a free commercial for someone and then shamelessly self-promote it in hopes of winning a gift certificate (?) Didn’t seem worth it.
Then I came across this contest sponsored by Lash Allure MD. There’s a $100,000 pot at stake – which, needless to say, is much larger than most other online video contest winnings. Immediately, my mind was racing about the web content I could fund with 100k. No more brand or studio pitches in 2010? I’d be in heaven.
The best part (or, in some cases, the worst)? The winner is NOT chosen based on a subjective judging process. The system is clear: the person with the most “votes” wins. Each YouTube star rating counts as one vote, and one comment, per user, per day, counts as a vote. Simple, quantifiable. And yet, a little unfair for those who don’t have massive YouTube followings.
So I decided to enter. First with my own video, and then after realizing that I would never win on my own regards, I teamed up Olga Kay, a YouTuber with about 70,000 subscribers. To incentivise people to help, we decided to offer up $10,000 of the prize money to dedicated commenters. Every day for 20 days, we pose a new question in the annotation on the video. Answer the question, and you could win $500. $500 to twenty people = $10,000 total giveaway.
Shameless.
It’s now Dec. 12th – only 8 days before the contest ends. We are currently in 2nd place, behind a witty YouTube blogger with a big following, but with the a little nudge here and there from the right people, we could definitely win the grand prize.
We’ve received several little endorsements from friends – including tweets from Ryan Higa and Dave Days – and brought on a new, third partner – Phil DeFranco.
We are asking for your help because this isn’t about making money to put in a savings account. It’s a viral contest, and as such, Olga, Phil and I want to put that money toward advancing our own web content initiatives. Not to mention that we would still give away $10k (and a few other little surprises) to our commenters.
It’s hard for me to ask any favors of anyone, but in this case, I’m swallowing my pride.
So, please, if you have a chance today (and for the next 8 days) – rate and comment this video here —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2_CZCfAaE – and RT if you can
Oh, and for all of you business owners out there looking to hold promotional video contests – take a cue from Lash Allure MD. By judging a video contest on ratings and comments, rather than on the video content itself, the company is benefiting from the self-promotional efforts of people like me as well as the engagement and interaction of potential customers who are rating/commenting on the videos. Smart.
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