Lonelyplanet.tv paying $500 for amateur videos

by Iva Skoch on

It has taken Lonely Planet a while to jump on the video band wagon. Finally, they are starting to push video.

LonelyPlanet.tv provides a good opportunity for anyone traveling with a video camera and a good story to tell. According to today’s NY Times, LP uses the Web site to promote its own short films and scout for interesting videos sent in by amateurs, paying $500 for videos it would like to showcase as one of its “picks.”

If picked, you might also be featured an amateur video on its new YouTube channel: Youtube.com/lonelyplanet. Earlier this month, the channel was started with 20 selected Lonely Planet videos, and new clips are to be added every week. Current videos include “The Top Three Places for Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Amsterdam Anime” and “Polar Plunge.”

Also: read our coverage on LonelyPlanet.tv from last year here.

Flickr adds video

by Jeremy Kressmann on


If you’ve spent more than two minutes on the Internet recently, you already know and love photo-sharing site Flickr. Today the site is breaking some interesting new functionality, allowing pro users to post videos of up to 90 seconds. Rumors of video have apparently been floating around on site’s message boards for some time now, though today marked the feature’s official launch. Users haven’t wasted any time pulling together video-focused sharing groups to take advantage of the new feature.

Some people are questioning the wisdom of Flickr’s decision. Why, they point out, would Flickr launch video sharing when sites like YouTube already dominate most online video attention? I tend to disagree with this view because I think Flickr video can occupy an interesting niche for photographers. If you consider the way most people capture travel video these days, it tends to be short snippets from point-and-shoot digital cameras. When you upload these files, computers don’t really distinguish between photo and video – everything is usually lumped into the same folder. Thus there’s an interesting opportunity to allow users to share their photos and videos all in one place. Flickr is also limiting their video size to 150 megabytes or 90 seconds, which to me also emphasizes they’re looking to capture short camera clips, not your three hour long wedding ceremony (as heartwarming as it might be).

Only paying pro users can use Flickr Video for now, but perhaps they will open it up to others in the near future. Check out the help page to get started.