Blogging is as popular as it ever will be right now and as the natural way of things, it has developed beyond just plain blogging. One of the most popular version of it is microblogging.

Blogging and microblogging are the same by principle, but they have a few noteworthy differences. Firstly, as you might have gathered from the name, the posts are a lot shorter (usually limited to 140 characters). This is so because the purpose of these posts is not the give some detailed descriptions of the posters experiences, but instead give an overview of his or her daily on-goings. Another important word regarding microblogging is availability. Most of these sites allow the users to read others' post via e-mail, instant messaging clients or SMS. Fast information exchange is a priority. When someone posts something about their doings, he or she can be pretty sure, that everyone who should, will get the message.

A quite recent article on the web counted all the microblog providers and come up with a total of 111. I think this number will grow even more. This is a good example to show, how microblogging will become (or already is) the next big thing.

A few weeks back a site was opened, which allowed anyone to make their own 3D-galleries of famous (and not so famous) places around the world. The prerequisite of course being that you have actually been to the place in hand, otherwise there are no pictures to make the gallery out of. This way the site will slowly generate a database of tourists' locations and the people can experience the trip again and again.

I think these kind of virtual environments are pretty cool. The major advantage before ordinary galleries is the fact that the users can move around by themselves, there are no restrictions in the 3D environments. That makes it feel pretty real.

You can make something similar in Yaika! too. I'd imagine it being like this: you make a channel and call it for example Pantheon; you then upload videos, each one of those being shot from a different place in Pantheon (or whatever the location you chose). This allows everyone to watch exactly what they want instead of looking a some long and boring introductory video.

You can easily go abroad without traveling, if you really want to :)

Although the following takes place on the Russian version of Yaika!, it's a good example and some encouragement for others nonetheless. The point is that some of the users have started doing somewhat educational broadcasts using Yaika! and I, for one, think it's a brilliant idea.

We have a person who thought it would prove useful to teach self-defense to women. As usual, the Internet is the best place for that as one can maximize the capacity of people able to view those lessons. To be honest, it is pretty rough out there. The teacher is the president of the Estonian Real Aikido association, so he really know what he's doing. Thanks to him a lot more people can roam the streets with confidence.

Another quite interesting broadcast is by a student keen on chemistry. He's going to do a daily show for all the people also interested in chemistry, discussing the Mendeljev table and different reactions between substances. As far as I've heard, he's pretty good, so you'll be in capable hands.

Those two people are broadcasting on Russain Yaika!, but I still think those are some great ideas for shows. People can easily share their knowledge with others, hassle-free.

There are some pretty extravagant gadgets out there like the Optimus Maximus keyboard, which has a little screen inside of every key. I'd never be able to use it, as it costs so much and I'd be afraid of breaking it. The product I'm going to talk about today is the exact opposite of the aforementioned keyboard.

Das Keyboard is the most minimalistic keyboard you'll ever find. It's black and looks like any other keyboard you'd find in an office, but with one noticeable difference - it really is black, there is nothing written on it, not even on the keys.

So, what's the point of this keyboard? Well, we constantly see all kinds of hackers and computer experts on TV typing away without even looking at their hands. This is quite possible in real life too and that is the sole purpose of Das Keyboard. You see, we all have a thing called "muscle memory". A good example of that is some random everyday thing we do without even thinking about it. This is exactly what muscle memory is about - our body has memorized the necessary movements and can do them without us even thinking about it. It's the same with the keys on a keyboard, you can memorize the location of each letter.

Now if the keys don't have any letters on them, you won't have the temptation to look down at your hands, because it wouldn't do you any good anyway. People learn fastest when in need of the skills being learned.

I think the idea of Das Keyboard is brilliant in its simplicity. You too can write a lot faster and maybe even impress a friend or two when writing your next blog post on Yaika! :)

Yesterday I wrote about time lapse videos and mentioned that you don't really have to have a video camera to make one. Well, in that sense my topic for today is similar.

I'm talking about stop motion videos. We've all seen it at least once. The "Wallace & Gromit" and "Robot Chicken" shows are great examples, where creatures made of clay run about. The term "stop motion" is pretty much self explanatory. Every scene is carefully constructed and then photographed. This is a very time-consuming and detail-critical process, but the result is well worth it.

A lot of camera owners with a lively imagination have done their own renditions of things using this technique. You don't have to use clay or anything like that, it can easily be done with dolls, action figures or other toys. Here is a quite funny version of Darth Vader's everyday life, done by using stop motion and legos.

Although the technique is time-consuming and requires a lot of patience, it's ultimately fun to see what you can come up with. Also, Yaika! is one of the best places to upload such masterpieces as you friends can view them here with great ease.

You can do all kinds of tricks with video nowadays, especially with the help of all the (mostly free) editing software on the web. I personally enjoy time lapse videos, which are ordinary recordings, only played back a lot faster (kind of like fast-forwarding).

A popular theme among time lapse videos is traveling. People film they trip wether it's by car, train, boat or any other means of transportation. Watching that video later after it's been accelerated is quite amusing as you can see where you've been and what happened without waiting too much.

But there's another way to make these videos. You really don't even need a camcorder. A lot of people record a dying or sprouting plant, the view of the sunrise from their window and so on. They don't do it using a camcorder, they use an ordinary camera. The trick is to put it on a tripod, connect it with a computer and then let it take pictures in certain predetermined intervals. This can all be easily achieved using special software, which usually comes with the camera. Later you can reorganize the pictures and view them as a slideshow.

Time lapse videos are a great way to observe some painstakingly slow process, which would be otherwise difficult to understand and it's also a lot of fun :) Yaika! is the perfect place for uploading those videos as your friends can then easily view them.

Social networks have been around since the dawn of mankind. Such networks consist of people who know eachother and interact on a daily basis. But as time has passed, those networks have changed.

As with everything else on our lives, social networks too have changed in the wake of modern technology, namely the Internet. To be honest, the Internet is the sole reason, why the networks are what they are today. The speed that information travels at allows all the people to be interconnected, everyone is easily reachable and exchanging information is a breeze.

The team at Yaika! too has put a lot of effort in developing the social capabilities of the site. We have a fully working comprehensive social network. Every user can add any other user to their personal network and then engage is some more private communication. We also have an integrated messaging system, because if there's no exchanging of information, we can't really call it a network :)

Although social networks have always existed and always will, they have thoroughly changed and so has our opinion regarding their importance.

The Viru Center in Tallinn hosts a fashion event this weekend. It's called FIBIT (Fashion Is Back In Tallinn) and it's the largest in Estonia. During the three days all the people interested in fashion can enjoy new clothes lines and even see a few shows.

There are a total of four acts being shown on Friday and people can browse all the latest products the clothes shops have in stock while becoming familiar with the designs of Estonian fashion designers. There is a special show on Sunday featuring the young and rising stars in Estonian fashion.

There's good news for all of those people who would really like to see this event but can't make it to Tallinn this weekend. Yaika! is broadcasting video from FIBIT and this means that everybody can be a part of the fashion show!

Blogs are the voice of the people. Most just use them as a good way to document and share their life with others. But time has shown that the blogosphere has a lot more influence than expected.

Blogs have a substantial role in the forming of political opinions. For example, during the Iraq war, there were countless blogs discussing it, bloggers expressing their views. They were in fact a lot more varied than the traditional left-right divide of the political spectrum.

A lot of famous politician too have their own personal blogs. There they can express their opinion "off the record", they can cut out the middleman while talking to the people. By the year 2004 blogs were so widely popular that they were and still are used by many experts and consultants. Blogs also have a significant role regarding the news spreading among people.

I can undoubtedly say that the role of blogs in our society will only increase. The best place to make your own is Yaika! as we have the most comprehensive and easy-to-use environment for doing that.

Yaika! has a noteworthy amount of exciting and humorous video footage stored. I thought I could point some out to you.

Here is a funny video of an enactment of a possible scenario at the videogame convention. Now everyone can understand how some of the more popular of the first video games were really invented.

Some time ago I wrote about how you can successfully use Yaika! to observe your pets. You can find some footage of pets too when browsing Yaika! Right here is a video of a user's aquarium. It somewhat resembles the screensaver provided by Windows, but it's way more personalized as there are actual real fish. You can find more footage of fishes on the same channel. It's a also a great way to show off your pets to other enthusiasts.

You too can recommend funny and interesting videos to others when stumbling upon some :)

This weekend the first ever nighttime Formula One event took place in Singapore. It was a large-scale and costly undertaking, but it was a success. The event was truly impressive.

The whole track was covered with high-power lights, which were then doubled in case of emergencies. When you're plowing through a city doing 300 km/h, then it's save to assume it wouldn't be much fun when you'd suddenly be surrounded by total darkness. Formula One cars don't have headlights, you know. The viewers were able to see some spectacular views thanks to the shots filmed from the helicopter.

FIA (F1 executive company) has made a five-year contract with Singapore, which means we'll be able to see more of these nighttime races. It's quite exciting to observe.

The race that just took place is a great example of how networks have to come up with new and exciting ways to keep the audiences on their toes. The emphasis in this business is on new ideas and innovation. Yaika!, too, offers a whole new viewpoint on how to look at entertainment as such. We allow you to create your own content and then easily share that content with others.

Lately paper newspapers have lost a lot of their appeal (mostly among younger people). Now everybody, who has access to the Internet, gets their news from the web. I, too, spend a little time browsing the news sites while sipping my morning coffee.

The people who don't wake up a the very last moment can always find time step into their local coffee shop and invigorate themselves with a cup of steaming hot coffee. Most of the places that serve food have also a WiFi network to boot, which means that you have (usually free) access to the web. Now all you have to do is open a web browser and point it to the news site of your choosing. You could also spend a little time at Yaika!

Just picture it - you're sitting there behind your table with a cup of aromatic coffee and a laptop in front of you. There are dozens of people running around, everybody's in a hurry to somewhere. But you're just sitting there and enjoying the last few moments of peace before going back into the fast routine of a workday. Seems nice?

The world is full of different media outlets specialized in reviewing every product imaginable. There's a critic or an expert for each product out there. They write and write about all those things, push their opinions onto others, which aren't all that objective might I add.

But we all have the possibility to voice our opinions regarding anything without bosses breathing down our necks or worrying about our paycheck. The more popular of the products reviewed are mostly of the entertaining kind. Movies and music, for example. You'd have to be pretty dense, if you leave the cinema and have no feelings whatsoever. People do love to express themselves and voice their opinions. It's as easy as it'll ever be with the help of the Internet, especially with the huge audience it provides.

The web has a lot of different sites for doing that, places where ordinary people like you and me can say what they think of the latest movies and music albums. If you would also like to do that, then now is the time. You can easily make a separate channel on Yaika! and start broadcasting either video or audio.

For those who don't know - a widget is a small program, which everyone can place their website or embed in a email message. You don't have to have any prior knowledge regarding programming and such.

The Yaika! widget allows other to send you video messages without having to register as Yaika! users. To use the widget you must copy the code found here into your blogpost or e-mail signature. A small button appears in place of the code and clicking it allows anybody to send you video messages. You can then view received messages from you inbox on your Yaika! account.

I find this to be a nifty little feature as the users of the widget can make answering them extremely easy. If anyone reads your blogpost and feels the need to immediately argue or agree, then he or she can make a short video announcing his or her opinions in mere seconds. The same applies to e-mails, the receivers can send you an answer in a matter of seconds.

You can find the Yaika! widget by clicking the "Get a Yaika! widget" button on the right side of the site.

The autumn is upon us and the weather is getting worse by the day. We still have the few days left to enjoy the sun and go outside without four layers of clothes. So if you are a sensible person, you really ought to go outside and make the best of it.

As I've mentioned in previous post, video is everywhere. You, too, could easily make a broadcast from a beautiful place somewhere in the nature. What could be better than to enjoy a day out with your friends and family, maybe even have a picnic of some sorts. While being in the wild, you can set up a laptop and a camera and film away. You might even catch a glimpse of an animal or two.

You shouldn't have much trouble finding a suitable connection. Lot's of parks are covered with WiFi, especially in or near cities. And as I've said before, 3G network is perfectly adequate for live feeds. Then there's the possibility of just recording the video and uploading it later.

Now get out there and enjoy the last few rays of sunshine!

When looking around, one can see, that the video format is starting to take over all forms of communication. Almost all messaging programs in the world allow videofeeds, you can also find that feature on most web based services. Just audio isn't enough anymore for communicating with people over long distances.

I've made some videocalls myself during the last few years, mostly to my friends. Back then we used instant messaging programs like MSN Messenger. Now there are countless versions of different programs of this kind. Most of them (at least the more popular ones) fully support videofeeds. The 3G networks around the world allow people to make videocalls with their phones, too. It's quite easy as most phones today have a built-in camera and support making those calls.

I can say without a doubt that although audio-only forms of communication are the most used in the world today, in ten years or so, video will take over.

I don't know, how it is now, but back in the day lot's of teenagers (and why not adults) had a diary, usually with a small padlock, hidden away in their nightstand drawer. They wrote all of their most sacred thoughts and wishes in there. To be honest, people still keep a diary as such, but as with most other things in our life, this too is done via the Internet.

This move to the web has come with the liberation of people's minds, they're are no longer in hiding, afraid of showing their "real me". Instead of keeping your worries and success to themselves, people now feel free to share them with others in the depths of the Internet. All the people who still wish to keep their personal business a secret can easily protect their privacy by using a password.

I think Yaika! is the perfect place for keeping your very own online diary. You can add a whole new dimension to your entries thanks to the comprehensive multimedia functions that Yaika! provides. For example, I've almost finished my driving exams. Now, if I want to do a post about my latest driving lesson (maybe it was extra exciting), then I can also add some video footage of said lesson right next to my text blog. I might overhear a funny conversation on the bus and I may be insufficient at describing the truly comical part of it. Well, no worries, I can then easily upload a recording of said conversation (which I could have recorded with my cellphone).

Yaika! is the best platform for keeping your very own web diary, because it supports all the multimedia formats (text, video and audio) and has a comprehensive social network.

A few days ago, when I was looking at the latest gadget-news, I stumbled upon a nifty little product. It's a pair of capsule speakers called X-Mini. You can find the company's homepage here. When put together, the speakers take the form of a small sphere which can fit into anyone's pocket. But when you twist it, it opens up to two small and surprisingly capable speakers.

I'm sure most of you are asking the same question - how can something so tiny produce even remotely good sound? Well, to be honest, they really can't produce that good of a sound, but when you're looking for extremely portable little speakers for your iPod or laptop, then X-Mini is the choice for you. Despite their size they're perfectly adequate for short sessions of music or videos. They even have some bass response, which is done with a vacuum area in the speakers.

I can already imagine how you'll stumble upon something very interesting while browsing Yaika! and want clearer sound (laptop speakers are notorious for their bad quality). You then take a small sphere from your pocket, open it up into two speakers and connect to your computer. For random uses X-Mini is the best product.

Chris Pirillo was one of the first people to notice that nothing on TV interested him and started producing his own shows. Chris is a reputable technology buff and always keeps up with the latest of technical innovations. This gave him the idea of doing his own broadcasts on the subject.

The problem was that there were no webpages for doing such broadcasts, so he took use of his own knowledge and built a website from scratch. Youtube was there to allow him to upload prerecorded videos, but Chris wanted to do it live. Now there are numerous sites that offer this kind of functionality, but they all originate from the US. Yaika! is the first of his kind in Europe.

Chris has actually worked as a computer technician and thus knows what he's talking about. You can find his videos on Youtube, CNN and his own website. The latter of the sites named allows you to see Chris live with a chatroom working simultaneously with the broadcast. As I've mentioned before, the main subjects are all related to technology. You can often find commentaries and reviews of the latest electronics and the like.

Just like Chris, everybody has the possibility to make their own shows. From a technical standpoint it's both very simple to prerecord the video and upload it or do it live. Although the last option is quite stressful for the most of us :)

Everyone who's even the least bit in the know regarding the latest technology knows that you can find cameras on every electronic device imaginable. It started out with just photographs, but nowadays all the cameras are also capable of capturing video. Filming is now easier than ever.

People can record anything they want in video format with ease. Homemade videos became popular in the '80s when the VHS (the ordinary video cassette) came out. As time passed, cameras became cheaper and cheaper and the technology captured the masses. Now we've moved on to the digital age, which makes videos even easier to store and edit.

You don't have to actually buy a camera in order film something. Cameras found on other electronic devices are perfectly adequate to capture the moment, when need be. All us have at least one device equipped with a camera, they're found on phones and even mp3-players. Some of the new phones even have such good optics that the term "camera with a phone" is used :) Also, all the new laptops have integrated webcams.

The editing of the recordings has become incredibly easy, if you do a bit of research. The depth of the Internet contain a large amount video editing software (a lot of it free). Even Windows' own Windows Movie Maker is capable of doing the simplest of tasks.

Where ever you are, you can almost always broadcast it using Yaika!

I bet lot's of people who have heard of Yaika! think that it's another run-of-the-mill video hosting site. Well, in reality, that's not the case at all. Yaika! is most certainly not meant for video storage only (unlike Youtube, which is a great website, but not the same principle). It's the social networking capabilities that make Yaika! stand apart from the others. Finding friends and sharing videos with them is a breeze. Also, the user interface is incredibly easy to use.

Another noteworthy difference is the fact, that most of the videos uploaded to Youtube are anything from music videos to full episodes of popular TV shows, but almost all of the videos on Yaika! are purely user generated content, almost nothing commercial. These are more exciting to watch as they are unedited and realistic.

So if you're ever bored, Yaika! is a good place to hang around, you'll surely find something of your liking here :)

Some readers might have the impression, that Yaika! is only meant for broadcasting videos. Well, I want to change that impression. In reality, Yaika! allows you to successfully make radio broadcasts, too. It's just as easy as with video feeds.

Radio shows have quite a few upsides. First of all, it's suitable for people who aren't interested in showing their face in the public webspace, who don't want to reveal their identity. This could because of many reasons, for example, when the subjects under discussion shouldn't really be discussed. Secondly, everyone is not comfortable and confident enough in front of a camera to make a video for everyone else to see. In other words, if you're shy, you don't have to worry :)

To be honest, the so-called podcasts have become quite popular in the Internet during the last few years. They're basically just audio-blogs, but instead of writing all of your thoughts down, you take a microphone and speak into it. This is time saving (no need to type anything) and more interesting for the audience. Telling a story verbally makes it so much better because of all the articulation and emphasis.

If you're not that fond of being in front of a camera, then Yaika! is perfectly good for radio broadcasts, too. And if even that doesn't interest you, there's always the good old text blog :)

There has been a time in every kid's life when he or she has dreamed of becoming a police officer or a fireman. A magician is also a popular occupation among children. Most of us have done a card trick to a friend or two. But there are only a few people, who actually have the determination and willpower to practice enough to became a professional.

In the last few years certain kind of magicians have gained a lot more popularity than others - namely street magicians. David Blaine was the man who really took to the masses. Some even believe him to have actual supernatural powers. He walked around the streets of New York with his cameraman and showed all kinds of magic tricks to unsuspecting by-passers. One of the most incredible of them was when David Blaine asked random people to think about the name of the person they love the most and after a few seconds a taxi drove by with the name of the loved one painted on the side. In addition to breathtaking illusions, David has performed some pretty might I even say scary feats. He holds the record for holding one's breath underwater (17 minutes and 4 seconds). A few years ago he spent 44 days in a glassbox above the River Thames in London with only enough water to take two teaspoons a day.

Lately there have been appearing more people with similar talents. One of those people is Chris Angel, who, like David, does some pretty mindboggling tricks (but not as lifethreatening). But what I'm trying to say here is, that all the people who weren't able to make their dreams a reality can do that now. After finishing school and landing on a stable enough job you can have some free time to practice all those swift moves. And if you look at the older posts on Yaika! blog you can find some good tips on how to make a live moving broadcast.

Now all you have to do is start looking for that old deck of cards :)

I don't think a lot of people know what a Goldberg machine is from the top of their head. No worries, you'll soon find out. But I am certain than everyone has seen at least one of them, probably in cartoons (as they are quite difficult to build in real life).

By definition a Goldberg machine is a liberately overengineered apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted fashion. This may be hard to imagine, but fortunately I've got some visual aids. Here is an episode of Mythbusters where they construct a Goldberg machine. By the way, the machines got their name after a cartoonist named Rube Goldberg who used to draw such contraptions in his comics.

My call to you is to do some thinking and come up your own Goldberg machine. Then you'll have to build it (I recommend ordinary everyday object as building blocks). You should use the help of your friends too, the more the merrier anyway :) But why not broadcast the whole project? It would be like a Behind-the-scenes sneak preview. People always like watching something exciting happening. They can make suggestions and give you tips, some might even have prior experience.

The main event is still the actual execution of the machine. If you look around, you can find quite a few of Goldberg machines' videos, but you can make it with a twist. It would be really exciting to film the first run live. This way the audience can partake in the suspense of seeing if it all works out exactly as planned.

Remember, when a while back I wrote about people who had become famous with the help of the Internet? Well, most of the people covered in that post were a bit weird and extraordinary. This actually isn't the case that only people who show off their peculiarities become popular, not at all. All the so-called "normal" talents are valued by a lot of people.

This can be any kind of everyday activity, something you're able to do very fast or with inhuman precision. It would be better if it was something exciting to watch. Seeing some type 500 words per minute might not be as fulfilling as one might think. The first think I can think of is sports. They're always popular among all age groups. BMX riders, who can jump exceptionally high, pull a hundred backflips and the like. A lot of those "supermen" are hidden away amongst the amateur sportsmen, not as much so with professional sportsmen (we see them on TV every day).

There are other interesting talents, too. The ones that are more on the creative side. Some people have such vivid imagination that they are able to make up a song on a given word on the spot, others can draw you room entirely based on their memories (after having only seen it once). These are more like the talents people are born with, but exhilarating to watch anyway.

It doesn't matter if you have perfected your gift with years' worth of hard work or were just born with it. Show them to other people around the world and do this using Yaika!, the easiest way to make an online video stream.