Google’s user-generated video website, YouTube, will make available automatic speech recognition captioning for its video selection.

This new service could be revolutionary since it will open up a huge share of its content to people who are hearing-impaired, and will also lead to creating a network of videos that could be subtitled between many languages.

comScore’s January 2010 press release regarding online video usage reported that 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of November.

Online video viewing continued to reach record levels in November with nearly 31 billion videos (viewers watched an average of 182 videos per viewer).

This feature will not only help out the hard of hearing, it will make them feel connected to society, especially one that continuously communicates itself through online video.

YouTube has offered closed captioned videos in the past, however, the captions were provided by the video producer, and represented a very small share of YouTube’s database.

Today, the new speech recognition technology will allow for automatic transcriptions on all of YouTube’s videos, even if a few funny errors happen to pop up here and there.

Besides the mind-boggling figures from social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, other remarkable numbers in the video include:

* 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of September 2009.

* 90 trillion is the number of emails sent in all of 2009, and on average a total of 247 billion emails we sent per day.

* 1.4 billion is the number of email users worldwide.

* As of December 2009, there are 234 million websites.

* 126 million is the number of blogs existent today.

* watch the video for more impressive stats!

For those of you who want to have a general idea of what role the Internet plays and continues to play in our everyday (personal, professional and multi-tasking) life, tune in and watch:

The video

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

How far will Google’s non-complying attitude towards the next world’s super power take them?

Currently, Google is actually threatening to pull out of China and stop censoring its search results which could actually end up closing operations as a result. The Head of the Human Right’s Watch, Arvind Ganesan declared that this is the first time the Chinese have actually targeted accounts overseas even though they’ve always censored the web.

The search giant is implicating that the Chinese government had something to do with the online hacking and ‘highly sophisticated and targeted attacks’ as an attempt to access the Gmail accounts of some Chinese and also international human rights activists. ‘Don’t be Evil’ anyone?

At least twenty other large companies from businesses including finance, technology and media have been similarly targeted and as a result, Google Gmail accounts will be set in an ‘https’ mode, which means email contents will be scrambled so they’re less likely to leak out to unauthorized users.

Google had stopped using this highly secure setting because it proved to be slower than the unprotected mode, which encrypted people’s log-in data only.

However, and despite all this, we know the issue of the attacks is not only about breaking the law, internet security and disobeying the Chinese government. It’s about proving a point and standing up to defend a nation’s right.

We’ve seen how the Chinese government has been quite successful at implementing some of the most restrictive internet regulations in the world, and banning its web users from visiting certain sites as well as controlling freedom of expression.

To some extent, Chinese citizens see Internet as a way to enhance freedom of speech and increase opportunities for political participation, while providing a window to the outside world.

We’ve been hearing theories back and forth as to what will happen in the digital marketing industry during this fresh, new year. One important fact to keep in mind and as Advertising Age narrows it down for us is: the basic rules of brand building are just as important for innovations in the digital space as they are for traditional forms of communication.

New technology by itself won’t bring you the results you’re aiming towards. Creativity and relevancy are still key factors in any digital communication strategy you develop.

Although there’s a whole new year ahead of us, there’re still a lot of challenges lined up for marketers and advertisers in digital marketing. This is AdAge’s take on what could lay ahead of us. (Click image to enlarge)

One thing that holds true about digital marketing is that the shift is constant and consumers will continue to direct the mediums through usage. In result, marketers will need to peer around the corner and stage venues that are welcoming to this new engaged consumer.

(RED)™ is a simple idea that transforms our collective power as shoppers into a financial force that helps those affected by HIV in Africa. To date, $140 million has been generated and 4 million people have been helped through Global Fund programs that (RED) supports. When you choose to buy products from (RED) partner companies up to 50% of the profit goes towards eliminating AIDS in Africa.

Nike, Starbucks, Bono, football soccer star Didier Drogba, Apple, Google, Facebook are all joining the (RED) campaign to fight AIDS in Africa.

You probably noticed that the Twitter homepage turned red. You can also show your support by adding #red or #laceupsavelives at the end of your tweets to make your tweets turn the color red.

As an official partner, Nike has also launched its own campaign of Nike RED Laces in 13 different countries, whose profits from the sale of the RED laces will go to the Global Fund and to football-based programs that help fight AIDS in Africa.

Starbucks is donating 5 cents for every hand-crafted beverage in US & Canada, and 5p/5 Euro cents for every espresso-based beverage bought in UK & Ireland.

Facebook is also running a RED campaign where you can share the video and also make your profile picture RED.

Join Now! Make a difference by supporting the RED campaign and turn RED for a day!

For the past few days it’s been rumored that Wired Italy is nominating the Internet as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010.

Ninja Marketing tells us it’s not a rumor, it’s a fact.

Tonight, the official presentation of this nomination will be held at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan during the Science for Peace LIVE event. Riccardo Luna, Editor of Wired Italy will be presenting this initiative alongside David Rowan and Chris Anderson, both Editors for Wired UK and Wired US, respectively. The latter will be joining them in videoconference from Detroit.

Premier endorsers of the Internet for Nobel Peace Prize nomination include Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Umberto Veronesi, Italian surgeon known for his contributions to breast cancer treatments and the stylist Giorgio Armani.

Riccardo Luna:

“We have to look at the Internet as a huge community where men and women from all over the world and with very different religious views can communicate and sympathize, spreading a new culture centered on collaboration and sharing of knowledge that breaks all barriers. For this reason, the Internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and to propagate peace and democracy. What happened in Iran after the latest election and the role the Web played in spreading information that would otherwise have been censored, are only the newest examples of how the Internet can become a weapon of global hope.”

Wired Italy has launched a dedicated campaign, Internet for Peace, which will carry on till September 2010, featuring different stories and experiences of those who – with the Internet – have tried to do something concrete to promote peace in the world.

Internet has proven to be a fundamental element for global communication and is becoming more and more accessible to people all over the planet. Internet allows for people to be connected anytime, anywhere and overcome the time-and-space barrier. The power of internet is endless and this is why the editors of Wired Italy/UK/US have nominated the Net for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Tune in for the live streaming @ 5PM UK here.

However, as newspapers struggle to attract print advertising in the economic downturn some are still strongly considering charging for online content.

Opinions vary in that some readers declare they’d be willing to pay only if they’re promised high-quality online newspapers, others just simply choose to buy the actual newspaper since they can carry it with them wherever they go. Isn’t that the advantage of the internet?

“Quality journalism is not cheap and industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels, but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news Web sites,” said Rupert Murdoch.

Various surveys have been done in an attempt to understand and predict consumer behavior.  According to a study conducted in October by the Boston Consulting Group, 48% of consumers said they would pay to read online news. When asked how much they’d be willing to pay, Americans averaged $3 a month.

Paradoxically, a similar study run by Forrester Research found that 80% of consumers wouldn’t even bother accessing online newspapers if the content was no longer for free. Here’s how the split went:

Going more into new media, the same respondents were asked if the publications they read were no longer available in print, how would they prefer to access the content? These were the answers:

37% of consumers say they’d prefer to access content on a Web site

14% said they’d prefer access via portable devices like mobile phones

11% from laptops and netbooks

3% from eReaders like the Amazon Kindle

10% they’d prefer to access from a PDF by email

What do you think the outcome will be for 2010?

I couldn’t help but to realize the selection of main sponsors who lined up for this year’s event. There was Banzai, Dada, Master Advertising, Triboo and Microsoft Advertising, which together with Dada, have been regulars for the past couple of years.  Apart from Microsoft Advertising, the remaining sponsors are all made in Italy, which clearly shows an increased interest in the interactive marketing landscape in the country.

The main topic in today’s opening speech by Layla Pavone, was the role of the internet in Italy and what it represents to Italian companies. Today, 88% of Italy’s 22.9 million internet users have broadband internet either at home or in the office. The use of the internet increases by the day, with a consequent increase in time devoted to it: 55% of users go online every day, while the average time spent online per month is 50 hours and 102 average minutes a day.

Other facts and figures revealed that Internet has become increasingly significant with relation to the search of information about companies and products. 85% of respondents declared that the internet represents a main source of information about products and services of interest, while 79% declared they first search for information online, then make their purchase at a POS.

Video, mobile and social networks are becoming paramount channels for promoting and executing highly-effective marketing campaigns for many brands across different industry sectors. Infact, both 2009 and 2010 continue to confirm the trend growth in advertising investments in Europe and in Italy. Online ad spend growth from 2009 -2010 is expected to grow by 7.6% across Europe.

To close, I’ll leave you with the below graph which allocates the different interactive channels and platforms existent today into three categories (from most influential to least influential): consumer driven, distribution driven and brand driven.

IAB Forum continues until tomorrow, for more information visit www.iabforum.it

It seems Google is deviating its attention from YouTube and is finding more ways to monetize through its own search site, yet again.

But its seems the search giant is not alone in the development of new strategies to generate online revenue; MySpace and Facebook are also coming up with their very own plans of action.

This time, Google is planning to launch a music search service rumored to be called ‘Google Music’ or ‘One Box’ although no declarations have been made on behalf of the Mountain View-based company.

As explained by the AP, Google Inc. next week will launch music search pages that will package images of musicians and bands, albums, links to news, lyrics, videos and song previews, along with a way to buy songs on one search results page.

Sounds like a potential direct competitor to Apple’s iTunes, doesn’t it?

Song previews and sales on Google will feature links to music sites and retailers like Lala and iLike, which was bought by MySpace this month. Searching for an artist or song will apparently bring up a box with a streaming link assigned to either music players, which will allow for users to remain within the search results page.

The opportunity here lies in that Google can attract music fans (and general traffic) who may be looking for information on artists and songs before they land on any of the top music services and gear them in practically any direction they want.

1. You signed up early on for a Google Wave account, which could be done through a request form Google had put up not long after the product was announced.

2. You have an account on the Developer Preview of Wave. The Sandbox version of Google Wave was put active for developers to test the new Wave.

3. Some paying users of Google Apps will get accounts.

4. You received an invitation from someone currently using Wave and this is how Google put it: “We’ll ask some of these early users to nominate people they know also to receive early invitations — Google Wave is a lot more useful if your friends, family and colleagues have it too. This, of course, will just be the beginning. If all goes well we will soon be inviting many more to try out Google Wave.”

If you’re reading this post now, it might not be that late for you to secure an invite for there’s still a Google Wave frenzy out there for the famous invites.

While free invites may still be circulating the Web, just last week Stephanie Hannon from Google announced that ‘Wave had a great weekend. Sent out a bunch more invites. Soon it will be Monday morning in Sydney and we will send out even more …, some have been diligently using Twitter to create contest in order to raffle out, on a first come first serve basis, the 8 invitations each invitee gets access to.

So keep an eye for contests such as this one or all of those who’ve requested their Google Wave invite and who are now waiting for the invite knock on their inbox’s door. You can use Twitter to find out who’s gotten and invite and hope to stand in line and be one of the fortunate 8 ‘friends’ who get one.

Otherwise, you can buy one on eBay, where many have been capitalizing from this invite frenzy. If you weren’t lucky on Twitter and don’t have too many followers, then chances are slim for you.

On eBay, however, you can find a vast number of Google Wave Invites, Google Wave nomination email, Google Wave ACTIVE LINK, Instant Google Wave invite, so on and so forth, that you can buy instantly or bid on and try your luck.