Here at Shiny towers we like milestones. So here's another one we're very excited about. Latest stats from the YouTube folks reveal there have now been 25 million views across our various video channels including our tech and fashion video channels. We've also accumulated a large library close to 2000 videos (1986 at the time of writing to be precise) and we have over 8000 subscribers to them (8,283). So all in all very good news for video indeed.
After over two years of life in Shiny Towers Shiny Shiny Ed Zara is off for pastures new. Over the years she has written for just about every Shiny title, but has recently made both Shiny Shiny and Kissandmakeup her own. She has also become one of the faces of Shiny video and has built a cult audience across the globe. We are gutted to see her go. You can keep up with on Twitter
However Shiny Shiny is moving on and entering a new phase in its life. So we need an editor and writers to take it into a new era.
We need tech writers who can deliver intelligent, creative copy about gadgets, the web and all the other esoteric stuff Shiny covers. They also need to be able to review gadgets and talk about them in an engaging way in front of a camera. The writers can be female or male, what matters most is the brilliant copy and video they produce.
They don't have to be Zara - she is, after all, a real one off. Here's how I will remember her...
It's the Friday before a Bank Holiday, the sun is shining (don't worry it won't be by tomorrow) and we've got good news here at Shiny Towers. After a prolonged spell on the bench, Who Ate All The Pies is back to match fitness with Olly Irish making a return as team captain.
Shiny Media has done a deal with the guys behind Anorak.co.uk to take over the site as of today. Also we're pleased to announce that WiiWii is back by popular demand too. Chris Schilling continues to helm the site. And finally....Followers of Dollymix may have noticed that there hasn't been much content up there for the last few weeks. Well that's about to change from today too. Veteran shiny freelancers Sian Meades and Robyn Wilder are joint editors of the site, providing 'thought candy for your lady brains'.
Last weekend saw Shiny Media shoot up to Birmingham en masse for The Gadget Show where the Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny editorial guys were giving talks on everything from how to take better pictures to how to download music free and legally. It was a storming success. Talks were absolutely mobbed with people taking notes, asking questions and generally being wonderful. But don't worry if you couldn't make it up to see us, you can always get the talks here (video to follow). Special thanks go to Dan, Duncan and Zara for standing up in front of all those people and sounding knowledgeable, Jamie the sound man for working miracles at what was an amazingly loud show, Helen Marriot for giving us the opportunity to sponsor the How To Theatre and the Bar Jee restaurant for providing great food on Friday night!! A good time was had by all.
I am very pleased to announce that Mike Poole has joined Shiny as a creative consultant . Over the next few months he will be overseeing a significant revamp of several of our key websites, advising the company on branding issues and probably boring us rigid about fonts.
Mike is a complete design/branding genius who worked with a huge number of companies while Creative Director at Publicis Blueprint including Debenhams, Toni&Guy and Asda.
I am very excited he has joined us.
Ashley
Just checking the YouTube stats the other day, when I realised we have reached something of a milestone. Yes earlier in the week we hit 20 million video views from our growing library of 1668 tech and fashion videos. Check out the most popular videos below. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly number 1 is Alex's review of an LG Viewty phone which has received well over one million views, while less of a surprise is that Dan's interview with 'Lara Croft' is in the number 2 spot.
Top 10 most popular live videos:
1. Shiny Video Review: Hands on with the... Views: 1146629
2. Shiny Interview: Alison Carroll aka L... Views: 373591
3. Wii fit Views: 360329
4. Shiny Video Review: The Shocking Tase... Views: 343601
5. Shiny at 3GSM: NVIDIA next-generation... Views: 311705
6. Shiny Review: LG Shine phone Views: 263275
7. Shiny One Minute Preview: Nokia N95 Views: 248253
8. Shiny Preview: Samsung Armani Luxury ... Views: 223970
9. Shiny Media One Minute Preview: The U... Views: 218008
10 Zara looks at the SuperSmoker Views: 214460
Imagine my surprise when sifting through the mail yesterday I spotted some invites from the Palace (Buckingham Palace that is, not Crystal Palace). Turns out that the Shiny Media founders have all been invited to the re-launch of Her Maj's website, www.royal.gov.uk on February 12th at Buck House itself. She is going to be there too so maybe we can ask her about who she's been poking on Facebook and her favourite Lolcats pictures. Maybe she'll be live tweeting it too! Then again...
October proved a bumper month for Shiny Media's blogs with big rises across the board, particularly in the home-based lifestyle sector, perhaps reflecting people staying at home more during the economic downturn.
Biggest rises were for craft site Crafty Crafty which reported a 40 per cent growth in uniques taking it to 89,000 and a 37 per cent rise in Coronation Street site CorrieBlog, taking it to 79,000 uniques. Other big rises were recorded for XBoxer.tv (34 per cent), US fashion site ShinyStyle.tv (28 per cent) and Kiss and Make Up (24 per cent).
Overall, the network's uniques grew by 7 per cent to reach 3.2.million and page impressions were up 6 per cent to 6.1 million (all figures Google Analytics).
There are fewer moments in life that have given me as much pleasure as writing the first story on TechDigest. Not that the post was groundbreaking journalism, a contender for the Pulitzer prize or even completely free of typos (ouhc!). It was just that after years of wrestling with HTML codes and invariably giving up, I'd found a foolproof way of realising one of my big ambitions - to launch a gadgets website.
That was almost five years ago, and although Shiny Media didn't really follow for a few years later, the blog that kicked off one of the the UK's leading commercial blogging networks was born.
Champagne corks were popping yesterday as Shiny produced its 1000th YouTube tech video. Well done to all the video gang who made this one just slightly more entertaining than the first one just over two years earlier. I especially look forward to the Royal Gauntlet Bio Turbo model. And, if Adam and the Ants ever make a comeback, I think they'll know where to look!
And just in case you were wondering here's the first one, a Toshiba DVD player with built in digital terrestrial tuner which I don't think ever saw the light of day. The annoying laugh you hear in the background is mine as I shakily film the first ever Shiny footage from a country house car park. Thankfully, I soon realised my talents lay elsewhere.