Piers Morgan goes viral. The must see video of the year so far.

You may know about Piers Morgan, the former newspaper editor now on CNN replacing Larry King. You definitely know about the gun control controversy that still rages in the US.

You may not know that a petition was started to have Piers deported from the US which got 109,000 signatures meaning, under law, it had to be dealt it. But The White House have said he can stay. 

Morgan then tweeted "Thanks for keeping me Mr. President, much appreciated".

However, it began a tweeting battle and Mr. Morgan is not exactly shy, giving as good as he got. So much so, he decided to have the petition mastermind, on his show - perhaps thinking it would do some good.

A man called Alex Jones who is also a Texan Broadcaster (The Alex Jones Show ironically) and I think it's fair to say, an advocate of no gun control.

This "interview" went out live - mad idea in itself - but it has gone crazy on Social Media all starting with YouTube. 6 million views already and it's becoming viral as an attempt to influence gun control - by both sides!

You have to see it.

And it brings up something else about the relevance and usefulness of YouTube. Because it is. A national treasure.

YouTube is becoming a historical resource.

My main Blog for today, follows this short one but it's all about Video. And in my search, I began to come across great video on YouTube which sometimes, we forget is there.

YouTube is an unbelievable archive of historical events. Apart from Gangnam style, it also has some really interesting content.

I was doing a piece on Richard Nixon. Born 100 years ago on the 9th of January, became President on the 20th of January after the great Texan, LBJ. 

I went looking for video and found too much of it. But this great "I'm not a crook" video and yep, for free. The point is that we often forget that sort of video is on YouTube and ideal for presentations or meetings or even blogs.

YouTube is becoming a massive historical resource and archive. That's important.

Massive increase in online video in 2012. Gangnam style gets 2.6 Billion views but online Ads are being watched 150 times....a second!

Online Video Ads were watched in 2012, at a rate of 150 per second according to AdAge. We knew video was growing but just not this fast.

Indeed AdAge's own viral charts, now need your video to be viewed 1.5 million times to be listed - 4 years ago, 220,000 would have done. Kony, the biggest "campaign" of the year (Gangnam style was the most watched), achieved 41 million views....in one day! In fact it reached over 100 million views in 6 days. Massive.

Samsung too, was the brand that used video best getting 71.8 million views for its Galaxy 3S alone which when compared with Apple - their 13 campaigns achieved 57 million views combined. As  blogged yesterday, Samsung is really driving on.

The Gangnam Style video actually delivered 2.6 Billion views (yes I said Billion), shattering all records as the highest watched video ever. It's still doing about 13 million views a day so this number will just blow everything else away. I watched it, I don't get it, sorry.

(I note the "how to dance gangnam style" video above has over 10 million views alone!)

According to AdAge, the top 10 Apps, generated 550,000 million video views.....which means if you're doing an App, include Video because that's what people want.

Finally, Video ads were watched 4.6 billion times in 2012 - about 13 million times a day, or, 150 times a second. That's up on 2011 of 2.7 billion times - nearly doubled. So people are watching video and they are watching video Ads in huge numbers.

But it does show the pressure on Television broadcasting because numbers like these are simple unattainable traditionally and in nearly all cases, are free except for the cost of Production. 

There is no Media cost.

Which surprises me that the "bible" of advertising AdAge, would run the story in the first place. Honesty perhaps, but from a fraternity that really have been ignoring digital - Ad Agencies. Maybe things are changing?

Samsung. 27 Billion usd profit. They're selling 500 smartphones....a minute!

Samsung is powering on with another record Quarter (Q4).

Profits of a staggering 8.3 Billion usd on sales of 53.6 Billion usd translates to selling about 500 smartphones a minute!

It expects to have annual 2012 sales of about 189 Billion usd and a profit of 27 Billion usd. One of its competitor casualties, from which Samsung has taken sales, is HTC reporting a 91% drop in revenues year-on-year.

However, one wonders is whether that level of Samsung growth can continue given the near saturation of smartphones. So Samsung need to consider other paths of diversification - and they are.

At The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Vegas, they unleashed a major line-up (some say, the best ever) of new TV's, new Cameras, new Fridges, new powerbooks and so on. They haven't been sitting on their hands.

And we forget that Samsung is grounded in a domestic appliance business. Although why they'd want a Korean lady in her wedding dress as the image above to launch it, is beyond me. Maybe she snuck down for a late night snack?

Indeed, they won CES launch day too, on presentation alone, with Sony a close second. So Samsung are even putting big efforts into their marketing and sales. All round, pretty damn good despite the views expressed about copyright following their court appearances against Apple.

Samsung though is starting to look like a winner, a leader and not making the mistake of sitting on its laurels - which when you produce profits like that, it's easy to do.

They know who they are too - a hardware manufacturer - leaving software to others but they also know that innovation is their lifeblood.

Samsung are becoming giants.

Video Glasses mark 2 launched this week. The new replacement for the Smartphone?

 

There's a whole new focus on bringing glasses - goggles - into play as an alternative to the Smartphone. We all know about the early development of Google Goggles but the difficulty was, in "seeing" the applications.

Here's one.

The Apex HD+Goggles were unveiled at The CES Show in Las Vegas this week. They record video and photos directly from the glasses in what would seem, high quality and with ease to use. They also have the ability to stream to Iphone or Android devices or just connect them to a computer and download the images.

The first application is for skiers and snowboarders whom can now record their exploits downhill. And your friends close by, can see how you're going.

Okay, not an application if you live in Ireland or the UK (we don't get a lot of skiing in these parts) but it's a first real business idea around glasses. And there's plenty of skiers across Europe, North America to make it worthwhile.

Although right now, they're big and cumbersome but that will change (like the first mobile phone brick did) and clearly, there's all sorts of other sports uses - like Sailing which is close to my heart. Want to record that stormy sail? Or climbing as you clamber up Everest, hands-free?

Perhaps too, with streaming, there's applications for rescue teams such as The RNLI, to record back incidents they come across and perhaps get instant medical advice from a Doctor watching back at base.

Maybe you want to record an event or a gig? Once they get into second stage development and make the glasses better for wearers, we'll see more. But on the surface, these are now viable and I know investors are taking a good positive look at them.

The smartphone market is full.

New delivery mechanisms for photos, videos, email, texts, browsing are very in vogue and this is definitely one.

And it works.

The future of Television. Three issues that are being discussed at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The future of Television is on show at The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. Possibly THE show to see in the world today.

Most of the brands you know and love are there (although no Apple or Microsoft this year) along with new, Chinesey ones, hoping to take on the consumers of America and don't, misjudge them. Remember Samsung. Everyone laughed. 

What they're all talking about at CES is new, higher definition TV called "Ultra High Definition" (previously '4k') and about 4 times the definition of standard HD. Which if you have HD (and if you haven't, go get it), you know that 4 times better is pretty damn good and you'll really feel involved in the picture but....it's expensive right now. About 7,500 euro for the first TV to market, 'LG' set. It's also important to note that you need the content suppliers to be shooting in the same mode.

Already there's very limited 3D content and even HD content, although improving. There's no point in having a 3D TV with nothing in 3D to watch. No point in an Ultra TV if there's no Ultra shot film.

Of course TV's are now all web enabled, 3D, and so on but what you're also seeing is the rise of TV as a much smarter device.

Ideal for Skype calls? Interactive video? Web browsing? The TV is getting more and more development focus as a multi-platform device.

So the second big issue at the CES is this convergence and integration of TV. With more TV options on screen, the controlling device (the remote control) needs to change and more and more that device is becoming your mobile phone using Wifi. You phone is now becoming a controlling device in the home.

So marketing of phones, as useful TV devices, have blended into CES and Sony is launching its first major phone at the show since it dropped the 'Sony Ericsson' brand. Of course too, interactive glasses is all the talk as a way of replacing the phone.

Although we know of the development of 'Google Goggles', a lot has been going on in this space and there's no doubt that there's a bigger number of investors and developers now, who see glasses as the replacement for phones. And glasses as the real "mobile TV'. Do you know, they might well be right.

A new type of device, like glasses, will give brands like Sony/Blackberry/Nokia a chance to re-enter a market that swept them aside. Although the three brands I mention are pretty much at 'junk bond status', there is the possibility of a last chance saloon for them by developing glasses.

So the future of TV looks like higher picture/sound definition and quality; better integration with other devices online and notably mobile; and the emergence of glasses as a potential new delivery system.

Now there you go, I've just saved you that 'all expenses paid' trip to Las Vegas. You wouldn't have liked it anyway. What with all the bars and all. Great restaurant selection, super shows, nah better off behind your desk. Sorry.