I bussed it downtown this morning for the opening of Apple’s newest store. I arrived about an hour before the store opened and was surprised to find only a few people hanging out around the store’s Higuera Street entrance.

Once I turned the corner onto Morro Street, I found a line of people cued up halfway down the street. So, I went and joined them.

My place in line wound up being right in front of the store’s receiving door. There was pretty regular movement through here by the store’s employees.

While waiting in line, we were handed out Sweepstakes Entry Forms for a drawing that will be held at the store tomorrow. I heard that the grand prize is a MacBook, iPod and training sessions at the store. Don’t know if that’s true.

When it was time for the store to officially open, the employees (literally) ran out of the receiving door, clapping, cheering and offering high-fives to the customers in line. Then they entered the store through the front doors and lined up around the fringes of the store’s interior. The revelry continued until all of the customers were inside.

Read on …

I’ve only made one video so far. And I’ll admit, video isn’t my preferred medium. But there are some good things about it. Anyway, I’ve got a few videos that are in the works, and I’ve been considering my options for distributing them. I’ve used Revver for the one video I have so far. And Revver’s not bad. But it has limitations. And these limitations have caused me to consider YouTube as an alternative. Here are some pro’s about Revver:

• No cost to post vides.
• Videos can be embedded, downloaded and linked to directly (good for podcasting).
• Revver provides a 50/50 revenue split for ad clicks through videos (ads are placed at the ends of videos, not the beginnings).
• Revver only hosts videos by original copyright holders (so there aren’t thousands of odd TV and movie clips, etc. on Revver’s site).

Here are some con’s about Revver:

• It’s impossible to share Revver videos on many popular sites, such as MySpace and Craigslist. For some reason, these sites block Revver embeds
• The main Revver site lacks many of the “community building” elements that make YouTube so popular. This really means that it’s up to producers to promote their videos, as it’s not likely that people will easily find them at random.

Here are some pro’s about YouTube:

• No cost to post vides.
• Videos are easily embeddable, just about anywhere on the Internet.
• Huge built-in community of content creators and users.
• (Maybe more? I’m not that familiar with all of YouTube’s features.)

Here are some con’s about YouTube:

• No direct download/podcast options.
• Site is full of material that wasn’t uploaded by the original copyright holders.
• (Again, maybe more?)

Of course, everything depends on a person’s point of view. You could argue that YouTube’s massive collection of copyrighted material is a positive, as it brings in a lot of people who might otherwise never look at a vlogging site. And on the other hand, some might dislike Revver specifically BECAUSE of the monetization aspect. Overall, I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in using both services: Revver for hosting of direct downloads and a YouTube channel for embedding/sharing.

YouTubers vs. podcasters
I’ve subscribed to a few YouTube channels. And it’s been interesting to see how some of these vloggers perceive things. I don’t mean to be harsh. But compared to podcasters, these YouTubers seem kinda, well… dumb. It’s almost like they see YouTube as a magical device that can turn a webcam into an Internet video channel. I don’t think they have any concept of the logistics of storage, delivery, and the limitations placed on their content due to YouTube’s inability to provide true direct downloads. And while YouTube’s future potential for monetization is unkown (and currently nonexistent), most podcasters understand the basics of CPM, as well as what avenues are open for monetization. The vibe I’ve picked up from many YouTubers is that they’d really like to be as popular as “Ask A Ninja” but they don’t seem to know why.

Sorry for the sidebar there. Getting back to my original point: What should I do? I like the idea of using Revver for direct downloads and creating a YouTube channel for embeds, etc. Am I just overhinking all of this?

In honor of two birthdays happening this week, I made some cupcakes.

Nothing fancy. Just yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Two plates are going to a party that’s happening later today. The other plate will stay here at home to help fulfill Jen’s unending need for sugar.

This is the first time I’ve ever made cupcakes, and the cakes in the first batch came out kinda small. Guess I should’ve been a bit more liberal with the batter. Anyway, they taste good, and that’s all that matters.

(Photo also available through Flickr.)