So I Guess My Titles Suck!

While perusing the "how to make better videos" stories I found one that referenced Co Schedule's Headline Analyzer (https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer) . I ran a few of my titles through this and found that my titles pretty much suck... Of the few I tested I got less than 30 of 100 (I guess). I started with this from my latest: "Konami Frogger Plug and Play Review and Gameplay MSI / WinFun" (48) and ended with this: "Does Konami Frogger Plug and Play Suck? - Thoughts and Gameplay"... At least it pulled a 57. I'm not sure it's a perfect tool, but interesting none-the-less...

The Five Games of Christmas

The holiday season is approaching and it's time to get ready for the big Christmas stream. Here is 5 of my "Games of Christmas Past" to while away the time before you get caught up in the holiday hustle:

Game 1: Satan Clause 
What could possibly conjure up the Christmas spirit better than sleighing (get it?) droves of undead elves, reindeer, demented Christmas presents and the evil old elf himself: Satan Claus? I’ll tell you what, someone playing this instant holiday classic poorly.

Game 2: Snowball 
Now here's some Christmas gaming the whole family can play: Snowball! by Pixeljam. This is a nice, easy to pick up and play pinball game with a pixelly-wintery theme. Goes great with some hot cocoa. This was originally an online game, but now you can use your gamepad if you would prefer to play from your couch.. You know, with the family. Windows and Mac.


Game 3: Overlord 2
More Christmas Demons. What can I say? There's really not a much better way to spend Christmas Eve than hurdling evil green monsters at small children hiding in snow forts.




Game 4: Super Snow Fight
Want more Christmas? I'll give ya more Christmas! This time we take a look at Super Snow Fight: A top-down multiplayer slagfest for Windows. Relive the good old days of using your younger brother as target practice in this great little indie Gem.



Game 5: Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage 
For the final game of Christmas let's go full bore! Santa has cracked under pressure and gone on a mad killing spree. It's up to you to clean up the mess in Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage!

Well, that about wraps it up for Christmas. Keep an eye out for the Christmas stream coming soon!

Shattered Planet: Space Roguelike Review and Play

This game is a great one to play during lunch breaks and down time. Easy to play but deep enough to keep my attention.

You can find out more about Shattered Planet at http://www.kitfoxgames.com/shattered-planet/

Update: My YouTube Copyright Strike Has Been Removed.

Great news today! My YouTube (c) strike has been removed.
You can read the original story here
Upon review of the video I still have absolutely no idea why NamHuy.net issued the DMCA take down in the first place and I probably never will. The video WAS created by me, and I used no clips or sound effects except those from iMovie which I am licensed to use. Furthermore the product shown was covered under the GPL, and the software shown was not created by NamHuy.net. I DO know that most takedowns include where in the video the offending clip is, but this one has none of that, or ANY information so not really much to go on.

Basically what I did was:

1) Tried to contact NamHuy.net through their (his) contact form, email address AND twitter feed to get them (him) to either let me know what was offending or send a retraction to YouTube. This would have been the best way and is how most of these issues are cleared up. Unfortunately despite all of my attempts to contact them (him) I got not response, so on to the "much less preferred way".

2) Counter the Copyright Strike. I do NOT recommend doing this, and you better be DAMN SURE that you are not using someone else's material (or that you have rights to the material) because YOU CAN GET SUED! Next to your strike notification is a link entitled "Submit Counter-Notification".

Clicking this allowed me to indicate that I was asserting my rights to my video. I had a long discussion with my Wife about this before starting because it is, as mentioned above, opening me up for litigation. NamHuy.net would have to sue me within 14 days to stop the re-posting of the video. We counted up our dollars, took on some mild legal advise and decided that while the video makes me NO MONEY AT ALL, my wife was onboard with defending my rights: We would not be bullied even if it meant we had to fight. Honestly it is not so dramatic: somewhere between almost no-one and no-one have actually been sued over a YouTube video, but you really have to take the possibility into consideration. By submitting the Counter-Notification I was allowing NamHuy to get my personal contact information so they could begin litigation. So I submitted and waited.... and waited.... Finally late last night I got the following email:

My YouTube station is again strike-free! In the end I'm glad I fought this, not because I felt the video was that important, but because I know I am in the right -- and I refuse to allow someone to wrongly remove my videos on a whim.

By the way, if you want to view the video you can't. I have removed it because Netflix no-longer uses Silverlight for movie playback and Ubuntu users can watch videos just like everyone else. The vid has been obsolete for months. Happy endings all around.

News on my YouTube Copyright Strike

A week or so ago I logged into my YouTube station and noticed that I had a (c) strike against one of my Open Source tutorials. I assumed right away that it was probably some music I had put in the background (I did this on some of my early videos before I became a partner) and didn't really think much about the strike until late last week when I noticed that a whole bunch of my YouTube options were greyed out: Most importantly my content ID appeal capability.


Update: Strike Removed! http://www.retr0rob.com/2014/07/update-my-youtube-copyright-strike-has.html

I need to be able to appeal the content ID's because I do review and let's play type videos which are often flagged by YouTube's automated content system. Since I usually have permission for my monitized videos this is not a big deal: I either copy the email authorization of send them a link to the public  site allowing video recording. I play by the rules. I can now no longer appeal the process...

So back to the console to see what was up:

A quick visit to the NamHuy.net website shows a linux tutorial site, and a middling popular one at that... Why would a website dedicated to open source be trying to claim copy write on one of my videos? Did they do similar videos and think that I copied them? 

I thought back to the video I created. I know that I recorded it directly from my desktop. My username is also shown at the top left corner of the screen and I know I used terminal for the procedure -- which would have shown my computer name as well -- pretty unique to me: Retr0Rob. 

Did NamHuy.net own the Open-Source software I was demonstrating? No... The software Netflix-Desktop is housed at http://www.compholio.com/netflix-desktop/. It is clearly owned by Erich E. Hoover: No mention of a Huy of any kind. The commands I use in my video are identical to the ones in Erich's instructions.

So I decided to go to NamHuy.net to take a look and see if maybe there was something I was missing. A quick search of his website did find mention of the Netflix-Desktop. He had a nice,  well written tutorial on the correct way to install the software and correct some issues with it as well. Here is the title:

Note that the date is 3 Months after my video posted on August 7th:

So it almost HAS to be something else. Something I'm not seeing. Of course YouTube does not disclose the nature of the complaint, but I figured this is a fellow Open-Source fan: I'll just go ask him!

I filled in his contact form to ask him myself. 24 hours later no response. I know this is not important to him, and honestly I make a minuscule amount from my YouTube station anyway but I find posting videos to be a very enjoyable hobby and an escape from the rather stressful network administration issues I deal with from day to day so this IS important to me.

Today I sent the email below to his admin account directly: Maybe he will be nice enough to let me know what is going on:

You issued a (c) claim against my video "Ubuntu: How to Watch Netflix on Ubuntu Without a Virtual Machine”. and I would like to know exactly what you believe is infringing.

The video was created entirely by me and depicts the configuration of open source software housed at http://www.compholio.com/netflix-desktop/ . The video clearly shows my desktop and even my username. 

I would much rather resolve this amicably — if there really is something infringing I don’t want to issue a false counter claim. 

That said the only reference on your site similar to the material I have posted is at http://www.namhuy.net/1867/how-to-install-netflix-on-ubuntu-linux-mint-and-fedora.html. Which was posted at 11/08/2013. My video was posted 3 months before this on August 7th:

It is a fairly big pain to have a (c) strike against my YouTube station as you may guess and I would like to clear this up as soon as possible. 

If this was done mistakenly, could you please remove the claim? Information on removal is available at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2807691?hl=en.

Failing that could you let me know what the infringing material was exactly? This way I can modify the video to correct the issue.

This whole issue points out one of the most unjust things about YouTube's reporting system: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WAS INFRINGING. How am I supposed to avoid that happening again if they will not even let me know the specifics of the complaint? The only way I can fight it in YouTube's system is by revealing my personal contact information to a person who may or may not be some kind of a nut job. He may be a perfectly sensible fellow: I just don't know. I think YouTube needs to take a serious look at how their Copyright strike system works and maybe lower the penalties if they are not going to require a whole lot of proof before issuing these.