MyVeZoom
is an extension of the VeZoom video
search engine with customizable options.
VeZoom continuously monitors
over 18 million hours of
online video featured in over 60 online channels.
From the obvious channels like YouTube and Metacafe, to the
more obscure, MyVeZoom scours the Web for relevant Professionally
produced content.
The straightforward UI and
comprehensive nature of myVeZoom is promising.
Drag-and-drop
organization and other Web 2.0 tools make myVeZoom one of the cleanest
video tool releases in some time. This early test of the main search
utility and its aggregative extension reveals both the power and
weaknesses of an innovative video service.
Pretty and Practical
Just when you think video is done – someone comes up with a
simpler
way to work with videos. MyVeZoom is “dead simple” and elegant in its
design and function.
Channels distributed in left sidebar range from
news to regional video and “my favourites” caps of the familiar and
easily navigable drop down lists.
Drag-and-drop modules contain
categorized and listed feeds to dozens of categories. I really like
object oriented modules and these are customizable via drop-down
edit.
Adding channels via RSS URL is rather standard Web 2.0, but
creating
custom channels with keywords is very cool. You will note the Sarah
Brightman channel module in the graphic below
– automatically created by simply typing in the artist’s name.
Search Function
MyVeZoom returns relevant query results with what they claim
is the
world’s most comprehensive video search engine. I must say that the
quality and to a great degree the relevance of results I obtained in
testing was excellent.
However, I remain sceptical and objective as to
the validity of this claim. A simple search for Shakira revealed
118,000 videos on almost 6000 pages.
This result validates the
comprehensive nature of their search to some extent, but it also
reveals a problem that I will discuss later on. The image below
displays the first page of this keyword search.
MyVeZoom Pros
Searching and accessing anything “video” with myVeZoom is fun
and
simple. Spatially organized, customized and movable modules make
selecting and organizing user preferences a snap.
The vastness of
content obviously available either through RSS, built up favourites
modules or search is a huge asset for this site and its users. I
especially like the way everything on the landing page is right out in
front of the user.
The lack of frills and clutter further simplify
selecting and viewing video feeds as well.
MyVeZoom Cons
As I mentioned earlier MyVeZoom queries a vast number of
videos.
This combined with the multiple modules makes page loads and search
painfully slow. I tried the service in IE, FF2 and on Flock and found
the faster browsers only marginally helped load time.
I could find no
“filtering” control at the user level and whatever filtering criteria
the engine uses simply has to be tweaked (no doubt returning 6000 pages
of Shakira has something to do with this).
The module editing is also
too simplistic compared to services like Second
Brain and Particls.
Grabbing and reorganizing simple links will be commonplace by
the end
of the year and VeZoom should enhance all of their links to include;
thumbnails, better descriptions and ultimately source indication to
help users make better choices.
Conclusions
I like myVeZoom because of it’s “in your face” simplicity. The
designers have done a great job of making a strikingly simple and
elegant tool. At the end of the day however, Web 3.0 will be about Web
2.0 technology being applied swiftly and effectively.
VeZoom is not VeohTV by
any stretch, and I am not sure the function of the service could not be
“cloned” from within Dmitry’s creation via minis and an already
existent search function. That being said, myVeZoom can be a real
contender in a sub-niche of online TV.
By this I mean that some users
want simplicity and the ability to quickly search for cool video. This
type activity is generally carried out at Youtube, Veoh, Uvouch and
many other sites.
If myVeZoom can tweak their search to filter for
quality and source better, with speed and relevance as the resultant
advantage, then this service will rock for many people. In a nutshell,
this service has to further differentiate itself.
Phil Butler is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
