StumbleUpon, the toolbar-turned-startup company that’s getting hotter and hotter by the day, has started distributing invites to their new sister product called StumbleVideo. Based on the same technology, StumbleVideo is a new way to randomly discover and rate videos.
While StumbleUpon’s magic was mainly in their browser, StumbleVideo differs as being fully web-based. Click the “Stumble” button on their homepage, and start with your first video. What I love, firstly, is their interface. When you’re about 10 seconds into the video, everything dims out like you would dim out lights in real life. In the classic StumbleUpon style, you rate on whether you liked or didn’t like the video, and there’s the next.
Videos are divided up into categories or you can simply browse generally. The ones I watched were mainly from YouTube and Google Video, but most other players are supported. Your StumbleUpon account can be used for StumbleVideo, and after playing with it for a while, I can admit StumbleUpon’s own interface is no where near as good as StumbleVideo’s…perhaps they’re working on a makeover on that one.
StumbleVideo is an exciting product and I can only wish they launched 6 months earlier when the whole video revolution was starting. Nevertheless, it’s a very indulging product for the video surfer, and since videos can’t be judged on their first impression or within say about 10 seconds, StumbleVideo is even more dangerous than StumbleUpon — it can get you hooked for hours!
