According to statistics, if you are reading this, you are probably on a broadband connection. Whether you are surfing at work on a LAN or at home on a DSL or cable modem, you are probably not on dial up at this moment.

However, there was a time not that long ago in which Webmasters were optimizing every element of their page feverishly to squeeze every ounce of speed from it. Broadband simply was not that common and, even over dial up connections, visitors had twitchy fingers on the “back” button at all times.

But in the age of YouTube, Flash ads and embeddable content, those lessons have been all but forgotten, However, not everyone has access to high-speed connection, especially in rural locations, and after spending just a few days limited to dial up, the lessons come flooding back.

So what lessons did I learn while surfing the slow Web while evacuated? Here is just a sample of what I saw. read more

Great news for video publishers that want to expand their possible viewership on YourTube videos, now you can add captions to your videos. From the official blog:

You can add captions to one of your videos by uploading a closed caption file using the “Captions and Subtitles” menu on the editing page. To add several captions to a video, simply upload multiple files. If you want to include foreign subtitles in multiple languages, upload a separate file for each language.

BBC, CNET, MIT, and Japanese anime publisher Gonzodoga are among the partners mentioned in said blog post. read more

MoFuse, the service that makes your site mobile friendly, announced an interesting array of news via e-mail today:

• Improved recommendation engine
• WordPress comments integration
• YouTube video transcoded to mobile-friendly format

The first one on the list isn’t something I personally care about, MoFuse got this recommended reading links at the end of mobile pages, if you enable it, so that readers will find more content in the mobile web. However, the integration of WordPress comments, and automatic transcoding of embedded YouTube videos are interesting news.

Check out MoFuse if you want to have a mobile version of your site.

Wired covers the fact that the 2008 Democratic National Convention is the most covered media event in their party’s history - by bloggers!:

This year’s convention sees multiple firsts in technological innovations for the quadrennial political party gathering. For starters, the Democratic National Convention Committee is providing bloggers (and floor delegates) with “video-upload booths” where they can upload their footage to YouTube or any other online-video platform.

The DNC is using text messaging and streaming video to keep delegates (and those following along at home) up to date.

Their story also contains great hi-rez photos of the DNC setup along with discussions of other technologies and support that are in place for bloggers covering the convention.

When it comes to matters of copyright, some companies have an earned reputation as being attack dogs. They are known for filing takedown notices at the drop of a hat, throwing lawsuits around at will and generally intimidating anyone that they feel gets too close to their intellectual property.

Though there is nothing wrong with being aggressive about your copyright, especially when you make your living from it. The problem comes when companies cross the line and sacrifice the rights of users and the public in their bid to protect their work.

These attack dogs are dangerous for many reasons. First, they are the ones most likely to file takedown notices, including against bloggers. Second, they often times trample free speech and run afoul of the law. Finally, they also end up writing both the copyright news we read and many of the copyright laws we follow.

So who are the most aggressive copyright holders? Though such a list is entirely subjective, here is my personal list of the most aggressive major copyright holders I have been tracking. read more

As you probably know, a court ruled that Google would have to turn over user data from YouTube to Viacom, as part of the list of viewed videos that Viacom claims (probably justly so) are illegally available on YouTube. This made some people sweat, but more importantly, it pointed out that not even the all-mighty Google can keep your stuff secret for you, unless they delete it of course.

However, good news just in! TechCrunch reports that Viacom agrees to Googles request to anonymize the user IDs and IP addresses, although it will be able to track them down. Michael Arrington sums it up nicely:

The new order, filed this evening, states that Google will substitue user id’s and IP addresses for anonymous but unique identifiers.

For more on this, read the full order over at TechCrunch.

It’s amazing that bin Laden, the world’s most hunted terrorist, is able to pre-announce that he has a new video coming.

I’m starting to wonder if soon Al Qaeda will just run trailers before movies start at the theater.

Google-owned YouTube has denied a request from U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (D) to remove videos that are “sponsored” by the terror organization. According to the online video giant, these vids don’t violate its community guidelines.

It’s the age-old battle of freedom of speech. In a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Lieberman wrote the following:

“Islamist terrorist organizations use YouTube to disseminate their propaganda, enlist followers and provide weapons training…YouTube also, unwittingly, permits Islamist terrorist groups to maintain an active, pervasive and amplified voice, despite military setbacks or successful operations by the law enforcement and intelligence communities.”

Do you think videos that show the killing of U.S. soldiers should be banned from YouTube? Or, is Google right to keep their Website censor-free?

YouTube wants to put more focus on citizen news, so enter Olivia, the new News Manager who urges people to participate. She’s got a channel up, want tips by e-mail, and says hi in a video: