GeorgeHopkin.com

Don’t be taken in by videos of mobile phones apparently popping corn.

Bluetooth headset retailer Cardo Systems has claimed ownership of the hot viral videos that show people appearing to pop popcorn with their cellphones.

In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday titled “Cellphone Popcorn Mystery Resolved,” an advert for the company’s line of headsets follows the grainy footage of friends aiming phones at uncooked corn that’s been tallying millions of views on YouTube.

More: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/bluetooth-compa.html

And those original videos:

It started as a student assignment and it is now a worldwide film sensation.

The short film, the “Italian Spiderman”, was devised by students at Flinders University in South Australia. On the internet the film has attracted almost two million hits in just over five months.

Now it has attracted the attention of the South Australian Film Corporation, which will give the students funding to make ten more of the short films, as Nance Haxton reports from Adelaide.

Expect to hear a lot more about Italian Spiderman over the coming weeks.

More info: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2269067.htm

MP3 news report: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/twt/200806/20080609twt10-italian-spiderman.mp3

Two million views (and counting), but is this one-minute YouTube video of an unsuspecting(?) girlfriend filmed using the Wii Fit videogame, erm, thing, a marketing viral or genuine overnight sensation?

To be honest, that’s kind of beside the point. Authentic or not, it demonstrates the enormous traffic opportunities available to creative folk tapping into video sharing sites.

For the record, both boyfriend and girlfriend work in advertising - their company’s website is here and its YouTube channel is here.