Similar to the Flixn widget that we discussed last year, Twango launched a webcam widget that uses Flash to record webcam messages.

Like Flixn, Twango’s widget does not require membership for use of the widget. Twango does add the ability to save video to a Twango account if you are a member though - making it a great way to easily create short videoblogs. YouTube offers a similar feature, Quick Capture.

Unlike Flixn, this is not an ad supported service. One of my personal “concerns” with Twango is that there is no evident business model (and if there is one, they aren’t putting it into action). This is the perfect opportunity to put in post-roll ads and get a bit of value off what is surely a bandwidth hogging application. Still though, a quick and easy way to get your message across to family, friends, and co-workers!

Synfig, the Free and Open Source animation studio, needs your help to stay alive!

The project, which began life as a proprietary tool for the Voria animation studio, was open sourced upon the closure of Voria. Unfortunately, due to a lack of interested developers and community, the project has slowed.

Robert Quattlebaum, founder of the project, posted a message on his blog about the status of the project as of now.

The project is not dead per-se, but I am not able to contribute to it in any significant capacity any more other than to be a resource for anyone with questions. Paul Wise, who has all but taken over managing the project, is currently on a three-month long sailing trip. Things have grown a bit stagnant without him.

Think you can help the project? Able to report bugs and develop? Any support helps. YouMakeMedia fully supports what Synfig is trying to do, and wishes it the best. Personally, I know I’ll be seeing if there is any way that I can contribute.

In what is now the first episode of the YouMakeMedia podcast (this episode is shared with GizBuzz.co.uk), we interview Nicholas Reville, a co-founder of the Participatory Culture Foundation. The Participatory Culture Foundation is responsible for Democracy Player, VideoBomb, and a full suite of video publishing and promotion tools.

Discussed in the interview:

• The Participatory Culture Foundation and its goals
• Old media + new media = ?
• Long tail’s role in the foundation’s work
• Running an open source project as a staffed, funded effort
• The Participatory Politics Foundation, where does media fit into the political spectrum?

Feel free to listen to the interview over at Odeo.

In another sign that User-Generated Content is imperative to the success of media in the next few years, Time Magazine, a top-down, bureaucratic organization, awarded the concept of user-generated content, the bottom-up, collaborative creation system, its coveted “Person of the Year” award.

Past recipients of the award include Bill Gates, Queen Elizabeth, George Bush, and Albert Einstein. We are in good company. I expect that Time will send the invitations to the celebration party any day now… They did have to print six billion copies though, so if mine arrives a bit late I’ll forgive them.

I’ll have more thoughts on this tomorrow, however at the moment it is rather late (thirty minutes until tomorrow in fact) so hang tight. Heck, if you’re just passing through, why not subscribe? Or you can go back through our archives (they’re in the sidebar) and see what we have around. And if you really want to get involved, email me or comment (be sure to pester about Part 3 of the podcasting tutorial!).