Global warming?

I'm sure I'm not alone in being inconsistant in my adoption of new technology. While I've thrown myself whole-heartedly at YouTube I've dragged my feet with Facebook. But everything is subject to change. In the aftermath of last night's Champion's League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool I had a 'wall-to-wall' converstaion with Tom (tlg847 of YouTube Community Council fame!). This sudden, spontaneous, piece of real-time global interaction changed something.

This morning 'Matt is gradually warming to Facebook!' I've never posted a Facebook status before; funny, because I regularly change mine on MSN. With the growing interest in Twitter, and rival services, I see 'status' as being a great way to counter the curse of 'out of sight - out of mind.' It was Tom's 'status' that prompted me to start the conversation. Perhaps mine will provoke responses for those who've heard my anti-Facebook rants. So in the interests of transparency I felt I should share my belated conversion experience!

Should I, shouldn't I?

Thanks to those nice people at Beet.tv for turning me onto today's hot find. However, I'm in two minds as to whether to confess. I'm only doing so because it got me out of a miser's problem!

Ever tried to download a YouTube video? It's not that straightforward - not if you don't want to pay money. Converters I've found will give you a flash file but then you need a flash player to play it. What if you want to edit it? Then, in my case, I need to convert it to a Windows movie file. A demo version of a ImToo Zune converter will do files under five minutes for free. So I was stuck when I wanted to convert a movie pushing the six minute mark.

Enter idesktop.tv! So I don't quite understand why I want a another interface to consume videos I'd happily watch (probably perfer to watch) on YouTube. However the simple download function, with options for Windows or Mac compatible output is a winner. I've not pushed the limits but my six minute file is now converted. And the best bit...yes, it's free!