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Adrenaline activities A to Z
March 2007
Nevis Highwire © A J Hackett
We guide you through the alphabet of extreme activities around the world; guaranteed to make your heart pump a little faster.
A is for abseiling
Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa is home to the world's highest commercial abseil - a 112m (367ft) drop from 1,000m (3,280ft) above sea level. The views are unbeatable, but you may not appreciate them until you're back on terra firma (website: www.abseilafrica.co.za).
B is for bungee jumping
If you're going to fling yourself headfirst into nothingness attached to an elastic cord, you may as well go big. The Nevis Highwire, in Queenstown, New Zealand, plunges you 134m (440ft) from a suspended cable car (website: www.ajhackett.co.nz).
C is for coasteering
Slide into a wetsuit, clamber round rocks and jump off seacliffs as you traverse your way round the Pembrokeshire coastline. This national park in southwest Wales is the original coasteering destination (website: www.adventure.visitwales.com).
D is for dog sledding
Mush, mush! Grab a pack of huskies and try your hand at driving dogs with the help of a guide. Howling Dog Tours can take you for a winter ride along spectacular mountain trails in the Canadian Rockies (website: www.howlingdogtours.com).
E is for edge of space
Gain your astronaut wings and experience the thrill of zero gravity 110km (360,000ft) above the earth... as long as you have US$200,000 to spare. From 2009, Virgin Galactic will take tourists (with cash to burn) on the flight of their lives (website: www.virgingalactic.com).
F is for freediving
Ditch the scuba tank and rely on your lungs. Competitive freediver William Trubridge runs three and five-day courses in the spectacular setting of Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas (website: http://verticalblue.net).
G is for golf
World Ice Golf Championship © World Ice Golf Championship Committee Greenland
Don't expect to see any greens at the World Ice Golf Championships in Uummannaq, Greenland. Golfers tee off amidst gigantic icebergs - fortunately, the balls are red. Held from 22-27 March 2007 (website: www.greenland-guide.gl/icegolf).
H is for heli-skiing
Forget competing for fresh tracks in a busy resort. Assuming your wallet can handle it, bag yourself a ride with Valdez Heli-Ski Guides for unlimited powder in the couloirs and bowls of Alaska's Chugach Mountains (website: www.valdezheliskiguides.com).
I is for ice climbing
The Ice Factor, near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands, boasts the world's biggest indoor ice wall and is the place to learn the ropes before progressing to the real thing at Ben Nevis or Torridon (website: www.ice-factor.co.uk).
J is for jet boating
Shotover Jet © Shotover Jet
High-speed jet boats skim the water in the narrow gorges of the Shotover River near Queenstown, New Zealand, coming within a hair's breadth of the canyon walls and spinning you 360 degrees (website: www.shotoverjet.com).
K is for kite surfing
You'll need a hefty dose of determination to master this sport (a combination of power kiting and surfing). Sign up for lessons in Tarifa, a Mecca for kite surfers on the southern tip of Spain (website: www.tarifa.net/kitesurf).
L is for luge
The luge track at La Plagne, in the French Alps, opened for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. The scariest way to hurtle down is in a mono bob, a 90kph (56mph) one-man adrenaline rush (website: www.la-plagne.com/en/bobsleigh_fr.phtml).
M is for mountain biking
Biking on the Slickrock Trail © Utah Office of Tourism (Frank Jensen)
The Slickrock Bike Trail is a 16km (10-mile) technical bike route on a sandstone plateau between the Moab Valley and the Colorado River in Utah, USA. Be prepared for heart-pounding narrow ledges and nerve-wracking drop-offs (website: www.discovermoab.com/biking.htm).
N is for New Zealand
Looking for the A to Z of extreme adventures in one destination? New Zealand's smorgasbord of extreme activities, from aerobatic flights to zorbing (rolling down a hill inside a giant ball), will satisfy any adrenaline junkie's cravings (website: www.newzealand.com/travel).
O is for orienteering
Compete against the best at the World Masters Orienteering Championships. The 2007 event is being held from 7-14 July in Kuusamo, Finland, 50km (31 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. A highlight will be the midnight sun evening race (website: www.wmoc2007.fi/eng).
P is for prison
Karosta Prison © Karostas Cietums
A tour of Karosta, a former Soviet military prison in Liepaja, Latvia, guarantees an increased heart rate. Experience the life of a prisoner, from arrest to interrogation and, if you misbehave, a spell in solitary confinement (website: www.karostascietums.lv/new/en/intro-en.html).
Q is for quad biking
It may not have been on Brad and Angelina's itinerary, but the adventurous way to explore the gigantic sand dunes at Namibia's Walvis Bay is by quad bike - semi-automatic or manual, depending on how brave you're feeling (website: www.walvisbay.com.na/adventure.htm).
R is for roller coaster
Riding the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, New York is mostly about the fear of whether the rickety-looking 1927 wooden structure is actually going to stay up (website: www.astroland.com/cyclone.html).
S is for skydiving
If you've struck lucky at poker, Vegas is the place to splurge on a skydive. A tandem jump involves plummeting 4,600m (15,000ft) at 190kph (120mph) with incredible views of the Las Vegas Strip, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam (website: www.skydivelasvegas.com).
T is for twilight rafting
On the River Tummel in Perthshire, Scotland, there's white-water rafting, then there's rafting with the added frisson of paddling at dusk. Of course, you may not see the waterfall coming...(website: www.naelimits.co.uk).
U is for underwater hockey
Armed with a mask, snorkel, fins and a mini stick, you duck under water, whack the puck and go for goal. (Chances are better if you're playing towards the deep end!) Join a local club and progress to the world championships (website: www.gbuwh.co.uk).
V is for via ferrata
Meaning ‘iron ways', vie ferrate were constructed for soldiers in the Italian Dolomites during WWI. Steel cables, foot and handholds and ladders open up seemingly inaccessible peaks and mountain faces. Vertigo sufferers stay away (website: www.dolomiti.it/eng/itinerari/ferrate/dx.htm).
W is for wakeboarding
© Orlando Wakeboard Academy
Instead of standing on two waterskis, wakeboarders attach both feet to one board, a bit like snowboarding on water. Learn the basics, or try out new tricks, at the Orlando Wakeboard Academy in Florida (website: http://orlandowakeboard.com).
X is for X games
For armchair adrenaline seekers who prefer spectating to participating, the annual X Games in Los Angeles, California, takes place from 2-5 August 2007 and showcases the world's top BMX, skateboard, surf, moto X and rally car athletes (website: http://expn.go.com).
Y is for yachting
Follow in the sails of Ellen MacArthur on the ultimate yachting adventure. The Vendée Globe race entails sailing solo around the globe with no stopovers and no assistance (website: www.vendeeglobe.org/uk).
Z is for ziptrekking
Launch yourself off a treetop platform and soar above temperate rainforest on a series of ziplines (suspended cables) in Whistler, western Canada. Ziptrek Ecotours added five new lines in 2006, the longest stretching a whopping 600m (2,000ft) (website: www.ziptrek.com).
Photo credits:
(From top to bottom)
Nevis Highwire © A J Hackett
World Ice Golf Championship © World Ice Golf Championship Committee Greenland
Shotover Jet © Shotover Jet
Biking on the Slickrock Trail © Utah Office of Tourism (Frank Jensen)
Karosta Prison © Karostas Cietums
© Orlando Wakeboard Academy
Author: Susie Henderson
Related information
* View Las Vegas City Guide
* View Utah Guide
* View Orlando City Guide
* View Namibia Guide
* View New York City Guide
* View Spain Guide
* View Queenstown City Guide
* View Canada Guide
* View Scotland Guide
* View Los Angeles City Guide
* View Wales Guide
* View Latvia Guide
* View Italy Guide
* View Alaska Guide
* View Bahamas Guide
* View Florida Guide
* View Finland Guide
* View Greenland Guide
* View France Guide
* View Cape Town City Guide
* View New Zealand Guide
Google + YouTube: What it means
So here’s the next big rumor – that Google will buy YouTube for $1.6 billionM. The WSJ article, the TechCrunch post had some of the early takes, but rather than add to the furor of whether the rumor is true or not, I’m going to focus on why Google and YouTube would be interested in working together.
Here’s my quick take on the rumored acquisition:
Why would Google buy YouTube? To start, 35 million users in the US and 100 million daily video views. But it’s not just the sheer numbers that grabs Google’s attention. YouTube is a gem because it figured out what Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and all of the other video players in the marketplace couldn’t – that it’s not about the video. It’s really about the community that’s around the video.
Take a look at the screenshot below of the same “Extreme Diet Coke And Mentos Experiment” video on YouTube and Google Video. You’ll notice that YouTube has many things you can do with the video – rate it, save it to favorites, comment on it, share it, see other related videos, and view the user’s playlists, etc. I think you get the idea.
Youtube_1
Then take a look at the Google screenshot. Let’s see… you can add a comment (that’s new). There are a few other additional features like browsing related videos or via tags. But clearly, the focus is on the big, dominant video player.
Google_2
YouTube is winning the hearts of the audience because video search simply doesn’t work. You have to instead rely on the opinions, ratings, and playlist compilations of others to discover good video.
Why would YouTube want to be bought by Google? My colleagues, Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler, discussed earlier this week in their blogs that earlier this week that YouTube faces substantial risk with lawsuits coming from music and video copyright holders, and how they could potentially address those concerns – namely by developing technologies to identify copyrighted materials against a body of work provided by the copyright holders. But who is in a better position to develop that technology – 60 burnt out people at YouTube or the legendary technical minds at Google?
Moreover, Josh points out that YouTube faces potential “cease and decease” actions from copyright holders, and risks following in the footsteps of Napster where it could its activities can be seriously compromised. But this morning, Josh and I discussed that a copyright holder would be much more likely to negotiate and partner with Google than a start-up like YouTube. Update: Josh just posted his thoughts on the rumored acquisition as well.
Is YouTube worth $1.6B? You betcha. That’s 4 cents per video stream ($1.6B divided by 100 million daily views * 365 days) and it’s still growing. Another way to think of it is that YouTube has roughly 50 million users (35M in the US according to Nielsen NetRatings, and probably another 15M worldwide) which comes out to $32 per user. It’s high, but it’s also reasonable.
Granted, YouTube is just beginning to monetize its audience, but having access to Google’s über-ad network gives it a huge leg up. But this is where I hope YouTube stays the course in not cluttering up its unique interface with sponsored text ads, or its video experience with pre- and post-roll video ads.
Youtubead Butterfinger The real opportunity for YouTube is to create a completely different kind of advertising form, one that is based on community engagement and involvement, rather than the traditional interruptive style of advertising. Take a look at their home page – here’s a screenshot from today. There’s a small text link to a “Follow the Finger” video contest sponsored by Butterfinger (screenshot also included). Advertisers are loathed to develop these special campaigns together – they would much rather slap on existing banners and promotions. But given the size and attractiveness of the YouTube audience, the site can command not only top dollar with exclusiveness, but also demand that advertisers adhere to specific standards that guarantee the best user experience.
If the acquisition goes forward, Google will be pressured to quickly realize a return on its first major investment. My hope is that Google will resist the temptation to turn YouTube into yet another cluttered ad space and allow the company to push advertisers into this new, engaged form of advertising.
Technorati Tags: acquisition, google, youtube
Youtube Tövbekar, Medyamız Sahtekar!
07/03/2007
YouTube, içerdiği sakıncalı videolar nedeni ile mahkeme kararı sonucunda kapatıldı. Kapatılan siteye nasıl gireceğinizi ve videoları nasıl izleyeceğinizi bu haberde açıklıyoruz.
Mahkeme tarafından alınan bu karar, daha önce müzik endüstrisini etkileyen ve porno içerikli bazı siteler için de birçok kez uygulanmıştı. Bu sefer yasaklanan site, tüm dünyada en çok ziyaret edilen 4. büyük site.Çoğu ulusal gazetemizin web sitelerinin ve popüler haber sitelerindeki YouTube videoları da bu yasaktan payını aldı.
Yasaklanan Youtube'a nasıl girilir?
Siteye koyulan yasak, Türk Telekom tarafından verilen internet hizmetini kullanan kişiler için geçerli. Bu kişiler arasında ADSL kullanıcıları da yer alıyor. Bir şekilde YouTube'a girmek isteyenler için çözüm de yok değil.
Yasak, sadece alan adına geliyor. Tarayıcılarına www.youtube.com yazanlar, sitenin kendi sunucusu yerine Telekom'un mahkeme kararını belirten siteye gidiyorlar.
Tarayıcıya YouTube'un alan adı yerine sunucusunun IP adresini yazdığınızda siteye eskisi gibi giriş yapabiliyorsunuz.
:: YouTube'un IP adresi: Bu adresi HABERALEMİ olarak biz vermiyoruz. Diğerleri gibi yalancı tepki göstermiyoruz.
Telekom ne dedi?
Türk Telekom Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı Paul Doany, sadece mahkeme kararlarını uyguladıklarını, bu kararın da dün gece ellerine geçtiğini ve hemen işleme koyduklarını belirterek, ikinci bir karar geldiğinde bu yasağın hemen kaldırılacağını da sözlerine ekledi.
Yasaklı Youtube nasıl girilir?
Yasak konulan Youtube'ın bir hafta içinde açılacağı söyleniyor. Youtube'un bu süre içinde Türkiye ve Türk halkına yönelik sakıncalı videoları temizleyeceği bildiriliyor.
Teknoloji siteleri ise Youtube giriş için farklı kapılar gösteriyor. ShiftDelete. net sitesi iki yol bulunduğunu yazdı.
Birinci yöntem
Siteye proxy üzerinden girilebiliyor. Ağ ayarlarınızı değiştirmeden web üzerinden bu hizmeti sağlayan bazı siteler var. Mesela aşağıdaki bağlantıya tıkladığınızda yasaklanan YouTube'a giriş yapabileceksiniz.
:: Anonymouse'da YouTube'a girmek için buraya tıklayın.
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
İkinci yöntem
Tarayıcıya YouTube'un alan adı yerine sunucusunun IP adresini yazdığınızda siteye eskisi gibi giriş yapabiliyorsunuz.
:: YouTube'un IP adresi: http://208.65.153.253/
