As anyone who reads the popular press knows, YouTube is one pretty cool way be entertained.  There are videos of all categories ranging from very amateurish what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation to first rate productions such as the hilarious and very professional Smirnoff “Tea Partay”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0. 

Naturally any elaborate video is a big deal to produce. However let’s say a Hollywood production is not your goal. You just want to put something funny online to amuse your friends or to convey a point to a colleague. Lately, I’ve been playing around with a website called Eyejot.com, which provides a free service that allows anyone with a Webcam to create a video and then send it along to your friends.

Not only is this a cool video messaging platform for personal communications, such as making a holiday video card or wowing your family with your latest poem, but you can apply it to business too. If you’ve got entrepreneurial instincts you can create a video to promote your home business whether you’re selling business cards or surfboards. It’s easy to use too.  There’s no client to install—it’s all web driven.

You can start using Eyejot immediately with any browser, on a Mac or a PC.  All it takes to get started is a Webcam and as I’ve indicated in earlier columns, you can get a good one such as the Logitech QuickCam Ultravision for under $150. Eyejot has an online “store” with a dozens of models to choose from but before you buy go to CNET’s webcam reviews http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-6502_7-0.html to get a better idea. You also may have to download some software. In my case the site demanded I get Adobe Flash 9.

After installing your webcam (which takes all of around 10 minutes) log into the www.eyejot.com site and click “Compose New Message” and you are on your way. The main restriction for your video production is that it can only be up to 60 seconds long. When completed, you simply send your video off to the e-mail address(es) of your choice. You also have the option to create an address book for your most popular correspondents. 

I played around with this site for an evening and I must say I had fun but there were some limitations. First and foremost is that you’ve got to have a decent webcam and a good microphone. I tested the site with an older Logitech Webcam 3000 and both video and audio quality, were beyond crummy.  If you want to author something that is intelligible and aesthetically pleasing you’ll need something decent such as the newer Logitech “fusion” series.

Maybe I’m missing something but another thing I didn’t like is that once you create and send a video file there’s no discernable way to forward the same video (unless you’ve sent a link to yourself) to other people. Eyejot files don’t take up bandwidth.When you send your latest rap song to grandma, she’ll get a link that takes her to a webpage to view your magnum opus.  Another cool feature is that it’s easy to post your video with a service called “site widget” that easily allows you to lift the html code and paste it on any web page.  There is also built-in support for iTunes (and iPods), mobile devices and social networks like MySpace.  (Note that the kids will love it.)

Note that my own company has a similar service called RR Video Mail which is free to Road Runner subscribers. Check it out at www.vibephone.com/rr/index.jsp