Kicking the public out of a courtroom is an option that should be used rarely and extremely judiciously, which is what makes U.S. District Judge James Ware’s decision Monday disappointing.

Ware shuttered the doors to a San Jose, Calif., hearing pitting Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, probably the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, against Harvard University classmates who claim Zuckerberg stole ideas and source code from a similar venture called ConnectU. Ware took this extraordinary step without notice, without a formal request from either side, and without even specifying why it was necessary.

So what’s so special with this hearing that calls for a private status? Follow the story on CNet News.

YouTomb is a research project by MIT Free Culture that tracks videos taken down from YouTube for alleged copyright violation.

More specifically, YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns. Any information available in the metadata is retained, including who issued the complaint and how long the video was up before takedown. The goal of the project is to identify how YouTube recognizes potential copyright violations as well as to aggregate mistakes made by the algorithm.

These videos are not available for viewing/downloading, thumbs only. Once again, this is simply a research project that seeks to find out more details about how YouTube locates and takes down videos accused of copyright violation.

However, it’s quite interesting what kind of movies people are submitting…

Adobe announced yesterday the immediate availability of Adobe Media Player 1.0 software. An Adobe AIR application, this customizable, cross-platform media player provides exciting new ways for viewers to discover and interact with their favorite content, while offering revenue and brand-building opportunities for content publishers.

TokBox is a web services that allows you to chat with another person using both mic and cam without the need to install anything. All you have to do is register, send a link to the other person (who don’t have to register) and start the conversation.

The service works like any other social network where you can add contacts and leave video messages. Think of your TokBox link as your phone number or email address - once you give it out to someone, they can call or email you at any time.

TokBox have also released their API which means that developers can integrate the system to their own websites. You can download the documentation at www.tokbox.com/view/developer.

YouTube announced in November that they would be testing out encoding videos at higher resolutions (and with higher-quality audio encoding). We’re not talking about HD quality but if you add &fmt=18 to the end of the URL you might get an MP4-encoded version, with better audio and a 480×360 resolution.

The new resolution isn’t set as standard as of yet, but by applying the simple parameter above, or by installing the Firefox add-on Better Youtube (all automatic), you will get the new higher-quality version (if the video’s been made available as MP4).

For registered users it’s even simpler. In the account settings there’s now a section where you can adjust the “Video Playback Quality”. Choose “I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it’s available” and you will get the MP4 version if available. It does however require that you have an account and are logged in.

However, the benefits of this upgrade strongly relies on the quality of the uploaded movie. Thus it’s the users that in the end determines the outcome of this. Maybe it would be better to have the videos shown in as high quality as the source allowed? Most users have blistering fast connections these days anyway, but I assume Youtube might be somewhat concerned about bandwidth…

What’s your take on this?