OStatic

Kaltura, which is nicely described by CNet as the video company that's considered a blend of YouTube and Wikipedia, has closed a second round of funding.The company has an open source video platform for video creation and collaboration, and is releasing an enhanced version of its video-wiki extension for MediaWiki software. The amount of funding, led by .406 Ventures, isn't disclosed, but is described in the CNet post above as significantly larger than the $2.1 million Kaltura previously secured from Avalon Ventures and angel investors. Here's why this company's focus on allowing videographers around the world to collaborate is promising.

If you do any work with video on a Mac, you probably already have some basic software for video editing and production. Out in the open source fields of dreams, though, there are many excellent utilities, adjunct applications, and just plain novelties that any videographer can benefit from using. These include excellent tools for incorporating animation with your videos, encoding video in multiple formats, producing slick storyboards, and more.? Here are six examples.

If you pay any attention at all to the movie industry, you've no doubt noticed the tremendous success that Pixar has had with largely computer-generated animated films. They've got a pretty good track record, singer/songwriter Randy Newman quipped when he accepted a Best Song award at the Oscars for Monsters, Inc. If you take a look at Big Buck Bunny, though, a 3D animated movie created by open source contributors and just released for free online, it looks like Pixar may eventually have some competition. I say eventually because Big Buck Bunny isn't perfect, but it is surprisingly good.