I’m sure someone has quantified this phenomenon by now, but one of the truisms of user-generated content sites is that most of the work — posting, linking and reviewing — is done by a relatively small percentage of the users. Gawkk, a new entry into the burgeoning online-video market, is trying to raise that percentage by leveraging the Twitter phenomenon.

The New York-based start-up announced the formal launch of its site today at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, but it’s been refining its approach for more than a year. Gary Culliss, the online entrepreneur behind the Direct Hit search engine and a phone-message broadcasting firm called SoundBite Communications, founded Gawkk in 2007 as an online video aggregator. Culliss said he always had in mind the idea of users organizing the content for themselves; the question was how to do it. Although Digg was an early inspiration (hence the extra “k”), by late 2008 Gawkk had settled on the idea of microblogging, a la Twitter. Instead of prompting users to write about what they’re doing, as Twitter does, Gawkk asks, “What are you watching?”

The site’s approach is simple. There are thousands of channels of video to browse, fed by a wide array of sites including vlogs, Hulu and CNN. All the videos that play on the site are accompanied by a comment box, where you can share your thoughts in 140 characters or less. You can also click a “Like” button to note that you liked the video (there’s no “dislike” button, however). The site broadcasts your comments and “Likes” to your followers on the site, adding them to the top of the “activity stream” that dominates their personalized Gawkk home page. You can also broadcast links to videos you’ve found on other sites, and automatically send your comments to your Twitter followers as well (with similar Facebook and Friendster capabilities to come, Culliss said). Just as anyone can become one of your followers on Gawkk, so, too, can you follow any other user, adding their comments, likes and discoveries to the activity stream on your home page. The point is to capitalize on people’s urge to tell others what they’ve found, turning those comments into feeds rich in recommendations for what to watch.

Gawkk, which Culliss says he’s funded with $250,000 of his own savings, has plenty of competition, even in the nascent field of social TV sites. But it’s focused on the right challenge, I think, which is how to help consumers sort through the overwhelming — and growing — volume of video online. Enabling users to find the good stuff for each other is much more cost-effective than paying staffers to do it for them. If the past is any guide, however, Gawkk could have trouble persuading people to make the effort of posting comments — even at 140 characters or less. After all, most people just like to watch.

– Jon Healey

Healey writes editorials for The Times’ Opinion Manufacturing Division.

[via LATimes.com]

Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone , speaking today, promised that Verizon’s 4G coverage with the LTE technology would be even wider than current coverage with its familiar CDMA and EVDO network. Specifically, Melone told reporters: The licenses we bought in the 700MHz auction cover the whole US… And we plan to roll out LTE throughout the entire country, including places where we don’t offer our CDMA cellphone service today. Because Verizon’s LTE ( Long Term Evolution ) will operate at the 700MHz frequency—as opposed to the 2.5GHz used by the competing Sprint/Clearwire WiMax network—it could possibly have greater range with fewer towers: The lower the hertz, the farther the signal travels under the same power

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Verizon Promises More Coverage with 4G Than It Now Provides With 3G [4G Wireless]

When it comes to layoffs, the light always seems darker over your co-worker’s cubicle. A new employee confidence survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of company/job review site Glassdoor.com shows that 26 percent of respondents are concerned about being out of work in the next six months. That is up from 21 percent in the last quarter. But when asked about their colleagues, a full 44 percent said some of them wouldn’t last through the summer. You never think you are the one who is going to get fired until your boss calls you into his office for a little chat.

More than half of those surveyed, 57 percent, said that layoffs or planned layoffs had occurred at their companies the past six months. Other findings from the survey:

• 35 percent think their company’s outlook will improve over the next six months
• 51 percent think their company’s outlook will stay the same
• 36 percent of employees still expect a raise, down from 40 percent last quarter
• 39 percent are confident they could find another job with comparable pay and experience if they had to
• 70 percent would be willing to take on more projects and responsibities to keep their jobs
• 62 percent would be willing to work longer hours to keep their jobs
• 40 percent would be willing to take a pay cut
• 35 percent would be willing to accept reduced health or dental benefits
• 34 percent would take an unpaid leave of absence to save their jobs longterm
• 30 percent would give up vacation time

Interesting what people value the most. More people would take a pay cut before giving up health benefits or vacation time. What would you give up to keep your job? Full survey results embedded below:

Glassdoor Employee Confidence Survey 1Q09 – Get more Business Plans

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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Survey Says: Workers Are More Worried About Their Colleagues Being Laid Off Than Themselves

I didn’t realize just how small this Jabra Halo Stereo Bluetooth Headset was until I actually picked it up. Yeah, it’s pretty damn thin. There’s not much difference in thickness from the earphones to the headband and there’s only one noticeable button (the volume uses a capacitive touch strip. They don’t foldup in the most graceful manner, but they don’t feel like they’ll break either

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Hands On Jabra Halo Bluetooth Headset: Really, Really Slim [Headsets]

For an entry level dumbphone, this Samsung Impression is a really nice piece of hardware. And while the the Software UI more or less gets the job done, it’s still a little bumpy

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Samsung Impression Has Great Dumphone Hardware, Less Perfect Software [Cellphones]

Dovetailing dreamingly with the company’s SDK announcement today, Palm’s chosen CTIA to show off a round of third-party apps for the Pre , and the good news is that they’re definitely dispelling some doubts we had about the robustness of webOS’ development platform and its ability to deliver compelling software. We were emphatically reminded that everything here is strictly for the sake of preview — it’s all beta, just like the Pre itself — but that being said, it all looked smooth and relatively crash-free (as best as we could gather anyhow without giving it a more ruthless hands-on beating of our own). First off, we saw a NASCAR app, perfect for die-hard fans (but really, even more perfect for Sprint’s track record of sponsoring NASCAR events) that culls video highlights, driver profiles, and more

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Pandora, Amazon, other third-party apps demoed on Palm Pre

Developers signing on to the iPhone SDK program are now expressly forbidden from writing iPhone apps that can be installed via jailbreak, or any software for any Apple technology that messes with security or DRM. Here’s a piece of what Ars is quoting from the new agreement: You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so..

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Apple Developer Agreement Forbids Writing Jailbreak and DRM Cracking Apps [Apple]

This strange air-conditioned shirt from Japantrendshop is “powered solely by your powered USB drive; great for any hot office or even for portable action with a laptop.” Available now, priced at $214. Video after the break

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Strange Air-Conditioned Shirt Demonstrated on German TV Show

If you want something really redundant or love living in the past with failures of other people surrounding you, then chances are you will find the Betamax to HD-DVD Converter to be your cup of tea. Seriously, is there any need to explain further? Betamax and HD-DVD are like a match literally made in heaven (you know, that place you go when you die?), and now you can get a slice for yourself. Featuring simple one-touch record between either format, your media has never felt less obsolete.

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Betamax to HD-DVD Converter

Nokia’s Point and Find beta service , which lets you point your cellphone camera at any object to learn more about it, is ready for use today in San Francisco and London.

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Nokia Point and Find Is Like a Meatspace Google [Nokia]