5min - Life Videopedia

I just heard about this new website called 5min. It is a video sharing site that is for sharing knowledge and how-to's rather than cute animals, groin shots, or Internet freakology.

Here is how 5min describe themselves:

5min is a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge.

The idea behind 5min is very simple: any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes. Our goal is to create the first communal Life Videopedia allowing users from all over the globe to contribute their knowledge by sharing visual guides in areas such as arts, business, fashion, sports, health, tech, food, and much more.

5min's basic philosophy is that everybody is an expert in something and has something to teach others, so why not share that knowledge for the better of the whole? That's why we created a place to gather that collective knowledge onto one platform.

You can read more at 5min's About page, and even *Gasp* watch a 5min video about them!

Unlike YouTube, Google Video, or other video sharing sites, you cannot embed 5min videos to a webpage, though you can send them to your mobile phone. The reason is 5min's proprietary Smart Player that is much more robust than typical online video players. With Smart Player viewers can slo-mo the action, zoom in and out, and more.

I like this idea. Having useful information in one place, rather than buried inside a pile of pseudo-entertainment, is a great thing!

Categories include: Arts, Fashion, Food, Games, Health, Music, Spiritual, Sports, Life Tips and many more. Thousands of videos are already available.

Some of the more interesting videos:

How to Survive a Knife Attack - Especially if it's a rubber knife, you can do it all in slow motion, and the knife-wielder is a passive behemoth!

How to Tie a Du-Rag - 'Cuz you never know when you might need to fly those gang colors.

How to quit playing WoW! - So you can spend more time looking at Hillary Duff Pr0n and researching how to create explosive devices!

How to Wash a Cat - This is followed by the How-to video "How to Treat Infected Cat Scratches".

Tips for Managing Your Zune - for all 3 non-iTunes users out there. You know who you are!

Who says online videos can't be educational?