YouTube announced on Thursday that the limit on uploaded videos has been increased, to 15 minutes.

That’s for everyone, of course. YouTube Partners don’t have a time limit, but rather a size limit of 20GB.

For those who want to earn, via video, their 15 minutes of fame, YouTube has a contest. if you tag your video with “yt15minutes” nadupload it by Wednesday, August 4, you may be among the select few that YouTube will feature on their homepage in the future spotlight.

One caveat: if you have a video that was too long before, but fits under the 15 minute limit now, YouTube has the following warning:

One final note: if you’re uploading a video that was previously rejected for being too long, you’ll have to go into “My Videos” and delete it before attempting to upload it again.

Deep inside the dangerous world of rescue operations, one anonymous hero pays no ransom, takes no prisoners, and breaks every rule. Meet Jonathan Grave. . .

No names. No feds. No trace evidence. That’s how Jonathan Grave operates. As a freelance specialist in covert rescues, he has to work outside the law to get things done-especially in highly sensitive hostage situations. But when an Indiana college student is abducted, and Jonathan’s meticulous plan explodes into a deadly shooting spree, the local authorities are out for blood-and they’re not alone. Someone wants to control a devastating secret . . . someone rich and powerful . . . someone willing to capture, torture, and kill anyone to get it. Even the people Jonathan loves most. . .

Praise for John Gilstrap and his thrillers. . .“Gilstrap hits the accelerator and never lets up.”-Harlan Coben

“A gut-grabbing, pure-adrenaline rush.”-Jeffery Deaver

“Gilstrap pushes every thriller button.” -San Francisco Chronicle

“Surprising and satisfying.”-The Denver Post

Microsoft have a Search Engine Optimization Toolkit, which allows you to run reports which identify any errors with content, code and any on-site SEO issues.

It will scan through your site to identify the following types of error:

* Canonicalization
* Uppercase letters in urls
* Missing/duplicate/short/long title tags and descriptions
* Broken links
* Duplicate content
* Slow pages

What I really like is that you can save that report & re-run to compare. Meaning that once the amends have been made, you can check through quickly to see what’s been fixed, what’s still broken and any new errors that have appeared.

The installation of the tool is a little cumbersome (you need to install the Web Platform Installer, then the IIS SEO Toolkit); and the format of the report isn’t beautiful – but you can easily export to a spreadsheet to add your commentary/recommendations in and style up.

More info: http://www.iis.net/download/SEOToolkit

Welcome back from the long holiday weekend! Though seriously, this industry doesn’t slow down for a minute, does it? Seems everyone used their day off to get ahead on their blog writing or reading. (I’ll admit, I was guilty, too, with my guest post on Outspoken Media about green business practices that better your bottom line. Check it out if you get a chance, but don’t leave yet! I’m talking here! )

While America was busy with its Independence Day festivities this weekend, for the rest of the world it’s been all about the World Cup. Tomorrow Germany and Spain will fight it out for the last spot in the finals facing the Netherlands. One team that didn’t fair so well during the tournament was Nigeria. The team was eliminated during the group stage — which would have been downer enough for Nigerian nationals — but worse yet, the country’s president issued a two-year suspension to the national soccer team from international competition due to its poor showing. Not about to accept insult with injury, fans of the team rallied together to convince the president to reverse his ruling, where else but on Facebook.

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