YouTube is great for entertainment, but quality is a whole other bag of marbles. When I have a video I plan on uploading, I don’t want it compressed to all hell and back for the purpose of streaming. Because of this, I usually use Vimeo for those vids. But thanks to a hack involving the URL of YouTube videos, you can now squeeze 720p HD quality vids from everyone’s favorite video website.

To do it, find the video you want in 720p and change the following text in the URL or embed code:

By changing that fmt variable to &fmt=22 or tacking on &ap=%2526fmt%3D22 to the embed URLs—that’s right, turn it up twice past 11—Youtube will kick out compatible videos at a whopping 720p resolution.

Extremely sweet. I’ve included some hacked video of CSI’s David Caruso to demonstrate. Just remember that 720p video means big bandwidth, so no slow connections and don’t go bitching at YouTube because your favorite video isn’t loading right away.

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This isn’t the first idea of real-life geotagging but a new system called Tikitag certainly looks to be the most successful. Think of it as a personal RFID system with a receiver and some sticky tags. These are fully programmable in the sense that you can associate any URL with the RFID tag. Throw it on a pack of condoms and have it take you to JDate. Now that’s a pretty clear message.

Throw one on your biz card and have it take your client to your website. Presto! If the idea of bringing the Internet into the real world excites you, you should probably seek professional help or Amazon.com, where you can purchase Tikitags for $50 on October 1st. That’ll net you a scanner and ten tags, quite enough to cause some havoc.

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See this patch that looks like it belongs on a messenger bag from 1994, right next to that goofy Nirvana logo? Good. First off, it’s not a patch like on your mommy’s quilt, it’s a P8tch. It features a special barcode that your cellphone (possibly) can scan. When scanned, the “patch” takes you to the URL of your choice. Have a popular tech blog you want people to know about? Need MILF Hunter readily available from wherever you are? This is your solution. And cheap it is not. One of these URL-encoded P8tches will run you $20 + shipping from the UK. Fucking brilliant.

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