Magma

In high school, the equation for popularity was straightforward -- # of cheerleaders dated + nerds noogied x height in inches of jacked up flatbed -- but in the real world things aren't always so simple, as evidenced by the previous equation at some point switching to a gauge of lives-in-trailer-dom. Endeavoring to solve the equation of Internet video popularity, Magma

Still in beta, Mag applies a proprietary algorithm to web videos to determine the most popular across all the netz, then breaks the results into simply categorized lists, all with the aim of being "the entry point into video...[like] TV Guide was the entry point for TV", with a distinct emphasis on "was". Scouring dozens of bigger sites (YouTube, CollegeHumor, Hulu, NYTimes, etc), Mag runs individual videos through a formula that factors in # of views (accounting for difference in site traffic), # of comments (including those on major blogs w/ vid embedded), "likes" (e.g. Diggs/Reddit upvotes), and any inbound blog links and Twitter mentions; the resulting popularity computation is then displayed as a number between 1 and 11, throwing into question the mathematical genius behind their equation in the first place. Videos're then sorted into easily searchable channels, including source site, Mag staff picks, user channels, and a section for the Top 100 videos, where you'll find a Komodo dragon taking down a buffalo (8.3), a chick getting hit in the face by a recoiling Desert Eagle handgun (8.6), and some serious 80s dorks teaching self defense cheap-shots (7.5)...like handing an attacker a recoiling gun while unleashing Komodo dragons

Mag's got big plans moving forward, including channels dedicated to interest areas, channel RSS feeds, and crazy-specific data for individual videos, including a graph of historical activity, Digg/Twitter/Reddit/StumbleUpon stats, and real-time social media buzz, the same means by which you can watch your popularity level plummet in indirect correlation to your air-shocks.