When Twitter first heard the news, fans of the late actress took to the boards with excitement.

All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same. -Marilyn Monroe

— Megan Fox (@ReaIMeganFox) February 8, 2012

Marilyn Monroe ‘officially’ joins Twitter (CNN): Share With Friends:|| Business – Markets – Stocks Stories, … feedzil.la/w7GZyg — IH stock traders (@IHStocktweets) February 8, 2012

A Woman We Love: Marilyn Monroe picture on VisualizeUs whrt.it/AoqOjm — Cindy Dean (@cindydean92) February 8, 2012

Marilyn Monroe ‘Officially’ Joins Twitter: Add one more venue where the legend of Marilyn Monroe lives and her voice… on.wesh.com/wWEy8Z — WESH 2 News (@WESH) February 8, 2012

tweets from the beyond? RT @KITV4: Marilyn Monroe ‘Officially’ Joins Twitter: bit.ly/zrb7R6 — gina (@twnstar2) February 8, 2012

“Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.” – Marilyn Monroe. — ins0mniac. (@annikaparamore) February 8, 2012

That Marilyn Monroe hoe is an iconic hoe. Known by hoes for being a hoe. That hoe set the hoe precedent.

— Street in Manhattan (@Dull_Antsy) February 8, 2012

“Your clothes should be tight enough to show you’re a woman but loose enough to show you’re a lady” ~ Marilyn Monroe

— *Glenwood Exclusive* (@ALL_MACHO_PITS) February 8, 2012

Rank20 ” Marilyn Monroe ‘officially’ joins Twitter: Add one more venue where the legend of Marilyn Monroe lives … adf.ly/5KcEP

— Top 100Users (@top100user) February 8, 2012

TMZ is reporting that Lohan is in the process of shooting photos for Playboy magazine, the culmination of a deal that has been in the works for quite a while. What’s the going rate for some Lohan nudes these days? Apparently, $1 million.

According to the sources, Lohan was originally offered $750K, but turned down that paltry sum. One million was apparently enough, as they say shooting began last weekend.

If you remember correctly, Lohan was dealing with some legal issues this past weekend as well.

Of course, the Playboy spread wouldn’t be the first time that the world gets a glimpse at the celebrity in the nude. A few years ago, Lohan did a spread of semi-nude photos for New York magazine. The series of photographs was taken to mimic “The Last Sitting,” an impromptu 1962 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe. The same photographer that shot Monroe, Bert Stern, also shot Lohan.

Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve seen it before, or maybe it has something to do with Lohan’s recent antics and behavior, but an interesting Twitter hashtag has taken off today. Here’s the best of #PeopleIdRatherSeeInPlayboyThanLindsayLohan -

Upon further review, it looks like the hashtag is the work of @EricStangel (executive producer and head writer of The Late Show with David Letterman) and brother Justin_Stangel (also a head writer).

Within 5-10 minutes of this article being posted, the videos in question have been taken down by YouTube:

Here’s another (grainy) screencap from one of the videos, entitled “Slam Dunk.”

Original Article:

YouTube consistently takes down content that it deems inappropriate for various reasons. They outline specific guidelines in their Terms of Service that give them the right to remove content at their sole discretion. They also have a Community Guidelines page that gives tips about certain types of content and explains whether or not it qualifies as acceptable material to be showcased on the site.

It’s common knowledge that YouTube frowns upon nudity. Right? Point number one on the community guidelines page says this:

YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it’s a video of yourself, don’t post it on YouTube.

We all know that real pornography and most all nudity is not allowed on the site. Any video claiming to feature “Hot Hot Sex” or “Blake Lively Nude” will always be a joke and/or spammy video filled with links to other websites.

So why does Playboy’s Morning Show Channel have clips of topless girls playing basketball?

Playboy’s Morning Show is broadcast on Sirius satellite radio and as would be expected, often times features mature content. Now, nudity doesn’t bother me in any way, shape or form. And I’m certainly no spoilsport. But I have to wonder why these videos are allowed to be on YouTube?

Looking deeper at the community guideline tips, you find a specific section on “Sex and Nudity.” Let’s take a look:

Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube. There are exceptions for some educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic content, but only if that is the sole purpose of the video and it is not gratuitously graphic. For example, a documentary on breast cancer would be appropriate, but posting clips out of context from the documentary might not be.

Ok, there are exceptions. That’s why there are tons of how-to breast exam videos on the site. Understandable. Let’s see if the “Machine Gun Titays” or “Slam Dunk” videos fall into any of these exception categories. Educational? Not really. Documentary? Like National Geographic? Scientific? Probably not, this picture is kind of grainy. Artistic? I guess the argument could be made, but c’mon.

I’m pretty sure bouncing boobies slam dunking a tiny hoops goal is closer to “gratuitously graphic.”

Another point about these videos – they are accessible without signing in, therefore bypassing the “mature content warning” that YouTube places on some questionable videos. (Note, this video pictured below that requires a sign in contains no nudity, but some definite near-nudity)

Of course, kids can lie about their age and say they are 18 – that’s not news. So YouTube’s sign-in safeguard isn’t going to prevent most young kids from watching mature content if they really want to do so. But it is strange that the two Playboy show videos in question can be accessed without said log-in. The Playboy Morning Show’s Twitter account even tweeted a link to the video, which naturally doesn’t require a log-in:

And it’s not like these videos were posted minutes ago and YouTube simply hasn’t had time to react. The two videos in question were posted 2 and 5 days ago, respectively.

Let me reiterate how not upset I am about nudity on YouTube – not in the slightest. I’m just saying that if I put a video of my girlfriend playing naked basketball on the site, it probably wouldn’t last 5 days. What gives?

Recently, YouTube came under fire for banning a video from the group Mercy for Animals that shows hidden camera footage of workers at a slaughterhouse mistreating calves. It’s some brutal stuff. They eventually reinstated the video. YouTube does have a specific policy on shocking and disturbing videos, even making reference of slaughter houses:

If a video is particularly graphic or disturbing, it should be balanced with additional context and information. For instance, including a clip from a slaughter house in a video on factory farming may be appropriate. However, stringing together unrelated and gruesome clips of animals being slaughtered in a video may be considered gratuitous if its purpose is to shock rather than illustrate

Maybe YouTube hasn’t noticed the Playboy videos yet. Maybe they have and believe it falls under one of their nudity exception rules. Either way, the common knowledge that stuff like that isn’t allowed on YouTube looks busted as of right now.

Today, Playboy Enterprises has launched i.Playboy.com, a site that gives you access to every page from every issue of Playboy ever published. That sure is a lot of…articles.

Here’s the scope of what we are talking about here: 130,000 pages from over 57 years of magazines – every centerfold, pictorial, reporting piece, interview and even every advertisement.

In addition to providing users with access to all issues from December 1953 to present, the site will also feature exclusive videos and curated content recommendations submitted by members of the Playboy Commission, a high-profile panel of celebrated individuals from art, design, fashion, media and technology. Commission members will provide their own content suggestions from the Playboy archives for users to explore and enjoy each month, beginning in June.

The site, i.playboy.com, is optimized for the iPad, meaning you can navigate the service with relative ease and fluidity. Each magazine issue that you open has a content page with yellow highlighted areas that users can tap to jump quickly from section to section within the issue. A promotional video at the site tells users to “zoom in for more detail” by pinching the screen. I’m sure people will.

A subscription to the service will be offered for multiple time-frames. It will run users $8 per month if they pay monthly. A year’s subscription is $60 while a 2-year subscription is $100. You will save a substantial amount of money by going with the 2-year plan.

Here’s what Playboy’s content officer Jimmy Jellinek says about the new service, as quoted at the Chicago Tribune:

Jellinek is optimistic people will pony up the $8 per month or $60 per year for a service that’s “meant to appeal to that sense of collective nostalgia and affinity.” He calls the website “the world’s sexiest time machine” and “an anthology of cool” for a magazine he refers to as “the Mount Rushmore of literary greatness.”

In an age where the next naked girl in just a *free* click away, will people pony up the cash for Playboy online? The magazine has always had the reputation as “classy” pornography, which is more than can be said for much of the stuff on the web. Will the nostalgia factor create subscription sales? Are the interviews with famous people like John Lennon and articles by Jack Kerouac enough to draw people in?

I would think that every page from every Playboy issue ever published is quite an historical document in its own right, and that could drive enough interest to make i.playboy.com work. I mean, come one – when’s the last time you saw the Marilyn Monroe Playboy spread?

Does i.playboy.com interest you?

Hefner, who will turn 85 in April, shared the news late yesterday on Twitter.  You can see his first tweet on the subject below.

Later, Hefner added, "The IPad Version of Playboy will include the whole magazine from the first issue to the latest."

He also stated in response to a question that uncensored versions of the magazine are what will appear.

This would appear to be in violation of previously stated App Store rules and policies.  Steve Jobs himself has even said that he wants the iPad to remain free of porn.

It remains to be seen whether this represents a one-time exception to Apple’s rules or a new approach to adult content, then.  But either way – assuming Hefner wasn’t somehow misinformed – this will constitute a major change.

Keep an eye out for the additional details which are sure to surface in the days and weeks ahead.

UPDATE: A Playboy spokesperson clarified, "We are releasing a web-based subscription service with Bondi Digital Publishing that will give users access to every issue of Playboy both past and present.  The service will be iPad compatible and will utilize iPad functions.

"We also have plans to release a non-nude version of a Playboy-branded iPad app in the coming months that adheres to all of Apple’s policies and guidelines."

"Unlike other companies that began in print, we have profitable television, online and mobile businesses, which have domestic and international growth potential," said CEO Christine Hefner.

A couple weeks ago it was reported that online video viewing had doubled over the past year. I suspect it is continuing to grow, as just about every day we get more news about happenings in online video, whether that be newly formed partnerships or online videos sites making improvements to their services.

All signs point to the future of video being online. Playboy knows this and is cutting a business, eliminating 80 jobs and costing the company $2 million in restructuring costs. According to Reuters, they will even take an additional $4 million hit from archival materials. That’s $6 million. That’s ok with Playboy though, because they anticipate that they will save as much as $12 million a year by going strictly online and eliminating DVDs. Gina Keating with Reuters writes:

She said the company was acting to meet the challenges of increased competition for consumers’ attention, the migration of advertisers to other platforms, and higher costs of paper, ink and other expenses.

The company will continue to deliver more content digitally, she said in the memo, as it exits the DVD business in phases over a few months to concentrate on selling that content online. Hefner said of the 80 jobs being eliminated, 25 were already open.

Something tells me one day we might be looking back upon Playboy as a pioneer in making the transition from DVD to online. The question is, when will this be commonplace? When will the movie studios phase out DVDs? I think we still have a while before that happens. Set-top boxes and/or PC-to-TV hook-ups will have to reach the mainstream.

Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle today writes about his experience visiting the Google headquarters, and he’s reminded of another building:

Some years ago, I spent a year taking meetings at the Playboy mansion, both the one in Chicago (RIP) and the one in Los Angeles. It had a lot of amenities – I was never more than 15 feet from food and extremely good red wine, and the chairs were comfortable enough for the all-nighters we routinely pulled. There were scantily clad women about, too, and occasionally I passed one in the halls. It was a lot better than a regular office.

I think maybe Google is the Hefner mansion of the 21st century. It too rises from a fantasy – what if you had all the information in the universe at your fingertips? – and it too has sensual amenities to ease the workload. Since the whole idea of Google, it would seem, is that no one should ever have to leave work, one does wonder how it handles courtship rituals and related activities. I imagine they are handled in some officially unofficial way, though, because the Google environment is very carefully thought through.

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The digital distribution partnerships include YouTube, Break, Veoh, Howcast and Metacafe. Playboy has also entered into a deal with social advertising provider Mixercast, who will develop ad-supported content and contest widgets.

To promote its new YouTube channel, Playboy is having a contest inviting women to submit non-nude videos to its channel for a chance to have an audition for a photo shoot. Winning submissions will receive a trip to the Playboy Mansion for a Playboy.com pictorial and an audition to be Playboy’s 55th Anniversary Playmate.

The Playboy Audience Network will focus on the company’s free ad-supported lifestyle programming building on the popularity of its E! TV program "The Girls Next Door." Original short form content will also be developed for third party distribution.

"With the Playboy Audience Network and initiatives like the YouTube talent search, we want to create more of the interactive engagement in our digital business," said Jeremy Westin, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Playboy Media Group.
 

Here is her announcement:

Jenna told the audience, "I really want to be honest for a second. I want everyone to know that I know that US Weekly came out and said I was retiring and that I was done with the industry. I had to come back and talk about the fact that I wasn’t done. Clubjenna is one of the biggest forces in this industry by far and away. But, honesty is key. I will never ever every spread my legs again in this industry ever."

Jenna with her husband Jay Grdina founded the porn based entertainment company ClubJenna in 2000. This comapny is now a major producer  of hardcore porn films as part of Playboy.

Jenna stated that she will focus on her successful web business ventures. She also is independantly wealthy having sold Clubjenna.com to Playboy Enterprises for undisclosed millions in June of 2006. 

I wonder what took her so long!

(If you’re old enough to remember, you just as well could say Playboy is taking a cue from Comedy Central’s long gone "Short Attention Span Theater," which was a gem, in my book. But Playboy mentions YouTube specifically, so we’ll go with it.)

The new "Playboy Prime" short-format programming includes clips from popular shows like Totally Busted" "Naked Happy Girls" and "Sexcetera." It also includes shorts from "Hot Babes Doing Stuff Naked" where Playmates clean house, play tennis, skeet shoot and ride mechanical bulls.

Males are so simple, aren’t they? Don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter, as Playboy’s banking on that Pavlovian conditioning aspect of the male psyche.

"The response to the new format has been tremendous," said Playboy TV veep Todd Schwartz. "The new broader programming mix has struck a chord with our viewers and we believe we’ll increase the overall time spent viewing Playboy TV."