YouTube

Earlier this month, more details emerged about the long rumored subscription service from Google that would merge Play Music and YouTube. Negotiations with music labels were cited as an obstacle at the time, but today, YouTube has struck the necessary deals.

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In early December, Google and Amazon’s product dispute escalated resulting in the removal of YouTube from the Echo Show, but more importantly Fire TV. Today, the online retailer appears to be acquiescing to Google’s complaints over the lack of Chromecast devices on sale.

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For the past year, Google has been rumored to be working on a new music streaming service. In February, the Play Music and YouTube teams were combined, with the merger of the two products actually confirmed in July. A new report today shares more details, including a possible launch date.

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With 2017 ticking away, YouTube has posted its annual Rewind mashup for the year to recap the top videos, events, and more. This video features many hit moments and contains the largest amount of talent of any Rewind. The Google site has also revealed this year’s top 10 trending videos.

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Back in November, YouTube finally returned to the Echo Show as a basic web wrapper of the desktop site. Today, tensions between Google and Amazon have escalated, resulting in the removal of YouTube from the screened Echo device and more critically the Fire TV line of streaming devices

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Following reports of sexualised videos of children attracting hundreds of comments from suspected pedophiles, YouTube has announced that it will be boosting its content moderator team to 10,000 people – but only by the end of 2018. The current team is reported to be around 8,000 people.

A Times investigation first uncovered the scale of the problem eleven days ago, with volunteer flaggers claiming that YouTube wasn’t taking the problem seriously …

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Last year, YouTube launched a “Community” feature that allows creators to post text, images, GIFs, and other interactive content directly to the video network. It’s designed to allow fans to receive real-time updates in-between uploads. Today, the Google site is expanding creator access to it, as well as adding new features.

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YouTube has responded to reports of ‘sexualized videos of children‘ which attracted numerous comments from suspected pedophiles.

The company says that it has terminated more than 270 accounts, removed more than 150,000 inappropriate videos and turned off comments on over 625,000 videos which had attracted interest from child predators …

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This morning, we reported on a new rumor coming from a Google survey asking if customers would be interested in a “YouTube Edition” smartphone. While it would be a mid-range handset, it would also pack specific features to let the user instantly see live videos from the lockscreen and more.

Do you have any interest in a “YouTube Edition” Android smartphone that has YouTube-specific hardware and software features?

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Google is getting better at smartphones with the Pixel line, but it seems Google isn’t closed-minded to the idea of that lineup being just one of many. According to a recent survey,  Google might just be playing around with the idea of a “YouTube Edition” smartphone with some exclusive features.

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YouTube ran into trouble last week after it was revealed that advertising for major brands was appearing alongside sexualised videos of children. The videos were reported to have attracted ‘hundreds of comments’ by suspected pedophiles.

The company now seems to be having similar problems with its auto-complete functionality …

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Major brands like Lidl, Mars and Cadbury maker Mondelez have pulled advertising from YouTube after they found their ads appearing alongside sexualised videos of children.

The videos in question are reported to have attracted ‘hundreds of comments’ by suspected pedophiles …

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Amazon’s Echo Show is a really cool gadget. An always-listening smart speaker with Alexa and a screen is a great idea, but the device’s functionality was severely limited when YouTube was disabled a couple months ago. Now, YouTube is working on the Echo Show once again, but it’s way different.

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As traditional banner advertising becomes less reliable, creators are looking for alternative ways to monetize their content. The YouTube community specifically has been fighting related battles lately, with YouTube algorithms demonetizing many videos for unjustified reasons in many cases.

That’s where the team behind the Brave browser hopes that its technology will one day come in. The team envisions a future where content consumers can pay makers directly via cryptocurrency transactions, and that vision has now taken a step closer to becoming real…

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Last month, Google announced dedicated YouTube TV apps for its cord-cutting streaming solution. Having launched first on Android TV and Xbox, the client is now available on 2016 and 2017 LG and Samsung televisions.

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YouTube has done a lot to change how links are handled in videos in the past year or so. Not long ago, annotations were dropped for in-video links and end screens. Now, YouTube is preparing to kill off in-video links as well.

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YouTube Kids is Google’s child-optimized and friendly interface to its video network. Launched two years ago, it is seeing a refresh today that brings a “tailored” interface that adapts to a kid’s age. It is also adding profiles for kids that allow for better personalization.

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Ahead of tomorrow’s Congressional hearings, Google has published its findings on Russian interference related to the 2016 U.S. election. In several reports, Google provided an overview of how a Russian-linked organization used Ads, YouTube, and other services to spread information, as well as upcoming steps to counteract it.

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