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1,656 'YouTube' stories May 2011 - February 2016
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YouTube is Google's massive video streaming platform, accepting videos from creators large and small

YouTube is a major video platform owned by Google — and it has grown to be one of the most famous social media destinations on the web.

These are the most popular Super Bowl 50 Ads on YouTube

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Feb 8 2016 - 8:15 am PT
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YouTube and its YouTube AdBlitz channel are always popular destinations for watching Super Bowl ads that will air on TV during and online leading up to the game– and this year even an alternative half-time show. Following yesterday’s Super Bowl 50 with the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos, YouTube has now shared some data on what the most popular ads were this year based on views as of this morning, and we’ve embedded the list in video form below for easy viewing…


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Google’s Go champion-beating AI machine will have its next match livestreamed on YouTube

Avatar for Cam Bunton Feb 5 2016 - 2:16 am PT
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Towards the backend of last month, it was revealed that Google had developed an AI machine so advanced, it could beat a French Go champion at one of the most challenging games to teach a machine. DeepMind’s AlphaGo machine beat European champion Fan Hui 5-0 at Go, a game which — although simple to learn — features millions of combinations. Because of this complexity, teaching a machine to play beyond an amateur level has been challenging.


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Google said to be in negotiations with the NFL for ‘Thursday Night Football’ streaming rights

Avatar for Chance Miller Feb 4 2016 - 4:00 pm PT
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According to a new report from Variety, Google is among the tech companies negotiating with the NFL for digital rights to Thursday Night Football. Earlier this month, the National Football League inked deals with CBS and NBC to divide the TV rights for Thursday games over the next two seasons, but streaming to non-subscribers was not included in that deal.


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Samsung reportedly has a 360° video rig called the Gear 360 coming at MWC

Avatar for Stephen Hall Feb 1 2016 - 9:28 am PT
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Update: SamMobile has uncovered some source code on Samsung’s event page which seems to hint at the presence of 360-degree video, although in reality, that could mean anything. It’s definitely vague, but worth noting nonetheless.

Google unveiled its Jump camera rig for 360 degree video at Google I/O 2015, and now it appears Samsung has something related up its sleeve for Mobile World Congress later this month. According to a report this morning from SamMobile, the previously-rumored Gear 360 camera rig is real, and it’s coming at Mobile World Congress alongside the new lineup of Galaxy phones…
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Hands-on with Spotify’s new Video and Audio Shows [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 27 2016 - 8:07 am PT
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Spotify recently added new Video and Audio Shows, and this week the update has been rolling out to Android users. It’s an interesting move for a streaming service that has long been dedicated to being the best at music (and it’s still the leader in this space by far), but I think this update will come as a delightful value-add for those that have shifted to using Spotify as their main avenue of media consumption…
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Google gains more VR personnel as Vine head Jason Toff leaves Twitter

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 24 2016 - 10:02 pm PT
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Just a couple of days ago we told you that Scott Broock from Joust joined Google as YouTube’s “VR Evangelist,” and now it appears the Mountain View company has nabbed even more personnel to help push its virtual reality efforts forward. Jason Toff, general manager of Vine and director of product at Twitter, announced that he has joined Google to “work on VR.” It’s not yet clear exactly what his role will be, though…

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Google brings in Scott Broock from Jaunt to be YouTube’s Global VR Evangelist

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 22 2016 - 12:14 pm PT
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Google has even more planned for virtual reality than just giving Cardboard it its own leadership and division. Scott Broock, coming over from virtual reality startup Jaunt, has joined the YouTube team as the company’s Global VR Evangelist (via Re/code). It’s not exactly clear what that means yet (we’ve reached out to Google for comment; no response yet), but he’s probably in charge of getting people to make VR content for the video service…


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YouTube now lets you enable playback looping with just a couple clicks

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 21 2016 - 1:07 pm PT
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YouTube now lets you click a convenient button to enable endless looping of videos. It’s not a feature that has been impossible to add without the help of a quick Chrome extension install, but now it’s accessible on YouTube’s site without needing to install any third-party software at all. Just right-click the YouTube viewer and click “Loop”…

Perhaps you just love that new Coldplay single, or you want to watch a funny 10 second clip on repeat. We’ve all had at least one moment that this feature would have come in handy, and now it’s here. Maybe you could head over to our YouTube channel and turn the feature on for a while? Or just watch our videos. Yeah, that would be great. Here’s a quick link.

YouTube purchases 553,000-square-foot office park for $215 million in San Bruno

Avatar for Chance Miller Jan 19 2016 - 5:28 pm PT
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Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that YouTube has acquired a massive new office park near its current San Bruno headquarters. The Bayhill Office Center comes in at 553,328-square-feet and consists of five buildings. YouTube paid $215 million for it, which comes out to around $388 per square foot. Youtube acquired the space from Hudson Pacific Properties, which purchased it from Blackstone Equity Office just last year.


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YouTube launches new tailored home pages in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Avatar for Cam Bunton Jan 13 2016 - 3:59 am PT
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Google has announced that YouTube watchers in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will start seeing a new homepage from this week. While YouTube has been available in Nepali, Sinhalese and Urdu for a while, the new pages have tailored content specific to those three countries. They also have country-specific domains.

Most-watched videos like Nai Nabhannu La 3 in Nepal, the Coke Studio channel in Pakistan and the Amazing Sri Lankan Spiderman will now show up in the top content for their respective countries, making them even easier to find.

With more local content finding their way to their viewers’ home-pages, YouTube hopes it will help inspire more local creators to get involved, and help them get discovered more easily.

While Google is keen to advertise its ‘tailored’ new home pages, there is a more interesting sub-plot here. YouTube has been banned in Pakistan since 2012, a ban which was re-inforced last February when the government said it would remain banned indefinitely. At the time, a Pakistan official said that “no tool or solution has been found which can totally block offensive content, that is why YouTube remains blocked and it will remain so indefinitely.”

With a dedicated Pakistan home page, perhaps Google is hoping it can persuade the government to lift the ban.

YouTube names the three personalities who will interview US President Obama after his final State of the Union

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 12 2016 - 4:09 am PT
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As usual, President Obama’s State of the Union address will be broadcast live on YouTube this evening, followed on Friday by a live Q&A with three YouTube personalities.

This year, YouTube has announced that the three personalities will be Destin Sandlin, Ingrid Nilsen, and Adande Thorne. Sandlin presents the science channel Smarter Every Day, Nilson runs a lifestyle/tips channel, and Thorne is a professional gamer with a knack for story-telling.

YouTube is also offering you the opportunity to suggest questions for the interview …


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YouTube CBO announces GoPro partnership, HDR video support during CES keynote

Avatar for Chance Miller Jan 7 2016 - 5:52 pm PT
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YouTube’s chief business officer Robert Kyncl took the stage today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to discuss the future of the video platform, its growth over recent years, and much more. Kyncl has been with YouTube since 2010, previously having a seven-year stint at Netflix. The executive oversees all business functions for YouTube, including sales, marketing, content, and general operations.


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Samsung’s CES 2016 press conference starts at 2 PM PT, tune in here [Livestream]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 5 2016 - 1:24 pm PT
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Samsung is up next for CES press day, following a very Android- and Google-heavy Huawei event. This event isn’t expected to be nearly as exciting, however, as Samsung has a wide variety of products spanning many categories to mention. Just like last year, I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard about Samsung services, some connected home products, some televisions, and maybe a new variant of a smartwatch (the Gear S2 this time, likely)…
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YouTube accuses T-Mobile of throttling its video traffic despite exclusion from Binge On

Avatar for Chance Miller Dec 22 2015 - 5:37 pm PT
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T-Mobile’s latest UnCarrier offering “Binge On” claims to allow unlimited video streaming from supported sites, including Netflix, but YouTube says that T-Mobile isn’t playing entirely fair. YouTube has not signed up to be included in T-Mobile’s Binge On service and says that the carrier is throttling its traffic.


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Check out this 360 degree holiday tour of the White House on YouTube [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 18 2015 - 1:40 pm PT
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360 degree video has taken off this year, and now yet another creation use of the technology is hitting YouTube. Just in time for the holidays, the White House has taken to YouTube to upload a 360 degree video tour of the decked out temporary residence and workplace of the President of the United States.

Beyond just being a 360 video that you can pan around, this video also offers 3D options for those that have a pair of classic 3D glasses laying around. Also, as with any 360 degree video on YouTube, you can also head over to your mobile device and pan around the video using your phone’s gyroscope. There’s also Google Cardboard support.

Trailer for upcoming Star Wars film viewed 5x more on YouTube than Facebook

Avatar for Chance Miller Dec 15 2015 - 4:29 pm PT
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Facebook video sharing has been emerging over the past year as a serious competitor to YouTube. Last year, a report showed that more and more Facebook pages were uploading videos directly to the social network itself as opposed to uploading to YouTube and sharing the link. Despite these reports, however, YouTube views are staying strong this holiday season for one of the biggest cultural trends of the year: Star Wars: The Force Awakens.


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Google’s VR football videos take you behind the scenes at NFL and college games

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 7 2015 - 5:39 am PT
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Google has found all kinds of uses for its 360-degree images and video since launching it. Now that YouTube supports VR and Google Cardboard as standard, it’s ramping up its efforts to make it more relevant to the every day viewer.

One such effort is its ‘Inside The Game’ video, featuring a behind the scenes look at New England Patriots’ pre-game practicing. But the NFL team isn’t the only one to get in on the VR game, Stanford’s college football team has made a similar video experience, and even offered Cardboard headsets to those in the press-box for its weekend game…


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YouTube reportedly looking to license TV shows & movies to take on Netflix and Hulu

Avatar for Chance Miller Dec 2 2015 - 5:31 pm PT
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According to a report out of The Wall Street Journal, YouTube is looking to gain streaming rights to TV shows and movies in an effort to compete more directly with services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video. YouTube executives have reportedly been meeting with Hollywood studios over recent months to discuss licensing content.


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Google Cultural Institute brings 360-degree tours of famous performing arts venues

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 2 2015 - 4:34 am PT
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Google has recently been on a major push to bring its 360-degree and VR experience to as many people as possible, and in as many services as applicable. Most recently, that was bringing some awesome 360-degree views of areas effected by climate change to Street View. Today, the company has announced that it will be launching 360 tours of popular performing arts locations.

You can browse performances and everything that goes on on- and off-stage at more than 60 institutions—including the world famous Carnegie Hall, to the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Moving east, I’ve selected some highlights from our partners in Asia-Pacific—the Queensland Performing Arts Center in Australia, the Dilli Gharana and Natural Streets For Performing Arts Foundation in India, Aomori Nebuta Matsuri in Japan, and the National Theatre of Korea, National Gugak Center and Kukkiwon in Korea.

It’s an incredible collection of imagery, photos and Street View-like tours of some great cultural locations. There are tons of backstage photos and images of classic performances, costumes and exhibitions in a host of venues across the globe. If you’re in to the performing arts, it seems a fantastic resource to dig in to.