YouTube

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPHH1Ykx1jY]

President Obama is set to give the State of the Union address this evening at 9PM ET/6PM PT and one of the best ways to watch it will be live on the White House’s YouTube channel. The stream is available to watch on the desktop and mobile devices and can be flung to the big screen via a Chromecast or Nexus Player.

YouTube will produce its own Super Bowl halftime show featuring popular video producers

Mike Beasley Jan 19 2015 - 6:37 pm PT

Harley Morenstein will host YouTube’s Super Bowl halftime show

YouTube is typically the place people go to find their favorite Super Bowl ads before and after the game, but the video streaming service wants to serve an even larger purpose this year. According to the official YouTube blog, the site is planning to produce its own halftime show to stream during the game on February 1st.

The event will be hosted by EpicMealTime’s Harley Morenstein and feature content from top YouTube stars. YouTube specifically lists Freddie Wong, Toby Turner, and duo Rhett & Link as producers who will participate, along with others. Some of the acts will include stunts, musical performances, and comedy sketeches setup as fake Super Bowl ads.

HTC says YouTube live streaming is coming to RE camera tomorrow

Chance Miller Jan 8 2015 - 1:26 pm PT

HTC has announced today that users of its RE camera will be able to live stream video to YouTube starting tomorrow. The company originally announced this feature when the GoPro-like RE camera accessary was unveiled back in October. Today, however, the company finally confirmed a hard release date for the feature.

YouTube says support for 360-degree videos will roll out ‘in the coming weeks’

Mike Beasley Jan 5 2015 - 7:58 pm PT

YouTube has confirmed that it will be enabling support for 360-degree video uploads in the near future, Engadget reported today. While no information was given as to how the feature would be implemented or how video playback would be supported, Google did say that users can expect to see the capability rolling out “in the coming weeks.”

Google experimenting with Roboto font on YouTube, here’s how to try it out

Stephen Hall Dec 30 2014 - 9:38 am PT

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Roboto tends to be Google’s font of choice across many of its services and software, but some of the company’s websites—like YouTube—use the more common and standard Arial by default. That doesn’t mean Google hasn’t thought about using Roboto, though, as Google Operating System has noticed. As you can see in the screenshot above, Google’s in-house designed font looks pretty snazzy on the ubiquitous video sharing website.

Update: It looks like Google has killed this little hidden experiment for now. It worked fine this morning, but it doesn’t look like users have the ability to play with YouTube’s font anymore (at least via this method).

Live stream: YouTube Music Night in Los Angeles celebrates the past year in music

9to5 Staff Dec 16 2014 - 6:24 pm PT

YouTube is hosting a live music night in Los Angeles to celebrate the past year in music, with performances from some of the most well known artists, such as Tyler Ward and Megan Nicole, on the platform. The event is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM Pacific (10:00 PM Eastern) and we have embedded the live stream ahead…

YouTube 6.0 for Android enables live chat for streaming videos

9to5 Staff Dec 15 2014 - 7:29 am PT

Earlier this month, YouTube for Android was updated to version 6.0 with Material Design, new search filters and several other features. One enhancement in YouTube 6.0 that wasn’t mentioned following the update is newly added support for live chat on streaming videos (via Android Police). The feature is accessible by tapping or dragging open the Live Chat menu at the bottom of the app on live streaming videos.
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Google introduces Route 85 web series geared towards iOS developers

9to5 Staff Dec 12 2014 - 5:53 pm PT

Google may own the world’s most popular mobile operating system in Android, but it wants iPhone and iPad developers to recognize that the company has a lot to offer for them as well. Enter a new web series called Route 85, which will consist of a set of videos uploaded to the Google Developers channel on YouTube to showcase everything from SDKs to code libraries that iOS developers can take advantage of.
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YouTube unveils experimental new GIF maker, currently in testing on PBS Idea Channel

Mike Beasley Dec 11 2014 - 8:59 pm PT

YouTube has just released a new GIF-making tool in testing on PBS’s Idea Channel. The tool is available under the share menu and allows users to pick a five-second clip from the video, add two lines of text, and export the file to their computer.

The frame rate of the output isn’t quite buttery smooth, and the inability to pick a longer section of video can be a little annoying, but the tool seems very usable in its first version. Google hasn’t said when this feature will roll out to the rest of YouTube.

YouTube begins rolling out offline video playback to Android devices in three countries

Mike Beasley Dec 10 2014 - 11:36 pm PT

Google announced today that it has started rolling out support for offline video playback in the YouTube Android app for three countries: India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The company says that the goal is to help work around limited access to high-speed internet connections.

The new mode will allow many videos to be cached directly on the phone for up to 48 hours in order to be played back later. Users will have the option of selecting what resolution they’d like to cache to make the process as efficient as possible.

YouTube Rewind 2014 is live featuring Pharrell Williams, Frozen, Ice Bucket Challenge, more

Stephen Hall Dec 9 2014 - 10:10 am PT

In recent years YouTube has started a new tradition of uploading a video covering all of the most popular videos to hit the service during the calendar year. The 2014 edition of #YouTubeRewind is now live featuring many viral hits of the year, like Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”, references to trends like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and, of course, plenty of “Let it Go” among many other hit songs…

Apple TV update revamps YouTube app, brings ads to the platform for the first time

Benjamin Mayo Dec 9 2014 - 8:32 am PT

The Apple TV today received a brand new YouTube app, bringing it up to speed and largely mirroring the experience available on other set-top boxes, with new predictive search and recommendations. The previous app felt like something built by the Apple developers internally, whereas this new app seems to be predominantly designed by Google … with rich YouTube branding throughout.

Facebook pages sharing less YouTube videos, uploading more video direct to site

9to5 Staff Dec 9 2014 - 8:11 am PT

While YouTube remains the gold standard for uploading videos online, a new study finds that its presence on Facebook is increasingly declining as page owners opt to upload more video directly to the social network over sharing YouTube embeds. The latest research from social media analytics company Socialbakers reveal that, in November, the number of Facebook videos uploaded directly to the site overtook the number of YouTube videos on Facebook for the first time ever.
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Salesforce appoints YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki to board of directors

Mike Beasley Dec 8 2014 - 9:42 pm PT

Photo: makers.com

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki will become the 11th member—and the first woman—on the Salesforce.com board of directors, the company announced today in a press release.

Wojcicki, Google’s 16th employee, has been with the Mountain View company since the very beginning. She previously ran the company’s advertising unit, and was in charge of products like AdSense and AdWords until she took over YouTube earlier this year.

The full Salesforce press release is below:

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Dec. 8, 2014 – Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM company, announced today the appointment of Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, to its Board of Directors. The appointment was effective as of Dec. 5, 2014, and increases the size of the Salesforce Board of Directors to 11 members.

“We are delighted that Susan has joined our Board of Directors,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce. “Susan is an extraordinary executive who has been instrumental in helping to build the world’s largest consumer cloud company, where scale, reliability and security are of critical importance. Her experience will make her an outstanding addition to our board.”

“Salesforce has revolutionized enterprise software and has an amazing culture of innovation,” said Susan Wojcicki. “I’m very excited to be joining the Salesforce Board of Directors.”

With this appointment, the Salesforce Board of Directors now consists of Marc Benioff, Salesforce chairman and CEO; Keith Block, Salesforce vice chairman and president; Craig Conway, former CEO of PeopleSoft; Alan Hassenfeld, former chairman and CEO of Hasbro; General Colin Powell, retired four star general in the U.S. Army and former U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sanford Robertson, principal of Francisco Partners; John Roos, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Lawrence Tomlinson, former senior vice president and treasurer of Hewlett-Packard; Robin Washington, CFO of Gilead Sciences; Maynard Webb, chairman of Yahoo! Inc.; and Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.

Background on Susan Wojcicki

• Wojcicki is currently CEO of YouTube, the world’s most popular digital video platform, which was acquired by Google in 2006.
• Prior to joining YouTube in February 2014, Wojcicki was senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce at Google, where she oversaw the design and engineering of AdWords, AdSense, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics.
• Wojcicki joined Google in 1999. In 2002, she began working on Google’s advertising products and over the next 12 years she led teams that helped define the vision and direction of Google’s monetization platforms.
• Wojcicki graduated with honors from Harvard University, holds a master’s in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MBA from UCLA.

About Salesforce
Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

YouTube Audio Library can now be searched for ad-supported music

9to5 Staff Dec 8 2014 - 1:28 pm PT

When a content creator uploads a video to YouTube with music, an automated system called Content ID automatically matches the clip against an extensive database to see if the audio is permitted or infringes copyright. Yet, until now, it was impossible for a YouTube creator to know whether a specific track was allowed or not until after uploading a video.
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YouTube stars being offered retention bonuses in face of offers from Facebook & others

Ben Lovejoy Dec 8 2014 - 6:17 am PT

YouTube style star Michelle Phan, whose videos have 3.6M views

Top YouTube video creators are being offered bonuses in return for multi-year exclusivity deals in which they guarantee to post content on YouTube first, reports the WSJ.

Facebook Inc. and video startup Vessel, among others, have tried to lure YouTube creators to their services in recent months, according to people familiar with the discussions.

In response, Google is offering some of its top video makers bonuses to sign multiyear deals in which they agree to post content exclusively on YouTube for a time before putting it on a rival service.

YouTube is reportedly particularly concerned about subscription video startup Vessel, founded by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar …
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YouTube for Android updated to version 6 with Material Design and new search filters (Update)

Mike Beasley Dec 5 2014 - 5:45 pm PT

YouTube for Android has finally been updated with a Material Design interface for devices running Lollipop. The entire app has been redesigned, from the “What to Watch” screen to individual channel and video pages.

Aside from the new design, the updated app also includes many new filter options for searches, allowing users to find videos that meet specific criteria. For example, you can now search only for videos that are available in HD, or have closed captioning enabled. You can also search for live streams.

Google reveals plans for kid-friendly versions of Chrome, YouTube, Search, and more

Chance Miller Dec 3 2014 - 12:41 pm PT

Earlier this year, a report emerged claiming that Google was hard at work making its services more appropriate and accessible for children. The report noted that the company wanted to overhaul its online products to allow children to legally use them. USA Today has now published a new report, confirming the rumors earlier this year regarding specific services catered to young kids. Google VP of Engineering Pavni Diwanji told the news outlet that Google is currently working on versions of its most popular products, such as Search and YouTube, for kids aged 12 and under.

Gangnam Style video so popular it forced YouTube to upgrade its viewing counter

Ben Lovejoy Dec 3 2014 - 6:04 am PT

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0]

A Gangnam Style video posted on the officialpsy YouTube channel has proven so popular, YouTube has been forced to upgrade its viewing counter from 32- to 64-bit, as the company explained in a Google+ post.

We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer (=2,147,483,647 views), but that was before we met PSY. “Gangnam Style” has been viewed so many times we have to upgrade!

At the time of writing, the video was showing around 5 million views above the old limit. YouTube has marked the achievement by creating a little mouse-over animation on the number.

If you want to see which video might be next in line to break the old viewing limit, Google Trends now shows the most popular videos of the day.

YouTube also recently allowed channel owners to create custom URLs to match their channel names, after a number of popular ones rebranded as they expanded their content or chose a new focus.

YouTube is now offering creators custom URLs that match their channel names

Jordan Kahn Nov 25 2014 - 9:00 am PT

YouTube will now let creators get a hold of a custom channel URL that matches their channel name. The company noted in a blog post that many YouTubers have a channel name, which is often the user-facing brand of their channel, that doesn’t match the original URL they received when first signing up for YouTube. Users that want to change their URL to match their channel name will soon have the ability to do so:

When Tati joined YouTube, her username was GlamLifeGuru, which made her channel’s URL youtube.com/GlamLifeGuru. But as her channel grew, her fans embraced “Tati” as her brand. So her channel web address — often the quickest way back for her fans to watch more of her content — didn’t match her channel name and branding… To make sure creators like Tati and all of you have a consistent place for new and existing fans to find you, we’re introducing an easier way to pick custom URLs that match your channel names and branding.

YouTube is reaching out to creators with more than 500 subscribers starting this week allowing them to claim a custom URL. The company says it will offer several URL choices that are “based on your channel’s description, Google identity and associated websites.”

It doesn’t look like users can initiate the process manually yet, but instead will have to keep an eye out for the “Get a new custom URL” notification in YouTube’s Creator Studio.

YouTube has full instructions and more info in a support document here.

PSA: Google Play Music now comes with access to YouTube Music Key

Mark Hearn Nov 20 2014 - 11:52 am PT

Last week, we found out that YouTube’s new music streaming service dubbed YouTube Music Key would be accessible to Google Play Music subscribers, however the company didn’t provide an exact date. Today, via Google Play’s official Twitter account, the search giant announced that the service is now available to Music customers at no additional charge.

YouTube Music Awards set to return in March 2015

Mark Hearn Nov 20 2014 - 11:16 am PT

After a bit of a hiatus, YouTube announced today that it’s bringing back its Music Awards for a second showing. The event is set to take place sometime in March with the Google-owned company dishing out awards to recording artists selected by its viewers. In addition to having a say-so in who receives top honors, fans will also have some type of creative influence over the content being streamed.
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Google says Play Music subscribers automatically get access to YouTube Music Key starting next week

Stephen Hall Nov 14 2014 - 9:27 am PT

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When YouTube Music Key was announced earlier this week, we were left with many details about the service unexplained. Of these, was the question of whether or not current Google Play Music subscribers were going to have access to the service automatically. While the announcement said that subscribers of Music Key would be getting All Access subscriptions included, it wasn’t exactly clear whether or not it worked the other way around. Now we have the answer:

Starting next week, as a Google Play Music subscriber, you’ll get free and complete access to the YouTube Music Key beta, a new service from YouTube where you can watch ad-free music videos, and keep the music playing in the background or when you’re offline. The Google Play Music app will also include ad-free music videos alongside select tracks. Stay tuned for more information.

In an email sent out to Google Play Music subscribers this morning, the above snippet of text explained that those who already subscribe to Google’s music service will be getting access to the Music Key beta starting “next week.” The service promises ad-free listening to music on YouTube, offline playback, and the ability to listen to music in the background on your mobile devices.

If you’re not a Google Play Music All Access subscriber and you still want to get access to the Music Key beta, head over to the Music Key splash page and hand over your email address.

YouTube launches Music Key streaming service for $10/mo: no ads, offline playback, full albums & Play Music access

Zac Hall Nov 12 2014 - 10:21 am PT

Google today officially announced its highly rumored YouTube music subscription service and its calling it YouTube Music Key. YouTube’s Music Key service with be available for a monthly subscription of $9.99 and unlock ad-free music, offline playback and video viewing, and the ability to play music in the background when using other apps.

The service is rolling out as a beta next week with a promotional price of $7.99/month, and early adopters will be able to request access from YouTube.com/MusicKey. YouTube’s Music Key beta service will be available through the YouTube apps on Android and iOS and through YouTube.com.