YouTube

Google this evening released a minor update to the YouTube for Android app, bumping it to version 5.7. The update doesn’t add much, but does finally add one long awaited feature. With YouTube 5.7, you can now manually choose the quality in which you want a video to playback.

In previous versions of the app, you could only toggle between HD and HQ. Now, you can choose from 144p, 240p, 360p, and 720p. 1080p support appears to still be missing. The auto option will presumably choose the best stream based on your internet connection at the time of playback. To bring up the quality toggle, click the action button on the upper right corner of a video, then click the settings gear icon.

The update is rolling out slowly to Android devices, so it may take a little while to hit your device. In the mean time, keep an eye on the Play Store.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s video sharing medium recently celebrated its ninth anniversary and as a look back its rich history Mountain View has shared some interesting statistics about its impact on music. Over 120,000 videos have been inspired by the song Let it Go from Disney’s Frozen and half a million posts have been connected to Psy’s Gangnam Style. While these numbers are indeed impressive, they come up short when compared to the 1.5 million Harlem Shake-themed videos plastered across the web.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After a long battle with YouTubers, Nintendo is ready to compromise. The house that Mario built is ready to play nice with content creators and will soon launch a YouTube affiliate program. According to a pair of tweets from the official Nintendo of Japan Twitter account, the company will share revenue with content producers who make approved gameplay videos under its new YouTube-friendly setup. Nintendo has yet to announce any further details, such as content requirements or when the program will go live, so everyone may not be welcomed. However, it’ll also be interesting to see how this new initiative coincides with the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, which just so happens to have a YouTube upload feature built directly into the game.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve been hearing rumors of a YouTube streaming music service for what feels like forever, but according to a report out of the New York Times, the service has hit yet another snag. A report last month claimed that the service was delayed because YouTube and Google were approaching it with a “get it right” attitude and wanted to make the first version of the product as good as its competitors like Spotify and Rdio. This report, however, claims that YouTube has run into licensing troubles with independent music labels.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR8XBZRkkao&feature=youtu.be]

YouTube announced today that it will be releasing regular “Creator Preview” videos letting creators know about upcoming features so they can provide feedback ahead of time. In the first Creator Preview, the company announced that it’s working on a separate mobile app just for creators in addition to a few other interesting new features:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: The Wall Street Journal reports the talks are at an early stage and a deal is not yet imminent.

Variety reports that Google has reached a deal to acquire the video game streaming platform Twitch for $1 billion. The move could provide YouTube with the resources to bolster its current live streaming platform, which doesn’t seem to be all that popular among its users. The entire amount will be offered in cash, according to the report.

Twitch has the distinct benefit of being the only live streaming platform built directly into both Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 consoles. A YouTube buyout would essentially bring all of those next-gen streaming customers to YouTube’s platform, along with the countless users already streaming PC games.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s Update Wednesday continues today with an update to YouTube for Android. The update bumps the app to version 5.6.31 from 5.5.27 and includes a couple of significant changes. The biggest new feature is the ability to cast live videos from the YouTube app to your Chromecast. The process works just as it does on the desktop and the quality is fantastic. Of course, this would have been very useful during the live streams from the Coachella music festival last weekend, but there’s still the second weekend with which to use it. This will also be incredibly useful for watching live streams from Google I/O on the big screen.

The Watch Later interface has also been updated to fit in with the rest of the app’s interface, as opposed to the image-heavy interface in the previous version. You can now see at least four videos without scrolling, while you were previously limited to two on the same screen.

The update is rolling out now, albeit very slowly. If you’d like to bypass Google’s staged rollout, head over to Android Police where they have the APK available for download.  If not, keep an eye on the Play Store for it to hit your device.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Oppo’s latest flagship smartphones are packing some serious specifications. Internally, the Find 7/Find 7a are not much different than Samsung’s Galaxy S5 or the HTC One (M8), but Oppo has made an effort to beat the pricing of both devices. YouTube creator Danny Winget has put together a camera test demonstrating the exceptional UHD video recording capabilities of the Find 7/Find 7a’s camera. The results look incredible and it’s actually hard to believe that this footage came straight from a smartphone.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhKZ0fQhbeg]

Amazon recently surprised us with its Fire TV set-top box, offering a native solution for customers to stream movies, music, and even play games. Fire TV will only set you back $99, and in my opinion, it’s just what Amazon needed. Instead of relying on third-party streaming solutions, Amazon now has the power to take its media services in a new direction. Take a look at our overview video above to see Fire TV in action.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google is in the process of launching an all-new advertising campaign to promote YouTube, according to two reports from Ad Age. The campaign focuses on three specific video creators—Michelle Phan, Rosanna Pansino, and Bethany Mota—and will consist of several TV spots as well as some outdoor advertising (yes, that probably means there will be YouTube billboards).

Each ad will feature a different tagline that plays on the “You” in the YouTube logo to start a sentence related to the video creator in the ad, such as “You make confience THE must-have accessory,” as seen above at the end of one of Phan’s TV spots, or “You give cupcakes superpowers,” as appears on one of Pansino’s billboards. (Apparently super-powered cupcakes are a thing.)
Expand
Expanding
Close

After first blocking Twitter across the nation, Turkey officials began blocking YouTube last week as well, after Google failed to comply with the prime minister’s request to delete all videos that it deemed critical of government officials. According to a report from the Hurriyet Daily News, YouTube is now taking legal action against the country. The company has reportedly filed a complaint with Turkey’s Constitutional Court protesting the block. Google is also appealing the reinstatement of the ban and is suing to cancel the decision all together.

In a statement to Engadget, YouTube acknowledged that it was taking legal action to restore access to its service in the country and said that it is “obviously very disappointing” that censorship is still taking place in the world today. It didn’t have any further details to share about the court battles, though. Seeing that Twitter successfully won its battle with Turkish officials, however, it seems likely that YouTube will be able to do the same.

Expand
Expanding
Close

For years now companies have been claiming to that they make the perfect set-top box, with Amazon being the most recent to do so with its FireTV. Notably missing from this arm’s race, however, has been Google. The company was one of the first to offer a set-top box OS with Google TV, but the idea quickly failed and was never widely adopted. Over the past year, reports have started to emerge claiming that Google is plaining a reentrance into the set-top box market with an Android-powered set-top box. The Verge has now published an extensive report on Android TV, with screenshots of the actual interface and much more.

The report, which cites internal Google documents, claims that the idea is far along in development with major app providers already building for the platform as we speak. While Google TV was also based off of Android, this new revision is entirely rebuilt and is something very different. “Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform,” writes Google. “It’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction.” It will be “cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

Last October, Billboard reported that YouTube was planning to launch a music streaming service in late 2013 or early 2014. This evening, however, Billboard has published another report claiming that YouTube’s music streaming platform has been delayed until the second quarter of this year or beyond. According to the report, which cites “an executive briefed on YouTube’s plans”, YouTube is approaching this service with a “get it right” attitude.

The company wants to launch the first version of the service in an incredibly polished form that will help it stand out against competitors like Spotify and Rdio, which have been around for a while and have had several iterations of improvements. “They feel that there’s just too much scrutiny of this product, and that they need to get it right out of the gate,” said a senior label executive speaking to Billboard. This, of course, contradicts the strategy of YouTube’s parent company, Google, which launches services left and right in beta form, many of which get shut down relatively quickly.

Expand
Expanding
Close

According to a report from Recode, Yahoo is toying with the idea of creating its own YouTube-like video service and in the process thinking of ways it could attract some YouTube’s biggest content creators. Recode claims that Yahoo’s strategy for the service will revolve specifically around catering to YouTube creators frustrated with the amount of revenue the service generates.

Yahoo has apparently already been approaching certain YouTube creators about the opportunity:
Expand
Expanding
Close

via <a href="https://twitter.com/zeynep/statuses/449194998102118400" target="_blank">Twitter</a>

Following the block of Twitter in Turkey by the nation’s prime minister earlier this month, Turkey’s telecommunications authority is now taking steps to block YouTube in the nation, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The move came just hours after a leaked recording published on YouTube purporting to show a conversation where Turkey’s foreign minister, spy chief and a top general appear to discuss scenarios which could lead to a Turkish attack against Jihadist militants in Syria.

This comes just days after Turkey requested that Google remove videos from YouTube that criticize the Turkish government. Google responded by refusing to accommodate the government of Turkey’s request.

Yesterday, a Turkish court ruled that the ban against Twitter should be lifted within 30 days while many users were already using DNS workarounds to access the service.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Reuters reports that Disney is about to buy Maker Studios, one of the largest YouTube networks, for $500 million with the possibility for that amount to rise to $950 million:

Maker, founded in 2009, helps produce and distribute videos to more than 380 million subscribers worldwide across more than 55,000 channels. Its videos now collectively garner some 5.5 billion views every month, according to the source.

The company distributes content through partnerships it has with a long list of YouTube content creators such as the popular PewDiePie gaming channel and also provides a platform that gives creators access to royalty reporting, analytics, and other services to help maximize earnings.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The Turkish government sent requests to YouTube for the removal of specific videos that it deemed critical of government officials, according to the Wall Street Journal. Google refused to comply with the request, saying that there was no legal basis for the removal of the videos.

The move by the government comes after a nationwide blackout of Twitter, which officials say is due to what they deem false allegations of corruption being circulated on the network. That block can be worked around by using Google’s DNS server to access the web, though it seems that won’t be necessary to keep accessing YouTube videos critical of the nation’s leadership—unless the entire website is blocked, that is.