YouTube

In March, Fortune reported that Google had signed up Warner Music for an online music service similar but not identical to the popular Spotify service. Today, Greg Sandoval at The Verge is reporting that Universal and Sony Music have also signed on and the service will be launched tomorrow at Google I/O:

When Google rolls out the new services tomorrow at I/O, it will mean that it gets the jump on Apple, which is also trying to launch a new streaming-music service. According to reports, Google’s subscription services would resemble Spotify, and offer on-demand songs that would be streamed to their PCs and mobile devices. In contrast, Apple is working on an online radio service that is said to be more akin to Pandora, the top webcaster.

Google comes to these negotiations as a powerful player in music. While Google Play is still a relatively new service, insiders say YouTube is a juggernaut. The user-generated video site sees more than 800 million unique visitors a month and music videos are among the most popular fare.

I may not have exotic taste in music but I’ve never not been able to find whatever I want to listen to on YouTube. Google already owns the space and an advertising-based version of YouTube streaming is just a GUI change in my book.
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Following weeks of rumors, YouTube has launched a pilot program for subscription-based YouTube channels. Subscription rates will begin at 99¢ per month, but all plans include a 14 day free trial for YouTube channel viewers. YouTube says that a broader rollout will occur in the coming weeks.

Starting today, we’re launching a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month. Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates. For example, Sesame Street will be offering full episodes on their paid channel when it launches. And UFC fans can see classic fights, like a full version of their first event from UFC’s new channel. You might run into more of these channels across YouTube. Once you subscribe from a computer, you’ll be able to watch paid channels on your computer, phone, tablet and TV, and soon you’ll be able to subscribe to them from more devices.

YouTube channel owners that are interested in participating can fill out a Google-provided form. 

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Google has updated Google+ today with a couple notable and highly requested new features for Hangouts on Air users. The first big new feature is the ability to rewind live broadcasts, allowing users to navigate back to the beginning of a broadcast regardless of when they started watching. Other improvements include higher quality video for those joining Hangouts on Air from a mobile device, as well new auto-playing broadcasts that don’t require users to refresh the page when aHangout starts.

Google did note that “it may take longer to set up your Hangout On Air. For example: the ‘Start broadcasting’ button may be grayed out for a bit, before it turns red.” That change is to provide users with enough time to get everything in place before starting the Hangout.

Google appears to have been able to implement the changes by now processing the video in real-time rather than after the fact, which also means it’s promising Hangouts will be instantly uploaded and ready to watch on YouTube the second you go off air:

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YouTube introduced a new way to see which videos are popular in your area today through trend maps.

Google supplies a vast library of demographics information on its YouTube Dashboard, and now visual mapping is an additional and fun option.

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As Business Insider points out, Google released a new ad called “Here’s To The Moms” featuring people sending thank you notes over Gmail and sharing family videos on YouTube.

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Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google / via <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk" target="_blank">telegraph.co.uk</a>

In recent months Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has proven himself a spokesperson worthy of making the headlines.

From singing the praises of his BlackBerry (no, I didn’t misspell Android) to claiming Apple is holding out on approving Google Now for iOS (turns out that wasn’t accurate), we couldn’t resist debuting our new series, Talking Schmidt, where we bring you the latest zingers from the chairman himself.

In the premier installment of Talking Schmidt, we will unpack the chairman’s recent claim that YouTube has defeated your TV in the competition for your attention.

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According to a post on the YouTube Google+ page today MLB fans are about to get access to free live streams in addition to highlights and other content. The only catch is the free live streaming, which is limited to two live games per day, will only be available to viewers outside the US, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

The updated MLB YouTube page, however, also includes a bunch of new content that WILL be accessible to viewers in all countries. Among them is highlights from regular season MLB games a day or two after airing, as well as “tens of thousands of hours of archived games dating back to 1952, clips from Baseballs Best Classics and Best Moments, and more.”

via nytimes.com

Google released its earnings report from Q1 2013 today.

Notably, Google’s consolidated revenues increased 31% over Q1 2013 with $14 billion gross income.

“We had a very strong start to 2013, with $14.0 billion in revenue, up 31% year-on-year,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “We are working hard and investing in our products that aim to improve billions of people’s lives all around the world.”

Google reported $3.35 billion net revenue, which is nearly half a billion up from $2.89 billion during the same quarter last year.

The company reports $50 billion in the back at the end of Q1 2013.

Cash – As of March 31, 2013, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $50.1 billion.

The company’s effective tax rate came in low at 8% following a tax credit mandated by legislature in Congress.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 8% for the first quarter of 2013.

Google CEO Larry Page mentioned during the conference call to investors that the company’s opportunities primarily exist in Chrome, YouTube, and Android, in that order. It believes more “connected TV’s” will allow the company to directly connect with consumers via relevant advertising more easily.

The company had praise for its marketing team, citing doubling its retail foot print thanks to more availability of its Chromebook in Best Buy.

Google discussed its success with commercial advertising via YouTube, announcing 325,000 Super Bowls worth of ads have been consumed.

When asked about Andy Rubin’s responsibilities after being pulled from heading Android, Larry Page reiterated that the company has yet to make that announcement and had no plans to make news in that regard today.

Regarding Glass, Larry Page admitted the price tag for early adopters is certainly high, but stepped short of calling it a luxury price and stated the company wasn’t prepared to announce a consumer price tag.

Press release below:

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Google announced on its YouTube Creators blog last night that it is starting a new beta test for creators that will allow them to link a Google+ account to their YouTube channel.

Other benefits of linking your YouTube channel to Google+: YouTube will allow you to “Choose any name for your channel and page.” That also includes the opportunity to rename your channel if that’s something you might be interested in. You’ll also now have access to a few new features including “live broadcasts via Hangouts”, a YouTube tab displayed on your Google+ page, and better video sharing features.

Google warned that there might be some issues with the beta for third-party tools:

– Certain mobile apps and third party tools may require a bit more effort to work with YouTube channels linked to Google+ pages. Just make sure you’re using the most recent YouTube app on Android and iOS. And if necessary, setup login credentials for these apps.

To try out the beta, you’ll need a Google+ account on the same Google account you use for your YouTube channel. From there you can activate the feature through YouTube’s advanced account settings. Full instructions from Google below:
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YouTube has recently added a new 144p video resolution option for select videos, according to users who noticed the change.

Up until this option was added, YouTube made playback quality from 240p to 4K resolution available. While these higher resolutions offer pristine quality, they do require significant bandwidth and fast internet connections.

We speculate that this new 144P option is a move to address these issues. This new base choice will open up YouTube video viewing in countries and regions where people are limited to basic internet connections.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zr4JwPb99qU]

While Google has played several light-hearted April Fool’s jokes today, Microsoft’s search engine Bing took things to the next level by pretending to be Google.

To see the somewhat harsh joke, go to Bing’s website and then search for “Google.” A Google-like search page will appear with the header “Bing.” The fake search page features floating squares that criticize Google, but it most notably changed Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button to “I’m Feeling Confused” with link to a blog post that fully explains the joke. 

According to Bing.com’s blog:

So today we’re running a special test, where if you visit bing.com and enter a certain telltale query, you’ll get something a little more bland. We decided to go back to basics, to the dawn of the Internet, to reimagine Bing with more of a 1997, dial-up sensibility in mind. We may see some uptick in our numbers based on this test, but the main goal here is just to learn more about how our world would look if we hadn’t evolved.

So, Microsoft has basically slammed Google’s look and deemed it dated. Yeah. Way to keep things light, Redmond. Don’t worry, though: Google has lashed back.

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Google has begun its yearly unveiling of April Fool’s Day jokes with some clever new ideas that probably come up in strategy meetings throughout the year.

Google Nose. Searching a query on Google and clicking the ‘Nose Beta’ button can only find this ‘service’. The service isn’t real of course, but you can read about its features on Nose’s homepage. Funniest bit?

Don’t ask, don’t smell: For when you’re wary of your query – SafeSearch included.

More Google jokes are on the way…
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The two most popular non-game apps downloaded from Apple’s iOS App Store so far this year were both Google ones: YouTube and Google Maps, according to data from App Annie (via The Next Web).

Google Maps was originally installed as standard on iPhones and iPads until Apple struck out on its own with the rather ill-fated Apple Maps. Though Apple has since fixed many of the embarrassing errors in the launch version, demand for Google’s version has seemingly increased rather than decreased.

In an ironic turnabout, Google lost the top slot on its own Google Play store to Facebook.

According to Alexa, YouTube is the third-most popular website in the world. According to YouTube, it just reached 1 billion unique monthly users for the first time in history. Some of the accomplishments YouTube is boasting on its blog include the fact that 1 in 2 people on the Internet view YouTube and viewership is roughly Super Bowl audiences. The full happy-go-lucky list of truly how big 1 billion really is is posted on the blog and available below.

What does a billion people tuning into YouTube look like?

• Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube.
• Our monthly viewership is the equivalent of roughly ten Super Bowl audiences.
• If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India.
• PSY and Madonna would have to repeat their Madison Square Garden performance in front of a packed house 200,000 more times. That’s a lot of Gangnam Style!

Note: YouTube is trailing Facebook in the Billion-User Club by just a few months.

The cat’s out of the bag, or in this case, the Galaxy S IV is out of Jeremy’s box. A YouTube video, posted on the account “iStevencom“, reveals what seems to be a Galaxy S IV booting up (along with the phone and settings apps).

The device, if it proves to be real, looks almost identical to the Galaxy S III, with the exception of a thinner bezel and the camera flash is placed below the camera. In the video, we also get a glimpse of the future of TouchWiz. No longer will TouchWiz’s general theme be black and blue but rather a more modern white and blue. We also see the device’s home screen that looks almost identical to the TouchWiz home screen now found on the Galaxy S III.

The full video is available above with a photo gallery below.

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As we mentioned in October: A new YouTube channel created by Daniel Kellison (who co-created “The Man Show”, was the original producer of “Jimmy Kimmel Live’, and a producer of “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Late Show With David Letterman”). Called “Jash”, the channel will feature separate channels with stars Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and Reggie Watts.

Looking forward to some funny videos here like the below:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YzkfC7–jog#!

Samsung started a new ad campaign to tease its upcoming next-generation Galaxy smartphone earlier this month. We weren’t huge fans of the ad that featured a top-secret meeting with Jeremy, the 13-year-old “secret messenger of Samsung Unpacked 2013.” Today, Samsung has released part two of the ad. It continues with Jeremy’s story but doesn’t reveal anything new.

Last month we told you that YouTube had rolled out its new YouTube One Channel design to a limited number of parter channels, but today the new channel layout is officially available to everyone. You can check out an example of the new layout here. YouTube announced on its Creators blog that all users can now opt in to the new channel design by visiting the One Channel website below:

Check out www.youtube.com/onechannel and click the button at the bottom to get started. We’ll migrate your channel to the new design, and walk you through it. For a limited time, you’ll be able to switch back to the previous design if you like.

YouTube provided some tips to get you started with the new channel design:
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