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.
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.
Google announced on its official YouTube blog today that starting this week it is offering all member of the U.S. Congress the ability to live stream video directly on their YouTube channels. Members of Congress were informed of the new feature in a letter from the House and Senate last week and Google is urging members to share “daily work, broadcast speeches and meetings, or showcase events in your state or district.”
Video plays a powerful role in bringing us closer together, especially when it connects people in real time. By transcending borders, empowering citizens, and increasing transparency, it’s one of the many ways technology allows democracy to thrive. Starting this week, all members of the U.S. Congress will have the opportunity to access enhanced features on their YouTube channels, including the ability to live stream video. Live video is already allowing elected officials and their constituents to reach one another in innovative ways.
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.”
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.
YouTube announced on its official blog today that YouTube star PSY will be hitting YouTube this weekend to perform his second single “Gentleman” live for the first time ever following the success of his massively popular Gangnam Style video:
This Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Korean Standard Time (2:30 a.m. PST), PSY will kick off a live streamed concert from the Seoul World Cup Stadium and share his new single with the world. You can check out the action atwww.youtube.com/officialpsy, where the concert will be rebroadcast for 24 hours after the live event.
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: Expand Expanding Close
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Expand Expanding Close
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:
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: Expand Expanding Close
Google just announced on Google+ that it will roll out a few changes to the desktop version of the service starting today. Some of the updates include a new tab for local reviews for easy access to restaurant reviews from the sidebar, updates to the ‘About’ tab that making editing easier, and larger cover photos up to 2,120-by-1,192-pixel:
– A new tab for your Local reviews. In addition to your photos, +1’s and YouTube videos, there’s now a place for all your Local reviews. Highlight your favorite restaurants, or hide the tab completely via settings — it’s completely up to you.
– An easier way to edit your info. The ‘About’ tab now consists of separate cards (like Story, Places, and Links) — each with its own prominent edit link. As always: you can share specific fields with specific circles, or keep them just for you.
– Bigger cover photos, with a better aspect ratio. Cover photos are much larger than before (up to 2120px by 1192px), and they display in 16×9 when fully expanded. This way more images can be used as cover photos, and there’s more room for your selection to shine.
Google said it would roll out the new features gradually to all users.
Vint Cerf, “father of the internet” and Google’s chief internet evangelist, is speaking out about Google’s decision to push users toward using their real names across services. In a recent interview with Reuters, the Google executive said the initiative to get users using their real names across profiles on various services such as Google+ and YouTube has “sparked intense debate” at the company:
Over the past year, the company has strongly encouraged users to merge their accounts on YouTube, Gmail and other Google properties into a single Google+ identity, the company’s social network offering that asks users to use the “common name” they are known by in the real world.
“Using real names is useful,” Cerf said. “But I don’t think it should be forced on people, and I don’t think we do.”
Vint said not using real names is “perfectly reasonable” in certain situations, especially in countries with governments seeking to ban anonymity: Expand Expanding Close
Harlem Shake has unarguably been the biggest YouTube trend in recent months and even hit No.1 on Billboard thanks to the inclusion of YouTube views on the Hot 100 List. Today, YouTube’s official Twitter account points us to Google’s latest easter egg that offers a Harlem Shake style surprise when searching for “Do the harlem shake” on YouTube. Click the link in the tweet below to try it for yourself.
So … have you tried searching for "Do the Harlem Shake" on YouTube lately? http://t.co/mwDULpk7uS
Google updated its YouTube app for iOS, bringing the Send to TV feature that it originally introduced on Android devices in November 2012. The app will allow users to send YouTube videos from their iOS devices to a Google TV, PS3, or Xbox, and Google confirmed in January that the feature would come to even more smart TVs this year.
Have an iPhone or iPad and a Google TV? You can now play and control videos from your YouTube app for iOS on your TV, like a remote control for YouTube. Anyone on the same WiFi can join in to control the video or add videos to a playlist (Harlem Shake marathon anyone?). This automatic pairing feature is also available on the YouTube app for Android, and it’s coming to more TVs this year from LG, Sony, Panasonic and others.
While Google might be happy with the mobile ad revenue Samsung brings in shipping roughly 40 percent of the devices running Android, The Wall Street Journal said Google execs worry behind closed doors that Samsung could use its dominance to renegotiate its cut of revenue from mobile ads and search:
Google executives worry that Samsung has become so big—the South Korean company sells about 40% of the gadgets that use Google’s Android software—that it could flex its muscle to renegotiate their arrangement and eat into Google’s lucrative mobile-ad business, people familiar with the matter said.
Citing its usual “people familiar with the matter,” WSJ claimed executives at Google are betting on companies like HTC and HP to release compelling Android devices that compete with Samsung. According to the report, Android chief Andy Rubin discussed the situation at a recent event for Google executives. He described Motorola as “a kind of insurance policy against a manufacturer such as Samsung gaining too much power over Android.” Expand Expanding Close
Following a report from the Financial Times last week claiming Google is developing a free music service to compete with Spotify, Bloomberg reported today much of the same details citing “two people with knowledge of the situation.” According to the report from Bloomberg, Google is planning to launch the subscription-based music streaming service by the third quarter and it’s already in talks with record labels:
Negotiations are under way with major record labels to license their music, said the people, who sought anonymity because the talks are confidential. Google, which also owns the YouTube video website, is also discussing renewing deals that cover the use of songs in videos made by consumers, they said.
The report added that sources said the service would work on both Android and devices running another OS.
YouTube announced on its YouTube Partners & Creators blog today that it is partnering with two translation services— Gengo and Translated.net— to allow YouTube content creators to order professional caption translations directly through the site’s video editor. From within the video manager, users can request a translation in one of 36 languages and select a vendor to start the translation process (as pictured above). It’s not entirely built-in to YouTube, as the announcement noted users would be redirected to the “vendor’s website to complete payment.” Once the translation is complete, it will be available on YouTube:
Just click “Start order” next to the vendor you’d like to use. This will then create an order and direct you to the vendor’s website to complete payment. When the translator completes the translation, they’ll send the translated caption directly back to YouTube. Once you approve, the translated caption will now be available for all your viewers!
Google rolled out the official YouTube app for Wii U in November, allowing users to browse channels and categories from the GamePad and view the video in 1080p on their TVs. Today, as previously announced, Google is rolling out its new Google Maps and Street View solution for Wii U owners with the Wii Street U app available now on the Wii U eShop. The app allows users to view street view and 360 degree content and easily navigate Google Maps using the Wii U GamePad:
With Wii Street Utm powered by Google, you can step into Google Street View with an immersive experience that will make you feel like you’re actually there! View a 360 degree Google Maps Street View of locations all over the world using the Wii Utm GamePad controller’s motion controls. Jumping to a location is easy—just use the GamePad touch screen to type in an address or location and start exploring, or instantly travel to over 70 fascinating, hand-picked locations around the globe.
