Items tagged with YouTube
Hey, good news everyone, Google is going to be serving up more ads through YouTube in between music videos! Isn't that awesome? Wait, you're not stoked? Well then, that is unfortunate, because apparently the video streaming site will forge ahead with showing a greater number of ads to some users. It's part of an effort to get more people to subscribe to YouTube's music service. Lyor Cohen, YouTube's head of music, told Bloomberg that the ad campaign will primarily target people who mostly use YouTube as a music service. These are people who passively listen to music on YouTube for long periods of time, as opposed to those who fire up the streaming service to watch other types of content. "You're...
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Thanks to the help of machine learning, creating great looking video is easier than ever. It even seems to be getting easier at an accelerated pace lately, and for those who don't have preexisting tools or skills to get a desired effect, it's a big advantage. Sometimes, cost of upgrade equipment might be a limiting factor, but other times, it could simply be skill level, or lack of time to invest in learning those skills. So, Google continues to help video creators of all levels. With technology simply called "mobile real-time video segmentation", Google uses machine learning to help separate the person in a scene from the background, resulting in the creation of two separate layers that can...
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More and more people are ditching their expensive cable and satellite TV plans and going with streaming options like Netflix, Sling TV, and Hulu. The catch is that some of these streaming services mean you miss out on local content like news and sports. YouTube TV gets around that by offering streaming content that includes your local shows and news. Yesterday, YouTube announced that the YouTube TV app had launched on Roku devices, which are the most popular streaming devices out there. Along with that announcement, YouTube also announced that the same app would be coming for Apple TV users "very soon" -- and true to its word, YouTube TV is now available on Apple TV devices. The YouTube...
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Roku's family of devices is the most popular streaming platform out there, and some smart TVs even come with Roku integrated by default. Roku users now have another option for watching their favorite content and cutting the cord from satellite or cable providers: YouTube TV. The app used on the Roku device is the same YouTube TV app that is available currently on Android TV, Xbox One (launched in October), and other platforms. That means you get the same features that users on other platforms are enjoying, namely the unlimited Cloud DVR, personalized recommendations, and a grid-style programming guide. A YouTube rep also told CNET that YouTube TV would be “coming very soon”...
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It appears that Google's DoubleClick ad network has become the latest target of relentless miners looking to make an extra buck with the Monero cryptocurrency. The revelation comes after TrendMicro observed that the number of active Coinhive miner detections tripled around January 24th. After doing some detective work, it was observed that the increase in traffic was coming from a total of five "malicious domains". Given the immense popularity of the DoubleClick network, it should come as no surprise that enterprising hackers would attempt to exploit it to reach a staggering number of users. In this case, it's said that the countries that were verified as targets of this malicious campaign included...
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It's all fun and games on the Internet until some idiot dreams up the Tide Pod challenge, followed by more idiots partaking in this idiotic viral phenomenon. The challenge, in case you haven't come across it on social media, is to stick the detergent capsule into your mouth and chew it, munch it, and ultimately eat the colorful pod filled with concentrated detergent. It's not just disgusting, it's stupid and dangerous. So much so that YouTube is pulling videos of the challenge. Image Source: Flickr via Austin Kirk "YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm. We work to quickly remove...
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If you're an Amazon Fire TV owner, it looks as though your access to the native YouTube client is coming to an end sooner than expected. Google originally stated that access to the app would be removed from Fire TV and Echo Show devices on January 1st 2018, which is next Monday. However, customers are reporting that access was revoked today. Customers who attempt to access the YouTube app are greeted with a message that redirects them to YouTube.com either through Amazon's own Silk browser or Mozilla's newly installed Firefox browser for the Fire TV. In a statement sent to the press today, an Amazon spokesperson added, “I can confirm that YouTube and millions of other websites are accessible...
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Amazon has announced that users of the Fire TV devices can now surf the web on their TVs thanks to the addition of Firefox and Silk web browsers. The move is yet another way to give Fire TV users access to YouTube while Amazon and Google are still fighting it out in public. The YouTube app was pulled from the Fire TV and Echo Show, then returned, and then was pulled again. Amazon is said to be considering its own YouTube rival in the wake of the spat. Along with giving access to YouTube -- something that Amazon deftly avoids mentioning in its press release about the feature -- users will also be able to access other sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Reddit. All Amazon says about gaining...
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If you've been following the very public fighting between Amazon and Google over access to YouTube on devices like the Echo Show and Fire TV, it stands to reason that Amazon would be looking for a backup plan. YouTube is one of the most trafficked websites on the planet, and is home to video content ranging from humorous clips of cats, to snippets from TV shows, to movies, to political events. Given that the current truce between Google and Amazon could end at any time, it should come as no surprise that a potential rival service from Amazon has been unearthed. News of this Amazon venture comes courtesy of TV Answer Man, which discovered trademark requests for AmazonTube and OpenTube. While...
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A new rumor is circulating that claims YouTube is getting ready to launch a new music service in March. According to people claiming to be familiar with the matter, the new service is called YouTube Remix and it's Alphabet Inc's latest attempt to combat Spotify and Apple in the music industry. The same sources claim that one major music label, Warner Music Group, has already signed on. Warner is one of the three major music labels globally. YouTube is reportedly in talks with the other two global music superpowers: Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music. YouTube is also in negotiations with Merlin, a consortium of independent music labels according to the sources. While streaming services...
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Amazon and Google have an on again and off again relationship that all started with a spat over how YouTube was presented on the Amazon Show device. Google pulled YouTube from the Amazon Show because of issues with the layout of the video app that removed some of YouTube's normal capabilities. Only a few weeks ago, the YouTube app returned to the Amazon Show and everyone though that the feud was over. As it turns out, the war between the two companies is far form over. Google has now announced that it will be blocking YouTube from two Amazon devices. Google has also criticized Amazon for refusing to sell Google's own line of competing Google Home devices and other Google hardware. Google...
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Owners of the Amazon Echo Show speaker might have been a bit miffed back in September when YouTube pulled access to its app from the device. Amazon said at the time that the reason it pulled the app from the Show was because it had violated Google's terms of service with its implementation of YouTube. Google said at the time, "Amazon’s implementation of YouTube on the Echo Show violates our terms of service, creating a broken user experience." The crux of the issue that forced the rift between Google and Amazon was a non-standard YouTube display. The first image below with the Tour de France videos shows the original YouTube interface that caused the rift. The second image shows the new...
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Months after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election concluded, there are still allegations that Russia meddled in the process to help sway voter opinion. Google has been running an investigation to see whether Russian operatives might have exploited its advertising system in an attempt to interfere with the election. According to people who claim to be familiar with the investigation, evidence has been found that Russian operatives did indeed use the advertising platform to spread disinformation. The sources claim that Google found tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents during the elections across multiple Google products including YouTube. Other places the ads showed...
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Nintendo isn't the most tolerant of game companies when it comes to letting fans make derivative materials or post lots of videos of Nintendo games online. One prime example is when Nintendo killed off the browser-based Mario 64 remake back in 2015. More recently it forced the indie developer making Super Mario 64 an online multiplayer game to remove all his videos from YouTube. Nintendo has a Creators Program in place that allows people to make videos including Nintendo IP in them, but Nintendo gets paid all the advertising revenue for monetized videos. It then shares that video with the gamers using a 70% cut for channels and a 60% cut for individual videos. Nintendo has made a big change to...
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There has been a surprising amount of cooperation between some of technology's biggest players when it comes to supporting competing devices. For example, you can load an Android handset with Microsoft software, which is exactly what Bill Gates has done. You can also download Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant, to your iPhone if you feel so inclined. But it is not all peaches and cream across the board. This is evident the moment you try to fire up YouTube on an Echo Show smart speaker. Apparently Google is blocking YouTube from working on Amazon's smart speaker. Should you try to bring up a YouTube video, Alexa will politely tell you in no uncertain terms, "Currently, Google is now supporting...
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There are plenty of places for cord cutters to get their entertainment fix without having to shell out a hundred dollars per month or more for cable or satellite service. YouTube is one of those places, and it has been working hard to overhaul its mobile apps and websites to make them better and easier to use for its millions of fans. YouTube says that when it launched 12 years ago only on video format was supported and that was small 320x240 4:3 aspect ratio.To keep up with changing times, YouTube has rolled out a new logo and is talking up some changes coming to both the mobile app and the desktop website. One of the biggest changes is that the navigation tabs have moved to the bottom...
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VidCon is rocking and rolling in Anaheim, California, and with it has come a number of announcements from Google. Google most notably just announced VR180 video format that will enable content creators to develop VR-friendly content. They also just revealed that they are working with manufacturers to bring new affordable VR180-friendly cameras to market. VR videos are one of the most popular ways to experience VR, however, they can be tricky for everyday creators to make in 360 degrees. Google’s solution was to work with their Daydream team in order to develop the VR180 format. According to Frank Rodriguez,Google’s Product Manager, “VR180 video focuses on what’s in front of you, are high resolution,...
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Terrorist organizations like ISIS often use social media services to deliver messages of hate and to recruit new members. To counter this, Google and its YouTube division have worked for years identifying videos that fall outside of the confines of YouTube's terms of service, but in acknowledging an "uncomfortable truth," Google said that "more needs to be done. Now." Following up on that sentiment, Google outlined a number of steps it is taking to identify and remove violent extremist videos. The effort starts with Google's underlying technology and presumably its fancy algorithms. Google vowed to increase its use of technology to identify extremists and terrorism-related videos. More specifically,...
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You won't find this feature advertised by YouTube (not yet, anyway), but there is a new Dark Mode being tested that is a bit easier on the eyes, especially at night. That's really the main purpose—while you may want to stay up late watching funny cat clips (or episodes of Two and a Half Geeks) on your 2-in-1 while nestled in bed, your significant other may not appreciate you illuminating the bedroom. Enabling Dark Mode is the cure you're looking for. As this feature is currently being tested, it is not widely available. It also seems to only work in Chrome starting with the most recent version (57 and up). If you want to try it out yourself, sign into YouTube and click on your avatar in the upper...
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When you have a hankering for a cheeseburger from McDonald's, the solution is simple—you hop in your car and go get one. There is nothing unusual about that, unless we're talking about an 8-year-old child jumping behind the wheel and escorting his sister to the golden arches for a bite to eat. Then it would be unusual. It also describes what went down in East Palestine, Ohio, the other day. Police say the hungry 8-year-old grabbed the keys to his family's van and puttered down to the local McDonald's, with his 4-year-old sister sitting in the passenger seat. Apparently the kid does not have an Uber account, but who needs one when you have access to YouTube? The streaming site that is home to...
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Becoming a YouTube star is not just good for your ego, it can be financially rewarding. In some cases, that is an understatement—look at megastars such as Felix Kjellberg (better known as PewDiePie) and famed prankster Roman Atwood, both of which have earned millions through YouTube. If you have an interesting shtick, you can also make money on YouTube, though your videos will need to amass at least 10,000 hits before Google's video service will pay out. YouTube's change in policy regarding channel views and payouts is a direct result of its massive growth. According to YouTube, it is seeing cases where people are re-uploading original content that belongs to someone else in an effort to earn...
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Do you love television content but are ready to cut the cord from big cable providers tapping your wallet dry? YouTube might be your answer. Google has just launched YouTube TV, their own streaming service, in select markets. According to Google, YouTube TV is the answer to the following questions: “How long do we have to wait until we can watch live TV on the go, on all our devices? When will we have DVRs big enough to handle all the things we want to record? And when will we be able to get the channels we care about, at a price we can afford, without all the commitments, equipment fees, and hassle?” YouTube TV allows members to stream live shows on their phone, tablet, computer, Google...
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