YouTube completely crashed on Thursday, right before Google’s (GOOG) scheduled call for its third-quarter earnings. Although some outlets have since reported that the video site is back up and running, we’re still experiencing difficulty watching any videos and can only access the main homepage at the moment.
UPDATE: We are now able to access YouTube videos again.
Apple (AAPL) may not want YouTube as one of its core iOS 6 apps, but that hasn’t stopped Google (GOOG) from putting up its own version of the YouTube iOS app up on the App Store for free download. As 9to5Mac notes, the new app has been released just one day before Apple’s grand iPhone 5 unveiling and has a lot of new features that the old YouTube iOS lacked, including Facebook and Google+ integration, voice search and query auto-complete. The new app will also feature “tens of thousands” of videos that were not available on the previous version of the app.
When Google (GOOG) announced late last week that it would start demoting websites that were repeatedly flagged for copyright violations, it raised a very pertinent question: Does this mean Google will start demoting YouTube results as well? The folks over at Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan did some terrific work over the weekend trying to figure this out, and discovered that Google has written a sort of “get out of jail free” card for YouTube and other popular content-sharing sites whose users frequently run afoul of copyright laws. More →
Imagine if the Star Wars Kid could have had a real light saber, or if Chris Crocker could have had Britney Spears show up to comfort him in his time of sorrow or if Keyboard Cat could have a professional pianist teach him to play Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto? Per the Telegraph, it seems that Google (GOOG) is trying to make such wonderful dreams come true by opening up a new studio aimed at helping “some of the most popular YouTube posters make their videos look more professional.” More →
Google (GOOG) on Wednesday announced a new face-blurring tool for its video-sharing website YouTube. The site is the first to roll out such a feature, which is meant to protect the identity of protesters around the world. “Whether you want to share sensitive protest footage without exposing the faces of the activists involved, or share the winning point in your 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting the children’s faces to the world, our face blurring technology is a first step towards providing visual anonymity for video on YouTube,” Google wrote on its blog. The Internet giant does note, however, that because it is using “emerging technology,” it may sometimes run into problems “detecting faces depending on the angle, lighting, obstructions and video quality,” and “it’s possible that certain faces or frames will not be blurred.” More →
Among the countless phenomena brought about by the Internet, comment trolls are undoubtedly among the most anomalous. These curious creatures make their way across the Web leaving a trail of unintelligible “flame bait” in their wake, often making it impossible for others to engage in intelligent conversation. We know them well. While most would be hard-pressed to find a use for these trolls, a pair of artist-coders have managed to turn the ridiculous hate-filled ramblings of thousands of YouTube comment trolls into a series of plays that are now available as eBooks. More →
The first video ever uploaded to YouTube recently celebrated its seventh anniversary. The video, called “Me at the zoo,” was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at 8:27 pm on April 23rd, 2005. In the video, Karim stands in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo and comments about their “really, really long trunks.” While the clip runs for only 19 seconds and the quality is terrible, it marks a crucial moment during the launch of a service that would to change the Internet forever. More →
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Google have come to an agreement to offer 600 movies for rent through YouTube and the Google Play marketplace for users in the U.S. and Canada. “Thanks to MGM, you’ll be able to join in this trend and grab its movies online and on the go,” the company said in a blog post on Monday. “From timeless love stories like West Side Story and Moonstruck, to sci-fi action films like The Terminator and Robocop, to modern classics like Rain Man and Rocky, you can now rediscover MGM’s movie-making magic on Google Play and YouTube.” The Mountain View-based company has rental deals in place with five other major Hollywood studios, including Paramount, Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures. NewsCorp’s 20th Century Fox remains as one of the few studios that has not yet reached an agreement with the Internet giant. More →
A federal appeals court on Thursday revived Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against Google’s YouTube video-sharing website, The Wall Street Journal reported. The media conglomerate had alleged that YouTube allowed users to post unauthorized Viacom content between 2005 and 2008. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to a lower court, instructing a district judge to determine whether YouTube had knowledge or awareness of infringing material and if it was unwilling to remove it. “We are pleased with the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals,” Viacom said in a statement. “The court delivered a definitive, common sense message—intentionally ignoring theft is not protected by the law.” Tensions between the two companies looked to be easing; just yesterday, Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures struck a deal with the Internet giant to allow more than 500 of its movies to be rented through YouTube and the Google Play marketplace. More →
Google on Wednesday announced a new deal with Paramount Pictures that will allow more than 500 movie titles to be rented through YouTube and the Google Play marketplace. The Mountain View-based company now has rental deals with five of the six major Hollywood studios — including Paramount, Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures — and 20th Century Fox is the only studio that hasn’t yet reached an agreement with Google. “Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Paramount has been responsible for some of the most memorable films in cinema history,” said Malik Ducard, YouTube’s director of content partnerships. “With the addition of Paramount, we now have five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios offering nearly 9,000 movies for rent to millions of people around the world. It’s still early days for us, and we’ll continue adding new titles and expanding our service to more countries this year.” The majority of the movies tied to this deal are available now, and the rest will be added to YouTube and Google Play over the next few months. More →
Motorola Mobility does not expect any large changes following Google’s acquisition of the company. Alain Mutricy, Motorola’s senior vice president of portfolio and product management, said interview with Fierce Wireless that the vendor will not alter its plans once it comes under the Google “umbrella.” Until the deal closes, which may be soon, Motorola and Google are two separate companies and the manufacturer will continue on its path as subsidiary of Google. “I don’t see a very short term, complete change of the product direction,” Mutricy said. “I think that we have a business to run, and therefore I think that there is continuity to be expected for 2012.” Mutricy also believes that having closer collaboration on Google’s services, such as Google+ and YouTube, could be a great opportunity for Motorola. More →
President Obama will be hosting his first Google+ hangout tonight at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. In the discussion, the president will be answering questions that were submitted over the past few weeks through YouTube. Google maintains that the White House has had no role in which questions will be selected. Google’s team will instead choose the top-rated questions among those submitted, ensuring there will be several different issues discussed. The event will take place in the Roosevelt Room of the White House and is scheduled to last 45 minutes. The hangout will also be streamed on the White House’s web site, and reporters and press cameras not permitted inside during the event. Obama has previously hosted town hall meetings on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, all of which received harsh criticism and claims that the President ignored subjects that drew the most questions. More →
Earlier this week, Google announced that the company would combine individual privacy policies from a variety of its products into one main policy. The idea behind it was to provide users with a “more intuitive Google experience.” Critics of the change are worried that Google is now collecting more data than ever, however, leading members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee to demand answers. Read on for more. More →
