Search Results for: youtube

Today Turkey blocked access to a number of websites including YouTube and Twitter. The ban came after the sites published images of a prosecutor being taken hostage at a court in Istanbul earlier in the week. Google has vowed to getting things back up and running, but it's not the same story for everyone.

While a block was also put in place on Facebook, the social network sidestepped the ban by agreeing to comply with a court ruling. This is not the first time Mark Zuckerberg's site has bowed to pressure from Turkey. At the beginning of the year, despite previous claims to stand up for free speech, Facebook bowed to pressure to block pages that insulted or offended the Prophet Mohammad. Now it looks as though history is repeating itself.

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With the launch of MTV in the 1980s, music and video became forever linked. In recent years, the name MTV, or Music TV, became quite the misnomer, as the channel ditched the music videos that made it popular, embracing original programming instead. The music video did not die, however, it just moved to the web instead. Yes, music videos on YouTube are wildly popular, seeing billions of views.

Today, Google invites you to the 2015 YouTube Music Awards. No, you aren't invited to the actual event, but you can watch it live online. Will you tune in?

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If you've splashed out on a fancy 360-degree camera, you can now use YouTube as a platform to show off your footage. It's something that Google promised back at the start of the year, and it has finally come to fruition. Rather than restricting viewers to watching the action that's happening in one direction, these immersive video allow you to look around in every direction as if you were there.

There are already a number of videos online to check out, and it’s a method of recording that lend itself perfectly to concerts, sporting events and the like. 360-degree videos are best enjoyed through virtual reality headset, but desktop and mobile users have not been forgotten.

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March Madness is almost upon us. For those outside the US this may sound a bit weird -- almost like what people claim to happen during a full moon. In truth it's actually more mundane, though many folks may argue that point. It's the college basketball tournament that culminates in the crowning of a school as the new national champion. It's the time of year when even non-gamblers lay down money and fill out brackets.

Can you watch it online? Well, sort of. A special YouTube channel is being set up to bring you some of the action. The selections for participation will be made March 15th and the games get underway on the 17th. The grand finale actually supersedes the month, with a championship game played on April 6th.

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Google is launching a kid-friendly version of YouTube. It's a project we first heard about a few months ago, and now YouTube Kids is about to become reality. But rather than launching as a child-friendly version of the website we've come to know and love, YouTube Kids will start its life as an Android app.

Parents will be pleased at Google's plans, where it will be possible to find carefully selected content that is suitable for a younger audience. Google will be curating videos, but there will be one question that enters the minds of mums and dads around the world: "what if my kid uses 'sex' as a search term".

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The Earth is one place, where all human beings are family. True, we may use a different language or live in different countries, but we are all equal. In America, for instance, there is no official language; English is most popular, but it's not written in stone as the one true language. The USA is a melting pot, where all languages and cultures are celebrated.

China in particular, is a big contributor to the world of technology; both for hardware and software. Whether a developer is Chinese and residing in China, or an American that speaks only Chinese, Google has found a great way to show respect and support; the Chinese Google Developers YouTube channel.

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For the deaf and hard-of-hearing, subtitles are essential. Blu-rays, DVDs and TV shows usually feature subtitling as an option, and it's also something that crops up on streaming media such as YouTube videos. The Google-owned video site attempts to automatically add subtitles to videos, but the feature leaves a great deal to be desired.

You may have noticed this for yourself but if not, vlogger Rikki Poynter would like to bring it to your attention. Rikki, who is hard-of-hearing, complains that YouTube's subtitling is often "completely nonsensical". YouTube acknowledges that it has a long way to go.

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Too much content is uploaded to YouTube for Google to be able to effectively police users' videos. This is what the search giant said in response to calls for more to be done to counter terrorism-related content on the video network.

Online censorship versus the right to freedom of speech is a battle that has waged online for some time now. Some parts of the world are more prone to censorship than others, and it's an argument that bubbles up from time to time. The debate usually centers around the moral rights and wrongs of censoring content, but the issue of practicality occasionally rears its head as well.

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YouTube introduced the HTML5 player back in early-2010. I remember it quite well. At the time, it was made available through the Try something new! page, only as an experimental feature. I was excited to get rid of Flash, so I flicked the switch. I had high hopes. I thought I would be able to play all videos using the HTML5 player, but, as it turned out, that was years away from happening -- YouTube's HTML5 player was not yet ready for prime time, and Flash would get a few more years to reign supreme.

Fast forward to early-2015 and YouTube finally announces that HTML5 is the default player. Flash might as well be considered officially dead on YouTube. It's a huge step forward for those of us waiting for the day when sites we visit are no longer asking or forcing us to install Flash.

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US Central Command's Twitter account appears to have been hacked by CyberCaliphate, a hacker group claiming association with ISIS.

The Twitter feed has since been taken down, but posted messages included "AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS. #CyberCaliphate", "Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios", and "Pentagon Networks Hacked. Korean Scenarios". These last two posts came with military maps and information relating to the countries in question.

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YouTube is a great source of entertainment, but don't you wish that sometimes people would just cut to the chase? There are plenty of videos of epic length, often comprising a massive build up to a short punchline. Why not cut the crap and get to the point?

One way to do this when re-sharing YouTube videos is to convert the interesting portion into an animated GIF, saving viewers time and bandwidth. YouTube itself is getting in on the web's rekindled interest in animated GIFs. A new beta program has been opened up that lets YouTube users transform lengthy videos into snapper clips of up to six seconds in length.

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Ever wondered how much mobile traffic those two behemoths of the mobile (and indeed desktop) world, Facebook and YouTube actually use?

Well, as far as North American traffic goes -- as measured by a Sandvine report compiled by BI Intelligence for Business Insider -- in September, Facebook accounted for 19 percent of mobile traffic, and YouTube snagged almost as much at 18 percent.

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Even though we are in a golden age of television, with shows like Breaking Bad, Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, more and more people are turning to YouTube for their video watching. It is hard to blame them, as the online videos are usually concise, entertaining and more importantly, the stars are oftentimes more accessible. In other words, while getting a tweet from a Hollywood celebrity like Jim Carrey is rare, getting one from iJustine or Chris Pirillo is not so far-fetched. Not everyone gets tweets from Jay Z like I do.

Today, YouTube is sharing its "YouTubeRewind 2014" -- a mashup video that celebrates the best of 2014 (seen above). In addition, the search giant is listing the overall top videos, plus filtered categories for music and advertisements. Did your favorite videos make the cut?

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The battle for your hard earned money in the music streaming business is heating up, which seems to be a statement I make regularly these days. This time, the offering comes from an unexpected source. While YouTube is a go-to for music videos, it isn't generally thought of for a streaming music source. Or perhaps I'm old.

YouTube is unveiling its new service, Music Key. "You’ve asked us for ways to listen to music without ads, to keep playing music videos even if you lock the screen or start using another app, and to play music even if you’re not connected to the Internet. That’s why today we're introducing YouTube Music Key beta, a monthly subscription service".

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Sony is known for its engineering prowess in a lot of consumer goods, such as TVs, Walkmans, cameras, etc. But what it is not known for -- in any good way, at least -- is software. Sony's software is generally the low point of its product, which isn't unexpected, as software was never the firm's focus. So, when you look at the PS4 and Xbox One, you will notice Sony's advantage in pure gaming, while Microsoft brings software features likes apps (e.g. Skype), and multi-window support.

Sony's update today finally delivers some of the 'next-gen' software features it bragged about a year ago. Share Play is now available and lets your friend join your game, even if they don't own it themselves. There are some limitations without a PlayStation Plus membership, but that was to be expected. YouTube will finally get an app on the PlayStation store. Additionally, you can now use the 'Share' button to upload gameplay highlights directly to YouTube from your PS4.

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