Articles about Content Creation

YouTube, like many other websites, undergoes changes, and it has taken on a number of guises over the years. Some looks have lasted for a long time, while others have been shorter lived. There are also experimental looks, not all of which end up being released, but even when a redesign is rolled out, it can take a while to make its way around the world. Currently in the experimental stage is a center-aligned layout which includes a cleaned up interface a new menu and a few other tweaks.

In the new design, a top navigation bar is now locked to the top of the screen, remaining in place while the rest of the page scrolls. There is a customizable carousel and a new Upload button encourages visitors into sharing. It's not yet clear quite when this new interface will be officially released to a waiting world, but it's something you can enable now; all it takes is a quick cookie tweak.

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Wikipedia. It's one of the cornerstones of the internet. It's a global resource which has quite a reputation and has spawned numerous copycats and offshoots; the latest addition to the wiki canon is the Wikipedia Voice Intro Project (or WikiVIP). As you may have guessed from the name, this is a project concerned with audio -- voice recordings specifically. The Wikipedia entries for celebrities and notable figures are to be spruced up with the addition of audio clips.

The first name to enter the vocal history books is Stephen Fry, a man known for his love of technology as much as his comedy, general knowledge and general loveliness. This month he recorded a ten second clip ("Hello, my name is Stephen Fry, I was born in London, and I’ve been in the entertainment business, well I suppose since 1981") which now appears on his Wikipedia page.

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There is a common misconception that anything that is made available online is fair game for use by other people. Found an image you like on a website? Why not just grab a copy and use it on your own? In some cases this is not a problem and the owner of the image will not mind others re-using imagery in whatever way they want, but this is certainly not always the case.

Google Image Search has long made it possible to filter results by the type of license they have, but now things have just got a whole lot easier.

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YouTube has announced that the live streaming feature will be rolled out to all channels, after previously making it available only for a select number of users. It will be offered gradually, over the next couple of weeks, and will be complemented by the option to launch a Google+ Hangout on Air straight from the YouTube Live events dashboard.

"Over the last year, we've seen creators across music, gaming, sports, news and more categories use the power of live video to create amazing experiences for their audiences, and build new fans", says YouTube. "Now, all YouTube channels that verify their account and are in good standing will be able to live stream live video to the world".

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It’s often said that the great thing about standards in the technology industry is that there are so many to choose from. That's just as true in today's world of mobile devices as it was in the days of mainframes when it was first coined.

Mozilla, LG, Qualcomm, Deutsche Telekom and a number of other leading mobile companies have taken a step closer to a world where standards are... well, standard, by joining forces to create the Open Web Device Compliance Review Board (CRB). The aim of the CRB is to support device manufacturers and their technology partners to standardize performance.

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The WordPress team has announced the release of WordPress 3.7 (code-named "Basie", for Count Basie), a notable upgrade with some worthwhile maintenance, security and usability tweaks.

Top of the list is automatic updates for maintenance and security updates. This should work just fine for most people, but if you’re out of luck then you’ll be informed after updating to 3.7, and instead you’ll get email alerts of new security releases.

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Becoming a developer for platforms such as iOS and Android is relatively simple, but the same has not always been true for anyone looking to break into the world of serious gaming. Microsoft is keen to help out, and the new Independent Developers @ Xbox (ID@Xbox) program aims to make it possible for small-scale devs to work in the same arena as the big players.

At Gamescon, Microsoft today unveils details of the program and Director of ID@Xbox, Chris Charla, is keen to welcome the next generation of developers who will usher in a new breed of games. The scheme will enable developers to publish their own games on Xbox One and gain access to the same development kits and resources that are already available to leaders in the market.

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Shortly after Microsoft released its native YouTube Windows Phone 8 app in early-May, Google sent the software giant a cease and desist letter, demanding the app's removal from Store. The reasons, according to the document, centered on three main features that Microsoft baked-in, namely content download, an ad-free user experience and forgoing playback restrictions. The app was pulled from Windows Phone Store in late-May, and replaced with the older iteration.

Good news! Late-yesterday, following a collaboration with Google, Microsoft quietly launched a compliant YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. "We've released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads", says Microsoft in a statement issued to me. "We appreciate Google's support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration".

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Web automation service IFTTT just gained itself a new channel, adding support for no lesser an establishment than the New York Times. This means that if you don’t want to have to keep checking the NYT website to see when there is a new article in the Science section, you no longer need to. In a couple of steps it's possible to create a recipe that will send you an SMS, email or some other form of alert.

As with many of IFTTT's other channels, the New York Times has various possible triggers. In addition to the addition of an article to a particular section, recipes can also check for popular' articles, Critic's Pick movie reviews, new additions to the Best Sellers list and the addition of new events.

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Bloggers rejoice: WordPress 3.6 has been released, sporting the name "Oscar" and including a number of major new features to excite users. The open-source CMS system gains new features for both users and developers, including built-in HTML5 media player and new audio/video API.

The new release is joined by a brand new theme -- Twenty Thirteen -- that provides a modern-art inspired, single-column layout that’s designed to work across mobile and desktop platforms. Sidebars and widgets have been moved into the footer, and it comes with support for Genericon font-based icons.

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If you are unfamiliar with Flipboard, it is a service which aggregates your favorite online news sources and social media accounts. It then displays the data in a magazine-like layout, including page-turning animations. In addition to personal use, Flipboard also allows users to create "magazines" which can be shared publicly with the world. These are an aggregate of various sources on a specific topic (skiing, cats, technology, and more). Unfortunately, people with whom you shared your magazines were required to have a Flipboard account and access the mobile app -- until today.

Flipboard announces that magazines can now be shared with anyone using a modern browser (an account is not required). "The Web magazines are supported in desktop browsers IE9+, Safari, Chrome and Firefox in 11 languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German", according to the company. Is this worth flipping out over?

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Norwegian browser developer Opera has teamed up with video sharing site Dailymotion to create a new service that can transform any Dailymotion video channel into a Smart TV application in less than a minute.

Opera TV Snap lets you convert an existing online video channel into a ready-to-run HTML5 app for inclusion in the Opera TV Store, a Smart TV app storefront supported by major television and set-top-box manufacturers.

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Xara Group has announced the release of Xara Designer Pro X9 ($299), the latest edition of its all-in-one photo editing, web design, illustration and desktop publishing tool. It’s a significant upgrade, too, with worthwhile new features everywhere you look.

The Photo Editor now includes an easy-to-use Background Erase tool, for instance, which helps you quickly cut a complex object out of a photo (a person, say), ready for placing elsewhere. The Healing tool seamlessly removes unwanted defects or objects from your photos, while the program’s effects options have been extended with eleven new Photo FX Plug-ins.

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Pablo Software Solutions has released WYSIWYG Web Builder 9, a major new version of its DTP-style web building tool for Windows users. Version 9 debuts a completely redesigned user interface based on the ribbon found in Microsoft Office and other products. It also adds support for Google Web Fonts, bundles new and improved navigation objects, animations and transitions and supports CMS plug-ins for the first time.

The tool, which costs $45, aims to make web design easier by providing a desktop-publishing style approach to building web pages. In all, over 150 new features have been added to this release.

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NetShelter, a digital advertising network that focuses on tech publications, has been purchased by Ziff Davis for an undisclosed sum.

The name and activities of the company may not be familiar to you, but it’s responsible for delivering nearly 16 billion ad impressions per year on 150 consumer and business tech sites, including BetaNews, SlashGear, TechSpot, CrackBerry, Android Central, MacRumors and Neowin.

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