Articles about YouTube

YouTube is more than just a source of cat videos and hilariously painful-looking accidents caught on camera: for many people it is a source of extra income, or even a living. But the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) through which advertisements can be used to generate money is also open to abuse.

The Google-owned site has a plagiarism problem whereby popular content is stolen and re-uploaded to a different channel to generate money for a third party. In a bid to stop this practice, YouTube is banning channels from displaying ads until they have managed to hit 10,000 views.

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It has been a while since Google announced its plans for YouTube Go, a streamlined version of its mobile app with a focus on sharing and minimizing data usage. Now the company has released the first beta on Google Play.

Designed for use in countries with less-than-reliable internet connection, such as India, YouTube Go also allows for the downloading of videos for offline viewing without buffering. The app includes a number of options to help you "maximize your fun without burning up your data," including the ability to preview videos and see the amount of data required to download different quality versions of the same file.

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Last week saw the start of a backlash against Google after advertisers voiced concern that their ads were appearing next to extremist content. The Guardian, the BBC and the British government were among the first to start to pull their ads from the network, and the trend has spread to the US.

AT&T and Verizon are among American companies that have now announced that they are boycotting YouTube by pulling their ads. After concerns about being associated with terrorist and other extremist content, an increasing number of big names are calling on Google to make guarantees about ad placement.

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LGBTQ+ videos are effectively being censored by Google, say a number of high-profile YouTubers. The accusations surround YouTube's Restricted Mode and the belief that this is hiding videos with LGBTQ+ content from view, leading some to suggest that active censorship is taking place.

Google says that this limited mode exists to give people the option to avoid "videos that discuss more sensitive issues." The blocking is supposed to be triggered by "community flagging, age restrictions, and other signals," but YouTubers complain that even "innocent" videos that reference same-sex relationships, "queer perspectives" and other LGBTQ+ topics have been restricted.

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Things are changing at YouTube. Having previously announced plans to drop 30-second unskippable ads from videos, Google has now also revealed that it will be dropping another annoyance -- the annotations that blight many videos and distract from the actual content.

Annotations have generally been used to link to related material, push merchandize and so on, but there has been something of an issue: annotations are not very mobile-friendly. Google says that Cards (which can be displayed at any point during a video) and End Screens (which, funnily enough, appear at the end) provide the same functionality as annotations, work on mobile, and are more user-friendly.

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Yesterday, the Guardian withdrew advertising from Google and YouTube after its ads were placed next to extremist content. The British newspaper was not alone -- broadcaster Channel 4, and even the British government soon followed suit.

Now Google is scrabbling to calm down the situation. Advertisers are unhappy that their ads have been placed next to extremist content and hate speech, and Google says it will improve the controls advertisers have over ad placement. At the same time, the company says: "we believe strongly in the freedom of speech and expression on the web -- even when that means we don't agree with the views expressed."

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The Guardian has pulled all of its ads from both Google and YouTube. The British newspaper was unhappy to discover that advertisements for its membership scheme were placed next to extremist material.

It is understood that the positioning was accidental, but the Guardian's chief executive described the situation as "completely unacceptable". Ads appeared next to videos for a "hate preacher", American white nationalists, and other controversial content. Google's AdX, DoubleClick Ad Exchange Service, algorithms are thought to be to blame and, in a letter to Google, the Guardian seeks assurances that the problem will not happen again.

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If you need a webcam, there is one company that you should look to first -- Logitech. No, they aren't the only maker of these cameras, but the company has a long track record of producing quality offerings. Best of all, Logitech webcams usually work brilliantly regardless of operating system -- Windows, Mac, and Linux-based.

The problem with buying webcams, however, is that they are already integrated into most laptops nowadays, making them seem like an unnecessary purchase. Yeah, I get that -- why buy a webcam when your computer already has one? The answer is simple -- quality. Many computers come with webcams that aren't even 720p. Apple infamously put a 480p webcam on its svelte MacBook... including the refreshed model in 2016! With that said, Logitech has created a webcam with an amazing 4K capability. Called the BRIO 4K Pro Webcam, I have been using it for a few weeks on both Windows 10 and macOS and I am absolutely in love.

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Cable television is very expensive nowadays, so many people are opting to cut the cord. Depending on where you live, you can sometimes get free over-the-air programming -- this is a great way to save money, but the number of channels is low. Another option is internet-based solutions such as PlayStation TV or Sling TV. The problem with these services, however, is the limitations, such as missing channels and a lack of some live sports.

Today, Google is aiming to be the best internet-based television provider with the all-new YouTube TV. The search-giant's new offering is very affordable, plus it has really impressive features like live sports, local channels, and an unlimited storage cloud-based DVR. You even get access to YouTube Red original shows. Unfortunately, it falls short of perfection.

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When I was a kid, I watched a lot of television. As soon as I got home from school, I parked my butt on the couch and enjoyed my favorite cartoons and other such programs. Truth be told, I often kept watching until I went to bed. Yeah, I arguably wasted a lot of hours of my life this way.

If you think television watching is wasteful, wait until you get a load of this -- people are watching a combined 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day. Yes, that is every single day. Sure, some of those videos are educational, but a lot of it is millennials watching people like PewDiePie play video games.

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The Oscars are this Sunday, and I have seen a grand total of zero of the films nominated for Best Picture. Isn't that a shame? This is because of a few factors -- the theater is too expensive nowadays, and I simply haven't had the time. Not to mention, none of this year's nominated films particularly interest me. Oh well.

To celebrate the much-anticipated award show, the folks over at Google have created a leaderboard for the nine Oscar "Best Picture" nominated movie trailers. The search giant explains that the rankings are comprised of views "including both studio channels and popular aggregators." The ranking is not at all surprising, with the overall most-watched film trailer getting a lot of hype lately.

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Ads -- be they on TV, on the web or in apps -- can be deeply annoying, hence the prevalence of ad-blocking software. But there are some ads that you can't always avoid, such as those tacked onto the beginning of YouTube videos; not all ad-blocking software is made equal, after all.

If this is a bugbear of yours, there's good news on the horizon. While YouTube is not ditching ads altogether, the 30-second monstrosities which cannot be skipped are being dropped.

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Around the world, there are many people with hearing impairments. This doesn't mean that they are necessarily deaf -- they may instead have severe hearing loss. Someone in my family, for instance, has to wear hearing aids. For these people, captioning on videos (text displayed on screen) can be a necessity, making it possible to enjoy a TV show or movie. Heck, it can be used by people without hearing issues too; they may need to mute their TV as to not wake family members.

Nowadays, captioning extends to internet videos too, including the very popular YouTube. In fact, today, Google announces that it has exceeded 1 billion captioned videos! While this is certainly an amazing accomplishment, the service's automatic speech recognition can sometimes be very wrong -- even comically so.

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The Nintendo Switch is a game console that is haunting me. My brain tells me that it could be a failure, but my heart keeps me intrigued. I considered canceling my pre-order, but have since decided to keep it. Heck, I have even ordered a launch title -- Super Bomberman R.

In anticipation of the console's March 3rd launch, Nintendo will be running its first-ever Super Bowl ad. This 30-second Switch commercial will feature the much-anticipated game "Zelda Breath of the Wild." While Super Bowl LI does not happen until this Sunday February 5th, you can watch the ad immediately online. Nintendo even has a special 90-second extended cut version.

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Google is adding a new social component to YouTube, rolling out in-app messaging and direct video sharing on Android and iOS. The new features are available only in Canada at the time of writing this article, but Google says that they will be (eventually) released worldwide.

Why is Google introducing those features? Simple. In today's landscape, it is no longer enough to let users watch videos and reply back and forth in the comments section. If you look at Facebook, it is also super easy for users to connect after having a conversation, which then lets them privately share content, among other things. The result? They spend more time using the service.

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