Tag: YouTube

YouTube has finally enabled HDR video support for the iPhone X.  The streaming content provider can now provide 1080p HDR videos for the flagship iPhone which has had a HDR display since its release.  For those that don’t know, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and provides amazingly accurate colors and depth of those colors.  Both the iPhone X as well as the iPad Pro lineup have HDR displays.

Youtube has been rolling out support for HDR video for sometime now for Android with several devices supporting it such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 lineup, the Razer Phone, and Google’s Pixel 2 lineup.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced this past week at BrandCast in New York that the video streaming and sharing service has now reached a staggering 1.8 billion monthly registered users watching content.  It is a jump of some 300 million since the last update of usage figures were announced back in June 2017.

Perhaps even more staggering is the sheer amount of videos being uploaded on the service.  Roughly 400 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute and the company now has some 10,000 monitors looking through content for sensitivity, criminal or terrorist related videos.  Machine Learning and stricter policies will also help in managing the content on the site too.

Google Photos has a new video creation feature that can turn photos from your library into a themed video for you to share.  The video can be nine different themes including, appropriately enough for February, St Valentine’s Day.  The feature is rolling out now to all accounts on Google Photos both on the web and in the app.

The nine themes include:

• They Grow Up So Fast – takes photos from your library of children as they get older
• Meow Movie – photos of your cat into a movie because, cat videos
• Doggie Movie
• In Loving Memory – video for friends and family who have passed on
• Selfie Movie
• Smiles of 2017
• Mother’s Day Movie
• Father’s Day Movie
• Valentine’s Day Movie

Using the new tool is as simple as selecting the theme you want, then selecting the subject of that video and tap next.  Once you do that, Photos will start creating the video behind the scenes on your phone.

[Editors Note:  Due to the political nature of this post, comments have been disabled]

President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address will be streamed live on YouTube this week.  The address to both houses of Congress will happen on January 30th at 5:00 PM Eastern.  Google’s streaming service will be broadcasting the live stream from CBS News and will also be streaming the Democrat response to the address shortly after the President concludes his address.

The State of the Union Address is a Constitutionally mandated address Article II, Section 3, Clause 1.  That clause reads in part:  shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

YouTube has begun sending emails out to content producers on the changes that are coming next month to how they can monetize their channels.  The email lays out the new requirements in order to have access to the ad monetizing tools and that access will end starting February 28, 2018 if you do not meet the requirements.

Those new YouTube requirements are pretty steep.  You have to have 1000 subscribers but the higher hurdle is the requirement for 4000 watch time hours over the previous 12 months.  This last requirement will eliminate many channels from being able to monetize.

Ah, the love between Amazon and Google shows itself once more…. NOT!  It appears that the latest spat between the two giants is over YouTube and the newish Amazon Echo Show.

Users of the new Alexa-powered smart device were cut off from YouTube yesterday with a warning that the smart speaker was unable to play content from the world’s largest video site.  Amazon states that they are disappointed, laying the blame at the feet of Google.  Google, in return, indicates that the reason for the shutdown is due to a violation of the terms of service and that they made Amazon aware that Tuesday was the drop date.