2012's 12 Most Popular YouTube Videos

YouTube has defined a new era of Online videos and this year, it was like we have experienced an all new YouTube. YouTube was so popular among the people that, a single video was watched 5 times per day. Hence it is the #3^rd most popular website in the world after Facebook and Google.

Top Websites to Download FREE HQ & Blu-ray Movies

We all entertain ourselves in a variety of ways. Watching movies is the best way I think to entertain myself in my small leisure time. Today Online Movies is one of the biggest businesses in entertainment industry.  These days people prefer to watch movies online and one of the best thing about downloading movies from internet is, you can get better visual quality known as HQ (High Quality), HD (High Definition) or BD(Blu-ray Disk). You can even burn these downloaded movies on HD discs, Blu-ray Disc and enjoy these movies in big television screen.

 

YouTube’s New Homepage Goes Social

YouTube is launching what the company calls the biggest redesign in its history today, including sweeping changes to its homepage and channel pages. The goal is better personalized video discovery and viewing, with a notable emphasis on social features. Think of the changes as the latest example of Google’s campaign to create a unified social layer for all of its products.

The new homepage looks a lot like Facebook, or Google+ for that matter. An activity feed view dominates the middle of the page, while a left-hand navigation bar provides a set of filters for what you see in the feed.

The default Subscriptions feed appears to include algorithmically determined video uploads and activities determined by information like what videos you’ve watched and which channels you’ve subscribed to, although YouTube group product manager Noam Lovinsky wouldn’t tell me exactly how it worked. The previous version of the homepage feed, which launched early this year, doesn’t appear to be algorithmically tuned to the same degree.


Google+ and Facebook also get prime-time spots in the navigation bar, listed right beneath the first feed. Click on either and you’ll be able to view videos shared by friends on those networks. Google+ videos are automatically in there since YouTube accounts are linked to users Google identities. Facebook requires an opt-in login.

Google is playing up the already social aspects of YouTube to help it bolster Google’s cross-product G+ push. The Facebook integration is a bit more surprising considering that it’s the main social competitor out there. But Lovinksy downplayed that point when I brought it up, noting that only around 10% of YouTube’s views are from embeds, meaning that Facebook is just a part of that percentage.

He went on to explain that the prominent locations for Google+ and Facebook are to help with onboarding for newer users. Instead of looking through the entire site for interesting channels, or trying to see what YouTube’s general recommendations tell them, they can get started by seeing what their current friends are already sharing.

The rest of the left-hand bar includes other options for filtering the feed. You can pin any subscribed channel to the top section as well. Click on any of those subscriptions and you’ll see a reverse-chronological feed of all the activity in that channel.


bar includes a YouTube-curated section showing Trending, Popular and Music channels, and another section showing recommended channels.

The new homepage has a lot in common with Facebook’s left-hand navigation lists, its algorithmic feed, and its right-hand side recommendations and ads. But that’s a reflection of the design paradigm for all social products, as Lovinksy tells me. Users need a homepage that can help them consume new and interesting content as easily as possible, paired with landing pages that let you add subscriptions. In YouTube’s case, the homepage emphasis on filtering channels is based on users’ desires to watch sets of videos in a single sitting. Like, you know, television, channels.

To that end, YouTube is also adding some new templates for channel pages. Here’s what they include, according to the company:

• The Blogger template: A featured video, a reverse chronological list of videos from 1 playlist of your choosing, playlists, and other Channels.
• The Creator template: A featured video, featured playlists, and other Channels.
• The Network template: A featured video and featured Channels
• The Everything template: A featured video, featured playlists, and featured Channels

These additions, which are more analogous to template options in Tumblr or MySpace rather than Facebook’s one-size-fits-all style, let producers promote their works in the most natural style for what they offer. These templates come with a Feed tab showing any of the following actions from the channel owner:

• Liking a video
• Commenting on a video
• Subscribing to a Channel
• Favoriting a video
• Uploading a video, and
• Adding a video to a playlist

Importantly, any of these social actions can also potentially appear in users homepages, similar to how activity on a Facebook page appears in users news feeds. The Feed tab includes a section for users to post their comments, another section for the owner to feature other channels, and an About form.

The homepage and channel changes are the two biggest updates today, but the company is also introducing a site-wide design upgrade to all the elements — typography, iconography, etc (like the new logo at the top of this article). It’s separately adding new versions of its Xbox and Google TV applications, that feature magazine-style tile interfaces showing various channels. Finally, the company is touting the success of its advertising platform, saying that it’s seeing strong demand for its new cost-per-click style of video ads.

Going forward, look for YouTube to introduce more social features, Lovinsky said. While he didn’t get into specifics, my impression was there’s going to more fine-tuned discovery options coming, like channels on the homepage that show you content on topics related to videos you like. A “hip hop” video channel for instance. And, of course, look for YouTube to add tighter G+ integrations across the site.

US approves Google's $400 mn acquisition of Admeld

The US Justice Department on Friday approved Google's $400 million acquisition of Admeld, a company that provides an online advertising platform for publishers. 

The Justice Department said that a review of the transaction by its antitrust division had concluded that it was "not likely to substantially lessen competition in the sale of display advertising." 

"Although the Antitrust Division concluded that this particular transaction was unlikely to cause consumer harm, the division will continue to be vigilant in the enforcement of the antitrust laws to protect competition in display and other forms of online advertising," the department said in a statement. 

Google announced the acquisition of Admeld in June. The exact purchase price was not revealed but various reports put it at around $400 million. 

Mountain View, California-based Google makes most of its money from advertising tied to Internet search but is seeking to carve out a bigger slice of the market for display advertising, which includes rich media, digital video and banner ads. 

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, US online advertising revenue rose 15 percent last year to a record $26 billion with display ads accounting for 38 percent of the total. 

According to digital marketing firm eMarketer, Facebook is on track to pass Yahoo! in US display advertising revenue this year while Google will also gain market share. 

Facebook's share of US online display ad revenue will grow to 17.7 percent this year, up from 12.2 percent last year, while Yahoo!'s share is expected to decline to 13.1 percent in 2011 from 14.4 percent last year, eMarketer said. 

Google's share of US display advertising revenue will grow to 9.3 percent this year from 8.6 percent last year, eMarketer said. 

Google has come in for increasing regulatory review in the United States and Europe as it has grown from a scrappy startup into an Internet titan. 

Among the deals that have drawn scrutiny are Google's $3.1 billion purchase of online ad firm DoubleClick, its $750 million buy of mobile ad network AdMob and its $700 million acquisition of flight data company ITA Software. 

In 2008, Google was forced to drop plans for a joint search advertising partnership with Yahoo! amid opposition from the Justice Department. Google is also currently cooperating with a US Federal Trade Commission probe into its search and advertising business. 

Founded in 2007, Admeld describes its mission on its website as providing publishers with "the cutting edge of advertising technology, enabling them to maximize their revenue and sell their inventory smarter and safer." 

Besides its headquarters in New York, the company also has offices in San Francisco, London, Berlin and Toronto. Admeld's 500 customers around the world include FOX News, Hearst Television, Discovery and The Weather Channel.

Google TV- Will It Disturb the Television Business | Techbay

Soon to be relaunched, Google TV has been causing the TV industry some concern and with good reason. Just as Google  flourished in the online advertising market, it is set to stake a large claim within the pay TV market, currently valued at $150 billion a year. As Google goes from strength to strength, it stands to reason TV broadcasters are wary of their new challenger, but what exactly is Google TV and what are its ambitious plans?

Groundbreaking as it was, the concept of Google TV initially failed to entice content producers, who were hesitant to take the plunge and embrace what was an untested new platform. However, rumours are rife that Google TV have hired former cable TV executive and noted expert Jeremy Stern to conduct negotiations with Time Warner, Disney and Discovery Communications to provide content for the platform.

VLC Media Player : Tips and Tricks

How to: Download Youtube Videos

Here We will teach you how to download Youtube videos !
So you are a big youtube fan, just like us. Who’ll not be, it is the single largest video sharing platform in the world. But there are many videos that we come across, that are so tempting that we wish we could download them to our pc. But then, when you look around, there isn’t any download option available. Because youtube doesn’t want you to download them. But still there are a few workarounds available to do the same. Read on.

1. Software: The best free youtube download software according to us is ‘Youtube Downloader HD’ . It even allows you to download 1080P HD videos. It’s highly recommended.

2. Online: There are many websites like Keepvid.com, Savevid.com, Catchvideo.net etc which help you to download videos online without using a software. What’s great  is that you can also download videos from websites other than Youtube.

3. In-Browser: Cometbird browser can be used to download possibly any and every video that is available on the net. Just use this brower to surf to the page containing the video. play the video, right click on a blank space on the page and go to the option ‘Download Media Files’ and select the file you wish to download. As simple as that. The best thing about using CometBird is that apart from video files, you can also download flash and audio files !