Wednesday, 28 November 2012

YouTube automatic captions now in six European languages

Captions are important to make sure everyone—including deaf, hard-of-hearing, and viewers who speak other languages—can enjoy videos on YouTube.

In 2009, you first saw a feature that automatically creates captions on YouTube videos in English, and since then we’ve added Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. Today, hundreds of millions of people speaking six more languages—German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Dutch—will have automatic caption support for YouTube videos in those languages. Just click the closed caption button on any of these videos to see how it works:



Now in 10 languages, automatic captions are an important first step in the path toward high-quality captions for the 72 hours of video people upload per minute. As automatic captions will have some errors, creators also have several tools to improve the quality of their captions. Automatic captions can be a starting point, where creators can then download them for editing, or edit them in-line on YouTube. Creators can also upload plain-text transcripts in these languages, and the same technology will generate automatically-synchronized captions.

You now have around 200 million videos with automatic and human-created captions on YouTube, and we continue to add more each day to make YouTube accessible for all.

Hoang Nguyen, software engineer, recently watched “Completo, ilha das flores.”

Our November featured On The Rise partner is polcan99!

Congratulations to Tom Antos of polcan99, our featured “On The Rise” partner for this month. His channel is featured on the “Spotlight” section of the YouTube homepage today.

Tom has been a YouTube partner for three years, but has dedicated his entire career to film direction, cinematography, and VFX. His expertise has earned Tom an array of awards as he’s worked on both large productions and small-budget projects including Hollywood features, short films, and music videos. On YouTube, Tom goes one step further, uploading tutorials to share his experience and knowledge with his filmmaking peers. He can help you design great-looking music video shots, entertain you with a Dragon Ball remake action video, or even let you choose your own real-life Angry Birds adventure! No matter what you choose to watch, you’ll be impressed with Tom’s innate talent and his dedication to both entertaining and educating his viewers.



Here are a few words from Tom:
I'm a filmmaker, and I love good entertainment. Doesn't matter if it's a good TV show, film, stage play or a book, I enjoy it all. Now I try to create entertainment on the internet... more specifically on YouTube, mainly because of their great tools. I now have 2 channels; Polcan99 is where I put up my action and VFX filled films along with filmmaking tutorials... and GalgaTV is where I put up comedy videos. I feel very fortunate to be able to entertain others for a living, and I'm thankful for being chosen by YouTube as the November "On The Rise" Partner. If you like what you see on any of my channels then please subscribe! 
If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel. Keep an eye out next month for a chance to nominate some of your favorite channels for On The Rise in 2013 - we’ll be coming back to you in January with another round of rising talent.

Christine Wang and Devon Storbeck, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “More Twilight - A Bad Lip Reading of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

YouTube Presents: Mayday in San Bruno, California

England had The Beatles. Ireland has U2. Taiwan has Mayday.

Taiwan’s Mayday (五月天) is the biggest name in Chinese rock today, with tens of millions of fans across the globe. No doubt they will be making even more fans when they perform at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California on Wednesday, November 28 at 7pm PT, and livestream it to the world on YouTube Presents and Mayday's YouTube channel.

After the concert at 8:30pm PT, Mayday will hold a Hangout with fans on Google+. To get a chance at joining this Hangout, post a question you want to ask the band with the tag #HangoutsWithMayday on Google+. Seven lucky fans will be invited to participate.



The first ever Chinese-speaking band to perform at YouTube Presents, Mayday announced their visit at Google’s office in Taipei last week, as they start their U.S. tour promoting their newest album Album No. 8 (作品8號).

Tune in to the livestream for a bit of Mayday to warm up your November, and subscribe to Mayday’s YouTube channel to get the latest videos from the group.

Richard Li, Country Marketing Manager for Taiwan, recently watched “Don’t Wanna Leave You Alone.”

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Just for U: YouTube arrives on Wii U

The new YouTube app for Nintendo Wii U brings the YouTube videos and channels you love to your living room, and with the Wii U GamePad you can quickly search for great videos to watch. From the new Super Mario Bros to music videos, there’s endless HD entertainment available to you on the YouTube app.

Nintendo's GamePad makes it fast and easy to find YouTube videos, with the GamePad touchscreen keyboard.


Take advantage of your big screen TV and enjoy YouTube HD videos in up to 1080p. When you're watching a video, you can also see all the video details on your GamePad.


Looking for something new to watch? Flip through your subscribed channels and categories like Gaming and Music.


The YouTube app for Nintendo Wii U is now available for free download from the Nintendo Wii U main menu.

Sarah Ali, product manager, recently watched “Portlandia : Did You Read? - Portlandia on IFC.”

Saturday, 17 November 2012

A cornucopia of live music: Rihanna, Pitbull, Alicia Keys and more

Starting today, channels across YouTube will host concerts from some of the most vital musicians in the game -- and you’ve got a free ticket to watch them all live. Because we know you’re going to have to plan your schedule carefully to catch all the shows, we’ve laid ‘em out for you: when, where and how you can watch.

Saturday, November 17: Bud Light Port Paradise with Pitbull and more
Pop stars in paradise? Sounds like a recipe for success to us. Watch Far East Movement, FloRida, Wiz Khalifa and Pitbull live from the Bahamas, starting at 1:30pm PT on youtube.com/budlight.

Saturday, November 17: Zac Brown Band
These dudes define country cool -- they’re low-key, but they have true cred and lots of hits. Who doesn’t want to see them play Madison Square Garden? 6pm PT on youtube.com/fuse.



Sunday, November 18: American Music Awards Red Carpet
For those of you who prefer music’s glam side, watch pop stars strut in all their finery before Sunday’s American Music Awards show. Word is some guy named Psy will make an appearance. Starts at 2pm PT on youtube.com/awardsshownetwork.

Monday, November 19: Rihanna
The pop princess returns with a new album next week, and to celebrate, she’s doing seven shows in seven days, all over the world. Catch her London show live at 1pm PT on youtube.com/rihannalive.



Tuesday, November 20: Alicia Keys
And last, but SO not least, the divine Alicia Keys will premiere her entire new album on Tuesday via a Google Hangout streamed live on youtube.com/aliciakeys. Just when you thought you couldn’t love her any more than you do.... Tune in at 4pm PT.



Sarah Bardeen, music community manager, recently watched “Dakha Brakha | A Take-Away Show (Outtakes).”

Thursday, 15 November 2012

YouTube app now on Nintendo Wii in the U.S.

Designed for the big screen and Wii Remote, the new YouTube app for Nintendo Wii brings the YouTube videos and channels you love to your TV. Wii owners in the U.S. can download the app today from the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel, and we’re bringing the app to more countries in the coming months. Here’s what to expect with the new app:

Start your YouTube journey on Wii by signing in to find the channels you’re subscribed to. You can also flip through categories like Gaming, Music, trending videos and more.


Watch the shows and channels you love on YouTube, like The Book Club from YOMYOMF Network or the official Nintendo Wii YouTube channel.


Wii Yoga have you hungry for more exercises? Try the new search features to find fun yoga videos.


Check out these features and more on the new YouTube app for Nintendo Wii, giving you another way to enjoy YouTube on the big screen.

Matt Darby, product manager, recently watched “Dragon Baby.”

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

YouTube’s News Innovation Award - this one’s for you

Last night in Washington DC, YouTube was proud to accept the News Innovation Award from the International Center for Journalists, an organization dedicated to promoting a free, independent press around the world.

As CEO Salar Kamangar told the audience, YouTube is an unusual recipient because we are not journalists. But we are news junkies, and we know you are, too.

Fully a third of searches you do on YouTube are news-related. You share events unfolding in your backyard to bring new perspectives to breaking news. You watch live streamed events from our news partners in the millions, no matter where you are in the world. And some of you even risk everything to provide a window into global conflicts that would otherwise go unseen.

So thank you ICFJ for recognizing YouTube’s community in this way. Here is Salar accepting the award on behalf of all of you.




Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched “14N La policía inventa una "patada" para detener a un fotógrafo” (Journalist detained by police in Madrid)