A couple of days back, YouTube TV found itself in a bad position at what was probably the worst possible time. During the World Cup match between England and Croatia, YouTube TV's streaming service went down, and it took Google about an hour to fix the problems. This, as you can imagine, left a lot of YouTube TV subscribers livid.
Hulu isn't the only company that experienced a livestreaming issue during a major live sporting event. YouTube TV went offline during a recent World Cup game, forcing many viewers to tune in with a separate app to continue watching. This is the second time YouTube TV has experienced a streaming problem during a big live sports game, and though YouTube has apologized, many customers are unhappy.
It is an unfortunate and maybe unnecessary fact of digital life that you are being tracked no matter what you do. While there may be legit reasons for doing so and benefits offered in exchange, some would prefer not to be tracked at all, even if only for a moment. That’s what incognito, a.k.a. private, modes are for and now YouTube users on will be able to enjoy a moment of privacy for their viewing activities.
YouTube has been heavily criticized for the presence of anti-LGBT advertisements on LGBT-related videos, as well as monetization policies that have resulted in many of these videos losing their ads. Creators behind these videos have complained about various issues, including their content being age-restricted, hidden from search results, and more. The company has largely been quiet on the matter, but changed that recently with a series of tweeted apologies.
YouTube creators are up in arms over new auto-generated thumbnails, accusing the video streaming site of bulldozing over the custom graphics many rely on to make their clips more clickable. According to YouTube the change is "a small experiment" and only visible to a fraction of a percent of actual viewers.
Are you a regular YouTube user, meaning someone without a Red/Premium subscription? If so, good news: the service's picture-in-picture feature is now available to everyone including free users. As with any PiP feature, this enables users to watch their video in a small floating window while doing something else in a different app.
YouTube has made many changes of late in response to the scandals that its stars and content filters have brought about. But while many of these changes were made to appease authorities and sponsors, YouTube has also alienated quite a number of its own creators, making it harder for them to monetize their hard work. At VidCon 2018, the video streaming giant has announced new programs that they hope will appease those disgruntled YouTubers, including allowing them to sell without having to go to other third-party (a.k.a. not YouTube) platforms.
Fresh out of VidCon, YouTube has announced new features specifically for its content creators, not the least of which is the ability to play pre-recorded videos during livestreams. YouTube calls these "Premieres," presenting them as a way to offer existing content as live content for ushering in a planned livestreaming event.
If you no longer want to be part of the connected world that's also the ad-supported world, there are alternatives. They aren't the same as the apps and social networks you use now, and it's not often that they get as big a celebrity following - but maybe that's not why you're on the internet in the first place. Today we're having a peek at a few alternatives to the major social networks as they roll right this minute.
After launching in early access back in May, Google has officially opened the YouTube Music floodgates. If other music streaming services leave you wanting, you can now see if YouTube Music satisfies in a handful of regions around the world. It isn't launching alone either, as YouTube Premium is rolling out to 17 regions as well.
Earlier this year, YouTube launched a break reminder tool on Android, enabling users to set a certain amount of time they could watch videos before getting a reminder to step away. That original tool offered reminder options in specific preset blocks of time, such as 15 minutes and 30 minutes. A new update changes that, making the feature far more useful.
While the Nintendo Switch is a great portable gaming console, it is by no means perfect. Among its list of flaws is the fact that it's really just that, a portable gaming console. Despite hardware and software capabilities, Nintendo has limited the Switch’s feature set to that particular use case. Wouldn’t it be great if the Switch could also be a great portable multimedia player? If Best Buy’s accidental project listing is correct, that will be the case soon. At least if all you do is watch on Netflix and YouTube.