Last week we reported on a rumour (one that has been around already for quite some time) of Google developing its very own subscription music service to compete with the likes of Spotify.

We know that Google has been in negotiations with a number of record labels to allow it license to use their music in the service and it seems that this applies to YouTube as well.

Now, Fortune has reported that Google’s YouTube service is also planning on jumping into the subscription music service pool unsurprisingly with the help of the Google brand.

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YouTube has rolled out a brand new video editing feature on the site to enable users to make simple changes to their videos. The feature, that has been available in the service’s TestTube lab since last year, is designed to enable users to apply simple and easy quick fixes as well as some substantial changes to their videos after they have been uploaded. Users can edit their videos without the risk of losing view count, comments or existing links.

YouTube product manager, Jeff Toff, said the idea came about when ”we noticed a lot of the videos that were uploaded to YouTube could use some polish, some basic video editing.” There is even an option to change your existing soundtrack and trim footage.

View the tutorial video below.

One of the most often criticized ‘flaws’ of the iPad or iPhone for that matter is it’s inability to play flash. How can something described by the Apple marketing gurus as the best way to experience the Internet not allow the user to experience all the joy that comes from watching a kitten dance on youtube or the trailer for an upcoming movie? Friends deciding on which tablet to purchase, would often play around with my iPad but then inevitably ask one of two questions. “But why can’t it play Flash videos?” or ” Where is the USB connection port?”.

To answer the latter simply, there is no USB port on the iPad yet there were adaptors for the iPad 1 that allowed an external camera to be connected to it but those adaptors arguably became obsolete with the inclusion of onboard cameras on the iPad 2. Unless you need to store images from your actual digital camera. The transfer of media and files to the iPad can also be accomplished via iTunes, the cloud or some apps that allow wireless transfer via FTP.

The former question is one I myself thought about quite a lot before buying my iPad. At the time it seemed to dominate the discussion with most reviews of the iPad focusing on this ‘shortcoming’ and some Apple fans even starting Facebook fan pages trying to show the stubborn Apple execs that there is a strong market for Adobe flash support on the iPad. The android fanboys were also quick to criticize Apple for it’s non adoption of an open market philosophy. One would have been forgiven, amongst all this hype, for thinking that Apple could not incorporate Flash into it’s device. I decided that I hardly watch videos on the web so the lack of flash support on the iPad was not a deal breaker for me.

I raise the issue, rather belatedly , because I had always answered this inevitable criticism about the lack of support for flash with some muttering about how it ensures a better battery life. Talking about things like support for HTML5 to non-tech people is like explaining to a ‘Trekkie’ (Star Trek fan) why the Star Wars prequels were a waste of celluloid i.e Pointless. Recently however, I realised that although I am not one to watch random videos on youtube, there are often links to videos on Facebook or Twitter and I have been happily watching by merely pressing the Play button at the centre of the clip. How was this possible? (more…)

This map by XKCD might look like a child made it, but it is in fact based on actual traffic to these sites. Here is the description:

Communities rise and fall, and total membership numbers are no longer a good measure of a community’s current size and health.  This updated map uses sizes to represent total social activity in a community – that is, how much talking, playing, sharing or other socializing happens there.  This meant some comparing of apples and oranges, but I did my best and tried to be consistent.

Do yourself a favour and look at the large version of this file, it is pretty expansive. A few things took me by surprise – look at the size of QQ and Farmville. But these communities are not a patch compared to Email and the cellular cash cow called SMS.

Another very cool map was recently created for Web 2.0 Summit, called the Points of Control Map, which integrates a few other players, not only online communities. This map is actually interactive – so I recommend you go view the full version.

This is the very same map that recently came under criticism from Mark Zuckerburg, in which he mentioned that there is one missing part – “uncharted territory“…  This is probably where innovative products like Facebook’s new messaging system would want to explore.

Source: xkcd

Following on from their Facebook and Twitter infographics, Website Monitoring have produced another stats sheet, this time for YouTube.

Here are a few key facts taken from the chart:

• The first video was uploaded to YouTube on 23 April 2005
• The most popular video on the site, Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, has been played 185.39 million times
• 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute
• 70% of YouTube’s traffic comes from outside the USA
• The most popular channel on YouTube has 2,159,651 subscribers

See the full infographic on the Website Monitoring site.

YouTube South Africa, the first localised YouTube site on the African continent, has gone live. You can see it in action at www.youtube.co.za.

The new domain has a strong focus on content uploaded by South African users, and makes use of adjusted search algorithms to promote South African content on category pages and in the “featured videos” section.

YouTube has also signed partnership agreements with several South African media companies, including the SABC and e.tv, enabling these companies to establish a presence on the site and easily distribute their content. The SABC will be piloting a certain amount of old and current content on the channel, and if the pilot proves successful, this offering will be extended to include a range of SABC news, sport, soaps, dramas and comedies.

Perhaps more importantly, video download speeds are now significantly faster for South Africans. No more grabbing a quick cup of coffee while you wait for that hilarious cat video to load!

Of course, if the new site is still not fast enough for you, you have the option to watch videos with YouTube Feather. This beta offering is a stripped-down version of the standard video page, including only the most basic features. YouTube Feather can be accessed via the TestTube section of the site.

Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder, says, “We’re very excited to bring a local version of YouTube to South Africa and we look forward to continuing to improve the YouTube experience for our South African users.”

Google has acquired On2 Technologies in a stock for stock transaction which will see each outstanding share of On2 common stock being converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock.

The overall acquisition cost for Google is $106 million and Google has taken this step to thoroughly use On2 futuristic video compression techniques for its own expansion. YouTube currently lacks ways that could assist High-Definition HD Video conversions and compressions, which means that the deal is much needed considering the bright future Google sees for their service.

The deal is expected to close by the fourth-quarter of this year and the investors look already pleased as the On2 stock closed 62% over the premium at the close of yesterday.

Google is certainly feeling the pressure with its contemporaries expanding its domains and this deal will have surely relaxed the nerves a bit. Now it can further evolve the immensely successful YouTube to newer heights.

[via TechCrunch]

Internet Explorer 6 is certainly not on the credibility list of big names from the Web 2.0 world. It was Digg that earlier hinted at cutting the support for the Web Browser and now it is suspected that YouTube is also phasing out the Browser shortly — a screenshot taken by an IE6 user is pretty much conclusive that the time for the IE6 is up.

“We will be phasing out support for your browser soon. Please upgrade to one of these more modern browsers”

Given the bugs and issues on the site, and the fact that only 5% of users on Digg are using IE 6 — hence causing a minimal 1% of diggs, buries and comments, the website announced that they’ll remove support for Internet Explorer 6.

Following on the same lines as Digg, YouTube will also prefer its developers spending time optimizing the service for newer and better browsers rather than paying attention to the fading Microsoft browser. Google is going to have their efforts concentrated on more “modern browsers” like Chrome, Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5 or Safari.

Totally understandable, don’t you think?

[via TechCrunch]