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.

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?

Rather than try to explain what I discovered when I searched for an answer to this mystery, allow me to direct you to the man himself, former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs reasoning behind the lack of Flash support on the iPhone and iPad. One could argue that that is like getting the devil to argue the case for fornication but it just appears logical (in much the same way as I suspect the devil would appear logical in his arguement). The main points appear to be the following:

• The common misconception that flash is an “Open” system whereas it is 100% proprietary (owned and controlled by Adobe) by any definition.
• Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and Javascript – all completely open standards that are also supported by Google and others
• Adobe’s claim that the iPad and iPhone are unable to experience the ‘full web’ since 75% of the video on the web is flash. This is untrue (and the answer to my mystery), as most video is also available in a more modern format H.264 which is viewable on iOS devices.
• The infamous ‘battery life’ reasoning. The reasoning behind this is that to achieve longer battery life, video should be decoded in hardware (H.264 decoder on mobile chip) rather than in software, and
• Because Flash was designed for PC’s using mice, not touch screen using fingers

The intention of this post is not to support Apple products (which I suppose it indirectly does) but merely to correct the common misconception out there that iOS devices are not capable of accessing the “full web” and the reasons behind why Adobe Flash is not supported in iOS. Web developers are catching on to this and slowly but surely the web is quickly switching to open standards that are accessible by any device. Just as Apple has done before, they forced the entire industry to do a rethink of the web going forward.

Regardless whether you support Apple or not, we will all benefit from this. The future of the web is open, and we do not need that choke-hold of proprietary standards like Flash.

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

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.

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.”

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]

“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]