tubes

Shoot and share videos with YouTube Capture for iOS

Google just made it easier to capture and upload videos to YouTube from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Its new YouTube Capture app lets you share a video with as little as two taps (including the tap to launch the app). Here's how it works.

When you first launch the app, it'll ask you to sign into your Google account. You can skip this step and sign into your account later, and instead swipe through a brief, four-slide tutorial.

After the tutorial, you'll be taken to the capture screen, which, when held in landscape mode, features two … Read more

'Gangnam Style,' 'Barack vs Mitt' among YouTube's champs

YouTube watchers kept busy this year checking out videos related to "Gangnam Style," the presidential elections, and Facebook parenting for the troubled teen.

Rewinding back through 2012, YouTube yesterday posted its list of the Top 10 trending videos for the year.

A video devoted to Korea's "Gangnam Style" craze took the top spot. A music video of the song "Somebody that I Used to Know" by Canadian band Walk off the Earth took second place.

Going viral and taking third place was Kony 2012, a video campaign urging the capture and arrest of … Read more

Download Web videos with AllTubeDownloader

Wouldn't you love to have all of your favorite YouTube videos on your hard drive so you can watch them offline? Sadly, this ad-supported download won't do that for you consistently enough to be worth recommending. When AllTubeDownloader does put a file on your computer, it's often of very poor quality.

Sometimes, this program can't even take you to the main menu without crashing. It takes a very long time to load -- so long that you'll try opening it again and the program will give you a very annoyed-sounding error message. Once you make … Read more

How to stand out among birthday well-wishers on Facebook

"Happy birthday! Have a great day!"

Perhaps you're a bit more creative than the above greeting, but even the most clever among us have probably run out of ways to wish friends a happy birthday on Facebook.

Thankfully, an enterprising Reddit user whose handle I do not wish to repeat in this space offered a handy and simple tip: search YouTube for "happy birthday" and your friend's name. You will be surprised by the volume and variety of videos available.

Sure, your friend will be sung happy birthday wishes by a random stranger or … Read more

How to create a playlist with YouTube's iPad app

Google finally got around to releasing a YouTube app for the iPad, and after using it for a few days, I applaud the search giant's efforts. The app feels quick and responsive, and all of the basic features -- accessing your account, commenting on videos, subscribing to channels, AirPlay support -- are present. (The ability to play audio of a video in the background after closing the app, however, is not.) The app also lets you create playlists, but this feature is somewhat buried. In this post, I'll show you where to go to create a playlist and … Read more

Premium YouTube Downloader betters the free competition

YouTube downloaders tend to fall into two types: freeware that does the basic job of downloading and saving files from YouTube and maybe a few more sites, and premium (that means pay) tools that typically offer more features and capabilities to justify the cost, such as compatibility with many more sites, the ability to save videos in different file types and quality levels, and no ads or watermarks. Kotato's YouTube Downloader is the latter type, with an emphasis on convenience. For example, you can save videos from just about any hosting site, and in HD and HQ, too. It … Read more

Iran launches own YouTube-like video-sharing Web site

Iran has launched a video-sharing site in its latest effort to provide alternative, government-sanctioned Internet services.

Dubbed "Mehr," the Farsi word for affection, the site aims to attract Persian-speaking users and promote Iranian culture, according to the About Us page reviewed by the Agence France-Presse.

"From now on, people can upload their short films on the Web site and access [IRIB] produced material," said Lotfollah Siahkali, deputy chief of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The Iranian government has been waging a battle against what it calls "inappropriate" content on the Internet. The government announced … Read more

YouTube gets channel-surfing makeover

Friday's CNET Update is channel surfing:

YouTube has a new design that puts a greater focus on subscriptions and channels. YouTube hopes it will get more users to stay on the site longer by flipping through channels -- similar to how folks lose themselves while browsing television stations.

Also in today's tech news roundup:

- Foursquare added event listings, so a business can post about when there's something unique going on, such as a trivia night, book signing, or wine tasting.

- You can now create repeat events on Facebook. Handy for people with regularly-scheduled meetups.

- … Read more

YouTube home page gets face lift, emphasis on channels

Google today unveiled a fresh look for its YouTube video Web site, going with a cleaner design that emphasizes subscriptions and channels even more than before.

The company made the announcement on its blog, running through some of the changes.

Those changes include placing the video at the top of the page, putting it front and center for the viewer, and adding elements such as subscribe, the social action options, and the video information right below the player. Playlists are on the right, and can be browsed while the video is playing. The company said these changes are being made … Read more