Author Archives: wdavidmarx

Making it easier to watch YouTube videos on TV

Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog

What if you could send YouTube videos from your phone to your TV with a click of a button? It’s an idea we’ve been working on since 2010, and today we’re taking the next step.

We’re making it even easier to play videos from your phone or tablet on your TV, with a YouTube app update for Android and Google TV that automatically pairs your devices on the same WiFi. Just find a video on your YouTube app for Android — like the latest video from GoPro or H+ The Digital Series — click the TV icon that appears, and the video will play instantly on your Google TV.

Like a remote control, you can pause, scroll or skip to the next video with your mobile device as it plays on your TV. Since your devices are connected in the cloud, you can also do things like find the next video to watch from your tablet or browse around the web on your phone, all while the video plays on TV. You can even connect multiple devices to the TV to have your friends add to the playlist. 

Stay tuned to see this feature coming to more devices and screens in the future. The next evolution of TV is in your hands. 

Timbo Drayson, Product Manager, recently watched all of H+ The Digital Series on his TV.

Finding the next generation of talented video educators with YouTube Next EDU Guru

Crossposted from the Official YouTube Blog

Across the Northern Hemisphere, students and their teachers are heading back into the classroom for another year of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. While what we learn has broadly stayed the same for years, how we learn is changing rapidly as technology advances. The rise of online educational videos is giving learners access to the world’s greatest thinkers and teachers, leveling the playing field for all.

We believe that inspiring online educators can come from all walks of life, and we want to find the next generation of educational YouTube stars - people with a talent for explaining tough concepts in compelling ways, and the passion and drive to assemble a global classroom of students. YouTube educational channels like Khan Academy,CrashCourse, Veritasium, Numberphile, MinutePhysics and Ted-Ed have grown to millions of views and subscribers - could you be next?

Today we’re teaming up with Khan Academy to start a search for the Next EDU Gurus--10 super talented and engaging content creators who we’ll support with training, promotion, and a $1000 B&H gift card for production equipment, so they can take the next step in their YouTube - and education - careers.

Do you set historical events to music? Doodle your geometry? Sing your Shakespeare? We’re looking for content creators who create all kinds of curriculum-related videos, from grammar to geography, history to histograms. You can submit any style of video as long as it’s educational and family-friendly--just bear in mind that we’re looking for content creators who can take people on a journey through a topic, so if you could imagine making ten, twenty, or fifty more videos on the topic in the future, all the better!

The 10 YouTube Next EDU Gurus will be selected by a panel from the YouTube Education team and the Khan Academy. One of these 10 will also be awarded the Khan Academy EDU Guru Prize. The program is open to creators in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand; it opens today and closes on October 1.

Our new EDU Gurus will help meet the growing demand for great educational content on YouTube. In the last year, you all spent 50% more time learning from YouTube Education’s 700,000 videos, and the number of subscribers to YouTube’s educational channels more than doubled. Check out the YouTube.com homepage today for the latest videos from some of our most engaging educational creators. You can also see a playlist of their latest and greatest below.

  

If you’re an educator, visit youtube.com/teachers to view more than 300 playlists curated by teachers to align with common education topics. And if you’re looking for inspiration about incorporating YouTube in your school curriculum, see how one school from Kent, WA uses YouTube to experience the world beyond the walls of their classroom.

  

Angela Lin, YouTube Education team, recently watched “Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History #33.”

YouTube’s next generation of creators and brand builders

Cross-posted from the Google Australia blog.

Rob Nixon, a former airport ground-crew worker from Perth turns his passion for cooking into a career and an audience of 100 million worldwide. Arlene Zelina, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Melbourne scores a record contract with a global pop superstar. Natalie Tran, a Sydney media and arts graduate, amasses an audience bigger than the Royal Wedding.

These are today’s media superstars. They’re using the sight, sound and motion of video to reach the 800 million people around the globe who tune into YouTube every month. They’ve become experts in building communities, inviting their audience in to participate in the creation of their content and brand.

The last few days successful Aussie YouTube partners came to Sydney to share their experience and knowledge with advertisers, media companies, other content creators and their fans at our series of YouTube Next events. At these events we’re also celebrating the seven-year evolution of YouTube and looking at the possibilities for our video platform in Australia.

Today, two thirds of online Australians are on YouTube every month and one in five say they now visit YouTube every day. And no surprise for smartphone loving Aussies, one in three Australian YouTube views happens on a mobile device, and this number is growing fast. We love watching Mighty Car Mods DIY car modification videos on our tablets in bed.

Click here or on the image below to check out some highlights from our YouTube NEXT kick-off event at Luna Park on Wednesday night.

Arlene Zelina performing at YouTube NEXT

We’re overwhelmed by the unlimited creativity and curiosity of the growing YouTube community and thanks to our collaboration with AFTRS we’re excited to offer a free, one-day workshop for young creatives like MGPactionsports at our Sydney office to learn how to become the next YouTube star.

We’re excited to see how Rob, Natalie, Arlene and the tens of thousands of other Australian YouTube partners will take it to the next level.

Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing Google Australia & New Zealand, recently watched How to order KFC like a boss

Two Aussies Go to Venice: Top 10 Films Selected for Your Film Festival

Cross-posted from the Google Australia Blog

Today, we are one step closer to finding the world’s next great storyteller. Over 15,000 filmmakers entered Your Film Festival but only ten finalists remain, each with the hope of winning $500,000 to produce new content with actor Michael Fassbender, director Ridley Scott and his world class team.

During the past month, 3 million people got involved with Your Film Festival by watching, sharing, and voting for their favorite films. So here in the Google Australia office, we are very proud to announce that two of the finalists are Aussies — Damien Power and Adrian Powers!

Here is the full list of ten finalists:

88:88, Joey Ciccoline & Sean Wilson (USA)
Bat Eyes, Damien Power (Australia)
Cine Rincao, Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil)  
The Drought, Kevin Slack (USA)
El General, Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia)
The Guilt, David Victori Blaya (Spain)
North Atlantic, Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom)
Super.Full., Niam Itani (Lebanon)
Scruples, Adrian Powers (Australia)
This Time, Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt)

The finalists will soon travel to Italy where they will have their short films screened at the historic Venice Film Festival. They will also pitch a new project idea to Ridley Scott’s production team who, along with the jury including Michael Fassbender, will ultimately name the grand prize winner at a special ceremony on September 2, 2012, in Venice.  As part of their journey to Venice, Emirates has invited the filmmakers to stopover in Dubai for a series of events celebrating their achievement.  

Join these filmmakers as they travel to Venice and stay tuned to the Your Film Festival channel where we’ll take you behind the scenes, tell you more about the finalists, provide special edition movie posters, and of course, unveil the winner. 



Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of marketing, Australia, who recently watched Mens 4x100m Olympic final Sydney 2000

Watch Splendour In The Grass live on YouTube this Saturday

Tickets for this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival sold out in record time, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun. Thanks to Virgin Mobile, a full eight hours of music will be coming to you live as Splendour returns to Byron Bay — and returns to YouTube for the second year in a row.

So for the festival goer in you that just can’t get enough, put on your gumboots, get our your festival gear and enjoy some live tunes from the comfort of your own home. 
What can you expect?

We kick off at the Supertop stage with Gold Coast’s Bleeding Knees Club at 3:00pm, followed by The Cast of Cheers and Last Dinosaurs at 4:30pm.

And the beauty of watching on YouTube means no crowds to fight with! Pop over to the Mix Up stage and catch Friends at 5:25pm before cruising back to the Supertop for a little action from across the two ponds — British Sensations Band of Skulls, back to back Kiwi female vocalists Ladyhawke and Kimbra, and Swedish Sensation Miike Snow closing out the night at 9:50pm.

We’ll also be featuring interviews and highlights from a number of other acts, will be streaming all the live acts to mobile, and will be putting out video highlights in the days following the close of the festival so you can relive the action wherever and whenever you fancy.

Be sure to check out all the action from 3:00pm until 11:00pm AEST this Saturday, July 28 at youtube.com/virginmobileaus. (all times in AEST and subject to change)

See you out there. Stay dry and enjoy the show!

Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched Friends - Mind Control