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YouTube Upgrades Its Android App

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:18:11 +0000

YouTube has just updated its Android app to version 2.3.4, and while the changes aren’t exactly groundbreaking, they do add-in some pretty useful new functionality. Regardless of if you’re a big video watcher, or someone who’s more into uploading your own clips, there should be something in this release to catch your interest. The introduction of a “watch later” queue brings that feature from the web-based YouTube to its mobile app. As you discover videos you’re interested in viewing, you can easily add them to your queue, and then watch them later at your leisure. Uploaders should pay attention to the change in clip info editing features, letting you revise the metadata associated with a video while you’re still in the middle of uploading it. Finally, the app gets a Google +1 button, giving you another tool to show your support for your favorite YouTube vids. The updated YouTube 2.3.4 is available in the Android Market now. Image courtesy of Flickr, Rego – d4u.hu More About: android , YouTube

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YouTube Upgrades Its Android App

10 Epic YouTube Videos That Will Get You Pumped for Skyrim

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:20:49 +0000

1. Shredding Metal Theme Song This face-melting rendition of the game’s theme is a riotous call to pick up the controller and get straight to the dragon slaying. Click here to view this gallery. On midnight 11/11/11, RPG fanboys (and girls!) everywhere finally got their wish: The years-long wait for Bethesda Softworks’s medieval sandbox epic The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was finally over. The overwhelming excitement for this game, building steadily since its stunning previews at E3 in June, has been pouring out onto the Internets in droves. Specifically, Youtube has seen a wealth of pre and post-release videos, ranging from the utterly cool to the dramatically foolish. Stuck in your cube, salivating for Skyrim ? Or are you coming down off of a Red Bull buzz and want to take in some sights before starting another quest? Check out these standout web videos all about the blockbuster game. More About: bethesda , features , games , Gaming , playstation 3 , skyrim , videos , Xbox 360 , YouTube For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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10 Epic YouTube Videos That Will Get You Pumped for Skyrim

Coca-Cola Launches Its First U.S. QR Code Program

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:10:16 +0000

Millions of Coca-Cola cups circulating this month will sport QR codes for a program that supports the brand’s holiday mascot, the polar bear. The brand is partnering with the World Wildlife Federation for the initiative, which aims to help conserve the polar bear’s Arctic habitat. Consumers who scan the codes, which appear on cups distributed by 7-Eleven, will download a Snowball Effect by Coca-Cola app for the iPhone and iPad platforms that turns into a Facebook-connected, snowball-throwing game. Those who generate the most points in the game will win prizes including iPads (eight total will be given out) and a trip to the Arctic for two. The program runs through March. The app also leads to a site where consumers can donate to the WWF’s cause. Coca-Cola will match each $1 donation up to $1 million (it also donated an additional $2 million). The brand’s association with polar bears goes back to 1922, when Coke first used one in a French holiday ad. Though Coke has run other QR code programs in Japan and Germany, this is the first time the brand has executed one in the U.S., says Peter Callaro, group director of integrated marketing content at Coca-Cola. The company worked with Scanbuy, which ran a QR code program for Taco Bell in August. Mike Wehrs, president and CEO of Scanbuy, says creating readable codes on cups is a challenge. “Rounded with condensation running down it is incredibly difficult,” he says, noting that Coca-Cola wanted a QR code solution that would “work across the board.” Callaro says a QR Code program using cans may be next. “We’ve started to look into it,” he says. “It’s a very involved process.” More About: coca cola , Marketing , QR Codes For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Coca-Cola Launches Its First U.S. QR Code Program

Rick Perry’s Mental Block at GOP Debate Goes Viral, Gets Meme Treatment [OOPS]

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:52:01 +0000

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry drew a massive blank Wednesday night during CNBC’s “Your Money, Your Vote” GOP debate, and the memory lapse is now getting the meme treatment on the web. On stage in Michigan, Perry attempted to rattle off three federal government agencies he would eliminate, but he failed to remember his third choice: “Commerce, education and the … uh, um, what’s the third one there. Let’s see … ” The mental block lasted about 40 more seconds before Perry uttered, “Oops.” A clip of the gaffe has since secured the top spot on the YouTube Politics channel’s “ Top 5 Hot Political Videos ” list, which for the past several days had been dominated by videos about controversy surrounding fellow candidate Herman Cain. Folks have, naturally, turned the slip-up into a meme. Look no further than MemeGenerator.net , WeKnowMemes.com and QuickMeme.com for Perry memes. Perry Pokes Fun at Himself Perry and whomever is running his campaign website appear to be playfully shrugging off the now-viral misstep, posting an amusing question (see below) on the site. One poll option includes the equally entertaining prompt: “Submit your suggestion to forgetmenot@rickperry.org.” Continuing to make light of the situation, Perry will read the top 10 list on Thursday night’s Late Show with David Letterman , according to a tweet from the show. What Other On-Air Political Gaffes Do You Remember? Perry isn’t the first politician — let alone U.S. presidential candidate — to falter on live television. And he likely won’t be the last before Election Day 2012. How do you think Perry is handling his misstep? And what on-air blunders or memory lapses do you remember from candidates in this election or previous races? If you aren’t at a loss for words like Perry unfortunately was Wednesday, sound off in the comments. We’ll use some of your submissions in our forthcoming video slideshow of gaffes. More About: 2012 election , Politics , viral videos , YouTube

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Rick Perry’s Mental Block at GOP Debate Goes Viral, Gets Meme Treatment [OOPS]

Disney and YouTube Sign Video Partnership

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:27:55 +0000

Disney and YouTube are set to announce a content partnership worth $10 million to $15 million, The New York Times reports. Under the terms of the agreement, YouTube will invest millions of dollars on an original video series produced by Disney and distributed exclusively through a new co-branded channel on both YouTube and Disney.com, according to the Times . Disney has had a couple of bad quarters , and it’s hoping to re-capture its audience through new distribution channels. It wants, as co-president of Disney Interactive James Pitaro told the Times , to “go where (its) audience is.” The deal also makes sense for YouTube, which is always on the lookout for more original, quality content and strong brand partners. However, Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head for content partnerships, emphasized that YouTube will be a neutral distributor and is not planning to go into the production business. YouTube recently announced a big push to bring more premium content to the site, with a slew of new video channels. Google has reportedly spent $100 million on the deals for the new channels, and its partners include celebrities such as Madonna and Ashton Kutcher, as well as media companies like The Wall Street Journal , The Onion , SB Nation and Demand Media. More About: disney , Video , YouTube For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Disney and YouTube Sign Video Partnership

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Trailer Hits YouTube [VIDEO]

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:34:21 +0000

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks . Okay gamers, the live-action trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (The Vet and the nOOb) just became available. The video is part of the buildup to the much-heralded (or depending on your point of view, overhyped) U.S. release of the game on Tuesday, Nov. 8 for Xbox 360 , PS3 and PC . Get a sneak peek at what’s in store, where this sequel that just appeared on YouTube picks up on the action from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 . Coming back for another round of mayhem is Task Force 141 Capt. John “Soap” MacTavish, former SAS Capt. John Price, and some new characters you haven’t seen yet — all of them fighting off those Russians who somehow have the audacity to invade the U.S. and Europe. I mean, what were they thinking? Game creator Activision brings new coolness, too, adding a free social network that lets you track your gameplay stats across all platforms, and it works on this new game, Call of Duty: Black Ops from last year and any CoD games coming in the future. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is available for preorder now, retailing for $59.99 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 — but look around, you’ll find it for a few bucks less in some online stores. More About: Call of Duty , games , Top Story , trailer , YouTube

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Trailer Hits YouTube [VIDEO]

6 Best Practices For Small Business YouTube Marketing

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:19:42 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Mention YouTube and most people will picture cats playing piano. But among a certain type of small businessperson, the name conjures another image: Dollar signs. Such entrepreneurs can often sound like brainwashed cult members — in a good way. For instance, Scott Imbrie, owner of Original Skateboards, a brand that has been built largely on its YouTube presence, says the platform is better for marketers than even Facebook . “YouTube is actually the biggest social media site,” he says. “It’s bigger than Facebook or Twitter .” Another YouTube proselytizer is Jeffrey Harmon, chief marketing officer for Orabrush, a Provo, Utah oral care brand that recently parlayed a series of successful YouTube videos into a national distribution deal at Walmart . Original Skateboards, which joined YouTube in 2005 and Orabrush, which dropped its first YouTube video in 2009, were clearly ahead of the curve, but YouTube is still a great place to launch or grow a brand. Below are some tips from entrepreneurs who have thrived on YouTube, plus some from Lane Shackleton, product manager for YouTube and, yes, a distant relative of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton . 1. Don’t Expect Your Video to go Viral Are you ready to become the next Orabrush? Maybe it’s time to reset your expectations. Harmon helpfully points out that 48 hours of video are loaded to YouTube every minute, so you’re probably better off playing Powerball than waiting for your clip to take off. “Anyone who thinks they’re going to have a video go crazy on YouTube is dreaming,” says Harmon. “Think base hits, not home runs.” Raw numbers aren’t as important as reaching the right customers, so don’t freak out if you’re nowhere near a million views. 2. Buy Some Ads Since your video is probably not going to go viral on its own (or at all), you should consider buying some ads on YouTube. Fortunately, rates are pretty good compared to AdWords . Harmon says that right now search ads on YouTube are going for 50 cents per click vs. $1.50 per click on AdWords. That said, you don’t have to sink a fortune into it. In Orabrush’s early days, the company spent $30 a day on YouTube search ads. Though Orabrush got a lot more bang for its buck back then, Harmon says you can still do pretty well today buying Promoted Videos, the ads that pop up when you do a YouTube search. However, no matter what you spend on ads, make sure the content is relevant to the search term. Google will base the ad’s position on that relevance. 3. Use Comments, Hot Spots and A/B Testing as Your Focus Group If you hire a Madison Avevue ad agency to run a TV spot, they’re likely going to want to subject the ad to focus group testing. But if you’re a small DIY advertiser, your best approximation of a focus group — aside from your wife and her friends from the Rotary Club — are the comments below your video. Granted, many will be insipid and/or obscene, but some just may have some insight. Beyond that, YouTube has some other tools to help you gauge how your video is being received. Chief among these is Hot Spots , a technology that lets you see when people are tuning in and out of your video. Another option is A/B Testing. Big ad firms do this as well, but you can do this on a smaller scale by running two different versions of your clip as an Unlisted Video backed by search ads and then watching to see which one gets the better response. Then, you choose the winner. Finally, there’s Google Analytics , which will at least tell you how much referral traffic you’re getting from YouTube. Shackleton says on average, people who come to your site from YouTube spend more time there than if they came from somewhere else. 4. Watch a Lot of YouTube If you’re serious about using YouTube as a marketing platform, then do your research. Forget about watching TV ads and spend a few hours discovering what’s hot on YouTube. Harmon says he and his staff spend several hours every day doing just that. Harmon says the goal is to begin to “recognize good ideas.” 5. Track That ROI If you’re spending money on YouTube ads, you will likely want to know what you have to show for it. The fact that people have clicked through your ads is great, but the novelty will wear off quickly if they’re not actually buying anything. Now here’s the surprising part: Despite the fact that Google owns YouTube and marketing on YouTube is, by definition, 21st century digital and cutting edge, you still have to rely on a fairly improvisational, analog form of ROI tracking. “We count the number of views, of course, the combined total for the videos on our YouTube channel was close to a million last time I added them up, and we track the traffic to our sites from the videos, but that’s about all we’ve got in terms of hard data,” says Ed Davis, president of Ceilume , a Graton, Calif., company that makes ceiling tiles and has more than 1 million views on its YouTube channel. “We also rely heavily upon what our customer service people tell us they hear from on the phones every day and what they hear is that customers watch the videos, and the videos help.” 6. Find Your Niche If you followed Step 4 and watched copious amounts of YouTube programming, you should be getting a sense of what will and won’t fly on YouTube. Guess what? No one wants to watch an ad unless it’s really, really good. But rather than try to crack the code on a spectacular ad (something that the ad industry is generally unable to do with any regularity), Shackleton suggests either positioning yourself as an expert in your particular field (as Ceilume has) or attaching your brand to a particular lifestyle (Original Skateboards’s approach). “Pick an interesting part of your brand and focus on it,” Shackleton says. But what if you sell something really boring, like plumbing supplies? Chances are this is interesting to someone, perhaps someone who has to fix their toilet in a hurry. Get inside their head and make a video directed to their likely concerns. Whatever you do, don’t think like a traditional advertiser. “The key is creating stuff that helps people, that people connect to and allows them to explore,” says Imbrie. “It’s not about advertising.” Images courtesy of Flickr, Bright Planet and TheGrid-ch More About: features , mashable , Small Business Resources , YouTube For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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6 Best Practices For Small Business YouTube Marketing

8 Simple Tips for Your YouTube Ad Campaign

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:50:49 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Even if you’re a small business, don’t neglect YouTube . More than ever, brand fans and loyalists are seeking out businesses on YouTube as supplemental outlets to a brand’s Facebook and Twitter presences. Consequently, the video-sharing site has proven hugely profitable for many companies . Want to get in on the action? Here are eight examples of successful branding via YouTube. 1. Tap Into Today’s Humor Maybe you’re thinking this video is just like any old taxidermy commercial, right? To use a line from Chuck Testa — NOPE! The follow-up ” Kids React ” video asks, “The people who made this commercial, do you think they were aware that they were making a normal commercial?” Believe it or not, those kids picked up on the humor Chuck Testa and his dead animals were trying to communicate. The commercial’s director accomplished three things: 1) He exploited the odd subject of taxidermy; 2) He exploited Chuck Testa’s dry humor; 3) He translated both into today’s recognizably ironic humor. Remember that humor changes with the decades. What was funny 20 years ago likely won’t produce the same belly laugh today. Click here to view this gallery. More About: Advertising , features , Marketing , open forum , YouTube

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8 Simple Tips for Your YouTube Ad Campaign

Apple Gives Its Key Execs $400 Million in Bonuses

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:23:24 +0000

Apple has awarded seven of its key executives with massive stock grants worth approximately $400 million in total. Six Apple SVPs have been awarded 150,000 shares of Apple for their services, according to recent SEC filings . This includes Scott Forstall (SVP, iOS), Robert Mansfield (SVP, Hardware Engineering), Peter Oppenheimer (CFO), Phil Schiller (SVP, Marketing), Jeffrey Williams (SVP, Operations) and Bruce Sewell (SVP, General Counsel). At Apple’s current stock price of $400.24, those shares are worth approximately $60 million. Eddy Cue, the recently promoted SVP of Internet Software and Services, received 100,000 instead of 150,000 like Apple’s other SVPs. However, Cue received 100,000 shares when he was first promoted to SVP in September. Each 100,000 stock grant is worth $40 million. Apple’s execs won’t be able to spend their new-found wealth immediately, though. Fifty percent of Forstall, Mansfield, Oppenheimer, Schiller, Williams and Sewell’s shares will vest in June 2012, while the other half will vest in March 2016. Cue is on a different vesting schedule: 25% of his shares will vest in September 2014, while the other 75% will vest in September 2016. “Our executive team is incredibly talented and they are all dedicated to Apple’s continued success,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “These stock grants are meant to reward them down the road for their hard work in helping to keep Apple the most innovative company in the world.” CEO Tim Cook was awarded 1 million shares of Apple after his promotion. At Apple’s current stock price, those shares are worth approximately $400 million. They will vest on a 10-year schedule. More About: apple For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Apple Gives Its Key Execs $400 Million in Bonuses

Parents Tell Their Children They Ate Their Halloween Candy [VIDEO]

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:08:47 +0000

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks . Kids sort of like Halloween. And parents want their kids to be happy, right? Well, not too happy. At least not the parents who accepted Jimmy Kimmel Live ‘s challenge to tell their kids they ate all their Halloween candy. Daring moms and dads across the U.S. followed the talk show host’s request. They hid their children’s candy and captured their reactions on camera. This YouTube video pieces together their frenzied responses. It doesn’t make us bad people if we laugh at crying children, does it? More About: Halloween , viral-video-of-day , YouTube For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Parents Tell Their Children They Ate Their Halloween Candy [VIDEO]