It is reported that with the help of Google's massive cloud computing infrastructure of data centers and web servers, YouTube is reducing the time it takes to upload and process the videos uploaded by users.
Benefited from these enhanced measures, especially the Google's internal Hydra project, YouTube claims that the upload time of 60% videos will be completed within less than a minute - 7 times faster than it did in 2008 and four times faster 6 months ago.
Chris Dale, the YouTube spokeman said that the company's goal is to reduce the upload delay time to in seconds, not in minutes. This move is as well to reduce user frustration, as to overall operating costs.
As the report from Google Chrome Official Blog, future versions of the Chrome browser will not support playback of H.264 format video anymore. Instead, Chrome will support Google's self-developed open format WebM. This means that, users can not directly see H.264 format videos on Chrome in the future, and have to search for third-party extensions. Currently H.264 is the most widely used web video encoding formats. Google's move will push WebM open format, and replace H.264 gradually.
WebM is a multimedia container format designed to provide a royalty-free, high-quality open video compression format for use with HTML5 video. The project's development is sponsored by Google.
A WebM file consists of VP8 video and Vorbis audio streams, in a container based on a profile of Matroska. The project releases WebM related software under a BSD license and all users are granted a worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free patent license.
Google said that WebM is rather efficient, as WebM video can play smoothly on netbook, tablet and handsets. YouTube, the subsidiary of Google will surely support WebM. Additionally, Adobe announced that its Flash Player will be updated to support VP8, but has not announced support for Vorbis or the Matroska-based WebM container. Other companies that support WebM includes AMD, ARM, Broadcom, Freescale, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, TI, etc. Intel is also considering hardware-based acceleration for WebM in its Atom-based TV chips if the format gains popularity. Internet Explorer 9 will also be able to support WebM files if the VP8 codec is installed locally. WebM is also supported by popular web browsers such as FireFox, Chrome and Opera.
Off topic: YouTube users can use Leawo Free YouTube Downloader to download Flash videos from YouTube and any other websites. It is free.
YouTube has announced its new application for Android – YouTube 2.0 on its official blog yesterday. Android 2.2 or above uses now can watch VEVO's music videos with the newly released YouTube 2.0 for Android. Additionally, pre-roll ads is supported to display on videos from YouTube partners.
Don't have YouTube 2.0 for Android yet? Just install it.
If you're Android 2.2 or above users but don't have the new YouTube 2.0 app, you can manually search for 'YouTube' in Android Market, download and install the latest version on your Android devices.
Enjoy Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Eminem… etc. songs and music videos on your Android devices.
The music videos supported playback in YouTube 2.0 for Android are VEVO's extensive library of official music videos from artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kanye West, Ke$ha, Eminem and U2. So just pick up music videos from your favorite artists for watching at anytime or anywhere.
New features to make it more easier to discover and enjoy music videos on mobile devices.
Music videos are now clearly marked with a 'music note' badge
While enjoying the video you can read 'artist bio'
It's easy to discover more tracks from the same artist using 'artist tracks' tab
You'll find similar cool bands on the 'related artists' tab
Pre-roll ads for YouTube mobile content partners
In addition to the above features, revenue of YouTube partners who distribute their content to mobile can be greatly expanded, as pre-roll ads are now supported to display on their videos.
The world biggest video site also announced a new milestone they have just reached - YouTube now exceeds 200 million views a day on mobile, a 3x increase in 2010.
With lots of real excitement among X-Men fans and commercial hype across the Internet, X-Men movie team has finally released the official trailer for its latest installment of the series – X-Men: First Class, which is scheduled to hit theatres on June 3, 2011.
X-Men: First Class movie trailer is crazily hot on YouTube at the moment. The trailer is posted to YouTube X-Men Movie Channel on February 10, 2011, and has already racked up nearly 6 MILLION views so far. You can easily download X-Men: First Class - Official Trailer from YouTube with Leawo Free YouTube Downloader. The backgroud music in the X-Men: First Class trailer is really cool, if you like it too, you can download the backgroud music and tutorial is here - http://www.leawo.com/flash/download-flv-youtube-mp3.html
Storyline of X-Men: First Class
X-MEN FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.
X-Men: First Class Cast
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme / Mystique
January Jones as Emma Frost
James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier
Rose Byrne as Dr. Moira MacTaggert
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw
Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore
Jason Flemyng as Azazel
Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok
Oliver Platt as Man in Black
Morgan Lily as Young Raven Darkholme / Young Mystique
Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Ray Wise as Secretary of State of the United States
Bill Milner as Young Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Main information about X-Men: First Class (Source is Wikipedia)
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Produced by Gregory Goodman, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer
Screenplay by Jane Goldman, Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jamie Moss
Story by Bryan Singer
Based on Uncanny X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, January Jones
Music by Henry Pryce Jackman
Cinematography John Mathieson
Editing by Eddie Hamilton, Lee Smith
Studio 20th Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, Marv Films, The Donners' Company, Bad Hat Harry Productions
Josh Groban, distinguished for his soulful crooning; Kanye West, famed rapper, singer. So what's connection between the two men? If you have watched the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on Jan 3, you should know what I'm going to talk about.
In ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on January 3rd, Josh Groban showed us a special performance - he sat at his piano to sing some memorable tweets of Kanye West. The video of the performance was posted on YouTube the next day and has quickly become a viral Internet video of the week. As to now, the hilarious video has racked up nearly 1.3 million views.
Disclaimer: The music video 'Josh Groban Sings Kanye West Tweets' mentioned in this article is owned by YouTube. You can't distribute, broadcast, or even sell this copyrighted YouTube video to others without permission from YouTube.
"After seeing Josh Groban's self-effacing cameos on the first season of 'Glee', we figured he's the sort of guy who doesn't take himself too seriously. Now, after seeing his stunt on last night's (Jan. 3) episode of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live', we can see he doesn't mind poking fun at other artists as well", - specifically Kanye West.
Sources said that Josh Groban's performance is an advertisement for his new album – "The Best Tweets of Kanye West", a fictional album containing 752 medleys of West's Twitter musings, including one-liners like "French fries are the devil." Instant classic.
"It was an honor to sing these," Groban tweeted after the episode aired. " I sincerely hope he (Kanye) doesn't lash out at me with sick floetry." Groban tweeted after the episode aired.
Below is the interview to Josh Groban recorded by ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.
Whose idea was this skit? Is this something Jimmy came to you with? JOSH GROBAN: Any talk show host can have you on to sing your song of the moment, but from day one, when nobody else was giving me couch time, Jimmy was finding me fun things to do — whether it was buying pot brownies from Snoop Dogg at the AMAs or giving me such a glorious moment in the 'F—ing Ben Affleck' video. He always let me express the funny bone a little bit…So his team basically said, "If you're coming on again, would you be open to doing another skit?" I said, "Sure." They came back with about five different ideas. The most obscure was, I think it said, "Something musical with Kanye's tweets." In theory it sounded funny just because his tweets are so funny. So they set up a piano and a mic and a little white backdrop. I dressed in my Sunday best. [Kimmel's] amazing production team put together this hilarious infomercial around what was essentially just me sitting there and improvising these things. We would pick our favorites and I would just play the first melody that came to mind. That's basically what you're seeing.
How did you pick which tweets to immortalize this way?
When it comes to Kanye's tweets, it's like, how do you pick the prettiest child? They're all gems. In the end, I think probably it was the ones that created the best melodies. There were a few that we did that didn't make the edit. But we've recorded all 783 of them. You're just going to have to buy all 48 CDs.
Seriously?
No, I'm just kidding.
I figured.
That would be awesome.
Had you been following Kanye's tweets on Twitter before this?
Yeah, I had read all of these before. I've followed him for almost the whole year.
What's the response to the skit been like?
It's cool. Even Kanye retweeted it. Hopefully he gets the joke. Nothing about it in my mind was meant to be mean-spirited. I never like to make less of others, especially in the entertainment industry. I know how it feels, and it's not cool. Whenever you want to jest about someone or something, you want to make sure that it's in a way where they should be in on the joke. Really, we wanted to make it more a celebration of how entertaining he is. More, "Isn't this wonderful? And if I can lend my voice to them, great," kind of thing, rather than anything negative. But I expected it to get, like, 20,000 views. I expected it to just be a funny little thing and move on to my next song. I've gotten more texts from my friends than I normally do on my birthday!
You mentioned that Kanye retweeted it. Has he reached out to you beyond that?
No. I'm sure he's probably asking around to figure out just who the hell I am. So no reach-outs yet.
If he ever does get in touch, would you be interested in making music with him?
Oh, absolutely. I would never do something like this if it wasn't for somebody that I completely respect. He's an unbelievably brilliant musician. It's fun for me to see, not only with Kanye, but in hip-hop in general and the way music is right now, genres are melding like never before. Jay-Z's performing with a rock band, Kanye's experimenting with classical music and ballet dancers. It's amazing to see how art and culture and pop culture are becoming intertwined. To even think about a record store having the words "rock" and "pop" and "easy listening" — it doesn't mean anything anymore. Everybody's doing everything. So I'm always open, and it's always been fun for me to collaborate with people that have been unexpected.
Given the response to the skit, do you think there's any possibility you'll ever pursue this project further?
I think sometimes when you've done something that people connect with, sometimes it's better to leave it as the thing it is and let it live in infamy rather than gild the lily. We'll see. If something really funny comes up in the idea room and we think of something else, we'll follow it up. Otherwise we'll just let it have its life.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – the 3rd and the last film in Transformers film series, is scheduled for release on July 1, 2011 in Real D 3D and 2D. The film is directed by Michael Bay. Steven Spielberg is the film's executive producer.
Disclaimer: The music video 'Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon Trailer - Official (HD)' mentioned in this blog post is owned by YouTube. You can't distribute, broadcast, or even sell this copyrighted YouTube video to others without permission from YouTube.
Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro and Ramón Rodríguez are set to reprise their starring roles, with Peter Cullen returning as the voice of Optimus Prime, and Hugo Weaving also returning the voice of Megatron. Ehren Kruger, who collaborated in the writing of the second film, was said to be again involved in the writing.
According to representatives for Paramount, Megan Fox will not appear in the film because Bay ultimately chose not to renew Fox's role, although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise. With Fox not reprising her role, English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was chosen to play Sam's new love interest. Also, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, having written the first two films, will not return for the third installment in the series, which Orci had earlier somewhat anticipated, fearing the duo would "risk getting stale". Bay has stated this would be the last installment in the series.
Storyline of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Transformer 3)
The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and learn its secrets, which could turn the tide in the Transformers' final battle.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Cast and Characters
Shia LaBeouf plays Sam Witwicky. The leading human character who is friends with the Autobots. It seems that Sam will possess a power glove in the movie.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley plays Carly. Sam's new love Interest who was in the original 1984 animated series. Huntington-Whiteley had worked with director Michael Bay before in various Victoria's Secret commercials. Other actresses considered for the role included Gemma Arterton, Bar Refaeli, Miranda Kerr and Brooklyn Decker.
Josh Duhamel plays Major William Lennox. The leader of NEST, an international taskforce battling Decepticons with the Autobots.
Tyrese Gibson plays Chief Robert Epps. A combat controller and a member of NEST.
John Turturro plays Agent Seymour Simmons. A former agent of the terminated Sector 7 unit.
Patrick Dempsey plays Dylan, Carly's boss, who is a race-car driver with a huge collection of cars. Dempsey described his role as "darker" than others and "significant to the plot". Dempsey was initially cast to play Mikaela's boss but with Mikaela out of the movie, he'll be playing Carly's boss.
Ramón Rodríguez plays Leo Spitz. Sam's former roommate from the last movie.
Kevin Dunn and Julie White play Ron and Judy Witwicky, Sam's parents.
Glenn Morshower plays General Morshower, A NEST member who communicates with the squad in the Pentagon.
Lester Speight plays Hardcore Eddie. The new NEST Member. He is an old school soldier who has seen it all and done it all and fought in war along with Epps' father many years ago.
Alan Tudyk plays Dutch, Agent Simmons' assistant.
John Malkovich plays Bruce, Sam's first boss.
Frances McDormand plays Marissa Faireborn, Director of National Intelligence.
Official trailer of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is just released on YouTube yesterday. Though it's already the fourth film, it still makes me feel excited. I like it and hope you like it too. If you want to download Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Official Trailer from YouTube, I recommend Leawo Free YouTube Downloader; and this is the tutorial - Download YouTube Video to Your Computer.
Disclaimer: The music video 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Official Trailer' mentioned in this article is owned by YouTube. You can't distribute, broadcast, or even sell this copyrighted YouTube video to others without permission from YouTube.
The film was first announced in September 2008, and principal photography started in June 2010. Unlike the previous films, which were shot mainly in Caribbean, most of the filming production of On Strange Tides was scheduled in Hawaii.
Storyline of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love -- or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past. – Source is Walt Disney Pictures' press release.
Cast
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, former captain of the Black Pearl, who is now in search of the Fountain of Youth.
Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa, former pirate, who is now a privateer on the Court of King George II.
Penélope Cruz as Angelica, Blackbeard's daughter.
Ian McShane as Blackbeard, an old pirate captain, who wants to reclaim his youth by finding the Fountain of Youth.
Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, a large pirate and Jack Sparrow's associate and best friend.
Richard Griffiths as King George II, ruler of the British Empire.
Stephen Graham as Scrum
Greg Ellis as Lt. Theodore Groves
Damian O'Hare as Lt. Gillette
Astrid Bergès-Frisbey as Syrena, a mermaid
Sam Claflin as Philip
Keith Richards as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow's father.
Gemma Ward as Tamara
Richard Allan
Judi Dench as a noblewoman
Derek Mears
More information
Directed by Rob Marshall
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Based on On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
Music by Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt (original themes)
Cinematography Dariusz Wolski
Editing by Michael Kahn, David Brenner, Wyatt Smith
Studio Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) May 20, 2011
Country United States
Language English
Budget $200 million
Preceded by At World's End
Some photos of On the Strange Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – the fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, is goint to hit movie theater in May 20, 2011. The film is shot by Walt Disney Pictures and will be opening in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D theater.
It is reported that with the help of Google's massive cloud computing infrastructure of data centers and web servers, YouTube is reducing the time it takes to upload and process the videos uploaded by users.
