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Friday, August 31, 2012

The 2012 London Summer Paralympics Live on YouTube

Missing the thrill of fierce global competitions and awesome displays of athletic prowess? Well, lucky for you, these things live on through the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London. The Paralympics just kicked off this Wednesday (check out the Opening Ceremony!) and will run through September 9th. This year, the Paralympics are more accessible and global than ever through YouTube.

Whether your favorite sport is powerlifting, sitting volleyball or wheelchair basketball, you can catch all the action on the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/paralympicsporttv. The channel will feature 500 hours of live competitions accompanied by a real-time commenting feature for viewers in the United States and Canada.  Additionally, others around the world have access to over 1000 hours of on-demand catch-up footage of current and previous games, interviews with Paralympic athletes and other behind-the-scenes footage.

Team USA fans can be sure to stay on top of their favorite athletes throughout the games and access original content made available by the United States Olympic Committee at youtube.com/teamusa.





One of the most anticipated competitions will no doubt be the T44 100m pitting South African superstar “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius against British sprinter John Peacock and American runner Jerome Singleton on September 6th. After making history when he competed in the Olympics several weeks ago, Pistorius will return to the Paralympics to see if he can defend his title. This is a race you certainly won’t want to miss!

Nor would you want to miss any of the action at this year’s Paralympics. If you’re like us, you’ll be tuning in morning, noon, and nights, over the coming weeks to catch the acts of sheer athleticism and stunning heroism that we’re sure will no doubt come out of the 2012 London Paralympics.

Happy Viewing!

Tommy O’Hare, Sports Content Manager, recently watched, “Channel 4 Paralympics - Meet the Superhumans (Annotated Version).

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Half a gigameter of biking navigation in 12 countries in Google Maps for Android

Whether you’re a seasoned century rider or a casual beach cruiser, finding the best biking routes can be a challenge. That’s why today we’re bringing mobile biking directions and navigation to the 10 countries where we launched desktop biking directions last month (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK). Plus, we’re adding turn-by-turn, voice-guided biking navigation to Google Maps Navigation (beta) in every country with biking directions. Mount your device on your handlebars to see the turn-by-turn directions and navigation, or use speaker-mode to hear voice-guided directions.
Turn-by-turn biking navigation in Copenhagen

We know there are lots of ways to get from here to there, which is why in 2010, we added biking directions to Google Maps in the U.S. and Canada, and continue to work to bring more biking features to more places. Today, there are more than 330,000 miles (equal to more than 530,000 kilometers, or half a gigameter) of green biking lines in Google Maps. Dark green lines on the map show dedicated bike trails and paths with no motor vehicles, light green lines show streets with bike lanes and dashed green lines show other streets recommended for cycling. Biking navigation even helps you avoid steep hills.
Bike layer showing recommended streets for cycling in Stockholm

Where Map Maker and biking directions are both available, riders can add bike trails, lanes and suggested routes to Google Maps, helping to create a more comprehensive map for everyone living in or visiting their community. Thanks to the contributions of members of the biking community like Todd Scott and our partnership with nonprofits like Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we’ve added bike data for hundreds of cities and trails to Google Maps in the past two-and-a-half years.

When you’re pedaling from Point A to Point B, we hope biking navigation will make Google Maps for Android more useful to you.



(Cross-posted on the Lat Long blog)

YouTube Space Lab, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and the International Space Station—live!

Hot off the heels of their stunning Curiosity rover landing on Mars, NASA will soon be live streaming on YouTube from another space outpost...this time a little closer to home.

On Thursday, September 13, Bill Nye the Science Guy will host a special live stream between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). You’ll see the bright, young scientists of YouTube Space Lab and the NASA astronaut 250 miles above Earth performing the winning experiments of the competition launched by YouTube and Lenovo last year. Depending on the space station’s exact schedule, the stream will take place soon after 5:30am PT on Thursday, September 13. On the day, tune in to the channel to take part in this special event.

Amr, Dorothy and Sara, who were voted in March as the global winners of YouTube Space Lab, will join Bill and special guests to discuss their winning experiments and explore why science in space is so important for our future.



After NASA Mission Control gives the go ahead, those on Earth will be joined by NASA astronaut, Sunita Williams, live aboard the ISS, for an interview like no other. You will also have your chance to pose questions to Sunita, by publicly posting to Google+, Twitter or Facebook using the tag #SpaceLab.

Dom Elliott, marketing manager, recently watched “Armstrong Remembered by NASA Administrator.”

Our August featured “On The Rise” partner is thevfxbro!

Congratulations to Aaron of thevfxbro! As a result of strong fan support and recognizable efforts to optimize his channel and videos according to our best practices, Aaron is our featured “On The Rise” YouTube partner for August. His channel and four engaging videos are featured on the YouTube homepage today.

As a film student at Biola University, Aaron perfected his video editing skills and special effects knowledge while mastering programs like Final Cut and Adobe AfterEffects. This work was a natural fit for YouTube, and he’s found success by sharing his expertise with the YouTube world. The thevfxbro channel hosts such videos as the walkthrough of the video effects Aaron used in his “I Am Legend” spoof, his adorable “copy cat,” and how the “Hunt for Pikachu” video was created. Check out his library of video editing tutorials as well as behind-the-scenes footage explaining how Aaron - and his friend Zach from FinalCutKing - use special effects to create their videos.



Here are a few words from Aaron:
Wow! Having started film school 4 years ago I never thought that it would have ended with me running a YouTube channel with an audience that I not only get to share my videos with, but help along the way. The crazy thing about YouTube is that it’s so new and we have no idea where it’s going to take us. I am so excited to see where this platform takes us filmmakers. Feel free to check out my channel that has awesome videos with visual effects as well as training and tutorials to help you take your own videos to the next level! 
If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Christine Wang and Devon Storbeck, YouTube Content Partnerships, recently watched “Bentley the Bulldog Puppy is fussy.”

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Your Film Festival finalist filmmakers head to Venice

This weekend, the filmmakers behind the ten films you selected as the Your Film Festival finalists, will travel to another film festival – the world’s oldest, in Venice. There, they’ll pitch their idea for a new YouTube project to the Your Film Festival jury and have the chance to win $500,000 to make their idea a reality with the support of Sir Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender, and Scott Free Productions.

Subscribe to the channel to catch the latest news and return on Monday 3rd after the finalist film screening has taken place in Venice, when we’ll announce the Grand Prize Winner. In the meantime, meet the ten finalists in the video below and watch their short films on the channel.



Dom Elliott, marketing manager, recently watched “Tether.”

Making it easier to cast your ballot

The first presidential nominating convention, held in 1832, was meant to give Americans a voice in the selection of the presidential nominee. Fast forward to 2012 and these conventions still represent a major moment in American politics—and we’re helping the conventions reach a larger audience by being the official live stream provider and social networking platform for the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

In conjunction with our on-the-ground efforts, we’re making a number of online tools available to help you get organized and informed as Election Day approaches.

Get informed
Our Google Politics & Elections site enables you to see the latest Google News, YouTube videos, search and video trends, and Google+ content about the election in one place. You can also visit our live Elections Hub to watch the national political conventions, debates and even election night LIVE right from your mobile phone or laptop.

Register to vote
To make it easy to navigate the rules and deadlines about registering to vote and how to vote by mail, we put together an online voter guide. We’ve also added a special section to make it easier for military and overseas voters to find information about their different rules and deadlines.

As we approach the final days of the election, we’ll continue to develop useful ways for voters and campaigns to engage one another around the important issues in 2012.

We hope these tools will help you stay informed and participate in the election!

Watch the Republican and Democratic National Conventions live on YouTube

Last week, we announced the YouTube Election Hub, a channel where you can find the latest live and on-demand coverage from the 2012 campaign trail.

Tonight, as part of YouTube’s role as Official Live-Streaming Provider for both political conventions, the trail leads to Tampa, Florida, for the Republican National Convention. You can watch all of the podium speeches and backstage action live on the site, including Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech on Thursday night.

Next week, starting September 4, we’ll give you an all-access pass to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Once again, every night during prime-time, you’ll be able to turn to YouTube to see all of the speeches like President Obama’s live address from Bank of America Stadium on September 6.

Accompanying the official proceedings, the YouTube Election Hub will feature live partner convention coverage so you can get the latest analysis from a variety of sources and form your own opinion about the election. If you’d like to stay updated on the latest coverage, you can follow the action here.

The conventions have delivered some of the most memorable political speeches of the past few decades, like Sarah Palin’s notable hockey mom riff and Ann Richards’ 1988 straight talk. Relive them here now:



The live primetime Republican Convention speeches begin tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Tune into www.youtube.com/politics to watch and comment in real-time.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics Manager, recently watched “It’s Convention Time. Bring Your Party Hat!