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Weekly Update - October 20, 2018: YouTube Player, Adobe MAX, Android

While Plussers are looking for a new home, life - and app updates - go on. There are improvements to video watching, live streaming and much more.
  • The YouTube embedded video player - the one you use on websites other than YouTube - got a redesign. It now displays the channel’s avatar, and there is no longer a way to hide the title or prevent related videos from appearing at the end. You can, however, limit the related videos to those from the same channel.
  • And now you don’t need to stop watching videos while you are surfing on desktop. On YouTube, just click the mini-player icon on the bottom right of any video to continue watching as you browse the site. And if you use Chrome, picture-in-picture is now the default on Linux, Mac and Windows (and soon Chrome OS), so you can watch videos in a floating window whatever you are doing on your computer.
  • There is evidence Facebook was aware that it was providing inaccurate video viewership metrics for over a year. Thos metrics not only mislead advertisers, but likely encouraged media companies and news organizations to shift their focus to creating videos for Facebook, cutting written content and writers’ jobs. 
  • This week was Adobe MAX - The Creativity Conference, where they announced a number of new products and updates on existing products. The theme: “The future belongs to those who can create”. Premiere Rush, a “simple but powerful” cross-platform video creation tool aimed at YouTubers and social media influencers, has now launched for desktop and iOS. Spark Post - Adobe’s simple graphic design app - is now available for Android. Photoshop is coming to the iPad. There was a preview of Project Aero, an Augmented Reality authoring tool. And they gave a sneak peek at Project Gemini, a new app focused on painting and drawing that will be available next year. See the links below for more updates.
  • Periscope, Twitter’s live streaming platform, got two updates this week: the ability to assign chat moderators and replay editing tools that let you change the thumbnail and title.
  • In July the European Commission fined Google 4.3 billion Euros for breaching EU antitrust rules for requiring phone manufacturers to install Google Search and Chrome to be able to install the Google Play Store on Android devices. While they are appealing this decision, to comply with the ruling, Google announced that they will no longer require the installation of Search and Chrome, and along with that, there will be a new paid licensing agreement for smartphones and tablets shipped into the European Economic Area. Whether this spurs the launch of new Android devices less tethered to the Google ecosystem remains to be seen.
  •  If you are interested in trying to convert your Google+ Followers into YouTube subscribers, join me on Sunday when I’m premiering a tutorial on YouTube, with live chat. You can also discuss it on Google+.
  • There are still no details from Google+ about the shutdown or how exactly it will proceed. There has been a lot of discussion about alternative sites, including pluspora.com, MeWe, Flickr and a number of others. I’ve been exploring some options, but don’t know where else I may end up for the long term. There are still 10 or so months before the consumer version of Google+ shuts down completely, so I’m in no rush to go elsewhere. If you want to discuss the options, you may want to check out the Google+ Mass Migration Community.
  • Project Fi users affected by Hurricane Michael will be getting a $20 service credit
Plus there are more tips and updates for webmasters, YouTubers, drivers and more. Plus more discussion about Google+ and its demise. Read on for details. Click the link below for details.

Image: Ringelblumen by Koloman Moser, 1909 (Public Domain). Marigolds are the October birth flower.

Upcoming

YouTube and Video Creation

Go Live

Google+

Other social media

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

Adobe MAX 2018

Google for businesses

  • 25 words that will cause your Google Posts to fail and filter your Google reviews (Joy Hawkins)

Bloggers and Webmasters

AdSense and advertising

Hangouts and Messaging

Made by Google and Android

Productivity

Privacy and Security

More around the web


Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links
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