Weekly Update - September 28, 2019: YouTube, Twitch, PlayPass

Raise a toast to Google, that turned 21 this week and to Unix, that turned 50. Both helped produce computers, smartphones and the internet as we know them today. This week there are updates for video creators and webmasters, we say goodbye to Google Bulletin, check out Twitch and Yahoo’s rebranding and much more.

This week Google announced Google Play Pass, a monthly subscription that lets you access apps and games without ads or in-app purchases. Like the recently launched Apple Arcade, it costs $4.99 per month, with a free trial period. And like the Google Play Family Library, you can share your Play Pass subscription with your entire family. If you are an Android app developer, check out the details on this new way to make money.
YouTube introduced new comment filters in Studio Beta. In addition to improved keyword search, you can find comments without responses, look for questions, and see comments from your public subscribers or channels with a minimum number of subs. You can combine filters for even more focused searches. It’s also nice when an update isn’t making anyone angry.
YouTube’s Creator Insider tells you all you want to know about copyright and cover songs. Did you know that just humming a melody could get a copyright claim on your video?
TwitchCon opened on Friday with a bunch of Creator updates: Twitch Studio - designed to make it easier for new streamers to get started - will be available to everyone in November; there is an all-new Creator Dashboard, available in October; and they are working on a redesigned Channel Page, available next year. The new Mod View will improve moderator tools. Affiliates will earn a revenue share from ads; ad breaks will show as a picture-in-picture so viewers don’t miss any action; and there will be a new “Channel Points” system for Affiliates and Partners to reward loyal members. There’s more than I can summarize here, so see the link for all the details. And you can get live updates from TwitchCon at twitch.tv/twitchprime.
Twitch also announced a brand redesign, with a slightly modified logo, colors beyond purple, and new typeface. Meet the new Twitch.
Speaking of rebranding, Verizon’s Yahoo (remember them?) has a new mission to “amplify what matters the most to you”. There’s a new Yahoo! Logo, new “video experience” on the Yahoo home page and a completely redesigned Yahoo Mail app (with a new look, updated features, and more opportunities for brands to “find more high-quality users and deliver better ad experiences”). In other news, if you had a Yahoo account between 2012 and 2016, you can apply for a cash payment as part of the data-breach settlement.
Vimeo launched the “For Hire” job board, designed to connect video professionals with people looking to hire them. Vimeo doesn’t take a commission, but you need a paid Vimeo account to advertise yourself as “available for hire”. You can find and message video pros with any Vimeo account.
Google Bulletin will be shutting down in less than two weeks. Bulletin was launched in 2018 as a platform for easily creating local image-heavy “stories” about events, optimized for mobile and updating live. While it’s disappointing it’s shutting down, it never expanded beyond the US and Canada, and was surprisingly no integrated with the Google ecosystem. If you created a Bulletin story you can download your content using the link in the email notification about the shutdown. While it doesn’t have the same feature set, Bulletin suggests using Blogger instead.
The Performance Report in Google Search Console now shows data faster, with some stats less than a day old. You can also now see the Performance data by date.
If you are a webmaster or blogger, Google has introduced new ways to control what appears in the preview snippet for your site’s pages in the Google Search results. You can specify nosnippet, the number of text characters and the length of video previews.
Probably not coincidentally, the new European Copyright Directive goes into effect in France in late October. To comply with the new law, Google will not show preview content in France from European news publications unless they indicate they want Google to show those details. The new snippet settings can be used to do that. For news publications don’t want a preview snippet displayed in the Google Search or Google News results, Google will only display the headline. European publishers were hoping Google would pay them licensing fees to display their content, but Google argues that they are providing a benefit by making their articles findable at no cost.
There’s a new Google Search News video series on the official Google Webmasters video channel.
Web developers can now #AskChrome to get their questions answered on the Chrome Developers YouTube channel.
If you are a G Suite user with Hangouts Chat, check out the updated Chat mobile app for Android and iOS. There are now separate tabs for “People” and “Rooms” making it easier to find the right conversation.
The Kik messaging app is shutting down. The stripped-down company, already under fire from the SEC, will focus on its cryptocurrency (or “cryptocurrency”) Kin, which seems like an interesting move.
In another step in the transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, the YouTube Music App will now come pre-installed on Android 10 devices.
With Chrome 77, Google Assistant is now available on more Chromebooks.
Google Assistant has also come to Xbox. It’s available in beta in English, and only takes a few steps to set up. You can use Assistant to turn on and off your console, launch games and play and pause videos.
Dark theme is rolling out to the Gmail app for Android and iOS.
Good news if you are a politician who likes to push boundaries. Facebook exempts politicians’ posts from third-party fact checking, and now politicians’ speech is considered “newsworthy content” which is less likely to be removed for violating community standards.

Read on for more news, updates and tips for Android users,YouTubers, business owners, advertisers and more.

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Image: Two people toasting flute glasses at sunset from Pixabay on Pexels (free to use)

Made by Google and Android

Productivity

Dark theme is coming to Gmail for Android and iOS (G Suite Updates)
Whoops! Google Says Mysterious Wave of Unbootable Macs Is Their Bad (Gizmodo)
#AskChrome - Answering your Web questions (Google Chrome Developers)
Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS (Chrome 77) (Chrome Releases)
6 Chromebook keyboard shortcuts that save time (Google)
Here's how to download Pixel 4's new voice 'Recorder' app (9to5 Google)

Privacy and Security

Doing more to protect your privacy with the Assistant (Google)

More around the web

18 years after Google Images, the Versace jungle print dress is back (Google)
Interview with Vox Media and New York Media CEOs about their deal (Vox)
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas can now do an impressive gymnastics routine (Verge)
Canadian Federal Elections 019: Helping Canadians Make Informed Decisions (Google Canada)
Google Says Google Translate Can’t Replace Human Translators. Immigration Officials Have Used It to Vet Refugees. (ProPublica)
Score big and try Google News for the Rugby World Cup (Google)
Contributing Data to Deepfake Detection Research (Google AI blog)

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