YouTube

YouTube for Schools Helps Educate Students In the Classroom

Nazmus Khandaker Education, Techtronica , , , , , , ,

Over the years since YouTube has been around, hundreds and thousands of educational videos have been spawned across YouTube with hundreds of different subjects and in many variety of languages. As a result, YouTube has an educational version of its service, where it provides thousands of proven education videos from a variety of well regarded instructors. Introducing YouTube for Schools.

These videos revolutionized education in that students no longer needed to rely only on teachers and books as they learned. If they missed a lecture, didn’t understand the teacher, students could go home and watch these educational videos and catch up with their studies. Another benefit that raised from these videos is that students didn’t have to be shy to have the “instructor” repeat him/herself. The student could easily rewind the video as many times as they wanted. Given that these videos came from a variety of teachers, students could essentially choose the type of teachers they enjoyed and/or understood the best.

Given that some students are audio or visual learners, educational videos on YouTube was a great benefit, as they allowed students to take advantages of animations and sounds as they learned. It would not be surprising if students saw these videos as a replacement for their textbooks as a means to efficient learning.

Here’s a video that talks about the benefit of online video for learning.

However, many schools tend to block YouTube from the students for the fear of students wasting time online. I cannot blame them; there are lots of videos on YouTube that will definitely waste the students’ time and hamper good education. Given that YouTube is also a social networking site, students can just as easily loose track of time, getting bogged down to commenting and sharing. Unfortunately, blocking YouTube also means loosing access to great, rich, educational videos that can really help the student.

This is where I think such a feature is very good for students and institutions. This educational version of YouTube hides comments and related videos and only displays educational videos. This eliminates all fears the school administrators have while, at the same time, let students engage in the educational videos.

To get started with the YouTube for schools, an administrator or a teacher needs to set up a school account for YouTube by going to youtube.com/schools.

Let us know what you think about this move.

Movie Planet App for Complete New and Old Movies on YouTube

McAkins App Alerts, Software & Services , , , , ,

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Once in while a gem of an App drops in the Store, and then is the luck of Trackers like us to find it and make it public. We’ve just found another gem in the App Movie Planet from Polosoft that has just arrived in the Store today. Polosoft is not new in the Store, they’ve been bringing us aggregated content from YouTube for Kids channel en special interest groups. Now they’ve set their eyes on the content for people like you and me, bringing us the movies of our lives. If you’re a movie buff, and you don’t want to waste time searching for Tors online and dowloading, here you go then.

The App streams the movies directly from YouTube, so there is no waiting for download involved. The App also directly links to IMDB to provide Movie Details with info about synopsis, actors etc.

Please note this movies are uploaded to public domain sites like YouTube, this App only points to their location. Hopefully content owners will not force Microsoft to pull this app from the Store.

Following is Polosoft’s description of the App in the Store:

Description

Watch over 5,000 Free movies Online * update Daily. Watch it on your tablet / pc computer.
We daily scan the web to find the best free and full movies on the web.
Watch Sci-fi, Horror, Crime, War, Western, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, History, Mystery, Drama, Thriller, Musicals… now!
Now you can sort by year, IMDB rating, Alphabet and new releases…
Soon: we will support more languages and subtitles.
DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this app is hosted by YouTube and is available in public domain. We do not upload any Movies to YouTube. This app is just an organized way to browse and view these YouTube Videos. For better performance use 3G or Wi-Fi.

Features

  • Streaming Full movies
  • Sorting by IMDB Rating, New releases
  • Movie Information including synopsis, actors,
  • New releases Updates
  • Search bar

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If you’ve been looking to time-wasters to fill you boring days, here is the perfect tool for you. What’s more, the app is free in the Store. So go ahead and download it right away via the following Source link.

Source: Windows Store

Hyper for YouTube Gets Massive Update

Nazmus Khandaker App Alerts, IT, Security, Privacy, Software & Services , , , , , , ,

 

We previously blogged about our YouTube app of choice on Windows 8/RT. It is Hyper for YouTube. It is an amazing YouTube app that is packed with features and also allows the ability to play YouTube videos in the background.

Well, we have a massive update for this app that brings loads of new features. For instance, the now-playing interface has been updated to show more options with just a click on the full-screen video. The non full-screen mode has been also updated to make it more concise and standard looking. However, the first thing you will notice on this update is the new first run wizard. After the update, a wizard will guide you to setting up the app with regions, color scheme, account linking, and more. The update also brings other UI changes and the ability to pin videos and channels.

Another change is the ability to upgrade to Pro version, which allows for more color schemes, advanced features, and batch YouTube video downloads.

If you have Windows 8.1, you should automatically have the latest version. If not, you can update it manually from the Windows Store. For Windows 8 users, you will need to do a manual update.

Download: Hyper for YouTube

Hyper for YouTube – An App to rock your YouTube world!

McAkins App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services , , ,

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(Looking to get in contact with the Dev of this app. If you are and you’re reading this, contact me via Twitter: @McAkins. I will verify you in the Store, so pranksters don’t need to bother.)

Here is yet another awesome YouTube Player App in the Store. Just dropped two days ago. The thing with YouTube players is that once you’ve seen one, you’ve probably seen them all. Still, there are some subtle differences. It is the extra-mile that a Dev covers that makes the diff between a ‘good’ app and an ‘awesome’ app. So you can place this app in the category of Awesome thus.

This app covers everything you can think of about YouTube: Accounts, Uploads, Comments, Reviews, Subscriptions, Playlists and last and most important, background playing of videos. Yes, most of us, play our favorite bands via YouTube these days, and while playing you want to get other things done on your device probably. As we know, Windows 8 allows background playback of Music only, some devs have cleverly figured out how to keep the video playing in the background while you switch away from the app. This is one of those apps.

You can chose the format to always play, HD or Standard resolutions. Just via a checkbox, you can tell this app to always playback in FullHD or SD. You can Search via Search Charm and select multiple items from returned list and add them to PlayList. So you can bring up your favorite band and press CTL+A to select all the videos and play them all, just let it run in the background. As I type this, I am running all videos from Christy Nockels at the background!

Here is the excerpts from the Store from the Dev (who coincidentally called himself CensoredUser. Need we ask why? :-)

Description
Hyper is the most advanced way to view YouTube videos on your Windows 8 device.
It allows watching videos in SD, 720p and Full HD 1080p, as well as the ability to download in all those qualities.
You can sign in to see your latest Subscribed videos as well as comment and rate videos.

Features

  • Save default Quality Settings – the correct quality for your connection every time!
  • Create local video Playlists!
  • Simply Type to Search from the Home Screen!
  • Play videos in the Background!
  • Control videos & playlists with media buttons!
  • Toast Notifications for Completed Downloads.
  • Multiple Downloads at once!
  • Snapped View compatible.
  • Watch your Playlists!
  • Browse your uploads!
  • Customize your home screen to exactly how you want.
  • Artist Metadata for tagged Music videos.

 

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Like they say, the taste of the pudding…, you need to get the app for yourself and give it a spin, don’t just take my word for it. You can thank the Dev later by giving your Review in the Store for packaging such awesome features in such a tiny app at just 266Kb size. Let us all encourage good devs by leaving good review behind, and what’s more, when such an awesome app goes for Free in the Store, the best you can do is meet the Dev mid-way by leaving good reviews.

So go ahead, download this Free App and start playing and downloading your fav. videos on YouTube. Download via the Source link below.

Source: Windows Store

Upgrade to the New (Metro Style) YouTube Channel!

Nazmus Khandaker IT, Security, Privacy, Software & Services, Tips & How-To , , , , , , , , ,

YouTube channels are hubs in which an user can upload and present their own YouTube videos. Each user gets their own YouTube channel. YouTube is about to go through a massive update to channels, bringing a more flat, tiled based, layout. Google is calling it One Channel, and  it looks a lot like Metro, in my opinion. If you want to get it, you can enable it for your YouTube channel by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/onechannel

YouTube One Channel

App Update — Download YouTube Videos as Audio (MP3)

Nazmus Khandaker App Alerts, MS Windows , , , , , , , ,

Today I want to share with you an app we blogged about earlier in 2012. This originally was an YouTube downloader app. Now, it has been updated to support turning even offline videos to mp3 audio format. Furthermore, the update now includes a more touch friendly layout of YouTube. Originally, it only was a wrapper to the YouTube website.

This app can be very useful if you want to download a YouTube video as audio to listen to offline. This is very useful if you want to listen to a Podcast on your, say, mp3 player. The audio download size is much smaller than a lengthy video (which podcasts tend to be). This app is also handy if you want to download audio files or music that is under creative commons or under public domain. Although this app allows you to download any YouTube video, do keep in mind the copyright laws. Please do not download music videos or movies that you do not have permission to download. Continue reading →

YouTube RT – A Must-have App for Music Lovers and Surface Users

Nazmus Khandaker App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services , , , , ,

If you love listening to YouTube videos in the background, in cases of music or podcasts, for example, then you might have noticed a short-coming in the metro version of IE10 in Windows 8 and Windows RT. If you play YouTube videos or audio from, say, Pandora, and you switch away from IE to another app, all audio stops. To listen to web audio in the background you must use IE10 on the desktop. This is very annoying for tablets, like the Surface because the desktop is hard to use with touch. Luckily, we have an elegant solution for listening to YouTube in the background without going to the desktop. Meet YouTube RT.

The biggest reason for me to recommend this YouTube app over any other is because it keeps playing the audio even if you switch away from the app. Almost all other YouTube apps fail at multitasking this way. In addition, this app embraces the metro design language and has an overall polish to it. As an added perk, you can even download YouTube video for offline viewing! There are some other neat features that I detail in the Pros/Cons section later in the post.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so there are some screenshots!

 

As you can see from the screenshot above, you have various download options. In addition, can add videos to your “Now Playing” playlist for a lean-back experience, change streaming quality, or exit in or out of fullscreen mode. We’ll get to that in a bit.

 

Here, the video keeps playing even when I switch away from the app. You can see the name of the video and the uploader when you use your hardware volume keys while in another app. Very handy.

 

Another cool thing this app does is it keeps playing the current video even when you browse YouTube or do a search. On the screenshot above, notice the mini playback controls while I am browsing.

 

Finally, here’s a screenshot of playing video in non-fullscreen mode. Here, you can view video description, related videos, rate and comment on the videos, etc. You can also click on the uploader icon and check out their latest uploads, subscribe, and other standard stuff. There are a lot more that I didn’t take a screenshot of, including the download manager.

Now, before going any further, I will let you know this is a paid app, with a free trial option. At the time of this writing, the app costs only $2.49. Note that I will take extra care when recommending a paid app for obvious reasons. I want our readers to be confident that you are paying for quality products. I always recommend trying the app before buying, and will rarely recommend apps that doesn’t offer a free trial. So go ahead and try the app before deciding if you want to buy it.

Finally, let’s summarize the pros and cons.

Pros

  • Good YouTube streaming experience, with multiple streaming quality options
  • Play YouTube video in the background while working on other apps.
  • Video keeps playing when you browse YouTube; offers search suggestions.
  • Download YouTube videos in various qualities to your PC
  • Connect with your Google Account to see new subscriptions, favorites, watch history (They also appear on your live tiles)
  • Like, comment, and favorite apps. Make playlists and watch multiple videos in a row automatically
  • Your settings syncs with your Microsoft Account. No need to reconfigure when installed on a new PC.
  • Well implemented Snapped view

Cons

  • Paid app (try before buying)
  • Occasional crashes
  • Videos are cached. They take up large disk space over time. The only solution I found is to uninstall and reinstall the app to clear the cache.

There you have it. You can download this app from the Windows Store! YouTube RT

Source: Windows Store

PrimeTube – The Most Elegant YouTube Player to Date In the Store

McAkins App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services , ,

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Here is another elegant YouTube player in the Store, and this time, I think we’ve got ourselves a winner in PrimeTube. This App supports all YouTube features, that I am worried they get in trouble with Google with this client. I mean, if you have this client, why bother to go to YouTube site anymore and consume Adds. Yeah I know, you still consume Ads via embedded Ads in videos.

Anyway, think of anything on YouTube, you’ve got it right here. You Subscriptions, Popular Videos, Channels, PlayLists, SD/HD Video Play, Snapped Mode Player, Enhanced Video Player built-in and finally an awesome Fullscreen Player. Ok, maybe I exaggerated on that Channel Stuff, need to check myself. If you are looking for a good Tube player without compromise, you need not look further. Here is how APP LYF described their app in the Store:

Description
PrimeTube is the most elegant way to access YouTube from your Windows 8 tablet, desktop, and laptop. This is brought to you by the developers of the acclaimed Windows Phone PrimeTube app.
Uniquely designed with faster navigation and loading as the primary focus, the app provides you an immersive experience to search, watch and manage YouTube videos. Some of the major features that PrimeTube provides in this version are listed below. More updates and features will follow soon.
We welcome any feedback/suggestion that you have regarding the app. Please email us at app.lyf@live.com
Happy YouTubing !!

Features
Search and watch YouTube videos. Manage subscriptions, favorites, playlists and watch later videos
In-App enhanced video player – LQ, HQ and HD video support
Added Keyboard features – Type anywhere in the app to search for videos and playlists
Live Tile + Support for secondary tile pinning
Play To enabled – Share videos not only with your social network but also with your favorites devices using  the Play To Devices
Push Notification for latest subscription videos
Data usage limit monitoring
Landscape, portrait and snapped mode support

 

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I hear you ask yourself, how much does all this awesomeness cost, well, nothing; for now! Who knows, they’ll change that in the future. But for now, you can go right ahead and download it from the Store via the following Source Link.

Source: Windows Store

Get this Free YouTube Downloader App now from the Store! Recommended

McAkins App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services ,

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OK, here is another app I’ll recommend to any of you Video Addicts out there. If you spend your better part of the day on YouTube watching the same videos over and over again. You might as well download it locally and watch it till you drop without incurring the wrath of your ISP or pay through your nose with 3G Data cost. The little gem works as advertised, I was a bit skeptical initially so I decided to give it a spin before I recommend it to you guys. What do you know, it actually downloaded all my favorite K-Love Music Videos I threw at it without a glitch. It queues them up nicely and downloads them on the background so that when you even switch away from the app, the download still continues. I suspect it is using BITS transfer service. Awesome. You can choose you favorite file format to download, *.mp4, *.webm etc.

The app is not much of a looker, but that is not why you’ll download it right? As long as it gets the job done, you’ll be doing the looking in your video player trust me.

The App is free of charge, supported by unobtrusive ADs. So go ahead, download the app now and add it to your toolset via the Source Link.

Source: Windows Store

Kids Tube–Dedicated YouTube Kids Channel app

McAkins App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services ,

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Here is something for us Parents with little ones. A curated app for YouTube Videos dedicated to Kids. You can comfortably hand your device to your kids and be sure they will not be watching YouTube garbage while in this app. The App is free in the Store with AD support. Following is the app description from the Store:

Description
Powered by YouTube, KidsTube is a great interface for safe and clean viewing of videos for children. Parents no longer have to supervise what their children are viewing or what their children are searching for on Google’s YouTube.
With a simple user interface, your children can navigate and watch children’s videos for hours and hours. Content is updated every time you launch the application. Pin videos you like to the desktop for easy access.
The content is indexed and updated every time you lunch the application.
Pin the videos you like to the desktop for an easy access.
Disclaimer:
This app provides easy access to and additional functionality for YouTube videos. This app or its developers and publishers do not own and is not responsible for any video clips posted on YouTube. It is the responsibility of the application (app) user to abide by all relevant copyright laws.

Features
Hours of  YouTube videos for picked especially for kids
Pin the videos you like to the desktop
Watch videos while you play/work in a the Snapped mode

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The App is available for download via the following source link.

Source: Windows Store

GoogleTube? Has Google Googlified YouTube?

Aside Nazmus Khandaker Google, Techtronica , , , , , ,

It seems that Google has completely ruined…ahm, redesigned, YouTube. The black Google bar is now throughout YouTube. YouTube video search looks like Google search, and there is an overall redesign of YouTube as a whole. In fact, Google may even be taking cues from Microsoft, as the new UI of YouTube sports flat and clean design, you know kind of like the thing called Metro? Continue reading →

YouTube Download App “Tube Download” hits the Store

McAkins App Alerts, MS Windows, Software & Services ,

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Here is a YouTube download trialware for your attention. Like the Title says you can download your favorite YouTube videos for local consumption again and again instead of having to incur bandwidth charges for it each time. This is a paid app so you are allowed to download and give it a try. Eventually you’ll have to pay for it if you decide you like it.

Here is vendor description from the Windows Store:

Description:
Tube Download allows you to download YouTube videos on your device, so you can watch them again each time you want and each time you are offline!
Videos will be downloaded in Video Library so you can play them simply clicking the Video tile on your Windows 8 start screen.
Tube Download can download HD (1080p or 720p),  HQ, or LQ videos depending on YouTube availability, but obviously you can also search and watch a streaming video without downloading it!

Features:
Live Tiles and Toast Notifications when you completed a download!
Background Downloads!
Bigger video tile when a video has many more views than others
Tap the toast to immediately play a video
You can share videos

You can download the app via the source below.

Source: Windows Store

Windows 8 Won’t Play DVD Video Natively, but Do You Even Care?

Aside Nazmus Khandaker MS Windows, Operating Systems, Techtronica , , , , , , , , , ,

windows-8-no-DVD-support

Windows 8 will not include the ability to play DVD movies natively; yes, it’s true! Premium editions of Windows Vista and most editions of Windows 7 did, but it’s all being undone with Windows 8. But the big question is, do you care? Here are the reasons as to why many traditional playback, such as DVD and broadcast TV playback, are going away.

Continue reading →

Facebook Parenting with Tommy Jordan: You’re Doing It Right

Nazmus Khandaker Techtronica , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

In a town of Albemarle, North Carolina a video was filmed about a father who punished his 15 year old daughter via. Facebook, YouTube, and now national television. This story has made national news, local headlines, and has gone completely viral. The initial YouTube video has over 14 million views and is within 70,000 of reaching 15 million. Continue reading →

For Gain or Glory? Casey Anthony Goes Viral

Nazmus Khandaker Techtronica , , , , , , ,

Once again the world wide web has turned their direction to a new “discovery” as some would call it or what some could believe it to be a release by Casey Anthony herself. Early morning on January 5th different news sources started getting tips and information that someone had found a video of Casey Anthony speaking out in what is being referred to as a diary while others are referring to it as a waste of time or just flat our pointless. Many news television shows are currently debating on if she’s making money on this, what people would do if she made a YouTube Channel and who would watch it.

“Who would gain from this? Who would benefit?” “Instead of using her time to put herself in a low cut tank top back in the national media, maybe she should be out helping missing and murdered children, for starters” – Nancy Grace- HLNTV

While Anthony’s parents will not comment on the video due to “protecting their daughter’s whereabouts and safety” there is a lot of buzz going on about it on YouTube. As you can see below

many people are re-posting the videos trying to get publicity from it but only one [so far] claims that he was the first to post it to YouTube. Jon Briley is this man who has gotten over 40,000 views from this video [ignore the statistic below the video it’s incorrect] He is the creator of a Facebook page that revokes Casey Anthony and her suspected [but proven innocent] acts and claims that he found the video on a pay-per-view website which he has not yet released the name of. More information is to come about this topic as it is available. You can see the Casey Anthony Video Diary below or clicking here.