Monthly Archives: March 2021

After months of beta testing in India, YouTube Shorts has arrived in the United States.

On Thursday, YouTube announced that its begun rolling out its shortform video TikTok competitor in the U.S.

While Shorts videos could have been viewed stateside since the beta launch, the creator tools that facilitate YouTube Shorts are making their debut in the U.S. today.

The YouTube Shorts section as seen on the YouTube mobile app's main page.

YouTube also announced that it has partnerships with 250 music labels and publishers, such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Publishing, Warner Music Group and more. This is a huge starting point for a new shortform video app, given how music edits and dance videos make up a large portion of the most popular content on TikTok.

YouTube Shorts product lead Todd Sherman walked Mashable through the platform and answered some questions as to where Shorts is headed.

YouTube Shorts really feels like a natural part of YouTube's evolution, Sherman said over a Google Hangouts chat. But it's early for us. We feel like we're just getting started.

The YouTube Shorts creator tool rolled out in the U.S. on March 18.

Over the years, YouTube has cemented itself as the place for longer videos whereas other platforms, like the now-defunct Vine and TikTok, stepped in for bite-sized clips.

It certainly is early for YouTube Shorts. As of now, Shorts creator tools are very rudimentary. A very basic editing tool enables users to record, cut up clips, and add some simple timers, text, and filters. Compared to TikTok, the most popular app in the space, which automatically syncs sound and provides a slew of effects that help facilitate the creation of various types of video challenges, YouTube Shorts is still very much in beta.

Unlike TikTok, however, YouTube Shorts is not a standalone product. Its built right into the larger YouTube platform, so YouTube users may have already seen many shortform videos with the hashtag #Shorts in the title. In our conversation, Sherman dispelled a common misconception about Shorts: Creators need to put #Shorts in a videos title to be included in YouTube Shorts. Thats not true.

The YouTube Shorts player where you can swipe to catch the next video in the feed.

In fact, YouTubes system will pull any square or rectangle vertical video (dimensions common when shooting video with your smartphone in portrait mode) thats sixty seconds in length or less into the YouTube Shorts feed. Theres no need to include the #Shorts hashtag.

But building Shorts right into YouTube certainly does have its advantages. For example, creators can take advantage of YouTubes entire video library billions of videos from all around the world to remix, edit, and interact with. The creator tool released in the U.S. helps make that happen with the tap of a button.

Much like TikTok, viewers can see other videos that remix the same music and sound as the clip they were watching. Clicking on a hashtag will take you to more videos uploaded under that same hashtag. But, because YouTube Shorts is built into the broader YouTube platform, the creator of the audio being remixed gets some additional benefits too. For example, along with those other remixed videos, YouTube Shorts can take users directly to the original creators YouTube channel, which can help them build up their subscriber base as well.

Here you can view which other YouTube Shorts videos are using the same audio and even create your own with a tap.

For creators, the chance to build up their channel may be the biggest draw for YouTube Shorts. For now at least, YouTube Shorts are not monetized, even if you're a creator who is part of YouTubes monetization program.

We certainly plan to [monetize] Shorts but it's going to take a fresh look at what it means to monetize shortform video, Sherman explained. I think shortform video needs a different business model than longform YouTube.

With that in mind, YouTube does already treat its YouTube Short videos differently to regular YouTube uploads. Subscribers to a YouTube channel wont receive a notification every time that YouTuber uploads a Short. Those bell notifications are disabled for YouTube Shorts videos. Sherman says YouTube is also already looking into separating Shorts videos from longform videos on YouTube channel pages.

And while YouTube Shorts is planning to add many editing features and effects to its creators tool, things that helped make TikTok so popular, its clear the company doesnt want Shorts to be viewed as just a TikTok competitor.

Regardless though, its clear TikTok is ahead of every other platform when it comes to shortform video. Facebook knows this, which is why the company decided to demote videos uploaded to Instagram Reels that are repurposed from TikTok. Sherman tells me that YouTube currently has no plans to discourage creators from uploading their TikTok videos with the TikTok watermark, but the company will be monitoring that situation.

As Sherman pointed out in our discussion, many of TikToks defining features came from other platforms. Vine brought us multi-clip videos. Smule pioneered duets. Recording with audio from another source? Dubsmash and Musical.ly, an app which TikToks parent company acquired in order to launch TikTok in the U.S., were the firsts on that front.

And YouTube has its own plans for Shorts.

What does it mean to connect a shortform video ecosystem to broader, longform YouTube? To YouTube Music? Not just in a way where you can learn more about an artist or video or channel, but in a way where creation is enabled, posed Sherman. I think those things are going to unleash a lot of creativity and those things only can happen here.

I would just say stay tuned.

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YouTube Shorts debuts in the U.S. but what does the future look like for the TikTok competitor? - Mashable

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Tweaking the look of a social media profile may subtly alter a persons reaction to the health messages that appear on that site, according to researchers. They add that these reactions could influence whether the users heed the advice of those messages.

In a study, the researchers found that people who gained a feeling of control when they customized an online website were more likely to perceive the health message as a threat to their freedom, lowering the chance that they will adopt the messages advice. On the other hand, when customization bolstered the users sense of identity, they did not resent the message as much and were more willing to consider the ads recommended behavioral changes, according to the researchers.

In a customized environment with strong identity ties such as a social media site like Facebook we might not mind the persuasive attempts of a health advertisement, but in an environment that offers control without much personal identity for example a news website we seem to take these types of messages as a threat to our freedom of action and react negatively against them, said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.

According to the researchers, who report their findings in the journal Health Communication, people often customize their online media spaces by adding photos and artwork, along with uploading avatars and icons. These seemingly small acts of decoration and creativity may enhance the users feelings of ownership of these spaces, said Jinping Wang, assistant professor of media studies, Duquesne University, who served as the papers first author.

Users have a lot of opportunities to customize their sites and portals such as adding pictures, or choosing the news sources for their feeds and it seems that when people customize these interfaces, they are turning it into almost their own sacred place, or their own personal territory, said Wang.

Advertisers and health professionals currently use these spaces to pass on health-related advertisements and public service announcements, or PSAs, said Sundar, who is also an affiliate of Penn States Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS). He said that when these ads appear in online spaces over which they feel a sense of control, they are more likely to trigger a threat to their freedom, which could then lead to anger at and even defiance against those messages.

The researchers suggest that health communicators may want to carefully consider the placement of their online messages to avoid triggering those reactions of a loss of control or freedom.

Our data suggest that placing a health PSA in customized spaces where users are secure in their identity can help reduce their negative reactions, said Sundar.

Developers may also want to consider features that boost users sense of control, according to Wang.

Giving users options, such as skip this message or close this app, would be helpful to potentially preserve their sense of control. That might also make them less reactive to the content, said Wang.

The researchers recruited 145 participants on a web-based crowdsourcing platform for the experiment. The participants were invited to test a news website and randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In one condition, the participants could add a background picture and an avatar, as well as select news topics. The other group was unable to make those customizations.

Each group saw a health message -- a public service announcement about using sunscreen -- in their feeds. Researchers randomly assigned either a high threat health message, which featured stern language and imagery, or a low-threat language, which featured milder language.

The participants were then asked questions about their reactions to the message, their attitude toward using sunscreen every day and their behavioral intentions to follow the suggestion.

In the future, the researchers said they may investigate the relationship between customization and persuasion regarding health attitudes that are more tightly connected with ones personal identity.

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Health ads in users' customized online sites may evoke negative reactions | Penn State University - Penn State News

Cast your mind back to the first half of 2020. Beleaguered as we all were by scary and depressing daily news about the pandemic, the global recorded-music industry began to doubt the security of its own near-term future. With retail stores closing and income from performance royalties being hit by the shuttering of bars and restaurants, reports began to emerge suggesting that record labels should brace themselves for a mini-crash.

Such fears were worsened in Q2, when the release schedule of the major music groups grew noticeably thin. (Case in point: The recorded-music division of Universal Music Group the worlds biggest record company saw its quarterly revenues fall 4.5 percentYoY in Q2 on an organic basis.)

Better news, however, was just around the corner. Midia Research has published its estimate of what the global recorded-music industry including majors, indies, and DIY artists generated across the course of 2020 in wholesale/trade revenues. Midias figures suggest that the recorded-music business saw revenues of $23.1 billion in the year. That was up seven percent on 2019, and represented a $1.5 billion monetary increase year-on-year.

It would take a hard-hearted industry commentator to complain aboutany growth in 2020, but that $1.5 billion (+seven percent) annual uplift, notes Midia, was smaller than the $2.1 billion growth seen in 2019 (+11 percent year-over-year).

Midia notes: Although the [worldwide] recorded-music business experienced a dip in the earlier months of the pandemic, the remainder of the year saw industry revenue rebound. That rebound, notes Midia, saw the global recorded-music businesss quarterly revenues bounce up 15 percent YoY in Q4 2020, suggesting a strong 2021 may lie ahead if that momentum continues.

Interestingly, global annual recorded-music streaming revenues actually grew fasteron a monetary basis in 2020 than they did in 2019.

Midias numbers suggest that total (recorded-music trade) streaming revenues grew by $2.3 billion (+19.6 percent) to $14.2 billion in 2020. In the prior year, the research company notes, annual streaming growth weighed in at $2.2 billion.

Midia

Universal and Sonys recorded-music operations both saw annual growth in 2020, with Warners equivalent numberstaying flat on 2019.

Midias numbers suggest that combined, the three major music companies lost a little global market share in the 12 months, falling from 66.5 percent in 2019 to 65.5 percent in 2020. Notes Midia, While this shift is part of a long-term market dynamic, most of the dip was down to WMG reporting flat revenues for the year.

Another factor here was one of the biggest industry stories of 2020: the continued growth of the DIY artist sector. DIY artists uploading their music via the likes of TuneCore, DistroKid, and SoundCloud generated $1.2 billion globally last year, says Midia.

This artists direct sector saw a 34.1 percent growth in annual revenues in 2020, according to the companys numbers, and broke the billion dollar mark for the first time. Artists direct grew their collective market share by more than a whole point to 5.1 percent, says Midia.

Midias MD, Mark Mulligan, said: The recordings business managed to deliver a strong performance due solely to the growth of streaming. Streaming has been the engine room since the recorded-music business returned to growth, but the fall in performance and sync revenues due to the pandemic highlighted just how overly dependent the global music business has become on streaming.

With lots of private equity money now pouring into creator tools companies like Native Instruments, expect this space to heat up even further in 2021. The recorded-music business is changing, and it is changing fast.

This article originally appeared onMusic Business Worldwide.

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Recorded Music Grew $1.5 Billion in the Pandemic Year - Rolling Stone

Need to send an email attachment that exceeds the email size limit? Whether you're using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, the Mail Drop feature can assist you in bypassing those limits and making it possible to send large files, up to 5GB at a time.

In this article, you'll learn what Mail Drop is and how to use it on your iPhone and Mac.

Mail Drop is an Apple feature that allows people to send large files such as videos, presentations, and images directly from the Mail app. This feature is available on the following devices:

If you choose to send that extra-large email from your Apple device, you need to make sure that it's running iOS 9.2 or later or OS X Yosemite or later.

You can also access Mail Drop from any computer through the iCloud website.

To use Mail Drop on your Apple device, you need to have an iCloud account. Mail Drop works by uploading your file to iCloud rather than sending it directly to people over email.

Keep in mind, once you send an email with an attachment using this feature, the recipient will have 30 days to open it. After this period, it will expire, and the recipient will no longer be able to view the sent file.

Since it's possible to send files as huge as 5GB, you'll be able to send almost anything once you get set up. However, you should be aware that there is a 1TB storage limit. If you've sent many files and they've exceeded this limit, you'll need to wait a bit until some of the files expires and therefore free up the storage.

There's no special button that allows you to access the Mail Drop feature immediately. When your iPhone detects that the file that you've chosen is too big to be sent normally through the Mail app, it will ask you whether you wish to deliver those attachments using Mail Drop instead.

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to send a large file from your iPhone:

That's all. Your email will be sent using iCloud and will be available for the recipient to view for the next 30 days. The email will look like an ordinary one sent as usual.

Sending an email with a large attachment on a Mac is simple thanks to the Mail Drop feature. Here's what you should do:

The recipient will see that email as a usual one. To open the files, they will have just to click on them.

If you have issues with sending a large file via Mail Drop on your Mac, check whether this feature is actually enabled.

To do this, head to Mail > Preferences > Accounts from the menu bar. Select your preferred email account on the left side of the screen and place a checkmark near Send large attachments with Mail Drop.

You can actually send email attachments using the Mail Drop feature on any computer. All you need for this is an internet connection, an updated browser, an iCloud account, and an iCloud email.

Here's how to do it:

Just as simple as that, you can send an email with large attachments from any computer. If something went wrong, make sure that you have the Mail Drop feature turned on for large attachments.

To do this, click on the Show Actions Menu button, head to Preferences > Composing, place a checkmark near Use Mail Drop when sending large attachments, and click Done.

If this method doesn't work for some reason, there are a few great alternative file transfer apps that you can use for free to quickly and painlessly send large files to anyone. Of course, you can always use storage services such as Dropbox or Google Drive to share files. But sometimes, they may seem too restrictive.

Related: Better Than Dropbox: The Quickest Ways to Share Any File With Anyone

When sending files via email, it's essential to choose a secure and reliable transfer tool. Since the Mail app and iCloud are considered reliable options, you can use the Mail Drop feature to send attachments of almost any size and be sure that nothing bad will happen.

However, sometimes there may be issues with sending and receiving attachments through the Mail app. Be sure to learn how to fix the common attachment issues that arise when sending files using this email service.

If you use the Mac Mail app in a professional environment, check out these tips to work more productivity in Mail every day.

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Romana is a freelance writer with a strong interest in everything tech. She specializes in creating how-to guides, tips, and deep-dive explainers about all things iOS. Her main focus is on iPhone, but she also knows a thing or two about MacBook, Apple Watch, and AirPods.

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What Is Mail Drop? How to Use Mail Drop on iPhone and Mac - MUO - MakeUseOf

If you've ever wondered what Vladimir Putin singing Vengaboys' Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom! would look like, this new deepfake-style lip-syncing app will show you.

Wombo uses AI to animate photos so it appears they're singing along to one of 18 pop hits. Though designed for selfies, the app has gone viral over the past few days as users realized the comic potential in uploading photos of famous people and making them sing along to entirely unsuitable material.

It works in a similar way to the Deep Nostalgia tool released by the online genealogy company MyHeritage last month: you upload a photo and the app uses AI to animate it in a fairly convincing manner. The extra step here is that it also pairs the animation with a song of your choice, so that the photo appears to be singing along.

The songs on offer range from Michael Jackson's classic Thriller to Rick Astley's slightly less classic Never Gonna Give You Up. And much of the fun lies in matching the right song to the right (or wrong) person.

What's more, the AI works on anything that even vaguely looks like a face. We've tried it on a Labrador puppy, a cuddly toy and even our car, with varying degrees of success.

The app was created by Wombo CEO Ben-Zion Benkhin, who told The Verge he came up with the idea while smoking a joint with my roommate on the roof.

It launched in Canada in February and has since been downloaded on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store more than 2 million times.

It's free to use, supported by the occasional advert popping up, but a Premium version is available for $4.99/month. This removes the ads and gives you faster processing.

Benkhin is adamant that users data is safe, telling The Verge, We take privacy really seriously. All the data gets deleted and we dont share it or send it to anyone else.

If you fancy giving it a go yourself, scroll down to find out how it works.

1. Download the Wombo app from either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

2. Open the app and click the big yellow Let's go! button.

3. Next, you have a couple of options. Wombo will immediately open the camera app and prompt you to take a selfie. It provides a silhouette so you can position yourself in the frame correctly, and suggests that you look directly at the camera and don't show your teeth. If you want to take this approach, press the camera button when you're ready.

4. If you'd rather use an existing photo (of yourself or someone else), you can press the folder icon to the left of the camera button, then upload an image from your device.

5. Alternatively, you can press the reverse icon to the right of the camera button, and use your device's rear lens to capture your subject. Just make sure you have their permission to do so.

6. Next you'll see the Crop screen. Here you can resize the crop box around the subject so it removes any unwanted objects on the periphery. The Scale slider below the image will let you zoom in or out, and if you press the Rotate icon on the bottom left of the app, you'll be able to change the angle of the image. When you're happy, press the tick in the top-right corner.

7. Press the green W icon below your picture or if you've changed your mind, press back and try again.

8. Now it's time to choose your tune. The 18 available songs span a wide range of genres and eras, so there's likely to be at least one you're happy with. Plus, Benkhin says he plans to expand the options soon.

9. As you press each song, you'll hear a snippet of it play, so you can decide if it works. If it does, press the green W icon again.

10. Wombo will now work its AI-powered magic on the image, while telling you it is "Transmitting particles through radio waves" and "Uploading psychic connection to the reality plane." It isn't.

11. Finally, the app will serve up your finished video. You'll have the option to save it to your device (as an mp4 file), share it with a friend via any of the usual options (social media, WhatsApp, email and so on) or try again with another image.

Today's best Apple AirPods Pro deals

Link:

Wombo uses AI to make your selfies sing and its hilarious - Tom's Guide

For the first time in program history, the GCU basketball program is going to the big dance. After winning the WAC Championship on Saturday night against New Mexico State, the Lopes were announced as the 15-seed on Selection Sunday in the West Region and will take on the two-seed Iowa in their first-ever game in March Madness.

The Lopes will get the winner of No. 7 Oregon and No. 10 VCU if they pull off the massive upset. Iowa finished 21-8 coming out of the Big Ten and are led by Player of the Year candidate Luka Garza, who is one of the best big men in the country.

Garza is averaging nearly 24 points per game to go along with 8.8 rebounds. Hes going to be a lot to handle for GCU, but the Lopes will be ready for the daunting task. Iowa is averaging around 84 points per contest as a high-scoring offense.

Our guys are all familiar with Iowa and they are all familiar with Garza. Hes the best big man in the country, said head coach Bryce Drew. He could be Player of the Year and its not like hes not getting schemed against every night. The Big Ten, some of the best defenses in the country, and maybe the best conferences in the country, has schemed against him all yearYoure going to have to score points against them because they are so potent offensively and you arent just going to shut them down.

Over the next couple days, GCU will have to quarantine in Indianapolis before getting back to practice in preparation for the game. Right after the announcement and opponent was announced, Drew was already uploading game film of the Hawkeyes to his laptop.

Lopes assistant coaches Jamall Walker and Ed Schilling, who previously served as coaches in the conference, will all have their hands full with watching video over the next couple of days in quarantine in preparation of trying to pull off a big upset in the best time of year for college basketball.

Drew is no stranger to upsets and the magic of March, and hell look to carry that aura into Saturdays showdown.

We have quite a few days to prepare and go through things. We want them to enjoy the excitement of this moment and hearing their name called, Drew said of his team. After we get out of quarantine, we will really start diving into Iowa and game planning, and trying to get their mind at a good place to be ready to play.

The Lopes and Hawkeyes are set to meet this Saturday, March 20. An official tip-off time has not yet been announced. March Madness begins this Thursday, March 18.

Originally posted here:

Indy Bound: GCU To Face Iowa In First Round Of NCAA Tournament - Sports360AZ