Walyou

Google patent intends to “save” users from spoilers

Posted: 10 Apr 2015 11:49 AM PDT

An evacuee of the earthquake and tsunami watches a TV broadcast of the wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton in Chofu, western Tokyo

Google has a new idea to help their userbase avoid spoilers from video games, TV and movies – yet this involves some good old privacy concerns.

Google has just patented an idea that would help avoid TV and movie spoilers. Understanding that it’s just not realistically possible to just stop using social media, and turn off the web entirely, Google intends to try something different, something that will make those users who fear spoilers very, very happy.

As of now, this is just a patent, and not a product, but the future might bring an actual, working feature out of this. Some people say the end justifies the means, and in order to free us from spoilers, the almighty search engine will see which TV shows or movies you’re interested in based on comments from social media, for example, and will atempt to identify and filter sensitive information that might contain spoilers, either with emerging messages, deleting parts, or a completely different take.

Another option is users marking in spoiler tags (not the readers, but the content creators) in order to easily identify stuff for Google. But, let’s be real for a second: if people did mark spoilers, we wouldn’t need this product at all. The question remains: are you willing to sacrifice some of your privacy in order to free yourself from spoilers?

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YouTube is about to launch a subscription based service

Posted: 09 Apr 2015 11:32 AM PDT

Google seem to have found a new way to monetize YouTube, this time around with a subscription based service that eliminates ads throughout the site

Users taking part of the YouTube creators program will find quite a surprise in their emails: YouTube has confirmed to be working on a new model to deliver content to its userbase, in which a monthly payment will give them access to a version of the site without any ads – just as it was when the website had just started. In this way, YouTube takes a page from web services like Spotify, who offer access to their entire library for free, but has an exclusive version for users who pay, who in turn do not get adds, along with a couple extra benefits.

This is not like Netflix’s system: YouTube is going to remain free, and it doesn’t seem Google are about to change this any time soon. But, if users desire to stop seeing ads yet still support their favorite content creators, this might be an interesting option, depending on prices. It seems earning will be split almost evenly between YouTube and content makers, but this will lead to further changes in their terms, starting June 15th, 2015.

It still remains to be seen when this new functionalities will launch for the general public, or whether or not this will somehow articulate with Music Key, the service that gives access to Google Play’s musical library – we will report as more news come to the forefront.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Google Launches YouTube Kids App for the Younger Crowd and YouTube Announces 'YouTube Music Key' Streaming Service.