CosmicPanda

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: July 9th, 2011 | 0 Comments

Over the last few weeks Google have been updating everything! All their websites from Google, to Maps to their new social network Google+ & the new look Gmail, everything has changed and i was wondering if they would touch YouTube. Today i saw that Google have been working on a huge overhaul for YouTube and from what i have seen so far, its a great update. The new update is code-named 'CosmicPanda', i have had a quick look at the main new features which come with this next update to YouTube. There are 3 main parts that i would use with the new update and they have introduced huge GUI changes. The sections which have changed the most are user profiles, the video page where you actually watch the videos and then they have also updated playlists slightly.

Each user as you know have their own channel, if you are a partner with YouTube you are allowed to change the default thumbnail of each video to any image you like, with the new update to the channels it takes advantage of these pictures, the channel page shows the latest videos uploaded just by displaying the thumbnails of the videos. There are a few different options you can have for your page now, one is to simply show all the video thumbnails, another is to show a list of  you playlists. Below is how the old YouTube channels look with the new version below it (click them to see a bigger version!)

  A huge difference as you can see, but looking through other YouTube channels will give you a better feel of the other options that are now available to YouTube users! If you haven't already noticed, Google have also updated the navigation bar, its much more simple looking.

The page itself where you watch all your videos has been given a big update. The video player bar is now black along with a large black strip going the full width of the screen behind the video, the black strip works on the same principle of the 'turn the light off' feature a lot of sites use, it makes you focus more on the content they want you to, such as the video. The related videos to the right of the page have also been changed to a list of related thumbnails. Images old and new below! (click them to see a bigger version!)

  The third big change that has been made to the site is a feature of the video play page too, it is the playlist feature. Instead of having an annoying video strip along the bottom of your screen as a pop up, it has now been change to a video strip below the video. Images below old and new (click them to see a bigger version!)

I really like the changes that have been made. Another great thing that you can now do is when you are watching a video, you can click into your account page or go onto the channel of the video you are watching or onto another persons page who has a left a comment on the video you are watching, if you do thing the video you are currently watching will continue to play at the top left of the page! After you are done browsing you can click the video again and it will bring you back to the video page! One of the greatest features of this update i think, but it would be great if it worked the same way if you try to search, at the moment it does not allow it.

A great change for YouTube, you can read about these features on Googles support fourms. You can also opt in yourself if you want to have a good look at this new update, all you have to do is go to http://youtube.com/cosmicpanda and click Try it Out!

Sign into multiple Google accounts at once

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: August 4th, 2010 | 0 Comments

If you have a lot of Gmail accounts and you are always logging out of one, then logging into another, or if you have multiple browsers open at the same time just so you can check all your email's at once, then the new feature that Google has finally released will definitely make life much easier. If you log into your Google account page, you will now see a new section called Multiple sign in. By default this setting is turned off. Click on the change button below it, switch the setting to on and then check all the boxes below and hit save. Once you have done this you can then head over to Gmail and log into one of your Google accounts, from there you will now see a drop down arrow beside your email address, if you click the arrow you can choose to sign into another Google account. You can set up as many accounts as you like, and then you can instantly switch between inbox's by just selecting a different account from the list, simple! So you are always signed into all you accounts. Whichever account you first log in with is set as your default account, and then any services you try to log into which do not support multiple accounts will just show the settings for the default email address. The only Google products which currently support multiple accounts are: Calendar, Reader, Code, Sites and Gmail. This is a useful method, but I do not think I will be using it for all my addresses. I usually have all my emails that go to different accounts automatically forward to just one master account, that way I never have to switch between accounts, and I can then reply using the account that the email was sent to. If you prefer this method you can set it up in the "Settings" section of your Gmail account. If there is just one account you have that receives a lot of spam, I would use this new multiple Google account sign in feature for just that one account. Otherwise I would just forward all emails onto your master account.

No internet, and Google pacman

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: May 21st, 2010 | 0 Comments

Now that college and my exams are over I have finally got around to playing my Xbox games again. I always meant to get playing some games again but just ended up getting side tracked with the internet.

Today however I didn't do very much at all I didn't go on the internet at all up until now so I could make this blog post. I spent the whole morning asleep then I just drove around in the car, went to work and that it!

The first thing I did notice tonight when I went online is that Google have changed their logo to an interactive Pacman game! I definitely spent a while messing about with it, it is probably the most different thing that Google have made to their homage in relation to custom images!

The game auto starts after a few seconds, but you can click the insert coin button to get it started quicker if you want.

And of course there is already a Facebook page created for it and at the moment there is 223,799 people who have liked it! The power of that site is just mental. So if you have played the games maybe you should go and like the page?!

Today I had intended on clearing out my computer and reinstalling Windows but that never happened, I will have to get around to doing that another day over the weekend when I am not at work.