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Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app (again), for “manufactured” reasons

The good YouTube app for Windows Phone is once again causing problems. Microsoft pulled the app in May after Google complained that it didn't include ads. After working with Google, Redmond re-released the app a couple of days ago with ads this time. But Google still isn't happy, and the company has revoked the API key the app uses, thereby disabling it.

In response, Microsoft has published a lengthy blog post about the disagreements between the two companies. Entitled "The limits of Google's openness," the post calls into question Google's 2009 commitment to openness. Google claimed, in 2009, that its "future depends on the Internet staying an open system, and [Google's] advocacy of open will grow the Web for everyone—including Google."

Microsoft says that in creating the YouTube app for Windows Phone, it assumed that the same commitment to openness applied to YouTube. It has complied with Google's demands to show ads and to block access to videos where the creators have restricted distribution. These are changes that, Microsoft argues, should "bring Google new users and additional revenue."

However, Google remains unhappy. Microsoft describes five complaints made by Google. First, the advertising giant is demanding specifically that Microsoft rewrite the application to use HTML5. Microsoft doesn't elaborate on why Google has made this demand but points out that Google's own apps on iOS and Android do not use HTML5. The software company claims that this is a "manufactured" reason, invented only to ensure that the YouTube experience on Windows Phone is inferior to that on iOS and Android.

Second, Google claims that sometimes the Windows Phone app does not show the right ads. Content creators can specify various conditions on the ads that get shown, and Windows Phone apparently does not honor those conditions. Microsoft says that it honors them as best it can, but the app is subject to the constraints imposed by Google's own API.

Third, Google claims that Microsoft is not abiding by the API's terms and conditions. Microsoft says that this too is a reference to the decision not to use HTML5.

Fourth, Google is objecting to the decision to brand the application "YouTube." Although the application states clearly that it is not developed by Google, and although the old, bad YouTube app was also branded "YouTube" without complaint from Google, Google is now unhappy about the use of its name on the new app.

Finally, Google complains that the app offers a degraded experience. This is rather a peculiar claim. It offers a superior experience to the mobile website, and it offers a superior experience to the old, bad YouTube app that Google apparently didn't mind.

Until and unless a court decrees otherwise, Google is essentially free to do what it likes with YouTube. That includes making arbitrary demands (such as using HTML5, even though Google's own engineers have implicitly deemed HTML5 to be not good enough by not using it themselves) and imposing various restrictions (such as not documenting the advertising API so that third parties can comply with all the rules surrounding YouTube ads). Google is also under no obligation to honor those same demands itself.

Nonetheless, Google's behavior appears to be more than a little capricious. Other unofficial YouTube clients exist, and thus far Google appears not to have killed them off with the same vigor it has demonstrated while going after Microsoft's client.

If Microsoft's description is accurate, Google's implication that it is somehow protecting users from an inferior experience with this move is also absurd. The new application provides a YouTube experience that's meaningfully superior to any solution that Google has thus far blessed (aside from "using a different operating system entirely").

Microsoft's post closes with a statement that Redmond is happy to work with Google to address any "legitimate" concerns.

View the original article here

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Thursday, 25 July 2013

Google Unveils £22 Web TV Streaming Dongle

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4:39am UK, Thursday 25 July 2013

The device can stream online videos to a TV set

Google has introduced a new device to allow viewers to stream internet videos to their TV.

Chromecast, a two-inch dongle that looks like a thumb drive, fits into the HDMI port on an HD television.

It streams content over a wi-fi network to a television, using a computer, phone or tablet as a remote control.

The company said its goal is to create a device with no setup time, no learning curve, and one that works with all platforms and devices.

The $35 (£22) device is a different approach to TV than Google's previous failed attempt, the Nexus Q.

"The television is missing in the streaming video picture," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Android, Chrome and apps.

"It is really, really difficult to get your online videos on the television."

The device goes up against the likes of Apple TV and the Roku box

Chromecast supports both Android and iOS devices, and at the launch event Google demonstrated the device using a Windows laptop and an iPhone.

The device currently only streams content from YouTube, Google Play and Netflix, although more apps, such as Pandora, are expected in the future.

Only 15% of households know how to watch online video on their TV, according to Google.

The device goes head-to-head with existing internet-on-TV devices like Apple TV and Roku.

Chromecast will initially only be available to buy in the US.

Google has also unveiled a new tablet to challenge Apple's iPad Mini.

The new Nexus 7 has the world's highest resolution screen, and is around £100 cheaper than the Apple device.

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