Since the launch of a href="http://youtube.com/projectreport"Project: Report/a back in September, aspiring journalists have been working hard to report on important stories in their communities. Our five finalists have prevailed through three rounds of competition and are within touching distance from the grand prize: a $10,000 fellowship with the a href="http://youtube.com/pulitzercenter"Pulitzer Center/a to report on a story abroad. br br Now is your last chance to vote on their third and final videos to decide who you think deserves the opportunity to travel the world and become a global correspondent. There are some great stories here - check them out: br br object width="480" height="385"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/4D451492F7BFBCDA" /embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/4D451492F7BFBCDA" type="application/x-shockwave- flash" width="480" height="385"/embed/object br br br Voting ends tomorrow, January 9, at midnight PST. So don't waste any time -- visit the a href="http://youtube.com/projectreport"Project: Report/a channel to watch the finalists' Round 3 submissions and then vote for the videos you find the most compelling. br br The winner will be announced on Monday January 12, 2009, so stay tuned! br br Happy Voting,br Olivia Mbr YouTube News Politics

From scores of submissions, the programming team at the Sundance Film Festival whittled down a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"YouTube's Project: Direct/a competition to 10 finalists, to be voted on by you, the YouTube community. At stake: a trip to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival to meet with the Festival's director of programming, a special industry screening, and invaluable exposure that will help one worthy filmmaker turn their hobby into a career. brbr Now, after a week of voting, the ballots have been counted, and without further adieu, we're pleased to announce this year's winner... brbr object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JSVzmhJQYPwhl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JSVzmhJQYPwhl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object brbr Congratulations to the talented writing and directing team behind a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSVzmhJQYPw"Perfecto/a. In this upbeat tale of true love amidst hidden identities, nothing can stop the romance between a small-town thief and her mysterious Latin fiancé... not even the police. A hilarious and heart-warming film, we're excited to see it make the jump from the YouTube small screen to the Festival big screen. brbr A hearty congratulations, as well, to the runners-up: a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfi1yxUdUDE"White Collar Criminals/a and a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Ji2fLpiOw"Good Deeds and the Damage Done/a. Last, but certainly not least, we want to thank and congratulate everyone who submitted films to the competition: your hard work is proof positive of the fantastic film talent that lives on YouTube. We can't wait to see your future masterpieces. brbr To check out the winners and other finalists, just visit the a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"Project: Direct channel/a. brbr Happy filmmaking, brbr Sara P.br YouTube Film

While we're all wishing for health, happiness and love in 2009, the 10 finalists in YouTube's a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"Project Direct/a short film competition are likely hoping the New Year will bring something entirely different: a chance to attend the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as the winner of Project Direct! brbr Their fate will be sealed in approximately 24 hours after all of you cast your final ballots at youtube.com/projectdirect. brbr To make your last chance to vote easy, we've featured all of the top 10 entries, which come from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Brazil, on the home page today. Watch them all and then visit the a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"contest channel/a to vote for your favorites. brbr The winning entry and the top two runners-up will also receive cash prizes and DVD distribution to top Hollywood executives attending the Sundance Film Festival. brbr So make a filmmaker's New Year's wish come true and vote now! brbr Happy Voting,br Sara P.br YouTube Film

So here it is: 2009. And after our 24-video marathon run through 2008’s memorable moments, hopefully you’re feeling suitably entertained and fired with enthusiasm for the year ahead. brbr But before we move on into the unknown, let’s take closer look at some of the videos we have featured through the day – be it for the sake of Auld Lang Syne, or just for kicks. Because here at YouTube there is nothing we like more than a bit of backstory to place a video in context.brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI"Weezer: Pork and Beans/a/h2 br Weezer's video hit YouTube on May 23. Drawing on 24 of the biggest viral hits the site has seen to date -- from "Dramatic Chipmunk" to "Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina" to Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" -- the video salutes some of the most memorable moments and people in YouTube's history, generating more than 15,500,000 clicks in the process and creating (dare we say it) a video that transcended the sum of its estimable parts.brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U"Christian the Lion/a/h2 br This story of an unbreakable bond between man and beast was one of the most talked about videos of 2008. It briefly chronicles the true story of a lion being reunited with the two men who raised him, years after he'd been released back into the wild and become the leader of his own pride. The actual reunion took place in 1972, but this archive footage was rediscovered and posted to YouTube earlier this year. If one video saw tears stain the leathery cheeks of the battle-hardened YouTube Team over the past 12 months, this was it...brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo"Frozen Grand Central/a/h2br The New York-based collective Improv Everywhere have become firm favorites on YouTube, thanks to their unique public hijinks. Videos like "No Pants Subway Ride" and "Food Court Musical" offer good examples of their large-scale pranks, but the elaborate public performance "Frozen Grand Central Station" was especially popular. The video features more than 200 people simultaneously freezing in place at Grand Central Station in New York City; the reactions of onlookers are as striking as the stunt itself. They claim to ‘cause scenes’ – they don’t lie. brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY"Where The Hell Is Matt?/a/h2br Matt Harding is best known as the goofy guy who danced his way around the world. But Harding's frankly risible grooving has brought inspiration and joy to millions of people -- over 14 million have viewed it on YouTube alone. As one observant user said: "It shows that no matter how different we are on the outside, inside we all just want to dance, laugh, and have fun."brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI"Rick Astley: Never Gonna Give You Up/a/h2br Chances are that at some point in 2008, you or someone you know experienced a "Rick Roll": a bait-and-switch prank that dupes you into watching the video for Rick Astley's 1980s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." The joke even transcended the Internet with organizers of football games, parades and rallies "Rick Rolling" unsuspecting attendees. But perhaps the ultimate "Rick Roll" occurred on April Fool's Day, when YouTube rigged up every feature to the video. Then he was pronounced Best Act Ever by MTV Europe after – you guessed it – an internet poll. You naughty, naughty people. brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk"Will.i.am: Yes We Can Obama Song/a/h2br When Barack Obama delivered his concession speech after the New Hampshire primary, little did he know he was providing the script -- and the inspiration -- for the most-watched political video of 2008. Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" music video, a celebrity-studded mash-up of Obama's speech, became an instant viral sensation upon its release in early February, and arguably had a massive influence on Election '08 and popular culture. Seen over six million times just on Will.i.am's official YouTube channel, the video has inspired voters, young people, and satirists alike.brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9MA0eW8yyw"Fred Loses His Meds/a/h2br Who says you can't become an overnight success on YouTube? Not 15-year-old Lucas Cruikshank, or Fred Figglehorn as he is known to fans, who created a Web series in which he plays a hyperactive six-year-old with anger management issues. Fred's hyper-kinetic videos quickly caught people's attention and helped make him the fastest-rising star in YouTube history. The above video (his second) was Fred's first to break a million views, jump-starting his meteoric rise to his current position as the No. 1 Most Subscribed user on YouTube.brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0"Star Wars according to a three-year-old/a/h2br This sweet-faced little lady became a YouTube sensation with her retelling of the original Star Wars movie. Fans of the film can go on for hours discussing the plot, but this three-year-old sums it up in less than two minutes. If not the most detailed description of Star Wars ever, it's arguably the most adorable. Warning: Spoiler Alert.brbr h2a href="http://www.youtube.com/mileymandy"The Miley Cyrus Story/a/h2br Not only did Miley release a hit song (and video) this year with a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr0Wv5DJhuk"7 Things/a, which inspired several user-generated a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTC4qkb8Ppk"parodies/a (some of them nearly as popular as the original), but the Hannah Montana star also launched her own YouTube channel, a href="http://www.youtube.com/mileymandy"MileyMandy/a with best friend Mandy Jiroux. The girls have used their channel to vlog and generally horse around for their audience of over 292,000 subscribers, and it's also where they post their a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NECNIKmMgS8"MM Cru/a dance battle videos, which together have notched nearly 15 million views and took the world's "biggest online dance battle" to a whole new level. brbr h2 a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGE34VAqYTk" Super Mario Rescues The Princess: Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade/a/h2br As the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane has had a tremendous impact on animated entertainment. This year, MacFarlane opted to launch a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SethComedy" Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy/a exclusively on Google and YouTube. Not only was this a groundbreaking event for online video, it also showcased the financial opportunities that online advertising can offer film-makers (not that this comes as much surprise to members of the YouTube Partner Program).brbr Now we’ve had our say, we’d love to hear what you made of our end-of-year round up. Leave your comments below – it wouldn’t be YouTube without a little back and forth now, would it?brbr Here’s to a video-rich 2009,br The YouTube Team

It has been a busy and exciting year here at YouTube. With 13 hours of video uploaded every minute, hundreds of millions of views a day and 23 country-specific versions of the site, apart from anything else we were faced by a mountain content to sift through and myriad factors to bear in mind when compiling our end-of-year list of memorable moments. Which is why we turned to our estimable team of statisticians to help formulate the selection – if only to avoid unseemly bust-ups around the office. brbr With the help of our all-powerful analytics tool, the aim was to balance the raw power of heavy video views with a subtle blend of community engagement metrics including ratings, favorites and the ability to stir up a comments storm. The net result was a cluster of memorable video moments which this year we have whittled down to 24 and will reveal at the rate of one an hour until 2009 dawns and the whole process can begin in earnest again. Until then, revel in the videos that made the cut last year: brbr object width="530" height="370"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/E2E559B2DE55B0F3"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/E2E559B2DE55B0F3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="530" height="370"/embed/object br br At the stroke of midnight (Pacific Time) you can expect a more detailed run-down of the clips on the list complete with some background information to place them in context. Until then, it would spoil the surprise to breathe a word of the videos to come. So sit back, enjoy your New Year’s Eve and prepare yourself for a jog through the most memorable YouTube moments of 2008. brbr Have fun, br The YouTube Team

As 2008 comes to a close, we pause to pay our respects to those notables we lost this year. Today's homepage salute honors a wide range of the dearly departed -- amongst them, a 20th Century a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km7PcdMzaN4"movie legend/a admired for his work in philanthropy, the South African singer and human rights activist known as a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUcEu1exocA""Mama Africa"/a, a a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_tI55SW4H4"comedian/a who shared the humor behind "Seven Dirty Words," to a computer science a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIysXLiA5s0"professor/a who taught his life's wisdom via "The Last Lecture". brbr Here one of the world's best-known mountaineers and explorers receives a musical tribute by a group of fellow New Zealanders who sing the praises of this "Humble Mountain Man." brbr object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4xgIebk-zHEhl=enfs=1color1=0x5d1719color2=0xcd311b"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4xgIebk-zHEhl=enfs=1color1=0x5d1719color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/object brbr As you watch this series of video tributes, we encourage you to share your own memories in celebration of the things these remarkable people shared with the world. brbr In Memoriam,br br The YouTube Team

Drum roll please...the prestigious programming team at the a href="http://festival.sundance.org/2009/"Sundance Film Festival/a has reviewed the many outstanding films submitted to this year's a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"Project Direct/a short film competition and the results are in! brbr We were thrilled to see so many of you who competed in last year's contest return for more, and we were equally thrilled to see so much new talent alongside them. brbr In fact, some of last year's finalists made it into the top 10 once again, proving that filmmakers on YouTube are not one-hit wonders, but consistent, talented storytellers. brbr Now it's up to all of you to decide which of these 10 filmmakers will make it to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. brbr The filmmakers' challenge was to create a short film including 3 specific props: a red phone and 2 other props made famous by films from the Sundance Film Festival's 25 year history. brbr Your challenge is to watch them all and vote for your favorites at youtube.com/ProjectDirect. brbr For a sneak peek of the top 10, check out Darren Aronofsky's video announcing the finalists: brbr object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LqAPtpSAV3ohl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LqAPtpSAV3ohl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object brbr Now start voting! You have until 11:59PM EST on January 3rd to a href="http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect"cast your ballot/a. brbr Enjoy,br Sara P.br YouTube Film

A week ago, the a href="http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers"vlogbrothers/a took a break from their usual routine of a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMJ_1MXZq0"filming puppies doing cute things/a and a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIA5x4tuuO8"punishing each other/a, to launch the a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4hqWfp3374""Project for Awesome/a," a call to all YouTube users to "take over YouTube" by creating videos that promote their favorite charity, nonprofit or cause. brbr Today, we're adding the YouTube stamp of approval to this worthy project by having the vlogbrothers "take over" the YouTube homepage with their favorite submissions to the Project for Awesome...and with over 1190 entries, this guest editorship was no easy task: brbr object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aV-lhDkVpxwhl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aV-lhDkVpxwhl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object brbr The vlogbrothers' selections range from the a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoTKhbtIflE"hilarious/a to the a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsKKGHQyNFk"serious/a, the a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xoDzk9Uag8"absurd/a to the a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhC4JdRHm5c"informative/a -- the tie that binds them together is that each video features a YouTube community member who is trying to make the world a better place (or as the vlogbrothers might say, "trying to reduce world suck"). brbr It's not too late for you to help make the world a little more awesome in 2009 -- you can add your comments or ratings to these videos (karmic points if you rate high) or make your own video about the cause that inspires you most. brbr Have fun,br Ramya R.br YouTube Nonprofits Activism

The final videos are in for the third and last round of a href="http://youtube.com/projectreport"Project: Report/a, the journalism contest YouTube is holding in partnership with the a href="http://youtube.com/pulitzercenter"Pulitzer Center/a. Now is your chance to view the five finalists' submissions and vote to determine which of these aspiring journalists you think should win the grand prize -- a $10,000 fellowship with the Pulitzer Center to report on a story abroad. br br object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1JM_bznUF4hl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1JM_bznUF4hl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object br br br At the outset of Round 3, the five finalists were each given two Sony video cameras. With these video cameras, their assignment was to produce a piece of collaborative storytelling that empowered an underrepresented community to share its own story with the world. First, each reporter chose a group of people rarely covered by the traditional media. Then, the reporter helped the members of this group use the camera to document their own lives. br br object width="480" height="385"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/4D451492F7BFBCDA" /embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/4D451492F7BFBCDA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385"/embed/object br br br Visit the a href="http://youtube.com/projectreport"Project: Report/a channel to watch the finalists' Round 3 submissions and then vote for the videos you find the most compelling. You can only vote for one video per day, and voting continues through Friday, January 9, 2009. The winner will be announced on Monday, January 12, 2009 -- so stay tuned! br br Yours,br Olivia M.br YouTube News Politics

Every day we work with the music community to license your favorite music for you to use on YouTube. But music licensing is very complicated. The right to use a single song often requires permission from multiple owners, particularly when it comes to original fan-made videos that incorporate commercial music. brbr We work with the music industry worldwide -- with major and independent labels and publishers, rights collecting societies, and with artists and songwriters directly -- to build user-friendly licensing arrangements. With these partners and our cutting-edge a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/making-money-on-youtube-with-content-id.html"Content ID/a technology, we've created a win-win situation the likes of which never existed before YouTube: a system that gives artists a brand new revenue source and a great way to connect with their fans. brbr That said, despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain these innovative agreements. Sometimes, if we can't reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners. For example, you may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site. Don't worry - if you receive a takedown notification, you will have a couple of options to choose from in order to keep your original video creations up. Check out a href="http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_about"Audioswap/a, a one-of-a-kind library of pre-cleared music ready for you to a href="http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=0TEqAVOaLCI"drop into your videos/a any time. brbr We understand this might be frustrating for some of you, and we're sorry about that. Our ultimate goal is to treat everyone fairly: to respect the rights of musicians, songwriters, and their biggest fans, so that everyone can continue enjoying original content on YouTube. brbr a href="mailto: editor@youtube.com"The YouTube Team/a

We have two developments that we would like to share with you: the expansion of our HD player and a test of three new landing pages designed to help you find the news, music and movies YouTube videos that matter most to you. brbr h2HD on YouTube/h2 Starting today, if you click the "watch in HD" option below any HD-enabled video, the video will automatically play in widescreen – so you can find out a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY"where the hell Matt is/a in glorious HD, if you so wish. As part of this launch, we have created an a href=http://www.youtube.com/browse?s=mphdt=ac=0l=b=0" HD Videos area/a where you can browse videos uploaded in the HD format. In anticipation of your questions – including how to encode your videos to take advantage of this new feature and how to avoid the dreaded "windowboxing" – we have prepared an a href=http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=132460topic=16621"FAQ/a in the Help Center. Hopefully you'll find any technical information you need there, but feel free to post follow-up questions to the a href= http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-help?pli=1"YouTube Community Help Forums/a. brbr h2New Video Landing Pages/h2 News, music and movies are huge categories on YouTube and as a result it can sometimes be tough to find exactly what you're hoping to watch. In a bid to smooth your path to the perfect video, we are testing three new video landing pages: a href=http://www.youtube.com/browse?c=25 "youtube.com/news/a, a href=http://www.youtube.com/browse?c=10 "youtube.com/music/a, and a href=http://www.youtube.com/browse?c=30 "youtube.com/movies/a. The news page will be populated with breaking stories from around the world as well as news drawn from the Google News service; music will feature rising videos alongside playlists dedicated to different genres; movies will showcase some of the most popular short and full-length movies on YouTube today. We'll keep a close eye on how these pages perform with a view to rolling them out in other categories.brbr With these developments we are hoping to improve your viewing experience and make it easier to find the content you want to watch. Leave a comment and let us know what you think...brbr Happy holidays and, as always, have fun watching! br a href= http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-help?pli=1"The YouTube Team/a

As you're making that list of presents and checking it twice, there are several YouTube channels that are hoping you'll add a charitable donation to your gift-giving plans. brbr Nonprofit organization a href="http://www.youtube.com/changingthepresent"Changing the Present/a is asking users to donate livestock -- the real gift that keeps on giving -- to impoverished farmers, while a href="http://www.youtube.com/marinetoysfortots"Marine Toys for Tots/a invites you to supply a toy for a child in need. Socially responsible organizations are also getting in on the act. This holiday season, for every pair of shoes purchased, Tom's Shoes will donate another pair to a child in Ethiopia: brbr object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DqrFG7xrE1Ihl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DqrFG7xrE1Ihl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/object brbr And if you just want to go the old-fashioned route and donate money straight to charity, many a href="http://www.youtube.com/members?s=mvt=ag=7"YouTube nonprofit partners/a have a Google Checkout button embedded right on their channel pages, making it easier than ever to donate to a good cause. brbr Already done your part for those less fortunate? You can help spread the joy of giving through the Vlogbrothers' a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4hqWfp3374"Project for Awesome/a. All you have to do to participate is create a video about your favorite charity or cause and encourage the YouTube community to support it. The Vlogbrothers have even have promised to donate $1000 to the charity that inspires the best video – so get to work! brbr Happy Holidays,br Ramya R.br YouTube Nonprofits Activism

We wanted to give everyone a heads up that we'll shortly be expanding all standard channels over to the new 960 pixel width. This is the same change we made with the video watch page a few weeks ago, and will make channels wider, beautiful-er, and consistent with the rest of the site. brbr Have channel backgrounds you want to get ready for the change? You can get a sneak peak of what your channel will look like by visiting the following URL today: brbr a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/YourUsername?wide=1"http://www.youtube.com/user/YourUsername?wide=1/a brbr (e.g. if your username is "jane12345," then replace "YourUsername" with "jane12345" to see how your own channel will appear). brbr Holler at us with your a href="http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-feedback/browse_thread/thread/8d48a1b44e5afa0e#"feedback/a,br a href="http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-feedback/browse_thread/thread/8d48a1b44e5afa0e#"The YouTube Team/a

It's been a year of crisis in the global economy. The collapse of credit has left countless people in crushing debt, prompted governments to bail out their nation's strongest companies and brought instability to markets that had seen decades of fast growth in a newly globalized economy. brbr That's the bad news. The good news is that it often takes a crisis to bring about change. brbr This year at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the world's top thinkers and leaders will gather to discuss how to bring about that change. They believe that fresh solutions have to come from fresh sources, so they're asking for your help: YouTube is partnering with WEF to give you the chance to join the debate on four key issues facing the planet today. One lucky YouTuber will even get to fly to Davos, all expenses paid, to attend the Forum, which takes place January 28-February 1, 2009. brbr It's called the a href=" http://youtube.com/thedavosquestion"Davos Debates/a - and there are four main topics being discussed: the economy, politics, ethics, and the environment. Go to the Davos Debates a href=" http://youtube.com/thedavosquestion"YouTube channel/a to vote on the 4 questions - or add your own video outlining your ideas for shaping the post-crisis world. WEF will choose the top video submitted by January 20, and that person will get to fly to Switzerland to join the discussion in person. brbr object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Jx53szfw-Uhl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Jx53szfw-Uhl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object brbr In addition, many of your videos will be played at panel sessions at Davos, where world leaders will listen to your thoughts and opinions as they debate these issues. Tell them your personal stories: how are the world's new challenges affecting your life, and what do you want to see happen next? brbr We live in a world that continually presents new challenges but also offers seemingly limitless possibilities. This is your chance to impact history with your own creative ideas. So submit your video by January 20, and help shape our collective future in 2009. brbr Steve Grovebrbr YouTube News and Politics

Last year we introduced our "holiday video card," and over a million of you sent fun and festive video cards to your friends and loved ones. This year we're bringing it back with even more themes and featured videos for you to choose from, like this one: brbr object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2s7xSZDn2Rchl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2s7xSZDn2Rchl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object brbr To create your card, visit the a href="http://www.youtube.com/greetings"YouTube Greeting Cards site/a where you can choose from dozens of holiday videos uploaded by the YouTube community. Or if you prefer, send a greeting video of your own – either select a video that you've previously uploaded or record a brand new one. For your convenience, we've also added a link on every YouTube watch page under the "share options" section so you can send any embeddable video on YouTube as a greeting card. brbr After you've selected your video, pick a theme, type in your personal message, enter the recipients' email addresses, and voila – instant holiday cheer. brbr And if you're in need of music for a video you've uploaded, we've recently added many holiday songs to our a href=" http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_about"AudioSwap/a catalog. brbr Save trees, save money, and spread joy - all from the comfort of your home. brbr Happy Holidays!brbr The YuleTube Team

We've always been committed to providing you with the tools to have the best possible YouTube experience. Educating parents, teens, and families on how to stay safe on our site is a critical part of that commitment, so we can't think of a more appropriate place to introduce our new a href="http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse"Abuse and Safety Center/a than at the Family Online Safety Institute (a href="http://www.fosi.org/cms/"FOSI/a) conference in Washington, D.C., today. brbr The center features straightforward safety tips and multimedia resources from experts and prominent safety organizations. We are empowering people with the information and tools they need to help them deal with issues like cyberbullying, online harassment, and hateful content. brbr The new center also makes it easier for you to find our a href="http://www.youtube.com/signup_login?next=safety_help"Help and Safety Tool/a, which lets you report concerns to us and gives you granular control over your channel, like the option of blocking comments from specific users or disabling the video comments feature on specific videos. brbr The Abuse and Safety Center is easy to find. Just look at the bottom of any YouTube page and click on the link titled "Abuse and Safety Center". From phishing scams to just learning what it means to be a good YouTube citizen, you'll find the information you need. brbr Finally, check out FOSI's a href="http://www.fosi.org/cms/index.php/ann-conf-08-overview.html"meeting page/a for more information about our presence at the conference, where Shantal Rands from Google's legal team will receive a FOSI Award for Outstanding Achievement in advancing the goal of a safer Internet. Plus, Andrew McLaughlin, Google's Director of Global Policy Government Affairs, is speaking about "Protecting Kids and Free Speech Online," and YouTube's Policy Analyst Micah Schaffer will address online safety in social media. brbr We'll continue to add new information and features to the Center, so check back often. brbr a href="http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse"The YouTube Team/a

Today marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In commemoration, human rights organizations are using YouTube to inform citizens about the significance of the UDHR and the human rights violations that still plague our society. Today's homepage features a sample of these videos, such as the animated piece below which includes information about the UDHR (as well as a catchy soundtrack): br br object width="480" height="295"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTlrSYbCbHEhl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTlrSYbCbHEhl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"/embed/object br br Meanwhile, a href="http://www.youtube.com/witness"WITNESS/a, a nonprofit devoted to exposing humans rights violations through video, is using raw footage from places like a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZCnPu_iJwU"Brazil/a and a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWIQ4Wt4o8"the Democratic Republic of the Congo/a to educate citizens about the human rights atrocities occurring all over the world. WITNESS also wants average citizens to get involved -- you can a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJLSTZ_Y8q0"join their campaign/a to raise awareness by posting a video response to the question: "What image opened your eyes to human rights?" br br Finally, another organization taking a stand on humans rights is The Elders, a group of lifelong peace-promoters including Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and Mary Robinson. These leaders have been using their a href="http://www.youtube.com/everyhumanhasrights""EveryHumanHasRights" YouTube channel/a as a platform to a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVXkN15GwU"speak out against instances of man's inhumanity to man/a over the past year. br br Video continues to serve as a powerful tool to expose incidents that threaten the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And while it may be impossible to end human rights abuses everywhere, we can be grateful that there are citizens armed with cameras who help bring these abuses to light. br br Peace,br Ramya R.br YouTube Nonprofits Activism

YouTube gives you the chance to stay on top of a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17pz0R_qZo"news and current events/a, practice some a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg"sweet dance moves/a, explore new a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scTkyKARqEA"hobbies/a and a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOv7ycbTxi8"interests/a, and a whole lot more. So, today the Google Desktop team is pleased to release a a href="http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/youtubegadget.html"YouTube gadget/a for a href="http://desktop.google.com/"Google Desktop/a. Once installed, you'll be able to bring up the gadget in an instant and search for videos (hint: pressing the shift key twice brings up all your hidden Desktop gadgets). The videos will play directly inside the gadget, which also shows a feed of the day's most popular clips. brbr The gadget works on a href="http://desktop.google.com/linux/index.html"Linux/a and a href="http://desktop.google.com/index.html?ignua=1"Windows/a. We hope you enjoy, and please a href="http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Desktop_Requests-and-Suggestions/topics"let us know/a what you think. brbr Cheers,br Ronald H. and James Y.br Google Desktop Team

Ãndice das mudanças brbr O player: brbr - O player do YouTube agora é maior: com 640x360 (proporção 16:9). br - Vídeos no formato padrão, na proporção de 4:3, ficarão entre faixas, o que significa que eles estarão centralizados no player com duas faixas pretas em cada lado. brbr Layout de página: brbr - O YouTube agora tem 960px de largura (contra os 875px anteriores) no Watch, Home, Search e Browse. br - A página Watch LD (lado direito) tem agora 300px contra 360px - os anúncios estão bem melhores! br - Banners da página "Assista o Vídeo" ("banners dos parceiros) baixaram sua escala para 300x45, preservando sua proporção. brbr Anúncios no Player: brbr - Os anúncios no YouTube InVideo estão centralizados no player. br - Os anúncios Gráficos "AFV" também estão centralizados no player. br - Os anúncios de Texto "AFV" foram "escalonados" para a largura do player. brbr Ãreas sem mudanças brbr - Os Canais ainda não foram escalonados em formato wide. (Mas em breve serão!) brbr Aproveite as mudanças!

Have you ever wanted to add music to your videos but just didn't have the right music or the technical know-how to do it? Well, it's YouTube AudioSwap and, most recently, Rumblefish to the rescue! brbr This week we've announced a partnership with Rumblefish, the sonic branding and music licensing agency, to provide you with access to thousands of fully licensed songs from Rumblefish's vast catalog of independent artists. Using our AudioSwap tool, you can now easily add pre-approved Rumblefish music, or selections from our already extensive catalog of music, to your new or existing videos. brbr By giving your video a music soundtrack, you can provide a dramatic touch that turns an average upload into a tearjerker or hipshaker. Check out this video before the audio swap... brbr object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4bw8D9mixTchl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4bw8D9mixTchl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/object brbr ...and after we give it an audio make-over, courtesy of Rumblefish (and composer Franz Liszt): brbr object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wjfb6n91b3khl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wjfb6n91b3khl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/object brbr Soon we plan on uploading hundreds of more songs to our AudioSwap music library, in a wide variety of genres: from ambient, metal, and experimental electronica, to RB and classical scores. So check AudioSwap frequently for updates. brbr For more information on AudioSwap and how to use it, visit this a href="http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_about"helpful instructional page./a. brbr Start Swappin'! br br a href="mailto: music@youtube.com"The YouTube Team/abr