That’s right, Youtube Rewind 2014 is here. Every year, for the past two years, the Youtube team has called all the major viral and popular Youtube creators together to create a crazy, amazing, random, but overall very entertaining mashup of all the popular trends. Last year, the topic was What Does The Fox Say; the year before that, Gangnam Style. This year: Turn Down For What.
Ok, ok, if you actually watched the video (and if not, watch above) you know that unlike 2013 and 2012, the “Turn Down For 2014” title didn’t totally fit with the video itself. In 2013 and 2012, Gangnam Style and What Does The Fox Say were the talk of the town, going mega-viral. They deserved to be the title and subject of the yearly summary. The problem is, 2014 didn’t have a standout trend. Sure, you could say “Happy”, by Pharrel, or Frozen, or “All About That Bass”, by Meghan Trainor, and of course all of those were featured in some way, but if you think about it none of those trends were nearly as popular as Gangnam and the Fox, for not nearly as long. Even Flappy Bird had it’s 7 seconds of fame in the video. So even though Turn Down For 2014 doesn’t nearly accurately represent the trends for the past year through the whole video pretty much every giant trend to small viral channel is featured.
Despite the fact that there isn’t a clear topic for the video, that doesn’t mean that the video won’t be filled with the best Youtubers there are. For instance, PewDiePie, the most subscribed Youtuber to date, opens the video, and is followed by the likes of HolaSoyGerman (20m subs), Smosh (19m subs), Jenna Marbles (14m subs), ERB (11m subs), TheFineBros (10m subs), skydoesminecraft (10m subs), Freddie Wong (7m subs), Michelle Phan (7m subs), Pentatonix (7m subs), Prank VS Prank (6.5m subs), and many, many, more. For the full list, click HERE and open the description.
Overall, the video is great, nicely weaving together pretty much all of the trends and viral videos from the past year. It’s nice to see Youtube (technically, Google) creating a video at the standards of filming, editing and animation that the best creators of Youtube itself have been setting. The video even gives people like me who follow Youtube, and know many of the stars in the video, a sense of nostalgia and wonder for what the next year in Youtube will bring.
April Fools Day is about celebrating fools. People who are so gullible, they’ll believe everything. April Fools day have almost become a tradition for people in America, and big companies have caught on to it to. Here is a round-up of everything that happend on April 1, 2013:
Google Nose
If you’ve searched the web this morning(April 1, 2013), which you probably have, you might have noticed Google’s new addition to its browser, Google Nose Beta. Google Nose Beta allows you to smell anything, from wet dogs to the inside of an Egyptian tomb, right from your browser. It unlocks infinite possibilities. Google have already started working off it, making AdScent Beta, advertising with smells, Foodles, Google Doodles with smells, YouTube Nosed Captions, comments with smells on YouTube, and Scratch and Sniff E-books.
Google Nose “uses” a high-tech inter sound-wave system that temporarily aligns molecules to let you smell whatever you want to smell. But say you want to smell a rose. Or a ghost. Google’s Aromabase has it. With over 15 million scentibytes, Google’s Aromabase has tons and tons of smells. And if you have an Android phone or tablet, you’re in luck. Android Ambient Odor Detection allows you to detect a scent, and send it to whoever may like/dislike what you smelled. As Google said “Your internet, smellier.”
YouTube Spotlight
Ever since YouTube started, their main goal was to find the best video in the world. So far, millions of videos have been uploaded and the contest has gone from a small question to a internet sensation. Many companies and events get information off YouTube. People post funny, cool, interesting, or just crazy stuff on YouTube. The original contest was forgotten. But, this morning(April 1, 2013), YouTube made an announcement that will change everything.
YouTube announced that at midnight, they will no longer be accepting videos, or even let the public look at previously uploaded videos. They will move on, and go back to they’re original question: What is the greatest video of all time? I know, most of you reading this will say, “Gangnam Style” without hesitation. But the judges are trying to make it as fair as possible. Still, they have to look through all the 2 million+ videos, so give them a break. It will be interesting what they will come up with, so stay tuned for my follow-up article when YouTube does announce the winner in 2023.
Gmail Blue
Ever get tired of the plain white and red of Gmail? Well, the Gmail team thought of that to. They even went as far as to making the beautiful, fast and powerful Gmail Blue.
Gmail Blue is the exact same thing as Gmail except…. wait for it……it’s all blue. The compose button. The word compose. The compose window. It’s all blue. You don’t have to set it blue. It just is. But why blue? Well, the Gmail team went through lots of colors, like yellow, green, brown, red, but found blue the most fitting. Blue also represents nature(well, green really represents nature but…). They wanted to show that nature is great, but not even mother nature could match the fastness and smoothness of Gmail Blue.
Google Treasure Maps Mode
Treasure is always something pirates leave behind. Captain Kidd, one of the more successful pirates, is soposed to have left a giant treasure hidden around the world. And recently, the Google Street View team found Captain Kidd’s maps at the bottom of a coral reef. Tons of them. All the maps they found are partially not decoded, meaning you have to hold the map a certain way or be at a certain place for the map to work. The Google team knew they couldn’t do it alone, so they decided to make Google Treasure Maps Mode.
Google Treasure Maps Mode is a virtual scan of all the maps the team found, but still with the special unlockable features. And guess what? Anyone can use it. All you have to do is go on Google Maps, and go to the place you usually go to change the type of map, and Treasure will be there. Hit that, and the virtual map will be there. Over time, the treasure map will be decoded by the world, and all we will have to do is find the treasure. Who will get the treasure is another story entirely.
Virgin’s Bottomless Plane
It’s not what it sounds like. The plane is not really bottomless, but it does have a glass bottom. I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but Virgin says tourism will never be the same. Still, it would provide a beautiful ride for everyone, not only the person with the window seat. But, if you are afraid of heights, I recommend you stay away from it.
April Fools Day is always a laugh. Wether it is food coloring or clock changing, it is always fun to watch someone be tricked. Led by Google, lots and lots of companies have followed that suit, and have made fake products or services just for laughs. It is one day of the year where designers, analysts, CEOs, product managers and most everyone else gets to have fun. But, some of the things they design are actually pretty cool, and would be awesome to have in the real world. I mean, how cool would it be to fly on a see-through plane while looking up what a wet dog smells like. Then you get a blue email telling you to look out the window, and find out you are above a clue to Captain Kidd’s treasure! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these ideas do get into the real world someday. And I’m not kidding.
TOTW: Google's Project Ara Modular Phone May Be The Future Of SmartphonesOctober 30, 2014
