Sharper than ever. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
YouTube videos available in super-sharp 4K can finally be enjoyed on Apple devices this fall. Not only will 4K content be available on Apple TV, but also on iPhone and iPad, according to the first iOS 14 beta.
Why are you still using your mouse?! Photo: Florian Krumm/Cult of Mac
You’ll be amazed at what you can do with keyboard shortcuts on YouTube. There’s a key for almost everything you could ever need while watching videos. Learn them all in this how-to.
Time to crack down on video binging? Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
How much time have you wasted watching YouTube videos this week? It’s really easy to find out, thanks to a helpful tool built into the YouTube app on iOS. Here’s how to use it to uncover hard truths you probably aren’t ready for.
Adding a single character to a URL can let you bypass some websites’ metered paywalls and watch YouTube videos without having to endure those annoying ads.
The simple hack — typing a “dot” immediately after the “.com” in a site’s URL — doesn’t work on every single website out there. But it does give you an advertisement-free pass to many of them.
Turn your passion into a lucrative side hustle. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Things are weird in the world, but it’s a golden age for the digital content creator. People are looking for videos to keep them entertained and informed like never before. So if you’ve got an idea, talent or creative drive, this bundle of resources will help you connect with an eager audience on one of the biggest platforms of all: YouTube.
A familiar sight on mobile, desktop and laptop devices, advertisements disguised as surveys will soon be on YouTube via your Apple TV.
With viewership surging, YouTube says it soon will add on-screen advertising surveys to its Apple TV apps, including its YouTube TV subscription service.
Apple makes technology so intuitive that even a kid can pick it up and use its basic features without too many problems. But they probably shouldn’t be able to find feature-breaking bugs, right?
According to a recent Reddit post, an 8-year-old kid was able to find a workaround to the Screen Time restrictions that let parents block out access to apps like YouTube. This feature was introduced in iOS 12 to record the amount of time users spend looking at their devices. It also lets parents better control what their offspring are doing on an iOS device.
There's no need to stare at a screen just to listen to YouTube music. Photo: Szabo Viktor/Unsplash
Unlike streaming music, which often keeps playing when you switch away from the app or webpage, YouTube playback stops as soon as you leave mobile Safari. This means that using YouTube as a music player is out of the question. Or is it? Can you make YouTube play just the audio, even when you’re not showing the video? You can, and it’s really, really simple.
There is a workaround. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
A growing number of third-generation Apple TV owners are experiencing errors when attempting to watch YouTube content.
It seems the problems occur when watching certain videos, while others play just fine. One user who contacted Apple was told that the problem is on Google’s end — not with Apple TV.
Amazing Stories is now available on Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
The last episode of Amazing Stories season 1 already aired last week, and if you haven’t binged the Steven Spielberg-led series yet, Apple’s new behind-the-scenes look at the show will have you ready to dive in.
Apple published an inside look of Amazing Stories today on YouTube with interviews from executive producers Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz. The duo, along with cast members from each episode, discuss their drive to create fantasy and sci-fi stories that still resonate with the complexities of human reality. To be honest, I always thought the show looked kind of boring but this new featurette has me pretty intrigued.
If the singing thing doesn't pan out... Screenshot: Selena Gomez/Instagram
Say what you will about celebrity influencers. They are using social media to tell millions of followers to stay home and “wash your hands.”
Taking a break from vanity and self-branding (well, sort of), influencers have answered the call by the United Nations to use their platforms to promote public health messages to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
Big tech is setting its sights on taking down TikTok. Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC
TikTok, the popular video-sharing app that is especially popular among young people, is going to get some fresh competition from Google later this year.
Google is reportedly planning to create its own version of TikTok with a new Youtube feature called “Shorts” that will live inside the platform’s apps on Android and iOS.
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth premieres April 17 on Apple TV+ Photo: Apple
Apple is gearing up to celebrate Earth Day 2020 later this month with an all-new animated film and the greatest actress of her generation, Meryl Streep, has lent her voice to the project as the narrator.
The first trailer for Apple’s Earth Day show, Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, landed on YouTube this morning and it looks like it will be something kids and adults fall in love with. The only thing more soothing in the trailer than Meryl’s voice is the cozy animation style that strikes a balance between being super detailed and approachable at the same time.
Apple Music still has the advantage, however. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
YouTube Music’s latest update for iOS gives you the ability to view song lyrics for the first time.
The feature helps YouTube Music better compete with the likes of Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify — which have offered song lyrics for some time. But YouTube doesn’t do real-time tracking yet.
YouTube videos are going to look a bit worse the next month. Photo: YouTube
YouTube viewers are set to see a big drop in video quality worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Alphabet-owned streaming giant revealed that it will reduce the quality of all videos to standard definition starting today as a way to alleviate internet congestions due to more people having to shelter in place.
Apple appears to have heeded the E.U. request to lower quality of its Apple TV+ service to reduce the strain on the internet. Photo: Cult of Mac
Following a request to streaming services to switch from high definition to standard in an effort to reduce the strain on the internet, indications were Friday that Apple has followed suit of other major services and slowed down its Apple TV+ streaming service.
Cult of Mac has confirmed through two Apple TV users – one in Great Britain and one in southern France – that the quality of content on Apple TV+ has been lowered. Subscribers described the differences as primarily fast-moving content that is slower to refresh, heavily compressed and more pixelated.
YouTube and Amazon Prime Video cut streaming bitrates in Europe. Image: Brad Gibson/Cult of Mac
YouTube and Amazon Prime Video confirmed Friday they will will start throttling video quality in Europe in an effort to reduce the strain on network infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary measure will see all YouTube videos displayed in standard definition by default, though, it is still be possible for viewers to select a higher resolution.
ViDL is a YouTube download app for Mac. It comes from Ole Moritz, developer of the amazing Pythonista and Editorial iOS apps. ViDL is a simple wrapper for the youtube-dl command-line tool, so if you already use that, you don’t need this. But the app is far easier to use than a command-line tools. Plus, it offers a built-in browser, in case you need to log in to a site to get access to the target videos. There’s even a ViDL Safari extension.
YouTube’s latest change on mobile swaps the familiar “Trending” tab with a new “Explore” tab. As of Friday, it’s available to all users on iPhone and iPad (and Android) following a lengthy test. It hopes to make great content from popular categories easier to find.
Castro, one of the top two or three podcast apps for iOS, now lets you side load YouTube videos into the app. It’s audio-only, so this isn’t a way to download videos for offline viewing. But it’s a sweet feature for anyone who just wants to listen to a presentation/lecture/etc. instead of having to watch it.
Book a flight and travel light. The iPhone 11 Pro might be all you need. Screenshot: Travel Shortfilms/YouTube
Still not persuaded that an upgrade to the iPhone 11 Pro is worth the money?
If you are a photographer or wanna-be filmmaker that still needs convincing, travel vlogger Harshit Vora makes a breath-taking argument with a montage of 4K clips from an eight-day trip to Egypt.
In the olden days, we had to download videos through our eyes, and we couldn't even save them. Photo: Sven Scheuermeier/Unsplash
I’ve made several attempts at creating/repurposing iOS shortcuts that download YouTube videos and save them for offline viewing. The problem is, most of the shortcuts broke after a while, or proved so unreliable that I gave up on them. And, judging by the responses I get via Twitter, you folks are also very interested in downloading YouTube videos.
Well, this weekend I finally found a way to make it work reliably. And because it uses a third-party service to locate the downloadable video link, it means that someone else is making sure that it all keeps working. Hopefully. For now. Fingers crossed.
All 8 episodes of Little America now streaming on Apple TV+ Photo: Apple
I canceled my Apple TV+ subscription just over a month after the service launch, but the company’s latest batch of behind-the-scenes videos is making consider giving it a second chance.
Following up on yesterday’s preview of Mythic Quest, Apple dropped three more featurettes that give an in-depth look at episodes of Little America. Boasting a Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%, Little America has been one of the most well-reviewed shows on Apple TV+ and it’s not hard to see why in the new videos.
J. Lo and Shakira are sharing the stage for this year's show. Photo: Pepsi Co.
Music fans won’t even need to tune into Super Bowl LIV to catch a glimpse of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s joint halftime show.
The NFL revealed today that all musical performances at this year’s big game will be released as a visual album on Apple Music. Along with the J. Lo/Shakira set, you’ll also be able to stream the National Anthem with Demi Lovato and America the Beautiful with Yolanda Adams.