Download YouTube Videos for Offline Viewing

Ever wish you could watch that piano-playing cat at 35,000 feet? Alas, YouTube requires a live Internet connection, and Wi-Fi is still pretty hard to find in the friendly skies.
Fortunately, you can download YouTube videos to your PC for anytime, anywhere viewing, no Internet required.
There are countless ways to "rip" YouTube vids, but I'm partial to Keep Tube. It's available as both a Firefox extension and a browser bookmarklet, the latter compatible with Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.
What's more, Keep Tube works with not only YouTube, but also CollegeHumor, Facebook, Google Video, Metacafe, and countless other sites.
When you see a video you like, just click the Keep Tube icon (in Firefox) or bookmarklet. From there you'll land at a Keep Tube page where you can download your video in one or more formats and sizes.
My advice: choose MP4 whenever possible, and always at the highest available resolution. YouTube's native FLV format requires a special player, whereas MP4 works in Divx, QuickTime, and other more-common players.
Also, MP4 files usually play nicely on smartphones, so you can take your saved videos to go.

Judge Rules in Favor of YouTube Over Viacom

Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google's video-sharing site YouTube has been dismissed by the court, ending for now an acrimonious legal battle between the companies that has been going on for more than three years. [Read Viacom vs. Google's YouTube: What's in it for You.]

Judge Louis L. Stanton, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, granted Google's motion for summary judgment on Wednesday.

"This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the Web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We're excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world," wrote Kent Walker, Google vice president and general counsel, in an official blog post.

Viacom didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Viacom hit Google in March 2007 with a $1 billion lawsuit over what it described as widespread and willful infringement of Viacom's movies, TV shows and other content on YouTube.

Google, which had bought YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion, defended itself by arguing that YouTube complies with the requirements in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to remove infringing material upon owners' requests.

Viacom's Response

Viacom, unsurprisingly, wasn't pleased with the ruling, calling it "fundamentally flawed" and at odds with the DMCA, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Viacom intends to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

"After years of delay, this decision gives us the opportunity to have the Appellate Court address these critical issues on an accelerated basis. We look forward to the next stage of the process," reads Viacom's statement.

The case has been closely followed as a litmus test of U.S. copyright law in the Internet age, and of U.S. courts' interpretation of the DMCA.

There's a consensus that the way the case is eventually settled, whether at the appellate level or in the Supreme Court, will be key to how digital content is published and shared on the Internet.

Siding with Viacom are media and entertainment companies that feel that their expensively produced content -- articles, books, television shows, movies -is being pirated by and profited from by sites like YouTube.

On the other side are those sympathetic to YouTube, who say that content owners need to adapt to today's reality of widespread digital sharing and copying, find ways to exploit and benefit from this, and make use of the DMCA's provisions to exercise their rights.

Web Tips: E-Mail a Page, Customize YouTube, Kid-Friendly Videos

Here's how to quickly send a Web page, personalize your YouTube landing page, and point children and tweens to appropriate videos online.

It's been a while since I passed along some useful Web tips. Heck ,the last time was back in May, with "Quick Fixes for Internet Annoyances." This week I've got some more ideas for you. 

Quickly E-Mail a Web Page
So you just stumbled across a killer blog post, maybe something to do with, oh, I don't know, solving PC hassles. It's so good, you immediately want to share it with friends and family members.

There are plenty of ways to send a Web page. You can copy the URL and paste it into an e-mail. You can look for an embedded "e-mail this" icon and use the site's own mail form. Heck, I've seen some people take a screenshot of page and send that.

Why overcomplicate things? Both Internet Explorer and Firefox have built-in tools for e-mailing whatever page you're viewing.

In Firefox, for example, click File, Send Link. Presto: You get a new e-mail message (in your default mail client) with the page name in the Subject line and the link already pasted into the body. Choose your recipient(s), add a quick note, and click Send. Easy-peasy.

In IE, click Page, Send Link by E-mail to get the exact same result. Don't confuse this with the nearby Send Page by E-mail option, which embeds the entire Web page in the body of your e-mail, not just a link. While that may seem like a convenient way to go--hey, here's the whole thing, no browser required--IE does a terrible job of preserving the formatting of the original page.

Customize Your YouTube Homepage

You probably don't give much thought to what appears on the YouTube homepage every time you visit. You should, however, especially if you have a YouTube account. Let's take a look at some of the settings you can--and possibly should--change.

To get started, head to YouTube and sign into your account (if you're not already signed in). Near the top of the page, click Add/Remove Modules. (If you don't see that option, find your username in the upper-right corner, click it, and then choose Account. Finally, click Customize Homepage.)

As you can see, YouTube offers about dozen "modules" you can add to or remove from your homepage. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but there are few worth discussing.

First, I strongly recommend turning off Recent Activity, which shows your friends and subscriptions just about everything you've done on YouTube lately. I think what I watch or "favorite" on YouTube is my business, thank you. (Imagine my embarrassment if friends learned I like piano-playing cats!)

Second, if you upload a lot of videos and want to know how they're trending, enable Insight Map and Insight Chart. When you return to your homepage, you'll see various statistics and data on how (and where) your videos are being viewed.

Third, after clicking Save Changes and returning to your homepage, click the Edit link atop any module that has one and you'll be able to make changes to how many videos are displayed and in what layout.

Finally, if you want to change the order in which modules appear on your homepage, just click their corresponding up/down arrows. For example, if you want the aforementioned Insight Map to reside at the very top, click its up arrow repeatedly until it lands there.

YouTube offers a lot more homepage customization. Experiment a bit and you'll be able to configure your own page exactly how you like it.

Turn Your PC Into a Kid-Friendly TV

Calling all parents: YouTube is a mighty popular destination for kids, but not all the content there is kid-appropriate.

Send your toddlers and tweens to Kideos instead . The site serves up thousands upon thousands of child-friendly videos, from Animaniacs to Pixar shorts to Sesame Street to Word Girl (a personal favorite).

All you do is click an age group (0-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc.), then choose a "featured video" to watch or click into any of the dozens of available "channels." There's also a search option, natch.

When you click a video, you're presented with a simplistic player--and none of the often-disturbing user comments commonly found on YouTube proper.

My favorite Kideos feature? The free iPhone companion app. When you need a five-minute break from screaming in the car or the kids are getting restless at the restaurant, presto: child-friendly video on the go.

Just one word of warning: Avoid that insidious "Gummy Bear" song at all costs. You'll never get it out of your head! 

** GOOD LUCK ** 

Hands On With YouTube's New Video Editor

YouTube has a new bare bones video editing tool that allows you to clip your videos, and add a soundtrack right in your browser. The new tool, which follows in the footsteps of similar online video editors such as the now defunct YouTube Remixer powered by Adobe Premiere Express , is a bit limited, but if you want to add titles, transitions, and music to your videos, it will do the trick.

Keep in mind that the new YouTube Video Editor is still a work in progress, so you might get hit with a few bugs as you try it out. To get started all you need is your YouTube ID and a few of your own video uploads, as the video editor does not let you edit other user's material.

Clip your video

When you sign in to the YouTube Video Editor, you'll see a video tab with all your personal video uploads, and an audio tab where you can select music tracks for your new masterpiece. To start editing, just click and drag your videos down to the editing panel (where the camera icon is).

When you hover over the clips you've selected for editing, click on the scissor icon to launch your video in a pop-up window. From there, you can shorten or lengthen your clip by moving the sliders below the main video window. When you're done, just hit save, and the video editor will automatically merge your edited clip with the next video in your sequence.

To see what your edited clip looks like, you click on the player window on the right side.

Add some music

If you want to use a music soundtrack for your video instead of the recorded sound you picked up while filming, you click on the audio tab at the top to reveal YouTube's AudioSwap library . AudioSwap contains "tens of thousands of songs" that you can freely use in your YouTube videos. All you have to do is select a song and either drag it down to the soundtrack editor or just press the plus sign to the right of each title.

AudioSwap is a handy feature, but don't expect any big hits from major labels like Warner Music Group . Most of the songs in the AudioSwap library are by pretty obscure artists, though I did find a few recognizable names among the unknowns, including Nine Inch Nails, Cowboy Junkies, and everybody's favorite rodent-centric band, Alvin and the Chipmunks.

You should also note that some AudioSwap tracks are subject to licensing agreements, which means YouTube may include advertisements when certain tracks are used. You also can't edit the AudioSwap track, so the song will only play from the beginning until your video stops.

Once you're done editing your video, you just give it a title, hit publish, and YouTube takes care of the rest.

As the new editing tool matures, it would be nice to see more features such as the ability to add titles, transitions, visual effects, and more robust audio editing capabilities. But if you just need to shorten up your video or throw in a novelty soundtrack, YouTube Video Editor will do the trick.

If you're looking for online alternatives to YouTube Video Editor you can try Photobucket's Remix, which is another Adobe Premiere Express product. You could also check out the free online video editing tool JayCut , which has a YouTube export option.