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YouTube launched in 2005 as a video sharing platform, and was acquired by Google (now Alphabet) in 2006. It has built an entire community of creators that run channels dedicated to topics like gaming, tech reviews, and beauty. It also houses news videos and entertainment such as music videos, movie trailers, and clips from late-night TV shows. YouTube’s rapid growth has not been without problems. YouTubers typically make money from ads that run in front of their videos, but if they break the platform’s rules, their channels and videos can be demonetized. Executives and moderators have worked to combat harassment, misinformation, terrorist propaganda, hate content, and other abuse. The Verge runs two YouTube channels, The Verge and Verge Science.

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YouTube is testing “AI-enhanced” suggestions for comment replies.

Could be a helpful way to for creators to more easily reply to comments from their audience. The test is small right now and available only on the mobile app, according to a post about the test.


You can now make your longer Short.

You can now upload YouTube Shorts that can be as much as three minutes long.

They won’t immediately show up as Shorts, though, according to YouTube’s Rene Ritchie — the full rollout for that across YouTube will take a bit.


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Let’s stop (motion) and take another look Over the Garden Wall.

Though Over the Garden Wall still remains criminally unavailable on Max where it belongs, a new two-minute-long stop-motion short from series creator Patrick McHale and Aardman is coming to Cartoon Network’s YouTube channel on November 3rd.


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Scope creep.

Colin of the This Does Not Compute YouTube channel says what started as a Macintosh SE/30 motherboard repair turned into spending “over a year and about a thousand bucks” building this franken-Mac, instead.

He used some original parts; but it’s otherwise assembled from new old-stock chips, a custom motherboard, and solid polymer caps that will “never leak like electrolytic ones tend to.” The end result? A functional, RGB-laden, translucent SE/30.


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YouTube has almost reversed all the damage from a channel-deleting glitch.

After a bug “incorrectly flagged” some channels for spam and removed them, YouTube started working on getting the channels back. That’s done, the Team YouTube X account posted — now it’s just working to get the last few videos reinstated.


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Toxic fandoms are scaring the hell out of studios.

Focus grouping upcoming films is a pretty standard practice. But according to Variety, the rise of toxic online fandoms who treat review bombing and leading harassment campaigns like it’s their job has prompted many of Hollywood’s studios to start soliciting feedback from “superfans” about how to avoid potential backlash from trolls who “are just out for blood, regardless.”


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Your YouTube account might not actually be spam.

YouTube says some channels are being “incorrectly flagged for Spam and removed.” The company is reinstating affected channels — I hope it didn’t happen to you!


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Final smash.

As previously announced, Masahiro Sakurai’s excellent YouTube channel — which has covered everything from organizing classic games to the nitty gritty of game development — is coming to an end. The silver lining is that the Smash Bros. boss is teasing that a “special finale” is in the works.


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Successful YouTube creators have less bling for their backgrounds.

As Google reengineers its cost base, The Information reports that the gold “Play Button” plaque handed out for reaching one million subscribers is now around 30 percent smaller, weighing just one pound compared to the previous four pounds. YouTube says the lighter and smaller awards resulted in a “more sustainable design.”


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Critical Role’s animated D&D series is free to watch (if you’re quick).

Amazon Prime has added every episode of The Legend of Vox Machina to YouTube, with all 24 episodes set to be removed again once season three launches on October 3rd.

That could bring some new fans to the series, and is a great way to speedrun the original 440+ hour Critical Role D&D campaign it's based on.


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YouTube’s conversational AI chatbot is more widely available.

The tool, announced last year, is now available to all Premium subscribers in the US on Android, the company says. This doesn’t personally sound like something I’d use, but it’s there if you want it.


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MrBeast has been sued by five contestants from his upcoming Prime Video reality competition show.

The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, alleges “multiple causes of action related to the chronic mistreatment of and neglect suffered by participants” of the show, Variety reports.

In August, The New York Times reported that conditions on the show, Beast Games, have been pretty bad.


YouTube Hype gives smaller creators a place to shine

It’s a new way for viewers to share the stuff they really like — and for creators to grow on an increasingly busy platform.

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YouTubers can now share their channels using QR codes.

You can grab your QR code from the YouTube app. Big year for QR codes!


Viral true crime story or just another AI fake?

A reader asked the Denver Post why it hadn’t covered a grisly and salacious 2014 murder in Littleton, CO. It hadn’t, because the crime never happened.

But there it is on YouTube and Spotify, accumulating millions of views with seemingly AI-generated voiceovers and faces. True crime fans say they reported the videos months ago after YouTube recommended them, but they aren’t being removed.


The YouTube channel of True Crime Case Files, with video after video of supposedly true crimes, but AI generated faces and stories that don’t check out.
Screenshot: YouTube (@TrueCrimeCasefiles0)
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Every Frame a Painting is back!

I have said before, and still firmly believe, that Every Frame a Painting is the best YouTube series of all time. And now, after eight years of silence, it’s back! (Apparently the folks at XOXO this weekend got a preview of the duo’s short film, too, which fills me jealousy.)

BRB watching all the EFAP videos again for the 9,326th time.


Me, Myself, and iJustine

I spent a day with the YouTuber that never quit.

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Oh no, I’m going to pay for Sunday Ticket now.

It’s year two for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube, and it appears there’s not a ton of new stuff, but the combination of Yahoo Fantasy integration and a build-your-own-multiview feature is right up my alley. Sunday Ticket is expensive, but might be worth it.

Oh, and PSA: do not under any circumstances subscribe through the App Store. That price is highway robbery.