YouTube has a feature called YouTube Mix, which automatically creates a playlist with many videos related to the video that's currently playing. Now YouTube tests a new feature based on YouTube Mix: it's called YouTube Radio. "A non-stop radio station based on the current video. You can like, dislike and dismiss videos to tailor  your Radio Station to your taste."


Here are some screenshots that show the existing YouTube Mix feature:



{ Thanks, Tolis. }

Google promotes a security feature from the account settings page: security checklist. You can protect your Google Account by reviewing your recovery information (phone, email), your recent activity (a list of devices that have accessed your account in the last 28 days) and your account permissions (sites and applications to which you've granted permission to access your Google Account). There's also a setting that lets you disable access for less secure apps.


It only takes a few minutes to review this information and you'll get a reward: 2 GB of free Google Drive storage. The nice thing is that Google's bonus storage is not limited to 2 or 3 years like in other Google promotions: it's permanently added to your account. You need to complete the checkup by 17 February 2015 and you'll get the free storage at the end of the month.

"After you've gone through the checkup successfully, you'll see three green checkboxes (see below) that confirm you're eligible for the free storage and, more importantly, that you've taken steps to enhance your online safety. We'll be granting the storage automatically to everyone around 28 February 2015 and we'll send you an email when your adjustment is complete," explains Google. It's worth pointing out that "Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education users are not eligible for the bonus storage".

I got 4 green checkboxes for my account: recovery information checked, recent activity checked, access for less secure apps enabled, account permissions checked.

{ via Google Drive blog }

Gmail has recently updated the icon for PDF attachments: it no longer uses the Adobe Reader icon and it opted for a basic text icon.


Here's the PDF icon used by Gmail since its release back in 2004:


Google Drive also shows the new icon for PDF files:


Now that browsers like Chrome and Firefox have built-in support for opening PDF files, Gmail and Google Drive let you open PDF files, Adobe Reader is less important and fewer people install Adobe's PDF software. That's probably the reason why Google picked a different icon.

{ Thanks, Joost Honig and Angelo Giuffrida. }

I've noticed that YouTube's autoplay experiment shows up more and more often, which usually means that it's ready for release. One of the changes in the latest iteration is that the player has a "next" button, which lets you play the video from the "up next" section. There's no "previous" button, but you can use the browser's "back" button.



"When autoplay is enabled, a suggested video will automatically play next," explains YouTube. If you don't like this feature, you can disable it from the right sidebar or from the player's controls.



{ Thanks, Florian Kiersch. }

My Maps Pro is available for free and now Google Earth Pro is also free. Google Earth's business version can be downloaded from this page and you need a free license key, which is sent by email. It's worth pointing out that a Google Earth Pro license used to cost about $400 per year.

Google Earth Pro has a lot of advanced features that aren't available in the regular Google Earth:

* premium data layers for the US: demographic, parcel and traffic
* advanced GIS data importing features
* measure area, radius and circumference on the ground
* print high-resolution screenshot
* movie maker: record and save 3D imagery
* no more ads


"Over the last 10 years, businesses, scientists and hobbyists from all over the world have been using Google Earth Pro for everything from planning hikes to placing solar panels on rooftops. Google Earth Pro has all the easy-to-use features and detailed imagery of Google Earth, along with advanced tools that help you measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and record HD movies of your virtual flights around the world," informs Google.

When you select a result in Google Image Search, you can now see more related images. Google used to display 8 related images, but now there are 7 related images and a "view more" option that shows a long list of similar images.


If you spot an image you like, it's now easier to find related images.


You can also use the "search by image" feature and click "visually similar images" to find images that closely resemble the search result you've picked.

Google's answers obtained from web pages now include the date when the page was last updated. Search results also include this information and it's pretty useful because a news article from 2004 would provide a different answer for "what's the most expensive car?" than an article from 2014.

YouTube announced that it now defaults to the HTML5 player for both YouTube.com and YouTube embeds. "YouTube uses HTML5 <video> by default in Chrome, IE 11, Safari 8 and in beta versions of Firefox."

Browsers now support features like Adaptive Bitrate streaming and Encrypted Media Extensions, so YouTube can reduce buffering and add content protection without using plugins. The VP9 codec "gives you higher quality video resolution with an average bandwidth reduction of 35 percent", WebRTC provides broadcasting tools, while fullscreen APIs add a feature that used to require plugins, keyboard shortcuts or other browser options.

"Given the progress we've made with HTML5 <video>, we're now defaulting to the HTML5 player on the web. We're also deprecating the "old style" of Flash <object> embeds and our Flash API. We encourage all embedders to use the <iframe> API, which can intelligently use whichever technology the client supports," informs YouTube.


It's interesting to notice that YouTube's HTML5 page doesn't even let you enable or disable the player in Chrome, IE 11, Safari 8 and in Firefox's beta/dev releases. "The HTML5 player is currently used when possible," mentions the page.

YouTube Music Key is not just for YouTube's mobile apps. One of its feature is also available if you use YouTube's desktop site: ad-free music videos. You'll notice the "ad-free" label next to the video title. Mouse over the label and you'll see this message: "Your YouTube Music Key subscription lets you play this video without ads."



"Subscribe to YouTube Music Key and you'll be able to listen to music without seeing or hearing ads. Ads won’t be shown before or during eligible music videos you watch on youtube.com, and music videos and playlists will play continuously on your mobile device, without interruption. You will still see ads on other YouTube videos, however. The Ad-free badge tells you that a video will be ad-free," informs YouTube.

YouTube experiments with a slightly different interface that uses rounded icons for channels and moves the title and buttons like "add to" and "share" to the right.

Here's an image that shows both the experimental interface and YouTube's regular UI:


YouTube's mobile apps already use rounded icons, just like Google+ and Google's navigation bar. "If your Channel is merged with a Google+ profile or page, then your YouTube Channel Icon and your Google+ Profile Image are synched," informs YouTube's help center.