ProTube Extension 2.0 for YouTube Released on Cydia

ProTube Extension 2.0, an update to the popular YouTube extension by developer Jonas Gessner, has just been released on Cydia.

This is an extension for the YouTube app by Google which can be downloaded from the AppStore for free! The YouTube app is one of the best YouTube apps out there, but you cannot download videos by default, change the playback quality, set the default playback quality etc. etc. There are a lot of things missing in the YouTube app! ProTube Extension adds every feature that the YouTube app is missing right into the YouTube app!

Features:
● Download any video in any available quality (from 150p to 1080p Full HD)
● Downloaded videos are displayed and managed in ProTube's gorgeous Download Manager
● Download just the audio of a video and listen to it with ProTube's beautiful audio player
● Select the video playback quality
● Choose a default playback quality
● Import downloaded songs and videos using Bridge directly within the YouTube app!
All ads are blocked!
● Watch videos as they download
● Background Video playback
● Completely manage saved videos (delete, rename, add to camera roll, send by email…)
● Downloaded videos are displayed with a thumbnail image as well as information about the video (size, duration, quality)
● Simultaneous downloads are completely supported
● Downloads can be paused and resumed at any time
● Downloading videos show a thumbnail, the current download speed, the progress and an estimated remaining time!
● Add playlists for your downloaded videos and songs!
● Watch videos that are blocked in your region or blocked on mobile devices
● Disable autoplay for videos
● Select which page to display when launching the YouTube app (What to Watch or Subscriptions) Much more! 

What's New In This Version:
● All new design to fit into the look of the YouTube app
● Added support for the latest version of the YouTube app
● Added background audio playback for videos
● The Download Manager is completely redesigned with awesome new features and even better user experience
● Make playlists for downloaded videos for better management
● Download can be paused and resumed at any time
● Even failed downloads can be resumed where they stopped
● Added a full featured music player for downloaded audio files
● Added full Bridge integration, never leave the app again when importing songs!
● Multi selection editing which makes managing videos so much easier
● Added an option for the default playback quality
● Added an option to disable autoplay
● Added an option to select the audio download quality
● Added 18+ age restriction bypass
● Added blocked video bypass
● Added an option to select the Main page (What to Watch or Subscriptions)
● New Tap & hold on a video in a list to download it (no need to start watching the video and then download it)
● Overall stability improvements and bug fixes 

You can purchase the ProTube Extension from the Cydia Store for $1.99. Note*: ProTube Extension is separate from the standalone ProTube application.

YouTube App Updated With the Ability to Queue Up Videos

Google has updated its YouTube app with the ability to queue up videos, access to live streams, and other improvements.

Watch the world’s videos and keep up with your favorite YouTube channels with the official YouTube app for iOS. Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more.

Features:
✓ Enjoy YouTube’s vast video catalog
✓ Find videos and channels more easily with voice search and query autocomplete
✓ Subscribe to channels and instantly access your subscriptions with the channel guide UI
✓ Read comments, browse related videos, enable subtitles and more - all while watching
✓ Easy video sharing to Google+, E-mail, Facebook and Twitter

What's New In This Version:
* Quick access to new uploads from subscriptions via "My Subscriptions" feed on the Guide
* Access to Live streams
* Queue up videos to play on TV
* One Channel branding for video creator channels
* Stability and performance improvements

You can download YouTube from the App Store for free.

YouTube Capture App Gets Video Touch Up Capabilities for iPad

The YouTube Capture app has been updated to add video touch up capabilities for the iPad and iPad mini.

Film and share videos with YouTube Capture

Features:
✓ Easy, fast recording
✓ Touch up videos with color correction, stabilization, trimming, and music tracks
✓ Upload to YouTube, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter simultaneously

What's New In This Version:
New for iPad and iPad mini. Film a video and instantly make it YouTube-ready with background music, auto color correction, and auto stabilization. You can upload your video to YouTube and share to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ at the same time. 

You can download YouTube Capture from the App Store for free.

How YouTube is hurting film industry

The entertainment industry, struggling with the problem of piracy, is now being forced to deal with illegal copies of films finding their way on video-streaming site YouTube.

CHENNAI/BANGALORE: The entertainment industry, struggling with the problem of piracy, is now being forced to deal with illegal copies offilms finding their way on video-streaming site YouTube, robbing the content creators of revenue and putting the business model at risk. Google denies that it is doing anything wrong, but content creators as well as television channels that pay large sums of money for cable and satellite rights of movies think YouTube is not doing enough.

The entertainment industry's brewing fight against You-Tube is reminiscent of the 'Silicon Valley Vs Hollywood' matchup in the United States that has pitted content providers against internet giants. Piracy is not new online — peer-to-peer file-sharing websites have had access to high quality illegal content, but they are still cumbersome and not accessible to all but the most tech-savvy.

What has alarmed the entertainment business is the combination of growing access to high-speed internet and the popularity of a video streaming service like YouTube which cannot guarantee that content has not been uploaded illegally.

"I am appalled that sites like YouTube would take such a cavalier approach to piracy. When it is easier to watch a pirated movie than to watch it legally, there is a real problem," said film-maker Srini Vasan, who is also the CEO and founder of US-based iDistribute, a firm that distributes films through applications on sites like Facebook. "Uploading pirated movies on legitimate sites like You-Tube has a real and lasting negative impact on revenues for content owners."

The problem of piracy on You-Tube gathered pace when Google began allowing certain users to upload videos that were longer than 15 minutes in 2010. Though Google says this right is given to only those who do not violate its terms, pirates now use it to upload entire movies, making movie-watching on the video-streaming site a more rewarding experience. Also, unlike peer-to-peer piracy, watching a movie on You-Tube requires very little knowledge of technology and there is no waiting time.

"While it is easy enough to get a movie from a grocery store, it still involves an effort on the part of the consumer and a risk on the part of the store keeper. YouTube, on the other hand, offers ubiquitous access, reasonably good quality video, at no cost and no risk," said Vasan. He pointed out that the significant economic beneficiary of this is YouTube at the expense of the content owner. Further, You-Tube shares the ad share revenue with the poster of the video, who is, typically, not the content owner.

"It's such a paradox. When digitisation came we thought it would cause an end to piracy in India. But with every film copy as good as the next one, we are seeing a dramatic rise in piracy," said Ashoka Holla, a director at digital video content provider Berserk Media. So when Son of Sardar (a Hindi film starring Ajay Devgn and Sonakshi Sinha that released in 2012) was uploaded illegally on a Friday, it saw 15 lakh hits by Monday.

Many of those viewers would have gone to a cinema to watch the movie if it wasn't available on YouTube. A report by Ernst & Young last year estimated that the Indian film industry loses about Rs 5,000 crore in revenues and over 50,000 jobs a year because of piracy. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and audit firm KPMG rank India fourth in illegal movie downloads worldwide.

"Producers lose around 10 per cent of revenues with content going online," said Rajeev Kamineni, executive director of PVP Cinema, which coproduced Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam. "If a movie has 15 lakh hits and even if we price it at half a dollar (for each viewing) imagine the kind of revenues lost here." Google, on the other hand, said it is doing the best it can to thwart pirates through automated tools to give rights-holders control of the 72 hours of content uploaded every minute on YouTube.

"YouTube's Content ID system gives rights holders an automated way to identify, block, promote and even make money from their content on the platform," the company said in a statement. "We remove content deemed illegal or unsuitable once it is flagged by users and reviewed subsequently by our review teams and found violating our community guidelines and/or terms of service."

YouTube makes money from the banner advertisements placed on top of videos, so when a new one is uploaded and it gets over million views, Google is bound to be happy about it. Many see Google's stand as a tactic which has the effect of almost coercing producers into working with it if their content is not to be uploaded illegally. Instead, they argued that the onus for keeping illegal content out of You-Tube should be on Google and not the producer.

"YouTube (Google) has to be made responsible if copyright infringement takes place on its website," said Berserk Media's Holla. The industry has been trying to offset its losses from piracy by exponentially increasing the number of shows in theatres and also selling the satellite rights to television channels soon after a film's release.

YouTube to Launch Music Streaming Service?

A new report from Fortune suggests that Google is planning to launch a YouTube music streaming service later this year.

The service has its own negotiating team and operating unit but will likely have some overlap with new features also rumored to be coming to Google's Android music platform, Google Play. The two new services are defined by their respective places in the Google empire: Google Play for Android is a digital locker for music -- users buy, store, and sort a collection of tracks; but on YouTube's coming service, anyone can listen to tracks for free. Both services are said to be adding a subscription fee that will unlock additional features. For the YouTube-based service, this will likely mean ad-free access.

While Google didn't confirm the rumor, a YouTube spokesperson said: "While we don't comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we're looking at that."

Rumor has it that Apple is looking to launch an iRadio service. A recent report said that Apple and music labels have intensified their negotiations to launch an ad supported Internet radio service by early 2013. Additionally, new 'radio buy buttons' were been found in iOS 6.1 giving weight to the possibility.