Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge NotebookLM, Google's AI note-taking app, can now summarize and help you dig deeper into YouTube videos. The new capability works by analyzing the text in a YouTube video's transcript, including autogenerated ones.Once you add a YouTube link to NotebookLM, it will use AI to provide a brief summary of key topics discussed in the transcript. You can then click on these topics to get more detailed information as well as ask questions. (If you're struggling to come up with something to ask, NotebookLM will suggest some questions.) Screenshot: The Verge When I dropped in The Verge's iPhone 16 Pro review, NotebookLM generated topics discussed in the video like Apple Intelligence," iPhone 16 Pro Camera," and Photo... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Some YouTube users have observed the platform making it harder to skip ads in recent days. On Reddit, a user reported seeing black rectangles over the skip button on desktop instead of the expected countdown timer, and a few days later, Android Police reported not seeing a countdown to skip on mobile.But in statements to The Verge, YouTube says it isn't removing the skip button - it's just changing some elements of how ads are displayed.YouTube is not hiding the skip button," YouTube spokesperson Oluwa Falodun says in a statement to The Verge. On skippable ads, the button appears after 5 seconds into playback, as always."As for the changes, Falodun says that YouTube is reducing elements on the ads player" so that viewers can... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is rolling out new labels that tell if uploaded videos come from a real camera with unaltered footage and sound. The new captured with a camera" label can be seen in action courtesy of digital content authentication service Trupic, which uploaded a video to its channel, triggering the disclosure in the video description panel. Trupic says it has the first authentic video with C2PA Content Credentials on YouTube."YouTube is leaning on the C2PA standard to detect the authenticity of uploaded videos, meaning the feature will work only with recording devices and tools that support the metadata. The site's help page for the new feature says the label signifies that the creator used specific technology to verify their video's... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube's premium subscriptions are about to get more expensive for long-time subscribers with legacy plans in more places. In December, YouTube told US subscribers with legacy YouTube Premium plans (stemming from discontinued services Google Play Music or YouTube Red) they'd need to start paying the current $13.99 per month price in the new year.YouTube Music users in Europe have posted emails they received announcing a price increase for them, too, and just like the US, some report getting three more months at the current price before the hike.In an email to The Verge, YouTube communications manager Paul Pennington confirmed prices are increasing for both YouTube Premium, which removes ads on the streaming videos and includes access... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is testing a new feature that will let creators use AI to restyle" licensed songs for their shorts. The small group of creators with access can enter a prompt to change up different elements in a song, such as its mood or genre, and the expansion of YouTube's Dream Track AI feature will generate a reworked 30-second soundtrack.YouTube:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube just released some new stats that show how the service is being consumed on televisions, and the numbers are enormous. Watch time on TV for sports content was up 30 percent year over year; viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts on their TVs every month.This is YouTube we're talking about, though, so of course the numbers are huge. The living room has been YouTube's fastest-growing platform for years - Alphabet's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on the company's most recent earnings call that watch time is growing across YouTube with particular strength in Shorts and in the living room." Even as YouTube continues to dominate basically all facets of the entertainment business, the arrow on your TV still points up.The trend hasn't changed in forever, but YouTube has spent the last couple of years finally doing something about it. It launched a way to sync your phone and your TV, so you can watch a video on the big screen and interact with it on the small one. Earlier this year, the company redesigned the TV interface to make it easier to find comments, links, and channel pages while you're watching a video. It redesigned those channel... Read the full story at The Verge.