A popular third-party app of YouTube has been taken down by Google, due to a legal challenge by the company, which allowed users to block ads without a Premium subscription.
YouTube Vanced was able to block any ads that would play before, during, and after a video you had planned on watching. As it was available on Android, the app could be used on Amazon Fire TV devices, handhelds running Google's OS, and more.
But while you can still use the app if you already have it installed on your device, it won't see future updates.
The Vanced website instead highlights web extensions that you can install to almost mimic the app's intention without purchasing a YouTube Premium subscription that does these features officially. But this only highlights the issues with YouTube's paid service.
Analysis: YouTube Premium needs more choice
Advertisements are part of the YouTube experience – they always have been in one way or another. But in the last few years, ads have changed from being a short break, into an irritating distraction.
There was a time when you would usually see an ad begin at the start of the video, but now they're essentially anywhere in the video.
You might click on one video for example, and be greeted with an 'Ad starting in 5..4..3..' right away, alongside when you're clicking on different timestamps of the video.
(Image credit: YouTube)
It can be very annoying, and while this can be avoided with a YouTube Premium subscription at $ 11.99 / £11.99 / AU$ 14.99 a month, many users simply don't want to pay this amount just to block ads.
With this subscription, you get YouTube Music, downloads, and background play included. While these are welcome features, they're features that users don't want to try.
But there's yet to be a tier where you just want to solely block ads. This seems like an easy win for YouTube, yet there's no way of signing up to a simple tier that only blocks ads.
It's why there have been popular third-party apps and web extensions that have fulfilled this need, and for free. But with Google only seeing legal reasons for these methods and not other ways to appease these users, there's little chance of seeing different Premium tiers in the near future.
A popular third-party app of YouTube has been taken down by Google, due to a legal challenge by the company, which allowed users to block ads without a Premium subscription.
YouTube Vanced was able to block any ads that would play before, during, and after a video you had planned on watching. As it was available on Android, the app could be used on Amazon Fire TV devices, handhelds running Google's OS, and more.
But while you can still use the app if you already have it installed on your device, it won't see future updates.
The Vanced website instead highlights web extensions that you can install to almost mimic the app's intention without purchasing a YouTube Premium subscription that does these features officially. But this only highlights the issues with YouTube's paid service.
Analysis: YouTube Premium needs more choice
Advertisements are part of the YouTube experience – they always have been in one way or another. But in the last few years, ads have changed from being a short break, into an irritating distraction.
There was a time when you would usually see an ad begin at the start of the video, but now they're essentially anywhere in the video.
You might click on one video for example, and be greeted with an 'Ad starting in 5..4..3..' right away, alongside when you're clicking on different timestamps of the video.
(Image credit: YouTube)
It can be very annoying, and while this can be avoided with a YouTube Premium subscription at $ 11.99 / £11.99 / AU$ 14.99 a month, many users simply don't want to pay this amount just to block ads.
With this subscription, you get YouTube Music, downloads, and background play included. While these are welcome features, they're features that users don't want to try.
But there's yet to be a tier where you just want to solely block ads. This seems like an easy win for YouTube, yet there's no way of signing up to a simple tier that only blocks ads.
It's why there have been popular third-party apps and web extensions that have fulfilled this need, and for free. But with Google only seeing legal reasons for these methods and not other ways to appease these users, there's little chance of seeing different Premium tiers in the near future.
Also on the rise: DDoS attacks against Ukrainian sites and phishing activity capitalizing on the conflict, with China’s Mustang Panda targeting Europe.
Brave Software is rolling out a series of upgrades for its privacy-focused video conferencing service, Brave Talk.
As explained in a new blog post, the headline addition is a new browser extension that allows users to attach Brave Talk links to Google Calendar invitations, in the same way as they might with Google Meet. The idea is to give people a simpler way to integrate Brave Talk into their regular working routine.
Beyond the browser extension, the company has also expanded the free version of its video conferencing service, which now supports unlimited video calls for up to four participants (up from two).
The premium version (costing $ 7/month), meanwhile, has received a number of new business-centric features as part of the update, from breakout rooms to emoji reactions, attendee polls and advanced moderation facilities.
Brave tackles video conferencing
Brave is perhaps best known for its web browser of the same name, which blocks both ads and tracking cookies, but the company is expanding rapidly in new product areas. For example, there’s now a Brave VPN, firewall, crypto wallet, news aggregator and search engine, all of which are said to be optimized for privacy.
Pitched as an alternative to video conferencing services operated by the likes of Microsoft and Google, Brave Talk is another member of this growing portfolio.
“Unlike other video conferencing providers, which can involve collecting and sharing user data without adequate transparency and control, Brave Talk is designed to not share user information or contacts by default,” Brave states.
“Brave Talk is designed to serve you, not track you, and is designed for unlinkability [whereby there is nothing that links a participant to a call]. This privacy protection carries through to the Google Calendar extension.”
For Google Workspace customers at least, the ability to add a Brave Talk link to a Google Calendar entry with ease will minimize the friction involved in switching service, a crucial factor in accelerating adoption.
The extension of the free service to include unlimited calls for up to four people, meanwhile, will make Brave Talk a perfectly viable option for anyone in need of a video conferencing service for occasional personal use.
The main caveat is that Brave Talk calls can only be hosted by someone that uses the Brave browser, which currently holds a comparatively tiny share of the market. The ability for Brave Talk to challenge the likes of Microsoft and Google in the video conferencing market, then, is tied to whether the company is able to challenge the same two rivals in the browser space too.
Spotting potential security threats such as phishing scams on Google Workspace should soon be a lot easier thanks to a new update to the software suite.
Google has revealed it is releasing an upgrade to its online collaboration platform that will provide more information on who is tagging you in comments or questions.
This means that whenever you are mentioned in a comment on a Google Docs document, Sheets spreadsheet or Slides slideshow, it should be easier to spot that the notification is legitimate.
Workspace email alerts
Previously, only the name of the commenter was included in email alerts sent to a user after they had been mentioned in a comment. Google says that in order to provide more security and insight, it will now also include the commenter's email address, showing they are a legitimate user.
(Image credit: Google)
“We hope that by providing this additional information, this will help you feel more confident that you’re receiving a legitimate notification rather than a spam or phishing attempt by a bad actor,” the company noted in a blog post announcing the news.
The feature is rolling out now, and is available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, and users with personal Google accounts.
The move is the latest addition from Google Workspace to improve security for its users. The company added end-to-end encryption to the platform back in June 2021 in what was a slightly late move, but one that added a significant protection boost for its entire software collection.
This launch also saw Google enabling businesses to set up their own in-house key service, enabling them to take charge of their encryption keys.
The company is also looking to draw in more new users with the launch of Workspace Migrate, which offers an easier way for admins to assess and plan migration projects to its platform.
This includes looking to move a large amount of enterprise data, such as that from Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft OneDrive, file shares, and Box migrations.
Securing your cloud storage systems is set to get a significant boost thanks to a new update from Google.
The company is updating its Google Drive platform to allow users to track external activity in their audit logs.
This should help admins spot any suspicious or unauthorized actions by external users, including attempts to copy, move or change data – keeping your important business information safe.
Google Drive audits
In a blog post announcing the news, Google noted that the change can help admins see new audit log events related to potential exfiltration that they could not see before, say for example if an external guest user makes a copy of your document in their organization.
The Google Drive audit log includes content created across a range of Google Workspace apps, including the likes of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and also monitors content uploaded to Drive, such as PDFs and Microsoft Word files.
Google says the feature will be switched on by default, and has begun rolling out to all Google Workplace customers with the Drive audit log feature now.
The news is the latest boost to Google Drive in recent weeks as the company launches a range of new tools and services.
This includes the launch of “search chips” in Drive, which lets users filter search results using various different parameters, including file type, labels and last modified date.
Google Drive will also make it possible to filter based on “To do” status, which narrows down the pool of results to include only files that have outstanding actions associated with them.
The platform will also soon begin to restrict access to files deemed to be in violation of the company’s policies. These files will be flagged to their owner and restricted automatically, which means they can no longer be shared with other people, and access will be withdrawn from everyone but the owner.
Identifying the issues behind a sketchy or badly-connecting Google Meet video call could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new update.
The video conferencing platform has introduced a new service that will let admins monitor call quality and single out any issues or bandwidth bottlenecks.
The new Meet quality tool will even allow admins to monitor connections over time, spotting if there are any specific times when bandwidth may be in high demand.
Google Meet bandwidth
In a blog post announcing the new tool, Google notes that the service will monitor both inbound and outbound bandwidth, covering both used and available.
“Surfacing this information helps admins visualize participants bandwidth compared to the quality of a call, making it easier for them to determine where a bandwidth bottleneck could be causing low quality,” the company noted.
Google added that knowing which bitrates are available or being used for specific endpoints can be crucial when performing troubleshooting or working to improve call quality in your domain. However such data was previously only available as an average across entire calls, which can make it difficult to narrow down problems during specific points in time.
“We hope by surfacing this detailed information, Admins can easily troubleshoot or improve call quality for their users,” it said.
The tool is available by default to all Google Workspace customers now, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.
The news is the latest in a series of updates as Google looks to ensure its video calling tool stays up to speed with competitors such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
Some of its most recent upgrades include allowing up to 500 participants to join a video call at the same time to make it easier to connect and collaborate with colleagues, clients and customers.
Users can also enable live streaming in Google Meet which will allow up to 100,000 viewers to watch at once.
When version 100 of Google's Chrome browser is available to download, it will be without the Lite mode that enables less mobile data to be used on Android devices when browsing the web, and I couldn't be happier.
In a blog post, the company explained that it doesn't see the need for a feature to minimize data used in its web browser, when the amount of cellular data has increased, while the cost has stayed the same.
The feature arrived back in 2014 as a way to load webpages with less data being used, which could be useful for those on a small data plan for their smartphone.
Having sold phones and data plans to customers in a previous career, the end of this feature is only good news for me, but mainly for the customer who reads their content from Chrome on a mobile device every day.
When does Chrome 100 arrive?
According to Google's Roadmap status page for Chrome, version 100 will arrive on March 29, with a beta arriving around March 3.
This will apply to all versions of Chrome – from its mobile versions to the desktop on PC, Mac and Chromebook.
But with the Data Saver feature only on Android versions, it's not going to be something that's missed by many users, especially as there's data saving features built into Android 12 for all apps anyway, by going to Settings > Cellular Data.
Having worked at a phone store for years before switching careers to be a writer, helping customers with their phones and the data they would use, would be a common task for me. Some would come in, asking me why they had received a text stating they were at 80% of their monthly data usage.
Looking at how much data apps would be used, a web browser would usually reign supreme at the top of this list. But this was in a time where 2GB of data a month would be normal to see, not the 150GB a month or unlimited plans we all see advertised.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
But when a 'lite' mode would appear on a browser or a social media app like Facebook, it would degrade the experience. I remember pixelated images loading instead, or certain content removed so the text would be all over the place.
However, it's finally time to see the back of these features – they only hinder, not help the experience if you're trying to search for something or read the latest news in Chrome on your Samsung S22.
As Google Chrome hits a century of a version number, it's great to see this disappear, and instead, enrich the content that's available for your interests across the spectrum of the web.
However, Firefox is also approaching version 100, so there's a chance that we may see a landmark feature arrive from Mozilla as well. March is looking to be an eventful time for web browsers on many devices, and I'm here for it.
There are some apps that are abandoned through no fault of their own. The team responsible could have moved on to other projects, or a new, redesigned app may have appeared to take its place.
If you go trawling through YouTube or even find an old PC in the family office, you can find yourself transported back to a time when the only way you could use the internet was by being sat down in front of a desk, waiting for a dial-up modem to connect.
But we're also heading into an era with the App Store and Google Play Store, where users are longing for deleted apps to make a comeback, regardless of how they may look or operate in today's world.
There’s a growing nostalgia for the apps we used to use every day. Whether it's to feel like we're back at school, or just because the app was so good that we’d like to use them again for our new Windows 11 and iPhone 13 devices in 2022. Windows Media Player coming back is a great example of this, and it's why there should be more comebacks for depreciated apps.
With this in mind, here are three apps that should see a return and a remake for 2022 to take advantage of the devices we use every day.
Vesper
(Image credit: Q Branch)
This is a note-taking app that set itself apart from the rest in the productivity category at the time.
Vesper’s design is classically inspired by Apple's Notes app from 2013, but in a modern vibe that still looks good in 2022.
The app's purpose is simple – to take notes. But you can also tag these notes, similar to a feature that Apple brought to its own Notes app only in 2021. You can swipe to the left to archive any notes that you don't need, and you can re-arrange them to order the notes in a way that suits your needs.
For some reason, we weren't able to redownload it for iPhone, but on an M1 Mac we could, and it still works great, even with a janky way to resize the window in only two ways.
You can't sync notes to different devices as that was shut down when Vesper shut its doors, but it's a great app to use locally on your device if you're creating one or two projects.
Since its discontinuation, the source code has been available on GitHub for someone else to make their own interpretation of the app. Using this app in 2022, we can't help but wonder if one last hurrah should occur for Vesper. One more version where the band gets back together, much like James Bond in the mid-nineties, to be relevant again but for a new civilized age.
Even in a world where we have note apps that work similarly to WhatsApp, there's still room for a Vesper, especially in an app world where we use to-do lists and collaborative efforts to jot things down for those personal projects.
To see a new, final Vesper with Widgets, a web version variant, iCloud sync, alongside the proverbial dark mode option, could be a great way for Q Branch to sign off and raise a glass to, and have it work for our modern iPhones again.
MSN Messenger
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Between 1999 and 2009, Microsoft's messaging app was everywhere. You'd finish school and go straight to your parents' PC to log on to MSN Messenger, to either continue a conversation from earlier or to arrange something for later that evening.
You would log in and be greeted with a list of the contacts you've added, with many showcasing using waves of emojis and symbols placed on either side to their name for effect.
You could 'nudge' and 'wink' a friend who would be online, and you could exchange images if you wanted.
Eventually, the ability to play games with one another, alongside webcam support would be available to use, taking a strain on the 120Kbps broadband that would have been the average common internet speeds in 2003.
MSN Messenger was also arguably the first dating app before Tinder and Bumble. A small rainbow or heart next to a name would be a not-so-subtle hint on someone's name, yet it could initiate something more in the playground the next day. Messenger had something for everyone during those times, but ironically it didn't move to where apps were going.
Due to the rise of the iPhone and the App Store in 2008, Windows Live Messenger, as it was renamed to, dropped in usage, as everyone was starting to use WhatsApp, Facebook, FaceTime, and iMessage to communicate with one another, and Messenger was discontinued in 2014.
While you can install a version of the app in Windows 11, you can only get as far as the login screen, as the server to connect to the Hotmail server has long been depreciated.
In hindsight, Microsoft didn't know what it had – it rode a wave that the company hasn't had in the messaging category since. Especially when you consider how Zoom soared in use during the pandemic while Skype was left as an afterthought.
But nostalgia is starting to seep through to apps – Windows Media Player has returned to Windows 11, and currently, there are two apps by Microsoft, Teams, and Skype that both do the same function, but not as well as Zoom.
Rebooting MSN Messenger as a service for everyone, but with business features for work, could be a big boon to many.
Imagine MSN Messenger as an app for iOS and Android, alongside Windows 11, macOS, and Chromebooks. With Microsoft's aim of making apps available on as many systems as possible Messenger is the next logical step.
One that can bring back the nudges, the winks, and themes to bring the look of 2022 back, could be appealing to many, while the features are useful to others.
Microsoft is in a bind with Skype and Teams. Making a fresh start with an app that users have nostalgia for, but rebuilt for 2022, could be something that could appeal to everyone, and clear the deck of confusion that the company has carried with the two apps for a number of years now.
Google Wave
This effort by Google in 2009 was a direct precursor to the Slacks and Microsoft Teams of apps that you probably use every day in 2022. The main theme of Google Wave was collaboration, with an effort to help with projects that involve many users without having to use Skype or a messaging app from back in the day, in order to collaborate in a Google Docs file.
Wave only lasted for three years between 2009 and 2012, but it’s still missed by plenty of users. It was a time when Google would try out different products almost every six months, but if it didn't quite hit the mark there’s a good chance you’re not able to use it anymore.
Google Wave worked differently from other apps, as you would have to be referred in order for your Google account to have access to Wave giving it an exclusive feel. Eventually, in 2010 it was available to everyone, so you could invite someone to a project without having to find a referral link.
This would combine Google Mail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and your contact list into one app, where you could collaborate on different projects.
While the user interface in the video department left a lot to be desired due to so much going on, it had a knack for introducing each feature and interface option in steps. After an hour or so, you'd be able to use it with ease.
But Google pulled the plug on Wave in 2011, with its reasons being that too few users were using the service, even though there were signs that it was about to grow, due to the increase in social network usage at the time.
As it is with Google's stance on abandoned projects, there's no way of trying out a remade version of Wave in 2022 – you can only be reminded through screenshots and videos. But in a way, you're already using them through Slack, Teams, and Google Docs collaborations.
But it's a service that should come back, as it could work well alongside Slack integration and app versions on iOS and Android.
But with Google's focus on mobile and content, it's 50/50 as to whether it would consider a return for Wave.
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