YouTube to open its creative studio space in NYC in 2014

Google announced this week that it will be opening up their fourth YouTube creative studio space in New York City in October 2014.

For those that aren’t familiar, YouTube’s creative studio is a place where anyone enrolled in its Partner Program can go and hone their skills and gain access to resources needed to help enhance their video’s production value.

YouTube’s new space will be located in the Chelsea Marketplace district and will span about 20,000 to 25,000 square feet. It will have workshops and events just like in Los Angeles and will most likely have sound stages where creators can experiment with sets, props, green screens, and more.

Speaking at the 2013 VidCon conference, YouTube’s Vice President and Global Head of Content Operations Tom Pickett and Chief Marketing Officer Danielle Tiedt, revealed that the video service now has 325 channels with more than 1 million subscribers. Its mobile apps have now been downloaded over 250 million times — currently 40 percent of all hours viewed on YouTube in the US come through mobile devices.

These figures appear to highlight the belief that YouTube needs to evolve their product to the next step and this includes improving video quality starting at the source: the creators. Their efforts to work with video creators include the Creator Academy , which was launched in May. The company says that 40,000 people have enrolled to learn how to use YouTube.

The first official Twitter-Hotel!

For all the Tweetaholics who can’t quite ‘unplug’ even while on vacation, here’s your dream place – @SolWaveHouse.

Located in Majorca, Spain, this “Twitter Hotel” (as it has been dubbed) will make tweeple feel right at home with Twitter-themed parties, hashtag liquorice and signature drinks like a blue mojito. Guests will feel as though they’re cruising through a live twitter window with the hotel decked out in the trademark white and blue colour scheme, communicating with hotel staff via hashtags! For example, if you’re running low on food from the mini fridge, no more awkward conversations – just tweet #FillMyFridge and the concierge takes care of it.

Picture credits: MELIA HOTELS INTERNATIONAL

Hotel visitors can also communicate with one another by logging on to Twitter via a special web app available only through the hotel’s wifi. Once in, they can use the #SocialWave hashtag and share pictures, send private messages, see who’s online, and send virtual kisses. Marco Fantón, Sol Wave House’s social media director told TIME that he sees the community as a “fun d interactive extension of what guests are already doing on their trip using social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.”

Picture credits: MELIA HOTELS INTERNATIONAL

Unlike the website, use of the hotel is not just restricted to Twitter users – there are neutrally decorated accommodations, bars and dining venues, and outdoor swimming pools overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Twitter and TV ratings: a symbiotic relationship

Nielsen, the information and global measurement company, released findings on Tuesday that shed light on the recently budding relationship between TV viewership and Twitter.

The company’s independent Twitter Causation Study analysed whether Twitter conversation boosted viewership, or broadcast tune-in led to increased tweeting. The study revealed that live TV ratings had a statistically significant impact in related tweets, and the volume of tweets similarly caused changes in live TV ratings.

Picture credits: NIELSEN

This solidifies Twitter’s position as the world’s pre-eminent real-time social communicator, with Twitter’s COO Ali Rowghani stating that Twitter “is a complementary tool for broadcasters to engage their audience, drive conversation about their programming and increase tune-in”.

The next-gen earphones

The long-standing battle between earbuds and headphones won’t be waning any time soon, especially with a new competitor throwing its hat in the ring.

Earbuds are compact and easy to carry, while headphones are touted for their superior quality and damage control. The third option is a next-gen earpiece: a wireless headset without speakers.

Kickstarter project Sound Band uses surface sound technology to send tiny vibrations through the backs of your ears, bones and tissues to land on your inner ear without blocking your ear canals. (All the talk of bacteria buildup within your ear multiplying every second can also be redundant!)
This device can also connect via bluetooth for phone calls, and lasts for about five hours with an impressive range of sound that spans from 20,000 Hz to 86 Hz.