TEN Productive Ways to use YouTube beyond the regular stuff !

We watch YouTube almost every day. I mean, even if we didn’t want to there’d be some instances where we need to log in. I’m a bit apprehensive about using YouTube especially at work because most of the times, the things that pop up are NSFW. However, I’m a big fan of YouTube and these tools make sure that we don’t end up in the YouTubeloop, but make things a little more useful, effective and fun for all of us.

1. Download Audio from any YouTube videos the easy way

So you like that new Lady Gaga song and the video is out on YouTube, but you want it as a ringtone for your mobile, and you don’t want to go through the messy process of using a video editing program to rip off the music. What do you do? Use this website, copy paste the URL of the video and let it rip off the music in mp3 format for you. Download it to your cell phone and you’re done. Easy as that.

2. Share particular parts of any YouTube video

Sometimes, we’re just interested only in a certain part of a video. Like 12-26th second of a 5 minute video and while sharing the whole video is what most of us do, the person you’re sharing with might not watch the entire video or he might miss the part you want him to see. So what do you do ? Use Tubechop to select the particular time in the video, slice it up and share the URL is gives with your friends. When your friend clicks on the URL, they see only the selected part in that YouTube video.

3.  Add extra controls to YouTube videos other than the default buttons

If you’re a power YouTube user, you always wanted those extra controls like beyond the play and pause button. This Grease monkey script will grant your wish. Its got a series of additional buttons for that seamless power user experience.

4. Get sing-along lyrics on any YouTube music video

This is a nifty utility for singers and music enthusiasts. What it does is, while your favourite music videos are being played on YouTube, it displays a small window next to it, that will search a database of lyrics and popup the right lyrics for that particular song, so you can sing along. Cool huh ? Download

5. Bookmark, Organize and Save YouTube Videos for later viewing

This is a standalone program for you to save, bookmark and share YouTube videos, much like a personal collection. You can search for videos, save them, bookmark them all from the application and open up for later viewing.

6. How not to show the “Related Videos” pane while watching a video

Many of us would’ve encountered the bad experience of other inappropriate videos popping up in the related videos section while watching an interesting video with our friends on YouTube. There is a simple trick that will keep the related videos from popping up.
In the URL of the original video, just add ‘&rel=0? to the end part and you’re done. Or if the parameter is at ‘&rel=1?, change it to ‘&rel=0?.

7. Play YouTube videos inside the browser, without clutter and in a playlist

Some people like to use YouTube like winamp sometimes, like while at work listening to a list of songs, side by side. And having your YouTube site open can be a bit annoying, especially when your boss is looking over your shoulders. But there is a solution. Grab this Firefoxextension and it lets you add a little sidebar to the browser, where you can queue up an entire list of YouTube videos that will keep playing within the sidebar. Nice !

8. Watch YouTube videos on a slower Internet connection, without breaks

If you’re on a slower internet connection, then watching YouTube videos can be a pain. Frustration and more frustration. In fact, YouTube realizes that this could be a problem, and have alternate methods for you. YouTube has a Feather tool that lets you watch YouTube videos on slower connections. It doesn’t include those items that eat up bandwidth and make YouTube videos slower.

9. Upload more than one video in bulk to YouTube

So if you’re the type who have a lot of uploading to do on YouTube, things can get a bit out of hand. There is a lot of waiting to do for one video before you can do the next upload. So batch uploading is the only way out. And is there a tool that lets you do it? Yes of course – YouTube Universal Up loader.

10.  Create ringtones from YouTube videos in one easy step

Creating ringtones from YouTube videos never was so easy. All you got to do is copy paste the YouTube video URL, mark the portion where the song appears (or the whole video) and click create. The ringtone can be downloaded in various mobile audio formats. Check it out (http://www.tube2tone.com/)

  

Tim Cook’s vision for Apple, and its cash

At Goldman Sachs’ investor conference Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave some rare color on how he views not only his own job as Steve Jobs’ successor, but also his views on the company’s $98 billion cash pile. While he did not make investors’ day by announcing a dividend, he did offer them more insight on his priorities and style of leadership. In short, he’s not planning on changing the company, but neither does he plan on looking backward.

Cook did talk at great length about his view of the potential growth opportunities for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. But just as important for investors who want a clue as to where the company is going in Steve Jobs’ absence, Cook also opened up a bit on how he plans to make his own mark on Apple. He’s very obviously not Steve Jobs, something he’s been repeatedly reminded of by the press and Wall Street since it first became apparent he would likely take the reins from Jobs permanently. And while it’s clear he has learned from Jobs in many ways — peppering his sentences with words like “amazing” and “incredible,” and espousing his belief in the supremacy of Apple’s vision and extreme focus — Cook is passionate about Apple in his own way.

One of the things he takes very seriously is his role as the caretaker of Apple and what Jobs created. He said:

Apple is this unique company, unique culture that you can’t replicate. And I’m not going to witness or prevent the slow undoing of it — because I believe in it so deeply. Steve drilled in all of us over many years that the company should revolve around great products and we should stay extremely focused on a few things rather than so many that we did nothing well. And we should only go into markets where we can make  a significant contribution to society, not just sell a lot of products. Along with keeping excellent as an expectation of everything at Apple, these are the things I focus on.

Sure, we all think of Cook as the spreadsheet-and-numbers nerd, but he is becoming a salesman too: during the Q&A session, he recommended at least three times that listeners go buy an Apple TV.

It’s not a secret that the things that made Jobs tick are not the same for his successor. And Cook, who is a notoriously private person, is starting to show what those things are to company outsiders. For him, it seems, rather than inventing the future or ruminating on big ideas, the big reward for him is winning customers and putting products in people’s hands. “There’s no better thrill than to look at an audience and see people using iPods or iPads,” he said. “These are the things that bring a smile to my face, and there is no subsititue for that.”

Cook’s view on cash

One of the ways Cook may turn out to be different from Jobs is what happens under his watch with the company’s cash and liquid assets. Jobs was very adamant that no dividend or share buybacks or large acquisitions be made, in order to keep Apple totally out of debt and independent should the company hit rough financial waters. Cook has signaled he’s not nearly as extreme in his position — several times, including Tuesday, he’s reminded investors he’s “not religious” about keeping cash or not.

So what is his attitude? He cleared up any ideas that Apple just sits on its pile of cash (or goes swimming in a lake of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck). He noted that the company has spent “billions” on its supply chain, acquisitions, retail operations and company infrastructure:


Yes, we still have a lot. I guess I’m saying we’re judicious. We’re deliberate. We spend our money like it’s our last penny. And I think shareholders want us to do that. They don’t want us to act like we’re rich. We’ve never felt that way — that may sound bizarre, but it’s the truth.

Cook trotted out the same line the company has been using about its cash in the last several years, that the board is “in active discussions” about what to do with it. But this time he admitted that there is more focus than ever “because the balance has risen.” And he made another admission:


We have more cash than we need to run the business on a daily basis. 

With that he asked for patience while the board decides what to do. While it’s not terribly likely he’ll get it, how he’s handling the issue does demonstrate Cook’s style. He’s very much a product of the Apple/Jobs way, but he’s looking ahead and is not opposed to at leastthinking a little differently about the way things have always been done.