Good Work – Enjoy the spotlight at the Cannes Lions Festival for a good cause

We know creative people on YouTube love turning an idea into a brilliant production. We also know they want their work to matter.

With this in mind, we’ve partnered with the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Good Work, a new program that gives creative professionals the opportunity to use their skills to make a difference and gain recognition for their work. Learn more in this video:



Through Good Work, nonprofits from all over the world can submit a brief for a video ad promoting their cause. These organizations often lack the resources and time to create a truly great ad for their cause -- and this is where you can help. Pick a brief you want to work on from the Good Work briefs gallery and make an ad for that organization. Your ad can be inspirational, thought-provoking, funny, or serious -- just make sure it’s also innovative and compulsively watchable.

If you succeed, you might be strutting your stuff at this year’s Cannes Festival - five talented people will win a trip to Cannes and have their work showcased there. Could it be you?

The deadline to submit your entry is May 9, 2011. A jury of top industry experts chaired by Craig Davis, Chief Creative Officer Publicis Mojo and founder of Brandkarma, will announce the winners on May 21, 2011.

Supriya Sharma, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “WaterAid Cracker Challenge.”

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Ooh la la -- ask Gaga a question!

Attention little monsters! Channel your inner Oprah, because now is your chance to ask Lady Gaga everything you’ve always wanted to know. What’s life like on tour? What’s her favorite YouTube video? Was the meat dress really made of meat?

In Gaga’s own words:



You have until midnight PT on March 18 to submit a video or text question, so just head to Gaga's channel to submit your query or vote on the ones you want us to ask. You can also tweet your question with the hashtag #GoogleGoesGaga. We’ll share the interview with you shortly after it’s uploaded to YouTube.

So, what are you waiting for?

Andrew Schulte, Associate Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “LADY GAGA - Born This Way (Cover).”

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Steady, as she goes: better video processing with Green Parrot Pictures

At YouTube, we see 35 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute from people all over the world. Some videos are beautifully shot by professionals or aspiring filmmakers using the very latest in HD cameras and equipment. But some of YouTube’s most popular or moving videos are shot using low-quality mobile phones and video cameras. Take, for example, videos of recent protests in Libya. Although emotionally captivating, they can be jerky, blurry or unsteady. What if there was a technology that could improve the quality of such videos -- sharpening the image, reducing visual noise and rendering a higher-quality, steadier video -- all while your video is simply being uploaded to the site? You can imagine how excited we were when we discovered a small, ambitious company based in Ireland that can do exactly this.

Today, we’re pleased to announce we’ve acquired Green Parrot Pictures, a digital video technology company founded by Associate Professor Anil Kokaram at the Engineering School of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In the last six years, their small team of engineers has built cutting-edge video quality improvement technology that has been used in major studio productions from Lord of the Rings to X-Men to Spider-Man. Their technology helps make videos look better while at the same time using less bandwidth and improving playback speed. If you’re interested in seeing some of the incredible work Green Parrot Pictures has previously done, check out some of the videos on their website.

With the equivalent of over 170,000 full-length movies uploaded to YouTube every week, the team’s experience in this area -- working on solutions for both video consumers and experts alike -- will be a source of new ideas and further innovation at YouTube and across Google. We look forward to working with them to make the videos you upload every minute of every day to our site look even better.

Jeremy Doig, Director, Google Video Technology

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu open for questions on Israeli democracy, Middle East uprisings and peace with the Palestinians

As the situation in the Middle East continues to unfold, YouTube World View invites you to submit your questions for one of the most influential leaders in the region - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The interview, which is presented in partnership with Channel 2 News, will be 100% comprised of your top-voted questions.


Whether you want to know about the popular upheavals in neighboring Middle East countries, the potential consequences of Iran getting nuclear weapons, peace talks with the Palestinians, or prospects for Israel’s hi-tech industry, ask your question at www.youtube.com/worldview, in either English or Hebrew (half of the interview will be conducted in each language). You can also submit your question via Twitter - just make sure to use hashtag #askNetanyahu.




On Wednesday, March 30, Prime Minister Netanyahu will sit down for a live interview and answer a range of the most popular questions submitted and voted on by you. The interview will be the first event in Israel ever to be streamed live on YouTube.The deadline to submit your question is Monday, March 28th at midnight GMT. As well as his interview with the YouTube community, Mr. Netanyahu will also answer the same “Big Three” questions posed to Prime Minister David Cameron and a host of other well-known personalities, so stay tuned to find out which world leader Mr. Netanyahu would most like to pose a question to.


Alon Chen, Israel Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Eatliz - Lose This Child (HD Version)”

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