Trying to remember what life was like before the Internet gets a little bit harder every day. How did I buy a plane ticket again? We wrote letters by hand and sent them in the mail, you say? What did I do when I needed driving directions? The Internet has become a necessity in the daily lives of people all around the world, and on June 17 and 18, ministers from more than 40 countries will meet with global business leaders, technical experts, and academics in Seoul, Korea,

The new media revolution has been changing the media landscape for several years now, and we've had a front row seat to the action here at YouTube. People around the world have been using YouTube to report on the events and issues affecting their lives, shedding light on stories that might otherwise not be told and offering new perspectives on events covered by the traditional media. Today, to highlight these journalists on YouTube,

We're happy to announce a new way to add interactive commentary to your videos - with Video Annotations. With this feature, you can add background information, create branching )"choose your own adventure" style( stories or add links to any YouTube video, channel, or search results page - at any point in your video. Uploaders have control over creating and editing an unlimited number of annotations on their videos. To start annotating,

Galera do YouTube, é hora de mais uma rodada de atualizações do site. Adicionamos alguns novos recursos para melhorar a pesquisa de vídeos e o gerenciamento de comentários na sua caixa de entrada. SUGESTÕES DE CONSULTA PARA PESQUISA Uma opção de sugestões de consulta está agora disponível para pesquisa. Para usá-la, clique no link "avançado" próximo ao botão pesquisar e selecione "Exibir sugestões de consulta ao digitar" nas configurações de pesquisa.

Newsflash: A friend just called to tell you that there's an abandoned convertible teetering over the edge of a bridge, about to fall into the river just a mile from your house. You: a( Return to the couch and finish watching the season finale of Lost, which you TiVoed last week. b( Turn on your laptop to see if CNN has published a story yet on its website. c( Grab your video camera and sprint to the scene of the action,

Back in March, Vancouver Film School and YouTube announced a first-of-its-kind competition. The challenge was to make a three-minute video about the theme, "What matters most to me." The prize: three full-tuition scholarships to one of VFS's world-class programs. After months of submissions and many fantastic entries, our judges whittled the competition down to ten worthy finalists. Now, after a week of voting by the YouTube community,

Is vacation planning giving you your first case of the summertime blues? With gas prices and airfares skyrocketing, embarking on an exciting/bank-breaking getaway is probably the least appealing thing on the thrifty traveler's mind. Some travel gurus on YouTube feel your pain and are here with helpful tips for turning those dollar-draining days into dog days. For instance, to avoid the costs of pricey hotels or hostels,

As summer officially approaches )at least here in the U.S.(, it's time to move the cooking outside. Luckily, your fellow YouTubers have no shortage of advice on how to blow everyone away with your grilling skills. You'll find a plethora of videos on making many of the staples everyone loves, including baby-back ribs , chicken , and hamburgers . Expertvillage has a series that teaches you everything you need to know about barbecuing sausages , thanks to Lawrence Holmes of L.A.

On June 7th, the UEFA Euro 2008 Football Championships )that's soccer to us Americans( kicks off with Switzerland - who share hosting duties with Austria - taking on the Czech Republic in Basel. Over the following 23 days, the 16 finalist countries will play 31 games to see who gets to raise the trophy - and enjoy bragging rights across Europe until 2012. One of the defining characteristics of the European Championships is its unpredictability. Since its launch in 1960,

If you notice a significant change in your subscriber count within the next few days, don't be alarmed - this is due to a fix we are running to rectify a bug which has affected subscriber counts on some users' channels. Normally, when a user subscribes/unsubscribes from your channel, this change is reflected in your subscriber count almost immediately. We discovered an issue which was preventing these numbers from being updated.

Domo arigato, YouTubers, especially those who love all things robotic. We hope you'll enjoy this week's Trendspotting Tuesday , for which we can truthfully say, "The robots are taking over!" Robots are running rampage through pop culture these days, from disco 'droids Daft Punk to Pixar's much-anticipated new movie, WALL-E . Of course, not all robots are CGI film stars or French funksters. Real-life robots are rolling out of university tech-labs and inventors' garages,

It may be three months away, but the GOP has been planning the Republican National Convention for some time - and YouTube is a key part of their strategy. The Party plans to use the site to help you to get involved in the action, and they're starting today with their American Neighbor contest. Between now and June 26, the Convention staff is asking you to upload video profiles of someone from your community who goes "above and beyond the call of duty.

The challenge: To create a short video addressing the theme, "What Matters to You." The prize: A scholarship to an internationally renowned film school. After parsing through hundreds of amazing entries, Vancouver Film School has narrowed down the field to ten finalists. Hailing from five different countries, these filmmakers, designers, and animators represent some of the best emerging young talent on YouTube. Now,

Do a quick search for "how to YouTube," and you'll find thousands of videos offering advice, tricks and tips on the art of online video. This week, Trendspotting Tuesday is dedicated to those 'Tubers who want to give back to their fellow users by offering free, genuine advice on how to make the most out of your YouTube experience. These seasoned experts have learned that making a quality video is easier then it seems,

Last week, Senator Joe Lieberman )I-CT( contacted us to voice his concerns about seeing videos from several Islamic terrorist organizations on YouTube. We appreciated our dialogue with Senator Lieberman and his staff and wanted to explain to the YouTube community how we responded to his concerns. First, some background: hundreds of thousands of videos are uploaded to YouTube every day. Because it is not possible to pre-screen this much content,

Hey, YouTube! My name is Olivia, and I'm the new News Manager here at YouTube. Thanks to better, cheaper, and easier access to video equipment, there's an amazing amount of news being reported on YouTube every single day by citizens in all corners of the globe. You're conducting interviews with local community leaders, doing weekly reports on the latest campus news for your school television station, and investigating untold stories you think the world should know about.

According to the Chinese state media, there are nearly 600 million cell phone users today in China, resulting in a corps of citizen journalists equipped with the technology to give eyewitness accounts without a moment's notice. Last week's devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province produced an enormous number of photos and videos uploaded by Chinese on their mobile devices. Users documented the havoc wrought by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake,

Hey 'Tubers, it's time for another round of site updates. We added some new features to improve searching for videos, messaging and managing your contacts on YouTube. Check it... QUERY SUGGESTIONS FOR SEARCH A query suggestions option is now available for search. To opt in click the "advanced" link next to the search button, then choose "Display query suggestions as I type" from the search settings.

The Rolling Stones were the first official Living Legends to join the program that connects luminaries with the YouTube community - they asked for questions , you heeded their call, and now they've responded with gusto. Here's a sneak peek: The questions submitted to the band came from old fans as well as new recruits, and ranged from Zapterazor 's query about internet piracy )which he asked dressed as a pirate( to Banteron 's probe into Mick Jagger's voodoo past .

When we first announced YouTube Insight, our free video analytics tool for YouTube, we were excited to see just how users, partners, and advertisers might creatively use information about the viewing trends of their videos. We've since learned that some users and partners are modifying their upload schedules based on when they know their audience is tuning in, and advertisers are studying geographic traffic patterns to assess the effectiveness of regional ad campaigns.