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Originally published at Internet.comAs if YouTube weren't a big enough player in online video, it's now going to show up in a lot more places. Newly expanded APIs let developers incorporate YouTube content in surprising new ways.
YouTube creation and upload plays a part in the upcoming game Spore.
As part of YouTube's goal to extend its reach beyond the Internet browser, the company introduced the latest enhancements to its APIs and tools this week. With this release, YouTube provides wholesale access to its video library, audience, and the underlying video hosting and streaming infrastructure that powers YouTube.
This API offering allows anyone building a Web site or software application that's connected to the Internet to upload videos straight to YouTube; let users comment, rate and favorite the videos; and customize and control the Flash player in which the videos are played.
Here are the new API functions added: * Upload videos and video responses to YouTube * Add/Edit user and video metadata (such as titles, descriptions, ratings, comments, favorites, or contacts) * Fetch localized standard feeds (such as most viewed or top rated) for 18 international locales * Perform custom queries optimized for 18 international locales * Customize the player's user interface and control video playback through software
These new functionalities can be used in conjunction with the existing APIs which launched last year and which provide the ability to view videos on other sites and to search for videos on YouTube. The enhancements are free and easy to use.
With more YouTube functionality, developers can enable users to develop more innovative content directly from their mobile devices and encourage new users to share their creations.
Partners are already using the APIs to create interesting new content, such as: * Electronic Arts has enabled gamers to capture videos of user-generated creatures from its upcoming game Spore, and publish these directly into YouTube. * The University of California, Berkeley is bringing free educational content to the world, enhancing its open source lecture capture and delivery system to publish videos automatically into YouTube. * Animoto lets users create personalized, professional-quality music videos from their own photos and upload them directly to YouTube. * Tivo offers participative YouTube viewing experience directly from a television.
If you're looking for a way to work user-generated video into your site, take advantage of these expanded APIs to do something truly interactive.
Author: Troy Dreier
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