Immerse yourself in online video with the YouTube app

 Use your iPad to visit the world's most popular video site
SAYING THAT YOUTUBE IS POPULAR IS A BIT LIKE


suggesting British people like a good moan about the weather - so obvious that it really doesn't bear repeating. But we'll repeat it anyway: YouTube is a popular website - really popular. From humble beginnings in 2005, the site grew extremely rapidly as broadband connections got Faster and video-capable devices cheaper, with even relatively simple mobile phones able to capture video.

Today, YouTube is a behemoth. Its owners, Google, say that over 24 hours ofvideo is uploaded every minute of the day. To put that in perspective, ifyou were to sit and watch everything that was uploaded to YouTube over the past 24 hours, you wouldn't be done for about four years - and that's ifyou didn't take breaks for things like eating and sleeping.

With such a huge amount of content ripe for discovery, you need an app that can help you find what you'd like to watch, and to share great videos with your friends. Luckily, the iPad's YouTube app is well designed, efficient and usable, making it easy to search YouTube, play videos and then build lists of favourites. The only slight niggle we noticed is that this version doesn't seem to enable you to create a YouTube account. While you don't need an account for storing favourites, we recommend you create one in Safari, because your favourites and subscriptions are then shared with YouTube wherever and however you access it.




 KIT LIST:

■ iPad

■ Internet connection

■ A YouTube account (for some features)

Time required : 10 mins
Difficulty : Beginner

 Want gaming tips?

If the fab Angry Birds iPad game is driving you crazy, you can actually find helpful walkthrough videos via the YouTube app.

 Landscape plus

With the iPad in landscape mode, YouTube shows your video full-screen. But tap the video and the Done' button and you get this nifty layout.

Control playback

Easy-to-use playback buttons. Including a full-screen toggle, appear below the video.

 1 Find great videos On launching YouTube, use the search field to find videos you'd like to watch. Alternatively, use the 'Featured', Top Rated' and 'Most Viewed' toolbar buttons.

 2 Play a video Tap a video to view it. It will load and start playing automatically. In portrait mode, the video's info will be displayed underneath. In landscape, video plays full-screen.

 3 Sig n in If you have a YouTube account, select 'Favorites' from the toolbar and click the 'Sign In' button at the top left. In the pop-up dialog, type your username and password and tap 'Sign In'.

 4 View your favourites On signing in, any videos you've previously marked as favourites will be displayed. Tap 'Edit' to delete some favourites, and 'Done' once you've finished tidying.

 5 Add new favourites Adding a video to your 'Favorites' page is simple - tap the video and select 'Add' from the toolbar. In the 'Add Favorite' pop-up, select 'Favorites' {or, if signed in, a playllst).

 6 Share and rate videos The toolbar can also be used to share and rate videos. Tap 'Share' and Mall opens, enabling you to send a link to that video. To rate, tap'Rate' and one of the stars.

7 Find related videos If you like a particular video, use the 'Related' tab to find similar videos. Alternatively, tap 'More From' to see content from whoever uploaded that video.

 8 Interact Use the 'Comments' tab to see what other people have said about the current video. Tap 'Add a comment' and the keyboard appears for you to type some thoughts and tap 'Send'.

 Lost favourite

 

Have you recently seen a great YouTube video on your iPad but forgotten the details? Visited your 'Favorites' page and realised, with a sinking feeling, that you forgot to set the video as a favourite? Don't fret, because the YouTube app is there for you with its cunning 'History' toolbar button. Tap it and you get a list of all the videos you've recently watched.