youtube

Welcome to the future of online video.

YouTube announced on Friday that the site now supports 360-degree videos, so a viewer has the ability to pan around the scene as the video plays and watch a moment from different perspectives. On mobile devices you just have to move the phone itself around.

StressLevelZero created the above video as an example of how this new technology works. Note: you’ll need to be in the Chrome browser or on an Android phone.

The short film is about a flying, time traveling red couch, and you can click and drag inside the video to see what’s going on around you.

Of course to produce these videos you will need to buy a special camera. Right now Bublcam, Giroptic’s 360cam, IC Real Tech’s Allie, Kodak’s SP360 and RICOH THETA are all compatible with YouTube. And uploading the content requires a special process.

YouTube also offered some suggestions for what you can do with the technology.

You could let viewers see the stage and the crowd of your concert, the sky and the ground as you wingsuit glide, or you could even have a choose-your-own-adventure video where people see a different story depending on where they look. Only you know what’s possible.

totally saw this happening when I clicked on the video, lol. I think it got worse after I tried disabling stuff in the plugins menu in chrome, which was the common fixing method.

Warning: Expectedly terrible Youtube comment language in this video.

In case you missed any of it... here is the entire year crammed in 6.5 minutes!

In the 2014 edition of its annual video mashup of the year's top memes and memorable moments, YouTube brought together over 100 creators and enlisted the help of DJ Earworm for the soundtrack.

"Wired" has a good piece explaining the background on these Rewind videos and how this most recent one was created. There's also a behind the scenes video of the process, which kicked off back in July.

YouTube also released a list of the top trending videos of the year, with "Spider Dog" winning 2014, and the super viral catcalling video rounding out the top 10.

1. Mutant Giant Spider Dog (SA Wardega) by SA Wardega

2. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more by Nike Football

3. FIRST KISS by Tatia PIlieva

4. The Voice IT | Serie 2 | Blind 2 | Suor Cristina Scuccia - #TEAMJ-AX by TheVoiceOf Italy

5. iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test by Unbox Therapy

6. Bars & Melody - Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer act | Britain's Got Talent 2014 by Britain's Got Talent

7. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial -- "Puppy Love" by Budweiser

8. Devil Baby Attack by DevilsDueNYC

9. Goku vs Superman. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 3. by ERB

10. 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman by Street HarassmentVideo

Youtube's 32-bit integer maxed out at a little over two billion (BILLION) views for the hit song, leading the team at Youtube to implement a new counter system - but not before someone snapped a screenshot of the madness.

WARNING: Language in this video.