Google Video’s existence continues to be a bit of a mystery; after Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube, you’d think the company would be able to concentrate on just it. Still, users of Google Video are likely to be happy about a new redesign.
Updated Google Video
The fresh version is all about “Hot videos” – these featured clips are pretty much the only things visible on the homepage. Click on any of them, and instead of opening in a new page, they’ll start playing on the left.
Google’s got a few more tricks up its sleeve, too. On the Google Video Blog, Greg Billock writes, “Now you can choose any of three ways to view your video search-results: a traditional list view, a grid view and, for those of you who like to maximize your video-watching efficiency, a TV view, where you can watch an embedded video while continuing to view your search results next to the video for a more seamless browse and search experience.”
Also, in case you think you’ve missed something (I have to admit that, for better or for worse, I still haven’t watched Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”), a timeline feature lets you look at the most popular videos from the past.
Previous versions of Google Video are on display at Google Blogoscoped, if you’re looking to make any comparisons, and Billock promised that more updates will occur in the future.
