[ACTION REQUIRED] Please submit the requested details for YouTube API Compliance Audit

While this sounds a bit ominous, it’s actually just a routine audit conducted by Google. Unfortunately, as consumers of YouTube API services, TubePress Pro users will need to respond to their request for information. In short, you’ll need to spend a few minutes completing this form. Not all of the questions have obvious answers, so below you’ll find our suggestions on how to answer the trickier questions as they relate to TubePress Pro.

• Reason for filling this form?
  Select “Audit Initiated by YouTube”.

• Describe your organization’s work as it relates to YouTube.
  We suggest something similar to the following:
  

  We use TubePress Pro, a WordPress plugin, on our website to display galleries of our organization’s YouTube videos.

• Please list all your API Client(s)
  Enter the URL of your website where you have installed TubePress Pro. Better yet, paste a link to the page containing a TubePress gallery.

• Please list all the project numbers used for each of your API Client(s)
  You should have received a copy of your project number in the email from YouTube. You can also find it in the Google Developer’s Console.

• Is this a publicly or privately available API Client?
  Select “Publicly accessible”.

• Where can we find each API Client(s)?
  Enter “https://tubepress.com”.

• If there is a log-in required to access the API client, please provide a demo account and instructions on how to access the API Client
  If your TubePress galleries are publicly accessible, simply paste a link to a page on your website with a TubePress gallery.
  
  If your videos are behind a paywall, or any other access control, you’ll need to create a demo account for YouTube and provide instructions to view your TubePress galleries.

• Does your API Client commercialize YouTube Data?
  If your TubePress galleries are publicly accessible, which is most common, select “No”. If your TubePress galleries are behind a paywall, select “Yes”.

• Choose the option that best resembles your API Client’s use case
  We recommend that you enter “Video streaming site/app”.

• Specify all YouTube API Services used by this API Client
  Select “Data API”.

• Select the primary audience for your API Client
  Select “Viewers”.

• Approximately how many users use your API Client?
  Enter an estimate of the traffic volume to your TubePress galleries. For instance, “20K visitors per month.”

• Explain how your API Client is used by your users
  We recommend something like the following:
  

  My website visitors can browse our organization’s YouTube uploads via video galleries and watch the videos directly from my site.

• Does your API Client use multiple projects to access YouTube APIs?
  Select “No”.

• Does this API Client create, access or use any metrics derived from YouTube data?
  Select “Yes”.

• Does this API Client display data from, or provide features or services across, multiple platforms (ex: Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?
  Select “No” unless you are using TubePress to display galleries that are comprised of YouTube videos mixed together with Vimeo or Dailymotion videos.

• Do you create/provide any type of reports using YouTube API Data?
  Select “No”.

• How long do you store YouTube API Data?
  Most users can select “< 24 hours”. To be sure, check your cache settings at WP Admin > Settings > TubePress > Cache.
  

• How often do you refresh YouTube API Data?
  Again, most users can select “24 hours”, but you’ll need to check your cache settings.

• Does this API Client allow users to authenticate with their Google credentials?
  Select “No”.

• Send documents (e.g., design documents, etc.) relating to your implementation …
  We recommend that you supply screenshots and/or screencasts of TubePress Pro on your website. This may include video galleries, single-video embeds, or the TubePress settings page.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be glad to help. As always, thanks for using TubePress!

The post How to respond to the YouTube API Compliance Audit appeared first on TubePress.

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Nearly all tech companies periodically update such agreements with their users. And while some updates are more ominous than others, the “February 10th, 2017” update from YouTube is largely benign and will have a very small impact on TubePress users. The good news is that the changes do not apply retroactively, which means that any existing copies of TubePress are not suddenly in violation. This does, however, mean that any future versions of TubePress will need to meet YouTube’s new requirements in order to stay within compliance.

Below we’ve summarized what to expect in future versions of TubePress. As you can see, most of the changes are very minor and are geared towards protecting user privacy.

1. Display a link to the TubePress Privacy Policy in the TubePress administration areas as per section 7 of the updated ToS.
2. Display a link to YouTube’s Terms of Service in TubePress and update the TubePress Terms and Conditions as per section III.A.1 of the new Developer Policies.
3. Update the TubePress Privacy Policy to detail exactly how TubePress uses and stores YouTube API data as per Section III.A.2 of the new Developer Policies.
4. Update the TubePress Privacy Policy to include a link to Google’s security settings page as per section D.2.c.i of the new Developer Policies.
5. Prevent TubePress from storing any YouTube API data for longer than 30 days as per section E.4.d of the new Developer Policies.
6. In TubePress galleries where YouTube videos are mixed with Vimeo and/or Dailymotion videos, provide proper attribution to indicate which videos are from YouTube as per section F.2.a of the new Developer Policies.
7. Prevent the YouTube embedded video player from displaying at a size smaller than 200 pixels by 200 pixels as per the new Required Minimum Functionality.
8. Change the behavior of autoplay (i.e. start playing a video as soon as the page loads) to be compliant with the new Required Minimum Functionality.
9. Prevent YouTube thumbnails from displaying at any size less than 120 pixels wide by 70 pixels tall, as per the new Required Minimum Functionality.

In summary, these changes will not affect the majority of TubePress users. We will ensure that future versions of TubePress (including our major update currently under development) are compliant with the terms set forth by YouTube, so there’s no action needed on your part at this time.

Thanks for using TubePress, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

The post Don’t Stress About the Updated YouTube API Terms of Service appeared first on TubePress.

Today we are very excited to announce the immediate availability of TubePress 5.0.0. This release proudly introduces full support for Dailymotion, one of the largest video hosts in the world. TubePress can now access nine individual Dailymotion video sources! There is no API setup required, and we will soon be releasing an add-on that allows TubePress to access private Dailymotion videos. Stand by for that!

We have also dropped support for PHP 5.2, which has reached end-of-life over five years ago. The new requirement for TubePress Pro users is PHP 5.3.29 or higher. If you are still using PHP 5.2, you will need to ask your hosting provider to upgrade your installation before you upgrade to TubePress 5.0.0.

WordPress users can follow the upgrade instructions here, and standalone PHP users can find upgrade instructions here. TubePress Express, Wix, Jimdo, and Weebly users will be upgraded to TubePress 5.0.0 in the very near future. As usual, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you experience any issues with this upgrade. We hope you enjoy this new release!

The post TubePress 5.0.0 Introduces Support for Dailymotion appeared first on TubePress.

Today we are delighted to announce the immediate availability of TubePress 4.2.0. The most exciting improvement in this release is support for version 3 of the Vimeo API. Vimeo has deprecated version 2 of their API and it will likely soon be disabled completely, so TubePress 4.2.0 is a critical milestone in the long-term stability of your Vimeo video galleries.

Please note that all TubePress Pro users that use Vimeo, including existing customers, will need to perform a one-time API setup that we have detailed here. This setup is required by Vimeo, but thankfully is relatively quick and easy.

The other big feature in TubePress 4.2.0 is support for automatic updates in WordPress. Our users have long been clamoring for this capability, and it should make upgrading TubePress completely painless.

Lastly, this version includes a handful of bug fixes, new translations for Slovak and Dutch, and it will be the last version of TubePress that can run under PHP 5.2 (future versions will require PHP 5.3.29 or higher).

You can download TubePress 4.2.0 today and find all the latest documentation on the support site. As usual, please don’t hesitate to contact us for anything.

Thanks for using TubePress!

The post TubePress 4.2.0 Released with Improved Vimeo Support appeared first on TubePress.

Over the past few months we have been quietly upgrading our server infrastructure to support an ever-growing customer base. As part of this process, today we are rolling out our completely new authentication and identity management system. This new system will provide a better login experience for users, increase our overall security posture, and will scale easily with our growth.

So what does this mean for you, the TubePress user? You will need to follow one of two paths moving forward:

1. If you log in to TubePress with a password (rather than Google, Facebook, or Twitter)
   • You will need to reset your password by clicking here.
   • You will now log in with your email address and password; we no longer support “usernames” for authentication.
2. If you log in to TubePress with Google, Facebook, or Twitter
   • You may continue to do so but we’ll need to “connect” your account with your old account information. Please simply contact us and let us know that you are logging in with Google/Facebook/Twitter – we’ll take care of the rest.

It’s natural to suspect a security breach when a system-wide password reset is enforced. We can assure you that we have not experienced a security breach of any kind. We are simply upgrading our security system in an effort to further secure your data.

If you need any help logging in, or if you find something that isn’t working quite right, please contact us! Our support staff is waiting to assist everyone through this transition and make it as painless as possible.

We hope that you’ll be pleased with this new system. Thanks for using TubePress!

The post Upgraded Authentication System – Action Required appeared first on TubePress.

• YouTube will turn off their old API on April 20, 2015. Upgrade to at least TubePress 4.1.0 or your site may break.
• TubePress is leaving the wordpress.org plugin directory. Get updates exclusively from tubepress.com.

On April 20, 2015, YouTube will officially shut down version 2 of their API on favor of version 3. TubePress 4.1.0 is the first version that supports version 3 of their API. This means that anyone running any older version of TubePress and showing YouTube galleries on their site will experience a severely broken TubePress installation. Vimeo users are OK for now, although Vimeo is also undergoing a massive upgrade to their API.

We aren’t giving you as much notice as we would’ve liked, and for that we sincerely apologize. Version 3 of the YouTube API was, for quite some time, not nearly as reliable as version 2 and it has been undergoing constant change. Even in some areas of the documentation of version 3, Google still refers to it as an “experimental API.” So we waited and waited for things to settle down and they never really did. Couple that with the fact that the new API isn’t as well suited for TubePress’s purposes, and hopefully you can understand why we waited as long as we did to update our code.

Most users shouldn’t see any major surprises when upgrading to TubePress. But just in case, here’s an abbreviated list of what you can expect if you are upgrading from the TubePress 3.x.x series:

• TubePress 4.x.x will run 10 – 20 times faster than TubePress 3.x.x.
• The free trial version of TubePress is limited to 3 videos per gallery. TubePress Pro doesn’t have this limitation.
• Many YouTube-based galleries can’t be sorted nearly as finely. This is a limitation of the new YouTube API.

This date will also mark a significant turning point in how we distribute the downloadable packages of TubePress. Since its inception eight years ago, TubePress has been available as a plugin from the wordpress.org plugin directory. This has offered huge advantages for us including great visibility and automatic upgrades for our users. However, over the years TubePress has evolved from a WordPress hobby into an enterprise with multiple products, platforms, and customers that rely on us to provide stable software and timely support. Maintaining a “parallel” distribution page on wordpress.org has become an unfortunate drain on our resources and distraction from our goal of proving excellent products and services. From here on out, you can download the latest versions of TubePress directly from tubepress.com. We will be updating our page on wordpress.org to reflect this change.

We are enthusiastic about a bright future ahead and look forward to serving you for years to come!

You can download the free trial version of TubePress from here, and TubePress Pro users can upgrade here.

The post The Death of the YouTube API v2 and Its Impact on TubePress appeared first on TubePress.

TubePress 4.0.0 will be released in the very near future. Thanks for helping us test!

• TubePress (free version)
• TubePress Pro (coming soon)

The post Final Release Candidate of TubePress 4 appeared first on TubePress.

TubePress 3.x.x and below, while feature rich, has become slower over time due to the codebase outgrowing its original architecture. With TubePress 4, we have re-engineered the core of TubePress with the primary goal of improving performance. This work is now complete, and we are thrilled with the results. Most TubePress 4 installations will see a 10x – 20x performance boost!

In addition to the performance improvements, TubePress 4 also brings dramatically improved theming capabilities. You can now use the modern, powerful, and easy-to-use Twig templating language with TubePress. We have also rooted out any elements of TubePress that were not accessible to themes, e.g. page numbers, and made sure that they are fully themeable. Finally, TubePress 4 themes now allow you to specify custom JavaScript or CSS that should be loaded with your themes. This essentially throws the doors wide open for theme designers working with TubePress.

We are working to document the new features, but in the meantime we are requesting your assistance with stability testing. While TubePress 4.0.0.RC1 has been vetted thoroughly, we advise you to use caution if deploying onto a production server.

Thanks for helping us test!

• TubePress (free version)
• TubePress Pro (coming soon)

The post First Release Candidate of TubePress 4 appeared first on TubePress.

This will be the final 3.x.x release as we are nearing completion of TubePress 4.0.0.

Download your copy of TubePress 3.1.6 today!

• TubePress Pro
• Free WordPress plugin

The post TubePress 3.1.6 Released appeared first on TubePress.