Google is well known for celebrating both high-profile and obscure anniversaries (Bernardo Alberto Houssay’s 126th Birthday, anyone?) and it seems that its YouTube division is no different. The 57th anniversary of the first video cassette recorder is being celebrated today with a VHS tape icon in the bottom-right corner of videos hosted by the service.
Here’s how the company describes the new (well, not-so-new) feature:
On select videos, you’ll find a VHS button in the bottom right of the player–just click to turn back the clock and enjoy the static and fuzzy motion of the VHS era.
Wikipedia tells us that the first VCR was the Ampex VRX-1000, launched in 1956. Early VCRs were enormous beasts that looked nothing like the compact VHS units many reading this will have grown up with. Okay, YouTube adding a videotape icon to its videos for a day is hardly earth-shattering news but it’s a nice nod from a leader in the current video landscape to one of its earliest ancestors.
You can expect the video icon to be visible throughout the day, Pacific time today.
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Here’s one video you can watch with the warm fuzz of a VHS player, YouTube’s own ‘Rewind YouTube Style 2012‘ (it doesn’t seem to work on embeds, so you’ll need to click to go to YouTube, and then select the VHS icon).
See also: Every character counts: Google secures new URL shortener domain, YT.be
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Thumbnail image credit: Thinkstock
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