YouTube gets Cosmic Panda makeover

Cosmic Panda - twee as you like
Cosmic Panda - twee as you like

YouTube is getting a lick of experimental paint in a project named Cosmic Panda, which sees the video sharing site get a black and white look, like a panda. Or a zebra. Or a newspaper.

The new look is in line with that revolutionary new black bar and cleaner aesthetic that Google is slowly rolling out across Gmail, Google+ and other Google services.

Cosmic Panda not only gives YouTube a clean new look, it also offers updated editing tools for personalising your YouTube profile and allows you to keep watching a video while browsing other playlists if you happen to be using Chrome.

Cosmic panda

Nyan Cat would be proud

"Woah man, it's like totally cosmic panda duuuude," is no doubt what your first reaction will be when you opt to try the site out in its new togs.

It's not the first time that Google has named an update after the black and white cat foot – its Panda search engine update was rolled out in April in order to down-rank content farms and prioritise high calibre websites.

And the twee onslaught coming out of Mountain View shows no sign of letting up, with YouTube's explanatory page referencing one of its most popular memes, telling you "what to expect when you follow the cosmic panda over the double rainbow."

We'll have some of what they're smoking, please.

Via Engadget

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.