14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube has introduced a very interesting new feature. Some embedded videos now include a "Watch Later" button which you can probably guess what it does. Clicking on Watch Later will add the video to your homepage so you can enjoy it when you have the time.
YouTube hasn't made any announcements since it is still testing the feature. It only shows up for some videos, though it's not at random, it is only available for videos embedded with the new iframe code which YouTube has been testing for a few months now.
While the iframe-based code has been available for developers since July, it was only recently made available to the users at large and it's still in beta.
The iframe code has some advantages over the regular embed code, though there may be some security implications.
The iframe code is shorter so it's easier to work with. It also enables YouTube to serve either the Flash-based player or the experimental HTML5 depending on user preferences and environment.
What's more, it's a better fit for mobile devices since it enables the phones to playback the videos using the native video player and hardware capabilities rather than relying on Flash, which may or may not be available, or HTML5 which may not be fully supported.
Another advantage of the iframe code is that YouTube can add more interactive features like the Watch Later button. Providing you are logged in, videos embedded with the iframe code will sport the button. You can add the videos to your queue and then visit the homepage to view them.
For some reason, YouTube decided to create a new category for the Watch Later videos rather than adding them to the active play queue. Still, the feature should prove very interesting.
There are plenty of times when you may not want to watch a video at a certain point in time, maybe you're busy, maybe you just don't feel like watching that particular video. Normally, you'd close the tab and forget about it. With the Watch Later option, YouTube has a better chance of keeping you interested and keep you coming back to the site and especially the homepage.