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Google

company · in 127 videos (2007–2026)

Technology company that gave the brothers a small early income from ads and hosted their talk at its Chicago headquarters. A Google grant funded Crash Course's first two years, and Google later partnered on Hank's Study Hall. Hank has since asked whether it trains its AI models on YouTubers' videos.

Makes: Google Autocomplete, Google Maps, Google+, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Images, Google Translate, Gemini, Google Chrome, Google Moderator, Google donation card, Google AdSense, Google Checkout, Google Earth Engine, Google Lens, Google Ngram Viewer, Google Photos, Google Pixel, Google Wifi, Googlebot · Works: Google Search Stories, Parisian Love

Videos by year: 2007: 3 · 2008: 5 · 2009: 13 · 2010: 10 · 2011: 15 · 2012: 5 · 2013: 12 · 2014: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2026: 8

Threads

Also named in the threads: The brothers known as each other's brother: 'John Green's brother' and 'Hank Green's brother' (2007) · Hank's confidential meeting with Yahoo (2007) · Vlogbrothers How-to Week: a week of how-to videos (2010) · SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011) · John applies for health insurance through the ACA exchange and a pre-ACA private insurer (2013) · John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2015 through its Indiegogo, with first-half donations matched (2015) · Study Hall: Crash Course and Arizona State University's free learning-playlist series (2020) · Hollywood, Ending: announcement and publication of John's novel (2026)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

YouTube (36) · Focus Friend (5) · Reddit (8) · online advertising (7) · Facebook (8) · Tumblr (9) · Twitter (13) · Crash Course (8) · recommender system (4) · Complexly (5)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

Also named in: October 18: Live from Datyon: PARTY BLOWER SOLO

2008

Also named in: Three Things

2009

  • 2009-01-01 · Brotherhood 2.0.0.9 — Hank reads 'Auld Lang Syne' as asking whether Hank and John should make more videos in 2009, and answers yes. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:00
    • Every Sunday for the year, John will send Hank a video about a current news event he considers vitally important and Hank is probably ignorant of. — 00:01:19
    • Every other Wednesday Hank will perform an original song: Song Wednesdays are back. — 00:01:48
  • 2009-01-21 · Google Verb! A Meme. — Hank names the meme 'Google Verb': you google your name with a verb and find out what you did. — 00:00:23
    • Hank asks viewers to play the Google Verb meme too, with the questions in the sidebar, and post their videos as replies to his. — 00:01:47
  • 2009-03-01 · Free Will Fetish — announcement: John reveals, whispering, that the vlogbrothers now have more subscribers than Google, the company that owns YouTube. (playful) — 00:02:12
    • To thank Nerdfighters, John says he and Hank will do pretty much whatever they are told, and asks for challenge ideas in the comments. — 00:02:12
  • 2009-03-08 · PEEPS for Bangladesh — announcement: John announces his half of the Pwning Google Challenge: for every $10 raised for the Uncultured Project by March 22 he will eat one Peep on March 23. — 00:01:45
  • 2009-04-16 · The Day the YouTubes Died — Hank thanks viewers most of all, because YouTube is not what Google does but what the community does, including in the comments. — 00:03:45
  • 2009-08-06 (said on 2009-08-05, implied) · Robert Pattinson and DJ Railstone — John and other Nerdfighters, in a BlogTV room, invented DJ Paige Railstone's identity, history and career; Alan made a website, Karen Kavett photos, plus Twitter and Facebook pages. — 00:01:49
    • John says the point is to find out how real made-up people can become and to remind us we are not innocent bystanders in celebrity: Pattinson has us to thank and blame for his beauty. — 00:02:47
  • 2009-09-28 · Paper Towns Winners and Ningmasters — John announces that Nerdfighters have convinced the bots at 20q.net that Paige Railstone is a real person. (playful) — 00:00:06
  • …and 18 statements more in 2009 — all statements of 2009

Also named in: ANNOUNCING: Global Geek Week!!!

2010

  • 2010-01-29 (said on 2010-01-30, implied) · The iPad and Dolphin Murder — Hank tried YouTube's newly launched rentals program and watched a movie; with Google Checkout already linked to his Google account, renting was very easy. — 00:01:16
  • 2010-02-12 · Google Search Stories: Harry Potter — Hank says that as soon as he saw the Super Bowl ad he felt there had to be a Harry Potter version of a Google search story; there wasn't, so he made one. — 00:01:46
  • 2010-04-05 · Google in your Brain — Hank says Google/YouTube's auto-captioning is currently very bad, as viewers can see by turning on captions for this video. — 00:00:29
  • 2010-04-07 · Shmancy Hotel Room Is Shmancy — John says Hank's Monday video, which he loved, made him think about the Googlization of information in the contemporary world. — 00:01:23
    • John has long thought Google is technically making individuals stupider: the memory in our heads is less needed when Google indexes massive external hard drives. (hedged) — 00:01:29
  • 2010-05-21 · How to Make a Website in Four Minutes — recommendation: Hank finds a theme by searching Google, picks the most popular one, uploads it via cPanel's file manager into wp-content/themes, extracts it and selects it under Appearance. — 00:02:26
  • 2010-05-28 · How To Do Everything — announcement: John says that for the Friday of How-To Week he will answer the top 10 Google search queries beginning with 'how to'. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2010-06-09 · Should We Sue Viacom? — Hank thinks even Google's masterminds would struggle to keep YouTube solvent under manual approval. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:29
  • 2010-12-31 · Is Lady Gaga a Man? — Hank says Google now tries to guess what you want to know before you finish typing, apparently because people are too lazy to move their fingers more than necessary. (playful) — 00:00:04
    • Hank thinks autocomplete's real value is less its convenience than its ability to let us peer into the soul of mankind. (hedged) — 00:00:23
    • Hank reports that after 'is Facebook down', the second most common Google question starting with 'is' is 'is Lady Gaga a man?', and answers for everyone: no. (playful) — 00:00:39
    • Hank finds the exploration fascinating, particularly our obsession with other people's sexual orientation, and looks forward to delving deeper into the nation's psyche with autocomplete. — 00:02:21
  • …and 11 statements more in 2010 — all statements of 2010

Also named in: JOIN THE PEN15 CLUB!!

2011

  • 2011-01-03 · Is bronchitis contagious? Is black a color? — John sets out to answer some of Google autocomplete's common questions beginning with 'is b' (he calls it auto-correct). (playful) — 00:00:06
  • 2011-04-11 · Is My Boyfriend Gay? Is He Cheating? — John: When stressed, John plays 'Google auto-fill once again proves that people are weird', answering the questions people most often ask Google beginning 'Is my b...'. (playful) — 00:00:11
    • John says whether your boyfriend is gay is not a question for Google but a question for your boyfriend. — 00:00:56
    • John lists possible problems - cheating, an untrustworthy partner, inability to trust, not feeling good enough, feeling undervalued or smothered - that Google cannot answer; you have to talk to your boyfriend. — 00:01:46
  • 2011-04-15 · Humpy Hank — John says that a couple of days later Nerdfighter Mattie Boosh posted an animation of Hank humping the TARDIS on his Tumblr, and the Humpy Hank phenomenon was born. (playful) — 00:00:05
  • 2011-06-13 · Google Is Alive! — Hank judges Schrödinger's criterion better than his own, since fire increases entropy and fails it, and Google meets it; but an autonomous toy factory would then count too, almost as alive as a virus. — video description
    • In the description Hank clarifies he is not arguing Google should be treated as a sentient life form: if alive, it is alive the way a virus is, with unchanged ethical status. — video description
    • The problem with 'want' is that it is easy to program: Google's search bot wants to seek out information and send it back — does that make Google's software alive? — 00:01:39
    • By Schrödinger's definition too, Google qualifies: made by humans, it now organizes itself using power from the grid, so Hank ventures a cautious yes, Google is alive. (hedged) — 00:02:51
  • 2011-06-15 (said on 2011-06-14, implied) · Question Tuesday! Paula Deen Riding Me (and critical reading) — John sets Hank's punishment as the one most popular in Nerdfighteria, Humpy Hank All Over Town: Hank must hump the town. (playful) — 00:02:23
  • 2011-11-21 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John says the legislation before Congress would increase that inequality: YouTube, Google and Tumblr can afford lawyers against Viacom, he can't, and it won't stop already-illegal wholesale piracy. — 00:02:54
  • 2011-11-23 · Why are Barns Red and Kardashians Famous — Hank types 'Why are' into Google and answers the most-searched question for every letter of the alphabet as a service to Google searchers. — 00:00:24
  • …and 13 statements more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

Also named in: NERDFIGHTERS UNITE! (in your pants)

2012

  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John says this dependence means companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Tumblr have to listen to their users, which is good. — 00:00:59
    • John says everyone using Facebook, Twitter, Google or Angry Birds has agreed to be commodified: not necessarily a bad decision, but one to make thoughtfully and consciously. — 00:02:15
  • 2012-09-07 · Can You Really Light a Fart? — Hank answers the top questions asked to Google that begin with 'Can you really…'. (playful) — 00:00:31
  • 2012-11-04 · Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins — John says money from selling a company (say, YouTube to Google) or appreciated stock is capital gains, currently taxed at 15%, far below the ordinary income rate. — 00:01:56
  • 2012-11-23 · Black Friday: An Accident of History — Hank thanks YouTube and Google for funding SciShow and Crash Course and for supporting Vlogbrothers and all the brothers' endeavors over the years. — 00:02:51
  • …and 1 statement more in 2012 — all statements of 2012

2013

  • 2013-02-12 · Talking to the President — John says that on Thursday he will be in a Google+ Hangout with President Barack Obama, and will probably have a cold sore, which he has begun to develop. (hedged) — 00:00:37
  • 2013-02-15 · Baby, Harlem, Obama, Dance Crazes, Big Week — Hank reports that John got to interview the President a bit this week (14 February 2013), and shows a highlight. — 00:01:47
  • 2013-05-10 · Some Mind-Bending Earth GIFs — Hank says Google has just released a tool, built on decades of photographing Earth from space, that lets you scan the whole world and watch the last 25 years of change. — 00:00:12
    • Hank hopes that looking around Google Earth Engine, based on NASA's 'fantastic' Landsat program, might give us a better understanding of our realities and so lead to better decisions. (hedged) — 00:02:48
  • 2013-05-24 · What's Up with Start Ups — Hank finds big tech's bidding war for his time weird and worrying, not because people shouldn't spend time online, but because savvy companies see value in being 'the lens' on his world. — 00:01:03
  • 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — Hank: Cultural changes need activation energy and catalysts; Hank feels Nerdfighteria, now a powerful force, could be the activation energy and Subbable the catalyst. (hedged) — 00:01:00
    • Subbable lets you subscribe to content and choose what to pay: $0, $1, $5 or $100 a month, or a one-time amount. — 00:01:12
    • Subbable launches with only Crash Course, the brothers' educational show, which is very expensive to make. — 00:01:45
    • The Google grant that paid for Crash Course for the last two years is ending; without Subbable and its fans' support they cannot keep making it. — 00:01:50
  • 2013-08-30 · Raw Onion, Twerking, and Speech Jam — announcement: Hank says Subbable had a snafu with Amazon and recurring payments: monthly subscriptions were cancelled because they were not following all of Amazon's rules; now they are. — 00:03:00
  • 2013-10-11 · TFiOS Movie, Emma Approved, Subbable Update, etc — Hank says Subbable has averaged $100,000 a month paid out to partners over the last two months. — 00:00:29
  • 2013-12-03 · Who Owns DFTBA? An Introduction to Trademarks — John contrasts companies terrified of genericization with the community, which is defined not by its name or mottoes but by the values they represent, values that don't lose meaning when shared. — 00:03:21
  • …and 14 statements more in 2013 — all statements of 2013

Also named in: Top 25 Life Hacks of Reddit

2014

  • 2014-03-18 · Is the American Dream Real? — John grants that the regulations and redistributive tax policies that improve equality of opportunity elsewhere limit innovation, partly why Apple, Twitter, Google and In-N-Out Burger began in the US. — 00:02:31
  • 2014-05-30 · Nerdfighteria Census 2014 Results! — Hank explains Subbable as a voluntary subscription platform where subscribers choose any monthly amount, even zero, which keeps the shows available to everyone, including people who can't pay. — 00:02:02
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: After 2007 the brothers abolished the textual communication rule, changed the schedule, and exempted educational videos, montage videos and 4:01 videos (YouTube adds a second) from the time limit. — 00:01:32
  • 2014-08-29 · What's the Difference Between A and Z — Hank went to Google to ask a 'what's the difference' question, got distracted by others' questions, and decides to answer one for every letter of the alphabet. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • 2014-11-07 · New Crash Course and Pizzamas! — Hank says Crash Course was funded for its first two years basically by a Google grant; when that ran out, the brothers asked fans to give a little so it could keep existing for everyone. (hedged) — 00:01:35
    • People chose to give money through Subbable; Hank says Crash Course relies hugely on that support, which lets it make better and more content, and he could never be more grateful. — 00:02:02

2015

  • 2015-01-23 · Interviewing the President — Steve Grove: A Google employee, Steve Grove, assures Hank that nobody in the White House, not even the President's staff, will see his questions beforehand. — 00:00:18
  • 2015-02-20 · Why Are Fewer People Studying Science and Engineering? — Hank says Emerson is worried because fewer people graduate with STEM degrees and more of them go to work for big new companies like Google, SpaceX and Tesla. — 00:00:40
  • 2015-03-17 · What Are Paper Towns? — ask: John asks viewers who support Crash Course or SciShow through Subbable to move their subscription to Patreon, which he calls like Subbable only better. — video description
    • John reports that yesterday (16 March 2015) Subbable was acquired by Patreon, which he calls great news. — 00:00:07
    • John says every map company does this, usually with paper streets or bridges; Google Maps probably created a paper town called Argleton in England. (hedged) — 00:01:07
    • John says Google recently used fictitious entries against Bing, and the Billboard charts have used them too. — 00:01:57
  • 2015-03-20 · A Sacrifice of Individuality and the Internets — Hank thanks Patreon patrons funding SciShow and Crash Course; they are almost two-thirds of the way to pre-Patreon-switch funding levels. — 00:01:33
  • 2015-09-18 · Muslims Aren't Dangerous — In the description Hank says that googling 'Muslims Aren't Dangerous' turned up article after article about how dangerous Muslims are, which he found sad, discouraging and angering. — video description
  • 2015-12-11 · The Refugee Crises: Project for Awesome 2015 — announcement: John says donations can go straight to the Foundation via a new fee-free card made by Google, which matches every dollar up to $100,000. — 00:03:54
  • 2015-12-15 · P4A 2015 - Condensed Soup — ask: Hank notes Google matches only donations made through the donation cards until December 21, 2015, so donors using them should do it soon. — video description
    • Hank says donations through the on-screen donation card are still matched by Google up to $100,000, and every cent passes to the Foundation to Decrease World Suck. — 00:03:26

2016

  • 2016-10-07 · Changing Our Business a Bit — Hank lists past experiments: he humped things, John ate toilet paper, Hank sang songs, and they went to the developing world. (playful) — 00:00:15
  • 2016-10-28 · Give Me Your Tweets, I'll Give You My Phone · Last Video Before Leave! — announcement: Hank sets the tweet contest rules: at most 130 characters including the handle, a winner he picks subjectively by how funny he finds it, old tweets allowed, no plagiarism, and GIF or image instructions welcome. — video description
    • Hank says Google sent him a Pixel XL phone; an iPhone user who won't upgrade just because he got a free phone, he will give it to the author of his favourite tweet. — 00:02:18

Also named in: Loving Loving Things in Los Angeles

2017

  • 2017-04-21 · The Adpocalypse: What it Means — Hank says Google's valuation dropped by about $750 million in a day. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:04
  • 2017-06-06 · My Favorite Subreddits: Joy, Wonder, Knowledge, and Birds with Arms — recommendation: John recommends InternetIsBeautiful, which introduces beautiful websites, such as live radio from anywhere and a site where Google's AI guesses your doodles, like Pictionary against Google, which is very good at it. — 00:01:34
    • John jabs that Google's AI is great at Pictionary but still can't figure out which videos to demonetize. (playful) — 00:01:52
  • 2017-06-13 · Cheyenne, Wyoming — announcement: John: In the end screen John says he made a Google-sponsored video on his Facebook page about being internet kind, recalling his early online life in the 1990s. — 00:02:59
  • 2017-06-20 · FIRST! Green Brothers Reunited Again — John reveals Hank's first tweet, from June 2007 on his EcoGeek handle: writing up stories for EcoGeek and wondering when Google would buy Twitter. — 00:03:06

2018

  • 2018-01-19 · Many Years Ago, Someone Gave Me a Whole Bitcoin...then I lost it. — Hank: Only the most recent purchase decides what a Google share is worth; if no one would pay more than a dollar, it would be worth a dollar: just humans buying and selling. — 00:02:12
    • Google stock's value rests on Google's fairly consistent ability to make money, and to some extent on belief that it will make more in future. — 00:02:30
  • 2018-02-02 · What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) — Hank: After googling Elton John outfits, Hank picks the one he calls Sparkly Banana Beetlejuice. (playful, hedged) — 00:03:27
  • 2018-04-17 · John Green Answers Your John Green Questions — John learned that the first video result for his name on Google is Hank's 2011 video 'John Green is an Idiot'; he will try to replace it by answering questions people ask Google about him. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2018-05-18 · Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday — Hank: Googling who put the ram in 'Rama Lama Ding Dong', Hank finds songwriter George Jones Jr., who died in 2008; the album cover originally called the song 'Lama Rama Ding Dong'. — 00:01:54
  • 2018-06-01 · Destroying My Router with a Hammer (and etc.) — The description thanks Google for making really great Wi-Fi routers but demands the discounted two-pack. (playful) — video description
    • One of Hank's favorite things about being alive now is that he can Google pretty much anything and it is there. — 00:00:17
    • Hank recently switched his house over to Google Wifi, which he finds really well done. — 00:00:45
    • Hank says Google Wifi units are sold either singly or three for the price of two. — 00:00:49
    • Hank says Google mostly destroyed the router's economic value by not offering him a discounted two-pack. — 00:01:34
    • Instead Hank smashes the old 2012 router his Google system replaces, a 'P.O.S.' whose cords keep pulling it over; he filmed the intro before smashing it. (playful) — 00:02:08
  • 2018-06-05 · WHERE IS MY NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY — John knows he could just Google the poem, but he doesn't want to: he wants to read it in his Norton Anthology of Poetry. — 00:01:50

2019

2020

  • 2020-03-10 · A Strong but Fleeting Flavor: A Reunion Video — both: The brothers establish that Juicy Fruit is the yellow gum and, with Google and Wikipedia, that the striped gum with a zebra mascot is Fruit Stripe. — 00:01:42
    • both: Asked by the brothers, Google says Charlotte Brontë, the most famous and longest-lived of the sisters, died on 31 March 1855. — 00:02:55
    • The brothers joke that Google pronounces the Brontë name correctly, as it was probably pronounced, while they say it as it is spelled. (playful, hedged) — 00:03:05
  • 2020-10-30 · Four Years Ago — Hank says photos and videos of that time don't tell the whole story; his Google search history from that day tells a more true and more personal, if creepy, one. — 00:00:00
  • 2020-12-08 · A Love Letter to My Brother, Basically — John lists ideas Hank has realized: VidCon, NerdCon, Subbable, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Truth or Fail, Crash Course, SciShow, a podcast, card games, T-shirts, Eons, books and coffee mugs. — 00:01:27

2021

  • 2021-01-05 · SUPERIOR FISH BEINGS — John says the prediction is so weird that, according to Google, no one in the history of the web had used the phrase before. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-01-19 · let's go on a parts adventure — ask: John: Acknowledging many gave to Sierra Leone or cannot donate, John asks those who can afford $500 or more to join the P4A matching fund via a Google form or email. — 00:01:27
  • 2021-02-05 · The Project for Awesome will be Different This Year! — ask: Hank: Larger donors who want to join the matching fund should email the Foundation to Decrease World Suck at Complexly before noon Eastern on February 10. — 00:01:57
  • 2021-05-25 · The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated — John: On the fall 2017 book tour, Hank and John passed long drives trying to one-up each other with absurd Google user reviews, like a one-star review of Badlands National Park: not enough mountain. — 00:08:55
    • The Amsterdam bench where a scene of The Fault in Our Stars film was shot now has hundreds of Google reviews; John's favorite, three stars, reads in full: it is a bench. — 00:09:40
  • 2021-06-04 · Is Twitter Redeemable? — Hank: Clicked from Twitter the article is paywalled, though Googling it makes it readable, so Twitter users get only the headline and subhead. — 00:02:10
  • 2021-06-25 · The Surprising Origin of Crash Course — Hank says Crash Course and Complexly have funded themselves creatively: advertising, grants from organizations that understand the mission, Subbable, then Patreon, and now the Crash Course coin. — 00:02:40
  • 2021-07-23 · The Last 25 Questions I Asked Google — Hank says a weird thing about modern life is that he can forget what happened to him two weeks ago, but Google never will. — 00:00:00
    • Hank goes back through the most recent questions he asked Google, sorted by question word, starting with the wheres. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2021-08-17 · Who Owns Nerdfighteria? — John: Google receives just over 45% of all revenue generated by Nerdfighteria on the YouTube platform. — 00:01:56
    • That 45% share seems a little bit high to John. — 00:02:26
  • 2021-12-17 · What State of Matter is Fire — Hank says asking Google the question gets you all wrong answers, because the answer is very far from simple. — 00:00:29
  • …and 2 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2023

  • 2023-01-13 · Why is There an Egg Shortage (And More) — Hank says he is back in the old space doing an old format: asking Google questions without finishing them and answering what autocomplete suggests. — 00:00:05
  • 2023-01-17 · John Green Answers the Most Searched Hank Green Questions — John answers the most-searched questions about Hank Green, as Hank's brother. — 00:00:00
    • John says Hank no longer runs VidCon, now owned by other people, and started many companies, including Subbable, which became part of Patreon. — 00:02:26
  • 2023-01-20 · Behind the Scenes in the Deep Sea — Hank notes that for the last few videos John has copied whatever he did (low-budget Bo Burnham, a Google autofill video) and calls it cheating, or at least lazy. (playful) — 00:00:03
  • 2023-01-31 · I'm Going Back to College? — John calls Hank's newly announced Study Hall, a Complexly, ASU and Google partnership linking educational YouTube videos to college credit, brilliant. — 00:02:35
  • 2023-03-03 · The Law That Made the Internet — Hank says the problem is where to draw the line: is a Google search a list of recommendations, would every platform with any recommendation system be liable, and would the internet work at all? — 00:01:58
  • 2023-05-26 · My Cancer Press Tier List — Hank sends the Los Angeles Times to D tier for calling him John Green's brother in the headline, including the short search-result version. (playful) — 00:02:26

2024

  • 2024-08-23 · Is Google Training AI on YouTube Videos? — Hank poses the question many fear to ask: does Google, a company creators have a relationship with, train its generative AI models on YouTubers' videos? — 00:04:52
    • Hank says Google sees this license as sufficient for training generative AI: legally weaker than explicit language about training, but solid enough for them. — 00:07:55
    • Hank says Reddit, blocking all scrapers, has done deals with OpenAI and Google letting them train on its data for pay, sending it to them directly. — 00:21:21
    • Hank's case: if the derivative-works clause is good enough for Google's lawyers to train on Redditors' content, it is good enough for YouTubers' content. — 00:22:57
    • Hank says Google thinks training on YouTubers' copyrighted content is fine; he thinks they are wrong: he doesn't know if it is legal, but doesn't think it is right. — 00:23:26
    • Hank's final point: if Google didn't own YouTube, YouTube would not let Google train on YouTubers' videos; companies would pay, and YouTubers would expect a revenue share. — 00:28:00
    • Hank says because Google owns YouTube it apparently doesn't have to pay, and no rival can pay, since Google won't sell YouTube's data to competitors. (hedged) — 00:28:29
  • 2024-08-27 · How The Internet Is Rigged — John tells Hank he loved his video about Google and other large companies stealing from independent creators to train generative AI. — 00:00:00
    • John says YouTube became a massive business for Google because it decided long ago to share around 55% of revenue with independent creators and treat them much like large corporations. — 00:04:22
    • John says that relationship is now at risk because Google has, as Hank pointed out, in a very roundabout way basically admitted to stealing the content of creators to train language models without permission. — 00:05:05
    • John says these language models will earn Google billions of dollars while the users whose content made them possible get nothing. — 00:05:21
    • As a third way forward, John says governments could regulate terms of service so Reddit can't sell users' intellectual property without permission and Google can't use every hosted video for billion-dollar products. — 00:06:19
  • …and 10 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

Also named in: Some New Things…

2025

  • 2025-07-18 · OK, but What Are The Other 403 Errors? — Hank explains that when a requested address such as google.com/search holds nothing, the server replies 404 not found, usually with custom code that forms the visible 404 page. — 00:00:53
    • Hank says error 418 'I am a teapot', a late-1990s joke from a mock coffee-maker protocol, is the only Easter egg he knows built into many HTTP instances; Google still reports it at google.com/teapot. (hedged) — 00:04:18
  • 2025-08-19 · The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App — John has used Focus Friend for weeks; writing a lot since getting home from tour, he says it has helped him tremendously to focus on writing instead of his phone. — 00:00:43
    • John likes that stopping focus mode makes the bean's knitting evaporate and the bean look disappointed: he doesn't want to disappoint the bean, so he leaves his distracting apps alone. (playful) — 00:01:12
    • John recommends Focus Friend for kids going back to school and calls its design and illustration top-notch. — 00:01:25
    • John praises that the app collects and sells no personal data, needs no login and, best of all, has no ads: a clean, free, effective app is vanishingly rare in 2025. — 00:01:30
    • John's main complaint: he still has a diminishing number of brown hairs, yet John Bean is entirely gray; he asks to be at least salt and pepper. (playful) — 00:02:55
  • 2025-11-14 · The End of The Penny (and of Congress??) — Hank recalls that when John interviewed Obama on a Google+ Hangout about the penny, Obama said many small things that should be done are blocked by entrenched structures or the interests of a few. — 00:00:56
  • 2025-11-28 · Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...) — announcement: Hank announces Focus Friend has won Google's App of the Year, outright rather than in a category, which he calls wild. — 00:03:22
  • 2025-12-09 · Hank Green, from A to Z — John: Trying to recall the name of Hank's 1990s Mars website, John scrolled past a completely wrong Google AI response and learned from Wikipedia it was Hank Green's Mars Exploration Page. — 00:00:00
    • John says Focus Friend, co-created by Hank, was the Google Play Store's 2025 app of the year; it helps you use other apps less so a little bean in your phone can knit socks. — 00:00:58
    • John says Subbable was a crowdfunding platform launched about the same time as Patreon and so similar to it that Patreon ended up acquiring it. — 00:03:53
  • …and 8 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

2026

  • 2026-01-02 · I Got a New Disease and I Kinda Liked It. — announcement: Hank says he did not work out Focus Friend's psychology, it just seemed like it would work; it had a bonkers launch and year: top app in the App Store, Apple's social impact award and Google's app of the year. — 00:04:21
  • 2026-02-14 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 4! — announcement: Hank says more runes for Focus Friend are coming soon and thinks a bedroom is being beta tested, with some people having access. (hedged) — 05:43:57
  • 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — John says in 1992 you couldn't Google the author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, because Google would not be invented for six more years. — 00:01:57
  • 2026-09-04 · This is a Terrible Idea… — Hank says chemists might use "un-ionized", though he thinks not commonly, preferring non-ionized or electrically neutral (Googling it returned this joke first), and chemists are often unionized anyway. — 00:04:01
  • 2026-10-02 · the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world — John gives examples: reading Hollywood, Ending, his publisher and he capture your attention's value; this video he splits with Google; on Instagram Meta captures almost all of it. — 00:01:27
  • 2026-10-09 · The Productivity Lie — Hank says that drive even led him to create a whole app that is basically a Pomodoro timer with a bean living in your phone. (playful) — 00:03:27
  • 2026-10-23 · The Best Email I Ever Got — announcement: Hank says the limited-time sale on the Focus Friend Lifetime Pro subscription, which he earlier told viewers to wait for, is on now and ends on Halloween (31 October 2026). — 00:00:00
    • Hank wanted things his colleagues found baffling, like writing for Scientific American or ranking his websites high on Google: he started on YouTube as a fan of internet things, not TV. — 00:00:36
    • Focus Friend winning Google's 2025 App of the Year outright, not in a category, is a huge deal but fell flat for Hank. — 00:03:28
    • Hank is not accountable to Google and does not care what Google thinks of his app: the people he feels accountable to are those whose judgment he cares about. — 00:04:42
  • 2026-10-30 · The Last Normal Year — Hank says that in 2016 Google published a paper on YouTube recommendations now being made by deep neural networks. — 00:01:59
    • Hank says the Focus Friend sale ends tomorrow or the day after (31 October or 1 November 2026). (hedged) — 00:08:07