Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has revealed his hopes for the company's new social networking service, Google+, saying that he'd welcome more interaction with Twitter and Facebook.

Speaking to journalists at a media conference in Idaho, Schmidt admitted that he'd "love to have deeper integration with Twitter and Facebook."

But attempts to get the two social networks on board haven't yet borne fruit with Facebook resisting Google's talks over importing Facebook friends.

Twitterbook+

Twitter, too, hasn't been able to see eye-to-eye with Google and its big plans; the two companies' search deal recently ended without renewal as they couldn't agree terms.

Schmidt quite rightly pointed out that it is too early to say how Google+ is doing but did big up video hang outs, which he said are very popular with younger users.

But now that Facebook has launched its own Skype-powered video chat feature, Google+ may lose some users to Zuckerberg's bigger and better-established network.

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.

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.