Backstage
Latest
YouTube becomes more social with the Community tab
As rumored, YouTube has launched the Community tab in a public beta, making the site more like a social network by letting creators post text, GIFs, live video and more. Mobile users will see the new content in their "Subscriptions" feed and can also get push notifications. It will launch in beta with the Vlogbrothers, The Kloons, AsapScience and just a few other select channels, for now.
Report: YouTube will fend off Facebook with social features
If you want to post a video on the web several years ago, YouTube was the go-to spot. Now, Google's video network is feeling the pinch with strong video features from Facebook, Twitter and others, and has decided to push back, according to Venture Beat. The feature, internally code-named "Backstage," will reportedly allow users to share photos, short posts, links, polls and videos with subscribers. Much like a Facebook timeline, items will be listed from newest to oldest and posted in subscribers' feeds.
Cartoonist Paul Pope backstage at Expand (video)
Cartoonist Paul Pope of Batman: Year 100 fame swung by Expand's backstage to explore sci-fi and the state of comics. Interviewed by our own Brian Heater and Jeff Newelt (who gave us a hand on Expand's social media), the interview covers comics as a paper medium versus webcomics, making science fiction reality, how sci-fi has inspired actual gadgets and more. Hit the jump to catch the full video interview. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Indiegogo's Danae Ringelmann backstage at Expand (video)
Crowdfunding has taken the world of consumer electronics by storm. Heck, even Expand has been dragged into the frenzy: we've taken our Insert Coin feature and turned it into a full-blown competition. Indiegogo co-founder Danae Ringelmann swung by backstage at Expand and chatted with us about what makes Indiegogo stand out from other crowdfunding platforms and whether their ultra-democratic philosophy holds the site back or works in its favor. For the entire interview, check past the break for the video. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Insert Coin: New Challengers winner Ziphius backstage at Expand (video)
Now that our Insert Coin: New Challengers contestants had duked it out and the judges have made their decision, we have a winner: Ziphius. Not only did the bot win $20,000 thanks to deliberation by our judges, but it came home with our $5,000 reader's choice prize too. Victorious and $25,000 richer, the brains behind the aquatic drone joined us backstage to chat about their project. For the full interview, check out our video after the break. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Oculus VR's Nate Mitchell backstage at Expand (video)
Nate Mitchell, vice president of product for Oculus VR, was in the spotlight here at Expand discussing gaming hardware, such as the firm's VR headset, and what it means for the future with folks from NVIDIA and Razer. Mitchell found his way backstage and we asked him about the largest challenges the headset is facing, how Oculus is supporting developers and creating standards for VR games and when an immersive holodeck experience might finally arrive. Take a leap past the break to catch the full interview footage. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here
Razer's John Wilson backstage at Expand (video)
If you've laid hands (or just eyes) on Razer's Blade, Edge, Switchblade or Hydra, then you're familiar with John Wilson's work. As VP of the firm's Systems Product Group, Wilson has headed up the design of a bevy of gaming products. He talked shop on stage here at Expand, and then spoke with us backstage about Rahul Sood's new role as an advisor at the firm, why Razer decided to whip up a tablet instead of a console and just how hard it was cramming a discrete GPU into a slate. Venture past the jump for the video interview. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
DJ Spooky backstage at Expand (video)
Paul "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid" Miller is a veritable renaissance man: he's a conceptual artist, writer and musician. After playing a special set here at Expand and chatting with us on stage, he took a trip backstage and discussed turning data into music, remixing The Metropolitan Museum of Art's archives, 3D-printing instruments, eating roasted tarantulas with James Cameron and more. For the full interview, leap past the break for the video. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Boston Dynamic's Marc Raibert backstage at Expand (video)
Marc Raibert, president and chief robot lover of Boston Dynamics (of AlphaDog, BigDog and Pet-Proto fame), joined us on the Expand stage to discuss the present state and future of robotics. Raibert wound his way backstage and sat down with us to talk about the importance of biology's influences on the creation of robots and the possibility of his firm developing consumer bots. Hit the jump to catch the video interview. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Lenovo's Corinna Proctor and Jason Parrish backstage at Expand (video)
We spent some time on stage with two of the Lenovo's honchos to talk about how the ThinkPad brand has braved the test of time and take a look at what's next. The firm's Senior Research Manager Corinna Proctor and its director of ThinkPad strategy and planning stopped by backstage to chat a bit longer. We asked if Lenovo believes the ThinkPad name is being diluted by the likes of Yoga IdeaPads and other transforming hardware, how much love they're giving Windows 8 and if their success is tied to that of Microsoft's OS. Head past the jump to catch the full interview on video. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Tom Rivellini backstage at Expand (video)
If you truly were terrified during the Seven Minutes of Terror that saw the Curiosity Rover successfully land on Mars, you can blame NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Tom Rivellini. As JPL's Principal Engineer for Entry Descent and Landing Systems, Rivellini co-invented the sky crane landing system that helped the rover plant its wheels on the red planet. He met with us backstage to discuss the challenges that have been encountered with these feats of engineering, and what he's currently working on: a new parachute and heat shield system for landing spacecraft carrying humans or larger rovers on Mars. Hit the jump for the full interview on video. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Toyota's Sheldon Brown backstage at Expand (video)
Toyota's Executive Program Manager Sheldon Brown took to the Expand stage to discuss how the automaker developed its fully-electric RAV4 and what the future of driving looks like. After chatting with us in front of the crowd, Brown slipped backstage to dive a little deeper. Brown and Myriam discussed the Rav4 EV's development and aerodynamics, and how electric cars have evolved over the past decade or so. Check out the full video interview after the break. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Microsoft's Bob Heddle backstage at Expand (video)
Bob Heddle, director of Kinect for Windows, took to our stage yesterday to talk about the evolution of Microsoft's gaming peripheral. After turning our editor-in-chief into a rather rubbery looking 3D rendering, he headed backstage for an interview with Brian Heater where the two talked about Kinect's effect on Microsoft's business as a whole and the possibility of an embedded future. For the full interview, check out our video after the break. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Google's Tamar Yehoshua backstage at Expand (video)
Tamar Yehoshua has led Google's efforts to optimize Search across platforms, devices and languages and earlier this afternoon she took to the Expand stage to discuss how the discovery process has changed. Following her talk, Brian Heater caught up with Tamar to chat about the evolution of search and the company's focus on voice. Check out our video after break for the interview in its entirety. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Samsung's Dennis Miloseski backstage at Expand (video)
We had a chance to grill the head of Samsung's North American design studio, Dennis Miloseski, during our panel discussion about the growing sophistication of mobile devices here at Expand. As it turns out, he had even more to talk about, so we wired him up and threw him in the hot seat backstage. He gave us a look into the story behind the Galaxy S 4, the changing face of TouchWiz UI and building Samsung's design studio stateside. For the full interview, check out the video after the break. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Nest's Matt Rogers backstage at Expand (video)
Hot off his interview on the Expand main stage, Matt Rogers, Founder and VP of Engineering at Nest, saddled up to the rather more temperate seat in our backstage interview room with Joseph Volpe. Among other things, Matt opened up about design in the 21st century household and Nest's ultimate plan to take over the whole home. Check out the video after break for the full interview. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Tim Stevens backstage at Expand (video)
Our own Tim Stevens (literally) rolled into Fort Mason this morning to kick off Expand and shortly after walked his way backstage to chat with Myriam Joire about -- you guessed it -- Expand. To find out more about where the event came from, where it is and where it's going, check out the full interview after the break. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Kickstarter's Yancey Strickler backstage at Expand (video)
He's just taken the title of inaugural speaker here at Expand, now Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler is giving us even more face time in our first ever backstage interview. Since its launch in 2009, the crowdfunding powerhouse has become a household name, bringing us success stories like the Pebble smartwatch. Myriam Joire sat down with Yancey to talk about Pebble, OUYA and the future of Kickstarter. Check out the video after the break to watch our backstage interview in its entirety. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 to debut at MWC? Definitely, maybe.
We've all heard of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Note... but the Galaxy Note 10.1? That's a new one to us. The pinch of salt you should take this with could rim the entire nation's margarita glasses for a year, but hints have come from more than one source now that Samsung has an up-sized styli-friendly slate in the works. The unconfirmed device was listed on the Samsung site, alongside the standard Note, Wave 3 and Wave Y as being highlighted at a developer event at MWC. We'd have ignored it and written it off as a typo if it wasn't for a listing at Backstage looking for "teen student" to use "his Galaxy Note 10.1." Intriguing, no? Even more suspicious, both the casting call and the developer day listing have been removed. Of course, it's entirely possible that both appearances of the Note 10.1 were simple typos but, we won't lie, we're really hoping a larger sized slate with an S Pen.Update: Samsung told us that it doesn't "comment on future product announcements." Looks like we'll have to wait.
Band streams concert live via iOS app
A band named Everything, Everything is streaming a concert live today from London, and they're sharing that content on the App Store. NME says that the Manchester band has released a free app for iOS that will not only stream the show live, but will eventually have an archive of the show available, along with information about the band and backstage pre- and post-show access. Unfortunately, I don't know if everything is working as planned -- the concert has probably finished up by now, and I don't see the app live on the US App Store, even though it was supposed to have been released worldwide. It's possible that the band figured they'd release the app quickly, without realizing that Apple's approval process is a little busy around this time of year. But at any rate, it's an interesting idea. We've already seen musical acts use Apple's platform to share content with fans, and live streaming shows as a "virtual ticket" is another cool idea that even smaller bands can use to gain an audience. I think we'll see more of this in the future (and maybe then it won't be so lost in the huge rush of apps during this holiday season). [via Macgasm]
