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YouTube adds in-app direct messaging and sharing features
Don't look now, but Google has yet another messaging service -- sort of. Today, YouTube announced that it is rolling out a new in-app direct messaging feature, much like what you'll find in Instagram. Google's been testing and teasing this feature for over a year now, but after taking user feedback into consideration, the company is rolling it out to all of its users around the world.
Vine as we know it shuts down on January 17th
Take a deep breath, Vine fans. We knew this was coming. In a tweet, the team confirmed today that Vine will be closed down on January 17th, clarifying the "January" timeframe it gave out last month. On that day, the app will become Vine Camera, a stripped back piece of software that lets you shoot and export six-second loops to Twitter or your camera roll. As promised, the Vine website will remain untouched, acting as an archive for older uploads. You can watch classic clips, covering comedy, music and art, just don't expect anything new to come through the pipeline.
Snapchat Stories come to the browser with Oscars roundup
Snapchat is immensely popular, but at the moment its plentiful Snaps and stitched Stories are trapped inside the mobile app. If you're on a laptop or PC, or want to share a Snap on another social network, there's no obvious way of doing so. That state of affairs started to change last night, however, when Snapchat slapped a live Story up on its website. It meant anyone could get a taste of what people were posting at the event, including, perhaps most importantly, people that aren't already on Snapchat.
Twitter adds landscape video recording to its mobile apps
Some of us don't want to share portrait and square cropped videos all the time. Crazy, huh? The mobile-centric video formats have been championed by Vine, Instagram and a whole host of live-streaming apps, so it was hardly a surprise to see Twitter follow suit when it launched in-app video recording earlier this year. Landscape videos still have their place though, so the company is now relenting and offering the aspect ratio inside its apps. So when you're scrolling through your feed and inspiration strikes, you can hit the camera button, flip your phone sideways and record a regular video for your followers. We're not sure why the option wasn't available from the start, but hey, at least it's here now.
Xbox One now shares gameplay footage direct to YouTube
We can all agree that sharing gameplay footage on Xbox One via SkyDrive OneDrive isn't really the best social solution. Okay, so there's Twitch, too, but the holy grail of video sharing lies with YouTube. And, as of tomorrow, Xbox One owners will get just that as an app update will bring the much desired ability to share Game DVR footage directly to a user's YouTube channel. It's really as simple as that. Once the update hits, you'll need to dive into the console's settings menu and enable the social sharing feature first, but that's about as deep as it gets.
Cameo enters the social video world with a clever and powerful app
Cameo is a new free social video app that aims to compete with the likes of Vine and Instagram. The app sports some powerful features and has enough advantages that people who love to share videos will want to give it a shake. The app allows you to take as many videos as you want. All the videos are rendered in the cloud at 720p, and a copy is saved to your iPhone so it can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. One clever feature is the ability to share videos in real time with friends, so if, for example, you're both in different places at a sporting event, you can share each other's clips and build them into your own video creation. Like Vine, clips are limited to six seconds, but you can combine those clips into a video that lasts as long as two minutes. As you shoot new clips, new ones are being rendered in the cloud, so you are not waiting for things to finish. When all your clips are done, you can select music, either from your own library or from clips provided by Cameo. You can title your video, and choose a theme. Then the video is rendered on the Cameo servers, which is pretty quick, and then you can share. I gave the app a try and found it very well thought out. A novice can get a great-looking video the first time out without ever consulting a help file. You can comment on friends videos, or follow what they are doing. I found the six-second clip limit restrictive, but once I got into the rhythm of the app, I was less bothered by it. The themes are very well done, and don't feel like simple filters thrown on top of video. The themes are sort of all or nothing. You pick a theme and go with it. You don't get to fiddle with transitions and effects. There are a lot of iPhone owners who never touch the video feature they have, but Cameo could give them a good reason to explore video as a creative and social outlet that isn't complicated to use. Like all apps, Cameo will mutate and improve, but it is already a strong contender and everyone who uses video on their iPhone, and those who don't, but are thinking about it, owe Cameo a look. Cameo requires iOS 7, and it's not universal. Your best bet is an iPhone, which is what it is really designed for.
Yahoo acquires video sharing startup Qwiki
If you thought Marissa Mayer was done snatching up companies and was ready to turn her focus internally, you were wrong. Clearly the CEO sees no reason why the company can't handle both simultaneously. So, while the forgotten brands are shuttered and the merely struggling ones given fresh coats of paint, new products are joining the Yahoo family. The latest addition is bouncing baby iOS app called Qwiki: a standout from TechCrunch Disrupt 2010, at which Mayer was a judge. The startup combines Vine-like social video sharing with Zoe-esque filters, photo transitions and soundtracks to create "stories." After you've collected and edit your material, you can post your Qwiki (apparently the creators have a slightly sophomoric sense of humor) for others to see. Obviously the purchase is meant to keep Yahoo competitive with Facebook and Twitter, which have their own respective video sharing platforms. If you mosey on past the break you'll find a pleasant little celebratory video from the latest startup to sell out. Update: Unfortunately it appears that Qwiki's servers are a little overwhelmed right now. We'll add the video back when the service comes back online. Update 2: And, the story of Qwiki and Yahoo is back online for your viewing pleasure.
YouTube Capture for iOS updated with optional WiFi only uploads
Still completely absent from Android, the Google-made iOS only YouTube Capture video sharing app has received a minor update. Version 1.3 introduces a smorgasbord of colorless enhancements like a faster startup, an upload timer and HD previews of image enhancements. The real showstopper here is the addition of a WiFi only sharing option, which may prove useful for people trying to curtail their wireless data usage. To pull down this 28.3MB software bump, head on over to the source link below.
Twitter said to have acquired fledgling video-sharing service Vine
Twitter has pretty much nailed text-based interaction, so it looks like it's time to diversify into video. According to AllThingsD, the blue birdie has snapped up a three-man outfit called Vine, a video-sharing startup intended specifically for bite-sized clips. You'd be forgiven for not knowing it -- the service hasn't actually launched yet -- and there's no word on whether it'll operate independently or be assimilated by the social network. There are bound to be more details revealed soon, and it might not be too long before you're sharing less in 140 characters and more in five-second clips.
Public Cloudee beta blows in with desktop uploader, new web interface, iPhone 5 optimization
Boxee already has its fingers in quite a few video streaming pies, and now the company has launched the Cloudee service into public beta to let your store and share your own movies. The iPhone or iPod app allows clips to be uploaded and shared with a select group of pals, while permitting commenting and liking in a similar fashion to Google+. The company has also introduced desktop uploading software for Windows or Mac computers, along with a website so your can manage videos "with more than just your thumbs." In addition, the app is now optimized for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, and lets you share footage with contacts and publish using Facebook or Twitter. All videos are now private by default and users will enjoy unlimited space to stock videos until Cloudee emerges from beta -- at which point, Boxee may require an upgrade to its premium service to add additional content. So, if you're interested in crossing the video sharing bridge while avoiding the trolls, check the source to see how to sign up.
Cloudee beta gets Boxee into the video sharing and cloud storage game
Media center software, a streaming set top box and a TV-tuning USB dongle -- Boxee already has a pretty decent amount on its plate. But don't think the company is done just yet. This isn't about products, this about an ecosystem, and the next step in building that out is Cloudee. At its heart Cloudee is a cloud-based video hosting and sharing service, not terribly dissimilar from YouTube at first glance. But, the vision here is more focused and more narrow than simply having a public space to post your viral clips and home movies. There is the ability to comment on and like videos, but sharing is focused on limited groups of contacts, borrowing some inspiration from Google+. After recording a clip it can be uploaded directly to Cloudee where you can organize your creations into collections, which can not only by shared but have multiple contributors. Boxee's Avner Ronen gave us an example of a recent company outing, where the whole staff contributed videos to a collection shared only internally. He explained that, "video is very specific, a special use case and it deserves its own treatment," something he thinks other services have fallen flat on. When asked about the future of the service he only said only that it will be a "big part of the boxee experience going forward, tightly integrated with Boxee Box." We can't help but hope this is the first step towards a cloud-based DVR service, which we felt was sorely missing from the launch of the Live TV dongle. %Gallery-156759% For now the service is in closed beta, with only an iPhone app available. During the testing period users will be provided with unlimited storage for free, but Ronen hopes to move Cloudee out of beta quickly and begin offering it on a freemium model. All users will get a limited amount of storage for free while more demanding uploaders can purchase unlimited hosting. Just how much free storage will be provided or how much the premium level will cost is still up in the air. Boxee plans to closely watch how testers use the app and decide how the best price and storage points before officially launching and expanding and opening up to other platforms like Android. Once our beta invite arrives we'll be back with a hands-on and you can sign up yourself by heading over to Cloudee.com.
Twitpic for iPhone brings four years of image-sharing history, one year too late
Having become a staple for 35 million life-observing extroverts already, Twitpic has suddenly decided to launch itself into the world of iOS apps. You may justifiably question the point of yet another platform for sharing photos and videos over Twitter, given how well the official app, Instagram and others now handle such things. But then you'd be missing out on a community that has been steadily growing since even before mobile photography took off, and whose visual ramblings are actually much funnier and more amazing than even the brightest shots of the Dutch skyline.
Givit video sharing service offers easy export of FlipShare clips
Clinging desperately to the last vestiges of your beloved Flip? Well, as the December 31st, 2013 deadline to rescue your vids approaches, you're running out of time to pick a successor to your FlipShare affections. Sharing service Givit hopes to be the platform that takes the reins to your video-sharing heart. In order to lure in new users, it's integrating (however briefly) with FlipShare to offer you one click exporting of your clips from the doomed Cisco property. Users who log into FlipShare will see a link offering them 25GB 2GB of free storage if they move their movies to Givit as well. All in all, not a bad deal. If you want to give it a test run before handing over the keys to your memories, hit up the source link.Update: Givit reached out to correct an error in the original release they sent us. New members will only get 2GB free, but those signing up from FlipShare will received double the normal amount of storage on premium accounts.
Givit makes private video sharing from iOS quick and easy
There are plenty of video sharing services online these days -- from the enormously popular YouTube to Apple's own video integration with Twitter, it's quite easy for almost anyone to upload and share video with the public. But Givit's CEO Greg Kostello, who previously worked for both Apple and NeXT, has a different goal in mind: He wants to take on video sharing in the private arena. Givit, as we saw at CES this week, isn't about uploading a video from your iPhone or iPad for the world to see. Rather, it's about uploading a video, and then sending it out to a limited list of your friends, family, acquaintances or co-workers, for only them to see and respond to. On first glance, the app is almost just a messaging service, and in fact, Kostello showed me an example video where he asked his team a question, and each of them were able to respond to the video from their own place and time. The biggest benefit of Givit appears to be that it's easy to share and interact with a video once it's uploaded, and Kostello points out that the company is really trying to have a universal experience -- whether you're on any iOS device, a PC or a Mac, or any Android device or other tablet (the company is introducing an Android app here at CES this week), you can hit the Givit site or download an app and use the service easily. The iOS version even integrates with your address book (though there's no iCloud integration -- yet, says Kostello), so once you've got a video in the system, sharing it with your friends and family in a secure way is as easy as just choosing their names from a list and hitting go. Even if they don't use Givit, they'll get an email saying there's a video waiting for them, and they'll just need to hit a link to open up a browser and see it. Unfortunately, there is one big hitch: Users who see your shared videos will need to register with Givit. Kostello says this is more of a security concern than anything else -- you can't truly share private videos unless you know who's watching, so if you send a nice birthday video off to your aunt, she'll have to sign up for the Givit service before she can actually see it. It's not like YouTube, where there's just a URL that's obscured from the public. Here you're more aware of who has seen your video, and they must go through a quick registration to ensure only they can see it. But once users are registered, they can see any videos that have been shared with them, and even respond to those videos with text comments or even video replies. Kostello says that while his company can't see what the videos are that are uploaded (they are private, after all), they're noting that about half of them are recorded with a mobile and/or iOS device, and about half come from PC video files, which means they were either taken with a webcam directly, or edited and then uploaded. Anecdotally, Kostello says just simple video blogs are a big part of the service, as videos of users kids' playing sports, then shared with family and friends. He's seen businesses (including his own) use the service as well, and he even tells one story of a military family with a brother serving in Qatar, who used the service to send video both to and from the soldier away from home. Skype, says Kostello, often means you need to be in both places in the world at the same time, but a service like Givit means families can see and respond to shared videos on their own time. Currently, Givit is free to use, but in the next month or so, Kostello says they'll announce plans for monetizing it. He says ads probably aren't a part of the equation, since all of the shared videos are still users viewing their own content, but instead Givit will likely charge for premium services, like more room to save videos, and possibly other features. There will always be a free service there, says Kostello, similar to Dropbox, but heavy users will be asked to pay. Givit seems like an interesting solution to the issue of sharing videos privately with a smaller group. There are services out there that will do this already, but many of those make it hard to specify exactly who can see the video, and ensure that's what happens. Once it's set up, Givit's a quick and easy way to post a video, and make sure that only the people you want to see it can do so.
Skype for Android adds support for sharing photos, video and other files
Just in time to really annoy your family and friends with holiday greetings, Skype for Android has updated to version 2.6, bringing with it support for sharing photos, videos and other files with your contacts. Being able to quickly transfer pics of your gifts and clips of children tearing into meticulously wrapped presents to people on your buddy list is just the most notable change to the VoIP client. Plenty of other tweaks have taken place, even if they're primarily under the hood. For one, video quality has improved specifically on devices running NVIDIA's Tegra 2. A bunch more phones have also been added to the app's whitelist, including Motorola's latest super-phones the Droid RAZR and Droid 4. You can head on over to the Android Market now to get the latest Skype update.
YouTube adds Google+ Hangout button, lets you share videos with a click
Hangout video sharing is one of Google+'s more appealing features -- not that we use it often, but when it comes to things to do in an online social gathering, watching YouTube clips would certainly rank near the top. Now you can launch Hangouts directly from YouTube, rather than heading over to Google+ and pasting in a link. Sure, it's a simple tweak that probably took less than an hour to code, but it's a clever addition nonetheless.
PogoPlug Video and Buffalo CloudStor now shipping, streaming your stuff all over the place
Yes, you've seen these guys before, and now the latest PogoPlug offspring are ready to ship. Both PogoPlug Video and its storage-sporting cousin, the Buffalo CloudStor, put their own unique twist on the firm's remote access service. As you might recall, PogoPlug Video, which is now available exclusively from Best Buy for $200, allows you to hook up your external hard drives and share streaming video, music, and images to devices anywhere with internet access. Buffalo's CloudStor, on the other hand, provides the same cloud-based access, with a little something extra. It's the first PogoPlug branded gadget to sport integrated storage, and comes in three iterations, ringing in at $150 for 1TB, $210 for 2TB, and $250 for the 2TB Pro version. Now you can share all your favorite kitten clips, without ever uploading them to YouTube. Isn't that precious?
j5 Create's device / data sharing peripherals leave us cautiously optimistic
We're dying to find out more about j5 Create's line of attractive and ambitious peripherals, but we're not entirely sure they actually exist. The company's website features six different data and device sharing products -- the JUC100 Wormhole KM Switch offers keyboard and mouse functionality across two devices; the JUA230 DVI Display Adapter connects up to six monitors with three different display modes; and the JUH320 Wormhole Station brings together shared keyboard and mouse access with two USB 3.0 ports and a memory card reader. j5's website promises stylish connectivity, featuring sleek product renderings and a flash presentation that provides, ahem, inspirational insight -- swans, flutes, ballerinas -- but no talk of finished products, price, or availability. Additionally, we haven't found any of these devices for sale online, despite the fact that the brand's parent company, KaiJet, is an established manufacturer of peripherals in Taiwan. So, yes, there's a chance that someone out there is hooked up to a Wormhole Station right now, but we wouldn't bet our diamond-encrusted iPhone on it.
Skype teases video recording and sharing 'as it happens,' inventing synonyms for 'video calls'
It's hardly a secret anymore that Skype will be making some manner of video-related announcement at CES, but now the company's stepping up the hype offensive with a series of teasing videos and tweets. The common thread between the vids is that they're all shot in remote locations or on the move, eliminating the current PC / Mac dependency for video chat and forcing our minds to consider mobile, perhaps smartphone-shaped, devices instead. What Skype's promising is that we'll be able to share our favorite moments "as they happen," which together with all this video recording stuff seems to point to only one thing: video calling on mobiles. Only mystery left now is which platforms will get it when.
Community: internet TV's biggest leg up over HDTV?
Almost all experts agree that internet viewing is growing in popularity, be it TV shows or just random clips to escape from reality, but we've all wondered just how viable the world wide web was as a standalone source of programming. An insightful writeup over at The Daily Cardinal got us thinking even more, as it points out one advantage online TV has over standard TV in almost every instance: community. As the author stared into the 900+ options in a satellite EPG, he at first "marveled at the number," but soon he found the overload to be "just annoying." From there, he noted that internet TV brings near-instant viewing on anything you have a mind to search for, and while he couldn't remember the last time he and his pals had a great time hovered around the traditional tube (Super Bowl notwithstanding), he vividly remembers the first time his posse checked out the "Charlie Bit Me!" clip on YouTube. Frankly, we still don't think internet TV will be eating into pay-TV anytime soon -- if anything, it'll act as a complement -- but for those thinking the former had zero advantages over the latter, should you not think again?
