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Elon Musk reportedly wants to charge for tweet embeds
He also plans to replace Twitter's CEO if his $44 billion takeover goes through, according to Reuters.
Apple Podcasts now has support for web embeds
You can embed the Apple Podcasts player with a show or episode on just about any website.
YouTube video embeds now include a 'Subscribe' button
Up until now, if you saw a YouTube video you liked embedded in a website, you had to click through the video to YouTube's page in order to subscribe to that channel. Now, YouTube is making it a little easier for viewers to see the videos they want (and for channel operators to grab those subscribers). Going forward, YouTube embeds will feature a "Subscribe" button.
Embedding a tweet could violate copyright
If you've ever embedded a tweet on your blog, that could be a copyright violation, according to a New York federal court ruling. Numerous sites, including Time, Yahoo (which is part of Oath, Engadget's parent company) and Breitbart published stories with an embedded tweet containing an image of NFL star Tom Brady. The tweet was posted by another party, but the photographer who took the photo accused the news sites of copyright infringement for embedding it. The judge agreed, saying their actions "violated plaintiff's exclusive display right."
Giphy and Vimeo trade video thumbnails for GIFs
Ever gone to watch a video online and thought to yourself, "Man, this thumbnail could be a bit more animated?" If so, you're probably going to freak out a bit and think Giphy and Vimeo have been reading your mind. That's because starting today, Vimeo thumbnails will be brief, looping clips rather than static images. Or, as the press release puts it, "Now, you can watch what you're going to watch before you watch it." And given Vimeo's focus on the creator, these GIFs are directly tied to the origin video and feature attribution for the author.
Periscope videos can now be embedded with a tweet
One key thing was missing from Periscope's live video option: the ability to embed the video streams and archived footage in other places rather than sharing a link. Twitter's livestreaming option is doing something about that today as Periscope videos can now be posted in a tweet. This means that so long as you're willing to embed the tweet than contains the live video, you'll be able to post them wherever you like. The app also got a Highlights feature, but it's different from what Facebook's live videos offer.
Facebook now lets you embed videos elsewhere on the web
At last, that cute puppy video you saw on Facebook won't have to stay on Facebook. The internet giant has announced an embeddable player that lets you put that adorable clip on other websites. There's not much magic to it -- all you do is copy and paste code and drop it into your blog or forum post. It's a simple addition, but it'll help a lot if you'd rather not track down a video on other services (or re-upload it yourself) just to share it with the rest of the world.
Reddit now lets you embed comments on other websites
If you've ever stumbled across a juicy quote in a Reddit thread, you now have an easy way to share it on the web without losing context: Reddit has switched on support for embedding comment threads. All you have to do is visit a comment's permalink, grab the code and paste it into your blog or forum. You can include the parent comment to provide background, and there's a rather wise option to hide comments if they're edited -- your fellow redditors can't prank you by changing things after the fact. Give it a shot if you'd like to do more with that laugh-worthy AMA response than simply take a screenshot or post a link. [Image credit: Eva Blue, Flickr]
Google's setting Photo Spheres and Street View images free from Maps
It looks like soon enough we'll be seeing Street View pictures and those spiffy Photo Spheres making their way from Google Maps and onto our favorite websites. How's that, pray tell? An update to Mountain View's Maps Embed API (targeted at web developers) is setting those images free, naturally. The search giant says that this previously was an omission from the last API release, and that it was spotted by a Developers blog reader. Google also says there won't be any usage restrictions on the embeds either, so hopefully we'll get more 360 degree panoramas in various places sooner rather than later. If and when the average Joe will get this access, however, remains to be seen.
Twitter's working on a way for mobile users to embed promoted videos
Twitter's been working on numerous ways to marry tweets and video, and it looks like Seth MacFarlane has inspired them to try another. If you type the hashtags #AMillionWays or #AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest into the iOS client, you'll be able to embed the red-band (adults only, folks) trailer for the movie into your tweet. We've tried to replicate the feature on the Android app to no avail, and when Re/code asked Twitter for an official line, all it said was that it was one of its numerous experiments. Perhaps in the future we'll all be able to embed longer video into our 140-character missives, or maybe this'll be reserved just for those impoverished movie studios with tickets to sell.
Getty Images opens up its stock photo vaults for free, legal use with new embed tools
Whether it's @HistoryinPics or just an Imgur-hosted picture posted to Reddit, professional photos are being used everywhere on the internet -- and usually without payment or credit to the original owner. Getty Images licenses out stock photos (including coverage of sports, news and fashion events) for use by the media (cough), businesses and artists, and now it's hoping to get some control back, by letting anyone use them for free. Free that is, as long as they're posted with Getty's new embed feature which, like the ones we've gotten used to on Flickr, YouTube and other internet sites, produces the appropriate HTML to pop the picture in a blog or social media post. At launch, it's specifically designed to tie in with sites like Wordpress and Tumblr, and on Twitter, links produce a card with the image and information. The pictures won't be watermarked, but it also links back to Gettyimages.com and includes attribution for the photographer. It seems like a win-win for everyone, and an admission by Getty that simply trying to paywall access to high quality pics won't keep them from being posted everywhere anyway. Meanwhile, everyone from casual tweeters to those starting great websites for the next ten years just getting their start can access high quality photos without worrying about scary legal letters or getting their account shut down.
Flickr's redesign continues with a new style for embedding pics on other websites
The new look of Flickr is ready to surface in other spots on the web, now that Yahoo's photo site has rolled out a new style for embedded photos. Enabled by default if you're using the preview UI, the new embed code pulls in extra data like title and the owner's username as an overlay, plus interaction so viewers can scroll through more photos easily (an actual embed follows after the break). Also key for Flickr and its users, it can measure the reach and viewing statistics for its photos when they're used elsewhere. Probably most important, the new style compares well with other social networking / media posting services like Instagram and Google+, although some users are already complaining about having Flickr's watermark slapped on their photos. For now, the old embeds are still available, but we'll see if that changes when the site's preview experience becomes the default style.
Pinterest's APIs let developers embed pins directly on their websites (updated)
A lot of people use Pinterest to keep track of stuff they'd like to buy, places they want to go and food they want to eat, but there's always been separation between Pinterest and the actual sources of those desires -- you only had the option to click a Pinterest button on a site to pin the content in question to your board of choice. No longer. Pinterest has taken another step to strengthen its partnerships with third-party websites with the release of its APIs today. The tools allow web developers to embed recent, trending and most-clicked pins (that update regularly according to what folks are pinning), and even implement a Pinterest search surface that surfaces pins of items from your domain surface custom search results on their pages, too. Folks will also now be able to pin stuff directly from websites, so as to not interrupt the retail experience with a detour to Pinterest proper. To illustrate these newly bestowed powers, Pinterest has partnered up with a slew of well-known sites, including Zappos, Target, Walmart, BuzzFeed, and Better Homes And Garden -- and if you'd like the full list and further description of how to use the new APIs, hit the source below. Update: Our earlier version of this story mistakenly indicated that the new APIs enabled searching Pinterest on third party sites. In fact, the APIs only allow devs to create a custom keyword search and embed those search results on a webpage.
Twitter adds related story links to embedded tweets, but won't say how they're curated
In a bid to cement itself as the definitive real-time news commentary engine of the modern universe, Twitter has (smartly) decided to add a bit of context to embedded tweets. Increasingly, blogs and news sources are embedding tweets that relate to a story they're composing, but to date, those tweets have largely sat on their own island. Starting today, embedded tweets will include a "Related headlines" section beneath the original tweet, where you'll be able to view the tweet's permalink page as well as lists and links to websites where the tweet was embedded. All in all, it seems like a wise move for the company, but curiously, it's not clear how the shown links are chosen. Something tells us every news organization on the planet will be pleading to be first for inclusion, though.
Tapestry visual storytelling app adds support for iframe embeds
Tapestry from Betaworks is a visual, storytelling app that lets you tap your way through a tale. It can be used to create some very moving or entertaining narratives that you can share on the Tapestry network. Now, a new embed option expands your audience by allowing you to add your creations to any website or Tumblr blog. The embeds are available in two sizes -- small and large. The small size has a width of 500 pixels and is perfect for Tumblr, while the larger size measures in at a respectable 852 pixels that looks fantastic on websites and blogs. You can check out a sample Tapestry video that I embedded below using the iframe embed code.
Twitter briefly showed which sites were embedding which tweets
It's been possible for Twitter fans to embed posts and whole timelines for some time, but authors almost wouldn't know it when they aren't told that the sharing takes place. Users may not be in the dark for much longer -- F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen noticed this weekend that Twitter was briefly listing the sites embedding a given tweet. We've asked Twitter for more details, but the quick disappearance of the feature suggests that the company was conducting field tests. If the addition becomes permanent, it would be consistent with Twitter's desire to track major events -- we'd know just which tweets get the web community buzzing.
Vine enables video embeds, keeps web viewers in the loop
Vine video posts have had an ephemeral quality when there's been few ways to show them off outside of catching a web link the moment it appears. There's a better way to make those six seconds last an eternity now that the Twitter-run service offers support for embedding its loops on the web. As long as you have access to an existing web link or share a clip through an updated iOS app, you can get HTML code to embed a video in two styles and three different sizes. While it's not quite the expanded platform support that some are hoping for, embedded viewing does make it easier to see what Vine is about -- and potentially delight (or annoy) blog readers who'd have otherwise missed your ultra-short movie projects.
TweetDeck for the web and Chrome gains ability to embed tweets, not much else
TweetDeck today announced a new feature that may not nab it any design or productivity awards, but, still, it'll surely be appreciated by some power users of the Twitter-owned client. And while the ability to embed tweets isn't exactly novel at this point (Twitter's had it for many months), it's still nice to now have the option present on both the web and Chrome versions of the application -- which, in turn, should make it easier to insert select snippets from the Blue Bird social network into your personal website or blog. Besides the "Embed this Tweet," TweetDeck didn't make any other additions, though the service did make it clear that it spends "a lot of time improving TweetDeck for a large consumption of Tweets, as this is one of the core uses of the product." Onto the next one then.
Twitter offers embeddable timeline tool, gives web designers new toy to play with
Until now, the only way for folks to see someone's tweets on the web was to grab screenshots or head directly to their Twitter page. No more. The microblogging platform just launched a new tool that lets folks embed Twitter timelines into any website, meaning you can have your 140-character musings right alongside your long-winded blog posts. Plus, you can interact with those tweets as you would at twitter.com, following and replying directly from the module. Interested? Head on down to the Twitter Developers source link below to learn how the embedding works.
Spotify launches Play Button in bid to become the web's default music player
The music streaming wars have been heating up a good deal, as of late, thanks in no small part Spotify's long-awaited US launch. Since then, Rhapsody bought its one-time chief competitor Napster, both Pandora and Rdio underwent major redesigns and Mog finally launched a Windows client. Naturally, all of this has proven good news for the consumer, as services have a features arms race of sorts, gunning for the top spot. None of the contenders are quite perfect, of course -- when Spotify launched, for example, we couldn't help but note the absence of a browser-based option of the sort employed by Rdio and Pandora. Today's announcement still leaves open that possibility, but it does mark a new web-focused strategy for the company -- on that could arguably have a much larger impact on Spotify's fortunes than a simple browser-based UI.Today marks the launch of the Spotify Play Button -- a name we assume the Swedish company settled on before Google announced the whole Android Market rebranding thing. The button is, essentially, a widget that allows site owners to embed songs and playlists directly from Spotify's massive catalog of songs. It's a simple idea, sure, but well executed, it could prove a major win in the service's attempt to stand out in the ever-more competitive world of music streaming. After all, embedding music on sites has long been a fairly haphazard deal -- unless you happen to have a deal with a proprietary player, it means snapping up something like a YouTube video, which often live in, at best, a legal gray area.
