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Oculus TV launches this month with a ton of streaming partners
Given that the main function of an Oculus headset is to let you escape reality for a while, using one to watch TV seems almost pedestrian. Yet it's a feature that's often overlooked, until now. Oculus TV is launching later this month and it's got a raft of entertainment partners on board, including Hulu, Showtime, Red Bull and Pluto TV, with more, including ESPN, in the pipeline.
More Facebook videos will get pre-roll ads soon
Facebook plans to try out pre-roll ads -- that is, commercials that play before videos -- in more parts of its service. This comes after it's spent months testing the format in limited places, like the Watch section. In a blog post published today, the social network said it's expanding the trials to "places where people seek out videos, like in search results or on a Page timeline." So don't be surprised if you soon have to wait five seconds for an ad to finish before you can watch that cute puppy video you clicked on.
Facebook's video app comes to Xbox One
Facebook is continuing its quest to make its video easier to watch in the living room. The company has released a version of its Video app for Xbox One that gives you an easy way to catch videos in between Sea of Thieves sessions. It'll seem familiar if you've used previous apps, and blends both Facebook's growing list of original shows with recommended videos and your friends' shared clips. Not that there's too much room to complain -- this still makes it convenient to catch up without squinting at your phone or PC screen.
Facebook inks deal with Warner Music for tunes in shared videos
Using background music that you don't own or license the rights to in a video is enough to get it pulled from Facebook. That's why the social network has been pursuing licensing deals with music labels. Now, Variety reports that Facebook has signed a deal with Warner Music Group that allows users to create, share and upload videos to Facebook containing the label's music. This wraps up the "Big Three" music labels, as the social network signed deals with Universal and Sony in December and January, respectively.
‘Humans of New York’ is getting its own Facebook TV show
Facebook is steadily rolling out its new Watch section for original shows on desktop and mobile. But, what good is a new video platform without a stocked lineup of programming? To give you more options, the social network is ordering a new, 12-episode docuseries from the creator of the Humans of New York photoblog.
Facebook is bringing gaming videos to the living room
Facebook is determined to become a destination for gaming videos, and that includes when you're lounging on the couch. It's adding a dedicated gaming tab to its TV app that will highlight videos from the games, developers, eSports teams and personalities you like on Facebook. If you want to catch a tournament highlight or a new game trailer, you won't have to pull out your phone or leave the living room.
Facebook will hire 3,000 moderators to tackle livestreamed violence
Following a spate of suicides and murders that were streamed or hosted on Facebook for hours before they were taken down, Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company will be hiring an additional 3,000 people to its global community operations team over the next year. That will bring the total size of the department to 7,500, and the manpower will be dedicated to reviewing "the millions of reports we get every week, and improv(ing) the process for doing it quickly."
Why Senator Cory Booker draws inspiration from social media
Despite the fact that social media can be pretty terrible (fake news, harassment of women and people of color, the list goes on), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) remains a fan. In a wide-ranging talk that kicked off SXSW 2017 yesterday, Senator Booker took time to note that all media can be manipulated and used for good or ill -- but said that he's seen so much potential good that he hopes activists continue to take advantage of it.
Facebook's video app lands on Apple TV
You no longer need to own a brand new Samsung TV to use Facebook's video streaming app. Facebook Video has launched on the 4th-generation Apple TV, giving many more people an opportunity to watch social clips on the big screen. The interface clearly encourages you to sit back and relax -- it's divided into sections that automatically play videos back to back, such as those shared by your friends, recommended videos and live streams.
Facebook's new video app launches on Samsung smart TVs
Facebook recently confirmed that rumors of a video streaming app were real, and now owners of Samsung's 2017 QLED 4K TVs can download it. As the company said on Valentine's Day, it's focused strictly on video content and isn't just a big-screen version of Facebook. You'll get to see videos shared by friends or folks you follow, along with top live videos from around the world and algorithmic suggestions based on your interests.
Facebook is reportedly building a streaming TV app
Facebook hasn't been shy about its recent push into video. The social network has been rolling out new video ad products and going so far as to reward longer and more engaging videos with better distribution on its platform. Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is going all-in on TV and developing its own app for streaming TV boxes.
Facebook Video now plays nice with Chromecast and Apple TV
If you've been dying to get Chewbacca Mom on your television, the latest update to Facebook's video product is directed at you. Starting today, you can now send Facebook videos to your nearby Apple TV or Google Chromecast from any web browser or iOS device.
Facebook will start testing offline videos in India
In an attempt to avoid the dreaded buffering symbol in regions where mobile internet access is spotty or prohibitively expensive, Facebook is about to start testing a new video download feature for a group of users in India. As TechCrunch reports today, those users will be able to sync videos while on WiFi and download them to watch in the Facebook app later.
'Call of Duty' publisher brings esports to Facebook Live
Activision Blizzard is set to conquer a new frontier: Facebook's live video feature. The world's largest video game publisher announced improvements it plans to implement to its various esports platforms, most notably a push to broadcast esports to the masses via the massive social networking site.
Facebook is trying to make it easier to stop video piracy
From user-made clips to content from big media properties, video is all over Facebook (and more people than ever are using the social network). Along with that trend comes the problem of piracy: plenty of video publishers are seeing their work distributed on Facebook without their permission, and now Facebook says its going to do something about it. In a blog post today, the company says it is building a new video matching system for a "subset" of video publishers. Facebook says that its tool will "evaluate millions of video uploads quickly and accurately, and when matches are surfaced, publishers will be able to report them to us for removal." For starters, this tool will launch in beta with selected partners, but Facebook intends to roll it out more broadly as it gets more effective.
iPhone OS 4 to include Facebook video uploads?
We already knew that Apple was likely ratcheting up the social networking integration in iOS 4 -- that is, if the addition of Linked Contacts and .plist entries referring to Facebook means anything (and it probably does). Adding further flame to the fire, the gang at 9to5Mac.com have dug up a bit of code that appears to handle video exporting to the popular social networking site. As near as we can tell, users will be able to send files at 480 x 480, 30 FPS -- and since Facebook is already using HTML5, you won't have that pesky Steve Jobs / Flash thing to worry about.
