live
Latest
Roku's Twitter channel brings livestreams to your living room
Twitter just announced a slew of new live content earlier this week and now Roku is giving its users a way to watch it all in their living room. The set-top box company revealed today a dedicated channel for all of Twitter's live video on its range of streaming devices. This means that you'll be able to follow along just like you would on any other Roku channel rather than through Twitter on mobile or the desktop.
Watch this Periscope video after a short message from #brands
Video ads are nothing new on Twitter. The company has announced a number of ways for brands to get their message out through promoted tweets, pre-roll messages and even ads in Moments. Now Twitter is extending its advertising to live video. Starting today, companies who are buying ads on the social network can have short pre-roll clips play ahead of both live and replay Periscope streams.
Dozens watched a Facebook Live stream of sexual assault (updated)
It's no secret that Facebook has its hands full dealing with graphic and violent content being streamed live on the site. Last summer, Antonio Perkins was streaming an otherwise normal evening when he was shot. There have been other cases of graphic footage being streamed on Facebook Live as well. The most recent incident involves the sexual assault of a teenager in Chicago.
Twitch goes full Facebook
Twitch is starting to look a lot like Facebook or Twitter. Following the addition of private messaging and live update tools, today Twitch unveiled Pulse, the next step in the site's transformation into a full-on social networking service. Pulse allows Twitch streamers and users to post updates that show up on one newsfeed-style page, including stream clips, YouTube videos, links, photos and written messages.
Robotic studio takes fashion photos without a camera crew
Fashion photography is a time-consuming process, to put it mildly. The constant adjustments to angles and lighting can take ages, and that's not including formatting your photos for different media outlets. StyleShoots might just have the problem licked, though. It's launching Live, a robotic photo studio that theoretically eliminates the need for a camera crew. The intelligent machine combines a depth sensor, lighting rig and camera (a Canon 1DX Mark II) to capture photos and videos using simple instructions on an iPad -- the stylist just has to decide on the intended results while models go through poses.
Silenced on the Senate floor, Elizabeth Warren goes to Facebook Live
On Tuesday night, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked "Rule XIX," censuring Senator Elizabeth Warren for her attempt to read a letter (PDF) critical of fellow senator and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. The section of the rule used says that "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator." The New York Times reports that Warren's fellow Democrats argue it's being applied inconsistently, saying McConnell ignored it when Ted Cruz accused him of repeated lying, and when Tom Cotton called Harry Reid's leadership "cancerous."
Live video comes to Instagram Stories in the UK
While Facebook and Instagram are fundamentally different platforms, that doesn't mean they aren't taking inspiration from each other. About a month ago, Instagram adopted live video streaming, a feature that has been blowing up on Facebook, but it was only available to users in the US. Today, the feature is making its debut on this side of the Atlantic -- as well as in Germany, France, Brazil, Canada and Japan -- helping to build out Instagram's burgeoning Stories platform.
Gear up for tonight's Nintendo Switch live stream
Nintendo revealed the Switch, its latest console, back in October -- but the company left out plenty of key details about the half-portable, half-living room system. So, that's what tonight is all about. Nintendo will host a live stream at 11P ET on Thursday, January 12th, intended to outline more of the features, hardware specs and games coming to the Switch when it lands in March. Watch the live stream right here with us tonight and keep the Engadget home page open for all of the news as Nintendo announces it. Until then, here are a few things to expect out of tonight's Switch event:
Facebook Live Audio elbows in on radio and podcasting
Facebook spent much of 2016 tricking out its Live video broadcasting feature, most recently opening it up to footage shot with 360-degree cameras. But it seems they've been busy bringing another streaming option to professional organizations and amateur users alike. Today, the social titan is launching Live Audio for a select group of publishers, with plans to open it up to everyone next year.
Woody Harrelson will livestream a movie into theaters next year
We've seen plays livestreamed to movie theaters and homes before, but what Woody Harrelson has planned for January 19th is a little different. His Lost in London Live movie will be streamed in movie theaters as it is shot, across 14 locations with a 30 person cast -- all on one camera in a single continuous take. According to Harrelson, he wants to "truly blend the excitement of live theater with the scale and scope of film."
With live 360 video Facebook should focus on cameras not content
360 cameras exist. YouTube already supports livestreaming in the immersive format. Yesterday Facebook finally opened up its popular Live service to 360 videos too. But not for everyone. Right now it's just select pages, with National Geographic kicking things off today. Officially, then, 360 livestreaming is going mainstream. But if the new world of live, spherical video is to succeed, livestreaming needs to get easier, with a home on a major social network. YouTube has already made headway in this space, but, much like how video streaming didn't gain traction with the broader public until Meerkat and Periscope (and then Facebook) piped it direct into your friends' feeds, 360 needs the immediacy of social to succeed. To do that, it needs hardware that's easy to use and a seamless app experience.
Facebook fixes faulty Live reactions count and other metrics
Facebook has kept its promise to be more transparent after it discovered that its system has been embellishing video views and ad data. The social network has admitted to (and fixed) a few more faulty metrics, starting with Live video reactions. You know those reaction emojis that flow across your screen while you're watching Facebook Live? Well, you can "react" as many times as you want during the broadcast, but the website's counter should only count your first to determine the total number of "Reactions from Shares of Post."
Hulu's live TV options will include Fox and Disney, of course
Hulu will roll out its live TV lineup in early 2017, complete with shows from the Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox, two of Hulu's founding partners, the company announced today. The agreement brings more than 35 networks to Hulu's live service, including ABC, FOX, Fox Sports channels, ESPN channels, Disney Channel and XD, Freeform, National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild.
Streaming to Periscope is no longer confined to phones
Twitter's livestreaming service is moving beyond the phone. Today, Periscope CEO, Kayvon Beykpour, announced that Periscope will stream videos from, well, anything. The new "Producer" feature is aimed at content creators who might not want to be limited to just streaming from their phone.
Twitter can tell you when friends and celebs start livestreaming
Twitter is all about live content on this fine Monday morning. First up, Twitter has added a new notification option that alerts users when someone they follow shares live video in a tweet. To enable the function on mobile, navigate to the page of someone you follow and tap the new notification icon next to the follow icon. Then select the final option, "Only tweets with live video," and you're all set. The next time that account goes live, a red alert bar will pop up along the bottom of your feed, allowing you to tap and start watching.
Now Fox is live streaming its prime-time TV across the US
CBS All Access, NBC and Watch ABC were first to live streaming network TV on the internet, but this week Fox Now became the first broadcast network to stream its live TV nationwide. Unlike the CBS app, Fox is tying this "beta" access to the live streams to TV Everywhere authentications, which means cord cutters are not invited unless they snag a login from someone with cable TV (Disney-owned ABC and Comcast-owned NBC do the same). We'll have to wait and see if Fox ever opens things up for people to simply buy internet access, but for now its says 98 percent of pay TV subscribers should have access, representing some 96 million homes.
Go Live on Facebook's Windows 10 app
Rejoice everyone using the Facebook app on Windows 10: Now you can start a Facebook Live broadcast from your tablet or desktop. Pretty neat, right? As WinBeta notes, the update is slowly rolling out, so you might not see the "Go Live" button (screenshotted below) in the status update field just yet. Previously, this was only available via the mobile apps, but we're living in the future so anything's possible these days. Who knows, it might not be long before we see the next Chewbacca mask video.
Mom behind most-watched Facebook Live video visits its HQ
It's only been a few months since Facebook opened up live video streaming to everyone, but with over a billion daily users the emergence of a massive hit was inevitable. Late last week an odd yet charming video stream of Candace Payne amusing herself by trying on a Chewbacca mask went viral, and currently stands at 143 million views with more than 3 million reshares. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg that makes her video the most-watched Facebook Live video ever, and just that quickly, she's on the company campus riding bikes with guess who -- Chewbacca.
Facebook Live video replays will highlight the best moments
By now, you've certainly heard about Facebook's live video push. As the company continues to revise the live-streaming feature, new tools are being added on the regular. TechCrunch reports that the social network will soon let viewers skip straight to the good parts when replaying that footage. Based on reactions and comments, Facebook will show you when the best portions of a video take place in the form of a visual timeline.
Stream Coachella performances live on YouTube this weekend
It's mid-April, which means it's time for the first weekend of Coachella's annual soirée in the valley. The ability to livestream a number of the performances from the comforts of home is an expectation at this point, after several years of beaming footage to YouTube. The 2016 installment of the event will be no different, with live coverage of the three-day event beginning Friday, April 15th at 6:30 PM ET (3:30 PM PT). While the streaming schedule hasn't been posted just yet, Coachella did announce that it will provide three channels of performances and interviews, similar to years past.
