Anyone can now try Uptime, the new YouTube party app from Google

You no longer need an invite to try Google’s YouTube parties app.

Gogole’s startup incubator, Area 120, allows employees to work on approved projects during their “20 per cent time”. The latest project from that incubator is Uptime, a mobile app that lets you meet up with people, share YouTube videos with them, engage using stickers, and more. It is described as a “place to share and watch videos together with friends… watch, chat, and have fun”.

Google first made the app accessible to select people in the US with an iOS device (there’s still no Android version). The app has been updated a few times since then to include a new home screen that helps you discover videos, music video support, and a way to find friends through Facebook. But you still needed an invitation to try the service. Now, however, Google is giving a formal launch.

Now anyone can search for videos using the app. It’ll let you find friends with common connections. You can also engage with friends while watching videos through comments, stickers, “sparkles”, hearts – and all your activity is accessible from the profile page. Uptime basically makes the experience of watching YouTube a more group-centric thing, even for people not in the same room. 

• What is YouTube TV, which channels does it offer, and how does it work?

It is still only available on iOS, and not Android, at least at launch. Also, Uptime does not allow you to watch and share paid and premium content, such as movies and YouTube Red. You can learn more about how the app works from its FAQ page.

We could see Google testing the waters with this app before integrating the core features into the actual YouTube experience. Otherwise, we’d personally think it would be cool if the app considered adding the ability to record or stream your own videos.

Vimeo axes plans for its Netflix-esque subscription service

Last November, online streaming site Vimeo revealed that it was building a YouTube Red-like video subscription service to compete with Netflix and Hulu. On Monday however, The Hollywood Reporter learned that the company has effectively killed the plan and is already in the process of liquidating the development team.

“Vimeo has confirmed that it has decided not to proceed in offering a subscription based original program service scheduled to begin in ’18,” a Vimeo spokesperson told THR. In November, the company asserted that it would spend “tens of millions” to acquire and develop original content for this subscription package.

“Vimeo has the once-in-a-generation opportunity to, following in Netflix’s footsteps, deliver compelling subscription viewing experiences for consumers in the market for pay TV,” CEO Joey Levin said in a shareholder letter late last year, noting that the site boasted 240 million monthly viewers. “If we can convert just a small portion of our audience, we have a very large business.”

In the end however, this strategy didn’t pan out. Vimeo’s long positioned itself as a fancy YouTube — a “a one-stop shop for creators to bypass the entire existing media infrastructure,” according to Levin. And while the company has produced some original content of note (specifically High Maintenance which eventually got picked up by HBO) making the jump to licensed content streaming simply didn’t make sense. Instead, Vimeo is reportedly refocusing on its creator community.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Facebook, Twitter and others band together to fight online extremism

France and the UK aren’t the only ones fighting internet hate speech. Four titans of technology: Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube, announced Monday that they are teaming up to fight extremism online and have created the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) to do so.

“We believe that by working together, sharing the best technological and operational elements of our individual efforts,” Twitter’s Policy team wrote. “We can have a greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online.” In fact, the GIFCT’s goals are similar in scope to what Facebook discussed in the first installment of its Hard Questions series: “How We Counter Terrorism”.

Specifically, the GIFCT aims to leverage technological solutions, such as the Shared Industry Hash Database and machine vision-based detection systems, with people-based knowledge-sharing schemes as part of a joint partnership with the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (UN CTED) and the ICT4Peace Initiative. This includes developing best practice methods in how to deal with extremist content online and then sharing it with the rest of the industry, especially smaller businesses that otherwise don’t have the resources to address this issue.

The group will also work to facilitate industry-wide cooperation for counterspeach efforts. To that end, it will be hosting a series of workshops on these subjects in the coming weeks and months, though no set dates have been announced yet.

Source: Twitter

Russia threatens to ban Telegram if it doesn’t hand over data

Russia’s communications regulator has demanded Telegram turn over information about the messaging app and the company behind it or risk being blocked. Founder Pavel Durov said that Telegram had also been asked to give the Russian government access to decrypt user messages, all in the name of catching terrorists.

The Russian security service claimed that the app had been used by terrorists to plan attacks, citing a suicide bombing that occurred in April as an example. Telegram, a favorite of the Vatican, has also been used by ISIS to spread a kid-centric learning app. And though Telegram has made an effort to block ISIS channels, new ones are created frequently.

Russia isn’t the only country trying to get its hands on some of Telegram’s controls either. According to Durov, US agencies tried to bribe the app’s team last year and gain some influence with the creator. And Iran recently demanded that messaging apps like Telegram stop storing Iranian users’ data outside of the country.

Durov is resisting Russia’s demands, saying they are constitutional violations. And he notes that even if Telegram is banned, Russian citizens will just use any of the other available messaging encryption apps. Responding on social media, Durov said, “If you want to defeat terrorism by blocking stuff, you’ll have to block the Internet.”

Source: Reuters

Sony crowdsources ideas for its next PlayStation TV series

Living in television’s golden age means that every company wants to film their own hour-long prestige drama for us all to obsess over. Sony is no different, although attempts to turn PlayStation into a Netflix-esque platform fizzled after Powers was axed. That’s why the company is now launching the Emerging Filmmakers Program, which is asking members of the public to submit ideas for the next great TV series.

Long story short, it’s an open pitching competition whereby you offer up an idea for the next Breaking Bad to Sony. You have between now and August 1st to submit your story, with the top 10 concepts going on to be pitched by you to a panel of PlayStation judges. From there, five of the ideas will be turned into pilot episodes that, much like Amazon’s pilot program, will be voted on by the PlayStation community.

Reading in to the small print, it’s hard to tell if this is a genuine attempt at empowering new minds, or a cynical ideas-grab. Those wishing to take part are prohibited from being members of an established screenwriters union, and the judging process is deliberately opaque. It looks as if your ideas will also be owned by Sony, which will pay $250 to each of the “top 50” submissions. Although the 10 finalists will get $1,000, while those that are taken to pilot receive $5,000.

It’s hard not to point out, too, that while Sony is a corporate behemoth with divisions that may not speak to one another, Sony already has a TV unit. In fact, Sony Pictures Television is the home of Breaking Bad, The Blacklist, Preacher, Kevin Can Wait, The Tick and fifty other brand-name shows you could mention. Perhaps Powers, which was a Sony production, caused the two divisions to never work together ever again.

Source: PlayStation Filmmakers

Samsung Pay finally works with your Discover card

Samsung Pay was supposed to work with Discover cards in 2016 (it was announced in 2015), but the year came and went without support. And that’s no small problem if you like tap-to-pay purchases. While Discover isn’t the biggest name in the credit business, it has over 51 million card holders. Thankfully, that conspicuous gap appears to have closed: Samsung phone owners have noticed that Discover support quietly went live in recent days. We’ve asked both Samsung and Discover for comment, but Samsung hasn’t updated its compatibility list as of this writing. Don’t be surprised if the two are waiting before making the news official.

It’s good news if you’re a Discover card owner, as you won’t have to be picky about your choice of phone if you want to leave the old-school plastic at home. However, it’s also big for Samsung. Both Android Pay and Apple Pay have recognized Discover for a while — Samsung may not have been in dire straits without those credit cards, but it certainly wasn’t helping its chances. Now, it’s a relatively level playing field.

Via: Android Headlines

Source: Android Police

Nintendo swears the SNES Classic won’t sell out so quickly

Nintendo’s sales strategy for the NES Classic Edition was frustrating, to put it mildly. It shipped so few systems that they sold out almost immediately, and killed the product despite loads of pent-up demand. Will it learn from its mistakes now that the SNES Classic is on its way? Apparently, the answer is yes… maybe. The gaming giant has put out a statement (you can read it below) promising that it’ll ship “significantly more” SNES Classics than it did last year’s retro console. It’s not divulging numbers (that would be spilling trade secrets), but this suggests you might not have to pre-order right away to bring one home. However, you probably don’t want to get your hopes up just yet.

The company adds that it’s currently planning to ship the SNES Classic only between its September 29th launch and the end of 2017 — there’s “nothing to announce” about shipments in 2018. This doesn’t rule out further production runs, but it risks creating a frenzy as people buy either out of panic or to flip systems on eBay for a tidy profit.

And while it’s understandable that Nintendo wouldn’t provide shipping numbers, the lack of concrete info isn’t very reassuring. Will Nintendo accurately forecast demand, or will this just delay shortages for a hot minute? Based on early buzz, the SNES Classic is already poised to sell like hotcakes — unless there’s a truly huge increase in production, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get one just by waltzing into a store on release day.

At least the machine itself will tackle some problems from last year. Nintendo says the SNES Classic’s controllers will use 5-foot cables, or a full 2 feet longer than what you saw with its NES predecessor. You might not have to buy extenders (or sit right in front of your TV) to indulge your nostalgic side.

“We aren’t providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition.

“Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from Sept. 29 until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year.”

Source: Time

iOS 11 preview: Full of promise, especially on bigger screens

As always, Apple spent a considerable chunk of WWDC earlier this month hyping up iOS 11 and all of the new features it brings. Now it’s your turn to take them for a spin. The first public release of the iOS 11 beta goes live today for people participating in Apple’s testing program, and we’ve been playing with it for a few days to get a better sense of what it has to offer. Long story short, it’s already shaping up to be a very valuable, very comprehensive release.

In order to find out for yourself, you’ll need the right hardware: an iPhone 5s or newer, an iPad mini 2 or newer or a sixth-generation iPod touch. Before you replace your iVessel’s perfectly functional software with something that’s still months away from being ready, keep reading for a primer on what to expect.

But first…

Before we go any further, here’s the usual disclaimer: This software, while mostly functional, is a long way from being finished. Over the past few days of testing, I’ve seen my share of lock-ups, app crashes and overall funkiness. (As I write this, my iPhone’s “home row” has disappeared and I can’t figure out how to get it back.)

Since we’ve had a limited time with this preview, we haven’t been able to test all of the updates it contains either. Even though I work for Engadget, my home resembles that of a Luddite, so I didn’t have much of a need for the updated Home app. And since my car is relatively ancient, CarPlay was also a no-go. Meanwhile, other things just weren’t ready for prime time, including multi-room support in AirPlay 2 and the ability to send cash to friends via iMessage. And while we’re starting to see some really neat augmented reality tricks made with ARKit, none of those are available in the App Store yet. Long story short, just make sure you know what you’re getting into before you agree to the install.

Familiar, but different

The iOS aesthetic has undergone some major changes over the years, but that’s not really the case here if you’re using an iPhone. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a difference until you swipe up in search of that flashlight. The iOS Control Center no longer looks like a handful of pages with quick options; it’s a more condensed cluster of buttons and controls that you can finally customize. I appreciate Apple squeezing all of this functionality into one place; it generally works well, and if your iOS device supports 3D Touch, you can press on these icons to access more controls. That said, I’ve already screwed up my screen brightness while trying to close Control Center maybe a thousand times, and I’m not sure I love the look either.

You can also view all your recent notifications from the home screen just by swiping up from your lock screen, which is nice if you need to get caught up on things quickly. That said, if you’re a digital pack rat (like me) and never clear your notifications, this is a great way to see iOS lag.

You’ll also see a big focus on big text: It’s meant to be clear and visually punchy, but if you didn’t like the Apple Music redesign, you’re probably not going to like this either. That bold approach is used everywhere to some extent, from the Messages app to your list of albums in Photos. The best new example, however, is the revamped App Store. It’s not just a place with lists of apps (though those still exist) — it’s more curated, and there’s a strong editorial bent. Featured apps get miniature articles (crafted with help from the developers), lots of big imagery, and more video to help explain what makes them so special. It kind of feels like Apple squeezed a teensy blog into the App Store.

And for the first time, games and apps are kept separate from one another. Sifting through these distinct lists is definitely more convenient than before, but it mostly benefits developers. With these lists now separate, apps won’t get pushed down in the Top Paid and Free lists by whatever the buzzy game of the moment is.

Intelligence everywhere

Apple’s pushing the concept of “intelligence” really hard with this release. With Core ML, developers will be able to weave machine learning features into their apps, and hopefully make them more responsive to our desires and behaviors. Too bad none of those apps are ready yet. There’s still one concrete example of Apple’s pronounced focus on intelligence here, though: Siri.

For one, it sounds profoundly more natural than before. There are still small tells that you’re talking to a collection of algorithms, but the line between listening to Siri and listening to an actual person is growing strangely thin. (You’ll notice the improved voice in other places too, like when Apple Maps is giving you directions.) Hell, Siri even sounds good when you ask it to translate something you’ve just said in English into Spanish, French, German or Chinese.

It’s also able to act on more unorthodox requests like “play me something sad,” which happens to launch a playlist called “Tearjerkers.” And if you’re tired of hearing Siri altogether, you can now type queries and commands to it instead. Unfortunately, you’ll have to disable the ability to talk to Siri in the process. Ideally, Apple wouldn’t be so binary about this, but there’s at least one workaround. Worst case scenario, you can enable dictation for the keyboard, tap the button and start chatting with it.

If some of this sounds familiar, that’s because Siri actually has a lot in common with Google Assistant. While the feature gap between the two assistants is closing, Google is still better for answering general-purpose questions. Apple’s working on it, though. The company says Siri now pulls more answers from Wikipedia, which may be true, but you’ll still just get search results most of the time.

More importantly, the underlying intelligence that makes Siri work has been woven into other apps. Siri can help suggest stories you might be interested in inside the News app, and if you register for an event within Safari, Siri will add it to your calendar.

Getting social

Sometimes I wonder why Apple doesn’t just go all out and create its own social media service. Then I remember it did. It was called Ping and it flopped hard. So it’s a little worrying to see Apple bake a stronger social element into Apple Music could. At least the company’s approach this time is based on delivering features people actually use. In addition to creating a profile (which only partially mattered before), you can now share your playlists and follow other users. Sound familiar? Well, it would if you were a Spotify user. Apple’s attempts to stack up more favorably against major social services doesn’t end here, either.

With the addition of new features, iMessage has become an even more competent competitor to apps like Line and Facebook Messenger. You want stickers and stuff? Apple made it easier to skim through all of your installed iMessage apps, so you can send bizarro visuals to your friends quickly. You’ll get a handful of new, full-screen iMessage effects for good measure, and it’s not hard to see how the newfound ability to send money through iMessage itself could put a dent in Venmo’s fortunes. (Again, this feature doesn’t work in this build, so don’t bother trying to pay your friends back via text.)

And then there’s the most social tool of all: the camera app. The all-too-popular Portrait mode has apparently been improved, though I’ve been hard-pressed to tell the difference. (It’ll officially graduate from beta when iOS 11 launches later this year.) You’ll also find some new filters, but the most fun additions are some Live photo modes. You can make the tiny video clip associated with a live photo loop, or reverse itself, or even blur to imitate a long exposure. Just know this: If you try to send these new live photos to anyone not on iOS 11, they just get a standard live photo.

The iPad experience

The new update brings welcome changes to iPhones, but it completely overhauls the way iPads work. This is a very good thing. Thanks in large part to the dock, which acts similar to the one in macOS, they’re much better multitaskers. You can pull up the dock while using any other app to either switch what you’re doing, or get two apps running next to each other.

Just drag an app from the dock into the main part of the screen and it’ll start running in a thin, phone-like window. Most apps I’ve tested work just fine in this smaller configuration since they’re meant to scale across different-sized displays. And you can move these windows apps around as needed. To get them running truly side by side, just swipe down — that locks them into the Split View we’ve had since iOS 9.

Having those apps next to each means you can drag and drop images, links or text from one window into the other. This feels like a revelation compared to having to copy and paste, or saving an image to your camera roll so you could insert it somewhere else. Now it just needs more buy-in from developers. Literally all I want to do sometimes is drag a photo from the new Files app into Slack to share it, but that’s just not possible yet.

Oh right, there’s a Files app now. It’s another one of those things that do what the name implies: You can manage stuff you’ve saved directly on your iPad, along with other services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Those third-party integrations are sort of theoretical right now, though: Dropbox sync isn’t ready yet, and navigating your Google Drive doesn’t really work the way it’s supposed to. It’s a great idea in concept, and I can’t wait to try it when it actually works.

When you’re done dragging and dropping, one upward swipe on the dock launches the new multitasking view. The most annoying part of this new workflow isn’t how your recent apps are laid out as a grid instead of the usual cards. No, it’s that you can’t just swipe up on those cards to close an app like you used to; you have to long press the card and hit a tiny X to do that. I get that it’s more akin to the way you delete apps, but the original gesture was so much more intuitive and elegant. Otherwise, sifting through open apps to pick up where you left off is a breeze.

That said, it’s odd to see the Control Center to the right of those app windows. Having all these extra control toggles shoved into the side of the screen looks kind of lousy to me, but don’t expect that to change anytime soon. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of thoughtful touches on display here. Consider the new on-screen keyboard: Instead of tapping a button to switch layouts for punctuation and numbers, you can just swipe down on a key to invoke the alternate character. I still haven’t gotten completely used to it, but I’m much faster than I was on day one. Hopefully, your muscle memory resets more easily than mine. The Notes app has also been updated with the ability to scan documents on the fly, which has already made my life easier when I’m filing work expenses.

And don’t forget about the Apple Pencil. It was always kind of a hassle going through multiple steps before I started writing a note — you had to unlock the iPad, open Notes and tap a button to enable pen input. Now, I can just tap the lock screen with my Pencil and I’m already writing. Longtime readers probably know my handwriting sucks, but it’s generally clean enough for iOS to parse it, so I can search for things I’ve written straight from Spotlight. Tapping a result brings up my note, and even in its unfinished state, it’s honestly a little crazy how fast Apple’s handwriting interpretation works. Then again, Apple is pushing on-device machine learning processes like this in a big way, so if we’re lucky, behavior like this will be the rule, not the exception.

These are all valuable improvements, and I’m sure I’ll wind up using these features a lot. At this point, though, I still wouldn’t choose an iPad over a traditional notebook or convertible as my primary machine. The situation will improve as more app developers embed support for all these features into their software, but the foundation still doesn’t seem to be as flexible as I need.

The little things

As always, there are lots of little changes baked into these releases that don’t require a ton of words. Let’s see…

• There’s a handy one-handed keyboard in iOS 11, but it’s disabled by default. I have no idea why.
• When you’re on a FaceTime call, you can now take a screenshot of what you’re seeing without that pesky box with your face in it.
• Do Not Disturb While Driving is good at knowing when you’re using an iPhone in a car — just be sure to add a toggle for it in the Control Center for when you’re a passenger.
• It’s basically impossible to miss when an app starts using your location: You’ll see a blue banner at the top of the screen telling you as much.

Even in its unfinished state, iOS 11 seems promising, especially for iPad users. I’ve always maintained that iOS 10 was a release meant to weave Apple’s sometimes disparate features and services into a platform that felt more whole. It was maybe a little unglamorous, but it was necessary. When iOS 11 launches in the fall, we’ll be able to get a better sense of its character and value.

Google officially kills Gchat in favor of Hangouts

Google Talk, also known as Gchat, has officially been put out to pasture and replaced with Hangouts. The tech giant has been threatening to do so since March, so you’ve only yourself to blame for holding on to an internet messaging services from days gone by.

Really, what were you holding on to, stalwart Gchatters? A legacy messaging interface from a service launched in August 2005 that’s almost as old as this site? Why have blocky message windows when Hangouts’ round chat bubbles match today’s vogue?

Of course, Hangouts is slowly being sidelined itself — at least in the consumer sphere. As recently as March, Google pushed new Hangouts features aimed at enterprise clients as it continues to aim its AI-powered Allo and Duo chat services at non-commercial users. For a company that can’t seem to stop making messaging apps, at least sending Gchat to the glue factory will free up some space for its current slate to specialize their services.

Source: The Verge

Amazon is turning every Echo device into an intercom

If you’ve got multiple Amazon Echo devices throughout your home, you’ll soon be able to use them as a connected intercom. Amazon just launched the feature today across the original Echo, Echo Dot and its new screen-toting Echo Show. We heard last month that the intercom capability was in the works, and it seemed like a given once Amazon brought hands-free calling and messaging across the Echo family. The company is rolling out the feature over the next few days, but be sure to update your Alexa app to access it.

We haven’t had a chance to test out the intercom feature yet, but it seems pretty straightforward. You just have to name your Echo devices by room and enable the “drop-in” feature in the Alexa App. After that, you can tell Alexa to call or drop in to a specific Echo device. Even better, you can also use the intercom feature when you’re away from home through the Alexa app.

While the idea of a home intercom might seem a bit antiquated in our hyperconnected lives, it makes sense for the Echo devices. Many Echo owners end up buying multiple devices, and it’s not that difficult for Amazon to add room-to-room communication. And, most importantly, it cements the Echo family as something essential to your daily life.