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Game of Thrones’ interactive SXSW photobooth turns you into a Westeros warrior

Mar13
by on March 13, 2015 at 10:14 pm
Posted In: Analysis and Opinion, Around the Web, Design & Dev, Insider

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There’s no shortage of gimmick at South by Southwest 2015, but at the Game of Thrones warehouse playfully dubbed SXSWesteros, attendees can take a walk in Arya Stark’s shoes by training to sword fight. Well, a wooden one, at least. At this year’s SXSW, fans (badge or no badge) can come in for a GoT-style portrait and enter an interactive stage where a Bluetooth and sensors-equipped sword is ready for your combat. Before you is a giant screen of your photo, and several sphere targets will appear intermittently. The experience is a throwback to Arya’s sword training in season one of…

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Facebook acquires online shopping curation site, TheFind

Mar13
by on March 13, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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Expect to do more shopping on Facebook in the future via ads. Or at least that’s what it hopes will happen thanks to today’s acquisition news. Today online shopping curation site, TheFind was acquired by the social network. Both companies say that the acquisition will help make the ads you see in your news feed more relevant to you. Facebook issued the following statement: We’re excited to welcome TheFind to Facebook. TheFind’s talented team has built a successful search engine that connects people to products. Together, we believe we can make the Facebook ads experience even more relevant and better…

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Stre.am enters the live video streaming fray at SXSW

Mar13
by on March 13, 2015 at 7:37 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider, Profiles and Interviews

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It’s funny how similar ideas come along from different places at the same time. Just as Foursquare and Gowalla emerged the solve the same problem back in 2009, a crop of live mobile video streaming startups have been catching people’s attention of late. As well as Meerkat and the yet-to-launch Periscope (the acquisition of which Twitter confirmed today), Stre.am is a new app that has launched just in time for SXSW. Combining live streams that can only be watched in-the-moment with Snapchat Stories-style saved clips that are available for 24 hours after publishing, Stre.am is a more complicated product than Meerkat,…

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YouTube now supports 360-degree videos; virtual reality cat content incoming

Mar13
by on March 13, 2015 at 6:14 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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It was only a matter of time: YouTube now supports 360-degree videos. We first noted reports of the imminent addition back in January. As of today, users can upload 360-degree content from cameras like the Ricoh Theta, and play them back on the Web or with the YouTube Android app. Interested uploaders can read technical details about the video format on GitHub. Though YouTube is working on making 360-degree content work automatically, in the meantime you’ll need to add special metadata to ensure it’s properly played back. Thankfully, you won’t need a VR headset to watch it. On the Web (read; Chrome), you can scroll around…

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Twitter confirms Periscope acquisition via retweet

Mar13
by on March 13, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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Twitter has bought livestreaming startup, Periscope, for real this time. In fact, it seems the acquisition had already happened in January – it simply hadn’t been announced. Periscope tweeted out the news at little after 1PM EST. You may have heard some news: It involves a blue bird. #YouCanGuessTheRest #WeJoinedTheFlockInJanuary #AreWeUsingThisRight #IsThisThingOn — Periscope (@periscopeco) March 13, 2015 Twitter re-tweeted the announcement from its official account, to make things extra official. Meanwhile, the company’s VP of Product Kevin Weil offered the Periscope team his greetings. Excited to officially welcome @periscopeco to the Twitter team. Can't wait for everyone to see what they've…

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