Twitter is taking another step into getting into live video by introducing 360-degree live streams through Periscope.

Anyone on Twitter and Periscope can watch 360-degree live video, though currently only select partners can go live in 360 via Periscope, the company announced in a blog post. While it’s only available for a limited number of partners for now, it makes sense that Twitter would start rolling out a tool like this as live streaming becomes increasingly popular on platforms like Facebook.

So, Twitter is trying to release yet another new product as it continues to try to find a new future for itself in 2017. This was a very challenging year for Twitter, which saw itself as the subject of a potential major acquisition before those talks fell apart. Since then, Twitter has struggled to figure out new ways to grow and has only incrementally added new products and features.

It looks like live streamers will plug a camera into the bottom of a phone in order to start recording and broadcasting the video, which is seen in the screenshot below taken from the video (apologies for poor quality).

With live 360 video, users can get a full capture of what’s going on for a broadcaster’s surroundings. Right now, as it’s limited to partners, which will no doubt use this as a playground to discover new use cases, it looks like there won’t be a ton of live 360-degree video for a bit. But this could also be a strong play to attract new influencers that it may see flocking to other platforms, giving them new tools (or toys) to play with in order to continue building their audience.

If you want to read into the tea leaves a little bit here, the company post was authored by Alessandro Sabatelli, the company’s director of AR and VR. So feel free to speculate as you wish while Twitter has said it is starting to explore opportunities in this area.

Making big changes to a platform with a wide audience — in Twitter’s case, though it isn’t growing as fast as Facebook, one with more than 300 million people — is always going to be tricky. But the company needs to continue to make big bets, particularly in video (it acquired Periscope), if it’s going to find a new way to ignite growth.

In the morning when I wake up I used to check my mobile phone, messages, WhatsApp, emails/ personal and official, skype social network newsfeeds (Fb and twitter etc), local and global friends status and activates. Sometime updates status, people also make a to do list for the day. I started responding messages, emails, WhatsApp and skype, social network activities right from bed. My mobile phone make me to start my day right from the bed. 

Recently I have gone through a book called WORL IS FLAT in which author discussed on tech make the world small. In my daily routine meetings, I am working in environment/ working for an organization where our Boss (CEO) is placed in Canada and research office here in Pakistan and many distributor and many well-wishers are many other countries, we will different ethicist from different time zone work together on 1 goal.  We normally do team meeting once a week and everyone joins us in Pakistan virtually in single Conf room on a Skype Group call.

Such things make me realized that it is era of Communication.

My best friend is living in Middle East, 2 hours behind Pakistan. He is working for a USA based mobile app development organization, 10 hours behind him and our friends is living in Australia. 12 hours from Middle East and 10 hours to Pakistan. But we all do meet chat on WhatsApp and group calling and we always look updates on each other’s activities on our social media.

Recently I visited USA- Chicago stated, i missed my flight from Chicago to mineaopills, unfortunately I did not have local num to contact my friends and family.  I meet a person from India at airport he offered me his phone to call my family and inform that I am safe, but unconsciously I told him that I updated my FB status and I believe everyone saw that I am safe. And it realized me that it is social network era 

Few months ago Facebook introduced Safety feature, which will help you to mark safe on your timeline in the disaster situation.

I suddenly realized it neither social media era not Era of communication, it is the era of both Social Media and Communication, social media is being used for communication and Communication app are being used as Social Media. E.g. WhatsApp, Email etc. now we can track people on map with there email address and also social media. 

Facebook is today adding a small feature that’s a big visual departure for the platform: you can now add background colors to text-only posts.

It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like; posts with the feature enabled show up with a pop of color on the background. To use it, tap on the status bar, choose a color from the choices below your text (including some gradients), write your message, and tap post. It doesn’t work for link, image, or video posts.

Though it’s a simple feature, it’s a departure for Facebook’s visual identity; no more is the world’s biggest social platform just a mass of blue and white.

The feature is rolling out to Android users over the course of the week, but the background colors will be visible on Android, iOS and the Web. iOS and the Web will be able to make their own colorful posts “in the coming months.” Nice of Facebook to give Android users something first, for a change!

In one of its smallest, yet most useful updates ever, Google Maps has now begun displaying whether a location, such as a building or restaurant, is accessible by wheelchair.

The service sources this information from its human Local Guides, who answer questions about the places they visit, indicating things like average cost and parking. Google told Business Insider that its database of responses has now run into the millions, and so it’s confident about including these results on its listings in Maps.

You’ll be able to find wheelchair accessibility information under the Amenities section when looking up any establishment in Maps, and you can also add your own findings on the same screen. Alternatively, you can head into the ‘Your contributions’ section in Maps’ menu on Web and mobile to answer questions about places you’ve been.

The new feature was built by Rio Akasaka, a product manager for Google Drive who took advantage of the ‘20% time’ that Google offers employees to work on their own projects. More updates like this, please, Google.

Snapchat wants you to play with your face, not just take pictures of it. New Selfie Lens filter games are starting to appear to users, creating an addicting new Snapchat feature that also inspires competition between friends and could become a powerful ad revenue driver. Snapchat confirms this is the launch of a new, native games feature.

Back in March, Snapchat tested a limited run of a Sponsored Kraft Mac & Cheese game where you had to catch noodles in your mouth. Then earlier this month, it offered an unsponsored Puzzle Face game where you have to slide tiles around to reconstruct an image of your face in the least amount of time. Both were first reported by Wojdylo.

Snapchat has also previously allowed some traditional Snap Ads in Discover to be swiped up to launch a web browser with a game inside, like the Gatorade Serena Williams tennis game, and the Under Armor Cam Newton game. But these weren’t built by Snapchat or hosted natively in the app, and instead were built by ad agencies and hosted on the web.

Now Snapchat is offering its most full-fledged, well-produced native game, called Santa’s Helper. It’s embedded in one of the first Lenses shown today. You can find it by opening the camera, holding on your face to scan it, then choosing the Santa’s Helper Lens.

The game places your face into an elf body, JibJab-style, and then you tilt your device back and forth to steer yourself down a ski slope as you collect presents and avoid obstacles. You can take a photo or video at any time and post it or share it with friends to challenge others to beat your score.

While absurdly simple, the games are also accessible and don’t require many instructions. They could get users coming back over and over to improve their scores. And since most Snapchat Lenses are temporary, there’s a sense of urgency to play before they disappear.

Some of Snapchat’s influencers have tried creating their own games in the past, which generally see viewers try to take a screenshot at the right time, like when parts of an image line up in a fast-moving video. And chat apps from Asia like Line have long offered games to play while you wait for friends to reply.

Snapchat is also tapping into people’s competitive spirit, as high score sharing via direct message or Stories could lure your friends to play, trash talk, and send back higher scores. This asynchronous, challenge-style gaming is what Facebook Messenger is trying to tap into with its own Messenger Games platform that includes titles like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Snapchat’s games aren’t as polished, but instead inspire the rough-edged goofiness its known for.

Finally, Snapchat has already proven that advertisers are eager to buy Sponsored Lenses that essentially attach their brands to your faces. This type of promotion slips past people’s banner-blindness and general numbness to ads, and offers virality and influencer marketing as you send the Sponsored Lens-filtered creations to friends. And even if your never share the output, just playing with the lenses creates a much deeper, more interactive experience with a brand than most ads. Demonstrating a new potential revenue stream is a big deal for Snapchat as it heads towards a 2017 IPO.

The Serena tennis game saw an average of 217 seconds of play per user who opened it, and that’s despite having to dig the game out of another ad and wait for the web page to load. By building its own native games inside its app, Snapchat may have found another way to stay fresh and fun in the eyes of teens.

Last Sunday, Apple celebrated 15 years since the launch of the iPod in 2001, but a less publicized fact is that just a few days ago, its website turned 20 years.

To honor the occasion, YouTuber waxonaxon has made a thoughtful, and absolutely absorbing, timelapse video of Apple.com’s visual history – spanning from 1996 to present day.

The clip essentially squeezes all memorable events from company’s website, including Apple’s transition from a small computer firm to the world’s leading tech company