CNET: Instagram Reels is TikTok video for Insta. Here’s how to use it. “Instagram now has a new way for you to show off your creativity. The social media platform on Wednesday launched its TikTok competitor Reels, which lets you film, edit and post 15-second videos in the Instagram app. Reels, available now in the US, looks like it’ll give social media influencers and other creators a new way to make and share short-form content.”
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Mashable: 13 of our favorite deepfakes that’ll seriously mess with your brain
Mashable: 13 of our favorite deepfakes that’ll seriously mess with your brain. “In a rudimentary sense, deepfakes can be a face-swap of sorts, but really it’s more complex. It makes something that wasn’t — swapping in a person for another, changing what they say, shapeshifting reality. That’s why it can be scary. Imagine the damage that could be done making someone say something they did not. But again… they can also be kind of fun. That in mind, we’ve collected some of our favorite amateur deepfake videos but, you know, not the kind that threaten democracy.”
Mashable: How to GIF YouTube videos in 10 simple steps
Mashable: How to GIF YouTube videos in 10 simple steps. “So you’re watching a fun video on YouTube. Neat, good for you. You’ve seen a moment you really like, and you want to convert that fun little moment from YouTube into a GIF. I get it, pal, GIFs can be fun. Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know where to start. Creating an animated GIF from YouTube is easy and I’ve broken the process down into 10 very simple steps.”
Rochester First: George Eastman Museum has 23 digitized films available for free; including a film on Kodak
Rochester First: George Eastman Museum has 23 digitized films available for free; including a film on Kodak. “The George Eastman Museum has now released 23 digitized movies, all of them originally on film. All of them are free to view on their website, and most of them feature an introduction as well. Some of the pieces include documentaries, over a dozen test — including some from the iconic movie ‘Gone With the Wind’ — and even a film about Eastman Kodak Company that was made in Rochester.”
HCIL: Development of Early VR
HCIL: Development of Early VR. “In 2018, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) decided to make its video archives available online…. Between class project obligations, trying to wrangle hundreds of copyright permissions, and digitizing all of the VHS tapes, we’re happy to announce that these pieces of history will soon be accessible to view through the ACM Digital Library. This is a massive treasure trove of 300+ demos which were originally presented at the annual ACM CHI conferences from 1983–2002, and they will soon be viewable online alongside their original papers.”
CNET: Facebook adds official music videos, taking on YouTube
CNET: Facebook adds official music videos, taking on YouTube. “Facebook said Friday it’s adding official music videos to its social network in the US, starting this week. The feature will allow people to find, watch and share music videos on Facebook, taking on the world’s No. 1 place to watch music videos online (and the No. 1 place to watch, well, all videos online): Google’s YouTube.”
CNET: YouTube Kids launches ‘Summer of Movies’ to help keep your little ones entertained
CNET: YouTube Kids launches ‘Summer of Movies’ to help keep your little ones entertained. “YouTube Kids said its summer collection will include content from cartoon characters like Pocoyo, Oggy, Franklin the turtle, Winx Club and more. The collection is also said to feature educational videos, animated short films and content from Disney, Nickelodeon, BBC Studios and The Wiggles, among others.”
CNN: The video of my daughter’s murder is still on YouTube and Facebook. They should have to take it down
CNN: The video of my daughter’s murder is still on YouTube and Facebook. They should have to take it down. “My daughter Alison was murdered on live television on August 26, 2015. To this day, the video of her murder is still being hosted on YouTube and Facebook. Both platforms took down the original videos, but the videos were reposted by conspiracy theorists and other bad actors. Along with my advocacy for gun violence prevention, I’ve spent the last five years trying to get Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, to take down the reposted videos.”
The Verge: People are watching a lot more Twitch during the pandemic
The Verge: People are watching a lot more Twitch during the pandemic. “Twitch viewership has been way up since the pandemic started. Viewership grew to 5 billion hours watched between April and June, which is a huge increase no matter how you look at it: it’s up more than 50 percent from the first quarter of 2020, and it’s up more than 60 percent over the same three months in 2019. The metrics come from the latest streaming industry report by StreamElements and Arsenal.gg.”
Neowin: Facebook enables live streaming from Messenger Rooms
Neowin: Facebook enables live streaming from Messenger Rooms. “Earlier this year, Facebook introduced Messenger Rooms, a feature that allows up to 50 people to meet up online in a video conference. The tool is meant as a rival for platforms like Zoom, which saw a significant boom in popularity due to the global pandemic this year. The feature has been brought into Facebook’s multiple products, including Facebook proper, Messenger, and WhatsApp, but today, the company is adding Facebook Live integration as well.”
Twitch: Twitch relaunches sports channel and introduces dedicated Sports category
Neowin: Twitch relaunches sports channel and introduces dedicated Sports category. “The sports channel is now live on Twitch and users can go through the guide to find sporting channels featuring professional athletes, football clubs and basketball leagues. Additionally, a standalone Sports category has been introduced in the Browse section on the live-streaming website.”
Reuters: World leaders to send videos instead of traveling to U.N. in September
Reuters: World leaders to send videos instead of traveling to U.N. in September. “World leaders will send videos instead of physically gathering at the United Nations in September due to the coronavirus pandemic, the General Assembly decided on Wednesday, a move that paves the way for people wary of traveling to the United States – like North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un – to participate.”
Neowin: Pakistan issues final warning to TikTok over ‘immoral’ content, bans Bigo Live
Neowin: Pakistan issues final warning to TikTok over ‘immoral’ content, bans Bigo Live. “Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a ‘final warning’ to TikTok on Monday over ‘immoral, obscene, and vulgar content’ posted on the short-form video app, in addition to blocking Bigo Live, a live-streaming app, for the same reason.”
Mashable: This website lets you see how conspiracy theorists fall down the YouTube rabbit hole
Mashable: This website lets you see how conspiracy theorists fall down the YouTube rabbit hole. “Ever wonder how your dear Aunt Karen got radicalized into believing the bizarre conspiracy theories she shares on social media? What about your apolitical college buddy who suddenly can’t seem to stop complaining about social justice and ‘cancel culture’? Well, there’s a good chance they fell down the YouTube rabbit hole. And a new website, TheirTube, wants to show you how that happened.”
MIT News: Tackling the misinformation epidemic with “In Event of Moon Disaster”
MIT News: Tackling the misinformation epidemic with “In Event of Moon Disaster”. “This provocative website showcases a ‘complete’ deepfake (manipulated audio and video) of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon delivering the real contingency speech written in 1969 for a scenario in which the Apollo 11 crew were unable to return from the moon. The team worked with a voice actor and a company called Respeecher to produce the synthetic speech using deep learning techniques. They also worked with the company Canny AI to use video dialogue replacement techniques to study and replicate the movement of Nixon’s mouth and lips. Through these sophisticated AI and machine learning technologies, the seven-minute film shows how thoroughly convincing deepfakes can be.”
