SAN FRANCISCO, May 10 ― Launched a little over a year ago, Periscope is a mobile application for broadcasting video filmed with a smartphone live on the internet, either in a public stream or to a private group of friends. The app’s chiefs have now unveiled several major new features due to land in the coming weeks.
Periscope will soon let users broadcast live video shot with a DJI drone, a feature first of all heading to the iOS version of the app. Users will need to connect their smartphone to the drone’s remote control to allow Periscope to access the video stream. It will even be possible to switch between several cameras (drone, smartphone, GoPro, etc.). This function is expected to land in time for summer 2016.
Facebook is also interested in the idea of broadcasting live video from drones, with a feature already previewed via its Facebook Live platform. Plus, GoPro has plans to release its own drone.
Another new Periscope feature ― currently available in a public beta ― is a function for saving videos for more than the standard 24 hours. This currently requires users to add the “#save” hashtag to the title of their videos. In a few weeks, all user videos will be saved by default, complete with hearts and comments, in exactly the same form as live videos, and with no need to use the hashtag. It will, however, still be possible to delete videos at any time or save them for 24 hours only. This feature will be accompanied by a new search tool to help users find videos with keywords or categories.
This line-up of new features should allow Periscope to maintain its popularity and stand out from competitors, notably heavyweight rival Facebook Live with its 1.5 billion potential users.
Since its launch in March 2015, Periscope has broadcast over 200 million videos live on the internet.
The equivalent of 110 years of video are watched each day via the application, available to download free from the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). ― AFP-Relaxnews
