Video Calling Now at Facebook

Recently, Mark Zuckerberg had been talking about how Facebook would be “launching something awesome” very soon; today everyone found out what that “something” was: video calling. The new product was revealed this morning at a “news event” the company held in Palo Alto, CA.

Video calling will be integrated into every user’s Facebook in the coming weeks, but early-risers and go-getters can download a free update at the FB site and start using it now — it will be available in 70 different languages. Such multi-lingual capabilities can be expected to be kept up as Facebook also made it known that the number of users in its network had reached 750 million across the world.

Although a separate “multi-person chat” feature also had its unveiling today, as of now, Facebook video calling is only for person-to-person use. In contrast, Hangouts, Google+’s version, permits group video chatting for up to ten people. Another area where Google’s product has a clear advantage is that Hangouts can be used on mobile phones, while Facebook’s “Video Calling,” at least at this point, cannot. This is despite the fact that Skype — whose video calling service was operational on mobiles — was Facebook’s partner in this latest product’s development.

But in other not-trivial-at-all news for Facebook, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is the most followed person on Google+. Larry Page (Google’s CEO) is number two.

Read More:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/technology/facebook-introduces-video-chat-in-a-partnership-with-skype.html?ref=technology

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388073,00.asp

New Social Video App for iPad

You are now free to watch the videos your friends post on Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo in a personalized and streamlined format, you’ll just need an iPad or iPhone. Today, Remixation (the Vodpod people) released the free iPad app Showyou.

The app’s claim to fame is its ability to create an attractive video display grid of clips posted and shared on almost the whole gamut of available social networks. YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, Vodpod (of course) are all supported. Hulu and other websites belonging to major television networks are not. Kind of more than a little bit of a let-down.

But Showyou comes with a nifty set of tools. You can follow people, post your videos on the main site, and share them directly with your other social networks. Users can also leave comments after watching a Showyou clip and contribute to the popularity ranking of the ones best liked.

A Showyou subscription service may be in the horizon and though providing no direct quote on Remixation CEO Mark Hall’s true ambition for the app, the L.A. Times handily cues us in with: “to become a prime-time TV alternative.”

Clearly, social video is on the up-and-up. Have you got your moving pictures camera ready?

Read More:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/showyou-brings-a-new-vision-of-tv-to-the-ipad.html#more

http://fangaroo.org/vodpod-founders-launch-showyou-a-social-video-app-for-ios/