Vine community mourns loss of comedian Nick Spears

The community of users of Vine, Twitter's six-second video service, are mourning the loss of Nick Spears, the comedian-writer who provided them with his entertaining spiels.

Spears, who was much-loved in the social-media community, died at age 35 from apparent heart complications last Friday, tech site Mashable reported.

"In addition to his social-media and standup comedy, the Los Angeles, Calif. resident was an active volunteer for F*ck Cancer, a non-profit organization that seeks to raise awareness, and end cancer through early medical detection," it said.


Vine sensation and cancer fighter Ryan McHenry became close with Spears via the social network, although the two never met in real life.

"He sent me F*ck Cancer t-shirts, wristbands, stickers and messaged me with some great advice on how to stay well and positive," McHenry told Mashable via Twitter. "He was so wonderful and kind-hearted, really helped me through a lot ... His comedy was unique and hilarious, and I can't believe he's gone."

Mashable cited a Vine video showing Spears dressed as Thor, fighting against smoking.

Mashable noted Spears gained 113,000 followers on Vine, after entertaining netizens with his "feel-good jokes, delightfully crass voiceovers and character-driven comedy."

Many of his followers naturally posted their messages of sympathy on Vine.

"Despite its more than 40 million users, Vine's most popular users are known for their close friendships and collaborations, especially within the comedy community. In response to the news of Spears' death, dozens of users took to Vine and Twitter to express their memories and condolences," Mashable said. — VC, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Vine adds lock focus and exposure features

Users of Twitter's Vine now have more options in capturing video, after the six-second video service rolled out a new feature this week.

The feature, initially available for iOS devices, includes options to "lock focus" and "exposure" when capturing video, The Next Web reported.

"Initially available for iOS, this new feature will enable anyone to capture better six-second videos without viewers trying to decipher what they’re seeing because the lighting is terrible or the subjects are too overexposed," it said.

Users can tap the focus button in the center of the tools menu, then press and hold on the screen where they want to sharpen the focus, the report said.

Once activated, the exposure level will adjust accordingly, it added.

"While available just for iOS right now, it’s probably safe to say that lock focus and exposure will be a part of the next Android update," The Next Web said. — KDM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Vine's TV mode now online

Now, users of Vine – Twitter's short video service – need not squint at a smartphone or tablet screen when viewing their work. They can now do so on their PCs and laptops.

This is after Twitter launched Vine for the Web, where users can just log in at vine.co and access their accounts.

"Log in at vine.co to view your home feed and like, comment, and share videos just as you do on our mobile apps. You can also visit your favorite users’ Vine profiles to browse the videos they’ve created since joining Vine," engineer Janessa Det (@jandet) said in a blog post.

Det also said users can share their profile with others so they can see their posts. But an exclusive feature of Vine for the Web is TV Mode, a new way to watch Vine videos.

"Click the TV Mode button in the upper right corner of your feed or any profile to view the collection of videos in sequence and in full screen mode," Det said.

Det said this is just a "first step" toward bringing users a richer, more enjoyable web experience. — KDM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Vine rolls out video editing tools

Aware of the difference six seconds could make, Twitter's video app Vine has rolled out new tools that allow users to edit their six-second posts.

In a blog post, Twitter said it is giving the Vine camera the "Sessions" and "Time Travel" tools that let users maintain multiple posts in progress.

"With these new features, you can maintain multiple posts in progress over time and edit your posts before you share them," said Vine iOS director Ben Sheats.

Users can now download the update from Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play, he added.

"We think these features offer new ways for people to express themselves and their creativity. We hope you like them," he said.

Sheats said the Sessions feature allows users to save any post and come back to it later. Users can work on up to 10 posts at once, he added.

To use the tool, users can tap the new icon in the bottom right corner of the camera "to save a new session or open an existing one."

On the other hand, the Time Travel feature allows users to "remove, reorganize or replace any shot within a post before you share it."

Sheats said users can tap the green bar from the camera while they are shooting, or tap "Edit" when they are previewing a post. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Mysterious Facebook event sparks online buzz

SAN FRANCISCO - A mysterious Facebook event set for Thursday has sparked buzz that the leading social network could be adding video to Instagram smartphone picture-sharing service.

The leading social network invited the media to its headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park where "a small team has been working on a big idea," but remained hush about what will be unveiled.

Online speculation at technology news website TechCrunch and elsewhere has included the possibility that Instagram will start letting people share video snippets in a style similar to a hit Vine app launched by Twitter in January.

Perpetually looping videos clips up to six seconds each can be shared using Vine or easily embedded in "tweets" fired off at the globally popular messaging service Twitter.

Twitter in December added Instagram-style smartphone photo sharing features after the Facebook-owned service made it impossible for Internet users to integrate its images into tweets.

Previously, Instagram pictures shared in messages tweeted from smartphones could be viewed unaltered at Twitter.

Facebook acquired Instagram last year. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network's share price.

Other speculation on the Thursday event has included talk that the social network might launch an RSS reader to lure fans of a similar service that Google is shutting down at the end of this month. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

YouTube founders develop Vine-like service for China

with Vine - Twitter's six-second video service - not working quite well in China, the founders of YouTube have developed a Chinese equivalent of sorts.

The new video recording app for smartphones, dubbed Wanpai, is made by Avos, a start-up created by YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen after they left YouTube.

“They didn’t think Vine was serving the market. (Vine) wasn’t translated and didn’t work well in China,” Hurley told The New York Times in a phone interview (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/youtube-founders-focus-on-new-video-tools/).

NYT noted Twitter, to which Vine is tightly integrated, is blocked by the Chinese government.

Also, Hurley acknowledged Vine was the "inspiration” for Wanpai, adding Avos’s development team in Beijing developed Wanpai on their own initiative.

Hurley and Chen founded YouTube, which Google bought in 2006. Google is an investor in Avos, the NYT report noted.

Avos has so far kept a low profile and is working on several projects, including Zeen, an online magazine creation tool still stuck in beta.

On the other hand, Hurley said Avos is working on another video tool, MixBit, which he said would be more original.

MixBit is to be released in July or August, and is in private beta testing.

He would only say MixBit would provide an “intuitive” interface to help people create content easily.

Hurley pointed out current platforms for creating and sharing images and videos such as Twitter and Instagram are too focused on self-promotion, and this may intimidate many.

“What we ended up creating at YouTube is a solution for distribution. What hasn’t been solved yet is the act of creation,” he said.

Crowded market

The NYT report said MixBit will enter a crowded market, with Vine having 13 million users after four months, and Instagram expected to introduce its own quick-video product.

Hurley said he is directly involved in MixBit’s development. “This is a tool that I’m going to use,” he said. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com