Wednesday, June 6, 2012

From The Creators Of Napster Comes Airtime, A Facebook-Infused Video Chat App

After a long, stealthy, super-hushed wait, the wraps have finally been taken off Airtime, the video chat application from former Napster co-founders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning. The Internet got the briefest of brief peeks at Airtime back in March, and everyone loosely following the story has known it’s a video chat service of some sort for awhile.

Now it’s up and running, just like the combination of Facebook and Chatroulette we thought it would be. Airtime connects with your Facebook account, finds and activates your webcam, then throws you into its sleek chat interface. On the right-hand side of your screen is your friends list, and you can text or video chat with them.

photo: http://www.digitaltrends.com

Airtime pulls in your Facebook information, which is displayed below video of you. All of your “likes” have been translated into “interests,” clickable terms that you can use to find people to chat with if you so choose. Clicking these interests reveals a prompt to “find people who like this.” If you hit that, Airtime will start dialing for you. You can also choose between trending topics for random dialing, or stick to people who are nearby, have common interests, or are friends of friends. Airtime also lets you share videos to watch together

photo: http://www.digitaltrends.com

It’s very much like if Chatroulette if Chartoulette had done things right, or if were just founded today. The site experienced a quick, meteoric, and meme-filled beginning, only to fade into the background thanks to the rise of Facebook for social, Skype for chatting, and its unavoidable “penis problem.”

Airtime is a much more sophisticated, fully-featured client than Chatroulette, and it will rely on its connection to Facebook to kill the aforementioned penis problem that hurt Chatroulette. It’s an idea that many new connection-focused apps are based their networks on: Facebook uses real identities, real names, and peoples’ lives are very much represented there. Because of this, people hold themselves to a higher standard; they are more traceable and real than if they are just anonymously trolling video chat rooms at no expense to their name.

Of course it’s worth noting that Facebook isn’t exempt from fake name syndrome – and there are always people who will throw caution to the wind and ruin their good name in the spirit of video chat exhibitionism. You can’t ever entirely get rid of the creepy factor with this type of thing, you can only best prepare for it.

photo: http://www.digitaltrends.com

Where Airtime really proves its use isn’t by connecting strangers, but rather with its implementation of the interest graph. Plenty of applications have tried to grab all the data you’ve created on Facebook and use it in some compelling way to connect you to like-minded people. Airtime actually does that – I mean, actively does that. You don’t have to create a section of topics, it’s done for you (although you can edit if you want). Then, you literally just click and call and you’re connected to someone who shares that interest – and possibly others. You will be notified if they have more in common with you

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The biggest question I have about Airtime is “do people want this?” Facebook has built-in video chat, and Skype’s popularity persists. There are a handful of well-used apps that connect people based on their interests, just sans video. Do we want real-time, video chat with people we don’t or hardly know? The idea is that even though we’re all so connected through Facebook, so much separation still exists – or maybe even exists because of it. Parker and Fanning want to cut through the pretense and make connecting more action-oriented.

In my brief hands-on time, all video calling worked sufficiently. I connected with a handful of strangers who I shared interests with, as well as video-called my own friends. The star-studded Airtime demo launch (featuring famous people!) apparently experienced a few technical difficulties, but my Airtime time was nothing but smooth sailing.

photo: http://www.digitaltrends.com

Social video, in all its many shapes and forms, is becoming an increasingly hot commodity. Airtime might manage to strike a cord with a service that’s both compelling and actually works.

Check out a press video of Airtime in action below.

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/from-the-creators-of-napster-comes-airtime-a-facebook-friendly-video-chat-app

Monday, June 4, 2012

E3 2012: SimCity Heading to Facebook With SimCity Social

EA and Maxis are already updating their classic franchise with things like curved roads, but Sim City is also coming to Facebook, the company announced today at E3.

Maxis Senior vice President Lucy Bradshaw made it clear where EA is setting its sights with SimCity social.

Screenshot showing the features of SimCity Societies: Destinations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“One of our best known franchises, Sim City, has seen a lot of imitators over the years,” she said, in a not so subtle-dig at Zynga’s Cityville.

The game looks like a (much) more detailed version of Cityville, with good and evil multiplayer mechanics a la “Idle Worship” to give a little more depth of interaction beyond “beg your friends for a few more bricks.” It’s a similar story that Maxis is trying to tell with their new full SimCity title – the focus is on building an interconnected world where “social interaction” extends to every action the player takes in city creation.

EA has already seen some significant success with Sim franchises on Facebook – Th Sims Social may have declined faster than some might have thought, but it saw an impressive debut that challenged Zynga for the top spot in social games. Given the proven success of Cityville, SimCity Social is looking to have a good shot at doing that again.

The developers are promising a more intense depth of interaction than most city-building games on Facebook, and it will be interesting to see if the franchise that basically invented the genre can do it again on Facebook.

“You can focus more on the industrial side, you’ll have more pollution. Too much on business there might be more crime,” says developer Jamie Laes with Playfish. “There’s a lot of pushback and a lot of cause and effect coming from different areas of the game.”

Source: http://www.forbes.com

'Drop Dead Diva' Season 4 Preview Guide: New Love and a Star-Studded Guest List

Last season on Drop Dead Diva, Stacy kissed Grayson but realized that it was a mistake and finally revealed to Grayson that Jane is Deb. Parker decided to leave the firm after finding out that he has a child with Elisa while Kim became a partner in the firm ended up being in charge. Fred wanted to pop the question to Stacey but learned about her kiss with Grayson. On the other hand, Grayson decide to go after Jane at the airport but he's a little too late since she's already on a plane to Milan with Owen. Is there hope for Fred and Stacy? And what will Grayson do now that he knows about Jane's secret?

What to Expect from Drop Dead Diva Season 4:

The first of the 13-episode fourth season kicks off with Jane and Owen enjoying a Roman Holiday in Italy. Back in the firm, meanwhile, things aren't going as smoothly as planned now that Kim has taken over management. Teri is on a mission to bring Jane home to handle a lucrative murder case. While Grayson dwells on his new feelings for Jane, Fred moves on to the arms of a new love interest, leaving a desperate Stacy to seek advice from a relationship expert in the form of Kim Kardashian.