YouTube introduces mobile live streaming

Mobile live streaming is such a ubiquitous feature on major platforms that it comes as no surprise YouTube is adding it to its service. At the moment though, it is open to creators with over 10,000 subscribers. The feature is baked into YouTube’s mobile app and just like what you’d see on Facebook or Instagram, you just need to hit the capture button and then you go live. Mobile live streams get the same features as usual YouTube videos. These can be searched for, found through recommendations and playlists, and protected from unauthorized us. When it was debuted back at VidCon 2016 in beta, one of the first users who got to try it out was Canadian creator UnboxTherapy. Now, it’s open to more users and YouTube promises it’ll be available to more creators soon.

Launching alongside mobile live streaming is a new way for creators to earn revenue from the feature. Called Super Chat, it’s a monetization tool that’ll allow fans watching live streams to stand out from all the commenters and grab the creator’s attention by purchasing chat messages. These will be highlighted in bright colors and will be pinned to the top of the chat window for up to five hours. It also helps creators earn a bit of extra money from their supporters.

AccuWeather and Spotify launch "Climatune" playlists for any weather

Too gloomy out? Maybe this will help. Today, AccuWeather announced it has partnered with the music streaming service, Spotify, on a new site, Climatune. The site offers music fans around the world insights into how the environment around them affects the music they listen to everyday and creates playlists based on current weather moods.

Through a yearlong study comparing 85 billion anonymized streams on Spotify in over 900 cities nationwide, AccuWeather and Spotify analyzed the impact weather has on the music people listen to. Conclusions included:

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Toronto-based Bunz barter startup now has major update on iOS app

Bunz, the app that spawned a bartering movement in Canada, is evolving in a big way with their largest app update to date and a fresh new look to go with it.

It’s been a very big first year in market for the Toronto-based startup with Bunz now available in over 250 cities around the world. Available on the App Store for free, Bunz lets people exchange things they no longer need, for things they do. What’s next, however, is their most ambitious idea yet: The City Network.

City Network fills the gap between people’s online lives and their real lives, by localizing people and information to create a new kind of community resource. Bunz is the place where you find the things you need - from a home to a bike, advice or a helping hand, its all on Bunz.

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Moto Mods hackathon in San Francisco produces more practical Mods

Lenovo has been hosting hackathons to help develop more useful Mods for its Moto line. At the recently concluded hackathon in San Francisco there were a lot of great and practical ideas we’d actually want to see as actual products on the market. The winning Mod was a solar-powered battery charger. But aside from that, there was a baby monitor with real-time notifications for things like room temperature, a mod for allowing diabetics to check their blood sugar, and even a breathalyzer Mod from a group of high school kids. Called ModCoholic, it’ll ask you if you want to grab a cab if you’re over the legal limit.

The winning teams at these events get to present their ideas at Motorola’s headquarters in Chicago to industry leaders like Lenovo Capital, who could invest and fund promising ideas. These hackathons are being held around the globe with the next one happening in Shenzhen, China by mid-March.

Source: Engadget