Saturday, June 22, 2013

Software : Users flock to Video on Instagram as Vine grows an Android update

Software : Users flock to Video on Instagram as Vine grows an Android update

Users flock to Video on Instagram as Vine grows an Android update

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Users flock to Video on Instagram as Vine grows an Android update

A lot has happened since Facebook-owned Instagram launched its own short-form video support yesterday, and not just to the formerly photo-only social network. Rival Vine also got Android users feeling fine with some updates to its own app earlier today.

Let's look at the numbers first, shall we?

According to an Instagram blog post and press release, Video on Instagram saw 5 million uploads in the first 24 hours. So much video was thrown up in the first 8 hours, it would take a year to watch all of it. We're not willing to test that assertion, so we'll have to take the Grammer's word for it.

Celebrities and brands jumped in the clip-filled fray, with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Jimmy Fallon, Brody/Kendall/Kylie Jenner and brands from ESPN to TopShop creating moving pictures. Many shouted out the new service, though there were a fair number of puppy playtime posts.

Meanwhile, on Vine...

While it could be chalked up to first day excitement, Video on Instagram is looking like a success so far. We'll see how use fairs as time goes on, but Kevin Systrom and Friends are probably heading into the weekend with a smile stitched on their faces.

Vine, king of the 6-second video loop, may get the week's last laugh, however, as it announced a few updates rolling out with Android version 1.1.0 just as Friday was fading away.

"Vine for Android update is now in Google Play - includes search, hashtags and mentions, sharing to Facebook & more," a tweet from @vineapp informed.

There's also user search, improved capture speed, quality and audio/video synchronization and a few other bug fixes and UI improvements.

Vine on iOS snatched 13 million users between January and June, and the app just launched on Android earlier this month. These updates should help the quick-clip service gain some followers and keep current ones as the general consensus is that Vine on Android is pretty rotten.

Google Mine app could help you share and catalog your belongings

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Google Mine app could help you share and catalog your belongings

Google+ helps users share their real lives online, and a new Google service and app called Google Mine could soon help them share their real lives in real life, too.

Google Mine allows Google+ users to catalog their worldly belongings, advertising them to friends and examining their friends' collections in a sort of casual, friendly online barter environment, unofficial Google blog Google Operating System reported today.

You can also review your belongings and make lists of items you want to give away or those you want to borrow from others, said the site.

It even lets users set statuses for their objects, like "lent," "given away," "got it back," or "lost it."

Sharing is caring

Google Mine will reportedly be available both on the web and as a standalone Android app, and the service is said to be in private beta testing within Google.

That doesn't guarantee a public release, though.

It sounds like a more persistent and social version of Craigslist, which may be hard to explain to users even if it is a good idea - and we're not saying it is.

Google Mine takes its name from a similar service that launched last December called simply "Mine," as TechCrunch points out. It's unknown if the services are related in any official way, but "Google Mine" could also simply be the name that Google is using internally.

We heart Katamari

What might be even more intriguing is the mention of a feature called "katamari" that reportedly lets you import and view 3D models/images of your objects (just in case you can't remember what the back of your favorite shirt looks like).

The feature must be named after the game Katamari Damacy, which allows players to roll an alien ball around a virtual world, starting small but growing to the size of houses, continents and then planets as they absorb the objects they come in contact with.

Google obviously wants Google+ users to roll their whole lives up in the social network, but it's less clear whether that's something that users want.

Google declined to comment on the rumor, releasing a statement to TechCrunch that said "We are always experimenting with new features to help improve people's online experience, but have nothing specific to share at this time."
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