Yahoo’s Livetext May Be More of a Fix for Texting Than Movie Talk
By Tim Peterson. Published on July 29, two thousand fifteen .
Yahoo has a fresh mobile messaging app that it thinks will fix the largest problem with movie talk. But it might actually address one of the fatter shortcomings with text messaging.
Yahoo thinks it can fix movie talk with a elementary formula: Take a text-messaging conversation and overlay it atop a live movie feed of the two people having the conversation but mute the audio.
Yahoo has created Livetext, a mobile messaging app that overlays a texting conversation atop a live movie feed of both parties with the sound turned off. The company unveiled the app during an event in Fresh York City on Wednesday. It has been testing the app in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ireland and will roll out Livetext to Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores on July thirty in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and France.
"We created a product where we desired to bridge the gap inbetween the simpleness and ease of texting with the live connection, the synchronous connection of calling, the expressiveness of that," said Adam Cahan, Yahoo’s senior VP of movie, design and emerging products, at the launch event. He declined to say how Yahoo plans to make money from the app.
When people use Livetext, they’ll be able to begin a movie talk with one other person — no group talks. But instead of talking audibly like they would over Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype or Google’s Hangouts, the actual conversation will happen only over text. There’s no way to turn on audio, Mr. Cahan said. While the live movie feeds are running, people will be able to type text messages to each other that will show up as overlays atop the movie.
In the onstage demo, the app seemed to work without any technical delay. So long as people’s phone are on a 3G cellular connection or better, the movie should stream fine, said Yahoo’s Senior Director of Product Management Arjun Sethi.
But there was one noticeable delay that Yahoo very likely won’t be able to eliminate: the time it takes to type in a text. That could make the app’s default muffle awkward — maybe even more awkward than normal movie talks can be — but it could also reinforce how Livetext is different from a normal movie talk service.
While there’s no limit on how long Livetext conversations can last, the app may be more useful for shorter, more utilitarian conversations when a text message would suffice but live movie could add necessary context. For example an older boy could have a problem doing something on his computer and want to ask his daughter for help but she’s in a meeting on the other side of the country. He could attempt to describe the problem over text. Or he could use Livetext to display her what he’s attempting to do, and she could react over text without audibly interrupting her meeting.
Mr. Cahan said one of the thickest obstacles people face in using movie talk services is the sound because it makes conversations more public than the parties involved may want them to be. That can limit the situations in which people are comfy video-chatting with one another. Livetext looks to sidestep that obstacle. People are already permanently staring at and typing into their phones in muffle, and Livetext is banking on that behavior to make its video-text talks inconspicuous -= at least until someone nearby glances at the phone’s screen.
Like Snapchat, the app is ephemeral in that conversations are erased once they end. "No archiving, no saving," Mr. Cahan said. Also like Snapchat and other messaging apps, people will be able to find friends by cross-referencing their phones’ address books or searching for specific individuals. However, both parties need to agree to a friend request before a connection is made inbetween users in the app.
The app stems from Yahoo’s October two thousand fourteen acquisition of mobile messaging app MessageMe, tho’ the app was built entirely from scrape at Yahoo, said Mr. Sethi, who cofounded MessageMe.
Yahoo Unveils Muted Movie Talk App Livetext, Digital
Yahoo’s Livetext May Be More of a Fix for Texting Than Movie Talk
By Tim Peterson. Published on July 29, two thousand fifteen .
Yahoo has a fresh mobile messaging app that it thinks will fix the thickest problem with movie talk. But it might actually address one of the thicker shortcomings with text messaging.
Yahoo thinks it can fix movie talk with a elementary formula: Take a text-messaging conversation and overlay it atop a live movie feed of the two people having the conversation but mute the audio.
Yahoo has created Livetext, a mobile messaging app that overlays a texting conversation atop a live movie feed of both parties with the sound turned off. The company unveiled the app during an event in Fresh York City on Wednesday. It has been testing the app in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ireland and will roll out Livetext to Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores on July thirty in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and France.
"We created a product where we dreamed to bridge the gap inbetween the simpleness and ease of texting with the live connection, the synchronous connection of calling, the expressiveness of that," said Adam Cahan, Yahoo’s senior VP of movie, design and emerging products, at the launch event. He declined to say how Yahoo plans to make money from the app.
When people use Livetext, they’ll be able to begin a movie talk with one other person — no group talks. But instead of talking audibly like they would over Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype or Google’s Hangouts, the actual conversation will happen only over text. There’s no way to turn on audio, Mr. Cahan said. While the live movie feeds are running, people will be able to type text messages to each other that will emerge as overlays atop the movie.
In the onstage demo, the app seemed to work without any technical delay. So long as people’s phone are on a 3G cellular connection or better, the movie should stream fine, said Yahoo’s Senior Director of Product Management Arjun Sethi.
But there was one noticeable delay that Yahoo very likely won’t be able to eliminate: the time it takes to type in a text. That could make the app’s default muffle awkward — maybe even more awkward than normal movie talks can be — but it could also reinforce how Livetext is different from a normal movie talk service.
While there’s no limit on how long Livetext conversations can last, the app may be more useful for shorter, more utilitarian conversations when a text message would suffice but live movie could add necessary context. For example an older stud could have a problem doing something on his computer and want to ask his daughter for help but she’s in a meeting on the other side of the country. He could attempt to describe the problem over text. Or he could use Livetext to demonstrate her what he’s attempting to do, and she could react over text without audibly interrupting her meeting.
Mr. Cahan said one of the thickest obstacles people face in using movie talk services is the sound because it makes conversations more public than the parties involved may want them to be. That can limit the situations in which people are convenient video-chatting with one another. Livetext looks to sidestep that obstacle. People are already permanently staring at and typing into their phones in muffle, and Livetext is banking on that behavior to make its video-text talks inconspicuous -= at least until someone nearby glances at the phone’s screen.
Like Snapchat, the app is ephemeral in that conversations are erased once they end. "No archiving, no saving," Mr. Cahan said. Also like Snapchat and other messaging apps, people will be able to find friends by cross-referencing their phones’ address books or searching for specific individuals. However, both parties need to agree to a friend request before a connection is made inbetween users in the app.
The app stems from Yahoo’s October two thousand fourteen acquisition of mobile messaging app MessageMe, tho’ the app was built entirely from scrape at Yahoo, said Mr. Sethi, who cofounded MessageMe.