LG Action CAM LTE Streams Content LIVE on YOUTUBE

The GoPro might just have its biggest competitor to date. While it seems weird that a company like LG (which is not even the first name that pops up when you think of imaging) could ever manage to beat long-time leader of action cameras, it is trying to do so in the cleverest ways possible.

Its latest Action CAM LTE is an action camera which can directly stream the content that it’s recording to YouTube, without even the need of a phone or anything else. It does so via 3G and LTE connectivity and its appeal is now getting slightly clearer. It’ll be possible to get the recordings on the phone, too.

The camera is pretty fine in the other departments too. It has a 12.3 megapixel camera on the front with a 150-degree wide-angle lens. It can shoot up to 4K Ultra HD videos at 30 fps, 1080p at 60 fps or slow-motion 720p at 120 fps.

You even have GPS, an accelerometer and a gyroscope for connectivity. When 3G or LTE aren’t enough, you have Wi-Fi, Type-C and Bluetooth for further sharing with other phones and laptops. It can also take microSD cards of up to 2 TB capacity and has 2 GB RAM.

Its IP67-certification makes it withstand up to up to an hour in water, as well as offering dust-resistance. An optional mount and waterproof case will be made available for more exotic adventures, while its 1,400 mAh battery leads to a recording time of up to four hours.

Pricing details are not known by now, but they should be available when it goes for sale next month.

GoPro launching new virtual reality camera, online platform

The race to create both the hardware and the software that will drive the emerging virtual reality market is heating up, and now GoPro has unveiled its latest plans to support VR filmmakers and fans.

At this week's NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) event in Las Vegas, the company will unveil a new VR camera and launch a new VR platform for sharing immersive videos.

First, GoPro will show off its new Omni VR camera, which features six synchronized cameras in what the company calls a spherical array, but the housing itself looks more like a rounded square.

The six Hero4 cameras, plus the aluminum rig, which is lightweight and made for action shots, will be offered for $4,999 and will allow users to capture 8K video.

The GoPro Omni

IMAGE: GOPRO

The company is also introducing GoPro VR, a combination website and free app platform for iOS and Android designed to showcase VR content from around the world as well as facilitate the sharing of that content.

In the run-up to the launch of the VR platform, GoPro released a stunning sample of some of the footage that will be available. The preview footage is fully interactive on YouTube, allowing you to pan around in all directions.

But despite the increasing amount of rich VR content out there, similar VR platforms like Samsung's Milk VR have so far failed to generate much interest beyond the VR enthusiast niche.

However, GoPro's mainstream footprint, and focus on capturing outdoor activities from skateboarding to surfing, could be just the thing to jumpstart a truly robust VR content sharing platform. 

IMAGE: GOPRO

Late last year, GoPro took the wraps off its highest end VR device called the GoPro Odyssey, a 16-camera circular array that sells for $15,000.

The Omni will be available for pre-order beginning Monday via the GoPro website.

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Everything announced on Facebook F8 2016 Conference

Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference is one of the biggest events of the year, especially given how social media is changing our lives in significant ways. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, delivered a keynote speech yesterday which showcased Facebook’s vision of the future. He also listed how Facebook is expanding vigorously in other tech fields as well.

Zuckerberg’s F8 2016 keynote was mostly about Facebook’s future and some customer products. Bots took center stage just like at the Microsoft’s developer conference that was held recently. This was followed by improvements in some customer products, new Facebook features and some new tech coming from the world’s biggest social network.

Lets take a look at what Facebook is bringing for its users down the road.

Messenger Gets a Bot Platform

Facebook is going with bots after many of its competitors did so. Telegram, WeChat, Kik offer it already and Skype just got it. Now its Messenger’s turn to incorporate AI-powered bots for its 900 million users. The company took its sweet time before launching the feature. Even now, it’ll be offered with the newly launched Messenger Beta platform.

The developer platform will let businesses, including news companies, create bots which can interact with Messenger users. Bots can send and receive text, images, buttons, bubbles and calls. Facebook showed off a CNN messenger bot which was capable of reading stories, getting summaries and offered an “Ask CNN” command.

Zuckerberg says the app will learn from your actions and personalise its algorithms to evolve with time.

Facebook Bot Engine

The social network announced the beta launch of Bot Engine, a tool which lets developers teach chatbots what to say in specific situations. Developers can use the Bot Engine along with the Send/Receive API to build Messenger bots. The technology comes from the Messenger’s Wit.AI team.

Facebook Live Stream

Facebook Live is the company’s answer to Meerkat and Periscope. It lets users stream live videos to the social network which, the company hopes, will play a big role in its next growth phase. Live API now supports third-party hardware allowing people to use separate cameras to live stream content. The company has partnered with different manufacturers to build on it and release its own products within the next five years.

Internet Beaming Satellite

During F8 2016, Zuckerberg said that Facebook’s Free Basics program will soon launch its first satellite into orbit in the next few months. According to him, the free internet program is helping more than 25 million people around the world.

Facebook has also announced a Free Basics simulator which lets developers test out how their websites would look like when accessed using Free Basics.

360 Degree VR Camera

The social network just released its Oculus Rift VR headset a few weeks ago. However, it’s not stopping there. Facebook just revealed its new open-source 360-degree camera which can capture some great quality VR content. The camera boasts 17 cameras and can record 8K video at 60 frames per second. The built-in software automatically stitches the videos together.

Being open-source, developers can make their own hardware and software based on the available designs and code.

Instant Articles for Everyone

Facebook announced a couple of months ago that it was bringing Instant Articles to everyone. WordPress will be getting a plugin which will let publishers export their content to the social network. Instant Articles will be added to user feeds directly and increase reader interactions as a result.

Account Kit

The social network announced a new software called the Account Kit. Third-party developers can add it to apps, letting their users to sign in to connect with just their phone number or email address – no passwords needed.

Save To Facebook

Save to Facebook will be a new addition to the social network’s portfolio. It will let users add content to a list of things to view later. The button will be visible on websites, and work like Pinterest, Pocket or Digg.

Share Quotes Easily

Sharing quotable quotes have become quite popular on Facebook. That’s why the company is bringing a new method that will let users clip quotes they like on the web (or e-books) and share them on Facebook in a neat and clean way.

Mark’s View on VR and AR

The founder of Facebook says that virtual reality and augmented reality of the future will be accessible using a gadget not so different from a common pair of glasses. The glasses have been announced as a part of Facebook’s 10 year plan for the future. AR and VR are expected to grow to a $120 billion market by 2020.

Vine for Profile Videos

Facebook is making it much easier for people to replace their profile pictures with profile videos. The ability to upload a 7 second video instead of still pictures has been available since last year. However, users will now be able to upload videos using third-party apps.

Vine and Boomerang will be the first two partners with support for the profile video feature on Facebook.

Facebook and WhatsApp Beat Regular SMS

People use Facebook and WhatsApp to send 60 billion messages every single day, three times more than regular SMS. The figure is a clear indication of the world moving towards online methods of communication rather than the offline ones.

So there you have it folks. Which of these announcements are you excited about? Let us know in the comments below.