Google developing new messaging app
YouTube ramps 360-degree video with ‘Spotlight Stories’
CALIFORNIA: Google, part of Alphabet Inc, is building a new mobile messaging application to better compete with rival services such as those offered by Facebook Inc, The Wall Street Journal reported. The new service would tap into Google’s artificial intelligence know-how, integrating chatbots, or software programs that answer questions, inside a messaging app, the Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
(http://on.wsj.com/1NBajmA) The new app will enable users to text friends or a chatbot, which will search the web and other sources for information to answer a question. It is unclear when the service will be launched, or what it will be named, the report said. Google declined to comment. Popular messaging apps include Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger services, and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat, while Google has a service called Hangouts.
360-degree video
Meanwhile, YouTube has added interactive, 360-degree animation video to its line-up, with help from the makers of “Wallace and Gromit.” Dubbed “Spotlight Stories,” the new feature will be viewable on the YouTube app of an array of Android-powered smartphones. Showcasing the technology was a Santa-themed short film from Academy Award-winning studio Aardman Animations, entitled “Special Delivery.”
The animated short centers on a building custodian trying to find a “mysterious stranger” who remains just out of sight but leaves behind a trail of gifts.
Designed by Google as a new form of storytelling, the immersive films allow users to drill down into sub-stories within their plot by moving their phone towards what they want to see. “The sensors on your phone allow the story to be interactive, so when you move your phone to various scenes, you unlock mini-stories within the story,” technical project lead Rachid El Guerrab said in a blog post. “Special Delivery” features 10 subplots and three potential endings. Google Spotlight Stories will be expanded next year to more Android devices as well as a YouTube application for mobile devices powered by Apple software, El Guerrab said. — Agencies