Kevin Bostic
Apple's App Store gained two notable additions in the form of Twitter's Vine and the long-awaited Pebble smart watch app on Thursday. In addition, the newly released Temple Run 2 hit the 20-million-download mark only days after its release.
Twitter launches Vine for short video sharing
Vine, announced in a blog post, is available for both the iPhone and iPod touch as a free download in the App Store, and Twitter says it is working to bring the app to other platforms.
Users need only press and hold a record button to start creating a clip. When the button is released, recording pauses, allowing users to create vignettes with a "smash cut" effect. The app lets users record and upload videos up to six seconds in length. Users can share these videos, browse others' videos, and follow other users. The post announcing the app says it is in keeping with Twitter's aesthetic, wherein "constraint inspires creativity."
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo hinted Wednesday that Vine's standalone app might be launching soon. Twitter acquired the company in October, but its debut as a standalone app was planned before the acquisition. There will be no Twitter branding on the app.
Pebble smart watch app now available in iOS App Store
The iPhone app for the Pebble smart watch is now available in Apple's App Store. The Pebble project, originally begun as a Kickstarter project, began shipping to early investors on January 23.
The smart watch features an e-paper screen and interfaces with a user's iOS or Android smartphone through the Pebble smart watch app. Currently, the app can install and remove custom watch faces on a user's Pebble, send ping test messages to the smartwatch, and send notifications when software updates are available.
The app is available as a free download in the App Store, and it is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (generations 3 and up), and iPad. It requires iOS 5.0 or later.
Temple Run 2 hits 20 million downloads in four days
Temple Run 2, the sequel to the hit Temple Run, has reached the 20 million download mark just four days after its release on iOS. The original Temple Run, released in August of 2011, has been downloaded more than 170 million times on iOS. The sequel brings improved graphics, new environments, more powerups, special powers for each character, and a bigger monkey.
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6 Comments
I wonder if they researched the length of a video for it to be either informative or something else. I know SMS160 character limit was researched by Friedhelm Hillebrand: Why text messages are limited to 160 characters [URL=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/invented-text-messaging.html]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/invented-text-messaging.html[/URL]
I wonder if they researched the length of a video for it to be either informative or something else.
Good question. And the answer is...
A Twitter spokesperson said, "The team tested various video lengths, ranging from about 4 seconds to 10 seconds, as they were building Vine. They found that 6 seconds was the ideal length, from both the production and consumption side." - CNET
Which I guess means we all need at least four seconds to get interested, but then get bored after six seconds
Yep, although he had the opposite problem. They were already limited to that many characters in the spare frame, so he had to prove that so few letters would be enough to make useful messages. Otherwise they'd have had to come up with a different method.
[quote name="KDarling" url="/t/155619/twitters-vine-video-sharing-app-debuts-pebble-smartwatch-app-hits-app-store#post_2264239"][QUOTE name="PhilBoogie" url="/t/155619/twitters-vine-video-sharing-app-debuts-pebble-smartwatch-app-hits-app-store#post_2264188"]I know SMS160 character limit was researched by Friedhelm Hillebrand[/QUOTE] Yep, although he had the opposite problem. They were already limited to that many characters in the spare frame, so he had to prove that so few letters would be enough to make useful messages. Otherwise they'd have had to come up with a different method. [/quote] Ah, good thing they improved from 128 bytes to 140 then.
Ah, good thing they improved from 128 bytes to 140 then.
It turns out they had underestimated the space.
I found a book for you, since I know this is an interest of yours.
Short Message Service (SMS): The Creation of Personal Global Text Messaging, Friedhelm Hillebrand (Editor),
It's a collection of documents and memories in order to try to preserve the history of SMS, which was first formally proposed by the French in 1983:
After searching through the pages that are available for free (yes, I'm cheap today - grin), I found some tidbits:
The final size was converged on from two directions: the low message limitations and the high desired requirements.
From the practical message length side, at first they estimated that they might only have 128 bytes in the SS7 MAP frame being defined, but they later realized their estimate was low.
From the requirement side, at first it was thought that they'd need 256 bytes, then that was dropped to 180 bytes. Then they figured out that even 180 was more than was possible.
Finally, the requirement was dropped to 140 to match what was possible in the frame.
Cheers!
[quote name="KDarling" url="/t/155619/twitters-vine-video-sharing-app-debuts-pebble-smartwatch-app-hits-app-store#post_2265371"][QUOTE name="PhilBoogie" url="/t/155619/twitters-vine-video-sharing-app-debuts-pebble-smartwatch-app-hits-app-store#post_2264439"] Ah, good thing they improved from 128 bytes to 140 then. [/QUOTE] It turns out they had underestimated the space. I found a book for you, since I know this is an interest of yours. Cheers! [/quote] Thank you. I read [S]bits[/S] pieces of it. Online, as Mr. Hillebrand [URL=http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470843225.html]charges too much[/URL] for my taste.