Skip to main content

What is Periscope? Imagine your own TV channel, broadcast from your phone

Applications like Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat all provide a window into our daily lives. While these apps can show blasts from the recent past, none of them give an up-to-the-second view like the live-broadcasting app Periscope.

With live-streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat on the forefront of initiating a new social medium, Twitter acquired Periscope to solidify it’s position. In this episode of Explained, we detail how live-broadcasting apps like Periscope are being used daily to reshape the way both news and social interaction takes place.

Take an in-depth look at Periscope, the up and coming app that’s bringing live video broadcasting capabilities to everyone. See just exactly how downloading it to your device will change your day.

Editors' Recommendations

Joshua Smith
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Just another not so ordinary kid living this thing we like to call life.
Twitter bans product changes this week to stop employees from ‘going rogue’
The edit Tweet button shown in the Twitter app on a phone.

Buying the bird app was apparently the easy part. Twitter's transition to being under Elon Musk's ownership is already off to a rough start it seems. And it's only been less than a day since the deal for the Tesla CEO to buy the company for $44 billion was reached.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Twitter has essentially banned changes to its product through Friday, with the only exception being "business-critical" changes approved by a vice president. The short-term limit on product changes isn't so much surprising as the reason given for it: Apparently, the ban was set to prevent "employees who may be miffed about the deal from 'going rogue.'"

Read more
Tweet previews aren’t showing up in WhatsApp messages
WhatsApp messaging app

WhatsApp users attempting to send Twitter links to friends on Tuesday had a different experience than usual.

Tweets previews, which before had been a standard feature, are no longer showing on messaging app WhatsApp. App owner Facebook blamed a glitch in Twitter's API.

Read more
I record interviews for work. These are my favorite free recorder apps
The iPhone 14 Pro and Google Pixel 7 Pro's voice recording apps running together.

The Voice Recorder app on a phone (left) and the Voice Memos on another phone Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Before you head to the app store on your phone to buy a voice-recording app, take a moment to consider the apps that may already be installed on your phone. Why? In my experience, they're likely all you really need. I’ve recorded interviews and voice-overs for work for years, and I’ve found the two best examples come preinstalled on your phone already, so they’re entirely free to use.

Read more