There’s no question that streaming has become the “next big thing” on the Internet, with surfers making video calls to friends and family, Xbox One gamers streaming their favorite titles to Twitch and Windows 10, and so on. It’s taken quite a while for technology to offer this type of real-time coverage, and now that the tech is finally here, we seem to be streaming everything that has a screen attached to it.
What about smartphones? There’s an app for that and it’s called Mirrativ. The app is made by DeNA Co, which is the same company that struck a deal with Nintendo to create apps and games on smartphones (finally!) based on Nintendo’s popular IPs. DeNA Co is also behind a number of mobile apps such as Marvel: War of Heroes, Star Wars: Galactic Defense, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and more.
“I think this is the first app that allows users to broadcast everything happening on their smartphone device through the Internet,” Mirrativ creator Junichi Akagawa told the Wall Street Journal.
Indeed, Mirrativ will supposedly stream whatever is on the screen, whether the user is playing a mobile game, a movie or just browsing on the Web. The app can also take control of the microphone and front-mounted camera so that the streamer can add audio and video commentary in a small picture-in-picture box on-screen.
The Wall Street Journal points out that Periscope and Meerkat are similar apps, allowing users to stream video from their phone to social networks. What makes Mirrativ different is that it provides a “more personal” setting because the streams stay within the app and don’t show up on the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
So if Mirrativ captures everything on the smartphone’s screen, what happens when the user is watching a movie? Akagawa didn’t say how the company will deal with copyrighted media, but he did say that DeNA will have a customer support team of 400 employees that will keep an eye on the app and handle any problems that may arise.
Mirrativ is currently in beta on Android and in development for Apple’s iOS devices. Users can begin livestreaming with their phone with just a couple of taps. They can even interact with their audience, which will leave comments and send stickers to the broadcaster. Users can also launch a private broadcast that can be accessed only by using a specific URL.
Oh boy. This should get interesting.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1EvUnkJ
