Happy Friday!
This week Apple became the first ever company valued at a trillion dollars! 😲 😲 😲
Let the scrolling begin!
Top Pick
Nickelodeon's AR app lets kids interact with live TV broadcasts
Nickelodeon’s new AR app is as magical and full of whimsy as it should be.
During select shows, kids are encouraged to raise their mobile screens in front of the TV. When they do, they might see green slime fly out of their screens across their living room. As well as random appearances by their favourite Nickelodeon characters.
Easy to use, and enjoy, this is pure fun, and a very interesting use of AR to modernise live TV.
Interactive Media
Facebook might start holding singing competitions among its users
This week a researcher spotted an interface in Facebook's app code that would let users find a popular song, and record themselves singing along to it - sparking rumours of interactive singing competitions.
For some this may seem likely following the launch of Facebook's 'Lip Sync live' app in June which is a rival to the popular lipsyincing app, Musicial.ly.
However, this got some of us thinking at Rerun HQ that maybe it would be even better as an interactive experience. This has the potential to be the biggest karaoke competition in the world. A global audience could request songs, and vote for the singer to stay or go. Plus it could be an amazing way for record companies to launch new talent, keeping viewers watching with a promise of guest appearances from megastars... our minds are buzzing at the prospect of interactive karaoke!
All of this may not happen and we will all just have to sing our own version of our favourite songs through the app 🎤📱.
Amazon's Alexa can now understand sign language
Alexa is progressing, and will be doing all kinds of fancy things as time goes. But, every so often, innovation makes products more accessible and inclusive. Abhishek Singh, a software engineer, created a mod that lets Alexa understand sign language. It decodes signs with machine learning software, allowing signers to give commands without vocalizing.
A great step to making Alexa more accessible, and for expanding voice interfaces into something even more vast.
Reuters new app focuses on total time spent
We’re big fans of the Reuters News app, at Rerun HQ.
The app allows users to personalise their video feed of news, based on the amount of time available to them. Great for commuters!
We are happy to hear that Reuters has updated this app to take personalisation one step further.
Users can now customize their feed by up to 5,000 different topics, including countries, markets and people. Each article is displayed in a card-based feed with short written summaries so users can get the gist without having the read the whole post, and the app will adapt to users over time, sending push alerts at the time of the day they’ve show a willingness to reading them.
Success of the app will be measured by time users spend using the app, rather than number of page views.
The goal is to create more stickiness in the app for a set of niche audiences. And provide them with relevant advertising too...
Storytelling
Spotify is now streaming Archie motion comics
Spotify is continuing to grow its podcast offering and have recently added Archie comics to the platform.
The episodes feature music and voice acting alongside auto-playing comic illustrations — and they're pretty lovely to watch.
Spotify's podcast service has helped the streaming giant expand beyond music after an attempt to develop a video platform didn't go so well a few years back.
Biz Bits
Moviepass crashed because it ran out of money – and future looks uncertain
The movie ticket subscription service Moviepass took a bit of a dive this past week.
Impressive and all as feats of diving may be at the Olympics, the kind which end with you requesting an emergency $5m loan are probably not worth repeating too often.
Moviepass has in the region of 3 million users, many of whom were left wanting when the service went down as a result of an inability to pay partner cinemas.
The long-term sustainability of its model has often seemed in doubt. In a previous SEC filing in May, MoviePass reported a $21.7m per month deficit and only $15.5m left available in cash. Its stock has fallen more than 95% since its high in October 2017.
Whilst it remains to be seen if this cat bounces, there's a salutary lesson in building a user base around a service model that seems to good to be true.
Ever felt like you're seeing things?
... well hopefully not to this degree!
Russian motion graphics artist Vladimir Tomin has created some AR inspired weirdness in this awesome video reel.
The beautifully crafted audio and Vladimir's serious 3D chops combine to animate the real world with satisfying 1990s-style efficiency.
That's all from the Rerun team at Axonista... but before you go we want to let you all know we're hiring new team members to join us at Axonista.
We look forward to sharing our thoughts on the future of TV and interactive video next week.