TechCrunch
Applifier's FaceCam, Which Records Mobile Gamers' Reactions While They Play, Comes Out Of Beta
Applifier, which runs a mobile-social gaming network where players can share video playbacks of their virtual feats, is pulling FaceCam, a product using the front-facing camera, out of beta.
FaceCam records a person’s gameplay and their facial expressions while they’re playing from the front-facing camera. It sometimes can look a bit awkward (see here) or hilarious, but for some gamers, it’s the most vivid way to share how twitchy a game can be. The Helsinki and San Francisco-based startup incorporated FaceCam into games like NimbleBit’s Nimble Quest and Angry Birds-maker Rovio’s Bad Piggies in the beta.
The company says it’s seeing about 2 minutes of gameplay video shared every minute, with the volume of time growing 750 percent compared to the first quarter of this year. Month-over-month, the company says the number of minutes shared has grown by more than 25 percent.
They didn’t disclose the raw number of videos shared, however. With improvement in data connections, we’re seeing mobile app makers — both in the general consumer space and in gaming — adopt more video features. On the general consumer side, Twitter’s Vine took off on the free charts and accumulated 13 million users as of a few weeks ago, while Instagram launched video last week.
In gaming, both the major consoles, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, announced built-in video sharing while Twitch, which stream live match-ups for video gamers, reports 35 million unique viewers a month who watch about 1.5 hours of video play each day on average.
Applifier, with its network Everyplay, is looking to replicate that video-sharing experience on mobile platforms. The company has a longstanding network for cross-promoting social games on Facebook, and pivoted (like much of the rest of the industry) to mobile platforms over the last year.
Last year, they launched a beta for sharing mobile gaming replays. Then they added a front-facing camera options after closing a $4 million second venture round led by Finland’s Lifeline Ventures. They are also backed by MHS Capital, PROfounders Capital, Tekes and Webb Investment Network.
Facebook Opens Signups To Android Beta Program So You Can Help Test And Improve Its Apps
Today Facebook announced and is now taking signups for its new Facebook For Android Beta Program that uses Google Play’s new beta system to push pre-release versions of its apps to users so they can help it catch bugs and offer feedback.
Product Manager Ragavan Srinivasan explained Facebook is doing this ”to give people early access to versions of Facebook we’re planning on shipping, and get feedback from real-world users to improve our products before shipping to all our users.”
Later today Facebook will publish a blog post with more details, but here’s the signup link and how the program works:
- Sign up to to become a member of the Facebook For Android Beta Testers Group on Google Groups or Google+
- Opt in to Google’s beta testing system policies
- Download the beta app, use it normally, and access the bug reporting option in the slide out navigation menu to send feedback directly to Facebook
- Join the Facebook Group for beta testers to pass feedback back and forth (optional but strongly recommended
You might think it’s curious that Facebook would build on Google’s social networks to run its beta program but those are Google’s rules. The companies actually work together quite frequently, like on Facebook’s new Google Glass app.
The program will give eager beaver Facebook addicts a crack at the latest features before everyone else, though they may have to endure some bugginess. Facebook previously used a less regulated Android beta system that bypassed the Google Play store, but Google shut it down and replaced it with this new program that launched at I/O last month.
At the most basic level, Facebook wants to catch edge case bugs. Director Of Engineering Mike Shaver explains how testers at Facebook headquarters might not catch problems that arise when someone in Southeast Asia tries to use Facebook on an old phone and a crummy carrier. This will broaden its tester ranks to include people all over the world with all sorts of behavior patterns and social networks.
Beyond bugs, the program could also let Facebook twiddle backend knobs and front-end designs with a smaller audience to ensure changes have the expected and desired effect. Shaver admitted this might tip Facebook’s hand as to what’s coming next for everyone, but said it was worth it to make sure what he calls “the most widely used and widely installed application on Android” isn’t broken.
In the blog post, Facebook explains, “This will give us the opportunity to eliminate our blindspots and identify a snapshot of the diversity of use cases to test our apps so when we push to our whole user base, everyone has a better experience. Whether someone is using Gingerbread or Jelly Bean, more complete testing coverage gives us the opportunity to make sure more people can access a stable, high performance Facebook.”
Move fast and break things has just become too risky when it’s pushing to millions of Android users with every official update.
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