This app can help you find Periscope streams that are actually interesting

By Kris Wouk Published May 6, 2015

Periscope became popular very quickly after its launch, but with the dust settling it now seems that more people want to stream than actually watch other streams. A quick look through the app will find people doing mundane daily routines from vacuuming to walking their dogs, and the sheer volume means that the signal-to-noise ratio is low.

New York-based startup Dextro wants to see if it can do something about that. Dextro Stream hopes to help people find content that is actually worth watching on Periscope. And the impressive part is how Dextro plans to go about it.

Recommended Videos

Dextro uses machine-learning algorithms to automatically categorize videos and make them easier to browse. Popular categories from the last week include Talking Heads, People/Crowds, Cats & Dogs, and Around The City. The most popular by far is Talking Heads.

Click on a category bubble and you’ll see a number of streams currently being broadcast in that category. No Periscope account is necessary to watch a stream — just click and a window will open, showing the video on Periscope.

The software is better at identifying some types of streams than others. Talking heads are fairly easy to detect, as are live crowds, but Dextro Stream seems to have more issues when it comes to video shot in landscape mode, PC World reports.

For the time being, it isn’t certain how Periscope or Twitter are going to react to Dextro Stream. While Periscope’s terms of service indicate that users grant it a license to share their streams with its partners, Dextro isn’t a partner, as it has no agreement with either Twitter or Periscope.

It could be that this is simply a way for Dextro to draw some attention in order to further refine its algorithms, as its software for analyzing the content of videos and photos isn’t specific to Periscope. “In pre-recorded video, you know what happens at the end of the video,” Dextro co-founder David Luan said, speaking to Wired. “But in live video you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

If you want to look for yourself, head over to the Dextro Stream website and take a peek.

Former Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Topics

News

Apps that plant trees for you are booming. But are they actually helping?

a sapling grows in the forest

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can now plant trees without ever getting your hands dirty. You can plant trees -- real ones, in the real world -- when playing a video game on a PlayStation. You can plant trees when playing a game on your phone. Heck, you can even plant trees as a reward for not using your phone.

You can plant trees by using a search engine, or by telling Alexa “grow a tree.” With some mental math, you can arguably plant a tree through your support of certain companies: Dell Technologies supports tree-planting efforts, and so does Verizon. In January 2022, Samsung pledged to support the “growth and conservation” of 2 million trees in Madagascar by the end of March.

Smart Home

Ring’s new Pet Profile feature can help find your lost dog

Over 10 million pets are reported lost every year in the U.S. alone. Ring's neighborhood app, named Neighbors, has returned over 100,000 of these beloved furry creatures to their owners. Today, Ring has updated the app to include new features that will help reunite pets with their owners: Pet Profiles and Contact Me.

Ring, the massive smart home security company, created the Neighbors app so that community members can stay safer together. The app has users connect with other users in their local neighborhood to alert each other when crimes happen, safety events need to be noted, or when pets are lost. The app also connects local public safety authorities with users.

Mobile

Google launches a Pixel 6 Material You fashion collection you can’t actually wear

Pixel 6 rear cameras.

This year’s Pixel 6 series almost feels like a breath of fresh air with its brand new Android 12 Material You design. The decade-old mobile operating system now has a much-needed visual overhaul that allows a ton of individuality, customization, and character unlike any version before. To complement the same theme, Google has launched the Google Pixel 6: Material You Collection available to anyone in the U.K. for free starting November 23.

Before you get too excited, let's clarify. Google is not giving you free clothes. The Material You Collection is a 12-piece unisex set of limited-edition digital fashion apparel that will allow Pixel 6 users to "express their individuality better." To put it simply, it is a visual representation of physical clothes. Meaning that, yes, you can't actually wear any of these. Think of it as concept art or costume design rather than a product. Strange, but that's how marketing works, we suppose.