PERISCOPE UP!

It’s not often we have the chance to test drive a new app the moment it’s released. We missed the boat with so many of them–Instagram, Vine, Meerkat. So when we saw that Twitter had just released Periscope, its live video streaming app, we jumped on in an attempt to get ahead of the curve for once.

What we found was…well,  a lot of people doing what we were doing: testing it out by filming their dogs, or their office, or their kids, or talking into their front facing camera. It’s fascinating to see these early baby steps, before the platform has thrown up any “stars” or anything has gone viral.

Of course, Periscope seems ripe for misuse, and we assume that it’s only a matter of hours before the network is chock a-block with all kinds of kinky stuff we shouldn’t be watching. Stay tuned for a Buzzfeed story on the first live robbery to be “periscoped“ (see, we don’t even have an official word for it yet!) or the first couple do do the nasty while sharing it with every one of their Twitter followers. About five minutes ago, we saw some guy take a pee, so things seem to be off to a grand start.

Will Periscope take over the mantle that Meerkat assumed only last week? Who can say? This is social media, baby: things move fast. Who knows if either platform will even survive the two minutes it will take us to finish this post?

EDIT - Well, that was quick. Ten minutes after we posted the above, a building collapsed in NYC’s East Village and Periscope became a go-to place for people to share video of the scene. Not at all the kind of viral event we were hoping for.

Finding Our Level

We will never climb Mount Everest, or any of the “6K club” (i.e., mountains 6,000 meters and above). We will never climb the Himalayas, the Swiss Alps or the Rockies. We might hike a bit in the Catskills, but that’s about it.

There are a lot of reasons we won’t be tackling Everest: the lack of oxygen, the altitude sickness, the sheer expense. But perhaps the most compelling reason of all has recently made the news. Mount Everest has gotten so crowded, it’s evidently cover in poop.

Fortunately, technology is stepping up to the plate. Not to clean up the mountain—God no—but to allow us to enjoy the view. Check out this astonishingly high-res film shot in the Himalaya by Teton Gravity Research. Using gyro-stabilized cameras, and filming from a helicopter that went up to 24,000 feet (5,000 shy of the Everest summit, admittedly), this film provides all the glorious vistas you can handle, while keeping you firmly at sea level (or thereabouts).

Miley Surprised Us

Miley Cyrus has finally done something that legitimately shocks us. She collaborated with the Roots on an a cappella version of We Can’t Stop and she totally crushed it.