Gadgetory

everyone in your Facebook feed is about to become a broadcaster I'm Bridget Carey this is your CNET update Facebook has finally opened up its live video broadcast feature to more people right now everyone with an iPhone in the u.s. can stream live video to their friends on Facebook right from their phone the network is still working on a version for Android you'll find it inside the status update just click the icon of a person with a broadcast signal halo I like to think of it as the holy saint of video blessed be that live stream you create a title and choose who you want to see it when you're ready go live BAM there's no going back it's happening you are live friends can comment in real-time and when they do you should answer them or say hi that's the point of live video to be able to interact with questions and comments in real time you can also like a comment you can see how many people are watching too the concept is the same as Twitter's periscope but the comments do not pop up on top of the video on Facebook it all just sits under the broadcast I think I like how periscope does it better it makes it more interactive and lively and of course they're the hearts too Facebook has been testing and gradually rolling out live video for the past 5 months as it tries to play catch-up - Twitter's more popular periscope app and of course meerkat started this live streaming buzz first when it launched last year but the biggest difference is that Facebook videos will live forever to be watched by your friends who missed it live unless you delete it on periscope the videos last only about a day before they vanish on meerkat the iPhone app does have the choice to save a stream to your profile meerkat has some neat tools like being able to let a friend jump into your broadcast from their phone but most people abandon the app and now everyone's just using periscope these days poor little meerkat in other news what was once free is no more on iTunes Apple's iTunes radio stations used to be free but now they can only be accessed with an Apple music subscription which costs $10 a month after the trial period the only thing left free beats 1 radio and some news stations like NPR BBC news and ESPN Apple music and Spotify are at the top of the paid music streaming food chain with a little service title launched by jay-z Madonna and other music celebrities is still fighting on it hopes to get some attention again with the help of Rihanna whose new album anti just made it's unexpected exclusive debut on the surface and it did draw in more than a million trial subscribers the album is coming to other services in a week that's it for this tech news update but if you're still hungry for more you'll find a tech feast at cnet.com from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey