Rest of the Day: BitTorrent Launches Online News Channel
BitTorrent is trying to shake off its association with piracy by developing a new platform for media distribution, and one of their initiatives will be an online news channel, which will launch with coverage of the Republican National Assembly.
- BitTorrent News will launch on July 18th as part of the BitTorrent Live video platform. The company has hired a number of TV news journalists and filmmakers, including al Jazeera English and Vice alumni, to cover the upcoming convention with the necessary step-by-step commentary you would expect from TV news. [BitTorrent]
- In other news, Microsoft has released a new Skype app for Linux. The app is still in its early stages of development and does not have all the features of Skype, but has a redesigned, more responsive interface, similar to Skype on other platforms. Linux users can also make calls, if you go down to web.skype.com in Chrome. [Microsoft via MSPoweruser ]
- You can now send and receive video messages on Google Hangouts for Android. This feature has been in the iOS version of the app for years, but it’s not really the core principle of Hangouts, and apparently that’s why Google just decided to add it to the Android version. [Android Police]
- ABC is relaunching its free online streaming service with a library of classic ABC shows and new digital short films. The service is ad-supported, so you can watch it for free through various apps or ABC.com. [Diversity]