The pandemic is forcing video conferencing innovation


Making virtual meetings feel more realistic

If you’ve used Zoom you’re probably used to the grid view which can get pretty distracting when there are a lot of people in the meeting.

Microsoft wants to solve that with Teams. It will use AI to take the background away from each person’s video, crop to your head and shoulders, and place everyone in a virtual setting. The example they’ve used is in stadium seating, to make it look like you’re presenting to a crowd. That’ll roll out globally in August.

MmHmm wants to make Zooming more like TV

The former CEO of Evernote has launched a new product called mmHmm. Instead of putting the screen share slides up on one side of the screen and the presenter on the other side, the person gets placed straight in front of the content – like a weather presenter.

There’s also a mode that put the screen share over your shoulder like a news or comedy programme. You can change the size of the presenter too and their placement.

It works with various video conferencing providers and hopes to be a more engaging way to present things at work — or for fun.

Dating during the pandemic has turned to video too

Tinder has added a video chat feature to its app – no sharing of phone number or email address required. It’ll probably save people a LOT of money on wasted dinners and drinks.

No word on yet how they’re going to keep those video calls PG. 

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