Sprawling online forum Reddit and its parent company Conde Nast Entertainment have rolled out the first episode of the brand’s inaugural video effort, a six part documentary series called Cyber Nation.
Centered around cutting edge human/technology interfaces, the first episode is streaming via Wired’s channel on video site The Scene, their mutual parent company’s digital video hub.
Related: Netflix cleverly tries to outwit kids with 5 minute bedtime shows
Don’t go popping the popcorn and calling for Reddit’s eventual Netflix takeover just yet; this is just a nascent first dip into creating original video content for Reddit. Each episode is only around five minutes in length, and is hosted by the creator of YouTube’s Veritasium channel, Derek Muller.
Subjects for coverage on Cyber Nation were chosen with the help of the Reddit community, with ideas from users who subscribe and comment in the subreddt r/Futurology.
“It’s commonplace to track our movements on fitness bands, monitor our sleep patterns with cell phones, and interact with our homes on smart watches, but how far will it go?” Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian said on his post about the series on r/Futurology earlier this year. “Will our grandkids think nothing of onlining their nervous systems? Will disability be a thing of the past? The show will look at the groundbreaking technology of today, and contemplate a realistic future that is truly ‘post-human.'”
Cyber Nation’s initial topics include an interview with a company who is working on creating realistic synthetic touch, and a profile on rock climber Hugh Herr — who climbs with bionic legs — among other investigations into burgeoning interfaces between human and machine.
Following each episode, companies and individuals involved will host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit, which Reddit’s executives hope will drive up the viewer count for the series.
“The hundreds of thousands of communities of Reddit generate more original ideas in one day than the world’s best newsroom could produce in a lifetime,” Ohanian said in an interview with Variety.
The company has been using its unique reach across virtually every topic of conversation imaginable to branch out quite a bit lately, including the launch of its own news site Upvoted early this October. The company will, in all likelihood, continue to branch out and produce new video series if this first effort proves successful.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.