Periscope is the latest live-streaming platform to jump on the selfie filter bandwagon with the launch of its very own election-themed facial overlay graphics.
The lighthearted feature gives you the option to don a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump mask when broadcasting in selfie mode on the Periscope iOS app. The limited edition graphics will be available for the duration of next week — meaning you can’t forever impersonate Trump or Clinton during your live-streams.
Unlike the animated graphics offered by Snapchat — which pioneered the selfie filter format — and more recently by Facebook Live, Periscope’s Clinton and Trump masks were created using actual photographs. The final result, complete with puppet-like mouth movements, resembles something you’d expect to see in South Park.
The images are credited to Gage Skidmore, a prolific election trail photographer whose Flickr photos have reportedly been re-used 30 million times — including by the presidential candidates themselves.
What on the surface may seem like an irreverent new addition is part of Periscope’s bid to get people talking about politics. “We hope this is an entertaining way to have conversations and raise awareness around the election and the importance of voting,” explains the company.
Significantly, the update arrives on the heels of Facebook’s Live video selfie masks. It seems both platforms are fervently trying to boost engagement using playful new features that can attract new users who may otherwise be put off by creating traditional broadcasts.
Periscope claims it will introduce more tools to help live-streamers produce compelling live video soon, which could be an indication that more Snapchat-style graphics are on the way. For now, there is no mention of whether selfie masks will be available on an ongoing basis — in the vein of Facebook Live — after the election.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?