At a time when the app to launch and one of its major selling points is its ability to automatically remove the backgrounds during video calls.
While most businesses are feeling the pressure, video calls. While Skype already offers calling for up to 50 people at once, Zoom meetings can involve more than one hundred people. Although these platforms market themselves as designed for multi-tasking and productivity, very often s find it difficult to do something else at the same time as on a video call. There is also the additional issue of having to tidy up your work-space, and find a suitable background before starting a call.
That is where Around makes a difference. As AI-based framing system to crop out most of the background and presents just a compact and clear view of the person. In addition, during multiple calls, those on the line will float on the laptop's screens in circular windows. The idea is to make video-calling a clutter-free, less clunky and less intrusive experience. Around is now available via a freemium model, and those interested can request early access through the official website.
What Makes Around Video Calls Special?
Having no permanent UI, the circles appear as soon as the call starts. These circles can be moved around and resized just like a regular window. This lets the open other windows and work, while chatting away in the background. Since very little of a person and the background is seen, callers will no longer have to worry about tidying-up before calls. Just as importantly, there's less likely to be issues surfacing based on what's happening in the background with other family , as was famously seen during a 2017 BBC News interview. AI-based camera framing also draws on the use of auto-zoom and face-tracking to ensure faces stay in the circle, even when callers move. Meanwhile, the auto-mute feature suppresses the usual background noises, like dogs barks, sirens, household gadgets and laptop fans, with a view to prioritizing the caller's voice. It will also cancel any echo to for those times when there are multiple callers in one room.
Around is available for all major desktop OS platforms now, as well as for use in browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Unfortunately, there is no mobile version for the app yet. Nevertheless, it is a thoughtful app approach to a technology that many remote workers depend on, and now more than ever due to the coronvirus pandemic.
Source: TechCrunch