The release of live-video-streaming apps Meerkat and Periscope has led a lot of people to ask why neither of them supports landscape-mode video (think rectangle-lying-down instead of rectangle-standing-up).

One of the apps’ developers has said it’s because people are used to holding their smartphones vertically, which I suppose makes sense. I still prefer my theory (Fig. 1, above).

By the way, I’ve learned a metric crap-tonne of stuff about web video from the great Steve Garfield. He’s kind of your advance scout in that world, reporting back from ten minutes into the future of video. If you’re at all interested in the field, he’s well worth following.

Updated: Just had a Twitter exchange with John Bowman that gave me a chance to encapsulate just how I feel about the portrait-versus-landscape thing:

@johnbowman I have close relationships with people who shoot vertical. I’ve made my peace with it… (1/2)

— Rob Cottingham (@RobCottingham) March 30, 2015

@johnbowman …but you can have my landscape video when you rotate my cold, dead hand 90º. (2/2)

— Rob Cottingham (@RobCottingham) March 30, 2015