Glide gives videos the walkie-talkie treatment

Texting is quick, but limited in its expressiveness. Videos are full of human expression, but often not all that timely. The mission of the guys at Glide? To create a "You put your chocolate in my peanut butter!" product, and mix the two media into one, even better, form of communication.

Glide's developers, on hand this week at Macworld/iWorld, have dubbed their iOS app a "video walkie-talkie". On the surface, that sounds like a rehash of Apple's native Facetime offering, but this is different. A Glide user can "broadcast" a short video to a select friend or group of friends - if the recipient is online, that video will launch on their iPhone within seconds. And if not, it'll wait in the cloud, to be played later when the user checks messages. Responses can be offered in nearly real time, but the chat isn't live.

Users can also send text and emoji using the app, but the video is Glide's core feature. "We're taking texting and video and giving you the best of both without the limitations of either one," said Ari Roisman, Glide's CEO.

Glide is still six weeks away from launching in the App Store, its developers say, but the company is welcoming beta testers, who can sign up at Glide's website.