livestream

Live-video service Ustream.tv gets $11.1 million

There are seemingly more "livestreaming" services out there than people actually using them, but that hasn't stopped Ustream.tv from raising $11.1 million in Series A funding. The cash comes from venture firm DCM, as well as existing investors Labrador Ventures and The Band of Angels.

To be fair, Ustream has pulled away from the pack a bit: it's the streaming service of choice for some high-profile live Web events like the Digg Town Hall.

With the new cash, Ustream will focus on product development and "meet(ing) growing market demand for an interactive-broadcasting … Read more

YouTube to offer live streaming this year

In some cases it's not a bad thing to be fashionably late. Just ask Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube.

Earlier this week, while sporting a furry coat at a warm, packed YouTube party in New York City, Chen managed to spill some juicy details about the company's plans while talking to Sarah Meyers, the host of vodcast Pop17. Chen confirmed that live video was coming to the service in "2008" and that the company has wanted to feature it for some time, but have only recently been able to get the ball rolling because of having … Read more

Yahoo (sort of) launches a live video-streaming service

Yahoo dropped on Thursday night a new service on the world: Yahoo Live. Conceptually it's very much like uStream and other live video-streaming products. Anyone can set up a video channel and embed the player (though, oddly, not the text chat that goes with it) on their own page.

One of the really cool features of Yahoo Live is its multi-camera viewing panel. In addition to the video feed you tune in to, four other video channels--of other people watching the same stream you are--appear below the main video. You can jump to those channels quickly, and change the … Read more

Do bloggers have ethics?

Tom and I discussed blogging ethics on our weekly podcast today. You can watch our studio session (actually, just me) in the viewer below. Or, listen in to the professionally-recorded audio:

Facebook press conference--live!

Facebook is making a major platform announcement today at 3:00 PM PDT. We'll be at the press conference and, unless there's a clamp on video rights during the event, we'll be streaming it live, using Veodia (preview) technology.

Update: The press conference is now over. Click the image below for the recording, straight from my laptop's Web cam. There's about 10 minutes of waiting around before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes the stage, so you might want to skip ahead.

Update 2: Ok, sorry, this video is awful. I blame two things: My cheapo Logitech Web cam, and the fact that I used the press conference WiFi, which was overloaded. Next time, I'll use cellular (EV-DO or UMTS), which has slower max throughput than WiFi, but which is much more stable. The good news is, we had a professional camera crew at this event, so we can replace the Webcam video below with the pro tape once it's through production.

See more Facebook coverage on Webware. And Facebook: The social Web utility company, by Dan Farber on ZDNet.

Updates from the conference:

Updated: Tom and Rafe, live on uStream

On our weekly Real Deal podcast today, Tom and I discussed lifecasting (e.g., Justin.tv) and the live streaming tools ordinary people (as opposed to 24/7 exhibitionists) can use to broadcast their own cams in real time: uStream, Stickam, ComVu (review), and Veodia (review).

Here's the show:

Our discussion wouldn't be complete without a live demo of streaming, so Tom and I both streamed ourselves during the taping, using uStream. We had some problems (most related to the ancient laptop I used to record the show, I think), but I grabbed a recording of the stream. … Read more

Sneak peak at Mogulus: new live blogging platform

I got to take a sneak peak at a new video broadcasting service that opened its doors to a select few this morning. Mogulus is a live video broadcasting service the likes of uStream.tv, but with a twist: Multiple people can work on live video feeds at the same time. Each user can create their own branded channel, and fill it up with video content either from their hard drives or pulled in from YouTube. Each contributor can also command the broadcast using their Web cam, complete with customizable over-the-shoulder graphic overlays and a scrolling CNN-style news ticker. The result is a live blogging experience that's visually stimulating to the viewer, and completely customizable for the amateur content producer.

Mogulus is giving its producers two ways to share content--either embedding the live feed, or linking to their own custom URL. All public channels go into a listing for live feeds a la Kyte.tv, so casual users looking to tune into things that are live or interesting will be able to browse through and find something they like.

Managing broadcasts in Mogulus is handled completely inside of a Flash-based application. Content is clumped together in small management units called "storyboards," which can be inserted into any broadcast almost like video playlists. Producers queue up content, mix and match the order of video clips, and can break in at any time to broadcast live from their Web cam. Power users have a lot to play with, as it actually feels like a professional video-editing app with a ton of options for tweaking and fine-tuning.

Mogulus plans to roll out its service with two models, one free and one paid. The free version requires inserting a short advertisement for every 10 minutes of broadcasting, while the pro version lets producers go ad-free in exchange for paying a fee for every gigabyte of bandwidth transferred. My hunch is that many casual users will be OK with the advertisement model, with what Mogulus is tentatively planning to keep at around 10 seconds per ad.

More on Mogulus as it leaves private beta. Until then you can sign up and check out an explanatory video here. More screenshots of the interface after the jump.

CNET Live: Kyte CEO Daniel Graf [VIDEO UPDATE]

Daniel Graf, the CEO of Kyte ( review) gave the best pitch at last week's New Tech Meetup in San Francisco. And he came in to CNET's studio to tell us more. Tune in to his live appearance on CNET TV's new weekly online broadcast, today at 1:00 PM Pacific / 4:00 PM Eastern.

Update: In case you missed last week's show we've got the video embedded below. To skip straight to the Kyte segment, drag the player progress arrow to 23:15. For more on Kyte, check out our hands-on.

SF New Tech Meetup -- Livestreamed

I am at the SF New Tech Meetup, I've got a webcam on my laptop, and I'm not afraid to use it. I'm trying out Veodia (preview) to stream the event.

Update: I had two dropped connections and crashes, and gave up on the streaming. Here is the archive of the first segment Veodia recorded:

ComVu: TV studio in a browser

I tried livestreaming a panel I was participating in last night using ComVu's new (and not yet public) Windows streaming service. I think it was a technical success--the stream worked, but the software gave me neither viewer numbers nor a way to chat with people. Slightly disappointed in the lack of feedback, I sat down with ComVu CEO William Mutual this morning to learn more about the company and its products.

While Mutual vaguely acknowledged that he plans to add user interactivity (chat) to his service, he doesn't think his product should be lumped in with the current … Read more