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justin.tv

The 404 961: Where we've got a Twitch in our eye (podcast)

There's plenty of live video broadcasting platforms to choose on the Web these days, but today we're chatting with one of the pioneers.

Justin Kan is one of the co-founders of Justin.TV, and he drops by our studio today for a full episode about the origins of life streaming and how the site paved the road to Justin's new project for live video gaming, TwitchTV.

We'll also talk to Justin about his participation in Y Combinator, a start-up incubator that helps green entrepreneurs through the first three months of genesis.

The boot camp gives founders the seed funding they need for general living expenses, allowing them to focus on the business idea. YC also guides them through the media pitching process and how to grab the attention of venture capitalists and seed investors.

Some of the headline-grabbing companies to grow from Y Combinator include Scribd, Loopt, Grubwithus, and Justin.TV itself.

Tune in to hear about how TwitchTV is bringing competitive gaming to a much larger audience, not to mention a few tips on what it takes to earn a spot in the next Y Combinator batch!… Read more

Socialcam: Mobile video sharing done right

Socialcam is hardly the first mobile app to record and share videos. Remember 12 Seconds? Didn't make it. But not because it was the wrong idea. As Socialcam shows, video sharing from a mobile device can work extremely well. The secret is the execution.

Socialcam has technical tricks as well as social ones. It starts uploading your videos as soon as you start recording. So when you press "stop" and go to upload your video, you may find the progress bar already pretty well filled in. If you take a video and you don't have a connection, the app will just store it until you do. You don't have to worry about it.

Socially, the app ties into Facebook smoothly. You can tag your friends in your videos as soon as you take them, and this puts the vids on their walls--so people will actually see your videos even if they're not Socialcam users. Sharing on Twitter, or on e-mail or SMS, is also a simple operation.

Socialcam is great for sharing video of friends on Facebook, but it could also be an important app in citizen journalism and revolution. Like Instagram, the even-easier-than-Twitpic photo sharing site, it makes sharing media so simple that it fundamentally alters the experience, when compared with previous products that did the same thing.

Socialcam is a production of Justin Kan's Justin.TV. I first met Justin at a party in 2007, when he was still live-streaming from a camera mounted on his head. He's gotten smarter about video since then. Justin.TV is a growing video business, but as Kan told me at the Socialcam launch party, the Justin.TV app still requires too much work for the everyday user. It requires people to know if they want to stream video live, or record first for playback later; also they need to worry about their Internet connection. Socialcam does far less than the mobile video studio that Justin.TV is, but it takes so much of the thinking out of the equation that it makes doing video much easier. Because of that, it is likely to become a more powerful and important service.

Here's a Socialcam video from the product's launch party, which I attended in the line of duty Tuesday night. I didn't stay long:… Read more

YourLife.tv

Justin.tv has come a long way since founder Justin Kan walked around broadcasting the events of his life 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In truth, "YourLife.tv" would be a more accurate name for the live broadcasting service that bears Kan's name. The app lets you view live streams and broadcast your own from the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and new iPod Touch over Wi-Fi, 3G, and EDGE.

The overhauled iPhone app boasts an intuitive design, especially on the video broadcast side, which features onscreen icons to start and end broadcasts, title the … Read more

Justin TV 2.0 brings live video broadcasting to iPhone (hands-on)

Updated, 11:57 a.m. PT: Now includes a hands-on review.

For live video broadcasting service Justin.tv, going mobile makes all the difference. It's been just two weeks since the company launched Justin.tv for Android, but the app now accounts for about 20 percent of Justin.tv's live streaming broadcasts. With the release of Justin.tv for iPhone 2.0, the company expects more of the same.

Justin.tv 2.0 builds on the version 1.0 iPhone app by adding live video broadcasting, chatting, and Facebook- and Twitter-sharing features to the previous view-only mode. These … Read more

Live video broadcasts

Competitor Qik is making a name for itself by getting preloaded onto various smartphones (like the HTC Evo), but Justin.tv, originally a Web service, is following suit with its own Android and iPhone apps.

Justin.tv makes it easy to register for an account from the phone and easy to get started recording your video over Wi-Fi and data. Chatting with live viewers and sharing video to Facebook and Twitter are also intuitive features to use. In addition to letting others watch your video from those two social networks, your fans can catch you from your personal video channel … Read more

Justin.tv's live video comes to the iPhone

Live streaming and video archiving service Justin.tv is headed to the iPhone in app form.

Justin.tv uses Adobe's Flash player for its video content, which as we know is currently incompatible with the iPhone, making the app (iTunes link) a welcomed feature for users who wish to watch live or archived content when away from their computer.

The app can display live content, along with user chat. The chat can be viewed alongside the video while it plays, however typing in your own messages to other channel viewers obstructs the video.

Other features include being able to … Read more

Man locks self in box for Justin.tv fame

It's how California wine became famous. So why shouldn't it work for somewhat minor U.K. TV personality Tim Shaw?

Shaw, you see, has decided to lock himself in a steel box for 30 days, in order to, well, be happy and famous and rich. Or something.

His Man in a Box escapade is, quite naturally, being screened live on Justin.tv. So you can watch in real time as Shaw attempts to live with himself, a camera, and one light, which is turned off for 12 hours a day.

The creators of this deeply human experiment understand … Read more

Justin.tv makes it easier to start streaming

It's not spring yet, but Justin.tv is cleaning house. On Tuesday the video host is rolling out a new version of its broadcasting tool that makes it easier to get a live video stream going.

According to the company, a simple change has led to a 700 percent increase in the number of people who make it from clicking the "broadcast" button on Justin.tv's front page to actually beginning a live stream. At least that was the metric for a beta test the company ran on 10 percent of new users who were beginning … Read more

Live video blogging

Justin.tv is a live video blogging site that combines a live video feeds and public chat rooms. It launched with head blogger Justin Kan's daily schedule--which loosely resembled a content programming guide. Entertaining bits of content are archived for later viewing, complete with a blog post with context for what's going on. The entire production was run through Kan's backpack, which holds a laptop hooked up to an EV-DO card, and people had the option to call or text message Justin with feedback or comments about what's going on.

Mundane moments aside, Justin.tv was … Read more