Imageshack's Yfrog, the image- and video-hosting service for Twitter, can now record videos from a user's Webcam. The recording tool also doubles as a way to take photo stills, either manually or with a five-second delay. These images are then attached to an outgoing tweet which can be penned right from the site.
The move differs from some recently released services like Twitcam and Camtweet which can record video as well as stream it out live for your followers to watch and interact with. On the plus side, Yfrog's implementation has very generous time limits, as my test video went well past the 40-minute mark.
For now, Webcam recording will remain a site-specific feature, and not a part of Yfrog's API, meaning third-party posting tools cannot take advantage of it. However a representative for the company told CNET News that that could change if developers are interested in integrating it into Flash-based video widgets. In the meantime, many developers have already integrated video into their apps using Yfrog's existing video uploading API.
Want to record a video of yourself to put on Twitter? You can now do that through Yfrog.
(Credit: CNET)
EarthCam, a company that allows users to search for Webcam content across the world, announced Wednesday that it will stream Thursday's 82nd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in real-time on its site.
Seven EarthCam cameras will be used to capture the event as balloons and floats pass through Times Square. Only one of the cameras will feature audio, but users can switch back and forth between cameras throughout the event to change their viewing angle.
EarthCam's coverage will begin Thursday at 6 a.m. PST and conclude at 9 a.m. PST.
I'm a big View-Master collector, but even I never sat back and wondered aloud, "When will they come up with a Webcam that does 3D?" Then arrives the Minoru 3D Webcam.
The Minoru has two discrete lenses spaced at roughly human eye distance, but unlike a View-Master reel, it doesn't deliver two discrete images, rather it mixes both together into a blurry-looking mess that requires the goofy two-color glasses that have kept 3D on the launch pad since Day 1.
More encouragingly, you don't need a special Web platform or software for viewing: standard video IM clients or YouTube and its ilk are all compatible; the video will just look badly out of registration until you put the glasses on.
I can't help but wonder how much more satisfying the experience might be if the Minoru fed two discrete images to a viewer on the other end wearing video goggles.
The Minoru is supposed to ship December 2008 for less than $100.
A look at MySpaceTV's new direct-record tool.
(Credit: MySpace)MySpaceTV, the video-sharing section of News Corp.'s MySpace, has announced the addition of direct video uploads. This means that you can now sit in front of your Webcam, navigate to MySpace, and hit a "record" button, blab on incessantly about how the Jonas Brothers are ruining American youth, and you've got yourself a piece of Web video.
Many other video-sharing sites, including Google's YouTube, have similar features already. The real advantage to the presence of direct uploads on MySpace, however, is the fact that they can then be quickly embedded in member profiles, "bulletins," and comments, capitalizing on the fast-growing video commenting trend.
MySpace also announced that MySpaceTV videos' maximum file size has been extended to 512 megabytes; that's half of what YouTube allows, but YouTube also caps them at 10 minutes in length, which MySpaceTV does not.
Google's Vidnik lets users take videos, trim them, and upload them to YouTube.
(Credit: Google)Google has released basic software called Vidnik that lets Mac OS X users record video with a Webcam or built-in camera, trim its length, add tags and a title, then upload it to YouTube.
The software also can be used to upload other videos to the company's video-sharing site, and other editing software can be used on the videos taken by Vidnik, David Phillip Oster of Google's Mac team said in a blog posting.
The software is among a host of Mac applications the company has produced. (Another interesting one is Visigami, which lets people search for images on Flickr, Picasa, and Google Images and use the results as an animated screensaver.)
Google has an increasing stable of software that runs on people's computers--Google Desktop is one good example--and is working on mobile phone applications, too, through its Android project. But don't be confused by all this attention to what's known as client software: the company's higher priority is to make the Internet the application foundation of choice.
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 higher resources as a part of Google:
"Live video is just something that we've always wanted to do, we've never had the resources to do it correctly, but now with Google, we hope to actually do it this year."
It's certainly late in the game to jump in, although YouTube's already got some of the groundwork laid out. Each user already has their own channel, along with a subscription service built in that lets other users link up and get notified on when new content arrives. I'm assuming the process would get reworked a little to provide for real-time notification given the short notice of the medium.
YouTube's also had Webcam functionality since late 2006, which incidentally popped up at the same time as Streams, a product that lets YouTube users chat with one another while watching a video. It's part of YouTube's labs section, TestTube.
Clearly saying 2008 is a bit nebulous here in February, but since rival Yahoo has recently released its Live service, there's a little more pressure to play catch-up.
[via NewTeeVee]
One of the greatest pieces of software Apple has ever come up with is Photo Booth. It's dead simple to use, and about as entertaining as chasing a cat around with a laser beam. There are a handful of Web-based alternatives, but one of the cooler ones out there is Waves.tv.
Unlike Apple's PhotoBooth, there are no fancy effects to change the way you look (for that check out Sigost). Instead, you get four pictures to show off your "personality," and other people rate you on a "lust scale" of 1 to 5 hearts akin to Hot or Not. Although unlike Hot or Not, it's not just fishing out the best picture of yourself, you actually get to have fun doing it.
Photos can be geotagged by zip code and all you have to do to set up a profile on the service is enter your gender and age. Other users can then sort through the photos to find the age range and region they're looking to scope out, and can contact you (free of charge) via the intranetwork messaging.
The service plans to expand to an interactive TV network for a variety of Webcam shows from talent to dating. It reminds me a little bit of WooMe, which actually lets people talk together (albeit briefly) before making the plunge at further communication.
Scope out other folks' photo booth pictures and get in touch for free with Waves.tv.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
WooMe is opening up its doors to everyone this morning after being in private beta for the last few months. They were one of the presenters at the TechCrunch 40 conference back in mid-October and opened up to a little more than 100 folks who wanted to be a part of the dating site. Since then they've been ramping up the site, and have made a few updates, including a change in focus from dating to simply finding other people to interact with.
The underlying idea is that you've got a minute to talk to someone one-on-one via Webcam, and after that minute you move on to someone else. If you connect with someone, you can befriend them on the service, and can opt in to get in touch outside the site for further communication via private message.
Chat with someone like you would in a real-life speed-dating session. The clock on the left is ticking, though, so you've only got one shot at glory.
(Credit: WOO Media Inc.)Instead of one massive pool of users to sort out, the site manages everything through themed sessions that are created by users. Each session has a certain number of spots, and to be a part of them you need to sign up and be there when it starts. If you're not, someone else can take your spot, and potentially your next ex-girlfriend. Session topics range from singles looking to mingle by geographical area, all the way to folks trying to find babysitters or carpool partners. You can also scope out who has signed up to be a part of the session before you throw yourself in the mix. Despite the site advertising a minute per person, the session creator can dial up the time up to 3 minutes.
To help schedule the sessions, users can set a time when they want it to start. In order to aid users in remembering they've signed up, WooMe is launching an alerts system that will give users a heads up when it's time to hop back on the site. Currently users can set up a 10-minute e-mail alert, but there are also plans to add SMS and IM reminders (via a bot) to help users get a ping before a session is about to begin.
In addition to video, users can also opt for voice chat that comes in tandem with whatever picture they've associated with their WooMe account. Interestingly enough, the majority of a profile on WooMe isn't populated by information the user puts in; instead, it comes from other users who can use tags to describe them. Users have their own tag cloud, which gives you a quick snapshot of what others think of them. You can see this on their profiles, as well as while chatting with them in one of the sessions. Besides the big "no thanks" button when you're chatting with someone, this is the only real use of user ratings. Users can also reveal their age, location, and real basic traits like body type and social archetypes.
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I've really enjoyed seeing the lifecasting movement take off. I can't say I feel the need to visit these sites on a regular basis, but like a roller coaster built for children, they provide enjoyable moments mixed in with some less-than-incredible build-up. One of the newest entrants to the space is Mod My Life, which shares a lot in common with its other lifecasting brethren by mixing up live Webcam footage with user chat. The twist is that the person with the Webcam is an actor or comedian, and the audience gets to control what he or she is doing.
All the user-created actions are created and voted on by users, and they show up in an upcoming section that lets the group weed out the good ideas from the bad. The four most popular get dropped into a voting pool where users can vote on the item as many times as they like until the time runs out. The "Modstars," which are the people with the cameras strapped to their heads, then has to go do what people have told them to do.
To view old events, there's an archive section to watch short clips.
(Credit: CNET Networks)While watching last night I was treated to several awkward moments of Modstar Jason Wilder Evans bothering people around the greater New York area before managing to somehow walk into what looked like an attempted robbery with a baseball bat. The robbery had just been broken up by the convenience store's security guard. We never really found out what happened, but the damage had been done, and I sat quietly in awe along with the rest of the viewers as Jason called the police and recounted what had happened with other witnesses.
The rest of the show wasn't nearly as gripping as that bit, but like the creators have told me, a lot of it depends on the Modstar, and other variables like location, time of day, and what ideas the community has got cooking. In many ways it's a lot like Justin.TV when they first started out. Far from what Justin Kan and company have expanded to now with their platform and live channel selection, Mod My Life is treading a slightly different path and trying to pack as much as they can into just an hour or less instead of going for daylong marathons. For that, I think viewers who are willing to base their watching around the "time slot" will be getting more bang for their buck (note: the site is free).
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Put romance and Webcams in the same sentence and we're often talking about sites that are neither safe for work, nor a proper replacement for face-to-face human interaction. SpeedDate (formerly known as "SpeedEdate") would like you to think otherwise, with their online speed-dating solution that gives you three minutes a pop with a grouping of daters via Webcam. The site has already setup more than 15,000 virtual dates after making its debut in late October.
Similar to WooMe (which is still in private alpha) dates are short, (hopefully) sweet, and one-on-one. SpeedDate will match you up based on some basic personality and geographical preferences. And starting next week, members will get to check out information about the person they're talking to, in order to get some quick conversation topics. There are also big fat "yes" and "no" buttons to note whether or not you enjoyed your time, and would like to setup a real date. Afterwards you can go back and get in touch with said daters to arrange a real-world meetup if both of you clicked the green yes button. Clicking the no button will end the date and move you on to the next.
Like real speed-dating events, sessions on SpeedDate.com are scheduled for a chunk of time on a weekly basis to maximize your potential dating pool. At all other times, simply keeping the browser window open will continue to match you up with new people as they come online.
While speed dating cuts through some of the red tape of glossing over people's profiles, the other end of that is getting matched up with more undesirables than you might be expecting, which is where SpeedDate's matching algorithm becomes important. It's worth noting that this is clearly a far better system than what's been done with the Dating on Demand service that you watch on your cable box, and potentially easier than sniffing out a local speed dating session on your own. It's also a little different from the competition by offering voice, video, and text as a means of conversation, meaning if you're without a Webcam you're not entirely out of the game--although your chances are probably better with one.
For a broader look at the service, the creators of SpeedDate have put together a video, which despite its news story look and feel, is purely promotional. My favorite part is when it turns into black and white to signify the "old" way of Internet dating, which looks a lot like MySpace. Burn.
