Thanks for making 2007 so interesting and enjoyable!
Tonight marks the 100th anniversary of the Ball Drop in Times Square.
A million people will crowd Times Square to watch the ball drop atop the One Times Square building at midnight, estimate New York police. A billion are expected to watch the spectacle on video.
As the ball drops, the New Year will be greeted with a massive fireworks explosion, some 168 shots in the first five seconds alone, and a downpour of two tons of fireproof confetti.
Here are some Earthcam Mobile Blogs. Mike Arrington’s TechCrunch reviews Web 2.0 companies offering Live Video:
The oldest of the bunch, launching back in February of 2006, Stickam lets you host your own live show stream and chat on their site or embedded in your own. When you’re show isn’t live, you can show a pictures, audio, or recorded shows on a MySpace-like profile page. The front page of the site features the most recent show and their number of live viewers, which currently are floating around 3,000.
Launched back in May, BlogTv also lets you start your own live show and chat. Every show you record is broadcasted live and then archived. You can subscribe to each show on your account, embed, rate, and recommend them. Live shows are shown on the front page, but you can also review the archived footage in their library.
Yet to get out of private beta, Mogulus is focused on live video production tools. Using their tools, you can see how many viewers are waiting for your broadcast and storyboard the show you’re about to broadcast on your own Mogulus URL. With storyboarding, you can drop recorded videos into your feed at cue and even overlay graphics such as logos or titles. You can even collaborate with another producer and cooperatively shape the storyboard.
The oddest of the bunch, Justin.tv launched with a splash and then again when police raided their apartment. The novelty of the site centered around one of the co-founders, Justin Kan streaming his life 24/7 from a head cam. Justin.tv has yet to launch an open network, and has instead opted to expand slowly by adding a select number of dedicated “lifecasters”. Each caster gets a live feed, video archive, and chat channel. Instead of just featuring what’s live on the front page, they’ve also developed a “tips” service that lets users dig up key moments.
Launched back in March, Ustream is another lifecasting network letting anyone plug in and start streaming, similar to Stickam. It’s caught on in the tech crowd with people like Robert Scoble and Cris Pirillo streaming their own shows from offices or on the road at conventions. Each caster gets a profile page where they can post their videos, photos, and thoughts. The player comes with live chat, the ability to archive footage, and embed it on your site.
Go Live from Times Square with New York Live Cams and cameras around the world. Most of all, Don Park and Sam Churchill of DailyWireless wish you a happy, healthy New Year.
Take us out, Garrison.
Sam Churchill and Don Park run the DailyWireless.org website which summarizes the news from Community Lan and other industry related sectors with detailed updates from around the world. It is full of sausy talk, viscious rumors and tantilizing tidbits.
