We’re big fans of TinyChat (TinyChat) (in fact we use it to power the Mashable Lounge). Their live broadcasting web-based platform enables anyone with a webcam to create video chatrooms with social integration.
Today they’re announcing some pretty big updates to the service that will not only improve function, but also enhance their feature set. The freshly released updates will let users better control their own live show, benefit from better video quality, private message other chatters, and have access to the previously Mashable (Mashable)-only feature that can give your chat room a big boost — tweet your chat.
If you’re unfamiliar with TinyChat, it’s a live broadcasting and video conferencing service that pre-dates the new live video for Twitter (Twitter) services (think TwitCam (Twitcam)), and allows multiple users to do live video chat, invite others to view and participate in the chatroom, and record and download sessions (for pro users).
TinyChat’s has just pushed out a few new goodies, including two new commands/options that give room owners even more control over their broadcasts. The newly implemented changes mean you can control who can come on or off camera during your broadcast, and assign room owner controls to other users. The end result is that you can now manage a dynamic live show with very little effort.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
LG Mobiles rolls out a new GB210, GB270 and KP265 phones in India
Indian mobile enthusiasts can gear up for the latest mobile phones by LG. The company’s latest launches include the novel GB210, GB270 and KP265 handsets. A distinct combination of communication and productivity, this new range of phones offer to literally get the entire world in a user’s pocket, right at their fingertips.
The new mobile phones are modeled keeping in mind luxury and intelligence. With fashionable looks and in attractive designs, the handsets should be convenient for everyday use as well. They aim to take the stylish Indian mobile users mobile experience to new levels.
“Our new range of mobile phones will continue to deliver superior experiences with its innovative designs, features and also the affordable price range. With these launches, we aim to strengthen the bond with our consumers and also reach out to those who love to stay connected to their peers and desires a phone with good looks,” shared Anil Arora, Business Group Marketing Head, Mobile Communication, LG Electronics Pvt Ltd.
The LG GB270 boasts of being one phone with two different styles. The handset includes a changeable design cover and themes that allow users to enjoy a business plus casual look with the phone. Featuring a dual GUI theme, each time users’ choose to change the cover; a pop-up option lets them decide among the Business or Casual theme. Users can also to Sketch, Engrave or Emboss their photos captured with the phone’s smart VGA camera. The phone additionally includes the option of recording or putting on alarm their favorite Radio Stations thanks to scheduled FM Recording & FM Alarm feature. It sports a 2.0” inch LCD screen, 1,000 mAh battery, call Conversation Recording and memory of up to 2GB. The free changeable cover is accompanied by a 1GB card.
Upping the style quotient is the LG KP265 phone. Adorning a stylish Slider form factor, the device is dressed in an eye-catching red silver and black color combination. It is equipped with a 1.3 MP camera featuring 4x zoom and continuous video recording. Packed with an MP3 player with equalizers, the handset also includes Scheduled SMS, Bluetooth 2.0 with an option of sending free messages using Bluetooth Messaging, Wireless Music with A2DP and large frontal speakers that have 21 sound levels. Boasting of an array of data applications and games, it comes with a free 1GB card inbox.
The new mobile phones are modeled keeping in mind luxury and intelligence. With fashionable looks and in attractive designs, the handsets should be convenient for everyday use as well. They aim to take the stylish Indian mobile users mobile experience to new levels.
“Our new range of mobile phones will continue to deliver superior experiences with its innovative designs, features and also the affordable price range. With these launches, we aim to strengthen the bond with our consumers and also reach out to those who love to stay connected to their peers and desires a phone with good looks,” shared Anil Arora, Business Group Marketing Head, Mobile Communication, LG Electronics Pvt Ltd.
The LG GB270 boasts of being one phone with two different styles. The handset includes a changeable design cover and themes that allow users to enjoy a business plus casual look with the phone. Featuring a dual GUI theme, each time users’ choose to change the cover; a pop-up option lets them decide among the Business or Casual theme. Users can also to Sketch, Engrave or Emboss their photos captured with the phone’s smart VGA camera. The phone additionally includes the option of recording or putting on alarm their favorite Radio Stations thanks to scheduled FM Recording & FM Alarm feature. It sports a 2.0” inch LCD screen, 1,000 mAh battery, call Conversation Recording and memory of up to 2GB. The free changeable cover is accompanied by a 1GB card.
Upping the style quotient is the LG KP265 phone. Adorning a stylish Slider form factor, the device is dressed in an eye-catching red silver and black color combination. It is equipped with a 1.3 MP camera featuring 4x zoom and continuous video recording. Packed with an MP3 player with equalizers, the handset also includes Scheduled SMS, Bluetooth 2.0 with an option of sending free messages using Bluetooth Messaging, Wireless Music with A2DP and large frontal speakers that have 21 sound levels. Boasting of an array of data applications and games, it comes with a free 1GB card inbox.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Video chat away from home
Q. I have a 90-year-old aunt in Brooklyn whose 84-year-old brother lives in Portland, Ore. Although they talk on the phone, they are both unable to travel and haven’t seen each other for years. It occurred to me that they could talk over a Skype video chat and at least see each other. My uncle has an Internet-connected computer with access to a webcam, but even though she’s used them before, my aunt doesn’t own a computer. Is there an easy way to set her up, say at an Internet cafe?
A. Finding an Internet cafe or computer-rental place like FedEx Office (or any place that has webcams and the Skype program for Internet phone calls and video chat) is one option to explore. Even just finding a computer with a working webcam at one of these places is a start — most free instant-messenger programs (AIM, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, etc.) can now handle basic video chat and at least one of the programs is probably installed already. Gmail also offers video chat at bit.ly/UmAs.
It’s also possible to have Skype video chats without a computer, although it may mean investing a few hundred dollars in equipment and finding a network connection to borrow or rent. The Asus Eee Videophone AiGuru SV1 has a 7-inch color screen and can make free Skype-to-Skype audio and video calls over a wired Ethernet or wireless network connection. The videophone costs around $260; more information and a demo video are at skype.com/allfeatures/videophones.
If your aunt is interested in getting an inexpensive computer, a netbook with a built-in webcam is another option. It won’t win any prizes for fluid video, but a Windows-based netbook with a 10- or 12-inch screen is usually less than $400 and can run Skype and popular instant messaging programs. At less than three pounds, most netbooks are light enough to tote easily to Internet cafes or places that rent computer and network access by the hour.
Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology, by e-mail to QandA@nytimes.com. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.
Source: NYT
A. Finding an Internet cafe or computer-rental place like FedEx Office (or any place that has webcams and the Skype program for Internet phone calls and video chat) is one option to explore. Even just finding a computer with a working webcam at one of these places is a start — most free instant-messenger programs (AIM, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, etc.) can now handle basic video chat and at least one of the programs is probably installed already. Gmail also offers video chat at bit.ly/UmAs.
It’s also possible to have Skype video chats without a computer, although it may mean investing a few hundred dollars in equipment and finding a network connection to borrow or rent. The Asus Eee Videophone AiGuru SV1 has a 7-inch color screen and can make free Skype-to-Skype audio and video calls over a wired Ethernet or wireless network connection. The videophone costs around $260; more information and a demo video are at skype.com/allfeatures/videophones.
If your aunt is interested in getting an inexpensive computer, a netbook with a built-in webcam is another option. It won’t win any prizes for fluid video, but a Windows-based netbook with a 10- or 12-inch screen is usually less than $400 and can run Skype and popular instant messaging programs. At less than three pounds, most netbooks are light enough to tote easily to Internet cafes or places that rent computer and network access by the hour.
Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology, by e-mail to QandA@nytimes.com. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.
Source: NYT
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Cisco to introduce video-chat feature for televisions
Cisco Systems, facing waning demand for networking equipment from businesses, is working with phone and cable carriers on products and services that let consumers hold video conferences through their televisions.
The offerings, which build on Cisco's TelePresence corporate-video conferencing system, will debut within 12 months. In addition to holding video chats, users will also be able to exchange messages and leave videos for friends, said Ned Hooper, head of the consumer business at Cisco.
Cisco, the largest maker of networking gear, is accelerating its push into the consumer market. In May, the company bought Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip video camera, for $590 million. Cisco plans to use software from that company to expand in the market for home-networking gear, camcorders and video applications, which will grow 50 percent to $60 billion by 2013, Hooper said.
"There's a big opportunity for us," Hooper, 42, said in an interview. "You will start to see very big growth numbers on top of the base consumer business we report every quarter."
Increased use of video would also benefit Cisco's main business of selling routers and switches that direct Web traffic. Slowing demand in that business has resulted in back- to-back sales drops at Cisco in the past two quarters. Video, which Chief Executive John Chambers has called "the killer app," needs more bandwidth than voice and data, pushing service providers and consumers to buy more gear to accommodate the bigger loads.
Internet traffic will grow fourfold by 2013 as video consumption increases, Cisco said last month. Video now accounts for a third of consumer Web traffic and will jump to 91 percent by 2013, Cisco said.
"The consumer market is very critical to Cisco," said Erik Suppiger, an analyst at Signal Hill Capital Group in San Francisco. "Enabling consumer devices to connect to the Internet is more strategic for Cisco than being a provider of the device itself." Suppiger rates Cisco shares "hold" and doesn't own any.
The consumer TelePresence products will integrate software from Pure Digital, Hooper said. The Flip software automatically uploads video to the Web when users plug the camera into a personal computer's USB drive. Hooper, who also runs Cisco's mergers and acquisitions team, said Cisco may provide a product that includes a camera and allows two-way video conversations.
While Pure Digital had sold more than 2 million Flip cameras, Cisco bought the closely held company mostly for the software, Hooper said. Cisco will focus less on delivering devices and more on helping customers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications offer video conferencing to consumers, he said.
Verizon's FiOS television and Internet services can already deliver video chat on televisions, said Eric Rabe, a spokesman for the New York-based company. "We think there's some great potential there," Rabe said. "It's certainly something we're interested in."
AT&T, based in Dallas, is also studying video chat, spokesman Fletcher Cook said. Both AT&T and Verizon declined to say whether they are working with Cisco and said they aren't ready to announce a service.
Cisco may struggle to challenge services such as eBay's Skype, said Jayanth Angl, a Toronto-based analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. Skype, which lets people make voice and video calls from their computers, has more than 443 million users and increased its revenue 21 percent in the first quarter.
Cisco will also face competition from consumer brands such as Apple, which offers videoconferencing through its iChat service, and Google, whose Gmail program includes video chat.
By Rochelle Garner
Bloomberg News
The offerings, which build on Cisco's TelePresence corporate-video conferencing system, will debut within 12 months. In addition to holding video chats, users will also be able to exchange messages and leave videos for friends, said Ned Hooper, head of the consumer business at Cisco.
Cisco, the largest maker of networking gear, is accelerating its push into the consumer market. In May, the company bought Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip video camera, for $590 million. Cisco plans to use software from that company to expand in the market for home-networking gear, camcorders and video applications, which will grow 50 percent to $60 billion by 2013, Hooper said.
"There's a big opportunity for us," Hooper, 42, said in an interview. "You will start to see very big growth numbers on top of the base consumer business we report every quarter."
Increased use of video would also benefit Cisco's main business of selling routers and switches that direct Web traffic. Slowing demand in that business has resulted in back- to-back sales drops at Cisco in the past two quarters. Video, which Chief Executive John Chambers has called "the killer app," needs more bandwidth than voice and data, pushing service providers and consumers to buy more gear to accommodate the bigger loads.
Internet traffic will grow fourfold by 2013 as video consumption increases, Cisco said last month. Video now accounts for a third of consumer Web traffic and will jump to 91 percent by 2013, Cisco said.
"The consumer market is very critical to Cisco," said Erik Suppiger, an analyst at Signal Hill Capital Group in San Francisco. "Enabling consumer devices to connect to the Internet is more strategic for Cisco than being a provider of the device itself." Suppiger rates Cisco shares "hold" and doesn't own any.
The consumer TelePresence products will integrate software from Pure Digital, Hooper said. The Flip software automatically uploads video to the Web when users plug the camera into a personal computer's USB drive. Hooper, who also runs Cisco's mergers and acquisitions team, said Cisco may provide a product that includes a camera and allows two-way video conversations.
While Pure Digital had sold more than 2 million Flip cameras, Cisco bought the closely held company mostly for the software, Hooper said. Cisco will focus less on delivering devices and more on helping customers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications offer video conferencing to consumers, he said.
Verizon's FiOS television and Internet services can already deliver video chat on televisions, said Eric Rabe, a spokesman for the New York-based company. "We think there's some great potential there," Rabe said. "It's certainly something we're interested in."
AT&T, based in Dallas, is also studying video chat, spokesman Fletcher Cook said. Both AT&T and Verizon declined to say whether they are working with Cisco and said they aren't ready to announce a service.
Cisco may struggle to challenge services such as eBay's Skype, said Jayanth Angl, a Toronto-based analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. Skype, which lets people make voice and video calls from their computers, has more than 443 million users and increased its revenue 21 percent in the first quarter.
Cisco will also face competition from consumer brands such as Apple, which offers videoconferencing through its iChat service, and Google, whose Gmail program includes video chat.
By Rochelle Garner
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Video chat startup TokBox fires half its engineers
San Francisco video chat startup TokBox has cut six of its 12 engineers, and the last of the company’s founders has left, a company spokesman has confirmed.
The terminations were not “layoffs,” and the company immediately posted eight job listings in operations, engineering and product development, said Tom Suiter, a Grow Marketing representative speaking on behalf of the company.
The staff changes, reported earlier by online technology news site TechCrunch, were part of strategic overhaul of TokBox by new CEO Ian Small, Suiter said.
TokBox is advertising for eight positions in engineering and product development. Efforts to get comment from the company were unsuccessful.
TokBox offers a product that allows for multi-user video chat from a browser, but it hasn’t really managed to take off, much to the chagrin of the company’s investors who include Sequoia and Bain Capital. TokBox has raised $14 million to date, a lot of money for a video and chat startup, especially when similar sites have begun offering some of the same functionality.
Small is the company’s third CEO. Founder Serge Faguet was replaced by Nick Triantos last July, who in turn was replaced in May by Small, a former Mark Logic exec, according to TechCrunch.
TokBox’s last remaining co-founder, CTO Ron Hose, left the company in May to pursue other opportunities, Suiter said.
Source: San Francisco Business Times
The terminations were not “layoffs,” and the company immediately posted eight job listings in operations, engineering and product development, said Tom Suiter, a Grow Marketing representative speaking on behalf of the company.
The staff changes, reported earlier by online technology news site TechCrunch, were part of strategic overhaul of TokBox by new CEO Ian Small, Suiter said.
TokBox is advertising for eight positions in engineering and product development. Efforts to get comment from the company were unsuccessful.
TokBox offers a product that allows for multi-user video chat from a browser, but it hasn’t really managed to take off, much to the chagrin of the company’s investors who include Sequoia and Bain Capital. TokBox has raised $14 million to date, a lot of money for a video and chat startup, especially when similar sites have begun offering some of the same functionality.
Small is the company’s third CEO. Founder Serge Faguet was replaced by Nick Triantos last July, who in turn was replaced in May by Small, a former Mark Logic exec, according to TechCrunch.
TokBox’s last remaining co-founder, CTO Ron Hose, left the company in May to pursue other opportunities, Suiter said.
Source: San Francisco Business Times
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tweeting, video chatting atop North America
MOUNT EVANS, Colo.--It's the first day of summer, and I'm driving through a snowstorm.I'm here, on the highest paved road in North America, and my fingers are numb from the cold. But I'm online, and I have to say, that's pretty cool.
This was supposed to be a live-blog, but circumstances got in the way. More on that later.
I drove to just below the summit of 14,264-foot Mount Evans (see video below, with audio affected by heavy wind) on Sunday, the first official day of Road Trip 2009, my journey through the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains of the United States.
I got online via Inmarsat's BGAN mobile satellite modem, which, when pointed in the right direction, gets a pretty good signal. Good enough, in fact, that I was able to video chat with my wife and a friend. They said it was the "coolest thing ever." I don't know about that, but it is pretty sweet.
I tweeted from the top, as well, but I wasn't able to live-blog. It was quite cold, the wind was fierce, and I was sitting precariously on some rather uncomfortable rocks at the very top. I'd also hoped to take the Internet signal from the BGAN and share it via the MacBook Pro I'm using with the iPod Touch I've got with me. But for some reason, the Touch couldn't get online, even though it could see the signal coming from the Mac. I blame the rather extreme conditions.
Regardless of a few technical snafus, however, this was a pretty successful venture. As I perched atop North America, live-chatting with my wife and my friend, several people scrambled up to the top, saw me sitting there with my computer and the BGAN, and asked what I was doing. And that felt good.
But what felt even better was being able to pick up the computer while on the video link with my wife and moving it around so that she could see where I was. She can't be with me right now, but in this small way, I was able to bring her along.
by Daniel Terdiman
Source: CNET
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