If you live, well, on earth I guess you are probably aware that January the 20th is inauguration day for Barack Obama. A new President who, if anything, is well aware of the power of social networking (or at least someone on his team is) and likes his Blackberry a lot. Barack’s use of Twitter and Facebook over the past year was impressive but as he takes his oath on Tuesday afternoon, the impressive use of technology won’t come from him nor his team but from the good people over at UStream.
UStream.tv is a site that allows you to broadcast live video on the Web for free. That’s impressive, but it’s been available for a while (competitors Qik and Stickam do similar). What’s cool though is that UStream has just launched today their first iPhone/iPod Touch app. This free application is a video viewer and streams the video over WiFi (only) and let’s you watch any video content on UStream on your iPhone. The app comes just in time since the site will have a number of live streams all day on Tuesday for Obama’s inauguration.
I know what you’re thinking. No, the app doesn’t allow you to record video. Unfortunately, Apple has not yet allowed anyone to record video with the iPhone. QIK, a similar service that allows anyone to broadcast from their phone (works great with an N95 for example) has the application ready and is awaiting Apple’s GO.
Social Networks, Software
iphone, ustream, video
I decided to start the year on target with productivity objectives. I am going to get rid of all Web 2.0 accounts that are simply not adding any value to my online presence. I’ll start with Jaiku. Well it’s not that easy to remove one’s account. I obtained a dreaded 504 Gateway Time-outwhile deleting my account. That’s precisely the point I’m trying to make. Time waster. 504 when dialog fails. Nice thinkgeek t-shirt idea.
Why would I need a service that cannot get rid of me? Like Woody Allen once said (and I’m paraphrasing you purists (it’s from Annie Hall but Woody got it from Groucho Marx)) why would I be part of an online service that would have me as a member? Just kidding. I like enriching content and that has nothing to do with socializing, that’s the heart of the problem. I think facebook is immature (my ex-coworkers are all there). I dig digg because it’s offbeat.
Why socialize online when I don’t even socialize in real life? Why make this anonymous experience even more shallow?
See how deleting a social network account can be thought provoking? I should create an account in all of them just for the sake of discussing their deletion. It’s simply del.icio.us Hey come to think of it, I already have an account in the most popular social networks… Oh yeah that was the initial point.
Social Networks
digg, facebook, Groucho Marx, jaiku, online presence, social network, thinkgeek, time waster, Woody Allen
