Justin.tv

For the past 30 hours or so, I’ve been infatuated with Justin.tv. Not because it’s a particularly interesting thing to watch, because it’s really, really not. Rather the application of the technology sorta blows my mind just thinking about the possibilities for this.

Justin.tv is basically a guy with a camera strapped to his head and a transmitter on his back, freeing him up to roam the streets of San Francisco while broadcasting a video stream on the site. I’d link to the wikipedia article for a better explanation, but it looks like Justin.tv is somehow too trivial for wikipedia (i didn’t even know that was possible).

In a quick chat with Justin.tv COO, Michael, he said he sees it as a “satellite truck in a backpack.” Essentially, Justin.tv is a gimmick to sell their idea. Certainly, watching Justin sleep isn’t all that interesting content, but the implications of the technology are far reaching and highly disruptive to traditional broadcasters if this can take off.

As for their plans, I’m not completely sure what they have up their sleeves. They’re going to be working with some bloggers in Iowa covering the upcoming caucuses, which could be interesting and they’re also looking for more people whose lives they can broadcast.

A few months ago, I saw how simple the backend for live video streaming through Flash Media Server can be implemented (through a client-side application in a browser, with a camera hooked up to the computer) and I instantly began to think about how journalists could use this in the field, provided they have a solid, high-speed connection to the Internet.

Looks like the folks at Justin.tv, Inc. found a work around for that by using four EVDO Rev A cards that can kick out the speeds needed for streaming live video.

Imagine the disruption that would cause to TV news, if anybody could broadcast an event live and cheaply (though, I wouldn’t call this set up anywhere near cheap, yet).

I’m calling it. In then next 2 to 5 years, live streaming on the net will be the norm for breaking news video online.