qik

Netscape veterans Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have thrown their financial support behind Qik, a mobile live-video service.

Qik's investment announcement on Tuesday comes roughly a month after the company debuted its public beta, with several new features designed to improve the service that allows people to stream live video from their cell phones onto the Internet, to such sites as YouTube, Mogulus, MySpace, Orkut, and Justin.tv.

Andreessen and Horowitz will also serve as board advisers on Qik.

"We are thrilled to have Marc and Ben involved in Qik, both as investors and advisers," Ramu Sunkara, … Read more

It's public beta time for Qik, the mobile live-video service that's captured the hearts of Web 2.0 bigwigs like Jason Calacanis and Kevin Rose. The service has been in private beta since late last year.

Along with its debut to the masses, Qik has made some tweaks: technological improvements mean that video has a lag time of only half a second to three seconds now, for example. "Groups" and "Events" features have been added to the mix, and the company has also announced that members no longer need a compatible phone to register … Read more

CLARKSDALE, Miss.--As I've worked my way through the South on Road Trip 2008 throughout June, I've been a one-man multimedia production team. That means that I've been writing stories, taking pictures, Twittering, shooting video, and even doing a little podcasting.

Since I'm on my own, and can only carry a backpack with me as I move from story to story, carrying a notebook, a digital SLR, and several lenses--since text and photos are the major part of this project--it's crucial that for video I have something small and light, yet flexible and somewhat powerful. … Read more

ANIMAL KINGDOM, Fla.--And so it begins.

For the third year in a row, I've set out for a lengthy journey through one of the United States' major geographic regions. It's time for Road Trip 2008, several thousand miles of traveling the American South.

Last year it was the Southwest, and in 2006 it was the Pacific Northwest.

And since I've started this trip in Orlando, there's only one way to really begin: total immersion in Disney World.

That's why at about 9 p.m. Sunday--after checking into my hotel and getting situated, I jumped … Read more

Qik, the mobile phone-based video-streaming service favored by blogger Robert Scoble, is coming to the Windows Mobile platform.

Previously only available for Nokia phones like the horrendously overpriced N95 ($500 unlocked), the service will soon roll out for the millions of Windows smartphones now on the market, like the Samsung Blackjack (free with activation) according to Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy.

While still in private beta, Qik for Windows will soon be available as an open download. Roy told me that he hopes to sign some carrier deals soon too, getting Qik preinstalled on phones.

Qik turns anyone with a capable … Read more

Brian Tong brings everything from the Crave blog with his special guest iJustine. LG comes out with a "faux" skin phone, a slash-resistant t-shirt that will keep you safe on the streets, Photos the size of your wall, and some love for Flip Video.

Today, Israel-based video blogging service BlogTV is releasing a new version of its service for mobile users. We checked out the desktop version back in June and came away impressed. Today's release brings mobile viewing to the equation, letting anyone with a compatible phone watch shows live using their phone's Web browser.

Users who visit m.blogtv.com on their phones get a small array of thumbnails for live shows, along with matching text links and descriptions. Opening the links launches the phone's media player and gets the show streaming. Also included in the stream are user … Read more

I'll be a bit honest here. If I see another live video broadcasting tool for Nokia phones my head is going to explode. These things are all over the place, but admittedly far from useless. There's always a need to record something, and if you can do it from your phone without having to carry around a bunch of memory cards, you're coming out a winner.

Flixwagon, which quietly launched its private alpha site this morning, has been kicking around a small community of developers and testers for the past few months. Like Kyte, Qik, and Comvu, the aim is to broadcast live video from your phone, and interact with the people who are watching your stream. No computer required.

The tiny (and we mean tiny) broadcasting application can be downloaded to most recent model Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, and broadcasts over either a Wi-Fi connection, or a speedy 3G signal from your carrier. In testing over AT&T's 3G network, I found the quality to be about in line with the stuff you would find on YouTube, which is a serious compliment considering it was streaming live from a pocket sized device and didn't need to go through any processing on my end. Admittedly our test device was a Nokia N95 which retails in excess of $500, and has the best built-in camera of most other Nokia models (or any cell phone for that matter). Your mileage may vary.

I personally prefer Qik's phone software just a smidgen (it lets you pick what camera you want to use, and pause the video), but the performance was a little better on Flixwagon. The killer application for any of these services is involvement, both for a live audience, and for users watching other user streams right on their phone. It's that second step that I think Kyte has taken the lead, and others like Qik and Flixwagon need to catch up with.

Flixwagon is in private alpha. If you're interested in giving the service a try, you can sign up here. I've embedded an Israeli, swingset version of Burning Man after the break. You can also check out my perilous journey to get coffee earlier this morning (my apologies in advance for the shoddy camera work).

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A new video streaming service called Qik has been getting some buzz lately. If you're familiar with UStream.tv, Veodia, and Comvu, the idea for Qik is similar: take a mobile phone with a video camera on a fast mobile connection, and stream video live for other people to watch. The service borrows a page from Kyte.tv and UStream in integrating live chat that allows broadcasters to interact with the users--although Qik steps it up a notch by letting the broadcaster simply reply using the phone's integrated microphone instead of having to type out text on the phone's keypad.

To compensate for network lag, the application will calculate the delay and show it in the corner of the screen. In testing over a 3G connection I got the delay up to about a minute, although if you're using the service over Wi-Fi, it's extremely nimble. You can also record videos for uploading later, when away from a data stream of Wi-Fi hot spot. The next time you connect, it'll automatically upload your video--which is a nice touch.

The beauty of Qik is that it's wonderfully simple to use and participate in. People viewing your video either via Qik.com or on a video embed can chat if it's live, and the second it goes offline, the player acts just like any other Web video, and turns the live chat into a comment thread. While the quality of the video leaves something to be desired when compared with Web video hosting services like YouTube, Viddler and Vimeo, it's limited to the mobile network connection and the often lackluster lenses found on camera phones. Qik's creators tell me there are plans to add a higher quality stream to the Nokia N95 and other high-end handsets in the near future.

The service is currently in private alpha, and limited to a range of Nokia phones on the S60 platform. The application itself is only a little over 300k, and downloads in seconds. We didn't get a chance to give it a spin over a slower connection like EDGE, but based on the 3G performance, you likely wouldn't want to. In the pipeline for future updates are mobile-to-mobile streaming (sending and receiving video), integration with social networking sites like Facebook, and additional handset support.

I've embedded an example of Qik after the break. You can also check out whoever's live streaming at the moment on the service's live page.

… Read more