05. Cool Olympic Canada: Justin.tv
Watch live video from HD: 2010 Olympic Opening on Justin.tv
What it Is:
-Insights from the Land of the Olympics-
By Wei Chen, from Kamloops Canada Coolhunt ‘10: Justin.tv is the largest online community for people to broadcast, watch and interact around live video. With 40 million unique visitors per month and over 500,000 channels broadcasting live video, Justin.tv is the leading live video site on the Web, enabling users to create real-time connections with others around the world. And most important, especially now, when everyone is gathering around the tube to watch as much olympics as possible, you can watch whatever you want, whenever you want. Name it, they have it. Livestreams of the curling quarterfinals you’re unable to see because of the limited offer of your tv-provider. Or stream the opening ceremony live.
Why it's cool:
It’s free and handy. You can choose to donate to the broadcaster if you wish to have a better service. Watch TV whenever there is a computer (or smartphone): while you travel, while you are bored. The trend: Internet is gradually replacing TV. Nowadays, people spend more time in front of computer than in front of TV. Besides, more and more people download movies and TV shows. It is usually in High Definition, so less and less people like to watch normal TV anymore.
Science of the Time’s interpretation:
The internet isn’t necessarily replacing television, more than it is supplementing the possibilities of the broadcast model of television. Broadcasting in itself has been taken out of the hands of professionals and now Jane off the street can also join in the fun of making something and showing it live to the world. It’s also about seeking those live moments and letting them remain live instead of capturing them for later consumption. It’s about going back to the notion of having been there to be able to see it. And now the there, the place, is made into that moment of time that cannot be relived. It’s a countermovement against the surveillance society, that emerged at the same time as the Internet, in which everything is stored and archived. Here there is none of that and the users revel in it. It’s making time and usage of time special once again.
Comment by vincent albers on Saturday 13 February 2010 15:49
I love it. I also love http://camtweet.com/ - live video through twitter, also by justin.tv . They have done some prettifications lately I really like. We might even try using the live cam through facebook in the near feature, when starting a coolhunt (would you like that,let me know). Anyone done it already?
Massive live video coverage: can you imagine what happens when people present at the Olympics start using this (and other cams) massively, and simultaneously? And that you and I can chose from thousands of views. I can’t imagine that every big sport-organiser and tv-producer will love it (it will definitely put pressure on their pricing in the end). For end-users, and fans, it will be ‘fan’tastic. Live coverage of an event will never be the same again. And, I can’t wait to see it happen!