As the number of Android-powered handsets on the market continues to expand, so do the technical capabilities of the applications that run on the platform. The Droid, for example, is the first handset to introduce video recording at a resolution 720×480 (more than double that of the 320×240 recording found on most other Android handsets), and app makers are already swooping in to take advantage of it.
The first off the bat is the mobile video broadcasting service Qik, who will later tonight be announcing beta support for the increased resolution. Not only is Qik the first to reach such the new resolution on the Droid, but they’re also proudly claiming to be the first of all the mobile streaming services (amongst competitors such as Ustream, Kyte, and Flixwagon) to support such a high resolution in general.
I want live streaming video recording apps on the iPhone. You want live streaming video recording apps on the iPhone. Everyone wants live streaming video recording apps on the iPhone – except for Apple. Though such applications have been available through unofficial means for over a year now, Apple remains mum on the matter. There they sit in Apple’s review queue, rotting away beneath an “In Review” label.
Looking to find some way onto the platform, developers have begun to scale back their applications until they reach a point Apple is willing to greenlight. We saw it earlier this month with Ustream’s streamless app, and now Qik has followed suit. Beginning today, Qik’s own sans-streaming app is available for the iPhone 3GS.
Mobile video streaming service Qik has just announced a new Push API at today’s Realtime CrunchUp in Redwood City. The new API, which is currently in private beta, offers a firehose of new Qik content that will allow developers to immediately update their apps with new Qik videos as they come in. Depending on the app, users will now be able to specify which Qik users, tags, or locations they’d like to follow and immediately get an update once a video matching that criteria goes live.
Alongside the new API, Qik is also allowing select mobile phones to stream live video directly from the web (previously you’ve been restricted to watching archived clips from mobile devices). Unfortunately the iPhone doesn’t support live mobile viewing at this point (you can still only watch archived clips), but Qik will be supporting Nokia and Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphones. This is especially cool because you’ll be able to receive immediate push notifications on supported phones, and immediately jump into the phone’s mobile browser to start watching the video.
There are a few ways you can send out live video feeds over Twitter right now. The most obvious is just take a service like Justin.tv, shorten your live stream URL, and tweet it out. But there’s no real easy-to-use seamless way of doing it. That’s what Camtweet, a new side project of Justin.tv launching today at our Real-Time Stream CrunchUp, wants to be.
Camtweet looks kind of like what the various photo and video sharing sites that are tied to Twitter currently look like, except it has a big live video box in the center. Below that is the place where you chat to others who are watching in your Camtweet (or Justin.tv — the videos will reside on both) room. And these messages are tweeted out with a link to bring people back to the room. Then when they login with their Twitter credentials and chat with you on the page, their messages are tweeted out too.
Today, we got the latest version of the live-streaming app Qik, a version that will work on the iPhone 3GS. No, we didn’t get it through the App Store, because Apple or AT&T or both still won’t allow for applications that stream live video from the device to be accepted into the store. So instead, just like before, we have to settle for the ad-hoc version, which is fine, but severely dampens the application’s potential reach.
So how does the iPhone 3GS version of Qik compare to the one that worked on the iPhone 3G? Overall, video quality-wise, I would say the iPhone 3GS version of Qik and the iPhone 3G version look about the same. This is despite the 3GS having a nicer camera (3.2 megapixels versus 2). And even though the iPhone 3G didn’t have video camera capabilities, Qik was able to build its own encoders to use the regular camera for video capture. The iPhone 3GS of course, can do video, and it has APIs that give developers access to it. But it would seem that Qik is still limiting the quality of the video that gets streamed, to ensure better live performance.
Uh-oh. Looks like the race for live video streaming on Android is on. When we got footage of Kyte running on Android last week after hearing next to nothing on the matter from the competitors, we guessed that it might be the first mobile streaming app to go live on the platform. Turns out, Qik has had something up their sleeve – and it just slipped right out.
We’re not quite clear on all of the details yet, but an early Alpha version of Qik’s Android application has become available.
With all of the collaboration going on betweenQik and Nokia over the past few months, it seemed like it wouldn’t be too long before Nokia went ahead and put the live mobile video broadcasting service onto handsets right out of the box. Sure, enough: Beginning with this morning’s release of the North American model N97, Qik will come preloaded onto all Nokia S60-based phones.
With too many companies to list battling it out for users in the live mobile video broadcasting space, spreading the word is key. Most people just don’t realize such a thing is possible; outside of geekier circles, the entire concept is still fairly new. Stream a live video from your handset and send the link off to some friends that don’t lurk blogs and social sites all day – chances are they’ll be more amazed by the fact that you’re streaming live video from a phone than they are by the content.
Many of these services have turned to outside networks to get the word out, enabling users to automatically share their content out to their already established circle of friends. Just recently, for example, both Qik and FlixWagon added support for Nokia’s Share on Ovi service. That’s all well and good for reaching the geek crowds – but what about everyone else?
This evening, Qik is announcing that they are the first to roll out Facebook Connect support, which could potentially introduce the concept to a massive new group of people.
We’re here at Qik’s office in Redwood City, California, where Qik is holding a special event to make a new product announcement. Mary Coughlan, the deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, is here to make the announcement.
Qik is announcing a long term partnership with Pat Phelan’s company Cubic Telecom to create QikRoam. QikRoam is a special SIM card you can order today from the QikRoam website that allows users to travel abroad using Qik without having to worry about excessive roaming charges. The card supports 134 countries worldwide, and advertises 60-80% savings on roaming and data charges through deals Cubic Telecom has forged with many partners worldwide.
While this is a good deal for users that have to stream video, it can still turn expensive fast. Depending on where you are, you can expect to spend $100 in QikRoam credit to upload 45 minutes of video. Of course, uploading the same amount of data would be many times more expensive using standard roaming plans.
Live video startup Ustream is making a big push into mobile. Today it is launching a mobile business division, as well as a new set of mobile video broadcasting apps (which can be found here, after login). Right now, the apps work on a wide variety of Nokia phones, including the N95, and on the iPhone, but only jailbroken ones. Alas, the company is still waiting for approval from Apple to release the app through iTunes. Meanwhile, its view-only iPhone app for watching live video streams is approaching one million downloads.
The broadcasting app, however, is what we are excited about. It includes integrated chat, audience polling, and GPS mapping. The polling lets broadcasters ask their audience what they want to see or what actions they should take in a live broadcast situation. Another key feature: mobile video broadcasters can send out a message via Twitter or Facebook to their audience to tell them when they are about to start streaming live. (See video below). Under the hood, Ustream has developed its own low-latency streaming technology which reduces the amount of transcoding that needs to be done on the server as well as the amount of buffering that needs to be done on the phone.
This isn’t the first time a guy tries to stream the birth of his child live on the internet (it happened on Ustream back in August 2007), and I’m confident it won’t be the last: Allan Branch yesterday streamed a minute of his wife’s c-section on live streaming site Qik, using a jailbroken iPhone. Right after the birth of his baby girl Sarah, she was even given her own Twitter account in addition.
The video is actually just of his wife’s head and part of the surgery room. It doesn’t show any of the actual surgery or even the baby. You can find the video on Qik here, but here’s the embedded clip:
Like all mobile video broadcasting solutions, Qik works at its best when it’s granted access to a nice fat WiFi pipeline. But beyond their living rooms, their local coffee shop, and that one street corner where they can pick up WiFi signal if they hold their laptop just right, most people don’t have a very wide array of WiFi spots available to them – not without hotspot-by-hotspot fees, at least. Looking to make full-breadth broadcasting on the go a bit more accessible, Qik and Boingo Wireless, a nationwide WiFi provider, will be announcing a partnership later today.
The cutbacks continue, even at seemingly healthy startups. Social recommendation engine Strands let exactly 10 percent, or 14 people go (7 in the U.S. and 7 in Spain), the company confirms. Strands has raised a total of $55 million, still employs 125 people, and is hiring for other positions. It also just announced a mobile version for Nokia S60 phones.
Qik, which lets you stream live video from your cell phone, also laid off about 10 percent of its employees, which in its case amounted to five people. We got a tip that the reason for the layoffs is because the startup could not raise a $10 to $15 million round, but a spokesperson says that is not true and that we should stay tuned. We hope its not true because we love Qik. The company so far has raised only $4 million, but its investors include Marc Benioff and Marc Andreessen.
Qik, a startup that allows you to stream live video to the web directly from your phone, has launched support for RIM’s incredibly popular Blackberry platform. The software is currently available in an alpha state (so don’t be surprised if you encounter bugs), and includes support for the Blackberry Bold and Pearl (other phones, like the Flip and Curve, will be available in a later release that the company expects soon).
This brings Qik to a much broader platform, and also helps cement Qik’s lead in terms of device support well ahead of competitors Kyte and Flixwagon, neither of which support Blackberry. However, Qik will have another competitor on the Blackberry platform: today’s news comes hot on the heels (and may have been prompted by) the launch of Next2Friends, the first streaming video application that supported Blackberries.
Yes, we know you can get Qik for your jailbroken iPhones now, but this is the App Store version and Mr. Rose, personal hero of mine, gets a look at it before all of us. Jealous? Didn’t think so. Anyway, Rose pontificates that the version he has is near final and that it should be coming soon for free. Would you want your Qik followers to know exactly where you’re streaming from?
Also, you better order that Mophie Juice Pack now because this is going to suck the life out of your iPhone 3G faster than a paparrazo’s shutter when Lohan slips a nip.
[Update]: We’ve been informed that the folks at Qik had yet to submit this app to Apple as of last week, so this may not be “coming soon” as Rose says. It would be the first video application to appear on the App Store.
Qik has announced that its video streaming software will have a shortcut pre-installed on Nokia’s just-launched 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone – the first deal of its kind for the still-young startup. The deal marks a big win for Qik, as it will expose the company to a wide audience while removing its biggest barrier to entry (many mobile phone users are reluctant to seek out and download new software).
Qik allows users to stream live video recordings directly from their phones over Wi-Fi or high-speed data networks, effectively turning the phone into a “mobile television studio”. These videos can be viewed live on Qik’s homepage or in embeddable players scattered across the web (all videos are archived for future reference). The software is available for a variety of phone models (you can see the full list here), including jailbroken versions for the iPhone, though Apple has yet to allow any video apps on the App Store.
Hot on the heels of its competitor Qik, mobile video service Flixwagon has released an application for the iPhone 3G that allows users to stream live video from their cell phones. Qik released a similar application for the iPhone 3G yesterday. Unfortunately, like the Qik app, this will only work on jailbroken (hacked) iPhones, which severely limits the potential user base.
Here are the instructions if you’d like to install it:
-On Cydia, make sure you refresh all ‘Sources’ under the ‘Changes’ tab, and then Install Flixwagon from “Sections/Multimedia”.
-On installer 4: make sure you refresh ‘Sources’, and then install Flixwagon via “Categories/Multimedia”. The app is also available via Community resources like iSpazio.
Apple’s ban on applications using the iPhone’s camera is just one of the seemingly arbitrary restrictions the company is placing on developers. What makes the restriction especially annoying is the fact that the camera is actually designed to capture video. Some users speculate that the lack of a sanctioned video app may be because of Apple’s concerns with the iPhone’s already lackluster battery life, while others believe that the phone’s developers don’t have it very high on their priority list. Update: A developer I’ve spoken to says that the camera buffer is simply a part of the phone developers are not given access to yet, but that this likely has more to do with creating a sandboxed environment than Apple explicitly forbidding video apps.
Either way, the fact that Apple is rejecting applications that have significant demand and no malicious qualities has frustrated users and developers alike. Apple’s lack of communication and hazy Terms of Service may cause the App Store to stagnate, as developers become wary of creating something truly innovative only to have it rejected.
Notably absent from the race to get streaming video to the iPhone is Kyte, a direct competitor to Qik and Flixwagon. Kyte may be trying to avoid any disagreements with Apple, as it already it has an Apple approved application available in the App Store (which can only handle images, not video).
Qik, the startup that allows users to stream live mobile video from their cell phones, has released an application that allows users to use the service from their 3G iPhones. Unfortunately, the application isn’t available through Apple’s sanctioned App Store, so users will need to jailbreak (hack) their iPhones to use it. And because Apple has yet to enable video capture on the iPhone, we probably won’t be seeing a “legit” application any time soon.
Last week Qik released support for iPhones running the old (1.1.4) firmware, which was made obsolete by the 2.0 software that was released in July and gives users access to Apple’s App Store. This new release also supports the older iPhone, but users won’t be able to stream over the slow EDGE network.
The following instructions are included in the company’s blog post:
You can get Qikking with the iPhone 3G (and earlier models running iPhone OS 2.0!) by doing the following:
1. If you have not already, you’ll need to sign up at http://qik.com/sign_up and receive an SMS from us to activate the application.
2. Launch Cydia.
3. Go to the “Sections” tab at the bottom and scroll down to “Multimedia.”
4. Under Multimedia, you will find Qik. Tap on it then select “Install” at the top right, then in the same spot tap “Confirm.”
5. Now you will see Qik get installed. You may hit the “Return to Cydia” button at the bottom or just quit Cydia when it is done installing.
6. You’ll now notice a “Qik” icon on your home screen – Go ahead and launch it.
7. As long as your initial signup SMS/text message is still in your inbox for the first launch, your account will be linked to your device.
8. Make sure you have 3G service or are on WiFi (edge is not sufficient enough to stream video) before you begin broadcasting.
9. Hit record and enjoy Qik!
Qik has released its mobile video streaming application for jailbroken iPhones to the public. The service allows users to broadcast video live from their phones using Wi-Fi or the EDGE network which can be viewed on Qik’s site or through its embeddable player. Unfortunately, the application is only compatible with phones running the 1.1.4 firmware, which has been obsolete for nearly a month since the introduction of the Apple App Store. If you’ve got a phone running the old version, you can download the app after signing up here.
Users running the 2.0 version of the software will need to wait for Qik to release a compatible version, which the company expects to do in the near future. Unfortunately, it’s likely that the application won’t be available through the official App Store, as Apple still hasn’t enabled video capture using the phone’s integrated camera. Until Apple changes its mind, you’ll need to jailbreak your phone – something that the vast majority of iPhone users are reluctant to do.
If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can try downgrading your phone to the 1.1.4 firmware using the instructions here, but we haven’t tested them and there’s a good chance that you’ll fail miserably (don’t try this if you have an iPhone 3G).
Qik has offered a private beta service for months, but only recently launched to the public. Besides the iPhone, the service supports a number of other phones, including models offered by Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung (you can see the full list here).
Qik, the video service that streams live feeds from your mobile phone, has finally launched its public beta. The site has also introduced a number of new features to the service, including support for restricted group access to videos, self-service event streams, and a new embeddable player.
The beta will support a wide variety of phones on AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint, including support for software on the Windows Mobile platform that began testing in June. Qik says that it will be continually adding new phones to the supported list, which you can view here.
The site has also implemented support for Groups, which allow users to select who can upload and view selected clips. Among the included privacy options are allowance for public groups, which anyone can post to, restricted groups, which allow anyone to view (but only select users to post), and a private view, which restricts viewing and uploading to a specified group of users.
Qik has also introduced support for special Event sites, which are essentially temporary groups that are focused on a single event or conference. In the past users who wanted to create specific event pages would have to go through the company itself. Now, users will be able to create self-serve pages with custom logos where they can aggregate all of the content from a single event.
We’ve been using Qik for the last few months, and for the most part we’ve been pleased with the video quality and the convenience that comes from having a portable video camera that can stream directly to the web (although there have been some troubles with upload speeds that are largely the fault of network carriers). There are a number of very similar services in the space, including Kyte and Flixwagon. You can see a general comparison of some of the services here.
As the number of Android-powered handsets on the market continues to expand, so do the technical capabilities of the applications that run on the platform. The Droid, for example, is the first handset to introduce video recording at a resolution 720×480 (more than double that of the 320×240 recording found on most other Android handsets), and app makers are already swooping in to take advantage of it.
