Roland Tanglao's Weblog

I've been trying out ComVu's webcast software for the N93, PocketCaster. More about that later but I did learn that there is no hardware limitation preventing you from using the video camera with the screen facing you (aka "ego videoblog mode") since it works with PocketCaster.

LazyWeb: please provide a S60 executable to do this (maybe I can do this in Python?). Better yet Nokia upgrade your firmware to enable this.

I want both an iPhone and the N999. The 1.0 iPhone ain't a blogaphone unless it has a video camera and Shozu-like tech built in (or you can add it which you can't in 1.0) but other than that it's pretty darned close. Until then I will also carry the closest N999 equivalent which will probably be an an N95 (which I got to examine yesterday thanks to the Comvu folks and the screen is fab and it feels light and nice in the hand!).

Thank-goodness for Apple! Now we wil get some innovation in the mobile space. Series 60 and Symbian OS really need some re-thinking in terms of usability and needs to get more stable. Even with just the built-in software, I regularly have to reboot my N93 and the other Series 60 Symbian devices I get for free trial from Nokia Blogger Relations; this is unacceptable!

As part of the planning process for the events at the Torino Olympics with New Media BC, Mobile Muse and Raincity Studios, Kris and I met the folks at Comvu, yet another local Vancouver mobile company. They have a cool product: a way to broadcast from your mobile device (Windows Mobile only for now, but Linux and Symbian versions are coming soon, wish comvu had a blog :P so I could know more about what's happening because I know there's a fascinating story there that's not being told) LIVE to people on the Internet who can watch on their mobile devices or on a web browser on their desktops. A great complement to the timeshifting of videoblogging. In fact, apparently the live video is saved on server and has RSS so it could be video podcasted and blogged after the fact!

The Comvu demo was great. Wouldn't it be great if you could get this service bundled in with your mobile phone from your carrier for a reasonable monthly fee? Wouldn't it be great if you could see a demo of this during the Olympics and see how we can broadcast from our mobile devices from Torino to Vancouver and Vancouver to Torino? Well it's not a pipe dream; we'll do our best to make it a reality soon hopefully during the Olympics timeframe! And of course I am working to get them to give a demo at MoMoVan say in March or April.

I know I've drunk too much Nokia and Apple Kool-Aid but I thought Nokia was still the market leader in the mobile space and not Microsoft so I kind of thought ComVu would support Nokia Series 60 phones like my 7610 but I was wrong! Oh well, and I also grow weary of companies that claim to serve bloggers and videobloggers but don't actually have a blog themselves. It's not as if it's 1999 and blogging is a novelty. Next!

From ComVu - Welcome to Mobile Webcasting.:

QUOTE

ComVu has created the world's first live video broadcast solution from a mobile device to a global audience. With the push of a button on a camera phone bloggers, citizen reporters, family members, friends and corporate professionals can broadcast live events to their communities - simply and inexpensively.

UNQUOTE