| Tuesday, January 16, 2007 |
| Joost - all about the Joost Web TV service |
Joost, an internet-based TV service will be open for net surfers soon. The project, started by co-founders of Skype and Kazaa, hopes to combine the best of internet and television. Joost is being developed in such a way that it will have the ease of viewing of television and the community-based advantages of internet. Joost is currently underoing beta testing.
According to the founders of Joost, the internet TV service will have the advantages of Web 2.0, like browser based viewing, choice, control and reduced advertising. Like Skype, Joost users will have to download a free software, which is customisable. The Joost software is open-source, so that Joost add-ons and Joost enhancements can be developed according to requirements.
The interactive, secure, efficient and priracy-proof Joost net TV will fill a crucial gap between the internet and the television. According to Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl, content creators are guaranteed copyright protection, while customers will have ease of use.
Though there have been several attempts to propularise the TV-on-internet, many of them have been non-starters. Technology and badnwidth issues have bogged down the development of viable TV shows across the Net. "We've received positive and constructive feedback from our early beta-testers and are now at a stage where we're ready to reveal our true brand. The Joost name has global appeal, embodies fun and energy, and will come to define the 'best of TV and the best of the Internet,'"said de Wahl.
"While we’re still in beta, we hope that Joost will become synonymous with the best of TV and the best of the Web," the developers said.
Joost web TV is co-founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. The project aims to bring together web TV content producers, advertisers and web TV viewers in a high-quality broadband environment. The content on Joost TV service - video clips, movies - will be free for customers. Joost is pegged as the first global free web TV platform. The business will be supported by advertising - which means that the user has to pay nothing. Free.
Over the last few years, many enterprises on the internet have migrated to the advertising-backed model, emboldened by the success of Google, which earns its billions with the Adwords program. This is in contrast to the Microsoft model of charging customers for the products. An earlier Web business model based on paid subscriptions failed to pick up, what with the unlimited availability of valuable yet free information on the Net.
Said the Joost CEO: "People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content. With Joost, we've married that consumer desire with the industry's interests."
According to the company, Joost(TM) offers a new method of viewing TV on the Web, which marries the best of full-screen TV entertainment with online interactive and community benefits to bring an unprecedented selection of video content. The Joost technology is based on the already-existing peer-to-peer technology.
Till now, Joost was known as the Venice Project. The beta testing site had invite-only visitors so far. The site promised to revolutionise TV viewing on the Web.
Though Joost promises the Moon, the comapny is yet to announce any tie-ups with programming stations for TV programmes. On the other hand, those like Apple have deals with TV stations which allow them to hawk content. Youtube is already way ahead in the Web video business, and unseating the leader is going to be a tough task. Currently, Joost Net TV offers only sports, music and documentaries. for Joost Tv to be successful, it will have to create major agreements with programming stations for TV programs. Youtube, which initially had problems with programming stations, finally got them to come around with a lot of persuasion. The Joost founders will also have to tie up similar deals if the TV service is to take off. However, Joost may have an advantage in the the copyright department, since it has taken a lot of efforts to protect the rights of content creators.
The service is currently being tested by a select community of users. Besides offering TV programs, Joost will also offer chat and search functionalities. The company will be launching the Joost 0.8 version soon.
However, Joost may suck up bandwidth, posing problems to users with a broadband bandwodth limit for downloading. The Joost Net TV service guzzles an average 320M bytes of downloaded and 105M bytes of uploaded traffic for an hour's worth of TV viewing. Joost warned beta-testers that the service "will exhaust a 1G-byte cap in 10 hours" and has detailed instructions on how they can exit the application to ensure it doesn't continue running once they've stopped watching.
Currently, Joost is available for Windows PCs. It runs on Apple with Bootcamp, not parallels. A Joost for Linux is also in the works, the company says. Beta-testers are encouraged to inform the company of bugs. Channels are available like playlists on iTunes or Windows Media Player. The TV channels start when you click on them. Once it ends, it starts looping. Advertisements also pop up occasionally on the Joost interface.
The company is allowing beta-testing on a selective basis. So some users, the company says, may not have received the password for accessing teh Joost service.
Joost service does not demand personal information.Labels: Tech |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:40 AM |
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