Justin.tv Opens Its API For Free, Hopes Live Video Will Explode | Hacker News Reader

Justin.tv Opens Its API For Free, Hopes Live Video Will Explode

techcrunch.com

72 pointsExJournalist20 comments

I know I'll probably get downmodded for this as it's a bit tangential but I'm of the view Justin.tv should rename and rebrand itself. It sounds like someone's homepage and it's origins are based around the founder's personal video channel. It just doesn't sound like a site where people can share video themselves and doesn't reflect what it has really become.

Just my 2 cents anyway.

I can see where you're coming from, but we've built up a lot of brand equity in the Justin.tv name now, with tons of people coming to the site, links, etc.

For more and more people, it's just a name, like "Fox" or "Warner Brothers". Most people don't even know about the original Justin.tv show, or who Justin is.

Beat me to it by a minute :).

Ahh, I always thought it was like Just In TV; with the emphasis on live, up to the minute broadcasts.

Yeah I understand that but from a complete layman's perspective I still thought you might get a different category of person visiting (rather than those with an interest in tech). I thought you might need to rebrand to cross the chasm so to speak. I was concerned the name sounds a bit too gimmicky? I guess. But I wouldn't pretend to know more about your company than you though so if it's working out and you can build the brand name go for it!

It does if you consider it JustIn.tv.

There's nothing wrong with having a brand name that doesn't explicitly say what the company does (reminds me of the Forest Gump quote "We invested in some apple company"). Their site get millions of visitors per month; they'd lose staggering amounts of brand equity at this point by changing names. Besides, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of its users don't know the origins of Justin.tv.

You mean just like craigslist?

Just like when craigslist renamed itself listfoundation. Thankfully that didn't last long.

I wasn't suggesting something generic. It can have as much character. I just get the feeling from Justin.tv that it is a) some new web service that is probably going to fade with trends and b) has nothing for me unless I like justin, whoever that might be.

I would use Justin.tv to broadcast demos live if there were a way to do live screencasts without a camera.

You can, there are several programs that make your screen show up as a webcam. Also, we're currently working on getting VLC support up and running.

Is there anything currently available for the Mac?

Googling led to this for Windows: http://www.pcwinsoft.com/screencamera/landing.asp

yes, try camtwist:

http://allocinit.com/index.php?title=CamTwist

Here's a great video tutorial made by CamTwist explaining the basics to using it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uMUTvI3NAo

CamTwist is fantastic for screencasting on a mac. Works great on http://ustream.tv

Which is the better service for live demos? Are they both free for commercial purposes?

You should try both and see what you like best. Mazy works for Ustream, I work for Justin.tv.

How about Linux?

ucanvcam should do the trick: http://code.google.com/p/ucanvcam/

If they've found a way to stream video so incredibly cheaply why don't they just offer everything for free and make money as a CDN?

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