Qik and Facebook

(image found via mashable)

Qik just announced that they are lunching a instant uploading videos to facebook via facebook connect. I really think this is going to be a big deal especially once iPhone activates video. Qik has already shown they can create a pretty good iPhone App via jailbreak (see my video's here).

Also, I was talking to a co-worker about FB and he said something to the effect of how, over the years, he has seen all the next big things go down in flames and that was the reason he wasn't on FB. I tend to agree that several years ago there were a lot of social networks that started strong but went down in flames. I think one of the biggest reasons that happened was they tried to make money off of the product too quickly without really solidifying strategy. This tended to alienate and annoy their users. FB has had some negative feedback on some of their changes (the most notable is beacon) but I think most of their changes have been for the best and following the trend of feed aggregators like FriendFeed. And now with FB connect they have created something really powerful with and I really think they are being smart by trying get FB almost as a default platform. If you are a small company, what better way to engage with your customers than through FB, a network they are already highly vested in.

As for Qik if they can get live streaming to FB that will be a game changer and will bring mobile video broadcasting to the forefront and if at that point the iPhone does not embrace video Apple will leave the door wide open for a device that can shoot quality video with same the functionality of the iPhone (I really doubt the latter will happen because Apple has always been able to gauge the where the market is headed and move quickly to that path...and I love the iPhone so it can do no wrong).

Copy & Paste and Qik

I decided to Jailbreak my iPhone again. I originally did this pre app store launch in order to get some really interesting 3rd party apps on my iPhone. When the app store was launched I didn't feel the need to have my phone Jailbroken as I was pretty happy with all that was/is available via the app store. But there are 2 apps that I have been reading about that made me want to jailbreak again. 

The first was "Clippy" an app that adds copy and paste functionality to the ".?123" menu on the virtual keyboard. So far the couple of times I used it, it works pretty good. The only annoying thing is that it obscures the area where you are typing slightly but this is a minor annoyance. The second app is the Qik app which allows you to broadcast a live video stream. Below is the quick test video I did yesterday (excuse my messy apartment):

Qik also allows you to send out a message via twitter that you are broadcasting live and so your Twitter followers can go to Qik and see what you are doing. This is a pretty cool feature that would get more people engaged. During my test it didn't seem that my audio was working but as you can see/hear in the video above it seems to be OK. The second test video was at my computer shooting my live feed giving the window within window etc. effect.

Friday I am going to go to the Queens Museum to check out an exhibit on a full model of NYC and I will broadcast via Qik. If you care to check it out I guess the best way to know when it will be live would be to subscribe to my twitter feed.

Interesting companies

On Saturday night YouTube did a live event for which I have only seen basic traffic data and the event seemed to top out at approximately 700,000 concurrent viewers. I wonder if this was a marketing success for YouTube. They had several sponsors (LionsGate, Guitar Hero, Virgin America and Flip Video. As I didn't watch live I am not sure how and to what extent these advertisers were integrated. I think we will see more of this type of event programming from YouTube. But this is not what this post is about. I wanted to take some time to and talk about some companies I have been following for the past year that are doing some interesting things.

The YouTube event was a mass broadcast and as I said I think there will be more of these to come but I think the larger trend will be micro-broadcasting. People have been broadcasting what they have been doing for several years via microblogging applications like twitter, tumblr, Facebook Status, etc. and I think the following companies will bring the next evolution which will bring mobile video to the masses. Kyte, Qik, and Seesmic these applications allow you to micro-broadcast video of what you are doing live. Each of these applications allow you to not only broadcast live but they also allow you to have an IM like conversation live as you are broadcasting.  Qik is working on an iPhone app with for now will only work with jailbroken iPhones.  Here is Kevin Rose showing off the app on his iPhone:

These applications are very early on the Gartner hypecycle so there will be lots of time for evolution especially as mobile phone cameras get better and/or if one of the carriers embraces the application:

Since the title of this post is "Interesting Companies" I don't want to limit the discussion to the mobile space.  Sling and Orb (although Orb work with any media on your computer) allow you to bring your favorite TV shows with you anywhere you have access to an internet connection. Both companies are working on iPhone apps.

The last segment I have been following are social browsing companies. 

FriendFeed - Allows you to aggregate all your social application/sites into one feed. I have been using freindfeed for about a year and it definitely is an interesting application but it can get overwhelming if the people you are following overshare.

Me.dium - No longer exists but I always felt this application had a lot of promise. The app allowed your friends to have a shared browsing experience allowing for comments and IM/chatting experience. Me.dium has evolved to OneRiot a search engine with a social aspect.

Flock Browser - Is a full browser that allows for a shared experience, although I think this is probably the right model for social browsing experience Flock probably does not have enough users to make reach critical mass. 

Ultimately, I think Google has the best chance for doing something major in this area.  With google chrome browser, gmail chat, gmail video, and with the addition of search commenting/ranking google has all the elements and the large enough user base to make social browsing a mass application.

These are some of the companies I have been following that I think have huge impact on technology, social media, and/or the way we interact.