Don’t let anyone tell you that I never say anything good about ActiveRain. I saw a passing note yesterday about Ustream.com’s new iPhone app, but I ignored it in the crush of business. But this morning there was a post about the Ustream client in ActiveRain’s daily spamletter, and that led me to download the app.
What does it do?
Live video streaming from any iPhone 3G or 3GS. No kidding. Ustream quality, of course, compounded by the cheesy little lens on the iPhone, all compounded by WiFi or 3G transmission speeds. But still…
Live video streaming from your phone…
Practical applications?
Well, for one thing, Rodney King now has nothing to fear. Abusive cops are a thing of the past, and I would love to see a Ustream/YouTube channel devoted to abusive government functionaries everywhere. Especially in Iran, by the way, and I can’t think of a better antidote to bad behavior everywhere than instantaneous, live, streaming video for all the world to see.
But what about real estate applications?
Don’t throw away that video camera. It’s still Ustream, after all. But when you’re doing a home inspection for an out-of-state buyer, a live video conference with the inspector may be just the ticket. With a second phone, the client and the inspector can talk as you are shooting live video of the repair issues. Is that more sizzle than steak? I say it’s good salesmanship.
Are there other uses you can think of in your day-to-day real estate work? I’m never a big booster of new-for-the-sake-of-being-new. Mission-critical is all that ever matters to me in judging a new tool or idea. But I’m thinking that live or easily-recorded lo-rez video might serve a host of mission-critical functions.
Two (bad) videos as examples, as I learn to play with this new tool:
First, a bad demo recorded to the phone, then uploaded to Ustream.
Second, a live stream saved directly from Ustream.
In both cases, the iPhone shut off on me. To make this software work, you will have to change your auto shut-off setting in the main iPhone preference app. Then you have to remember to switch it back — or risk butt-dialing and battery loss. Presumably Ustream will override this setting while recording in a future release.
Meanwhile, the Ustream Live Broadcaster app is completely social-media savvy, with hooks available for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. It seems reasonable to me to create a separate YouTube channel for these videos, so as not to have them conflated with your better-quality clips.
But — every conceivable caveat aside — the world of video podcasting just got a lot more interesting…
Bryan says:
The Ustream broadcaster app is a really cool app. I thought qik.com would be the first to release an iPhone app for live streaming video. I have been using a Flip Camera to record videos for my blog. I tried out Ustream’s app yesterday to record a short video of a house I was going a real estate appraisal on. Here the video I made:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2757419
The video quality for the Ustream app is not as good as the flip camera but definately fun to use.
December 10, 2009 — 10:59 am
Rod Rebello says:
Ustream also has a live broadcast app for the new Droid phone. Gave it a quick test, as noted, quality is not the best, but it is fun.
December 10, 2009 — 2:27 pm
andy says:
I thought that you had to jail break the iphone to use ustream. has that changed?
December 14, 2009 — 2:51 pm