New Software Lets You Send Instant Video From Cellphone To The Web

After broadcasting, narrowcasting, podcasting, screencasting, simulcasting, netcasting, multicasting, Zunecasting, Bluecasting and typecasting I thought, frankly, I was inured to anything ending in casting, but surprisingly I've found one more I'm quite enthused about.

It's called PocketCaster, and it really has nothing to do with transmitting inside your pants, or from your pants. In fact, it could usher in a modest revolution in the way we use our cellphones and get our news.

PocketCaster is the term given by the Canadian company ComVu Media (comvu.com) to its free (for now) software that allows owners of camera phones to transmit video live. Point the camera, fire up the ComVu software and the resulting video (and audio) will stream to a Web page that can be viewed by anyone you want.

ComVu isn't the first to offer live Web feeds. Veodia (www.veodia.com), for example, offers live broadcasts of TV-quality video from your computer, while kyte (kyte.tv) is closer, offering among its services something called LifeStream, which it describes as 'a real-time broadcast of your life through your mobile phone.'

But ComVu's product works better. I stumbled and struggled with kyte, whereas PocketCaster worked the first time. Downloading and installing the software is straightforward (it works with most Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 camera phones). PocketCaster itself is easy -- just a press of a button, really -- and the video will appear on the Web site after a five- to 10-second delay. All your friends need to do is visit the Web link and they can see the video in progress. (The streaming videos are saved automatically and can also be posted to YouTube and some blogs.)

That said, I didn't really appreciate the work that had gone into into the product until ComVu Media executive vice president Olaf Lohmann, who is based in Singapore, gave me a demo in a nearby Starbucks. First off, the software is flexible enough to take into account the different speeds that cellular operators offer their customers. This is important because PocketCaster streams the video to servers using the quickest wireless network available -- choosing from the usual alphabet soup of services that handle data to and from your phone like EDGE, EVDO, UMTS and HSDPA, but also WiFi if it's available, as the handset has a wireless chip inside. If you're on a slow connection, the quality of the video is reduced, but on a fast connection the picture looks surprisingly good. Singapore boasts pretty fast 3.5G connections and we were able to transmit our inane mutterings at an impressive 200 kilobytes a second -- about four times faster than an old dial-up modem could manage on its best day.

But as with all these things, the question arises: What, exactly, would we use this for?

Well, there's the obvious stuff: You could broadcast your status from the top of Mount Fuji to friends and family back home at a prearranged time, or, armed only with a cellphone, transmit a wedding/party/Bar Mitzvah in real time to the Net.

But ComVu's ambitions are greater. A new version of the service they'll be launching next month includes transmitting Global Positioning System (GPS) data along with the PocketCaster, meaning viewers can watch live video from a cellphone, and see the actual location of the person transmitting the video on a satellite map, marked by a blue dot. And if the person on the PocketCaster is moving, the dot turns into a chain of dots. (The soon-to-be launched upgrade of the Web site offers a map of the world with dots showing where the most recent live video feeds are coming from.)

ComVu hopes that is just the start. Mr. Lohmann points out that his software could be used to transmit live music from a concert -- improving sound quality by feeding the sound from the mixing desk through a radio chip that is inside the higher-end cellphones. Journalists could broadcast interviews using it -- and already are. Reuters, for example, is experimenting with a mobile tool kit built around a Nokia N95 phone, a Bluetooth keyboard and ComVu software. (Check out reutersmojo.com.)

Of course some of this has already been done. One or two uber-geeks have been doing live video broadcast from their phones, as blogger and cellphone analyst Alan Reiter points out on his camera phone-oriented blog Internet Evolution (www.internetevolution.com). All you need, he says, is a camera phone and software like ComVu's. He calls it serendipitous broadcasting: 'You don't need to grab a bag filled with stuff. You've got what you need on your belt, in your purse, or in your pocket.'

I like the idea of serendipitous broadcasting. After all, journalism is all about being in the right place at the right -- or wrong -- time. But it's going to require some coordination. After all, you can't expect your friends to monitor your Web page on the off-chance you stumble into a riot/earthquake/orgy. (Although they might, if their lives aren't that exciting.) More likely is the idea that this kind of technology could improve the nascent movement of citizen journalism -- where ordinary folks contribute words, pictures or videos to community sites or mainstream media.

Mr. Lohmann says he believes PocketCaster was tailor-made for this. He points to another part of his company's Web site (http://comvu.com/studio) that allows a news organization, or an individual, to monitor half a dozen 'feeds' of live video and then select from one to 'broadcast' out over the Web: much as a TV producer might switch between cameras and feeds. Like the rest of the ComVu Web site, the page is clunky, but Mr. Lohmann promises an upgrade soon. With some laptops sporting slots for SIM cards, live feeds could be broadcast direct from the hotzone.

Does all this really work -- and can it replace a real newsroom with expensive equipment run by professionals? Possibly. I know of at least one Asian news Web site that plans to use ComVu's servers and software. But maybe that's not the point. I can't imagine people glued to their Internet browsers hoping to see something exciting happen through someone's camera phone in real time. But when exciting things do happen, camera phones will now be able to broadcast the incident live, further shrinking the distance between us consumers of information and information itself.

This is probably where the revolutionary element lies. Until now, live news as it happened has been the preserve of big news organizations with the reach to get the action and beam it out live. Now any of us can do both ends of this ourselves. Would it have made a difference if protesters on the streets of Myanmar were able to broadcast their images live for us to follow in real time, instead of uploading them to the Web hours later? Next time, we may know.

在经受了广播、窄播、网播、屏播、同播、组播等等的狂轰滥炸之后，坦白讲我以为自己对任何跟“播”沾边的词都已无动于衷了，但出乎意料的是我又发现了一个令我激情澎湃的“裤兜播”。

PocketCaster（裤兜播）和裤子其实没有一点关系。实际上它或许会在手机使用和新闻获取的方式上引起一场小革命。

PocketCaster是加拿大公司ComVu Media（comvu.com）开发的帮助照相手机用户实时上传视频的免费（至少目前如此）软件。将照相机对准目标，运行ComVu软件，然后拍摄的视频和音频就会实时上传到网页上供任何你授权的人欣赏。

ComVu并不是第一家提供实时网络视频及音频服务的公司。举个例子来说，Veodia （www.veodia.com）使用户通过电脑接收与电视节目质量相当的直播。而kyte（kyte.tv）更进一步，它的服务项目之一是LifeStream，该公司将之形容为“通过手机对你的生活进行的实时播放”。

不过相比之下ComVu的产品性能更好。使用kyte时我必须反复进行调试，而PocketCaster第一次就成功了。软件的下载和安装简单明了，与大部分安装了Windows Mobile 和Symbian S60系统的照相手机都能兼容。PocketCaster本身的操作也很简单，毫不夸张地讲，只需按一下按键，5到10秒钟之后视频就会出现在网站上。你的朋友只需要访问这个网站，就能看到上传中的视频。上传中的视频会自动存盘，还可以贴到YouTube和一些博客网站上。

说了这么多，我还是对这个产品的功能不感冒，但是当ComVu Media驻新加坡的执行副总裁欧勒夫•娄曼(Olaf Lohmann)在附近的一家星巴克(Starbucks)咖啡店给我做了一次演示之后，我的看法就改变了。首先，这个软件足够灵活，它考虑到了手机运营商向用户提供的不同连接速度。这一点很重要，因为PocketCaster使用现有最快的无线网络将视频上传到服务器上，你不但可以从EDGE，EVDO，UMTS及HSDPA这些常见的服务中进行选择，如果有条件的话还可以使用WiFi，因为手机本身内置了一个无线芯片。如果你的连接速度较慢，视频的质量会下降，但如果连接速度较快的话，画面看起来会好得令人吃惊。新加坡宣称提供3.5G的高速连接，人们之间的无聊闲谈能以每秒20万字节的速度进行传输，这比传统拨号上网最快时的速度还要快三倍左右。

但问题是这到底有什么用呢？

显然你可以做类似下面的这些事情：你可以在预定的时间，从富士山的山顶上向远方的家人和朋友展现你的风采，或者只用一个手机实时地将一场婚礼、派对或是犹太人成人礼上传到网上。

不过ComVu的目标远不止这样。下个月即将推出的一个新版本使用户在用PocketCaster上传视频的同时还能传输全球定位系统(GPS)数据，也就是人们不但可以看到从手机上传的实时视频，还能在一个卫星地图上看到上传者的实际位置，这个位置用一个蓝点标出。如果上传者发生移动，蓝点就会变成一长串的点。网站即将推出的更新版本提供一张世界地图，上面的蓝点能显示最近上传的实时视频来自何地。

ComVu希望这还仅仅是个开头。娄曼指出，这个软件还能用于传输现场音乐会──高端手机内置的无线电芯片可以接收经音乐会调音台处理的高质量声音，用这种手机传输的音乐会现场声音质量也更高。记者可以用它来现场直播采访内容。比如，路透社(Reuters)正在试验一种包括一个诺基亚N95手机、一个蓝牙键盘和ComVu软件在内的的手机工具包（参看reutersmojo.com）。

事实上已经有人这样做了。正如博客作者、手机分析师艾伦•雷特(Alan Reiter)在自己的照相手机博客“互联网演变”（www.internetevolution.com）中所指出的一样，一些超级怪才已经用手机进行视频直播了。他说，你只需要一个照相手机和类似ComVu的软件。他将此称为“不经意式广播”，你无需将包塞得满满当当，你的腰带上、手提袋中或是衣袋中就能装下你需要的一切。

我喜欢“不经意式广播”这个主意。归根到底新闻就是要在恰当的时间出现在恰当的地方。但这还需要一些协调。毕竟你不能指望你的朋友时刻盯着你的网页，以便万一你碰上暴乱、地震或是狂欢时，他们能看到你上传的实时视频──虽然如果你的朋友们日子过得太无聊，他们可能会这样做。更现实的一种想法是这种技术可能会提升新兴的平民记者运动，这样普通老百姓也可以向社区网站或是主流媒体提供文字、图片或是视频素材。

娄曼说他相信PocketCaster正是为此量身定做的。他谈到ComVu网站的另一个部分(http://comvu.com/studio)，新闻机构或是个人能够藉此同时监测六条实时视频素材，然后从中选出一条在网上播出：就象电视节目制片人在不同机位的摄像机和素材库之间进行切换一样。和ComVu网站的其他部分一样，这个网页也很粗糙，但娄曼保证将很快进行更新。借助一台有无线上网功能的笔记本电脑，使用ComVu网站的这一功能便能实现热点事件的电视直播。

所有这些都能实现吗？它能替代那些配有专业人员和昂贵器械的电视台编辑部吗？可能吧。我知道至少有一家亚洲新闻网站计划使用ComVu的服务器和软件。但也许这并不是问题所在。我无法想像人们“粘”在网络浏览器上，希望实时地看到从别人照相手机上传的趣事。但当确有趣事发生时，照相手机将可以直播事件，这将进一步缩小我们信息消费者和信息之间的距离。

这也许才是革命性的吧。到目前为止，实时新闻还一直是大型新闻机构的专利，他们能深入到事件前线，进行直播。现在任何人都不但能收看，还能进行播出了。如果缅甸街头的示威者能直播示威画面，使我们实时地了解情况，而不是在好几个小时之后才能把画面上传到网上去，结果会有所不同吗？也许下回我们就知道了。