We like to watch people trying to be famous. And we're so desperate for a shred of authenticity that we'll watch just about anyone doing anything, as long as it's live and on the Internet. Hence the lifecasting phenomenon.
Click to viewAn Oregon woman who wanted to let her neighbors know that she's endorsing Senator Barack Obama for president has had two Obama-Biden 08 yard signs stolen from her front lawn. So she made a third herself, and had her teenage son set up a live feed on Ustream.tv in the hopes of protecting the sign and…
Click to viewInternational Talk Like a Pirate Day has spawned far more than its fair share of bad attempts at humor in the form of press releases from Internet startups. Even companies like Google and Facebook have indulged themselves. Please, leave the comedy to the professionals from the venerable Ask a Ninja…
Click to viewStephen Heywood's wife Erin just gave birth to their daughter Samantha. Nothing special there — sexual reproduction stopped being much of a unique achievement after eukaryotes got into the habit over a billion years ago. But Ustream.tv wasn't around to bring the birth of a little baby eukaryote to the…
Stickam's rumored $100,000 signing bonus to woo nodcaster Leo Laporte away from live-video broadcasting startup Ustream.tv worked, as Laporte is officially working with the site, previously best known for emo camkids and a booming side business in pornography. Though I admit, Laporte drunk and out of control might…
Video-sharing site Stickam — owned and operated by a Japanese porn company — wants to pay some guy named Leo Laporte $100,000 to stream his podcast called This Week in Tech, or TWiT, exclusively for one year. Confused? So are we. And when we did the math, our bewilderment grew.
Ustream.tv business-development associate Mazyar Kazerooni will do anything to get ahead — including, it seems, a little asphyxiation at the ubiquitous hands of Fast Company egoblogger Robert Scoble. Since this is a caption contest (the winning caption becomes the post's new title) you might like to know that yes,…
Having turned down Microsoft's $50 million offer, live video site Ustream.tv today announced $11.1 million in venture capital. Yesterday, mobile video startup Qik announced it raised another $3 million from Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff, VC Arjun Gupta and entrepreneur George Garrick. If a recession is going…
Yahoo's move into live video could have kneecapped startups like Justin.tv and Ustream.tv. Instead, its botched launch just proved that serving up streams is a harder business than it looks — and got Yahoo rivals like YouTube interested. We hear Ustream.tv is now leaning strongly against taking Microsoft's $50…
Michael Siebel, Justin.tv:
In the clip above, Steve Chen tells us YouTube plans to add live streaming by the end of 2008. And, from her voiceover, that Pop17's Sarah Meyers would love a Philippe Dauman Jr. party.
Sources tell Valleywag that lifecasting startup Ustream.tv is in advanced discussions with Microsoft to acquire the lifecasting service for more than $50 million, but there are other companies in the bidding as well. Ustream is currently raising a very large initial round of VC financing, and Microsoft is attempting…
Yahoo's lifecasting service has "launched" — if you can call it that. As we reported, Yahoo Live allows users to stream live video for users to watch, similar to the services of startups Ustream.tv and Justin.tv. This marks the first time that a major company has gotten into the lifecasting space. At launch, the…
Yahoo is launching a new video service called Yahoo Live. Initially available for Yahoo employees only, the service allows users to create their own "social broadcasting experience." Translation: Yahoo is the first major company to get into the lifecasting space currently occupied by startups like Ustream.tv and …
For months now, Matt Schlicht and Mazyar "Mazy" Kazerooni, who blog as Minds 1 and A, have been keeping me entertained by IM and elsewhere. They're also the media pranksters behind OpenHulu, the website which unlocked Hulu's video library. Schlicht and Kazerooni, barely legal entrepreneurs at the ages of 19 and 18…
As reported a couple of weeks ago, Justine Ezarik, the blonde videoblogger better known as iJustine, has opened her own website, iJustine.tv. Neither of her potential suitors, Justin.tv and Ustream.tv , appear to have won her heart outright. Ezarik's maintaining channels on both lifecasting startups, and also…
For the definition of "wantrepreneur," look no further than the founders of Ustream.tv, a lifecasting Web-video startup you've likely never heard of — probably for lack of nude lesbians. Here's what you should know about Ustream: Twice in its short history, an investor in the company has felt compelled to take over.
Rumor is spreading that Justine Ezarik, the blonde videoblogger better known as iJustine, is leaving Justin.tv. Ezarik, who holds the dubious distinction of being the most popular lifecaster of the moment, is currently denying that she's leaving the self-broadcasting service where she made her name. Ustream.tv,…
