Computer and Web Articles

What a great idea. Ustream.tv is a “live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and an internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size.”

In other words, if you have a webcam and an internet connection, you can have your very own live broadcast of anything you’d like.

And though it’s hard to believe, this service is 100 percent free.

What makes Ustream.tv so incredibly cool is that it actually encourages broadcast-to-viewer and viewer-to-viewer interaction!

This means that it allows viewers to personally interact directly with whoever is broadcasting.

This truly pushes online video out of the era of static, pre-recorded clips and into the world of live, interactive media.

Examples of what people have broadcast on Ustream.tv include school sporting events, conference sessions, business meetings, holiday gatherings, political debates, entertainment events, personal milestones such as birthdays and weddings, and live jam sessions.

Even if you have no interest in setting up your own interactive broadcast, you can always visit www.ustream.tv and browse the various live and upcoming broadcasts.

As I type, the featured broadcast playing Ustream.tv’s homepage is a computer-related radio talkshow where experts are answering listeners’ call-in questions.

Not the most exciting video to watch, but there are hundreds of others I could choose from if I felt like doing so.