Facebook Allows Anyone to Add Its Chat
Facebook has released a feature called “Live-Stream Box”, which allows anyone to add a Facebook chat on its own site or its Facebook page. We saw this feature on CNN during Obama’s inauguration, among other sites.
When the box is enabled, users will be prompted to log into their Facebook accounts from a page where they want to watch a live video broadcast. They will then be able to toggle between an “everyone watching” tab, which shows all global status updates submitted by people watching through the app, as well as “friends” tab which just shows all their friends updates in real time.
This feature uses Facebook Connect.
“You can run the Live Stream Box next to live streaming videos of concerts, speeches, sporting events, webcasts, TV shows, presentations, or webinars,” Facebook says.
To get this widget it is needed a Facebook API key, upload a small file to your site, and embed a few lines of code into your Web page. Here you are the full instructions. And here it is a general explanation.
Real Goes Beyond RealPlayer 11 and Makes Video Portable for Cellphones
Important move by Real Networks launching RealPlayer SP, which re-encodes downloaded video and makes it portable. Two years ago they launched RealPlayer 11 (over 300 million downloads since then) and now adds a feature inviting the user to move and share the video. It converts the video for a BlackBerry, Nokia, iPhone, iPod or Xbox.
Many content owners have said that this feature is not legal, but Real says its software it doesn’t work on sites that put DRM around their videos, such as Hulu.
The beta is available here. A Mac version will be available at the end of the year.
(A good idea is using http://reeplay.it to bookmark/share/save video)
Brightcove Is Now Profitable, Says Its CEO
Brightcove CEO Says Company is Profitable, Cash-Flow Positive; Jeremy Allaire credits the revenue growth, in part, to traction in the enterprise and government verticals.
Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire said company now is profitable, cash-flow positive. “While this is a big deal for Brightcove, it’s an even bigger deal for the industry and is validation that companies in this market can in fact create scalable, profitable businesses,” expert Dan Rayburn writes.
Brightcove now has over 700 premium customers. Rayburn estimates that the company will do about $80 M this year, after seeing 50 % revenue growth.
Jeremy Allaire credits the revenue growth, in part, to traction in the enterprise and government verticals.
Animating a Set of Photos As Never Seen
Slideshow creation platform Animoto.com has raised additional $4.4 million funding that will be used to accelerate product development, add video, explore distribution possibilities with photo-sharing sites, and make new hires.
New York-based Animoto, which has 18 employees, is cash-flow positive. It has 750,000 registered users, of which 10 percent have paid for a premium product, which include consumer and professional subscriptions, as well as DVD purchases.
The company’s speciality is animating a set of photos to practically dance to the music through its analysis of song structure. It’s cooler than an average slideshow.
Animoto won best services and applications web site this year. Here is the Webby Award slideshow.
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