RSSSkype Founders Name TV Startup Joost
By Nate Mook | Published January 16, 2007, 12:14 PM
Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have given a name to their new Internet television startup, which formerly went by the code-name The Venice Project. Now officially dubbed Joost, the company intends to combine a TV-like experience with the flexibility of the Web.
Boasting itself as a "secure, efficient, piracy-proof Internet platform," Joost hopes to lure television networks and content providers to distribute their videos online, although specifics of the technology are still under wraps. What is known is that Joost will make use of peer-to-peer streaming.
Zennstrom and Friis helped pioneer P2P distribution with the file sharing application Kazaa, and later brought that technology to voice and video communication through Skype. The two remain involved in Skype, which was purchased by eBay in 2005.
If the pair's past projects are any indication, their newest venture should have no trouble being successful. Kazaa was one of the leading P2P networks behind Napster in the early part of the decade, with millions of users. Skype in just three years has amassed over 100 million users worldwide, and is the world's fastest growing online messaging program.
According to reports, Zennstrom will invest in the company, although play a limited role in the overall product. Much of that work would be left to Friis, who would spend a good deal of time developing the business model behind the new service. Neither would be involved in the day to day operations of the company.
Joost is currently in private beta testing, although users can sign-up to join the beta. The software, which plays the television streams as full-screen video, works only on PCs, although the company is working to support the Macintosh platform as well.
"We've received positive and constructive feedback from our early beta-testers and are now at a stage where we're ready to reveal our true brand," said Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl. "The Joost name has global appeal, embodies fun and energy, and will come to define the 'best of TV and the best of the Internet'."
Hi there. I would be very happy if someone please could send me an invitation to Joost. I like both PC and TV, so it should do great on my PC. Best Regards, Alan
dhoffe1@hotmail.com
Score: 0
|ingo.theurer@wrigley.com
would love to explore the BETA version and see joost kill the television star! .-)
thanks!
ingo
Score: 0
|please send me an invite for joost!
thanks
gigach38@yahoo.com
Score: 0
|Kindly send me a invite for Joost
Score: 0
|I really hope the final product will allow you to save the file so you can replay it later. Instead of just streaming... The streaming is ok but its by no means perfect. So having a way to save the programing or whatever to watch later alla Time s***ing, would be nice.
Thats one thing that google and yourtube actually has done right...
Score: 0
|please send me invite as well for Joost
Score: 0
|The link is below
https://www.joost.com/apply.html
Score: 0
|I signed up to join the Joost TV beta testing, but they say you need a referral from someone who is already a beta tester to be invited. How can I find a Joost TV beta tester? Would someone out there please invite me to become a Joost TV beta tester?
Score: 0
|No referrals available at this time. Sorry.
Score: 0
|No referrals are available at this time. Sorry. The service is improving, and has very limited content so far. It has promise though, if you have a slightly better than average broadband connection.
Score: 0
|I've always claimed YouTube, Google Video, and that crap by Microsoft all SUCK in terms of picture quality and copyright control, which is why I'll never upload my stuff there. This p2p concept will make it BIG if it will allow very high quality video (but zero wait time, unlike eMule/bittorrent) as well as payment to the content authors - micropayments. First time you view something (and don't know if it's any good) - you pay nothing. The next time you view it you've basically agreed that it's worthy enough and you should be charged 1c for rights to view that clip for the next 6 or 12 months (author choice). Like the ringtone market... Something like that. I don't view more than 50 clips a month so personally I wouldn't mind the 50c "cost". Of course it should be 1c per 15min or something, so if someone creates a beautiful 2-hr-long tutorial for product X, they should receive more than just a single penny per viewer... (and if they're smart, they'll break the tutorial into separate-purchase chapters/topics).
Just thinking out loud on how this SHOULD work... free = crap (normally). Sorry, but true.
Score: 0
|please send me invite as well for Joost
abalodis@gmail.com
Score: 0
|Hi,
Please send me an invite to Joost at:
hiker2k3@yahoo.com
Many Thanks,
Citizen
Score: 0
|Please send an invitation? bassrck4@pa.metrocast.net
Score: 0
|