Skinkers interview
Last week I had the pleasure of catching up with Matteo Berlucchi from Skinkers where we talked about their innovative technology and their relationship with Microsoft. We also captured a live demo of their LiveStation product that I discussed last week.
These guys area great example of how Microsoft can and does work with small, innovative software companies and the video is longer than usual (17 mins) as Matteo and I discuss that as well as talking about their company, the product and our propensity to buy lots of gadgets!
Don't forget to sign up for the beta and put my name in the "where you heard from field" to faster access!
Comments
Anonymous
June 30, 2007
Interesting interview, beyond the technology and the nature of the relationship with MSFT.Anonymous
July 03, 2007
Livestation , I had never heard of this product before today but after an email from a friend about itAnonymous
July 04, 2007
I have signed up and put in your name as a recommendation thanks :)Anonymous
July 05, 2007
This sounds really interesting. I wonder how Livestation will work compared to Joost. I'll sign up and try it out.Anonymous
July 05, 2007
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July 05, 2007
How does this compare to Zattoo (www.zattoo.com)? They too offer live television on the computer, so it looks very similar.Anonymous
July 05, 2007
Hey guys, Thanks for the excitement I'd like to add a couple of important comments though:
- While Microsoft has a minority stake in Skinkers (the company developing LiveStation), this project is very much our own initiative. We are developing the platform on technology originally developed by Microsoft Research in Cambridge but now it's fair to say that we are going forward with our own engineers (with the occasional phone-call to the MS researchers for hard-to-find answers!).
- Unlike what some people are saying, we are definitely NOT TAKING ON Joost! We love Joost and think it's a great idea, but we are trying to do something different and complementary: we are trying to get live television on the computer. We believe that the user experience with streaming so far has never been really good enough. We hope to move the user experience a step forward and maybe to the point where people will look at LiveStation and think "Wow, I can ACTUALLY watch this and keep it on my computer". Thanks again for the support and interest but please don't go around shouting "Microsoft is taking on Joost". The correct slogan should be "Skinkers is trying to get TV working on the computer!" and I can assure you, it is fun but very hard! All the best. LiveStation team
Anonymous
July 05, 2007
Livestation , from Microsoft Research, streams live TV over P2P using Silverlight to play the media onAnonymous
July 05, 2007
LiveStation is Microsoft's offering for Live broadcasting over the Internet This is the information broadcast...Anonymous
July 06, 2007
Wow, you do a short Partner-TV video and the world goes mad!! The guys at Skinkers are no doubt excitedAnonymous
July 06, 2007
Wow, you do a short Partner-TV video and the world goes mad!! The guys at Skinkers are no doubt excitedAnonymous
July 06, 2007
How lng from sinning up does it usually take to get an invite?Anonymous
July 06, 2007
not totally sure Connor as the guys are inundated at the moment. make sure you put my name in the request field...may help!Anonymous
July 07, 2007
As the engineer for a small eSports broadcaster, we were currently looking for a cost effective solution to get higher quality streams out to our end users. This looks to be an awesome product. I hope to be speaking to them shortly (October is way too long guys!)Anonymous
July 07, 2007
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July 09, 2007
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July 09, 2007
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July 10, 2007
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July 12, 2007
I would like to know if the livestation uses the same approach than mTreebone, developed by microsoft research in Asia?Anonymous
July 13, 2007
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July 15, 2007
Over the last few years I've worked on a number of projects where a pretty important deliverableAnonymous
July 15, 2007
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July 15, 2007
did you watch the video interview FJPerkins? The answer to why this is different to Joost is in there. In summary, Livestation is "live" whereas Joost is recoreded content. All I can say is try it out - Skinkers believe they have a very efficient P2P process.Anonymous
July 16, 2007
Yes, Steve, I did watch the whole of the interview, and kept wondering when the punchline was coming. The continuum between "live, live" and "On-demand" has quite a few shades of grey across a spectrum.. I prefer (as a broadcaster) to distinguish between "broadcast" and "video on demand", which are totally different experiences in lots of ways. I'm not knocking Skinker. But broadcast streaming has been around for quite a while, and I still am trying to understand what's really new. I stream my ("live" in its many forms, but specifically simulcast with what is broadcast in other media) broadcast channel, and a radio channel, using multicast (as opposed to unicast) technology (arguably much more efficient than P2P, and zero impact on participants). I'm genuinely open to suggestions as to why Skinker might be an improvement.Anonymous
July 16, 2007
FJ - I guess the proof is in the eating and to date, I'm very pleased with Livestation. It works well, seem bandwidth efficient and not overly burdened by ads. Sounds like you have much more comparative experience than me though so hopefully you're on the beta and can offer some sage comparisons? cheersAnonymous
July 18, 2007
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September 30, 2007
You can't keep the man Berlucchi off the little screen and following the success of the video interview