THANK YOU STEVE! Bambuser for iPhone in the AppStore Now!

We're totally thrilled to announce that the Bambuser app for iPhone is available for everyone to download via the App Store! As I wrote in a previous blog post, the app works on ALL iPhones (even the ones without native video capabilities)naturally though, it works best on the 3GS. Connect it to Facebook, Twitter and much more. Can't really think of anything more to write right now, so just try it out :-) And just have a lot of fun!

Cheers

Bambuser for iPhone submitted to App Store

Last week provided some interesting insights on tha approval criterias over at Apple's (we totally understand them though. No harm ;). So we moved some stuffed around (and oh yeah, the Team worked 24/7...) and we've now submitted a new version of Bambuser for iPhone - Non-jailbreaked that is! We REALLY anticipate this version to be officially approved by Apple. The application will allow you to stream live video from any iPhone, even the ones that don't have video capabilities. Yeah I know, some mad voodoo-stuff from the dev guys ;) Look out for more info sooooon!

Cheerios

Demo of the app, live broadcasted with my HTC Magic



And what it looks like from the iPhone

@Manster is @ #leweb09

Just a quick shout out! Our very own evangelist Måns Adler is spending the coming 2 days at LeWeb09 in beautiful Paris(www.leweb.net). If you want to grab him for a date, just tweet him @manster. Don't be shy...

Bambuser desktop broadcasts go widescreen

it is in Swedish but you get the point...

Yesterday we made a new release of our player that will probably be of interest for our more advanced users. The new player handles non-4:3 aspect ratios correctly when broadcasting from third party applications such as Wirecast and Flash Media Encoder. So now you can broadcast in that good looking wide-screen format from your desktop apps.

(we have been supporting different kinds of widescreen formats earlier but only from mobile phones)

Let Bambuser help you drive traffic to your website, blog, MySpace etc.

For those of you who have not yet connected your Bambuser account to Facebook, Twitter or any of the other supported 3:rd party services - try it out, it’s awesome! You’ll find out how easy it is to connect in this short tutorial.


Customize your status-update-URL

We know that many of you would like your viewers to watch your broadcasts at your own website, blog or MySpace page in order to boost traffic (learn more about how to embed your Bambuser channel or video). Therefore we added some things and now allow you to customize the link posted in the status update to the services and networks that you connect your Bambuser account to. It will look something like this:




To connect and make use of all this nice stuff, sign in to your Bambuser account and go to your Dashboard, where you'll find "Settings" on the right side of the screen. Scroll down to "3:rd party services" and connect to any service you automatically want to update - and feel free to customize the posted URL!




Enjoy :-)

//BambCrew

We will be at SIME 2009

The old guy and probably me and Jonas will spend some time at SIME this week. It is going to be nice to let The Old Guy out in the wild. Do not hesitate to contact us for a short date or a short pitch.

We want you!

We're now preparing to take the step from being a promising talent to becoming the Zlatan Ibrahimovich of the internets! Therefore we’re now expanding our team and first out is to find a skilled Front-end Web Developer.

Currently, we are 10 people around 25 years and one old guy, with a burning passion for Bambuser! Our development office is based in Åbo/Turku and our head office is located in Stockholm.

We are looking for people who want to be a part of a great journey. Send us some code that you are proud of and a résumé of what you have done in the past.

Your profile should include:

Good knowledge in PHP, Python, JavaScript and Actionscript and familiar with Drupal, Jquery and AS2 (will lower period of introduction). A good sense for graphics is necessary, and if the person is also able to do graphic design work it’s an advantage. The person we’re looking for is living in Åbo/Turku or Stockholm.

Please send your application to:

tom@bambuser.com

Broadcast live directly on Facebook

We know you’ve all wanted this and now you've got it!

We’re taking our Facebook integration to a new level. When you have connected your Bambuser account to Facebook the live broadcasts will now be seen in the news feed – of course all your friends will also be able to watch it on demand from the news feed after you’ve finished broadcasting. We’ve been testing this day and night for the last few days and what we've seen is that the number of views per broadcast increases dramatically – yay!

If you already have connected your Bambuser account to Facebook you will have to disconnect it on bambuser.com and re-connect it again to make it work. We tried to find a shortcut but couldn't - sorry about this.

Some updates on Android

Just a short stop to say some words about the updates made on our android app.

Bambuser for Android, version 1.1

-Added full support for storing and uploading complement data
-Improved support for Android 1.6 (Donut)
-Refined user interface
-More efficient bandwidth usage and less lag

Bambuser for Android released!

Bambuser adds support for broadcasting live over 3G or WiFi from the highly popular Android platform!

This initial release supports all currently available phones running Android 1.5, such as HTC's Dream, Magic, Hero and Samsung's Galaxy. Check out the full list on bambuser.com/phones.

The application includes a wide range of quality-settings, which makes it possible to scale the broadcast video and audio to suit your device and connection speed. You can choose to broadcast publicly or in private, and can enable geotagging of your broadcasts using built-in GPS.

The application shows incoming chat messages while you broadcast, making it possible to interact with viewers anywhere.

During the coming months we'll be working on adding additional features such as uploading complement data and pushing your broadcasts to friends, blogs and more. We welcome any feedback or suggestions for features, don't hesitate to contact us.

You can always find the latest version of the application through the Android Market or on bambuser.com/phones. Here's a link directly to Bambuser on the Android Market, if you are viewing this page on an Android device.

Yet another update to Bambuser for Windows Mobile

We recently released an updated version (1.1.1.0) of the Windows Mobile client, which brings progress on several fronts.

The most noticeable change in this version is the ability to rotate the user interface and the sent video, to support a wide range of devices, and to be able to send landscape instead of portrait video on more devices. You can find this under Settings in the application.

Secondly, this version has improved video encoding. The new codec is very well suited for low bandwidth conditions and will give you better flowing broadcasts when you select the lower video quality settings. The high quality setting will continue to use a simpler codec, for maximum detail and speed at the cost of bandwidth.

Additionally, the new version gives more informative feedback in case of connection problems and contains bugfixes for some other rare problems.

Bambuser nominated in 2 categories for "The Europas"

Bambuser is nominated in two categories for the TechCrunch held "The Europas" award. Please give us a hand and vote for us so we can head over t London and take home an award or two.
-The Europas: Best Mobile Startup (EMEA) (vote here)
- The Europas: Best Mobile Application (EMEA) (vote here)

Vote or die 2009

In its core we view bambuser as democratizing tool were everyone should be able to speak and show their mind. To enforce this democratizing thought we want to push for this initiative. www.voteordie2009.eu

New version for Windows Mobile

Here at Bambuser we do not discriminate against anyone. Not even against people using Microsoft-based products. To prove this, we are now launching a new version of Bambuser for Windows Mobile!

First and foremost, this version adds the feature to upload complement data. This has been a very popular feature on Symbian-based phones, and we hope you will enjoy it on Windows Mobile too! It's possibly the best thing to be invented in Finland since rye bread.

Second, the new version supports high quality audio on a broader range of devices. This especially applies to phones manufactured by HTC.

Additionally, there are many small tweaks and fixes under the hood, which should give that little bit of extra performance we constantly try to squeeze out of mobile devices.

If you are new to complement uploading, let us explain: If your connection to the internet is weak when you broadcast live, pieces of the broadcast which can't be sent immediately are stored on your phone, keeping your latency low. When uploading this data afterwards, our servers get to business and start putting together all the pieces to improve your archived broadcast, giving on-demand viewers a smoother experience regardless of how slow and choppy your data connection was.

I can reveal that there is more coming for the Windows Mobile client in the future. Lots of top secret stuff that we (programmers at Bambuser) spend day and night working on, surviving only on the hope that we may one day venture outside the office again.

We are thankful for all feedback we get about existing or wanted features and have everything stored. We consider all suggestions when we decide what to work on.

Get going with Wirecast or FME

Hi just wanted to drop two quick tutorials on how you can use desktop applications such the amazing Wirecast or Flash Media Encoder to broadcast over Bambuser. This is two simple "how to get going" tutorials but with each desktop app you can do a lot more magic so try them out.

Bambuser and IRLconnect launched a great synergy yesterday, bringing you live videos to a map. IRLconnect have built a beautiful integration on their map for bambuser live videos. We also enjoy seeing that more and more of those integrations coming up based on our API. So sign up for an IRLconnect account and keep geographical track of your social media content, and do not forget to connect your bambuser streams to IRLconnect in your settings under 3:rd party services. Read more about it on techcrunch here

Private mode has arrived!

Ohyes!

It has been the most requested feature... And finally it's here!
Now you can keep your cozy family gatherings for yourself or capture that private moment in life without sharing it with the whole world. Private mode is here! We will of course keep developing this function to add even more sophisticated privacy options.

From today - Friday 17th of April, the private function is available for all platforms (Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone) as well as for broadcasting via your browser. You will need to download a new version of the application to your phone.

To celebrate this we will launch a competition where we will give away a Nokia N85 to the producer of the craziest, funniest, most ridiculous or most creative broadcast that is NOT private :-) So giddy up and make your move and send us the link(s) at notprivate@bambuser.com. Don't forget to attach your preferred contact details. The competition will close May 4th. And hey! You may send us as many broadcasts as you wish...

Have a great weekend!

//BambuserCrew

Bambuser a Red Herring top 100 Europe company

I spent thursday evening with some of the most talented people in europe at the Red Herring top 100 europe awards. Luckily bambuser was awarded as one of the top 100 winners.

Support for FME and updated browser based broadcaster

This morning we rolled out a couple of nice additions to the Bambuser toolbox that should come in handy next time you broadcast from your computer.

We now allow everyone to use the Windows XP / Vista based desktop application "Flash Media Live Encoder" from Adobe, a tool dedicated to high quality live streaming with H.264 and VP6 codecs. Hook up your webcam or DV camera and shine! See the guide for details on how to get started.



Also new is a vastly overhauled browser based broadcaster. Next time you do casual webcam broadcasting you will have a much more user friendly interface to guide you. Look for the "Go live with your cam" button in your dashboard as usual. Kudos to Jasper who pulled this one off!

The dirty story of the iPhone app

A long time ago, we locked the door to our dev. dungeon in a dark cellar in the outskirts of Stockholm. The guy in the dungeon was left with only a handful of things; a computer, the internets, some vegetarian Swedish meatballs and an iPhone. The rules were as simple as clear;

- No sunlight until the iPhone app is released!

Leo was in charge of the whole thing. Many days later and after some assistance from Martin, Leo crawled out of the dungeon triumphing with an iPhone app installed on his phone.

- Nobody puts baby in a corner, he said and raised his hand towards the sky. We didn't actually had a clue what he meant but we were all damn happy to be able to stream live video from our iPhones!

So Ladies and Gentlemen without much further ado; The First version of the Bambuser iPhone app is yours to download via Cydia (requires a jailbreaked phone...) follow the steps here http://bambuser.com/help/iPhone. This version include chat functionality, GPS-support and works best over WiFi. Soon to come: Ability to upload dropped frames to always get a complete video, various video settings and other UI components. Oh, and yeah... prettier UI.

Have the time of your life!

Winner of the "Nöjesguiden" Media award

Last week bambuser took home yet another award. Someone said: "you will never be prophet in your own country". So for us to take home the only really prestigoues award in Malmö (mine and jonas hometown) was a great success on a personal level.

The jury´s verdict

An invention that makes life easier and turns us all into mediaproducers; Tehcnology at its best.

Bambuser proudly present to you; Lowest latency with excellent on demand quality!

After countless hours of planning and hard work we're now proud to release a widely improved version of our application for Symbian S60 and UIQ.

Our main vision is, and has always been, to provide you all with the possibility to stream live broadcasts with the lowest latency possible. This focus is based on a strong belief that the major innovation of live video broadcasting is the ability to interact. Once you get too much latency that possibility is lost.

In order to keep you as close to real-time as possible we drop a few frames here and there which often still allows you to get a good video - even in poor conditions. However, in areas with very poor network or when loosing the connection every now and then, this has compromised the flow and quality of the on-demand video.

The new beauty; We now store any dropped frame or audio that can't get through while you're live and give you the option to complete your video with this data immediately after your live broadcast. This allows us to keep latency at an absolute minimum while also providing you with a perfect video when watching on demand!

Wonderful isn't it? If you have installed your existing client after 081021 ( version 1.02(2) or later) it will automatically remind you to download the latest version sometime soon. Still have an older version? Hey! What you're waiting for... go to bambuser.com/start and get it now! We'd love to hear what you think, try it out and send us your feedback at info@bambuser.com.

Cheers!

Bambuser in Barcelona

Me and Jonas will off course spend the week in Barcelona. We will mainly be in the swedish trade council booth. Feel free to contact us in anyway (Måns on +46734404220 or Jonas on +46735067657), or follow us on twitter.com/manster or twitter.com/bambuser.

Spectrial, The Pirate Bay trial - Live on Bambuser

Monday 16th of February will be a hectic day in Stockholm, Sweden. This will be the first day of a trial that by many is assumed to be a never ending story. It's a waggish-raggish case that will be followed by supporters of both sides all over the world.

Our friends over at TPB are convinced to make this a spectacular event, hence we are not to expect the average drowzy shoplifter trial.

Although me and Måns will be in Barcelona for MWC, Bambuser will of course send a team to cover the whole thing, baptized by TPB to "The Spectrial"

We will be broadcasting live as much as possible during as many days as we can, to provide you with the best information possible. But we also want you to participate in the discussion by speaking your mind live to the streets of Stockholm regardless of where in the world you are.

Sign up for a free account on Bambuser and fire up a live stream from your mobile phone or webcam. Share your opinion and interact with others. Remember to tag all your broadcasts with "TPB". As many streams as possible will be projected onto a wall of a building opposite to the Court House accompanied by the audio from our PA-system. Share your opinions - it matters.

Official site for the Spectrial; trial.thepiratebay.org
Bambuser channel; Spectrial

p.s Of course everyone should feel free to KOPIMI(copy the live broadcast) by embedding the broadcast player on your site or blog d.s

TV4 use Bambuser to do Live broadcasting in fullscreen on national TV!

This evening Swedish TV4 went all the way when they used Bambuser as a part of their Live talk show "Kvällsöppet" on national TV! Our service was used to provide a live feed from the home of blogger Marcus Birro who couldn't be there in person but took part in the discussion from a distance. The Bambuser stream was broadcasted live in fullscreen as well as on a studio monitor. We're truly excited about this and give mad props to TV4!


(At the end of the clip: note the big screen monitor to the left as well...)

Late last year TV4 used Bambuser to broadcast live from The Grande Finale of Swedish Idol2009.

Slowly we are seeing a fantastic merge of how the traditional and new broadcasting technologies can come together.

Way to go TV4!

Cheers

Bambuser down at the moment

We are experiencing some troubles with our servers, but we are working on it and we are hopefully back up soon enough. More info will follow when we know some more.

Update 8:17 pm CET
We are now back up and running. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The Road to Eurovision

TT Spektra (a part of the the largest news agency in Sweden - www.tt.se) teams up with us in order to provide live coverage of one of the largest events in Sweden this year "Melodifestivalen 2009". Over the coming 4 weeks two of their mobile journalists will use Bambuser to broadcast live shows and interviews with artists and celebrities. 17 Swedish newspapers will use the format for their special Melodifestivalen-sites.

- Bambuser is a great tool for live-broadcasting from the field. Through the live-chat that is integrated in the player viewers can interact with our journalists, hence influence the outcome of the production, says Niklas Larson, VP Digital Media TT-Spektra

Of course we're really excited to see what they will come up with and we suggest you bring out the pop-corn and soda and tune in to watch.

May the Winner take it all!

Swedish national television about bambuser

Yesterday Swedish public service SVT made a longer interview with Chris Anderson and his ideas about his upcoming book "Free" in that spot Bambuser was featured as the swedish hope on the evolutionary media horizon. You can have a look at it here.

Bambuser and Chris Anderson

Yesterday Chris Anderson was in Malmö presenting his observations on charging nothing. Of course his presentation was broadcasted live on bambuser and our own Måns Adler was up in the panel asking questions on the topic together with Jonathan Forster from Spotify and many more interesting people from the swedish media scene.

Evaluation day in Åbo

Last week we finished a great start of bambuser with an evaluation day in Åbo. It was a really refreshing day and bambuser are now ready with new fresh strategic plans and a lot of energy.

Bambuser nominated for Malmö/Lund media award

You should never forget where you come from and we definitely haven´t done that. Therefore we are very excites about our nomination in the "Nöjesguiden Malmö/Lund" media category this year. Malmö is mine and Jonas hometown and Pouria is living there today together with his girlfriend, the city is Sweden's third largest and holds nearly 300 000 inhabitants. On the 27th of february we will all know how it goes. We keep you posted.

Nokia 48h Mission

Three scandinavian teams are competing for the Scandinavian Daredevil title, all in the setting of Nokia 48 hour challenge.
The teams document their road to glory using mobile phones to their Twitter, Flicker, Ovi and of course Bambuser.
We support them all, go in and follow their live updates.