Bambuser partners with Sony to bring live video broadcasting to Xperia™ Z1

Sony Mobile Communications (Sony Mobile) and Bambuser have joined efforts to bring a groundbreaking camera experience to the Xperia™ Z1 with the Xperia camera application, Social live. Social live is a fully integrated camera feature, powered by Bambuser, that lets users instantly broadcast live video to their friends on Facebook from Xperia Z1. During the live broadcast, friends and viewers can interact with the broadcaster as comments and likes are displayed instantly on the screen of the smartphone.

Bambuser CEO Jonas Vig says:

We're very happy and proud to work with Sony to provide the quickest and easiest way to share live video with your friends and followers. We are mutually committed to further develop and enhance the experience and we believe there are great opportunities in combining Bambuser's innovative technology with Sony’s product vision.

The Social live feature is available exclusively to Xperia Z1 users straight out of the box, as part of a suite of Xperia camera applications available at the time of the smartphone's launch. The feature will work over virtually any data connection and the proprietary Bambuser streaming technology will automatically adjust resolution, compression and frame-rate of the live broadcast in order to optimize the live experience over fluctuating networks. An HD version (720p, 30 fps) of the stream will be stored locally on the device, allowing users to get the most out of every moment – both live and ever after. Both free and premium versions will be offered, with the premium upgrade allowing longer videos, higher quality live streams, more extensive cloud storage and ad-free playback.

Jonas Vig adds:

To partner with one of the most respected and well known consumer brands in the world is a fantastic achievement for Bambuser.

The Associated press invests in Bambuser

We are excited and proud to announce that the Associated Press (AP) has made an investment in Bambuser. The investment follows a successful partnership over the past 3 years. Through the investment, AP will become a minority shareholder in Bambuser, bringing an unparalleled knowledge and experience to our Company.

What this means for you as a user:

The investment from AP will not affect You as a user in any notable way. We will continue to offer the free Bambuser service for personal use and charity organizations. The investment also means that we will be able grow the program of providing free Premium accounts to citizen journalists across the globe. Our terms of use remain the same and you still retain all copyright. The AP will not gain any ownership or copyright of any content, nor will they control the distribution of it. Since April 2012 we give you as a user the option to opt-in to share your newsworthy content with news outlets such as the AP. Sharing content with AP is completely optional and not enabled by default. You can opt-in to share your broadcasts with AP by following the instructions in the "Share the news"-section of your settings page after you've registered an account on Bambuser. This has proven very successful and we've helped many of our users to reach hundreds of millions of viewers across the globe with important eyewitness news.

What this means for Bambuser:

For us in the Bambuser team, the investment from AP is a fantastic stamp of approval that the resources and immense number of working hours we've invested so far has positioned us in the forefront of a changing media landscape. It also provides us with access to unparalleled expertise and distribution when it comes to rolling out our coming technology products to Media companies globally. If you have any questions or thoughts, please don't be a stranger, send an email to support@bambuser.com.

Cheers, Jonas - Bambuser CEO.

Updated Android app

We recently updated our Android app to version 1.6.6. This small update should be of particular interest to owners of modern Sony phones, as we've added support for fast and efficient video encoding on many of their models. Owners of Galaxy S II, Nexus 4 or Nexus 7 devices can also expect higher quality video and a smoother frame rate.

A small note for Nexus 7 owners: Even six months after Android 4.2 was released, the Google Play store has not been updated to support detection of devices with any kind of camera, so our app is unfortunately not visible to Nexus 7 devices on the Play Store.

As always, you can find the Android app and the recent changes on the Play Store. You can also get the app straight from our download page.

We mourn the loss of Mr Muhammad Qassem Eid al-Masalmah

Yesterday Muhammad Qassem Eid al-Masalmah was killed while covering clashes between Free Syrian Army and Assad military forces. He had travelled to the Daraa countryside, Bosor Harir as he was brutally gunned down by an Assad sniper (Warning: Graphic). His life could possibly have been saved if there had been any medical facilities in the area but Bosor Harir lacks all of that due to the ongoing conflict.

Muhammad Qassem Eid al-Masalmah was one in the first group of people in Daraa who started peaceful demonstrations to protest against the Assad regime. He became one of the first citizen journalists in Daraa and in Syria taking photos, shooting videos and doing live broadcasts. It's no understatement saying he was a crucial part of the Syrian uprise against the regime in Syria and especially in Daraa. The Syrian secret police and military had tried to eliminate him numerous times because of his work. Among activists in Daraa he was looked upon as true hero who was respected by all.

Mr Qassem Eid al-Masalmah was early a part of S.N.N. SHAAM News Network and he was essential in getting information out from Daraa about the situation there. He was broadcasting live as late as yesterday before taking to the streets in Bosor Harir.

Here's a video of him when covering clashes between Free Syrian Army and Assad forces in Daraa a few weeks ago.




A wife has lost a husband, the world has lost a very brave man fighting for democracy in Syria and an opportunity to get live footage and photos from inside Daraa, showing the brutality, killing and terror exercised by dictator Assad and his armed forces.

In his honor activists in Daraa will continue using his channels to distribute information from the governorate of Daraa.

More information to be found here

5 ways to get the best out of Bambuser

1. Adjust your video quality and resolution - While broadcasting you can see your current stream health in the app. If the stream health is permanently at 100% you can try to switch to a higher resolution/quality. If it's below 70% it's a good idea to switch to a lower resolution/quality for better video flow and a better experience for your viewers.

2. Improve on-demand viewing - When you broadcast, it may not be possible to send all video in real-time, depending on your network speed. Our apps will then drop some data to ensure low latency combined with the best possible flow for your quality settings. Any unsent data is stored on your device and can be uploaded to make the archived video full frame rate, giving a much improved on-demand viewing experience. Read more on our help page.

3. Tag specific times in video - If you want to share a specific moment in the video just click "Share", tick the box "link to specific time in player" and use the time in video you want to refer to.

4. Upgrade to the latest version of the Bambuser iOS app to get support for 16:9 widescreen broadcasting on iOS 5 and up.

5. Are you a professional user? Get even more out of Bambuser. Read more about Bambuser's Premium solutions.