Yahoo Live

DJ broadcasts, ping-pong matches, kids playing video games, puppet shows… and a ton of people just staring at their computers. Seems like short-term entertainment, but there’s long-term potential with Yahoo Live - a video conference/chat room service that launched a couple days ago. And according to the Yahoo Live blog, created by a team of 6 people. wild.

One thing to keep in mind is that although this product comes from Yahoo! (a
big company), the team working on Y! Live is only six people deep.

Yahoo isn’t the first to introduce live web broadcasting capabilities, there are a couple others - ustream.tv and stickam.com. I haven’t fully experienced the sites, but my first impressions are that they are bloated with advertisements, and have clunky interfaces. Just being honest.

Yahoo Live really shines when broadcasting an event, allowing people to comment, chat, and web conference live with the cast. Plus the ability to embed the live video into a blog or web site. Additionally, developers can use the Yahoo Live API to create great applications and integrations - think event broadcasts for facebook applications, widgets, or randomizer.