Coachella Begins!

Yeah, today is the first day of the Coachella music festival in California.  AT&T Music will be webcasting parts of the festival live, include tonight's performances by Morrissey, Paul McCartney (I have actually seen both of them in concert!), and more.  And I am so excited because they are going to be webcasting part of The Cure's performance on Sunday, yeah!

3D Keane Webcast

Well, today at 3 pm ET, British band Keane is hosting what is apparently the first ever 3D webcast.  They will be playing at the Abbey Road Studios in London.  Their website has directions on how to make your own 3D glasses to watch the webcast.  Should be lots of fun!!

Obama's Online Town Hall

I thought that Obama's first online town hall this morning was great and I hope that he will continue to use this interactive format.  He answered questions from the audience as well as video questions that were submitted online.  According to the Washington Post, "92,000 people submitted 104,000 questions and cast 3.6 million votes" to see which questions the President would answer.  Seems pretty successful to me!

Coachella Music and Arts Festival

I am so excited because AT&T Music is going to be webcasting from the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California next month.  Their website does not say exactly which bands they will be showing, but I am really hoping that they will show The Cure's headlining performance on Sunday, April 19th!!  :)

March Madness Webcasts

I am so happy that CBS Sports will be webcasting the March Madness basketball games for free. I am looking forward to checking out some games tomorrow!

Fabchannel - I Will Miss You!!

I am so sad to learn from TechCrunch today that live concert website Fabchannel is going out of business on March 13.  I was such a huge fan of the site for several reasons: they had great concerts from bands I already knew and bands that were fun to discover, the production quality was great, they advertised details of the events well in advance, and they archived the events afterwards.  I will truly miss you Fabchannel!!  Fabchannel, which shows concerts live from Amsterdam, is blaming its demise on "bad economic prospects within the music and online advertising market."  So sad...

Tenenbaum - RIAA Case Webcast

Happy Mardi Gras!  And don't forget that today is free pancake day at IHOP!  :)

Well, a hearing from the Joel Tenenbaum - RIAA case was supposed to be webcast this afternoon, but it looks like the webcast won't be happening until later, if ever at all!  It looks like the hearing that was scheduled for today has been pushed back until April 30 and the recording industry is still fighting to ban the webcast.  The webcast was going to be one of the rare times that a recording from a Federal trial court was going to be allowed.  I hope that the court will allow the upcoming hearing to be webcast!  From browsing around online, it appears that there are a LOT of people interested in watching it!   

The lawsuit is from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum and others.  This particular hearing was for oral arguments of the parties' motions concerning the defendant's counterclaims, with the actual trial probably scheduled to begin in June.  In the lawsuit, the RIAA is seeking $1 million for 7 copyrighted songs that Joel Tenenbaum downloaded in 2004 over peer-to-peer networks.

Ustream and Qik

I read two things recently about live video streaming websites Ustream and Qik that I thought were pretty interesting.  

Here's the first about Ustream.

Ustream just launced a service called Watershed for companies that want to upgrade from the free Ustream video player.  The service will range between $.25 to $1 per viewer hour, based on the number of viewers, and features will include the ability to add a logo, chat, polling, video chat, Twitter integration, analytics and more.  Sometimes I get frustrated by the current Ustream webcasts, so it will be interesting to see if many companies use this new service and make substantial improvements to their webcasts.

Here's the second about Qik.

A few days ago, someone on Qik live streamed a minute of his wife in the hospital while she was giving birth via c-section.  He did not show the actual surgery, just his wife's face, but the hospital had requested that he not record the birth.  Anyways, based on the article's reader comments, it looks like a lot of people have very strong opinions one way or another about whether or not this was appropriate.  We'll see how people's feelings about this change over the years, as I am sure that this will just become more common! 

Facebook & Cupcakes

I was so excited last night because late last night on facebook, I received an "update" from one of my "groups" (The Smithsonian Institution).  The update was about a live webcast today from 2-5 pm with an artist creating portraits of Obama and Lincoln out of cupcakes for President's Day.  I had not come across any mentions of that webcast before, so thank goodness for facebook!  It has been so much fun watching this webcast!  They are almost done completing the portrait, and it looks great!  It is made out of over 5,600 chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet cupcakes.  Tomorrow they are going to have coverage from the museum from 12-6:30 as well.  I'm not exactly sure what they will show, but at 5:00 they are going to let visitors eat the cupcakes!  I wish that I could go, but I'll be out of town.  Oh well.....

today's webcast - http://www.lyvegyde.com/events/1385

tomorrow's webcast - http://www.lyvegyde.com/events/1391

Twitter

I have really grown to love twitter over the past month.  I can't believe that I've only really been twittering for a month now and I already have almost 300 updates.  I originally signed up for twitter for personal use early last year, but I wasn't really sure what I would use it for.  To communicate with friends, I would just use email (or facebook now).  Anyways, it is perfect though for sending out real-time updates to notify followers when live webcasts are about to start.  I've also recently started using the search function more and it is pretty neat to find people who have enjoyed the webcasts that we have listed!  Anyways, basically, I think that twitter is great!

Super Bowl - So, Why No Webcast?

Well, I watched the Super Bowl yesterday, but it was very disappointing to me since there was no official live webcast!  The NFL did stream the NBC Sunday Night games for free throughout this season, so I was really disappointed that they didn't follow through with a webcast of the biggest game of the year!  The Sunday night games were produced really well, with multiple streams, statistics, and chats.  It would have been a really nice touch to have the same features for last night's game.  

Four main reasons I can think of for why the NFL should have streamed the Super Bowl are:

- Allow people who are not near a tv to watch the game (I guess this really means people at work!).

- Allow people who do not own a tv to watch the game.  From what I have been reading, more and more people are getting rid of their tvs and just using the internet to watch programs.

- Online coverage allows for those extra special features such as multiple camera angles.

- When there is no webcast, it is frustrating for viewers who assume that it will be available online.

Plus did I mention that it is 2009!!  :)

Coachella 2009

I am so excited, because the Coachella music festival in California (April 2009) announced their lineup, and my favorite band, The Cure, will be there!  Yeah!  Last year, the AT&T Blue Room had a live Coachella webcast, so I am hoping that they will do it again.  I'm a little bit concerned though, because a couple of months ago, AT&T reformatted their Blue Room, and honestly, I don't know that the content has been as good ever since.  Please AT&T, hear my cry - please webcast Coachella again!!

Another Oprah Webcast

Well, Oprah has another webcast tomorrow.  Just a couple of weeks ago, she had her week-long Best Life webcast series, so I am excited to see that she already has another webcast in the works.  The webcast is at 9:00 pm ET and features Dr. Christiane Northrup discussing hormone replacement therapy for women.  Users can use a form to submit questions for Dr. Northrup.    

I thought that the Best Life webcasts were very well produced and I was happy that they archived the webcasts very quickly the next day.  I was afraid that the servers would freeze up from the number of viewers, but I didn't have any problems watching the webcasts at all.  Also, it was nice that each individual person did not really have to register to watch the webcasts.  I registered before the webcast series began and I received links each day to watch the various webcasts.  I believe that the links were all the same, and the links worked without additional registration which was nice.

Inauguration Wrap-Up

Well, the inauguration was 2 days ago, but I'm still trying to recover from all of the excitement!  I still need to find some more archives of webcasts from some of the events in the evening.  I also need to keep up with all of the other webcasts that we have going on, so it has been a little bit busy around her.  

Thank you to everybody who linked to our site for inauguration events, and thank you to everyone who came to our site to find events.  I was so impressed with the number of visitors that we had (from 47 states and 48 countries!) and I hope that the webcasts worked well for everyone.  I know that there were lots of reports of news organizations' webcasts freezing up.  Speaking of reports, I was also so excited to actually be quoted in an article by The Industry Standard.  You can find it here!

Inauguration Webcasts

Well, the inauguration is tomorrow, how exciting! We created a special section on lyvegyde with links to inauguration events. It still has been a little bit difficult to find details on all of them, but I will be updating lyvegyde throughout the day tomorrow in case I find any times or links that change. I hope that everything goes smoothly with the webcasts and that nobody's servers are overloaded! I also hope that everyone takes time to watch the inauguration!

lyvegyde for educators

With the inauguration coming up on Tuesday, it looks like lots of teachers and other educators are trying to figure out how to show their students live coverage without having to use a tv.  Hopefully they will consider using some of the inauguration day webcasts that we have been listing on lyvegyde.  Since we just launched in October, here is some information about the site for educators (including an INAUGURATION section below). 

WHAT IS LYVEGYDE?

lyvegyde (http://www.lyvegyde.com) is a website created by a brother and sister (that's me, Mary Stevens) to provide links to live, online events - primarily video webcasts, but also the occasional text chats or audio programs. We only provide links to free webcasts and we only rarely provide links to events that require registration (the event has to be really good!).  We include events from organizations such as universities, think tanks, museums, congressional committees, government agencies, concert halls, sports organizations, and more.  We also love interactive events, such as text chats or webcasts where viewers can submit questions.  We do not include adult or otherwise explicit content.   

We add upcoming events as we find them and also accept user-submitted events.  Whenever possible, we also provide links to archives of events once they have ended.  Our website automatically displays event times for your time zone.  We sort events into live & starting soon (within the next 24 hours), future (anything beyond the next 24 hours, sorted by date), most anticipated (users have saved these events as a "favorite"), recently added, categories (events may be in multiple categories), recent events (our past events - they are labeled with "archived!" if we have a link to the archive), our picks (our favorite upcoming events), and our favorite archived events.  The search feature is also helpful for finding events about a particular topic.  

SOME LYVEGYDE DETAILS

lyvegyde is completely free to use and our website does not require registration.  You can create an account if you would like to save events in a "my favorites" tab, save events that you have submitted in a "my submitted" tab, change your default time zone, or flag an event as over if we haven't realized that it has ended yet. Sometimes events start slightly later than their scheduled time or the event link will change at the last minute, but we try to monitor everything and make updates as soon as possible.  Occasionally, video webcasts require software that isn't already typically installed on a computer, so it may be helpful to leave a couple of extra minutes to see if any special installation will be required by the event website.  Also, we check the archive links when we add them, but occasionally an organization changes these links and we may not realize that they have been changed.

SOME ONLINE INAUGURATION COVERAGE FOR EDUCATORS 

Unfortunately, some of the organizations providing webcast coverage for the inauguration have released few details.  I will be updating lyvegyde as quickly as possible, including on inauguration day when I will be monitoring the sites constantly.

- CNN Live will be integrated with facebook on inauguration day for any schools or teachers who want to update their facebook pages during the day.  More details are here .

- The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies website states that they will have streaming coverage of the swearing-in ceremony with CLOSED CAPTIONING, which could be helpful in a classroom environment.  The website does not say what time their coverage will begin.  The actual swearing-in ceremony takes place at noon ET on January 20th. See lyvegyde link here.

- News organizations such as C-SPAN, MSNBC, CBS News, Fox News, and more have also announced that they will have inauguration day coverage.  Find more links on lyvegyde.

SOME OTHER UPCOMING EVENT LINKS FOR EDUCATORS

Here are examples of some upcoming video webcasts during the school day that may be of interest to teachers and their students:

- Monday, January 19 at 1:00 pm ET - Princeton University's Annual King Day Celebration includes awards given to students in grades 4-12 for an essay, poster, and video contest - see lyvegyde link here

- Monday, January 26th at 9:45 am ET - The American Library Association's Youth Media Awards which includes the prestigious John Newbery Medal, given to an author for the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" - see lyvegyde link here

Other upcoming events may be of interest to educational leaders.  For example, on Wednesday, February 11 at 5:00 pm ET, Rice University is holding a panel discussion on the politics of teaching evolution in Texas. See lyvegyde link here.

ARCHIVED EVENT LINKS FOR EDUCATORS

In addition to providing links upcoming live events, we also provide links to archived events whenever possible. Some categories where educators may find interesting events include education, children & family, political, government, science, and more.  Sample events include the following:

- December 17th interactive video webcast with astronaut Richard Garriott from the Challenger Center for Space Science Education See lyvegyde link here.

- December 9th interactive text chat with the author of Odd Girl Out - The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls from PBS Engage See lyvegyde link here.

- November 12th video webcast about Trouble Online: Campus Computing and the Law from the University of Illinois at Springfield See lyvegyde link here.

SUBMIT AN EVENT!

Of course, if you know of a great upcoming free webcast, please submit it to lyvegyde!  Almost none of our events require registration, so if an event does require registration, it has to be good!  We love webcasts from universities, think tanks, museums, congressional committees, and the like, and of course, feel free to submit webcasts such as concerts and other non-educational events.  Simply submit the webcast link (that's all that's required - other details are optional) to lyvegyde or send an event to me at mary@lyvegyde.com.

Inauguration Busy-ness!

Well, it has gotten quite busy at lyvegyde due to the upcoming inauguration.  I've been working on gathering links for inaugural webcasts and I've been coming up with quite a few, even though as usual, details are very difficult to find!  I've found articles mentioning that the following sources will have live online coverage - CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, C-SPAN, ABC News, Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, LINKlive (inaugural gala at the Corcoran), and the Presidential Inaugural Committee (Neighborhood Ball with Barack Obama).  Some details I have have to "guesstimate" for lyvegyde based on information I have found.  

I've found some other references to webcasts, but without details, so I will keep my eye on them. Here's what I've found:

2009 Heroes Red, White and Blue Ball - trying to webcast it - looking for sponsor - will be webcast on Pentagon Channel, but not enough information to tell if this will be live

Radio One - link to a live broadcast and "watch it here," but no details

HBO We are One special - Concert on January 18 in DC - found a reference that they would like to webcast it, but have not found any details - that would be great though, since Bruce Springsteen will be there!! 

Anyways, I'm still on the lookout!

Also, it has gotten very busy with confirmation hearings this week.  I had links to 5 live hearings earlier today, but unfortunately, CNN Live interrupted coverage of one to show a press conference instead. Anyways, there are four going on now, including Hillary Clinton!

Inauguration - CNN & Facebook

I am happy because I have finally been finding some information about inaugural webcasts.  I figured that CNN Live would have coverage, but they announced that they will be teaming up with facebook for the inauguration.  The CNN Live coverage will incorporate facebook status updates on the same page.  When you go to the CNN Live website, it says to go to facebook.com/cnn to RSVP for this, so I went ahead and RSVP'd yesterday.  The RSVP process was a tiny bit confusing because it has a large graphic arrow pointing to a small event link, but once you click on it you can find the RSVP option.  I RSVP'd and it showed up on my facebook page, but then I received an email at 12:16 yesterday saying that Chrissy Blaisdell canceled the event!  I have no idea what that was all about!  I tried again today though and it seemed to work, so hopefully the webcast will work smoothly on inauguration day.

Digital Built & Twitter

I was happy to find a blog about webcasts yesterday called Digital Built (www.digitalbuilt.com).  Check it out to learn more from Dan Swiney who works in webcasting.  He encouraged me to use twitter, so you can find me now under username lyvegyde.  Find Dan on twitter under username digitalbuilt.

Inauguration....Where Are You?

I am pretty excited because the year is off to a great start with lots of interesting events...political, music, dance, sports, ceremonies, etc...the one thing that is missing is the inauguration!  It was announced yesterday that Barack Obama's inaugural ball will be webcast. Now, the issue is just finding out any details about the webcast!  I haven't found an actual URL or specifics in any of the articles.  I am also surprised generally at the lack of details about inaugural event webcasts.  I am sure that there will be lots of great events, but I am guessing that details are yet to come.....

Oprah's Best Life Series Starts

Oprah's Best Life Series starts tomorrow on tv.  It lasts all week and then is followed by a week of corresponding webcasts the week of January 12th.  I'm looking forward to checking it out to see what it is like.  

Macworld (in San Francisco, CA) and the Consumer Electronics Show (in Las Vegas, NV) are also taking place this week, so I am looking forward to webcasts from both of those as well.  

Let's hope that 2009 is filled with lots of great webcasts!