Archive of thenextweb.com
Written on 22nd June 2009
2 COMMENTS 
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Spotify, the innovative and widely respected music streaming app has increased the quality of its sound to CD level, aiming to increase interest in its premium subscription option.
Initially, not every song will be available in ‘CD Quality’, but the Swedish/UK based startup aims to have their entire catalogue covered over the next few weeks.
Daniel Ek, the companies chief executive told the Telegraph:
“Providing great sound quality has always been an important goal for us. Now, we’re taking the next step in offering an unparalleled listening experience.”
Spotify premium users can enable higher quality (more…)
Written on 10th June 2009
1 COMMENT
Martin Bryant, Co-founder, Social Media Café Manchester
It’s been possible for over a year but until now it’s been the preserve of a few geeks, bloggers and journalists. Could 2009 be the year live video streaming from mobile phones goes mainstream?
It’s been announced that one of the most popular live streaming apps, Qik, is to be pre-loaded with all of Nokia’s S60 smartphones, starting with their new flagship N97.
Qik’s CEO Ramu Sunkara is understandably upbeat about the news. “To be pre-loaded on all their Symbian S60 devices speaks to the confidence that Nokia has in Qik for its consumers around the world. We are extremely pleased that this pre-load is starting with Nokia N97, a truly game changing device.” (more…)
Written on 21st November 2008
5 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
After the awful news of the suicide live on streaming site Justin.tv yesterday, there has obviously been much discussion across the web. Tom Davis, Founder of YCombinator startup TicketStumbler, took it upon himself to post what can only be called a highly inappropriate joke on YCombinator’s Hacker News site.
It started with this message (I have intentionally not re-posted here) which immediately caused large scale condemnation from other members of the site. For those of you who aren’t regular visitors to Hacker News, comments work similarly to how Digg’s do – other members can vote comments or up or down. One member commented that they would not be using TicketStumbler.com in the future and as you can see below, a number of other members agreed.
Approximately 7 hours later Davis makes a public apology, which can be read below:
I would like to take a moment to publicly apologize for what I said in the Justin.tv thread. If you’ve decided to hate me forever, haven’t read it, or simply aren’t of the opinion that it’s a big deal you may stop reading now.
Upon returning home, I read a message from Dan (my co-founder) stating that, in hindsight, he felt it was a bad thing to say and, quote, “I feel sick to my stomach.” I knew then that no matter how serious I felt the infraction was, I had try my damnedest to clear it up. (more…)
Written on 25th March 2008
3 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Every week we publish an interview with a start-up. We ask five questions, hoping the answers will give you inspiration and new views. Well, actually six questions, since we also ask the start-up to who he or she is passing the mic to.
As I’ve promised you last week, I will interview the start-ups who participated in the start-up rally of PLUGG 2008. This time I’m interviewing Joonas Pekkanen from Floobs. That’s a Finnish start-up which enables anyone to setup their own live internet and mobile TV Channel. The advantage of this streaming video service, compared to competitors like Qik, is that it’s Java-based. So theoretically, the Java client is easily exported to a large number of mobile devices. Our WebTipr from Finland, Timo Paloheimo, has written a good overview of this promising start-up. Here’s their own story.
How did you come up with the idea of Floobs?
“We had been discussing different ideas with my co-founder Kai Lemmetty since the end of summer 2006. By winter we found ourselves discussing more and more often on the subject of live video and its possibilities. One evening we just suddenly realized that everyone will be carrying a video production tools in their pockets in the form of smart phones very soon. In the end of January we set-up the company and started working on the first draft of the business plan, recruiting key people and looking for seed funding. Our idea is to allow anyone to set-up their own live mobile Internet TV channels – streaming live content from mobile phones, web cams, DV cameras and mixing that with pre-recorded content.” (more…)
Written on 13th March 2008
6 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
In the beginning of December I celebrated ‘a revolution in mobile video‘. I was talking about Qik.com. The popular service that allows you to stream live from your phone. And oh, they’re also having a love affair with Robert Scoble. If you’ve visited a tech or web conference lately, chances are high that Scoble dragged you in front of his N95 to ask some questions. It also happened to us.
Yet there’s one problem with Qik. They seem to be a bit lazy since they still only support Nokia phones. Sure, the FAQ says ‘We are continuously adding support for phones’, yet all those people out there without a Nokia can still only dream about using Qik.
But now there’s the Swedish start-up Bambuser! I won’t call it another revolution, but it sure looks like a good Qik-alternative. Just like Qik, it differs from other services like Seesmic and Kyte with the good usability. It’s a little like the Twitter philosophy: leave out the unnecessary extras. So that’s great news for Sony Ericsson and Samsung adapts, you can all start your own video shows now too.
Written on 26th February 2008
0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
The world’s largest live music platform Fabchannel.com today announced that they’ve partnered up with the Dutch division of Universal Music. To be exact: concerts by Universal’s artists, recorded in the Netherlands, will be available as a high-quality video stream on Fabchannel.
Pop temple Paradiso
Fabchannel offers on-demand videos of more than 850 concerts, recorded in Paradiso and Melkweg in Amsterdam, Sala Bikini and Apollo in Barcelona and The Roxy in Los Angeles. Stars like Bloc Party, Damien Rice, The Frames and Simple Minds are already featured on the site.
Here in Amsterdam, Fabchannel is really popular. The only complaints I hear are about the lack of big stars on the site. Most of the times their record label doesn’t want to allow the video streams. This will change as Fabchannel has a deal with world’s largest record label.
I think it’s great news, and we partly owe it to Amsterdam and Foreman Capital, who bought some shares in Fabchannel. That allowed the music service to intensify their commercial and promotional activities and this deal probably is a direct consequence of that.
I hope other record companies will follow, so that I can watch more great recordings of my favorite bands. For now, you and I can enjoy this concert of The View:
Written on 17th December 2007
19 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
The next revolution in mobile video is here! Qik makes it possible to broadcast live from your Nokia phone. Robert Scoble discovered this new way of video sharing and is raving about it on his blog: “Holy s**t. I can stream live video to you now from anywhere at anytime.” This is how he drives his car.
Besides filming during driving, Qik makes a lot of other interesting activities possible. Just imagine the influence this will have on citizen journalism. Instead of endlessly uploading the video, the new reporters can broadcast their news right-a-way.
And what will this mean for YouTube? If the larger audience will pick up this service, chances are high that almost all video content from camera phones will be published on Qik instead of YouTube.
Since I don’t own the right phone I haven’t been able to test it yet. I hereby challenge you, the Next Web visitor, to come up with an interesting live stream in the comments.
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
