Starting tomorrow at 9 o’clock in the morning, New Yorkers should be on the look out for Director Hans Eriksson, the Executive Chairman of Swedish video streaming startup Bambuser.
Equipped with an iPhone 4 and portable mifi, Eriksson will spend 24 hours exploring New York, starting and ending in Times Square, broadcasting all he encounters live onto the web from the Bambuser iPhone app – with his itinerary selected by his online audience only.
“I’m counting on New York living up to its reputation as the city that never sleeps,” he said. “I want to avoid the usual traps tourists visit. Instead I’m hoping viewers of my broadcast will guide me to some of the local, lesser-known, hidden treasures the city offers…New Yorkers have a reputation of not being terribly open and friendly. I’m interested in how people I meet during my journey will react to me, to what I am doing and how helpful they will be…I know during the 24 hours I’m going get tired, hungry and thirsty. So, dear online audience and New Yorkers, I’d be grateful for ideas about the coolest places I can go to chill out and refuel,” says Eriksson.
Eriksson has officially arrived in New York City, as we spotted him here in front of the World Trade Center (photo below). You can follow Eriksson here at his Tumblr.
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Eriksson will be using Bambuser’s free phone ‘app’ that will allow him to broadcast live video directly onto the web. He will broadcast live from his iPhone using the city’s 3G network and Droam’s MiFi devices. See what he says below regarding our broadband networks in New York:
“How do New Yorkers get things done? The network here is really really bad. After a lot of hassle and calls, we finally got our equipment working. And even though we’re broadcasting on a 4G network, the speeds are a LOT slower than 3G in Europe. It’s a great city – really buzzing with excitement – but it’s lumbered with a third world network. I found out the network here is so bad most people carry two CDMA phones – one for data and one for voice. 99% of US users simply don’t know any better. They wouldn’t use data while overseas due to cost. We Europeans are spoiled!” writes Eriksson.
I recommended Peels and Schiller’s as great restaurants to escape the cold fall weather for a drink or a bite to eat. Where do you want to see him go? Let him know in the comments!
To see what it will be like, check out Hans’ London tour here, which attracted over 10,000 unique viewers from 25 countries.
Related posts: You can now flatter your favorite Bambuser livestream with a Flattr payment
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