The Vision: All live unsecured video from all over the planet is accessible through a common platform, whether it comes from broadcast (and other forms of commercial “casting,” e.g., cablecasting, webcasting), internet (webcams, IP cameras), or videophones.

So, a live Bulgarian wrestling match, making brownies from my kitchen cam, and a live crime streamed from a passer by’s video phone are all on the same level playing field.

The video is all tagged and filterable - by keywords, people, location, etc. - and a “propagation engine” enables the most interesting streams to “bubble up” in seconds.

An extreme derivative is a "talking camera," a live portable camera capable of streaming from anywhere in the world, that knows how many people are watching at any given second and converts it to speech, in any language, perhaps to dissuade approaching potential aggressors.

Background: Today, the number of unique television stations around the world is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000; the number of live, unsecured webcams is at least as much but growing; and the number of live videophone streams sent at any given moment is small today but growing quickest. In a few years, it’s not unreasonable to assume thousands or millions of live video streams available.

“Live” must be distinguished from “canned.” Such packaged video, currently as mostly short clips, is one of the hottest “Web 2.0” arenas (e.g., YouTube). This is, of course, to be encouraged (remember Francis Coppola’s famous statement on professionalism).

But live has its own magic and resonance. Neil Armstrong on the moon. OJ’s car chase. Sports. News. Liveness, whether its global in nature or small and personal, deeply connects people. It is the temporal equivalent of spatial monumentality. Cheaper cameras, wider pipes, and better compression technologies will only encourage more live material.

The extensibility of Internet Protocol makes it an ideal medium for hosting an all-video platform. “IP television” is inevitable. Yes there are rights issues around aggregating all broadcast television, and many are currently uncharted and ambiguous. Webcams continue to grow. One might envision a toll-free service for videophone users to call when they encounter something of current interest.

The propagation engine currently exists as the backbone for Kundi.com, a startup I initiated at Interval Research in 1999.

Next steps: Revive Kundi. Seek large video aggregators.

(last updated 27 March 2006)


News:

Jan 2008: Jan 08: "Propagation Engine" file posted on USC Stevens Institute for Innovation website.

26 June 2006: Provisional patent application filed for "Hardware-embedded alert and feedback system for items of current interest via a network," moving the alert button and feedback system from being web-based to being, say, camera based, useful when video cameras are live, as in the "talking camera" (above).


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