Holy crap, Joost is COOL.
I just got a beta invite to Joost and installed it on my MacBook. Holy crap is it slick. You can watch TV shows on demand either full screen or in a little windowed mode. It’s decent quality and so far (knock on wood) there’s been no lag. I’m currently watching a documentary on Galapagos sharks in a small window at the right of my browser. If you’ve ever used VLC streaming to watch TV shows that people are sharing off of their servers, it’s like that, except better quality and it’s on demand. You can browse through titles and play them when you like.
So incredibly cool… Oh, wow, I just hit my first commercial. I don’t think I like the way it just flat out interrupts the video experience, but still, incredibly cool. If this is beta, I cannot wait to see the final product. I’ll be setting up my Mac mini as a media center with this and iTunes on it.
Update: I thanked him on Twitter, but forgot to do it here: THANKS ALBERTO FOR THE BETA INVITE!!! If you don’t know, Alberto, check out his blog. He’s the coolest.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Hey c.k.,
My reaction to Joost was the same. I felt like I had to tell people about it. It’s way cool.
The commercial interruptions were pretty oddly placed. I’ve read that they’re going to work on that. But, it didn’t both me too much.
Overall, I felt like this was the first major contender for a serious
cable-bypass platform. As soon as the content expands (which I expect to happen) this thing will really take off.
- Joslyn
March 16th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Yeah, but what really makes it so cool? You’re not prone to hyperbole– so what’s the killer aspect? What shows are on there? Because, frankly, hours of documentaries on turtles doesn’t intrigue me much.
March 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Victor, the killer aspect is NO LAG (at least not on my cable modem) and better quality than YouTube with a fullscreen viewing and browsing experience similar to TV, but with integrated chat and other features. And it’s all on demand.
Now, I happen to like documentaries on turtles, b/c I happen to like most moving images as long as the plot doesn’t suck, and things like filming animals is okay plotless. That being said, there is Rocky & Bullwinkle. There’s lots of potential here. All Joost needs is for someone like ABC to think “Hey, since we’re already broadcasting Lost for free on our own site, why not slap some more commercials on it and put it on Joost too for some extra $$$.” I don’t think that is such a far leap. It would be a good business plan to continue to capitalize on the shows in as many advertising supported venues as possible.
March 16th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
CK,
When you get some of those Joost tokens, I would love to be able to get a test drive of this. Thanks, and I enjoy reading your blog!
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 am
thanks my firiend..