Darren Straight’s Blog

Livestation viewers have already spent seven years watching live news on their PCs. This is impressive considering the platform has not launched yet and is still in its trial period.

These figures clearly demonstrate that there is an appetite for live news and events delivered direct to the desktop, whether in the office, at home or on the move.

Livestation CEO, Matteo Berlucchi, commented “These figures tell us a lot about the importance of working in partnership with the broadcasters as we provide them with a new, global audience and drive traffic back to their channels and websites. Interestingly broadcasters who have a link on their website to Livestation, such as Al Jazeera English, have attracted far more viewers than those who did not. This week, the number of minutes of Al Jazeera English output watched on Livestation passed the one million mark, that’s almost two years viewing already, and we are not even into our public launch yet.”

Berlucchi added, “Imagine how this partnership with the broadcasters will change the global TV viewing landscape once there is heavy promotion and Livestation actually launches.”

Russell Merryman, the Editor in Chief of New Media at Al Jazeera English said Livestation was one of several platforms used by the channel to reach the online audience, but he was impressed, not only with the figures, but with the sustained quality of delivery.

“We have been in touch with Livestation every step of the way and are extremely happy with these results. As a technical trial the Livestation service has demonstrated its real potential, the team have responded well to all our questions and helped us ensure that we exploit the platform in order to achieve the maximum benefit for our channel and our users,” he said.

Livestation enables anyone with a broadband connection to watch leading international television and radio news channels on their desktops free of charge. It provides an economically viable and scalable solution for delivering live television to mass audiences over the Internet and unlike other live streaming solutions.

Other broadcast channels include Al Jazeera, BBC World News, Bloomberg Television, EuroNews (English, French, Italian and Spanish), France 24, i>Tele, Russia Today and BBC World Service. Currently in beta, Livestation is due for public launch later this year. Registration and download of the Livestation player is quick and easy, only requiring an email address and username: www.livestation.com

Ever wonderd what website or page would be at the top of a search query list if you typed a single letter of the alphabet into a search engine? Probably not! But hey I wonderd for you, so here’s my results:

Live Search (United States)

Yahoo! Search (United States)

Google Search (United States)

After some research I came across the following page which also talk about these kind of results in more detail: The Google Alphabet - Search Engine Watch

Here’s a little present for all those of you out there that like to beta test web apps and such before they come out, the link below is an open signup beta invite link for Dropbox, the online storage site which let’s you synchronise your files and folders with your desktop computer.

http://www.getdropbox.com/beta/go

Of course if you love Microsoft or not :( then don’t forget theres Windows Live FolderShare too! ;)

http://www.foldershare.com/clientdownload.aspx

It’s been revealed by unamed sources that Beta testing of Windows Fiji, the next version of Windows Media Center Edition, has been underway for a few weeks now.

At this stage it’s not clear just how many beta testers are on the program at the current test phase and if the program will expand into a larger audience any time soon. But one thing is for sure is that Microsoft are trying to keep this under wraps by putting all beta testers under a strict non-disclosure agreement, eventually something will leak it always seems too (all companies have the same problems), but until then, we just have a comment delivered via a corporate spokesperson:

Windows Media Center Fiji is expected for October 2008.

Livestation welcomes Russia Today as the latest addition to their selection
of 24 hour global news channels. Russia Today is the first English language
news channel to present the Russian point of view on events happening in
Russia and around the globe.

Graham Pitman, CEO and Director European Television Guild, who handles
Russia Today distribution commented, “We joined Livestation as we understand
our audience has an appetite for watching multiple global news perspectives
on their desktop.  Additionally, being part of the Livestation global news
network enables us to offer Russia Today to potentially millions of
broadband connected consumers.”

Livestation enables anyone with a broadband connection to watch leading
international television and radio news channels on their desktops free of
charge. It provides an economically viable and scalable solution for
delivering live television to mass audiences over the Internet and unlike
other live streaming solutions, Livestation offers broadcasters a ‘fixed
cost’ option. Other broadcast channels include Al Jazeera, BBC World News,
Bloomberg Television and EuroNews. Currently in beta, Livestation is due for
public launch later this year.
www.livestation.com

The UK Launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 is now underway at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham.

I Loved the Drumers that started just before Jonathan Pereras (General Manager of Application Platform Marketing for Microsoft) Keynote started, adds more excitement to the event.

In the keynote we are expected to see some demos from Julius Davies, Mark Quirk and Keith Burns.

Update 12:00: As expected in the keynote we saw some interesting demos demostrating Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Affter this I decided to stay in Hall 1 for the Core Infrastructure Improvements in Windows Server 2008 presentation with Matt Mcspirit and Jane Lewis. I’m now sitting down in Hall 3 by the Xbox Gaming Area having lunch. The ICC is pretty big, lots of halls and areas to visit, so thinking of checking out the place.

But for those of you not here, if you havent already may I suggest you check out the Microsoft Virtual Launch page:

http://www.microsoft.com/virtualevents/uk/vle.aspx

This week I’m on Holiday with an exciting week ahead of me.

Yesterday I started working on my new blog theme.

Today I visited Thorpe Park with my new Merlin Annual Pass. While right now I’m staying at the Arc Apartments within the Arcadian Centre in Birmingham which I must say are great value for money considering their location in the heart of Birmingham.

Tomorrow I will be at the UK Launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 at the International Convention Centre here in Birmingham then after that I will be heading home for a bowling event with work.

And this weekend I will be travelling to Alton Towers for two days of fun with mates from work!

So yeah a great week ahead of me. If anyones going to the launch tomorrow - see you there!

Last Friday I was supposed to go on a tour of the new BAA Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, but due to some kind of major technical problem the tour was cancelled the day before.

If time permits it hopefully there will be another tour arranged soon before the 27th of March 2008 when Terminal 5 opens to the public.

But for the time being I have been told that some exclusive photos have been posted on Flickr. Here’s a small selection of some of them, the rest in higher quality you can get here.

On the 19th of March 2008 both IT Professionals and Developers alike will be flocking to the ICC (The International Convention Centre) in Birmingham for the UK launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

But the question is have you registerd to attend for this exciting hereos happen {here} event? And if so which session tracks are you going to, IT Professional or Developers? And if not, then why not, as it’s too late now to register, all places are full!

Don’t worry though you’re in luck, can still register for the Virtual Launch Experience (VLE) Wave of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

Check it out here, it shall be just as interesting too see how the launch goes online.

For those of you going to the hereos happen {here} event in Birmingham, let me know, as I myself shall be attending the IT Professional tracks.

Check out these great 3D Walkthroughs of British Airways (BA) new Heathrow Terminal 5 Building soon to open to the public in March. I will be attending a press tour on the 7th of March before the official launch too see what it’s like for myself, though unfortunetly I won’t be able to take any photos until the terminal is open to the general public!

That said, I should hopefuly be recieving some nice exclusive photoshots soon - so I’ll be sure to post them!

Anyhow here’s the videos: