Live video streaming apps have long been a desired get for iPhone enthusiasts. Once upon a time, they were a forbidden fruit only enjoyed by jailbreakers (devices running unauthorized Apple software), who could broadcast live video over the Internet. Lobbying for live-streaming apps become something of a pastime until Apple finally opened the App Store's golden gates and allowed such must-have applications as UStream (opens iTunes) and Qik.
App integrates live video streaming with your Twitter account
TwitCasting Live adds a twist to standard live video streaming by integrating with Twitter, showing your Twitter stream while you shoot live video.
After launching a live stream, a user is given the option to automatically send out a customized tweet with a link to the stream, which lets your followers know you're broadcasting. With the screen split in two, you'll be able to post tweets or pull up a web browser all while continuously capturing live vid.
The ability to save is fantastic. It asks you if you'd like to save the video when you finish broadcasting (all of which is stored at the TwitCasting site) and is available to watch within the app using the history feature.
As live streaming apps emerge, ones that integrate with your social network will certainly prevail, making TwitCasting Live a great choice today.
Here's a video I thre together for this review. Follow this link to Twitcast and enter this password: logic1980
Head to Head: Call a meeting
In any team environment, communication is the key to success. And for communication to work for teams spread across geographical regions, nothing has been better trimming travel budgets and improving efficiency than online conferencing services. And while video conferencing and sharing open applications with someone through your PC is still pretty novel to some, imagine being able to do it on a smart phone.
We've seen numerous sophisticated meeting services pop up on the web in the last few years -- but only a few offer companion iPhone apps to watch, listen and interact remotely.
Watch live video of a presenter from your smart phone
Adobe Acrobat's Connect Pro Mobile is complimentary to the desktop service and serves as a remote window into the live meeting initiated on a remote PC. Although Adobe's iPhone/iPod Touch app is free, it requires a membership to the Adobe Connect Pro service, which starts at $55 a month or $0.32 per minute (U.S.), after a free 30-day trial.
Connecting to a meeting hosted by an Adobe Connect Pro member takes just a few seconds after submitting the meeting URL. From Adobe's app you'll be able to watch live video of the presenter, interact with the chat option and share files.
The app's screen-sharing feature enables users to view a presenters desktop in real-time and presenters can deploy some pretty powerful stuff here: PowerPoint presentations, post video (flash only) and play mp3's along with the ability to directly share a specific application such as a web browser.
App lets you initiate a call and share pictures and video stored on your phone's library
Fuze Meeting, owned by Fuze Box, allows users to start meetings or join them already in progress right from their iPhone or select BlackBerrys. The user interface is robust, offering organizational tools to invite and manage attendees right from the app as well as schedule future meetings. The app offers users the choice of dialling into a meeting or fetching attendees from the contact list.
And, Fuze is free (the iPhone app and the desktop service). If you require more than two attendees or want a toll-free number for the audio portion of the service, you can upgrade to a paid membership.
Fuze Meeting packs many of the same solid features as Adobe's Connect Pro: iPhone users can initiate a call and also share pictures and video stored on the device's library. Nice additions are the option to snap a picture or shoot video and share it. And although Fuze Meeting doesn't support live video of the presenter, it does allow you to share high-definition video clips, which play smoothly.
Overall, Adobe's app is impressive in its range of functions but lacks the autonomy to serve as a real remote meeting platform because you can't start a meeting independently from Adobe's Connect Pro desktop service. And since we're solely comparing the mobile versions of these services, the app that puts more power in the hands of the iPhone/BlackBerry makes Fuze Meeting the winner here.