Yesterday I played with Ustream a little. After Jeff and Chris live show I've decided to give it a try, and when Michael twitted me about his feed, I've joined the wagon.

After opening an account, I broadcasted myself within minutes.

Isn't it just like starting a blog?

Users can connect high end cameras to Ustream, as the Pulver gang did. So, they just need a room with proper lighting and audio, and they have a live show. Simple. Ah, of course, they need to do an interesting show, cause there are so many out there. But this is not different from any other media product, that has to grab the attention of its audience.

So, after blogging platforms democratized written Journalism, YouTube and Bittorrent democratized pre-recorded video distribution, Ustream (and probably the 1000 competitors gearing up as I write this post) democratized live broadcast TV.

BlogTV is an Israeli site owned by Tapuz, one of the biggest Israeli communities portal. It provides similar features and used to broadcast live videos from northern Israel in last summer conflict. In the past, I've played with it a bit, but didn't stay for long. The main reasons were:

1. Poor video and audio quality

2. Nothing interesting to see (for me)

3. Lack of context - as I saw shows in their site only, it was not connected to other types of media by the same creator (such as blogs, websites etc).

It seems that Ustream has better video quality, and allow users to add context to their show by embedding it in other sites. But just like in every other media platform, interesting stories are a must.

So, here it is - the complete link guide to the most interesting people I met in VON07 in N2 events (yes, it includes the lounge party, after party and the whole party thing), in no particular order:

Jim Long, founder of Verge New Media, NBC cameraman at day and entrepreneur at night.

Don Loeb, VP of Partner Services at FeedBurner, who gave a great presentation about the evolution of media distribution

Casey McKinnon, Galacticast executive producer, the group which made my favorite N2 submission of all.

E. Barlow Keener (didn’t know he has such a long name, everyone call him Barlow), my favorite MA lawyer, and a relentless networker who wants to do something with ads

Brian Conley, the guy behind Alive in Baghdad

Revital Westriech Reitzes, VP of Business Development of Payoneer, an Israeli who lives in the US, with the longest name I've ever heard for a business development person.

David Kowarsky, the guy with the cam, and the creator of Focus for N2

Mike Walsh, independent media and technology consultant from HK, who kept stealing my WiFi signal

Dovev Gouldstein, Founder of VooV, who has an extremely close relationship with Chris

Roxanne Darling, from Bare Feet Studios, that make Hawaii look even better

Hillel Scheinfeld, COO of Qoof, a user generated advertisement (usermercial) company , that tried to sell me a watch all the time

Christian Oxholm Zigler, CEO of Play Networks, who was a long way from home.

Justin Kownacki, the producer of Something To Be Desired, and a guy that finds a story in everything he sees

Karen Blanchette, ECC (Extreme Chick in Charge), the woman behind SkyDiveGirls, extreme sport show for women

Dina Kaplan, COO of Blip.TV, whom I wrote about already

Chaim Goldman, the guy behind IsraelHighTech.tv, and a full blown Zionist entrepreneur

Michael Bailey, President and CTO of Mobasoft, who was not in Kansas anymore, was kind enough to listen to a telecom panel, and didn't have a liver

Bart Amelinckx, (no, it is not a typo, this is his name, really), xSP relation manager at Belgacom, and a great drinking buddy

Chris O’brien, CEO of Motionbox, who presented some very interesting ideas in his panel re video mixing for dummies

Jeff, Chris

and one British embassy rep.

Thank you all for a great week – reflections coming soon…

BTW - if you are going to do the same, please tag it with N2 LinkORama...