Yahoo Launches Live - A Live Streaming Video Service

by Michael Arrington

Given all the chaos this week surrounding Microsoft’s bid to take over Yahoo, it’s not surprising that a new Yahoo product launch wouldn’t have an abundance of exuberance attached to it. Still, the only word anyone got that Yahoo Live has gone live is a three word post on Bradley Horowitz’s blog: “Live is live” (Horowitz is head of the Technology Development Group at Yahoo).

Yahoo Live allows anyone with a webcam to stream live video of themselves to a dedicated site. They call it “a platform for live video.”

It is very similar to existing live streaming services like Stickam, Justin.tv and Ustream and Blogtv. Users create a channel, authorize their webcam and start broadcasting to the public. Other people can drop by and watch, or choose to participate via video, sound or text chat.

We’re still testing it, but for now the service is very unstable and keeps going down. It’s also clearly got a ways to go with features - videos are not archived for playback, for example, meaning once it’s broadcast live, that’s it.

Users can set up profiles for themselves and track how many people have watched them stream live, how many broadcasts they have made, and how long total they’ve been on the air. When you’re in a streaming session with others, up to five other people can be shown on your screen at the same time, one of which is the main presenter and four others who are simply in the session. Everyone else can be seen in a chat room associated with the session, and these sessions can also be embedded around the web.

Right now it looks as though Yahoo has hired two people - one of which is a girl who will sing songs on request - to help launch the site by providing some ongoing content. Yahoo has also set up a Twitter account that you can follow to see who’s streaming at a given time. Want to pull out information from Yahoo Live and access it elsewhere? There’s also an API available.

Update: Yahoo’s Chad Dickerson responds below in the comments about the stability issue.

Streaming Video

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation.

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LCROSS Lunar Swingby Streaming Video (Launch +5 days)

Two Perspectives of the LCROSS Lunar Swingby

Overview
Approximately five days after launch, LCROSS performed a lunar swingby to enter into an elongated polar Earth orbit. This orbit positions LCROSS for impact on the lunar south pole (see mission overview video) on Oct. 9, 2009. Shortly after periselene, the time of closest approach to the lunar surface, the LCROSS science payload was switched on for the duration of one hour.

During the swingby , the spacecraft's instruments calibrated by scanning three sites on the lunar surface. These sites were the craters Mendeleev, Goddard C and Giordano Bruno. They were selected because they offer a variety of terrain types, compositions and illumination conditions. The spacecraft also scanned the lunar horizon to confirm its instruments are aligned in preparation for observing the Centaur's debris plume.

The following videos show two perspectives of the LCROSS lunar swingby. The first video is taken from the LCROSS visible light camera and the animation is a 3-D is representation of the spacecraft based to actual telemetry recieved during the swingby. Both videos are condensed in timeframe.

Visible Light Footage


Footage taken with a visible light camera on the LCROSS spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center.

Animation Footage


STK animation of the LCROSS lunar swingby. Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center.


Swingby images

Visible Context Camera

NIR1 Camera

MIR1 (Thermal) Camera
The three images show Target 2, Goddard C Crater, as seen through a visible context camera, an NIR1 Camera, and a MIR1 (thermal) camera. LCROSS was approximately 8500 km. from the target when these images were made. Goddard Crater is seen along the border between day and night (the terminator) in the center of the visible context image. These images are raw, unprocesses, and uncorrected. Credit: NASA/Ames Reseearch Center

Edited Video of the Swingby and Launch
Video recap of LCROSS launch and swingby.


Graphic visualizations of the early part of the LCROSS orbit leading up to lunar swingby at Launch +5 days. The blue line represents the Earth's orbit around the sun. The white circle is the moon's orbit around the Earth. The yellow line is the orbit of the LCROSS spacecraft. The intersection of the yellow line with the moon's orbit represents the Launch +5 days lunar swingby. Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center