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I had pre-registered with Joost when I read about them in Wired Magazine and was excited when I received an invitation to join the beta test program yesterday. Basically, it let me download the Joost (beta) program off their website. I created an account (damn! my default user name was taken…wondering who chose ‘patrix‘ considering the beta invites are not open to public yet) and poof! I was ready to go Joosting (not sure if that word exists but it should.) Before I rave about Joost, a little introduction is in order for those that stay away from Internet news trends.
Simply put, Joost is the “magic of television with the power of the Internet built right in”, or that’s what their homepage says (don’t miss the header flash intro movie.) But still, Joost is exactly that - it lets you watch television online customized to your preferences and needs. It has multiple channels that you can flip through with pre-set programs that you can choose from. Best of all, contrary to those thousands of streaming television softwares and websites, Joost is completely legal. Among the prominent channels that Joost has right now, National Geographic, Comedy Central, MTV, Guinness World Records TV, VH1, etc. are just few of them. They are continously adding new content so stay tuned (pun intended) for more.
Ok, so now for my personal experience. The installation is extremely simple and you are logged in in an instantly. Of course, it is a given that you’ll have highspeed Internet connection (wireless users, use your ethernet cable for best viewing) and meet the minimum system requirements (Windows XP, 512 or more RAM, etc.) I suggest you first view the “Joost Suggests” program to get an overview of their offerings.
Basicially, you have channels that you can flip through and each channel has pre-recorded programs that you can watch. Right now, their channel offering might seem hopelessly inadequate as most of the popular channels are missing and all they have are pre-recorded programs and not live television. But mind you, some programs that they have, if available elsewhere like iTunes, would cost you at least $1.99 per program. What won me over was the excellent picture quality. I have attached some screen captures from their websites. The picture quality was at par with those screenshots, if not better.
In addition, Joost also plans to incorporate the current fad on the web - social networking tools. You can chat with your ‘friends’ in a transparent window that overlays the screen while watching a program (visualize the joy of Chandler and Joey watching Baywatch together) and rate programs so that other users might find them useful.
Joost may seem like lot of hype right now but I think, the possibilities are endless and the days of live streaming television are near. You don’t have to be chained to your TV or rush back to catch your favorite TV show. Frankly, the technology exists. Now, only if the attitudes of the networks execs change. The good news is that they are given the number of online content available on the networks’ own websites.
Click on more for Joost screenshots:
by Patrix | on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 1:00 pm | 
Technology, Television, Videos, World Wide Web . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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April 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pm reply
Oh, the picture quality had me going but the last picture had me hooked :P
On an totally irrelevant note, I seem to get error message when I am on your site and the IE window shuts off. I don’t know if I am the only one. Just thought you would like to know.
April 6th, 2007 at 2:49 pm reply
Sakshi, what error message? And you still using IE? Tsk Tsk.. But let me know what exactly does the error message say.
April 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm reply
Next time it happens I will pay more attention to the exact words. But it says something like, An error occured while opening this site and closes.
And my school comp has the IE6!! Damn, s/w people have not come to upgrade the program!!
April 6th, 2007 at 3:09 pm reply
Sakshi, Strange. It shouldn’t close down the site even if there is an error. I tried opening it in IE7 and didn’t have any problem.
Probably your school has some blocking software. Has this blog pissed off your school? :)
April 6th, 2007 at 3:27 pm reply
May be my boss has finally figured out a way to keep me away from the blogosphere :)
It happened a lot yesterday but has not happened today. Did you have more ads on your posts yesterday?
Btw- We got Billy Gillispie as the new coach!
April 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pm reply
Sakshi, well, removed Chitika from the sidebar and I might lose Bidvertiser too but nothing apart from that. I make so many changes to my template that I must keep a log now :)
And yeah, congrats on bagging Gillespie (dinn know you were in ‘hip-n-happening’ Kentucky). He might just take you guys to the Final Four. Dekhte hai humara kya haal hota hai!
April 6th, 2007 at 3:39 pm reply
“dinn know you were in ‘hip-n-happening’ Kentucky”
Hip?? Don’t know about that…
But am not going to be here for long!! Moving next month to sunshine state :)
Final Four?
WildCat fans demand nothing less than Championship!
April 6th, 2007 at 3:43 pm reply
Sakshi, Guess I should incorporate a sarcasm alert next time! Good luck on your move to the Sunshine State and beware of a certain Confused person there :) BTW why moving…done with your PhD?
and yeah, for us Aggies, the Final four is a big deal. After all, we went 0-16 in our conference not too long ago :) Football is our first love although we don’t necessarily rock that world either (last National Championship was in the Stone Age i.e. 1939)
April 6th, 2007 at 3:49 pm reply
Dammit! You beat me to it! I was testing Joost for the past week and was planning to post on it. Will post on it though.
April 6th, 2007 at 3:56 pm reply
Piker, speed is of the essence :) But I’m sure you’ll have a more informed review since you have been testing it for a week. Looks like you get an early invite.
April 6th, 2007 at 4:01 pm reply
Well, I had to let the sarcasm slide! Texans should not make snide remarks about any other state - the birthplace of Dubya has nothing to be proud of :P
Finishing up with PhD and moving to CA not FL - so will be far away from the said confused person! My bad, I forgot Florida’s nick name.. the cold weather here has frozen my brain !!
And we suck at football..sadly for me :)
April 6th, 2007 at 4:21 pm reply
Sakshi, Ah-ha! the Dubya slur…I guess, we’ve to wait out two more years until we see the last of it. But congrats on finishing up your PhD. Guess I should get cracking at mine too.
And California is the Golden State although the Sunshine tag suits it well too. Too bad Florida got it first.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:19 pm reply
I had it ready, minor edits and here… done!
April 6th, 2007 at 7:26 pm reply
Thanks for the update on Joost. I believe this is the future of television and I am sure the folks at Joost and the beta testers and first to sign up folks(hopefully soon) are all approaching this as a pay your dues kind of thing. Once Joost proves itself to be a truly inovative and usercentric and therefore attractive alternative to just watching TV, then the networks, cable networks etc… (read advertisers) will want to get on board. A major shift in content delivery. I haven’t been able to try Joost yet, but seeing the Mac version out in beta and word “SOON” seem to be promising news of Joosts public release in my lifetime!!! Good article.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:44 pm reply
Dude, where is my invitation? Please.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:59 am reply
Ok, how does one get the invite? :)
and the screenshots look amazing!!
BTW that stylish “I” at the start of the post, reminds me so much of old english novels :p :)
April 7th, 2007 at 7:05 am reply
Patrix, it really looks interesting and better than the rest we have so far…. Can I get an invite so that I can try it out ?
April 7th, 2007 at 2:07 pm reply
Papillion, you got that right about content delivery. Much like getting your news online instead of reading the newspaper. With more outreach and content, I’m sure it will be preferable medium for at least some.
Praveen, dude, get in line.
Twilight, I’ll send you once I get a few. Don’t have any right now. And I’m glad someone noticed and commented on the ’stylized’ letter caps.
Arvind, will send you an invite if I have any left over after giving them to my friends and those who asked first.
April 8th, 2007 at 10:56 am reply
You can rely on me for noticing/observing etc! Sab dekhtee hai meree nazar :)..
(no i am not big boss)
April 9th, 2007 at 6:44 am reply
Patrix, still waiting for the invitation…. hehe. just wanted to remind you. hope I am in line. Thanks