Next announcement may be on live TV

From the depths of the messy desk rose up the password to open the account at ustream.tv.

This is live streaming television, or do we call it video? You need a video camera and an internet connection, and you use that password to get into your account at ustream.tv, and right on the opening screen there’s a button that says Broadcast Now.

You also can just watch what people are putting on. Live, as I tried it, was the International Beatbox Battle Convention, and for a while I was one of 162 people watching around the world as people used their voices and a microphone to make every noise on earth. It helped to speak German, as Berlin was the venue. Another choice was a livecam of a litter of dachshund puppies. There were 476 live shows at that hour Friday evening.

But I digress.

Ustream.tv has been on this blog before, back in September or so when Sen. Chris
Dodd was here giving a news conference and it was being broadcast live via ustream.tv, and someone watching on the internet sent in a question via email. This is opening doors, or something.

Now if you look at ustream.tv’s home page, there’s a panel of highlights and in the middle a Jan. 29 broadcast announcing that the Republican national convention in Minneapolis will be broadcast live gavel to gavel on ustream.tv. The founder and CEO, Brad Hunstable, stresses that they’re open to all parties and candidates. Barack Obama has used it. John McCain, too. So look for an announcement here that we’ll promote our candidates and meetings whenever possible on live streaming video.

Darn, now the learning process begins.

First thing I learned was NOT to click on the panel with what might have been a Republican attack on Hillary Clinton. It froze my computer and made it emit a loud electronic alarm signal.