Tech Shout!

On January 16, two Scandinavian entrepreneurs, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who are the co-founders of Internet telephone service Skype as well as Kazaa, unveiled yet another project called Joost. Joost, which is pronounced as “juiced” merges the best features of Internet file-sharing technology with a television-like viewing experience. In simple words, using Joost, you will be able to watch television through the Internet.

Zennstrom and Friis sold Skype for $2.6 billion to eBay in 2005, and ever since have been developing this new service, which has finally come out of the box. Joost, allows one to watch high-quality live television over the Internet. Codenamed the Venice Project, the new service called Joost, will hopefully soon evolve from its beta testing phase to a full fledged launch within the next six months.

According to chief executive Fredrik de Wahl, Joost would combine the best features of broadcast television, which include a near-DVD quality and full-screen picture, with the best features of the Internet, such as the ability to create personalized channels, chat with like-minded viewers and even reschedule programmes on the move.

For the initial period, Joost will concentrate on licensed shows from content partners, rather than user-generated content and unofficial uploads that made video-sharing web site YouTube so popular in a short span of time.

Those included in the list to provide content for the live trial include Endemol, the producers of the Big Brother reality television programme in the United Kingdom, and Warner Music. Currently being used by public testers, most of the revenue will come in from advertising, with viewers forced to watch targeted spots.

“People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV viewing experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content,” said Mr. de Wahl. “With Joost, we’ve married that consumer desire with the industry’s interests.”

In the future, we can surely expect to watch established channels or even choose from a large content library, according to your mood and interests, by using special search and filtering software.