For the last couple of years piracy has been a somewhat of a sore spot for the Internet. There's been a lot of discussion regarding fighting piracy. In the States quite a few people have even gone to jail and they view piracy as a serious offence here in Europe, too.

I think we can't really make piracy go away just by enforcing a lot of anti-piracy laws, although they do reduce it a bit. There's also no real point in using some copyright software, experience has shown that however sophisticated, those protections will always be cracked, it's only a matter of time. People will also find a way to sneak past the laws or plain old ignore them. It's not that difficult to cover your tracks on the Internet.

The only way to significantly reduce piracy is to make buying easier than stealing. By this I mean games, music and movies (the main victims of piracy). This is already happening as web-based stores are slowly taking over the market. It's starting to look like things are going to change here in Europe, too. With the launch of the 3G iPhone, iTunes is now available in most european countries. I've also noticed that downloading the latest TV shows is very popular. This makes perfect sense as the devoted fans of different shows eagerly want to see the newest episodes. There is no other way to see them, because most of the shows run in Europe with a 12 month delay. Worldwide broadcasting is probably prohibited by the studios' own policies.

The team here at Yaika! is also devoted to making sure no copyright laws are broken. For example, people will never be able to save any of the content published on Yaika! on their own computer. This ensures that it won't be shared later on without permission.

None-the-less, piracy can never be fully abolished as there will always be people who, however time consuming, will use whatever methods to save a few bucks and use the illegal version.

For now I'd like present you with a few ground rules on broadcasting and on filming in general. Most of these notes come from our own team here at Yaika!, who have determined with they're extensive testing the best setup for broadcasting a live show. This way you don't have to experiment with various configurations, instead you can take our professional opinion and go with that.

Following the next 8 tips will greatly increase your show's success rate so I strongly encourage you to do that. Okay, here goes:

1. Always check out the location thoroughly before filming.

2. Make sure that the venue has a working Internet connection and that it's something faster than dial-up. It's preferrable to have 100-400 kB/s upload speed per camera (that includes audio and video). You can check your connection speed here. Even a 3G connection will do!

3. Have an available electrical outlet nearby or if you're planning to work using batteries, make sure they're fully loaded. Check your computers power setting, too. It would be a shame if your laptop would go to sleep or shut down its harddrives during broadcasting.

4. If you're planning on filming with multiple cameras then makes sure all the computers running the cameras are correctly connected the the internet. The best solution would be if you had your own WiFi or ordinary router. That way you can plug in directly to the venue's network. Be sure to have some extra bandwidth available as it might become slow when everybody's downloading your show.

5. When you're unable to connect multiple cameras with one computer, do the following: start a channel with one of the computers and then call in with all the others. This way the users can see all of your feeds.

6. When using an audio source other than the cameras' own microphones (e.g. the venue's PA), make sure you have the correct cables to connect to the source. You should also check the length of said cables. The next part is very important - makes sure the signal coming from the PA has no static in it and is loud enough, otherwise all the listeners will hear is "khhkhhhkhhkhhhzzzkhzz", which I can assure you, isn't very pleasant. The best solution would be to use a preamplifier between the PA and the computer. This allows you to tinker with the sound until it's exactly the way you want it. You might notice that there's a constant "zzzzz" in the background of your audio signal. That should be the static coming from the electrical wires connected to the computer. Try running it on batteries or move the cables. We had this problem with a Dell laptop!

7. Before actually broadcasting you should recheck all the cables and air a short test show in order to see if everything is working as it should be.

8. Our CEO Valentin calls this the theory of eight minutes or why does that the bread always fall face first to the ground. Believe or not, it actually takes eight minutes to makes sure that everything is in order while airing a show. It's the first eight minutes when you have this tingly feeling inside that something is going to go horribly wrong. This of course applies to only the people behind the scenes. If you're in front of the camera, you've got a whole other set of problems :)

You can read other technical information from our soon opening technical blog.

About a month ago our team here at Yaika! discovered a man, who was rapidly gaining popularity in the Russian web space. His name was Jaroslav Staruhhin and a some time ago a phsychic told him that he would become the next president of Russia. He was at the time unknown to the general public, but a respected man among the local academic circles. So Jaroslav decided grab the bull by the horns and start his campaign right away.

He started his own reality show called "The City Of Sun" and broadcasted it on the Internet. At first he used a website called Smotri.com, which he didn't really like. The upside was the huge amount of users, but that was also the major downside as they generated more profanities than actual questions or discussions. He then moved on to Teledu.ru, which (in spite of having less users) was just as bad regarding the profanities. After a while Jaroslav discovered Yaika.ru and he is very pleased with it, especially with Yaika! teams efficient comments moderating. He has even done boradcasts on all three websites simultaneously which worked quite well.

Jarsolav has done quite a few fascinating shows already. For example, during one of the shows, he dyed his girlfriend's hair with somewhat of an industrial grade haircolour without any prior training as an experiment to find out if an ordinary person can do it. We had a funny bit in our own office when one of the women working here got upset because she thought the dye had been in the girlfriend's hair for too long and was going to ruin everything. Jaroslav also did this to show that he, as the next president, isn't only a talker but a doer, too. He also invites people on his show regularly. They're always interesting people of different trades to keep the show varied. From time to time Jaroslav reviews the latest movies alongside her girlfriend as a more of an entertaining part.

Each and everyone of you should follow his footsteps (not in becoming the president of Russia :) ) in that you can easily broadcast show, that are too unusual for the ordinary TV, on the Internet. This where Yaika! has the edge, as it's a technologically innovative lifecasting platform. Come and try for yourself!

Now you get to read a bit about what the Yaika! team did at the political conference Almedalsveckan. It took place in July on the island of Gotland, which is situated just east of Sweden. Our team was there with an exclusive right to broadcast live feeds.

The weather was quite dreadful, but as the conference took place indoors, it didn't really affect anything :)

The first day (and a bit of the night, too) was for setting up all the equipment and making sure that everything worked as it should have. There were a few technical difficulties, but the team worked around the clock and by the morning everything was working flawlessly.

While the others were fixing the equipment, Yaika! CEO Valentin Ivanov attended the opening party of Almedalsveckan 2008. In his words it was something similar to a Hollywood movie premiere. There were more than 700 people, security everywhere and even a red carpet, so everyone would feel like a real celebrity.

The first live feed was on the next day in the afternoon (it was filmed with four cameras). Unfortunately the quality was a bit shabby. After a while our team switched cameras and the new equipment proved to be worth it's cost as the quality improved drastically.

There were other broadcasting teams as well. We met with the people from Bambuser.com - a somewhat similar website as our own Yaika! with the big difference being that they mostly film events of all kinds, while Yaika! aims to give everybody the opportunity to broadcast anything they want. Bambuser.com originates from Sweden. A noteworthy fact is that Yaika! was given the permission to film in the main hall, while Bambuser (being 4 years old and local) wasn't :)

During the last days of the conference our team roamed around Visby and recorded a lot of shows. The was partly for testing the upcoming recording feature. We did encounter a problem with the multiple camera setup, but after a lengthy discussion a permanent fix was found.

In general, our team at Almedalsveckan was very pleased with how it turned out to be. There was always something going on and lot's of people to meet. You were also able to enjoy the festivities of the local nightlife. It was fun to see the same serious politicians, how gave speeches during the day, having a great time in the clubs surrounded by beautiful women.

Until next time!

I thought I'd introduce the ideas of Web 2.0 and tell you how it's relevant to Yaika!

The term Web 2.0 was coined in 2004. It doesn't necessarily mean that there were any significant technological innovations (those come along on a daily basis), it means that developers and users have found new ways to use the possibilities that the Internet offers us.

Until now, the content on websites was generated by major corporations and enterprises. With the coming of Web 2.0, that is changing. Now the users are making all the content and there's a lot of it. Websites like Blogspot ja Flickr became more and more popular because of their easy to use interfaces and publishing capabilities. Yaika! has the same main principle - easy-to-use interface and we've even taken it a step further, people can now do live broadcasts of their lives.

Another good example of how Web 2.0 works is Wikipedia. Having articles in almost every language in use today, it's one the most broadly used encyclopedias in the world. Following the Web 2.0 principle, the users themselves can write articles on any subject they can think of (providing it's factually correct). There's a behind-the-scenes team of scholars who constantly verify the uploaded information.

The biggest pros of the Web 2.0 concept are constantly improving usability and the vast amount of creators/readers of content. This is a very nice opportunity to show yourself (or your product) to potentially the whole world, voice your opinion and do whatever you imagine.

I'd like to write a bit about the events Yaika! has visited. Two of the biggest events were the Erlang Exchange in London and Startup Essentials, which was organized by Sun Microsystems.

First - the Erlang Exchange. It took place on 26-27 June in London. The main idea was to introduce the Erlang programming language to a wider audience. The language itself is a highly reliable software developing environment with the main target group being all kinds of emergency applications (e.g. hospitals). The events required two large halls, one of which Yaika! did some live broadcasting. During the two days people were able too see numerous speakers via Yaika! platform, among others the creator of the Erlang language Joe Armstrong. All the visitors had a change to get their books signed and later on, they could speak to Joe about their own applications. Other noteworthy speakers were Motorola's and Ericsson's representatives Nicholas Gunder and Torben Hoffman. The latter we're interesting to listen even for the technologically non-savvy people.

People from all around Europe were watching the events unfold live with the help of Yaika! There was a funny incident - on the second day a gentleman came up to one of the Yaika! team and said he had thought the conference to be too boring for him to attend, but after having seen the live footage, he had decided to show up anyway. We also talked to the organizer of the event, the founder and CEO of Erlang Consulting Ltd. Marcus Taylor, who told us he was very satisfied with the way the event had turned out.

The other big event was Startup Essentials, which helped new and small IT-projects to gain some credibility and become known around the community. As you might have guessed, Yaika! was there and was one of the few who actually got a permission to provide live coverage. The guys from fav.or.it were also there (we met the a week before at the Being-Digital conference). We also made a few contacts with the intruders.tv team. People are saying that they're going places, so keep an eye on them :) As it was with the Being-Digital conference, Yaika! roamed around the halls, introducing all kinds of technological marvels and at the same time showing off their own capabilities.

Here's a calling to all the people promoting their newfound companies or products - you just need a computer and a webcam to show your products and services to potentially the whole world. Remember, a bigger audience can only mean good!

Yaika!'s team also visited a swedish political conference a week ago. It's called Almedalsveckan and it takes place the island of Gotland (just east of Sweden). It was a high-profile event with loads of security and the Swedish prime minister himself was a among the speakers. Yaika! was once again the owner of exclusive broadcasting rights.

Be sure to keep an eye on this blog as there are more upcoming events in the future!

My name is Oliver Vaga and from now on you can get updates on Yaika!'s doings on an almost daily basis. Here you can read all about upcoming events, a few interesting recaps of already happened things and learn about Yaika!'s new features.

Yaika! has actually been up and running for two months, but as usual with new things, there's lots to do. We've been mainly working on making Yaika! a more interesting and simple environment to use. We have a lot of work to do as Yaika! is still in beta, but all the kinks are being worked out and we're steadily moving towards a complete and functional lifecasting platform.

So far the team has been to numerous conferences and introduced our platform to a lot of broadcasting-related people. We even had live coverage of one of the conferences, namely the Being-Digital, which took place in London. Our team walked around the halls and introduced different innovative technological solutions (including our on Yaika! in the process). All we needed for broadcasting was a webcam, a computer and a broadband internet connection. Almost everybody has a PC nowadays, webcams have become incredibly cheap and access to the internet is considered a basic human right in some countries (among healthcare and education).

So, if you have something interesting to say or show, then come on to Yaika!, don't be shy. Come even if you don't have anything to say. You can have a good time watching others and maybe make a few friends in the process.

Dear all,

We're working hard on improving our system and your experience on Yaika.

We are deploying a new version of Yaika! tonight Thursday (3rd of July) evening. The whole process shouldn't take longer then a few hours.

I hope you can shift or postpone your shows until we are finished. We'll keep you up to date!

Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience caused!

If you have any question, please let us know. 

Always, 

Dear all,

We're going to deploy a new version of Yaika! on Monday (30th of June) morning. The whole process shouldn't take longer then a few hours.

I hope you can shift or postpone your shows until we are finished. We'll keep you up to date!

Thank you and sorry for inconvenience!

Just letting you know, we are properly starting this blog from Tuesday. 

In the mean time why don't you catch the European Table-Hockey Tournament streaming live on Yaika starting later today and continuing tomorrow and Sunday. This event is taking place in RIga, Latvia where we have our team to help them. 

Also, you can follow our progress and the latest news on twitter - http://www.twitter.com/yaika

See you all (or you can watch me) on Tuesday. I'll come back with the precise time. 

Take care, 

After working hard for the last seven months to get this up and running, today Yaika! finally launched.

We would like to say thank you to everyone for signing up on our website and welcome you to Yaika!

Yaika is the first localized all-in-one social “lifecasting” platform in Europe.

Thanks to Yaika! you will now be able to share your real life moments, experiences and views in whole new way. You can share this content with your local community or the world.

We have combined live-streaming video and radio, blogging, social community and brand new way to communicate into one easy to use platform. By combing all of those features, people will now be able to interact like they have never before.

Please keep in mind we are launching in beta and will be continuously updating the system over the next couple months, but don’t worry we will always make sure you know beforehand! We would appreciate to hear any feedback you might have. You can follow all the changes on our blog or why don’t you check out Yaika! Technical Blog where we will be teaching you about different ways you can use the platform.

You will be able to catch our first live-stream post on the corporate blog today at 11am (GMT) from a surprise location.

Also, don’t miss us at the Being Digital conference in London on Tuesday (10/06), which we will be streaming live on Yaika!

Enjoy Yaika! and remember – Yaika! Making Life Streaming fun…

Sincerely,
The Yaika! team