By Andrew Shell on August 26, 2010
I’m looking for a product that makes it easy for users of Brazen Careerist to set up and broadcast webcasts to other members of our site. The idea is that we want in our UI for a user to schedule a webcast that they want to host. At the time of the event they go to the event page and assuming they’re logged on already authorize the widget to have access to their camera and they see themselves with a broadcast button. We will have our own chat on the page so the webcasting has to be done entirely on our page, nothing to download, no going to another website.
Here are my ideal requirements:
- Ideally something we can pay for to be white label
- Flash widget to embed on our website
- API so I can programmatically create new events (get a webcast token or something)
- If there is an admin=true or something variable set the widget is in admin mode and the viewer is given a login prompt. There should also be an API so I can integrate this login with our existing user authentication.
- Once the admin logs in they see themselves as the viewers would, only they have a button in the corner so they can start and stop broadcasting.
- If the admin=true variable had not been set then it’s just in viewer mode and all they see is the webcast if the admin is broadcasting.
- Extra points if you could configure an image to show when the video is not being webcast.
This seems super simple but I’m not finding a solution anywhere. Sites like UStream, JustinTV, Livestream and Vokle all have giant interfaces that even if you can embed the webcast on a web page, the admin is not on the website, but rather in some special admin. They also tend to have features like chat and whatnot all built in. I can’t find anything that is just super simple embedded webcast software. Am I just not finding it or doesn’t this exist?
Here’s an example mockup of what it should look like for a webcaster:

Posted in Miscellaneous |
By Andrew Shell on August 23, 2010
Here’s an exercise I just came up with as a method to expand and pivot my passions. Start out with something that excites you, something that you’re really passionate about. Visualize that this activity or idea is just a lake that’s part of a big network of lakes, rivers, streams and oceans of passion. An [...]
Posted in Brazen | Tagged personal development |
By Andrew Shell on August 11, 2010
Recently I privately declared RSS bankruptcy. I had managed to tame my feeds in such a way that I could usually get through everything and some days I’d just clear out my low value feeds in order to keep up. Then on June 30th as part of The Dojo I attended an online webinar “Escaping [...]
Posted in Brazen |
By Andrew Shell on May 18, 2010
When I was out in California I was somewhat involved with the group of people starting Hacker Dojo. I’ve been interested in creating a similar type of space in Madison. I started looking around at spaces when I was telecommuting for PBwiki but the issue is always how to fund it. It’s a chicken and [...]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged madison |
By Andrew Shell on March 19, 2010
I read an article today on Silicon Alley Insider Amazon Tells Small Publishers It Will Stop Selling Their Books If They Join Apple which if that was the case would clearly be big news. However I read the quote and I’m left scratching my head. It actually doesn’t seem from what they print in the [...]
Posted in Brazen |
By Andrew Shell on January 2, 2010
I’ve never been very good at managing my finances. There was a period of time back in college when I lived off my credit cards. Fortunately over the last few years I’ve gotten better at living within my means and have been gradually paying off my debt. Despite this I’m not exactly what you would [...]
Posted in Brazen | Tagged personal development |
By Andrew Shell on December 16, 2009
I previously talked about reordering my Google reader in order to make my life less overwhelming. A little over a month has gone by and I thought I’d post an update about how it’s worked. Things have been a tremendous success. By simply re-categorizing my feeds into Low Volume, High Value and Low Value I [...]
Posted in Brazen, Favorite |
By Andrew Shell on December 11, 2009
I’m someone that likes to think of himself as pretty driven and goal oriented. I think this is why it’s bothered me so much that lately I’ve been floundering without any great direction. Some of it is probably the “Quarterlife Crisis” but it could also be that I’ve been getting lazy. I firmly believe in [...]
Posted in Brazen | Tagged personal development |
By Andrew Shell on October 30, 2009
Today I logged into Google Reader and saw that I had 230 unread items. This is not unusual, nor it is particularly difficult to get through. However, that is what’s in my “inbox” between when I checked it last night and when I woke up this morning. I’m not sure how many items I get [...]
Posted in Brazen |
By Andrew Shell on October 15, 2009
Ever since I got my TiVo back in 2006 I’ve been a huge fan of it. True, it’s frustrating to have to attach the little infrared lights to my cable box, and although the DVR functionality works amazingly, many of the other features leave a lot to be desired. Last year before I was preparing [...]
Posted in Brazen |