Venice p2p TV project
p2pnet.net News:- Kazaa creators Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom want to launch their p2p Venice Project broadband TV service next year, says The Financial Times.
Friis and Zennstrom sold Kazaa to Australia’s Sharman Networks and went on to develop Skype, ultimately selling it to eBay.
The Venice Project is registered as ‘Baaima NV,’ a Netherlands Antilles limited company with a post office box at Curacao in the Caribbean
Why there? “So Zennstrom and Friss will pay less taxes on their upcoming fortune?” – wondered Thuan Huynh.
He also wondered if they may also be anticipating, “retaliation from Warner and friends”.
According to the FT, 6,000 people have been involved in a test of the service, which can display, “high-quality, full-screen video on a computer screen,” says the story, going on:
“Users download a piece of software to their PC or Mac (although the service can be transmitted to a TV, it is currently designed for computer screens) and can then search for channels from a menu on the left hand side of the screen. “A control bar at the bottom allows them to search for programmes and pause, rewind or fast-forward what they are watching. On the right is a menu of interactive tools, allowing users to share video playlists with friends or comment on programmes.
“Skype users can also use its conference calling facility to chat with other friends watching the same programme, Mr Friis says.”
Different content owners have different security concerns, the FT says Friis admits, “but he is confident of getting several larger groups on board”.
“I’m in the closed beta test and even in the early stages this looks promising,” says a p2pnet reader.
“The video still needs work but I’m in the US and most of the Venice projects servers and peers are based in Europe at the moment .
“They are using a whole lot of open source technology like Mozzilla’s XUL runner platform and Jabber Chat for example .They hope to contribute some of the code they developed back to the open source community’s once they can document everything.”
Meanwhile, several dark shadows are present in the background.
Morpheus p2p application owner Streamcast Networks is suing eBay and Skype, claiming RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act violations.
And to make matter worse, a Chinese software firm is said to have cracked Skype, and IDT Corp’s Net2Phone is also suing eBay and Skype for alleged infringement of a Net2Phone patent.
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
The Financial Times – Skype team turns its attention to television, December 17, 2006
pay less taxes – Venice Project debut, October 25, 2006
Racketeering Influenced – Named in StreamCast vs eBay, May 27, 2006
cracked Skype – Skype code cracked, July 17, 2006
Net2Phone – Skype sued by Net2Phone, June 3, 2006
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December 18th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I’m in the closed beta test and even in the early stages this looks promising .
The video still needs work but Im in the US and most of the Venice projects servers and peers are based in Europe at the moment .
they are using a whole lot of open source technology like Mozzilla’s XUL runner platform and Jabber Chat for example .They hope to contribute some of the code they developed back to the open source community’s once they can document everything .