Nokia To Debut Mobile Lifestreaming App
Mobile lifestreaming is an process that isn't as easy as it should be. Although we highlighted some ways you can lifestream from your iPhone, in order to record video, your iPhone needs to be jailbroken - and that's not something everyone wants to do. For the iPhone-less, the options are even worse. Lifestream from your Razr? From your Blackberry? It just doesn't happen. (Unless you're counting Twitter as lifestreaming, which we don't. Lifestreaming is more than text).
For users of Nokia phones, though, a new app will soon be revealed that does exactly what we always dreamed a mobile lifestreaming app should: geotag your media and upload it to the web.
Nokia's LifeviNe
The Nokia app is called LifeviNe (we don't know what's with the "N") will be available sometime in the next few weeks in Nokia's Beta Labs. With LifeviNe, everything you do can be recorded and uploaded to the web.
Based on the SportsTracker app, LifeviNe will geotag every image, video, and even your music (there are no details on the music aspect yet). The media will then be pushed to the web when you sync your phone, a process which can be done manually or automatically, depending on your preference. For security purposes, you may not want it to upload automatically since the geotagged images, videos, etc. will pinpoint your exact location on the map, but that's a personal choice you'll have to make.
Where the media ends up exactly, Nokia doesn't say, but we imagine that it will be on some sort of personal homepage within the online application. Here, you will be able to "share your journeys, filter by user, place or time," according to a post on Nokia Conversations.
There will also be a widget which you can add to your Facebook profile or blog which will display what you have been up to.
Lifestreaming Done Right
Since the app is not available yet, it's too soon to tell how usable it is or give it any sort of in-depth review. What we can say, though, is that LifeviNe looks to be one of the most promising lifestreaming apps that we've come across so far. That's exactly what lifestreaming should look like: mobile, geotagged, automatic, and inclusive of more than just text or just photos. This makes us want to run out and buy a new phone right now... Well, almost.
Comments
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Interesting. But wasn't this what Nokia Lifeblog was supposed to do?
Posted by: Tim B | September 3, 2008 9:04 AM
You have Handivi ( handivi.com ) that tries to solve this, with a bonus: it isn't just for nokia phones but for all java-enabled phones...
Posted by: Marcos Marado
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September 3, 2008 9:35 AM
Do not trust carrier-ass-kissing Nokia with my geolocation data. See Fire Eagle user controls et al.
Posted by: Todd | September 3, 2008 9:50 AM
There's lots of activity in the lifestreaming all of a sudden and it's great to see Nokia get a bit more involved as well. I've seen some pretty amazing startups in this space over last couple of days, so come November and Slush in Helsinki, you should expect to see much more... Maybe even as a lifestream.
Posted by: Peter Vesterbacka | September 3, 2008 10:43 AM
It would be interesting to investigate how this fits with Nokia's strategic investment in Kyte.tv.
Posted by: Matteo Fabiano | September 3, 2008 11:59 AM
I'm not the technical lead, but unless I'm very much mistaken this is the technology that Fearless City will be using soon. Certainly sounds like it.
Posted by: raincoaster | September 3, 2008 8:50 PM
The N is to do with the N series I would guess.
Posted by: Darren | September 3, 2008 10:47 PM
Amazing application by Nokia, now anything can be locate through this applications without any hurdle. Great work by Nokia Research Laboritaries, we all are waiting for this application.
Posted by: Nokia | September 4, 2008 12:16 AM
I'm definately for the look out for this - my experience with Qik has been very good, but this may prove to be a whole another level.
I hope Nokia software and processing will be up to the challenge; even with my N95 it seems that many of the more advanced applications are not that reliable.
Sakari Turunen
Helsinki, Finland
http://www.innostatus.fi/home
Posted by: Sakari Turunen
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September 4, 2008 12:43 AM
Thanks Sarah for spreading the word!
> will be available sometime in the next few weeks in Nokia's Beta Labs
Heh. We haven't agreed the exact date for the public beta launch yet, but it's used by Nokia internal people and a few friendly bloggers already.
This is an interesting experiment, where we explore together with the user community how to do lifetracking using fancy new devices and technologies by Nokia. In this case, we are not trying to deploy a mainstream service - at least not yet.
Anyhow, we'll let you know (at least via Beta Labs blog) when it goes public!
Take care,
Tommi Vilkamo
Manager of Nokia Beta Labs
Ps. if you found lifeviNe worth attention, we have lots of interesting stuff in Beta Labs pipeline to be published during the coming months. I hope you find some of them worth writing about :)
Posted by: Tommi Vilkamo | September 5, 2008 6:41 AM
Interesting indeed. My guess would be Nokia is going to lean towards holding your data on their servers given their recent focus in image and video hosting. I'd hope the service is a conduit that proxys your life stream and provides you geotagging and mapping while it passes off your photos and music to flickr or your own blog.
Posted by: ayman | September 5, 2008 9:16 AM