The Infancy of Mobile Video

Tim Bray:

There are two obvious things that everyone wants but just aren’t there yet on the devices we carry around. First of all, video chat. My Nexus One is just the right form factor to bring friends and family up on, for some on-the-road face time. It is after all a communication device, right?

Great idea. I wonder who will be first to bring it to market.

The second thing that’s not there yet is the world’s single most popular application of video technology: TV. What is the damn point of having a video screen that’s connected to the world if I can’t use it to watch a hockey game or CNN reportage, live?!

The closest I’ve seen, or at least that interests me, is MLB.tv, which I love dearly. It really falls down on 3G, though. I think we’re going to have to wait for 4G networking to unshackle live decent-resolution mobile video from Wi-Fi. Update: Slingbox is probably the best answer today for live TV on mobile devices.

★ Thursday, 13 May 2010