In the summer of 2006, I was fortunate enough to watch the World Cup final in Dolores Park right here in San Francisco. For those of you not familiar with the park, it's nestled in the heights of the Mission district; a gentle slope gives you a spanning view of downtown. At the foot of the park, a giant crane held a big TV screen. I was struck by the thousands of people who showed up to watch the game together with their friends. Check it out to the right here. It was packed.
I thought it a shame that you couldn't do this online. There was no way to get a far away friend and watch a video together online. And so myself and some others at the Berkeley lab built a little research prototype called Zync which allows you to share videos in sync with a friend through Yahoo! Messenger (if you're running Windows).
On our blog, we posted about Zync and we pushed it to the Yahoo! Messenger Plugin Gallery. We smiled when we had 50 users. And cheered at 100. And then at 250 you could hear us roaring. It kept growing and growing.
After six months, we had over 3000 users who opted-in for our research study. This was a great success. And so we began examining how people share videos in sync. In our studies, we found people liked synchronized sharing because it made them feel closer and more connected with their friends and family. You can read some of the studies that were published at ACM Multimedia and DUX.
As proud parents of our little prototype, we're happy to announce that Zync has grown up and is now a featured plug-in in the new beta of Yahoo Messenger 9.0. If you're running the Messenger beta, just send a video URL to your friend. If Zync knows how to play it, you'll see a button that says "Watch With Me" (pictured here to the right). Click it and Zync will load up in your (and in your friend's) conversation window and the video will start playing automatically.
We couldn't be happier. I'd personally like to give a good shout to everyone on the Zync Team and John D. at Yahoo! Messenger for all their hard work in helping Zync graduate.
Oh, and if you're not ready to try out the beta just yet (read: you're still running Yahoo! Messenger 8.1), you can still install Zync from the Plugin Gallery. :)
Popularity: 8% [?]
david ayman shamma, December 3rd, 2007 on 9:30 pm
HackDay TV is a video treat from Y! UK Hack Day. We present a new way to watch long-form video on the web -- in snack-bite sizes. You can see a list of all the hacks (including which hacks won the judges' awards), you can launch URL demos for many of the hacks, and, best of all, you can jump to any hack instantly to watch it
Who built it
What people are saying
Hack TV: Watch the demos here, hackday.blorg, by Matt McAlister
"The Yahoo! Research Berkeley team built a handy hack demo viewer..."
Popularity: 15% [?]
TagMaps is a toolkit that gives you new ways to visualize text on geographic maps. TagMaps can be used to communicate key characteristics of location-based data in an easy-to-understand interface. Check out the sample applications, where we use Flickr tags on a map to build a world exploration tool.
Who built it
What people are saying
TagMaps - Mapping and Photo Visualization, Design Demo, Max Kiesler
"Whenever I'm getting ready to travel somewhere I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at images and maps of the location. I usually go to about 4 of my favorite sites for photos and 5 different mapping sites to get ready for the trip. TagMaps lets you do both at the same time and much more."
TagMaps makes geo-tagging useful, Webware, Josh Lowensohn
"TagMaps is a project with a lot of promise. It has the casual, exploratory feel you get from Google Maps, but it also mixes in a dash of visual appeal with the Flickr shots. I could easily see this becoming a mobile-phone app or surfacing on blogs and social-networking profiles."
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TagMaps Toolkit, 7.5th Floor, Fabien Girardin
"Based on their first experiment to Visualizing the Crowd’s “Mental Map” Using Flickr Geotagged Images, Yahoo! Research Berkeley has now introduced their TagMaps toolkit..."
New callback function in TagMaps, Yahoo! Developer Network blog, Shane Ahern
"So, today, we are releasing an update to the embeddable TagMaps badge. Using the updated module, you can implement a JavaScript callback function on the page where you have embedded TagMaps. On that page, then, you can create any service you can think of that takes advantage of knowing what tag the user is interested in, and where in the world it is located."
Popularity: 15% [?]
ZoneTag is a research prototype from the scientists at Yahoo! Research Berkeley that aims to leverage context from cell phones to create new mobile photography experiences. The application allows you to quickly and easily upload images from your camera phone to Flickr. The photos uploaded can be automatically annotated with the location (usually based on cell tower) in which they were taken. One of the challenges of this prototype is generating tag suggestions that are both concise and accurate enough to be easily handled on a phone interface.
Both the automated location tags and the suggested tags already help users find photos and organize their collections.
ZoneTag should work on most Nokia Series 60 v2 and v3 phones, but your mileage may vary. It also runs on the Motorola RAZR V3x. It may work on other phone models; try at your own risk and let us know how it goes!
Who built it
What people are saying
Finally flawless photos geotagging with your N95, Nokia N95 Users, SuBmArU
"...searching for a solution I discovered ZONETAG, a wonderful service offered by the guys behind Yahoo and Flickr: Zonetag claims to work with my N95, giving the opportunity to geotag a photo and to upload it to Flickr.
I gave it a try: I downloaded the client and installed in on my N95 ... and my jaws dropped down! IT WORKS flawlessly!"
Geo-hackers - The Zonetag API Goes Public, Yahoo! Developer Network blog, Dan Theurer
"ZoneTag is a little prototype that was developed by Yahoo! Research Berkeley. A look under the hood shows that it's built on top of a couple of interesting APIs that we're opening up. Anything that ZoneTag can do, you could do as well. "
Hands-on Hands on with Zonetag v3.0 for Symbian, Yet Another Symbian Blog, Ray Masky
"I would say this app totally Rocks !! Uses very less memory , very stable ..and very very useful !! "
Yahoo! ZoneTag 2-click-uploads location-tagged photos to Flickr, Engadget Mobile, Evan Blass
"Yahoo! has built an evolving database that relies on users manually tagging their stamped-photos with ZIP codes or GPS coordinates to provide a correlation between tower IDs and real-world locations, so the service will get more accurate over time."
Popularity: 13% [?]
Zurfer is a location-based photo browser for your shiny phone. Zurfer shows you photos taken around you, and exposes interesting local highlights. It gives you a way to follow your Flickr friends, follow comments on your Flickr photostream, and access your photos wherever you are.
Zurfer should work on most Nokia Series 60 v2 and v3 phones, but your mileage may vary. It also runs on the Motorola RAZR V3x. It may work on other phone models; try at your own risk and let us know how it goes!
Who built it
What people are saying
10 Of The Coolest, Free Applications For Your GPS-Enabled Nokia N95 Smartphone, GISUser.com, Glenn Letham
"Zurfer is one of those addictive social networking applications that you MUST have! This one actually comes out of the Yahoo! research labs and takes advantage of your position to share photos, see other photos around you, and take advantage of you flickr photos."
Yahoo's Zurfer joins Flickr, mobile phones, CNET News Blog, Stephen Shankland
"The software, which requires a "beefy smart phone," shows photos taken recently in a mobile phone user's vicinity, an example of a so-called location-aware service... Zurfer is one application based on the nascent "geotagging" concept in which digital photos are labeled with location information such as latitude and longitude."
Yahoo! Zurfer – Flicker for Handheld Devices, GPS Technology Reviews
"Zurfer is ideal travel companion as it can show you photos that have been taken around your location providing an opportunity search Flickr and discover what local highlights there are to see. Its possible to access the latest photos posted by Flickr friends and check on comments on your own Flickr photos."
Popularity: 12% [?]
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