The Digital Movement

When we talk about live online video streaming, the first thing that comes to people’s minds is Ustream. Ustream was a great service that enables users to conduct live video streaming online with just a web cam and Internet service. However, it is not very convenient in terms of mobility because you have to carry your web cam/laptop wherever you go (and, you had to make sure you have an Internet connection).

One company in California decided to take this further by creating a technology that enables users to do live video casting easily from the convenience of their mobile phones via any 3G/GPRS/Wi-fi Internet connection. This company is Visivo Communications which created Qik.com. Recently, the guys at Qik contacted us to help them source for testers from Singapore. As it is still in the alpha stage, they’ll need all the feedback they can get to improve their service. So, if you’ve always been wanting to livecast events or have been waiting to try your hands on some, this is the time to start.

To register for Qik, here are some instructions from the Qik team:

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You will need TWO things:

1) one of the following Nokia phones:

E50, E61i, E65, E70, E90, N71, N73, N75, N76, N80, N80i, N81, N91, N93, N93i, N95, 3250, 5500, 5700, 6121 classic, 6120 classic. If you go to www.qik.com and click on “Sign Up”, it will show you a more comprehensive list.

AND

2) a GPRS/3G/Wi-fi connection to the Web

Step 1

Using a PC, Go to www.qik.com on the Internet and click on “Sign Up” . Select your country and type in your mobile number in the space provided.

After typing the number, click on the “Sign Up” icon.

ALL SUCCEEDING STEPS 2, 3 AND 4 ARE ON YOUR CELL PHONE ONLY AND NOT ON YOUR PC!

Step 2

You will get an SMS message with a Qik link and an activation code. Note down the activation code on a piece of paper. Then Navigate to the URL link on your cell phone SMS message and select it. Alternatively, on some cell phones you may have to go to “Options” and “Use Detail” and then open the link “Web address”. This will then take you to the browser on your cell phone and open a page where you’ll see “Download”. Click on “Download” to install the Qik software. INSTALL QIK TO YOUR PHONE MEMORY ONLY. Select “Yes” or “Ok” or “Continue” to all questions you are asked along the way and install the software. The whole process should take less than 5 minutes. Once complete, you will see a message stating that Qik has been installed.

Step 3

Once the installation is complete, go to the “Applications” folder on your cell phone and look for the “Qik” icon. If it is not in your “Applications” folder, look for the “Qik” icon in your “My Own” folder or use the search feature on your phone to search for “Qik”. Once you find the “Qik” icon, click on it. The video Camera gets activated automatically.

Step 4

Once your video camera is activated, you will see the word “Stream” on the bottom right hand corner of your screen and the word “Menu” on the Top right hand corner of your screen. Click on “Stream” and you will be asked to enter the activation code you noted down in Step 1. Enter your activation code and start streaming.

Note: Some additional steps if you’re using Wi-Fi
1. Go the main screen and setup your WiFi access point
2. Then go to Qik and you can setup your WiFi in 2 different ways:
o When you select “Stream”, select the WiFi access point when prompted
o Go to Menu > Settings. Then select “Access Point” and select the WiFi network that you setup in Step 1. Once you set this up, whenever it finds that WiFi access point, it will stream using that.

Step 5

Ask your loved ones/ friends (wherever they may be in the world) to log on to www.qik.com website. As you stream on your mobile, they can see you and whatever is around you LIVE in Real-time in the cell phone screen on the Qik Website. You may have to go to VIEW and REFRESH on the Qik web page to ensure that existing videos that are playing are replaced by your Live FEED

All your videos are stored on the www.qik.com website. You can make your videos “Private” or “Public” by selecting “Menu” on the Top right side of your phone screen (before you click the bottom right “Stream”)and scrolling down to “viewable by” and selecting “Me only” or “Everyone”

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Oh yea! Before I forget, to get the special “welcome message” with additional account features, do e-mail Bhaskar at bhaskar[at]qik[dot]com with the following details:
a) Name
b) Telephone number you used to register for Qik
c) E-mail address

Happy streaming / live-casting (whatever you call it)! :)

Cheers,
Su Yuen (Bitbot)