Joost – Global Broadband Television

You might not immediately know the names Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom but you’ve probably used one of their services.

Janus and Niklas are the two entrepreneurs who gave the world free online telephone calls through Skype and co-founded the file-sharing service Kazaa. Using some of the money they made from the sale of Skype, they’re now launching a global broadband television service called Joost.

“Joostâ„¢ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the internet and TV worlds. We’re in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat. There are many more new features to come!”

While it’s still unclear exactly what Joost will eventually look like, how many channels they’ll provide and just how good the service will be, thousands of people (myself included) have already signed up to test the new service. I’ve registered and now I’m waiting for confirmation to start trialling the service. With so many people wanting to jump on board it may take a little while to hear back from the Joost team. You can get a closer view of the screenshot by clicking on the picture in this post.

If you want to get in before the rush and start testing Joost, just head to the website and give them your details.

I’ll let you know if I get to be one of their test team as soon as I hear anything from them.

Mind you, I suppose that it comes down to the age old problem. They might be supplying lots of extra free entertainment for the world but will they be providing the extra hours in the day we’ll need to make use of the service?

There’s already an endless supply of easy ways to use the 24 hours we’re given each day. The challenge is to use our time wisely and productively.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Click here for regular email updates from this blog.

Technorati Tags:



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Joost – Global Broadband Television? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

View all posts

1 Comment

  • I’ve got access. It’s good, but it’s not brilliant yet. I’ve not tried it from a really fast broadband connection yet though… on 2Mb Broadband it’s about as good as normal terrestrial television.

    Perhaps I should video my screen, stick it on youtube, and then post that on my blog?

Join the conversation