lifecasters

iJustine dumping Justin.tv for single life?

Tim Faulkner · 11/14/07 02:52PM

Rumor is spreading that Justine Ezarik, the blonde videoblogger better known as iJustine, is leaving Justin.tv. Ezarik, who holds the dubious distinction of being the most popular lifecaster of the moment, is currently denying that she's leaving the self-broadcasting service where she made her name. Ustream.tv, where Justine first started videoblogging before she made it big on Justin.tv, has regained the affections of the vlog hottie, or so the story goes. As is often the case when two are competing for the attention of one woman, neither suitor ever really wins.

Lifecasting ad absurdum

Mary Jane Irwin · 11/06/07 07:15PM

One lifecasting video entrepreneur makes it big, and suddenly the Internet is crawling with me-too networks and absurd self-broadcasting mashups. The latest such venture moves from simple audience observation to audience participation. Mod My Life pegs itself as a new form of virtual reality. One of its "modstars" (a witless if not unwitting chap armed to the teeth with broadcasting equipment) is unleashed in New York City. Think of it as Digg meets Subservient Chicken: Viewers submit actions for the bloke to perform, and in Digg-like fashion, the most popular suggestions are voted on, and then the lifecaster is forced to perform them. Genius examples include "pretend to be the bouncer at the Taco Bell" and "try and sell a free newspaper." I'm waiting for "have a quickie in a needle-laden alleyway" or "defecate on Prometheus at the Rockefeller Center." Bonus points awarded for "holding my attention for more than five minutes" and "making its way out of beta."

Lifecasting site bans lifecasting

Tim Faulkner · 10/24/07 05:31PM

We've been covering — so to speak — the exposed skin at lifecasting site Justin.tv not because we think the company should enter the porn business. Even if that's the site's best shot at actually making a buck. No, we're fascinated at how the startup is willing to cut off its core audience of self-involved youth, who want every moment of their lives on the Internet, titillating and stupefyingly boring alike. The company only received any attention at all because of the any-thing-goes, 24/7 habits of its founder Justin Kan. Now, the startup seems to have abandoned the spirit of "lifecasting" altogether.

Last defense of nude-lesbian haters removed

Tim Faulkner · 10/24/07 12:11PM

Lifecasting site Justin.tv no longer has any reason to restrict nudity and sexual content on their broadcasts. This morning's news of a United States Court of Appeals ruling overturning the recordkeeping provisions of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988, might have some effect on YouTube — but it's going to have a much bigger impact on lifecasters like Justin.tv.

Jordan Golson · 10/16/07 04:16PM

A Justin.tv "lifecaster," who sports a head-mounted camera wherever he goes, is a huge jerk to a very polite movie-theater manager who asks him to remove his camera when he enters the theatre. Then he gets worked up and defensive when people call him out for his rude behavior. Ah yes, this must be what Al Gore envisioned when he invented the Internet. [TechCrunch]

Broadcast your miserable life with Justin.tv

Mary Jane Irwin · 10/03/07 03:53PM

On the Internet, everyone is famous to about 15 people. In case you happen to be an anomaly, Justin.tv wants to ensure you have your own shot at microcelebrity. Since YouTube quickly turned into a dumping ground for loser-generated content, creating another video destination that hosts unedited, streaming video of oh-so-important mundane lives seems like a brilliant idea. The fact that Justin Kan continues to raise funding despite his 30 seconds of Internet superstardom drying up is a sure sign of the pending Web 2.0 apocalypse.