Originally published July 5 2005
"Swarmcasting" software lets anyone run an internet TV station
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A team of students at the University of Texas at Austin is set to release a software tool called Alluvium, which is designed to turn any internet-connected computer into a TV station.
A team of students at the University of Texas at Austin is set to release a software tool designed to turn any Internet-connected computer into a TV station.
The software, called Alluvium, uses peer-to-peer technology to let people stream video to multiple users nonstop -- even without high-speed Internet connections.
Alluvium, he says, could serve plenty of prosaic purposes -- like letting parents broadcast their childrens' soccer games for family members, or helping community groups find a high-tech alternative to public-access TV.
Much like BitTorrent, the file-swapping program popular with movie downloaders, the swarmcasting program breaks video files into small pieces, so that a computer user can download component parts simultaneously from any other machines that are storing or streaming the files.
But unlike BitTorrent, Alluvium -- which was designed by Brandon Wiley, also a graduate student at Austin -- orders those component parts before downloading them.
Internet television is not a completely new concept, says Mr. Lopez, who has run stations of his own online in the past.
But swarmcasting software could democratize the technology, he says, just as "podcasting" software has done for online audio distribution.
One will discuss the technological requirements for an online TV channel, and the other will offer tips on using a station to build a community of filmmakers and artists.
"The distribution system for music and movies is broken right now, and it's going to take the RIAA and the MPAA two or three years to figure it out," says Mr. Lopez, referring to the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.
It will broadcast more than a thousand videos, including experimental films and documentaries, created by students for the university's ACTLab, an art- and technology-based program for which both Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley serve as teaching assistants.
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