Updated TWiT LIve Vista Gadget

Justin Belec has sent me an updated TWiT Live sidebar gadget for Vista users. It now includes the audio stream as well as the TWiT Live video stream and calendar. Perfect for listening or watching while you work (or play). Download the updated version here: TWiT Live Gadget Thanks, Justin!

TWiT.am

The Armenian Domain Registry has come through. You can now start using twit.am for the live audio stream. The following URL works in WinAmp, VLC, MPlayer, xine, xmms, iTunes, and most other Shoutcast/Icecast compatible players.

http://twit.am/listen

You can use the free FStream player on iPhone, or Nullriver's $6 Tuner Internet Radio (which I like a lot). I understand the media player on Nokia phone works. And many other phones can use Moodio.fm's free conversion service for listening.

TWiT-AM Is On The Air

I like to use my days off to work on projects that I just don't have time to get to otherwise. This morning I set up an audio server for the TWiT Live show that's compatible with the iPhone and other portable devices. This is something many of you have been asking for, even Dane! It's up now if you'd like to give it a try.

http://twit.am/listen

This URL will work in iTunes, WinAmp, and other Shoutcast/Icecast compatible players. I've been listening on the iPhone using NullRiver's $5.99 Tuner Internet Radio (which is quite good for other streams, too, by the way). According to Randal Schwartz, the free FStream works, too, but I haven't been able to figure it out myself. (UPDATE: I was adding .m3u to the URL - that confused Fstream, just use http://twit.am/listen.) The stream works great, even on 3G while driving around. I'm sending a 64kbps stream, so it might not work as well on Edge (UPDATE: worked fine as a drove around Petaluma even with Edge!). I'd love to get some listening reports. For folks who want the technical details, I've set up a dedicated server at Softlayer with a gigabit connection and icecast2. 4TB a month will cost me about $400. That's enough for 4000 listeners at 64kbps 24x7. If we need more I'll get more. Listeners will connect to this server, but the content will be sent to the server from our studios using a Barix Instreamer hardware encoder. The encoder takes the output of my mixer, turns it into MP3 audio, then uses the T1 to send it to the server. This should be a pretty reliable setup. I'll send live audio when we're on the air, and TWiT podcasts when we're not. We're in beta right now - at least until the Barix arrives and the twit.am URL propogates, but I would like your feedback, pro and con.

TWiT Live Sidebar Gadget

Thanks so much to Justin Belec who wrote a handy little TWiT Live sidebar gadget for Vista. This gadget lets you listen along to TWiT Live without taking up much screen real estate. When you need it you can pop-up our official programming calendar or zoom the video open. Download Justin's Vista Sidebar Gadget here: TWiT Live Gadget Justin says it's beta, so give him your feedback in the comments. (I've already told him "calendar" is misspelled.) Incidentally, it's for Vista-32 bit only. Apparently there's no 64-bit version of Flash. Windows, Mac, and Linux users can also use Peter Elst's TWiT Live Air App for a full screen window.

Bearhug Camp Live

Today is an important landmark in the world of open micro-blogging/messaging (think Twitter without limits). The first Bearhug Camp will bring all the players together, Twitter, Laconica, Microsoft, Google, and more, to talk about the future of XMPP, track, and open micro-blogging. Watch live all day on TWiT Live. And join the conversation on our own microblog (thanks to Laconica), the TWiT Army.