Neowster.com

Don’t know what IPTV is about? For those technically inclined, check out its Wikipedia entry. For the rest of us, think Youtube, except that the “content” is not produced by users, but by the broadcaster. So generally. you get better quality programs, not some homemade videos or worst still, mobile handset shot videos. However, the main differentiating factor is not only content, but you no longer have to wait for the “streaming” of the content before playback. Basically, the promise of IPTV is that it will deliver content akind to your TV set, that’s to say you can channel surf and playback the content immediately, without having to wait for it to “download” or experience “jerky” scenes. And one company that achieves it is Joost.

Why Joost stands out is becasue of its superb user interface and its cool design. No complicated install or setup. Download it here, and follow through with the standard installation process. You will need to login (if you’re unable to get a account, drop me a comment and I will email you an invite) and once you’re done, you will be presented with a beautiful interface.

This is the main window, just mouse over any icon and get to know its function. It easy! To bring up these menus, just move your cursor to the center of the screen. To hide the menu, click the “top-right” circular shape button.

“Explore” tab lets you browse all the channels available on Joost

Great interface…… Just mouse over for more details on “how things works” around Joost

“My Joost” tab brings you to the social features of the application and some application settings.

Once you clicked on “My Joost” you will see the “Widget Menu” appear at the bottom-left of your screen. Clicking on this will open up the widgets list.

If watching “TV” is all that you’re interested in, you can leave all these alone.

Back to the main screen, the top tab will allow you to explore the show’s interactive features.

For certain shows, the interactive features play a big part in enhancing the user experience. Noting here worth mentioning.

Back to the main screen, the controls at the bottom are pretty self-explanatory. However do note the button for closing the application which is highlighted in the picture.

Another thing to note is the “close” button just minimizes the program to run in the background, with an icon representing the application to call up the program anytime. To completely shut Joost off, “right-click” on the icon and select “exit”.

That’s it. I strongly encourage you to try Joost as it will “enlighten” you on what’s the next big digital revolution (another worthy mention is Hulu, but its only available in U.S). There is without a doubt IPTV will be coming to you sooner than you expect. It will be difficult or near impossible for it to completely takeover the traditional broadcast media, however I can see it prospering in niche markets such as Anime or any other specialist channels. A possible and likely development is for Youtube itself to crossover to the realm of “IPTV”. Its simple, either Google buys into Joost and introduce Youtube as one of Joost channels, or Google builds its own IPTV solution base on Youtube.

IPTV together with VOIP will drive the wave of bandwidth intensive mainstream digitization and result in a surge in demand for bandwidth, resulting in the inevitable…..

UPDATES 28/09/08 - Joost moves to Web