Blogging From Line: iPhone Waiting Pushes Limits Of Hyper Local Content Delivery

Thanks to Web 2.0 applications such as ShoZu and Ustream, modern tech gurus such as Robert Scoble are delivering fresh content from the front lines of Apple Stores to desk jockeys like myself. Shozu let's you upload camera phone pictures directly to flickr. You can check out Scoble's picture from the line here. You can see live streaming video of the encampment on Ustream. With a Wifi connection, live updates of geek-celeb sightings come pouring in on his blog. It's amazing. And forget the iPhone, the possibilities are endless. The power of this technology is the ability to subvert network news coverage of live events. Drawing on my previous Web 3.0: Future Of Video post, I think it's clear that network news delivering cursory reporting on niche content is inherently flawed. I don't have a problem with sources covering Paris Hilton. But I don't see how that is good time utilization of network and cable news. But the type of interactive real-time content that could be assembled on location by web pioneers would be unrivaled by the networks. And with this iPhone thing, it's sorta happening now. Wifi coverage is growing. Mobile computing battery life is getting better. New photos come pouring into Flickr within minutes. Live video feeds and chat are available from a variety of sources including Ustream and Stickam. I can post to Viralroots from my Blackberry. Imagine an online community that sorts all of this incoming data by event. It would be like having a Google start page that does nothing but bombard you with live content from a Presidential debate, for example. Another page covers a concert. Others for a sporting event, a product release, a shuttle launch, a conference or convention. These are the possibilities. And it's all doable. We know this. Thanks to a nifty little phone.