We have resolved the security issue with linking certain external images. You should now be able to link images in comments and profiles again.

Posted by newave at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have released a new type of chat room. The Debate Room is currently in BETA test. If you would like to try out the new Debate Room go here ->> http://www.stickam.com/debateRoom.do

You can provide feedback and comments via the forum thread here ->> http://forum.stickam.com/viewtopic.php?t=385

Debate Room BETA Overview

Room Creation:

Users can create a Debate Room with the room name and description. The
Host can set the start time for the room and have basic functions to
manage their Debate Rooms (create/delete).

Debate Room Features:

1) both Stickam members and non-members can enter the Debate Room
2) mute all audio
3) Debate Room can be scheduled to start in the future
4) 2 large video stream windows for featured debaters

Moderation Features:

Host
1) set the max # of users that can enter the room
2) kick users
3) enable featured live stream for users (debaters)
4) enable or remove users as moderator

Moderator
1) kick users
2) enable featured live stream for users (debaters)

We will update and add to the forum thread periodically.

Thank you for your feedback and participation.

Posted by at 10:25 AM | Permalink

A window into anyone's world
Face time? It's so 2006. Now users can webcam their way to the virtual world, live and uncut.
By David Sarno
Times Staff Writer

January 28, 2007

TALK about an eavesdropper's paradise: Unless you work for the government, you will likely never have enjoyed such a powerful ability to monitor any of thousands of conversations as you do at Stickam.com, a new social networking site that's trying to leapfrog MySpace by enabling users to participate in live, multiway videoconferencing. Most rooms are public, and when you visit the site there is no requirement to broadcast either your image or voice or give your real name.

The idea for Stickam (pronounced Stick-cam) is simple: Without having to pay a dime or install any sketchy software, you can fire it up and start a face-to-face-to-face chat. All you need is a decent broadband connection and, of course, a webcam. (If you don't have one built in, you can order one online for about $30.) More audacious souls "go live" — Stickam lingo for enabling your webcam. A small window will appear in your browser with a video of you — What else? — staring at a video of you in your browser.

At this point, an important distinction should be made. When you stream live video, you are not broadcasting yourself to the whole world or even anyone with a computer. Your audience is limited to the people who have entered your chat room. But before you and a friend reenact that scene from "Borat," keep one thing in mind: With the right software, anyone can record video from Stickam at any time — and people do.

Intriguing as it is at first, the novelty of access to a mother lode of video chats does begin to wear off fairly quickly, especially if you don't feel like listening to bored teenagers — "I'm bored," being an oft-heard Stickam complaint — speculating about such things as why "they're taking the word 'the' out of superhero movie names" — "Hulk," "Fantastic Four," "X-Men."

Luckily, Stickam offers more than just chat. A number of entertainers have established outposts here, including a growing group of radio DJs seeking new exposure. "The video element lets listeners feel like they're a part of the whole process," said Hawaii reggae DJ Shaggy Jenkins, answering a question via Stickam in midshow. "It kind of breaks the mystique behind DJs and their real appearances." Shaggy is the proof of concept here — on Stickam you can see he's not the dreadlocked island Rasta listeners might picture but a ball-capped white dude from North Carolina.

Stickam has also attracted a number of YouTube and MySpace personalities, many of whom say the ability to interact with fans is the real draw. "I just get on [Stickam] and do whatever crazy stuff the fans want," said Colt Whitmore, 17, whose YouTube videos have scored several hundred thousand views. Whitmore believes Stickam is going to be "extremely huge" and that MySpace (where he has amassed nearly 42,000 "friends") "isn't going to be as big as it was. There are too many fake profiles up there. Everyone just uses it as a big billboard now."

One music group is trying to take video chat to yet another level. Story Told, a ragtag crew of twentysomething indie rockers who also produce a reality series for YouTube — has installed a 24-hour webcam in its Sunnyvale, Calif., living room, allowing for a constant conversation between band members and fans. Their camera and computers were part of a sponsorship deal with Stickam, one of several the company has pursued with various young artists and musicians. Lead singer Loren Groves makes no apology. "It's all product awareness," he said by cellphone, stepping away from his day job at a Silicon Valley dotcom. "It has nothing to do with that song you wrote last Tuesday. You have to market yourself, period."

Groves claims that thanks to his band's online presence, their album has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Their next effort, he said, will arrive on a CD packed with Stickam promotional material and software. He also expects Story Told to install more cameras in their house, sacrificing even more of their privacy to marketing gods.

Watching the group on Stickam is a mostly boring but occasionally amusing experience. On a recent night, band members and friends appeared on camera in various states of intoxication, wrestled, listened to loud rap music and joked with the half-dozen fans who were online. "I was born to live in front of the camera!" declared keyboardist Jason "Jallah" Swenson (who, perhaps not coincidentally, will soon be asked to leave the band, according to Groves). Another young man, looking at a Stickam viewing statistic, gloated, "Dude, we're getting hella traffic," then went on to note that the next morning he would "show up wasted to traffic school."

Among the group's live fans are a coterie of young women — video groupies, basically — who beam themselves into the band's virtual room for hours on end, often dressed in suggestive outfits, to relentlessly flirt with Story Told's members. Several cited concrete plans to visit the band, including a college student from New Jersey who had even arranged which bed she'd be sleeping in (the bass player's).

Though interactive, round-the-clock webcam is certainly no "Sopranos," the medium is too young to be written off. What if the Shins had a 24/7 webcam? Or G-Unit? Old-school, edited reality TV may have to consider that this real-time, uncut, unfiltered programming has an inherent advantage with reality.

There are potential problems, however. Stickam hits a trifecta that has made some parents nervous: It's new, it's free and it allows users to remain anonymous. So there has been some worrying in the press about whether the site is "a magnet for sexual predators." Some Web experts say there's a danger. Others say the kids are all right.

Indeed, worry about sex offenders may be causing people to overlook a more pernicious threat to users: themselves. Contacted by e-mail, a woman whose profile was No. 2 on Stickam's most-viewed list and whose image the site had used for a month on a homepage promo ad, said she had to stop using Stickam after she became "obsessed" with the attention she was receiving.

"I forgot about everything in my life," she said, identifying herself only as Laura. "My family, school, work. I wouldn't go to sleep, I'd be up at the [crack] of dawn just to be on Stickam."

In a video recorded by one Stickam user and posted elsewhere, Laura is seen undressing at fans' urging, while a toddler ambles about in the background — a disturbing reminder that a major part of webcasting is, after all, staring at your own reflection and perhaps even becoming mesmerized by it. "After a while," Laura said, "you don't even notice the people in the room talking to you."

david.sarno@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-webscout28jan28,0,7033379.story

Posted by at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tonight Katharine Mcphee of American Idol fame is broadcasting live on Stickam at 6pm PST.

Watch it here!

Posted by newave at 4:39 PM | Permalink

UPDATE: Linking images from all sites has returned.

Recently we have had some security issues regarding users using the IMG SRC html code. We will be temporarily blocking some images from appearing in your profile. Most will still be working but if you find images in your profile do not show, link your images from the following sites. This will be temporary until we can fix the problem.

stickam.com
myspace.com
youtube.com
google.com
last.fm
thespringbox.com
abazab.com
imagechef.com
slide.com
privacytext.com
qloud.com
73.rockyou.com
supcast.com
bunchball.com
dappit.com
imageshack.us
mojungle.com
photobucket.com
quizilla.com
rhapsigody.com
txtdrop.com
vizu.com
yourspins.com
saynow.com
mixmap.com
mychingo.com
incircles.com
u-lik.com
mypagerank.net
finetune.com
technorati.com
heifer.org
boonex.com
widgetbox.com
yelp.com
digg.com
flickr.com
dappit.com
aol.com
fliqz.com
flixn.com
dailypuppy.com
labpixies.com
blinkx.com
mapsack.com
streampad.com
pixrat.com
serverboy.net
del.icio.us
skype.com
grazr.com
sigamp.com
odeo.com
yahoo.com
photoshow.com
simplestar.com
woohoo.aim.com
blogdeco.jp
feedgit.com
mercora.com
imvu.com
xfacts.com
meetro.com
muveemix.com
vimeo.com
bebo.com
frappr.com
mixmap.com
platial.com
blingyblob.com
grouper.com
revver.com
metacafe.com
motionbox.com
videocodezone.com
topcomments.com
pyzam.com
bunnysnoog.cyborgcow.net
mynicespace.com
blogadorn.com
knitemare.org
sexiluv.com
snapvine.com
photocasket.com
modmyprofile.com
pimpmyspace.org
yourcoolprofile.com
spacemisc.com
myspacehive.com
spacepimp.net
pimpitout.net
spacepimps.net
pimpwebpage.com
freediskspace.com
mypimpcodes.com
glittergraphics.co.uk
themyspacepimp.com
myspacepicturecodes.com
myspacejunks.com
skize.com
killerkiwi.net
bigoo.ws
allmyspacegraphics.com
mywackospace.com
coolmyspacecomments.com
profilejewels.net
zingerbug.com
commenthound.com
onetruemedia.com
mtv.com
mynicespace.com
tweakyourpage.com
profile-stuff.com
freecodesource.com
hotfreelayouts.com
blingyblob.com
showtimelakers.com
cherrytap.com
fvx.com
mynicespace.com
blogadorn.com
knitemare.org
sexiluv.com
snapvine.com
photocasket.com
modmyprofile.com
pimpmyspace.org
yourcoolprofile.com
spacemisc.com
myspacehive.com
spacepimp.net
pimpitout.net
spacepimps.net
pimpwebpage.com
freediskspace.com
mypimpcodes.com
glittergraphics.co.uk
themyspacepimp.com
myspacepicturecodes.com
myspacejunks.com
skize.com
killerkiwi.net
bigoo.ws
allmyspacegraphics.com
mywackospace.com
coolmyspacecomments.com
profilejewels.net
zingerbug.com
commenthound.com
onetruemedia.com
mtv.com
mynicespace.com
tweakyourpage.com
profile-stuff.com
freecodesource.com
hotfreelayouts.com
blingyblob.com
showtimelakers.com
cherrytap.com
fvx.com
zingfu.com
bolt.com
frappr.com
technorati.com
polldaddy.com
jaxtr.com
finetune.com
userplane.com
snocap.com
stickiwidgets.com
east.streamguys.com
flikzor.com
tjsdesign.com

Posted by webmaster at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We’re back from Sundance, fully defrosted and swimming in the comfort of 70 degree weather. The Sundance Film Festival was a first for Stickam and we brought the action to you live. Park City was anything but sane… crazy Hollywood mayhem transplanted to the picturesque serenity of Park City, Utah. You had your indie-filmmakers, blue-toothed Hollywood execs and swag posses, giving away everything from free hats to energy mints to film flyers. You had the star-gawkers who withstood the cold for hours just to see the 10 second glimpse Alec ‘not Adam’ Baldwin. Then, there were celebrities (Peter Sarsgaard, Kiefer Sutherland) and your “celebrities” (Dustin Diamond, Gary Coleman). A-list or D-list, the screams of fans and the shutter sounds of the paparazzi could be heard up and down Main St. Like passing a car crash, you can’t help but slow down and take a look.

Definite highlights of our Sundance invasion:
• Live D-list celebrity interviews including Different Strokes ‘star’, Gary “1-800-CashCall” Coleman and Dustin “Dirty Sanchez” Diamond, better known as Screech from Saved By the Bell. They loved the camera time, we loved the novelty.
• Our resident Stickam interviewer, Stu Stone and his interviews with Big f with the notorious gossipmonger, Perez Hilton.
• Nick Cannon spinning, Nick Cannon dancing, Nick Cannon pimping—no matter where we were, there he was.
• Snow!
• Stickam staff party fouls caught on tape but would never see the light of day… or will they?

Special thanks to Stu Stone, the awesome girls at 5w and the Stickam crew who sacrificed sleep and lunch/dinner breaks to bring you round the clock live coverage of this year’s festival. Also, thank you to all the Stickam members who stuck with us for the entire duration of our Sundance coverage and if you missed the action, you could check out the Sundance profile for video clips of our live broadcast.

Stu with Perez Hilton:

CHECK OUT MORE VIDEO CLIPS: http://www.stickam.com/profile/sundancefilm

Posted by at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we released a few features and fixes to the site.

The Radio page now has a search by genre, other Entertainer pages will follow soon.

The personal tag search now sorts its entries by Live, Chatroom, online, offline, to help you better find live users with similar interests.

We are currently updating media thumbnails so they show up better on our large 480x480 Stickam Player.

Posted by newave at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for stopping by the Sundance page (www.stickam.com/profile/sundancefilm). Since yesterday we have been so excited broadcasting up in frigid yet friendly Park City, Utah. All the staff up here, Jimmy, Andy, Paul, Hideki, Heather, Aaron, Randy, Scott, and Jane can barely stay outside more than 30 minutes before their fingers and toes freeze.

In case you did not see, the top page changed again! For the occasion we have introduced a new top page webcasting player. Check it out throughout the weekend as we broadcast live from the streets, parties and other events at Sundance Film Festival.

A couple of highlights so far... Today, Stu Stone has been all over the streets and to parties interviewing celebrities and getting the word out about Stickam. Yesterday, we had an incredible interview with Nick Cannon. After the live broadcasts we upload the video footage to the sundancefilm page, check it out.

Some of the most exciting live broadcasting will be tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. Tomorrow night Perez Hilton will be hosting a celebrity dinner. Following, we will be broadcasting the red carpet event/party “Sundance Escape Experience”. For the finale, we will be streaming live from the celebrity poker tournament at Sunday 4 p.m. (PST).

Stop by the staff blog for more updates later this weekend!

Posted by webmaster at 4:21 PM | Permalink

Stickam will be broadcasting live straight from Sundance, Thursday 1/17 - Sunday 1/21. Check for updates and watch all the events over at http://www.stickam.com/profile/sundancefilm.

Posted by newave at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Expect to see some new changes at Stickam in the coming weeks. First we are launching a redesign of the front page that will show off a featured live stream with a live host presenting. We will also be launching a new kind of chatroom called the Debate Room. This will offer a new forum for moderated discussion on any topic you want.

Also be sure to check out http://www.stickam.com/profile/sundancefilm starting Thursday for our Live coverage at the 2007 Sundance film festival.

One more note, page views should be turned back on starting tomorrow.

Posted by newave at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Monday, January 8, 2007
Interview with Hideki Kishioka and Aaron Novak, Stickam

Our interview today is with Hideki Kishioka and Aaron Novak, of the Web 2.0, social networking web site Stickam (www.stickam.com). Hideki is CEO of AVC, the company that operates StickAm, and Aaron is the production manager there and one of the major creative forces behind the site. Despite a huge number of startups in the social networking and video sharing space--not to mention MySpace and YouTube--we thought it would be interesting to talk to the firm both because it is focusing in on live webcams, and also because it is funded by a Japanese firm in the corporate video conferencing space. Ben Kuo spoke with Hideki and Aaron about the site.

What is Stickam, and how does it fit into the world of social networking?

Aaron Novak: We're sort of a combination of MySpace and YouTube. We provide social networking on a Flash-based media site. What sets us apart from them, and other sites, is that we emphasize live content--people live on their webcams. It's like a YouTube for webcams or MySpace for webcams.

Why get into the area of Web 2.0, social networking--this seems to be a really crowded space?

Hideki Kishioka: It happened to become Web 2.0. We didn't intend for it to become a Web 2.0 / social network. What the company is focused on is live video feeds. Along with creating this, we came up with a web widget that could play on a social networking site, blog, or home page. So you could set up your own live feed from home, or from the office, or from outside. The need for the site came from our users. They wanted to talk to other users, even if they didn't have a blog or a MySpace account. That's how we ended up in social networking.

Where'd the idea come from?

Aaron Novak: More and more now, people have webcams. Everyone is doing social networking and video, and there are lots of social networking/video sites popping up. What we're trying to do is to find the next thing, and are hoping that it will be live content and webcams. If you look at webcams, it is sort of a trendsetter in technology. More and more companies are including webcams in their systems, and it's more of a daily thing. Right now, people aren't quite used to the idea, but we think people will start getting use to that in 2007. We're a site to give you something to do with your webcam--sort of like instant messaging.

Tell us a little bit more about the relationship of AVC and the Stickam service?

Aaron Novak: Stickam launched in February of 2005. The parent company is Advanced Video Communications, a Japanese company. Stickam has been privately funded by the owner.

That's an interesting background for a Web 2.0 company, can you tell us a little bit about the Japanese connection and what Advanced Video Communications provides in Japan?

Hideki Kishioka: Most of our clients are from Japan, and what we provide is infrastructure --like video conferencing and chat--to Japanese companies. That's how we started, and that's how we make money. We decided that since we have this technology, and are unknown in the United States, a consumer-to-consumer site is a way of making ourselves known and famous in the United States.

How big is AVC?

Aaron Novak: We have 35 employees.

Tell me more about how you went from corporate video conferencing to social networking?

Aaron Novak: In the past, what we've done at AVC was business to business teleconferences in Japan. Because of the time difference, and because we had extra bandwidth and technology for this sort of thing, we decided to try to do a social networking site. We launched just as MySpace and YouTube started getting lots of attention. We wanted to do something different, and we are ahead in terms of the technology--no one else is doing this yet, including other chat sites and webcam sites. We're the only webcam site that offers the features we have without need to download a client, since we're Flash-based.

Who is the target market for Stickam?

Hideki Kishioka: Our target has been young teens -- early adopters, teenagers, and those in their early 20's. The second target is entertainers, musicians, and other creators.

With all of the sites in this space, how are you getting above the noise?

Aaron Novak: We're definitely gaining traction--we've seen recently that the top creators of content on YouTube, the top 100, are coming to our site, in addition to YouTube--to add a live component. They want to talk to their fans live.

If you don't mind me asking, how many users do you have?

Aaron Novak: I just got the latest numbers, currently we have about 263,000 users on the site.

Are you monetizing the site yet?

Aaron Novak: Right now we're just trying to gain members, and don't have advertising on the site. Plans haven't been made yet. Since we're within our first year--we're just about a year into it--we want to get members before monetizing. Also, because we're privately owned, we don't need to worry about investors and things like that, and aren't in any rush to monetize the site.

Thanks for the interview!

http://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0006947.html

Posted by webmaster at 4:52 PM | Permalink

When going live, Stickam can also be used to stream any audio coming from your computers speakers instead of your mic. This allows you to stream audio from any source on your PC or Mac.

PC Windows Method:

-Begin by playing some audio on your PC at your normal volume. This will help set up the input volume levels later.

-Right Click the volume control in your menu bar.
-Choose, Adjust Audio Properties.

-In the "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties", Click the Audio tab.
-Make sure Sound Playback Default device and Sound Recording default device are the same.
-Click the Volume button under the "Sound Recording" section.

-Select "Stereo Mix" as your input.
-Lower the input volume at first so your audio input isn't too loud.

-Go Live.

-Right click any flash element on the Stickam page. Its easiest to just right click where your video should shows up.
-Select Settings.

-Select the microphone tab.
-Choose your mic input from the pull down menu. This should be the same mic input you chose in the "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties" window.

-Adjust the volume so your input isn't too loud.
-Close the "Flash Payer Settings" window.

-Adjust the volume slider by your video screen so you mic volume is loud enough.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Mac OSX Method:

-Download and install Soundflower.
http://www.cycling74.com/downloads/soundflower

-Go to Your System Preferences.
-Choose Sound.

-Go to the Output Tab.
-Choose Soundflower (2ch).

-Go Live.

-CTRL click any flash element on the Stickam page. Its easiest to just right click where your video should shows up.
-Select Settings.

-Select the microphone tab.
-Choose Soundflower (2ch) from the pull down menu.

-Adjust the volume so your input isn't too loud.
-Close the "Flash Payer Settings" window.

-Adjust the volume slider by your video screen so you mic volume is loud enough.

Posted by newave at 1:16 PM | Permalink

Due to performance issues with the site, Profile Views have been temporarily turned off. You page views will not increase until we turn back on this feature in the future. Watch the blog for updates.

Posted by newave at 9:35 AM | Permalink