Tokyo Cam

Manga illustrator and character designer for Mirai-chan Azami Yuko done a broadcast the other day of her working on a new illustration over at her Ustream Channel. I watched and thought it was quite interesting.

I then remembered that Ustream released an application making it possible to do live broadcasts from the iPhone - I tried out the app the following day with a test broadcast showing the viewers around the office. The test went well and was warmly received.

The iPhone together with this app now means that I can bring you more of life in Tokyo not only through photos but through live video too. Unlike videos I upload to my YouTube account, I don't need to record and encode anything before uploading it - all I do is fire up the Ustream app and go live.
So how do folks know that I'm broadcasting? Well none of these broadcasts are scheduled. What happens when I hit the Go Live button is that my broadcast URL is tweeted to my Twitter account. If you are interested in watching the broadcasts of Tokyo as it happens then follow me on Twitter.
If you have not discovered the benefits of Twitter yet then you may want to read the Tweetup article.
As for the tweet that automatically goes out - its canned text by Ustream which sounds so cheesy - something like "Hey come and see my broadcast!"

Today we are going to have a look at the behind-the-scenes on yesterdays broadcast which I done during my lunch break. Will probably be broadcasting this Thursday where I will take you to Kawasaki - will be going to see Avatar at the Lazona IMAX. Wont be broadcasting from inside the cinema though ^^;
Folks who watched yesterday's broadcast will be familiar with all these photos - if you was one of the viewers then let us know!
An embed below with some of yesterdays broadcast. Is that what the broadcast looked like or was it smoother?
I normally try to keep up with your comments as I walk and reply when I catch questions or requests.

At Togoshi Ginza. T'was a gorgeous sunny day. Another bit from yesterdays broadcast below.

Having a look at the prices of apartments.

And this is what it looked like from my view. After broadcasting for over 30 mins, the application crashed.

Then when I found some food to eat, I started to broadcast again. Here we take a look at how our local Coco Ichibanya has a Moe mascot - not sure if this is the only one that does as I've never seen her at any other Coco's.

And this is what I see on my end. I can read all your comments for the first few mins then as more viewers start to join in on the conversation, the comment list jumps to the first comment. I try to scroll down to see the new comments but the list keeps resetting. Really hope that Ustream fix this bug.

Tis really fun being able to broadcast and communicate with the viewers at the same time.

I didn't think viewers wanted to watch me eat but when I used the Poll function, it turns out that about 90% did want to watch! ^^;

Never in my life have had 80 people watch me eat ^^;

I was giggling too much and couldn't take it no more so ended the broadcast while eating ^^;

Then its back to the office - we stop to talk about pizza delivery and restaurants in Japan.

By now we had quite a few viewers - great numbers considering that it was only a single tweet that started to being in the punters. Thanks for retweeting if you did.
Thought I'd take the viewers for a special view of Tokyo.

I usually go up to this spot for inspiration. Tis a really nice view up here on a sunny day and even more so by night.

Was very cold n windy up here!

Would love to attach a web cam here for you ^^;

And a view of the other side towards Yokohama.

The iPhone Ustream app has a list of all previous broadcasts which are also saved on my Ustream account.

And here are some of the settings. From this screen, you can set it to tweet your broadcast when you start.

At the moment I'm broadcasting all my streams into the Live Tokyo channel.

When I'm not online, you can view my previously recorded videos on this page under the Archived Videos tab.

At the Shotengai.

Cute girlies want you to work with them at Yoshinoya.

Those Dollfie sized rucksacks.

Was thinking of having Tenpura for lunch.

We have a load of chemists around here.

Number of views start to increase just as I was about to turn back for the tenpura ^^;

Didnt want to leave folks in the lurch so continued walking.

No I was not at Anime Festa in Malaysia ^^

Really hope they fix the comment bug with this app soon.

Heading back to the office.

Was also streaming from Ginza outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store.
Dont forget to keep an eye on my Twitter if you are interested in watching these broadcasts and if you enjoy them then please retweet and let others know!
One thing about retweeting - if you reply with your tweet starting with "@dannychoo" then only people who follow you and me will see the tweet. If you want all your followers to see that tweet then start your tweet with a "." or "RT"
We will soon be implementing Growl notifications into the site so that you can see my tweets anytime you are on dannychoo.com.
The Tokyo Live Bloggers will work together to bring you more of Tokyo live as it happens not only through photos but now video too - japannow.fm launches soon...


















Eggs do have history too X3
Developer/Student
http://threedeecomplex.wordpress.com/
This is some great synergy of tech. Too bad you would never be able to do this in the U.S. with a stock iPhone and AT&T. Their network would throw a fit, and the broadcast quality would be terrible.
I love this photo^^
Collector / Otaku
Great view.
Young Grasshopper
http://miragestrike.blogspot.com
It was a great opportunity to be able to catch your tweet right before I head to bed. Never did I felt so close to Tokyo before~! Hope you'll be able to do this more often. ^^
三年せいとオタク
Santa's Flying :o
Emergency exit?
Medical student
http://www.protocolsnow.com
Wow this is very impressive use of technology!
God of my land at night, student during the day
Hmm...think I'll start following on Twitter now.
part time illustrationist, doll clothing seamstress
http://puppy52art.com/
this is such a neat feature ^o^ I broad casted once of me sketching and once of the cats playing/fighting in our living room once ^^; want to try to broad cast when I am sewing or in the sewing room sometime. The sewing machine is quite noisy tho! It was so neat seeing Azami sensei draw in real time, her webcam is great too, cos very sharp when we view her image closer up :D
trying to learn japanese
yeah i was watching this yesterday was funny we were talking about if u drop'd your iphone when u were up high showing us the view but the only thing about it is it had patches of strong lag every once in a while but other that was fun to watch
part time illustrationist, doll clothing seamstress
http://puppy52art.com/
cute smile! :D
Student
You blotted out the "o". [Taiga]
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
lol?! ^^;;;
Student
I'm not going to lie, I thought it was quite hilarious. Sarcasm is so, so hard to express online.
Young Grasshopper
http://miragestrike.blogspot.com
In reply to when Danny passed a school girl and states why you shouldn't point a camera at them.
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
lol? ^;
trying to learn japanese
o yeah and danny don't forget to bring more juice next time so u can keep your live cam going
Dance Trooper: DCX-001 O.D.E. (Order of the Dancing Empire)
http://dannychoo.com.my
This live broadcast feature definitely adds more excitement in getting to explore Japan with Danny ^_^
Artistic Freak Photographer ^^;
Was fun to read those "gambatte" from everyone in the chat at the moment u go up stairs in turbo mode :D!!
Web Developer
http://kungfudiscomonkey.net
Looks like I made it into one of the screenshots. I look forward to the future broadcasts. Should be a great way to bring Tokyo closer to everyone.
master of woodchop
http://www.bookindian.wordpress.com
HUGE potentials !! :D
Student, AKB48 Fans
Found my message xD It was nice watching Danny eat hehe
student
http://zephi-san.deviantart.com/
Being able to view Tokyo in your shoes is great!
Broadcaster is a great app, been playing around with it on my 3G iphone, and I have to say being able to record vids on the 3G is great!
http://projectyamada.blogspot.com
More broadcast please. ^^;
Customer Service
http://www.shewsbury.com
This kind of service is never possible in South East Asia.... maybe not just yet....
Otaku Graphic Designer
http://neoprolacus.spaces.live.com
Too bad our schedule always almost overlaps with one another that I cannot follow your live stream... 0:
Wannabe Mandalorian + Otaku
http://twitter.com/laniemon
Pretty cool seeing Japan (specifically Tokyo) in real time. And if you are able to, watch Azami Sensei do her magic online ^^.
Multimedia Designer/Developer
http://www.mcmonagle-interphase.com/
Absolutely awesome.
Apps like these are making it awfully difficult to avoid buying an iPhone.
Student
I really can't wait till the growl notifications come out. It'll be one of the fastest/easiest ways to find out whats happening around me related to Danny.
I must think this because I'm a victim of infowhelm. T_T
High School Student
This is so freakin cool!! I made a twitter account just for when danny does this again.. Just one question.. Will I be able to view Danny here in the States?
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
From anywhere in za warudo.
Student (Software Engineer)
Caught the broadcast last night (yea for twitter notifications ^^) and found it very enjoyable. The video was jumpy and a bit laggy at times (pretty much just like the videos you embedded above) but the audio always came in flawlessly. Thanks for sharing!
Student
http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Arial-Geometry-01/400152
damn this is the coolest tool I have sen in months! You can broadcast like that from your iPhone??? I can only imagine whats going to come up next year...
Aero Engineer, Harper
There was some lag in the video, but I really enjoyed it along with the audio! A guided tour of Danny's neighborhood! The downside is that now you can't even eat in peace.
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
^^;
銀河帝国五〇一軍团 TK/TD 8316 M.E.P.D. 軍曹/Droid Hunter
http://gordonator.com/
yup gunsou_gordon was there with u yesterday. i delayed going out for lunch just to see u walk around. lol. ('~')
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
謝謝!
萌え hunter
http://www.facebook.com/rustieraquin
cool nice pictures btw danny (y) t'was fun watching live in tokyo, someday, one day, I'll be going there lol keep it up よし~!
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Your avatar - is that the Good Smile Horo?
萌え hunter
http://www.facebook.com/rustieraquin
I think its Turu No Takata's garage kit.. heres the rink to their site.
萌え hunter
http://www.facebook.com/rustieraquin
http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~turunoyakata/
萌え hunter
http://www.facebook.com/rustieraquin
http://tomopop.com/this-spice-wolf-horo-garage-kit-has-my-jaw-dropping-down-to-the-basement-10021.phtml
Better pictures here, plus you might like this site.
Boukenger
I love that tempura chain and took advantage of the 580Yen tendon several times. Yummy!
???Confused???
hm DC Live is pretty interesting...and can be kept up by following twitter...rather useful technology at your disposal....
Blogger Looking For Employment
http://www.theandysan.com
I was there!!
You should definitely do more of these, but try to give us a heads-up beforehand.
It would also be awesome if you showed up as a guest on TokyoCooney's BlogTV show that he does every Thursday-Friday!
フリー漫画家/Comic Artist
http://mangayomo.com/blog/
stickamみたいなもの?w
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
そうですね。でもStickam使っている人少ない?
Student, part-time worker
I would be so happy seeing Tokyo live, I miss being there. I hope I can catch one sometime, but I'm not that into Twitter so I keep forgetting to check it. >.<;
shud've avoid this :S
Gakusei (College Student) and Japan enthusiast
http://www.mikeolotaku.wordpress.com/
This is so awesome! Instead of just reading about what has happened in Danny's life you can actually be there with him... well not in person but with the best next thing, live broadcasting. Hopefully I can get to catch one of Danny's live broadcasts in the future.
Art/Music Student
Missed it by 7 minutes apparently, after i jumped on facebook. Posting possible times on facebook might be a good idea to. Thinking of getting a twitter anyway. How often might you do these?
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Will try to do as much as possible.
Student
Hey Danny where did you get the cover for your iphone? its pretty sleek I want something like that for my one.
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Its this
http://www.foobarbaz.jp/2009/10/reveiw-capsuleneo.html
Got from Akihabara.
Technical Support
Wow that cover is really nice. :3 Late X-mas present me thinks!
Student
Thanks.
Working in the IT field
UStream is a cool app and I have seen more and more blogers discovering this.
Licentiate of Design Graphics
http://entodaslasesquinas.blogspot.com/
So Catholic
i see this in Live!.
Student
http://foxkey.blog126.fc2.com/
These live streams are hot, we need some Danny live tours.
Gunnery Sergeant Grade 4 Sniper Division
http://www.zamsjournal.com
hmm .. gotta buy an iPhone ...ditch that HTC ...
.NET/Web Developer
http://scrumptious.animeblogger.net
woooh. I see my comment up there. hahah. I think we all had fun when we were watching you eat. LOL. awkward for you, fun for us XD Looking forward to more of your broadcasts. ^^
Student
Guilty pleasure Status: Found.
Network Technician
http://www.myyaruki.com
Very cool, would there be anyway to incorporate the ustream into your website so when people visit they have the option of watching any current live broadcast a bit like your current yourtube embed but ustream instead?
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Yes - need to think about UI placement.
Paladin
Could definitely see it on the top of the right column. Between this and the awesome pictures from the photo articles, it would be pretty sweet. Obviously I don't know the other things you'd have to take into consideration though ^.^;
Looking forward to seeing more of these. Seems it'd be easier to do these more now, as often as you have to get around these days lol XD
Student (Bachelor of Asian Studies, specialising in Japanese)
http://autaku.com/
I tuned in for a little bit while you were at Coco's - this livestreaming is definitely a great idea. Being in a very close timezone to Japan (we're just an hour behind here) should make it easy for me to check your streams out more regularly. ^^
Student/ 3D animator game designer
Yay! on 3 screenshots hahaha I was mist3rmuffin.....
Student and full-time otaku
Sweet stuff, getting more and more 'live' by the day. Do make it so that people on the main page can immediately see it if there's a new broadcast...I hate having to check different sites for everything ^^;
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
The Growl notifications should cover that.
Student
http://p2pnadie2pp.deviantart.com
i Actually started viewing there... but it was too laggy so I didnt saw lot...
Student
http://sumomo-desu.blogspot.com
nice apps there...
a little bug fix could make it perfect.
Dirty Gentleman
http://cantstanzya.wordpress.com/
I am waiting for the day where you're willing to do crazy things in Japan based on real-time comments during broadcast (nothing dangerous of course =P)
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Anything as long as it does not get me arrested.
Web programmer
http://www.micky2be.com
I really like this new App
lonely student
would like to catch your broadcast yesterday when i saw you mention about it...but the internet speed here was damn slow @_@ ,have to load again slowly at night but it was really fun to watch you touring around, although it wasn't live anymore ~_~
Student
One of the best reasons to buy an iPhone.
IT Manager
http://thumbnail-of-life.blogspot.com/
Cool ! It was pretty laggy though.
Student
Really great work Danny! ;)
Shooting EM beams onto stuff and checking to see what comes out.
http://kikenshisou.wordpress.com
Quite the fun tour, first time I see Danny giggling. =)
http://www.zonjineko.com
Reminds me a bit of watching early Apple live broadcasts of keynote speeches 6-7 years ago. There was such a sense of excitement even though the picture quality was less than average but it was just great to feel like you were there in person.
This is amazing stuff and the possibilities are endless. Thanks Danny for pushing the boundaries and bringing a little bit of Japan to us live.
student
http://meby-shiki.blogspot.com/
iPhoneは便利で素晴らしいと思うけど、友達が使っていたらメールが打ちにくそうだった。
その点に関してはどうなんだろう・・? 打ちやすい方法でもあるのかな?
iPhone持っていません。リアルタイムでは見れないようだ
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
日本語入力には様々な方法はあります。僕には打ちにくいとは思っていない。爪の長い方には厳しいかも。
student
http://meby-shiki.blogspot.com/
なるほど、色々な方法があるんですね。今度ショップに行ってみます。
学生なのでお金がたまり次第ですが・・・^^;
http://chrizzt.livejournal.com
Very interesting and cool use of the medium internet.
Student / Photographer
http://reskiy.deviantart.com
Although a bit off-topic. I just had to comment on how beautiful the bokeh on this picture is. XD
dany's family photo
Student
http://www.stefkov.com/
I managed to catch the first broadcast but I'm in such a horrible time zone it's difficult for me to watch them. Setting up a webcam somewhere and letting it broadcast all day every day would be really cool.
Policy & Research Officer
http://www.alafista.com/
This is a great app. I'm gonna try it out when I do my photoshoots with comrade kodomut.
http://hxyume.com
Good shot!
Creative Director
And this, is why people have iPhones.
trainee at German Telekom
http://grew.themania.org/
Nice idea.
But do we have to know everything what are our friends are doing?
Dropping computers, starting all over again at Journalism
http://immalion.com
I ROFL'ed
Dropping computers, starting all over again at Journalism
http://immalion.com
Danny's assassin hand
Dropping computers, starting all over again at Journalism
http://immalion.com
I'd like to live here. Plane tickets, onegaishimasu.
三年の高校生
The iPhone has just recently become fully supported by mobile operators here in Israel (a bit too late, but it's better late than never) and I checked it myself today - it was great. Truth is that I had read this post from an iPhone 3GS back at the Apple Store before coming home to comment on it. ^^;
I really want an iPhone, but it's way too expensive to afford right now unless you're an absolute Apple geek/want to catch up with the "latest" mobile gimmick.
Student
http://lordofgundams.blogspot.com/
Cool use of tech Danny. I'm still trying to get JQuery to work properly though...
The Man
http://muz.com.ph
How awesome is that...? It's super-Twitter...
Close-protection officer/Martial artist
Sweet popsicles! I like this idea, but odds are you'll be live-ing (otherwise it would be "living," and he's always doing that) when I'm sleeping.
Student/Music Producer/Web Designer
http://www.youtube.com/user/LionBiscuits
Hahaha, hey, there I am in a screen shot of your ustream! :D I really love the idea of this, Danny, I watch it while I fill out my YFU Japan Study Abroad application. ^^ Keeps me going!
Close-protection officer/Martial artist
Danny never seems to eat alone. <.< But that's not the point, I'm immediately disturbed by the fact that she looks like she's about to go swimming in his soup. O.o
Very cool :) How are you going to implement the growl notifications? As a developer myself, I still haven't found an all-inclusive solution to doing server-push with PHP!
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
Will let you know once its done ^^
High School Student
Recently watched the Ustream live with Xyak.. Think that twas his name.. It was pretty cool. Never gonna miss a single one of those Ustream things. It felt kinda cool to be one of the few people chatting with Mr. DannyChoo himself! iWENTtoJAPAN was my name...
Insomniac
http://www.ermisv.com/
Nice vlogs!
Student / Free Thinker / Otaku
http://www.google.com/profiles/SeanSigloch
A nice added touch Danny, Japan in real time as things are going on. (^_^)
JR. College Student
http://npc.talkingincircles.net/
This is really awesome, I'll have to try and catch your broadcasting live one of these days.
大学生
http://gundamhub.blogspot.com
Hi Danny, sound like you were about to have a flu. Take care of yourself :)
Exchange Student
http://sander.zunavi.dk/
Aw. You just stopped broadcasting it seems.
But aren't this stuff kind of expensive? I mean phone internet access and eventually other stuff?
Computer Engineering Student
That is pretty interesting. I'll go and download this app too. Thanks for streaming us how things are in Japan. Live Streaming feels like a completely different experience from a normal video.
Otaku Student
You're making me want to get the iphone and i must^^ But great photos. Which we could deliver pizza like that.
Otaku Student
Thanks for video upload also to Danny. ^^
http://samuraisushi.deviantart.com
that's really awesome its like instead at home sitting infront of a computer and chatting, your outside enjoying the outside world + chatting = just awesome!!!!
Student
That Looks Lovely