Joost, formerly known as the Venice Project, is a platform that looks to "juice up" the web by offering TV over the Internet with a surprisingly crisp video quality. What is Joost? Joost is the creation of Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, creators of Skype and Kazaa which leveraged peer-to-peer technology to turn the Internet into a television platform.
According to the Technology Review, Joost content initially comes from central servers located in Luxembourg, but as more and more users request the same content, the system shifts to peer-to-peer file transfers, which increases efficiency as more users log on. However, Joost does not require lengthy downloads but rather goes after those seeking instant gratification. With Joost it takes less than five seconds to change the channel and watch something else - on demand IPTV at your service.
I got a chance to check out the Joost private beta and I was pleasantly surprised with the way that it presented videos on a computer optimized for the ten foot experience. I have noticed a few people are offering invites to Joost so if you would like to check it out yourself go here, here or here - as they are offering more people a shot to test it out as Joost nears its public launch.
Currently, Joost is in the process of signing partner deals to bulk up its content offerings. With time this could make it an ideal way to watch TV. For more on Joost check out the first Joost commercial below.
