BabbleStream is a new text and voice platform targeting virtual worlds. CEO John Boersma says he's already working to provide VastPark an API as well as discussing integration with another unnamed virtual world, but he's particularly interested in showing how BabbleStream could improve the Google Lively experience. One early complaint about Google's browser-based virtual world is the lack of voice communication. While Google is already looking at its own solutions, Boersma's demo provides a quick fix for current users as well as a stage to show off for other interested partners.
"The technology is very innovative, and what makes it unique is that the client side is extremely small, just 300kb," Boersma explained. "It operates over a patent-pending peer-to-peer architecture. Because it’s so small, we’re able to wrap it in Java and have it accessed by any browser on the PC--and Mac support is about 3 months away. As we’re moving into Web-based virtual worlds, now we have an embeddable voice solution to work with that."
The application can get a little messy (that's a Lively room and BabbleStream widget running on top of Firefox on the BabbleStream page), but I didn't play around enough to see if there were better aesthetic options. From a functional standpoint, though, it's easy to launch your widget, room, and get to chatting. (If you have any problems, BabbleStream has a video walkthrough to simplify things.) Considering some of the problems people have had with the text chat interface in Lively, this could be a boon from that angle as well.
Using the Speex audio codec, Boersma says the unique advantage of BabbleStream is high-quality, 3D audio without any download or need to give out personal information. An advantage, he says, that goes even past Google's own Talk service.
"I’m sure they’ll make you download something," said Boersma. "That’s the fundamental difference for BabbleStream. The advantage is that you can embed BabbleStreamw ith your Google Lively session and then invite friends via email. Because it operates in a browser, you don’t need to download a client like Google Talk, for example, and disclose your identity. You can just show up to a link and maintain that anonymity that people get in a virtual world."
BabbleStream comes out of research at USC initially targeting distance learning, which brought the idea for large-group voice chat, but quickly evolved to support online gaming and virtual worlds. Boersma acknowledges that competitors like Vivox have already made significant inroads in the virtual world and MMOG marke. However, as Christian Renaud recently pointed out, with Nortel's recent acquisition of the underlying DiamondWare technology, positional voice may be opening up significantly.
Regardless, Boersma believes BabbleStream's ability to either integrate directly through a license or be embedded on a website along with its P2P architecture should make it a compelling, low-cost alternative. His next plans, along with expanding to Macs and Linux, are to integrate BabbleStream with existing IM clients and aggregators to expand its reach. With virtual worlds like Vivaty making similar connections, it could make for an interesting combination.
"Virtual worlds are being tied to all sorts of IM solutions. It’s text chat," said Boersma. "Once we tie in an aggregator and add a voice solution, we’re opening not just the virtual world, but the voice to everyone. I see that as an opportunity and maybe something a little unique."
It's a well written article.It certainly has some benefits. It is also economical to use.We should go for it...
Posted by: Andrew jones | June 02, 2009 at 09:40 AM