Hi.TV: Video for Empowerment in the age of COVID-19

[Rob Monster]

@omelet and @epik finalized a partnership deal this week to develop the domain name Hi.TV into something that might serve humanity in a novel way. This comes at a time when many people find themselves isolated due to COVID-19 related quarantines. In short, it seemed to be a good time to introduce new solutions for hosting of virtual meetings, both public and private.

Epik is happy to introduce an instant-on video solution that allows anyone to connect with others around the world in a single click with no download. You can follow the progress here:

https://hi.tv/

You can set up your own meetings for free.

There is even an Epik meeting room that is open to the public to meet with whoever from Epik is around at any time -- employees, customers and partners:

https://hi.tv/Epik

Here is one for NamePros:

https://hi.tv/NamePros

If you are bored or just want to visit, you can come hang out or start your own rooms.

Let's see what innovation gets unleashed.

 

[Kassey Lee]

I'm trying to set up a digital meetup using Hi.tv. Is there a tutorial on how to do it. Rob said I could create a room but I don't see any mention of this term on the home screen. So,

(1) How do I set up a room?
(2) How do I set up a time to start the meetup?
(3) How do I create an invite link (with local time)?
(4) How do you manage conversations when there are many participants?
(5) What do the three moderator modes mean?

Thanks.

 

[HotKey]

So, like instant video-conferencing? Good stuff, thank you, sir! And omelet

Amazing the fruits a good domain name can produce.

 

[Rob Monster]

Hah- well guess it really is amateur hour, am having zero success to get my camera to work lol. Anyboo- no issues seeing or hearing you folks on my end, thx for the shoutout.

We could see you fine. Thanks for joining.

I do think there is some known issue with Brave browser, for example.

Chrome, Edge and Safari all good.

 

[Rob Monster]

Have you considered using it for domain name discussions and negotiation? Someone sees a name with an Epik lander. They can click somewhere saying they would like to discuss it with a seller in a private meeting. The seller gets a notice and the two get together to discuss concerns, questions, price, etc?

Bob

Actually, that's a fascinating topic. Live chat with a domain owner directly from a SSL lander.

@Gube is working on a new Zendesk chat replacement under the brand name CustomerSupport.co.

Integrating video livechat will be straight forward once both are on the same Single Sign on.

I like the idea. For some domains it will make a lot of sense.

 

[Lox]

Earlier today several Epik team members were in the Hi.Tv channel for Epik and a bunch of the spouses said Hi to each other. Many of them had never met each other before but because everyone is working from home now, it just happens organically. Spouses, dogs, cats, etc. It is all fair game now.

Hilarious

btw will test it this Saturday (10+ participants)

 

[Croissant]

Thanks Rob, a nice initiative especially nowadays

I already started to use it even with my friends instead of using skype and whatsapp =)

 

[karmaco]

No moderation required. Anybody can have a room. If aspiring porn stars show up we might have to boot them, but for now y'all have fun with it.

I was going to say make sure the videos are G rated

 

[Rob Monster]

Grat idea, Rob. How about setting up a weekly calendar and have some volunteers (the pros) take up time slots of, say, 60 minutes, so investors can come and discuss a specific issue and ask questions?

Yup, office hours like a college professor.

I will plan to be in there at 2 PM PT (5 pm ET) today for anyone who wants to visit:

https://hi.tv/epik

Anyone wants to meet up, we can do it. @Intelliname will also join. It is video so show your face.

If this becomes popular we'll do different hours on different days to accommodate the time zones.

Also, if anyone wants to envision their own channel on their own URL, we can do it. We'll charge a monthly hosting fee to cover our cost.

We are actually running all of this on our own CloudChase.com Kubernetes instances.

 

[omelet]

When I click the link, it takes me to a page to download an app called Jitsi.

I understood from above that no download was required. (Using Samsung S7).

Thoughts?

I think this by far only works limited to computer browsers, not on phone yet?

 

[Rob Monster]

I think this by far only works limited to computer browsers, not on phone yet.

We are working on the solution that will eliminate a force mobile app download so that the service works natively in a mobile browser. The engineer responsible for the project will be looking at that today.

 

[NicTraders]

Some of that functionality might not exist yet, but will see if we can prepare a how-to and a roadmap for future enhancements.

To get started, just go to hi.tv, and name your channel. You, as moderator, can optionally set a password.

There is no invite management as yet.

@Sumeeth

So, 2 questions:
- If you name a channel is that then available to you for x years to come - i.e. every time you want a video chat with someone you tell them to go to hi.tv/nictraders (for example) and that room will always be available to me?
- And if you set a password that password is required for any participant to enter, then off we go?...

Thanks.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Have others got it to work with iOS devices? May just be that my device and IOS it supports are not the latest, but if I enter hi.tv on Safari on an iPad shows secure site but just dark screen.
Bob

 

[Rob Monster]

So, does the name expire as soon as all participants leave the room, or just at some later predetermined time?... (Just interested) Thx

Currently the room just expires when the last person leaves.

We are working to deploy a version that lets someone secure a room forever either on Hi.Tv or on their own stand-alone URL, e.g. where staff of a company can each have their own permanent rooms.

Suffice it to say that Zoom has plowed the road for a lot of innovation in the area of telepresence. We are probably in the 2nd or 3rd inning of this transformation.

 

[NicTraders]

Hi Rob. Thought you'd want to know - can't share a hi.tv link on FB Messenger for some reason.

 

[Rob Monster]

Hi Rob. Thought you'd want to know - can't share a hi.tv link on FB Messenger for some reason.

Show attachment 151166

Yup, we need to get that whitelisted.

We have made some progress with FB lately.

@Intelliname

 

[Pay.My.id]

The next step is to add the ability to stand up custom domains including virtual TLDs for Hi.TV, e.g.. Pay.Hi.TV which works like a domain name on Epik and accessible via API.

Does users able to upload their video instanly or need moderation to filter of quality ?

 

[Rob Monster]

Does users able to upload their video instanly or need moderation to filter of quality ?

No moderation required. Anybody can have a room. If aspiring porn stars show up we might have to boot them, but for now y'all have fun with it.

 

[HotKey]

Hah- well guess it really is amateur hour, am having zero success to get my camera to work lol. Anyboo- no issues seeing or hearing you folks on my end, thx for the shoutout.

 

[onspec]

@omelet and @epik finalized a partnership deal this week to develop the domain name Hi.TV into something that might serve humanity in a novel way. This comes at a time when many people find themselves isolated due to COVID-19 related quarantines. In short, it seemed to be a good time to introduce new solutions for hosting of virtual meetings, both public and private.

Epik is happy to introduce an instant-on video solution that allows anyone to connect with others around the world in a single click with no download. You can follow the progress here:

https://hi.tv/

You can set up your own meetings for free.

There is even an Epik meeting room that is open to the public to meet with whoever from Epik is around at any time -- employees, customers and partners:

https://hi.tv/Epik

Here is one for NamePros:

https://hi.tv/NamePros

If you are bored or just want to visit, you can come hang out or start your own rooms.

Let's see what innovation gets unleashed.

@omelet and @epik finalized a partnership deal this week to develop the domain name Hi.TV into something that might serve humanity in a novel way. This comes at a time when many people find themselves isolated due to COVID-19 related quarantines. In short, it seemed to be a good time to introduce new solutions for hosting of virtual meetings, both public and private.

Epik is happy to introduce an instant-on video solution that allows anyone to connect with others around the world in a single click with no download. You can follow the progress here:

https://hi.tv/

You can set up your own meetings for free.

There is even an Epik meeting room that is open to the public to meet with whoever from Epik is around at any time -- employees, customers and partners:

https://hi.tv/Epik

Here is one for NamePros:

https://hi.tv/NamePros

If you are bored or just want to visit, you can come hang out or start your own rooms.

Let's see what innovation gets unleashed.

When I click the link, it takes me to a page to download an app called Jitsi.

I understood from above that no download was required. (Using Samsung S7).

Thoughts?

 

[HotKey]

In good company. Great to meet you yesterday Rob.

If you get an opportunity, go fool around with it guys if you haven't already- great spot to chill too. Kids and all. Pick a room and off to the races.

btw, if you run into Rob, he only goes by Mr. Monster. Else you get banned.. just an fyi. Just trying to help the situation.

Take it easy.

 

[Rob Monster]

Cool thank you and @Lox pointed out to me Zoom's privacy policy

Even with the stock market cratering, Zoom has a market cap of $35 billon. There is evidently a very nice business there. Lox probably figured out which 3 letter agencies they work with. I can only guess.

 

[Rob Monster]

Related Tweet:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1241126337177419779

 

[Kassey Lee]

@Rob Monster . Can someone provide me with the above information?

 

[Rob Monster]

@Rob Monster . Can someone provide me with the above information?

Some of that functionality might not exist yet, but will see if we can prepare a how-to and a roadmap for future enhancements.

To get started, just go to hi.tv, and name your channel. You, as moderator, can optionally set a password.

There is no invite management as yet.

@Sumeeth

 

[NicTraders]

Thanks @HotKey.
In the meantime, the names do expire.

So, does the name expire as soon as all participants leave the room, or just at some later predetermined time?... (Just interested) Thx