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One problem that current iPhone users have with the device is that it has no video capabilities. However, you can manipulate the camera on the phone to keep its lens open to record video if you are willing to unlock it. Flixwagon is announcing compatibility of its service with these unlocked iPhones today.

It may seem somewhat odd that a company would announce functionality achieved by a hack, but it’s clear that iPhone users wanted a way to stream video live. And so rather than wait to build the functionality with the SDK meant for the 2.0 version of the iPhone software, the Flixwagon team put together a hack (see the video below).

Even though no mention of video capabilities was mentioned for the new iPhone software or iPhone 3G at the WWDC keynote on Monday, Flixwagon clearly expects it to be coming. “We’re going to continue working with the iPhone SDK in the future so we can offer this functionality to all users once video becomes a standard iPhone feature,” Flixwagon co-founder Sarig Reichert said.

Flixwagon competitor Qik just released a test version of its software for Windows Mobile devices. It also has not yet been able to get its software on the iPhone, but will likely attempt to do so.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based Flixwagon hopes to have an alpha version of its software available to iPhone owners in July. See more trial iPhone/Flixwagon videos here.

update: Reichert tells us that this iPhone hack is meant for Wi-Fi connections only at the moment because the iPhone 3G is not out yet and EDGE speeds are not recommended for bandwidth intensive video.

Also, not to be outdone, it looks like Qik is demoing it own software running on a hacked iPhone as well.

As mobile phones become more powerful, and unlimited data transfer plans from carriers become widespread, technologies such as streaming live video from phones are becoming feasible. One of the most hyped players in this market is Qik. Unfortunately, so far Qik has only worked on select Nokia devices such as the popular N95 phone. However, starting tomorrow Qik is rolling out support for select Windows Mobile devices.

Initially this partnership will bring Qik services to the Motorola Q and Samsung BlackJack phones. I’ve seen an early build of the service running on a BlackJack, and it seems to work more seamlessly on Windows Mobile than it does on the N95.

The Windows Mobile compatibility should help bring the Qik service to a larger audience. While the N95 is a very expensive phone (usually around $500-$600), the Q and BlackJack can be found for much more reasonable prices. Also, Microsoft says that it expects to sell 20 million Windows Mobile licenses in FY08, so there will be potential for much more growth as well.

Unfortunately, the timing is poor for Qik. This announcement comes just days before Apple’s WWDC event, where it is expected to unveil the 3G iPhone. This device will simply overshadow all other mobile announcements in the industry for quite some time.

Another potential problem for Qik are the rumors of video streaming capabilities being a central part of this new iPhone. While it’s no sure bet, there have been signs that such functionality could be a key component of an iChat application Apple is working on for the device.

When asked about Qik possibly working on the 3G iPhone, Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy gave a non-committal answer. “We are going to evaluate it once the [3G] iPhone gets launched next week to see what capabilities it has and what we need to do in order to support it. We’ll need to evaluate it and figure out the next steps therein,” Roy told MobileCrunch.

Given how long it took Qik to move beyond support for basically one phone, this is not a good sign. With the 3G iPhone, it could be an issue of being ready to support it or being left in the dust. Especially with competitors like Flixwagon and Kyte out there. Flixwagon in particular may be poised to break out beyond the elite tech crowd that Qik is currently popular with.

We first reported back in April that Qik parent Visivo had raised a new $3 million round to expand the service.

[Qik and Flixwagon are nominees for best mobile company at MobileBeat2008, VentureBeat's conference on July 24]

If you use short-form Internet messaging service Twitter a lot, you probably follow blogger Robert Scoble. If you follow Robert Scoble, you’ve probably read the following at least a few hundred times: “I’m streaming live right now, come chat! http://qik.com/video/xxxx.”

Qik is a live video streaming service that allows you to use your cellphone to send video to the Internet where anyone can watch it and chat with you about it in near real-time (there is usually a short delay due to mobile connection). Other prominent people in the tech world such as Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis and Digg founder Kevin Rose, have begun using Qik recently as well, further expanding the service’s buzz-worthiness.

Qik’s parent, Visivo Communications has received a new $3 million series B round from investor MBQI. It seems likely that the Foster City-based company will use the money to expand the Qik service and help it grow beyond the insider tech crowd.

Unfortunately, to use Qik you need an expensive mobile phone such as the Nokia n95 and a hefty mobile broadband plan to handle the bandwidth required for streaming. We’ve previously written about the service here, as well as competitors Flixwagon (our coverage) and UStream.TV (our coverage). Yahoo also recently entered into the live video streaming business with Yahoo Live (our coverage), however they have no option to stream from mobile devices currently.

The aforementioned Scoble also notes that Qik added RSS feeds to the site today to keep up with his torrid rate of video posting.

We’ve contacted the company but have yet to hear back. We’ll update the story when we know more.

update: NewTeeVee has confirmed our report that the funding is for Qik and talked with the company about its plans for the money.

Flixwagon, a mobile live video casting platform, has just launched a “Flixee” widget that lets users stream video from a mobile phone to a blog, website, or social networking site.

Additionally, Flixwagon users can deliver their mobile-to-web broadcasts directly to YouTube through their Flixwagon account, thanks to YouTube’s recently opened API. The widget and YouTube uploading add to the platform’s previous ability to video stream from a mobile phone directly to Flixwagon’s website.

The Tel Aviv-based company (previous coverage here ) is in stiff competition from Qik and Comvue, which both provide live video streaming from a mobile phone to the web.

The company seems to be successfully reaching out to a wider audience than just tech geeks, by partnering with MTV for “Choose or Lose,” which featured 23 citizen journalists who used an integrated version of Flixwagon’s mobile platform to cover the Super Tuesday primaries for MTV. It also has partnered with Sarah Meyers, a popular blogger from Pop17, to use the Flixee widget.
Flixwagon has been working for the past year and half to build its technology, with an emphasis on video quality and a highly scalable architecture that can support massive numbers of broadcasters and viewers, according to the company’s PR, which cites the Choose or Lose campaign as proof of the company’s ability to scale.

Still, the company will struggle to see serious uptake in the US, because of its limited availability: Flixwagon was recently only supporting higher-end Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones — phones with Symbian technology, and only now is available to all 3G phones. It still doesn’t support internet-enabled phones on J2ME, due to the differing nature of each phone’s operating system, said Chief Executive Hess.

Last time Venturebeat spoke with Hess, he mentioned Flixwagon was in talks with “a major VC” for its second round of funding, but so far there’s been no news of progress towards closing the round.

updated
Thanks to the meteoric rise of YouTube, anyone with a video camera and an internet connection can be a star. More recently, they can live stream themselves to you 24/7, even from a mobile phone. Here we take a look at 14 companies competing in this sector.

Justin.TV, featuring a live cam of a guy named Justin in San Francisco, helped spearhead the new wave of popularity, but a host of other companies are battling for a piece of this market.

Hand in hand with the popularity of video streaming and downloads comes questions of legality. ViaCom, this past March, filed a lawsuit against YouTube for $1 billion for alleged copyright infringement, and the issue will only be exacerbated as users broadcast and stream live video from anywhere they can get a satellite signal or an internet connection, even, in fact, especially, from their mobile phone.

Lawsuits will arise as individuals find ways to usurp copyright material by taking their mobile phones to sporting events, movies, concerts or other events. Take the Patriots-Giants finale, originally scheduled to broadcast on only the NFL Network, but later opened up to simulcast on both NBC and CBS — raising the ire of some regional New England TV stations. Imagine a fan with a mobile device being able to live stream the game directly to an account with one of the services listed below.

For now, Live TV is just starting to take off, and below I present a select list of competitors, and why I love ‘em, hate ‘em and sometimes both. I prefer Kyte and Mogulus for being able to create and broadcast an innovative show, while UStream.TV has aligned with big-name personalities like The Plain White T’s that are fun to take a look at. In the Mobile sphere, Qik seems to be the dominant force, allowing users to stream mobile to internet with only a 5-second delay, but FlixWagon will be hot on its tails when it releases a public alpha in January. All companies should be on the look out though, as AT&T with its VideoShare allows mobile-to-mobile streaming, and while I resist listing a cell phone company as one of the most innovative, from what I’ve seen, it is the most impressive video-streaming technology so far.

Note: One common feature I noticed when checking these sites is that the user-generated content is often silly, bordering on the inane.

FlixWagon, a Tel-aviv company which has raised $1 million of funding, is a live video streaming service, allowing anyone with a 3G or WiFi enabled phone to broadcast live video on the web. According to SMS Text news, the company plans to support mobile-to-mobile streaming. Their alpha goes public beginning this new year.

The Good. Video seems to have higher quality than competitor Qik. Users can edit video info from their phone. Users don’t lose precious moments of broadcasts, thanks to a feature that stores video and saves for later viewing. Users can also broadcast alerts to friends and family and automatically upload their video to YouTube or Facebook.
The Bad. For the average user, their name and logo provides no clue about what the company’s purpose is.
The Ugly. FlixWagon supports only Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets. Users have to download a mobile application.

Justin.tv helped launch life-casting into the consciousness of mainstream America. The company, founded in San Francisco by Justin Kan and Co. after selling Kiko on eBay, received $50,000 from Y Combinator and an undisclosed amount from Alsop Louie in October, and was originally a 24/7 window into the life of Justin. In October, it expanded into a public network, allowing anyone with a camera and computer to videocast their life.

The Good. Youtube meets Big Brother. Life-casting made simple.
The Bad. Why stalk friends through status updates if you can watch them everywhere they go? This site takes the word “voyeurism” to a whole new level.
The Ugly. Seriously, how exciting is it to watch and chat with Justine as she struggles to set up her vidcap or iJohn sleep?

LeWeb conference organizer, Loic Le Meur , with the backing of Ron Conway and Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington, founded Seesmic, which is sometimes described as a “video twitter.”

The Good. Users can stream straight to twitter, as well as borrow video from YouTube and place it in a personal video stream. For the future, Seesmic will enable users to record Skype conversations, video, chat, as well as share a piece of the revenue pie with content creators.
The Bad. Seems to be Last.fm meets Video Twitter…very confusing what the actual purpose is, and as many non-techies don’t even know what Twitter is, may take a while to catch on.
The Ugly. The links don’t seem to work on their page.

UStream.TV, a Riverside-based company with an undisclosed amount of funding that lists General Wesley Clark on its advisory board, is a site for live Web video broadcasting. They claim to be broadcasting 5,000 hours of video daily, with 300 broadcasts taking place at any given time. Ustream says 115,000 people have used the service, and that it has hosted entertainers including a Plain White Ts live concert as well as politicians, like Mitt Romney and GOP candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The Good. Having big name stars such as Mitt Romney and Soulja Boy could perhaps give them an edge on competitors Live and recorded content. Easy search and categorized videos.
The Bad. Profile pages and design are a bit bland.
The Ugly. They seemingly don’t own UStreamTV.com

Kyte, the San Fransisco-based company launched December 2006, is also funded by Ron Conway (in Conway’s classic spread-your-bets fashion; he is really doubling up on video). Other backers include cellphone giant Nokia, as well as a long list of others, including Howard Hartenbaum, an early backer of Skype. Total backing is a significant $17.5 million. It allows users to create their own live TV shows and broadcast them on a live interactive channel, website, blog, social network or mobile phone.

[Update: The Good. Supports Windows Media and Symbian s60 phones. Presenting WIMAX enabled support at the CES, and also a Mobile Streaming/ Map mash-up.
The Ugly. Website is clunky.]
The Good. Slide meets CurrentTV. The “produce a show” feature using drag & drop is very easy to use. Kyte mobile is definitely a huge plus. Lets you chat (IM) as you watch. Easy to post everywhere.
The Bad. The video player itself is a bit too busy.
The Ugly. Some elements show design by a techie– TV littered with trackback comments. They also do not seemingly own their name-sake URL.

Developed by Visivo Communications in Santa Clara, Qik has been testing since November. Qik streams the video directly to the site, with only a 5-second delay. Robert Scoble has gone crazy about them.

The Good. Simple design. Almost Instantaneous. Qiks to Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
The Bad. Several bad-quality videos. No mobile-to-mobile.
The Ugly. Requires a Nokia S60-enabled phone and must download software, barriers to entry for mainstream audience). Like other mobile products, you’ll require data plan (preferably unlimited).
[Update: Qik is working on both the Bad and the Ugly features that I didn't like about them].

ComVU, a Vancouver-based company, launched the world’s first mobile Webcasting service in February 2005. ComVu PocketCaster streams video from your phone to your video blog or homepage.

The Good. Supports a wider variety of phones.
The Bad. The website surprisingly has no video player on its home page. Qik and Flixwagon are better choices for the average user, but PocketCaster studio seems impressive.
The Ugly. Monthly subscription fee– a barrier for mainstream, but maybe worth it for enterprises. Website is clunky.

Floobs, an upcoming company from Finland, allows users to create a free television channel for broadcasting live, or prerecorded shows.

The Good. I wish there was something to put here.
The Bad. This is their about page.
The Ugly. A beta that doesn’t know whether it’s public or private and hasn’t been completely translated to English.
[Update: Is in closed beta during spring '08 before actual launch. Doesn't change what I said about it now knowing whether it's private or public]

Starting at $5.00/month, AT&T is letting users can share video mobile to mobile while on a voice call. See an example on the Tyra Banks Show.

The Good. Mobile-to-Mobile beats pointing your mobile browser to a Live TV site (and without investing in a data plan). Works with phones of different brands: (LG & Samsung). Going against a US mobile giant will be no easy task if the service isn’t better and/or cheaper.
The Bad. Five bucks a month (or pay as you go) is too much IF another service can deliver for free. No Website to view/archive videos.
The Ugly. Many people are wary of new contracts…you must have AT&T (or switch over) to take advantage — this may not create as much demand as the iPhone.

Mogulus, a New York startup which received $1.2 million back in May, is focused on live video production tools. The Mogulus tools allows users to “storyboard,” which allows for more TV-like content as users can drop recorded videos into the feed at cue and overlay graphics such as logos or titles.

The Good. Collaboration tools. One of only two companies with a Facebook application. Easy access to 26 videos. Nice editing features. Create a real channel. Very clean design/ presentation.
The Bad. I was getting slow load times to watch. A lot of steps just to start a channel.
The Ugly. Even slower load times when trying to produce a video.

Stickam, a Los Angeles based company that launched in March 2007, enables users to host live show stream and chat on their site as well as embed the stream in a personal site or blog. When not live, users can show pictures, audio, or recorded shows on a MySpace-like profile page.

The Good. More than just live streaming video, includes photos, videos, and audio right into profile.
The Bad. Pop-out boxes and opening new tabs almost never works.
The Ugly. If the average user waits 2.4 seconds for a page to load before skedaddling, I don’t know how Stickam has so many users with the very long load times.

Launched in May out of Israel, Blog TV, which received $3 million in seed funding from an Israeli VC, lets you start your own live show and chat. Users can record, broadcast video live, as the video will be automatically archived. The site also allows users to embed, rate, and recommend the videos.

The Good. Facebook app. Easy to watch, comment and share live video stream. [Update: The company has just added a feature letting you do a live split screen interview from different locations, record it and embed it in your site, which is new from what we can tell.]
The Bad. Design is a tad busy and rough on the edges.
The Ugly. The tag cloud for popular tags in the channels section need some serious fixing (-000 0000008august252006 01 does not help one find a channel)

Operator11 launched an Alpha version of a service that has been described as a “cross between MySpace, Jumpcut, YouTube, and AOL chat rooms.” The site allows users to not only live cast themselves, but also mix the live feeds with that of their friends, as well as upload videos to mix in the production.

The Good. Quirky but innovative — one of those hit or miss things. The reverse web-conferencing tool and video-commenting are simple and useful.
The Bad. Eight months in alpha — when will it become a Beta version? The name’s a mouthful — and it has numbers, which is always confusing.
The Ugly. Video quality is sketchy, and the main page has no volume control. Needs some structure — when entering the site, you’re not exactly sure of it capabilities/purpose.

David Adewumi is a contributing author for VentureBeat.

Want to author a piece for VentureBeat? Get in touch with us at venturebeat at gmail dot com.

Here’s the latest (updated) action:
1) Kyte.tv raises $15 million
2) Electric Sheep Company lays off 22
3) FCC receives 700MHz auction applications
4) Microsoft signs $500M ad deal
5) GPS devices fly off the shelves
6) Netsuite sets high price for planned IPO
7) Eric Eldon, celebrity at large?

Kyte.tv raises $15M second round — An online startup that offers a video player allowing near-live communications by video, photo and chat, Kyte has picked up some steam online, attracting a decent-sized audience and celebrities like 50 Cent to its service. The $15 million second round was provided by Telefonica, Nokia, DoCoMo, Swisscom, Holtzbrinck and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, according to Robert Scoble. Quite a hefty amount, in comparison to the $2 million investment into live streaming video company, Ustream that we reported in yesterday’s roundup. However, Kyte still has some work to do in competing against newer, sharper-looking rivals like Qik, which says it can stream live video straight from your phone, something Kyte doesn’t quite do (though is working on).

Electric Sheep Company lays off 22 employees — It’s time to cull some lambs from the fold for the Electric Sheep Company, which builds software that third-party companies can add to virtual worlds Second Life. It had planned to build an ad network within these worlds. Instead, it has cut almost a third of its workforce, and is giving up on the ad plans for now. It plans to branch out beyond Second Life to worlds like Metaplace (our coverage). More details are at ClickZ News.

FCC receives applications for 700MHz auctions — More than two hundred applications were filed to bid on the upcoming Federal Communications Commission auction for the 700 Megahertz wireless spectrum, planned to begin January 24th. Although some applicants must correct and finalize their applications, the list contains some notable names — Google, of course, but also Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s venture firm Vulcan Capital, and startups like Frontline Wireless (expected). Check out the lists of finished and unfinished applicants yourself for more.

Microsoft signs $500M ad deal with Viacom – Taking a first step toward becoming a viable competitor to Google in the online ad market, Microsoft signed a deal with Viacom that it says is worth about $500 million, over a contract period of five years. Google, in turn, immediately claimed that the deal is proof that Federal anti-trust watchdogs should allow its merger with DoubleClick to go through. Microsoft may well be kicking itself, because as Bloomberg reports, the Federal Trade Commission will likely approve the Google-DoubleClick merger this month (although it must also find approval with European regulators).

NetSuite sets high price for planned IPO — First the expected range for NetSuite’s initial public offering was $13 to $16, then underwriters boosted it to $19 to $22. Now the final price has been set at $26, almost double the original range. That means that Larry Ellison, the billionaire CEO of Oracle whose family owns over 70 percent of the company, will make out like a bandit. NetSuite, of course, is a competitor to Salesforce, whose own stellar performance on the markets likely helped improve NetSuite’s outlook. Ellison was also at one time an early investor in Salesforce, which is now run by a former employee of his, Marc Benioff.

GPS devices becoming cheaper, more ubiquitous — Many GPS devices have dropped below $100, and even the better units often retail for little more than $200. Sales of the devices at local malls are through the roof, according to Dean Takahashi. Cell phones, likewise, are providing an ever-cheaper way to find your way around. Excellent news for the dozens of startups that have sprung up offering to show you the way to the nearest store, friend or event — now the question is, which will come out on top?

VentureBeat’s own Eric Eldon becomes a celebrity — Admittedly, those are the words of Speedddate.com, a dating startup that ran a session with eight “celebrity bloggers.” We (or he) will take the compliment. Way to end those lonely nights of blogging, Eric.