Qik Video Streaming Hits Open Beta

Qik, whose service lets you stream live from your smartphone to the Web, has opened its beta program to the public. With support for 30+ Symbian and Windows Mobile handsets, Qik integrates with a number of Web sites to enable true real-time sharing of video streams captured with a smartphone.

Along with the public beta, the company announced a slew of service enhancements, including:

* Half-second to three-second latency, depending on the carrier network.

* A Groups feature that lets you share videos with private, public and restricted groups.

* Self-service event pages so you can create your own events and invite guests to participate or view the video.

* An enhanced embeddable player that brings a new look, a new chat feature and the ability to view thumbnails of other Qik videos.

* Integration with the Facebook, MySpace and Orkut social networks.

The service already integrates with live video streaming providers Mogulus and Justin.tv; Twitter, Pownce, Blogger, YouTube, WorldTV, live blogging service CoverItLive and location-based service iPoki.

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