(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Watching a wide variety of Web videos from mobile phones could get easier thanks to a California startup that lets users design their own video channel lineup for on-the-go entertainment.
Sunnyvale-based mywaves officially launched its service, quietly releasing its test version in October and has been attracting more than 20,000 new users per week since, the company said.
CNN news clips and YouTube videos would be accessible through the service, which works across wireless carriers with high-speed data networks. The mywaves service is free, but users need a data plan with their carrier and must pay for related data-traffic fees.
The company says the service, which uses a Java-based software program, works with most video-capable mobile phones. A notable exception would be some smart phones that don't yet support Java-based Web applications and video streaming.
Mywaves founder and CEO Rajeev Raman said he is confident the mywaves service is legal, but other video-sharing services are facing potential lawsuits over videos that violate copyrights.
Mywaves developed a Web-based video syndication system to stream video clips from the Internet to cell phones using really simple syndication, or RSS.
While Google-owned YouTube has inked direct deals such as with Verizon Wireless to feature its content through Verizon's V Cast multimedia service, mywaves aims to give users of any carrier the flexibility to choose from publicly available, free video content from across the Web.
Users would download mywaves to their phones, and from its Web site they could browse a directory of video channels that mywaves users have already publicly posted. A
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