Seems like YT is mostly focusing on the interaction between streamer and audience (which makes sense because streaming is big with young ppl rn).
I understand "ambient streams" to be more like a setting for a group chat or chat room, where you're interacting with friends or strangers only, there's no focus on a single creator/streamer. Like hanging out at an interesting location instead of a featureless room.
> I have a ton of idea about how ambient live streams are the Next Big Thing and how to lean into that.)
Are you me?
It's crazy that these giant screens spend most of their time as black rectangles when they could be windows to the world (with very tasteful/quiet/no-motion advertisements).
Happy to pitch to Netflix, Roku, or other streaming services and/or TV manufacturers. :-)
My old Sony TV, just a cheap model, had a (custom for Sony) “Lofi Girl” ambient screensaver it would go into if you configured it to, with quiet music. It was one of my favorite features.
The elephants wandered off, and now a bunch of giraffes are drinking from the pond. Some of them even spread their legs wide to keep their feet from getting wet. Very relaxing to watch.
> Some of them even spread their legs wide to keep their feet from getting wet.
I always interpreted the spreadeagle pose of a drinking giraffe to be a way of bringing their head closer to the ground. Do they sometimes not do that?
The Mojave Desert has some of the most beautiful life (plants and animals both) that I've ever seen. I think the lack of a green canopy just misleads people - it looks like a sea of yellow-brown in a satellite image, and even in person, you have to look closely to see the life. But that just makes it more special IMO.
Can confirm, have ventured all over the deserts of my homeland, and every time I do, I am filled with awe at the temerity of life on the brink of hardship.
It is a spiritually rewarding activity to look out over a landscape, be still for a while, and notice the absolute abundance of life, as robust as ever.
Even in the dustiest Earth voids, there are colours and growth. It pays to look for it.
They are empty places. The biomass per square area is a pittance compared to any other habitat. Water is life. Places with less water have less life. Not all places are equal.
The word "Namib" means "place where there is nothing" in Khoekhoegowab, spoken by the people who live right next to the desert and assuredly explored it.
This also works well for safari lodges. They worked out you can just put a pond there and elephants etc will come while guests are having breakfast. Reliably present fresh water in a dry area = animals
My wife and I honeymooned in Botswana many years ago. On our first day in the bush we watched a pride of lions on a kill. Our driver radioed into camp, "fill up the water pans, the lions will be thirsty tonight." Sure enough, late that night the lions came in and drank at the water pan about five feet from the front of our tent. Mind-blowing experience to be lying in bed watching them right there.
We've since explored quite a bit of Southern Africa. The Namib desert is incomparably cool.
In my opinion this is one of the most productive uses of the Internet.
It can really help to have this running on some spare screen while trapped in the deep, deep depths of cubicle hell.
Even the wind is soothing.
Another great Namibian destination is the "Ocean Conservation Namibia" channel, where one can witness the rescue of ocean life (mostly mammals, i.e. seals) from the plastic trash of humanity.
This has been a constantly soothing device in my life for a few years. There is something so cathartic about seeing the little pups being chased down to have their bindings removed.
I love nature, and I am seriously thinking of changing careers completely away from technology and getting into a nature-related field, or at least something to use my technology background but spend most of the day with animals and in nature. I just don't know the whats and hows of that change yet. I would definitely take a job even if it's not paying that much in that direction if I found one in a heartbeat!
Readit News
As it happens, I made this wrapper for it
https://waterhole.genmon.partykit.dev
This single-serving waterhole:
- makes the YouTube stream fill the browser for an Immersive Experience(TM)
- shows how many people are watching in real-time
- provides ephemeral chat with other people present
I know at least one team at an unnamed big tech co who would all have it open on their second screens for shared ambience + chat...
(If anybody from YouTube is reading, I have a ton of idea about how ambient live steams are the Next Big Thing and how to lean into that.)
https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube
I understand "ambient streams" to be more like a setting for a group chat or chat room, where you're interacting with friends or strangers only, there's no focus on a single creator/streamer. Like hanging out at an interesting location instead of a featureless room.
Fyi the page is not rendering well for me on an iPhone Pro Max (latest iOS 26, Safari browser.) It's basically cut in half...
https://github.com/hauxir/macos-live-screensaver
Are you me?
It's crazy that these giant screens spend most of their time as black rectangles when they could be windows to the world (with very tasteful/quiet/no-motion advertisements).
Happy to pitch to Netflix, Roku, or other streaming services and/or TV manufacturers. :-)
When this thread is about a live stream showing wild animals and raw nature, your thought processes goes to advertisements?
I hope you're being incredibly sarcastic, otherwise... Just yuck.
Unless we're advertising for the majesty of nature, for whom there are no entities that would pay (big bucks at least).
Okaukuejo waterhole in Etosha National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeMUdOPFcXI (at the time of posting, a herd of elephants are enjoying the water)
Kalahari Desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME0dPuBtzug
I always interpreted the spreadeagle pose of a drinking giraffe to be a way of bringing their head closer to the ground. Do they sometimes not do that?
If you've ever actually lived in or explored a desert, you quickly learn that they are full of life. More than most urban landscapes.
It is a spiritually rewarding activity to look out over a landscape, be still for a while, and notice the absolute abundance of life, as robust as ever.
Even in the dustiest Earth voids, there are colours and growth. It pays to look for it.
We've since explored quite a bit of Southern Africa. The Namib desert is incomparably cool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_lick
It can really help to have this running on some spare screen while trapped in the deep, deep depths of cubicle hell.
Even the wind is soothing.
Another great Namibian destination is the "Ocean Conservation Namibia" channel, where one can witness the rescue of ocean life (mostly mammals, i.e. seals) from the plastic trash of humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/@OceanConservationNamibia
This has been a constantly soothing device in my life for a few years. There is something so cathartic about seeing the little pups being chased down to have their bindings removed.
https://imgur.com/a/UbIefte
I love nature, and I am seriously thinking of changing careers completely away from technology and getting into a nature-related field, or at least something to use my technology background but spend most of the day with animals and in nature. I just don't know the whats and hows of that change yet. I would definitely take a job even if it's not paying that much in that direction if I found one in a heartbeat!
As kids we used to have great fun knocking rocks together around sunset to get them to call back. Kinda like beetle bird calls.