There are a number of sites out there that offer real-time video streaming. Justin.tv started the live video trend online, and now plenty of others have followed. If you visit sites like, Yahoo! Live, Mogulus, and Ustream. you'll see people streaming video from their bedroom using a simple webcam, and some even chat with their viewers simultaneously.

It's definitely a great way to promote yourself or just stay in touch with friends. But the scant number of people on these sites tells me not everyone is ready to go live.

That all may change this year if YouTube decides to jump on the bandwagon. That's right. YouTube, the company that took video sharing to new heights, is saying it too plans to offer live video streaming later this year.

In an interview with Pop17.com, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen revealed that the site has always wanted to offer live video feeds, but lacked the resources. Now that the company is owned by Google, Chen says live video is a feature they hope to launch in 2008.

Tech Crunch highlights a few other companies that stream live video, and suggests some of them won't make it once YouTube enters this space. What do you think? Do you think live video feeds will be huge in 2008?

Source : tech.yahoo.com