With faster computers and internet connections transforming from dialup to broadband Streaming Video is the next online revolution we can expect this decade emails sent as videos instead of text will become commonplace in the next few years.
A brief definition...
Streaming video is a set of "moving images" much like standard video (Remember the old VCRs?) that are converted to a digital signal and sent in a compressed form over the Internet.
Unlike a file that needs to be downloaded first, pictures are seen by the viewer as they arrive. (Streaming media by the way, is simply video streamed with sound).
The user needs a player, which is a program that uncompresses and sends video data to the computer screen and audio to speakers. A player can be either an integral part of a browser or downloaded from a website although one company has turned the tables on this issue by producing a codec (the program that compresses and converts the media) that makes the video readable by different players so they can be viewed by any device, computers, handhelds and even cellphones.
Streaming video is usually sent from a server containing the pre-recorded video files that will be shown, but can also be distributed as part of a live broadcast.
In this situation,the video is recorded via a webcam or video camera and immediately converted into a compressed digital signal and transmitted from Web server that then sends this signal out to several viewers at the same time.(Kind of like conference calls with a phone and multiple phone lines - (but as video to multiple computers) which is probably an oversimplified description but the concept is similar).
So It looks like "black and white" text email is going color...
