'Follow the Torch' - CTVOlympics.ca

Can’t believe I didn’t see this before now, but you can follow the Torch Relay live on CTVOlympics.ca

In a very cool move, they’ve rigged a streaming webcam to the back of the lead vehicle, showing the torch-bearers and crowds as the relay progresses. There is also a couple chat windows and a map showing the location of the torch as the relay progresses via GPS.

The highlight of today will be about 5:30 EST, when Sidney Crosby will take the torch.

Check It Out

Also, a little bit on the technology:

When Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium and CTV News began planning their coverage of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, the question (a challenge, really) was: "How do we cover the relay every step of the way, live?"

There was a lot of shaking of heads. "Can't be done," some said. "Beyond our technological reach," said others. Current satellite trucks cannot transmit while moving and the cost of transmission 10 hours a day for more than 100 days would be astronomical.

Then someone suggested calling Toronto breaking news channel CP24, which had started experimenting with a new video transmission technology developed by Waterloo-based, Dejero Inc.

CP24 was sending back live reports from their news vans and going live from Toronto street cars using a box the size of a suitcase. Inside the black box (literally) is a maze of wires, circuit boards and processors that takes video from a camera, encodes it and sends it back to the station using cellphone carrier networks or Wi-Fi hotspots.

The result is near-broadcast quality video thanks to the magic of the software and the hardware configuration that's able to combine several cellphone network frequencies and any available Wi-Fi bandwidth to produce a high-quality picture.