Five ways to watch and follow Obama Inauguration online

Can't get to a TV? Don't panic the web has you covered

20 January 2009 10:43 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Today is a big day for America and a big day for the world. It's also the most media covered presidential inauguration in history, as Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States of America. So how can you follow all the action if you can't leave your desk? Here are just some of the options that will allow you to follow the event.

Online TV
There are a number of television stations providing blanket coverage of the inauguration. Here in the UK the favourite is bound to be the BBC complete with its British upper-lip perspective that kicks off coverage from 4pm GMT. If you are looking for something with a bit more American pazzaz then CNN or Fox is bound to be the place to be. Those looking for a HD experience can head over to Skynews.com. It will be streaming the event live in HD on the TV and the web. However it's not just the big names covering it live, Internet webTV service Joost is also covering the event as is Current TV that will be overlaying its live coverage with Twitter messages.

Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
cnn.com
foxnews.com
skynews.com
Joost.com
current.com

On the go
If you're caught away from the TV and your computer you can catch the inauguration action on the go in a number of ways. You didn't think all those people turning up to the inauguration wouldn't be Twittering it did you? Expect the service to probably go down as the world and their dog has something to say - it was struggling earlier this month at CES and that's just the tech world, you'll be able to use Twitter's search feature to track messages with hashtags including #inaug09 and #inauguration. If you've got an iPhone a new app released at the beginning of the month called uStream allows you to record and view live streams as long as you've got a Wi-Fi network. Expect there to be plenty of options to watch it from someone's iPhone in the crowd.

Links:
twitter.com
ustream.tv

Photos
If the big man is happy to have the first official digital portrait you can expect plenty of photos to come out of today's inauguration. Officially and unofficially there are expected to be over 2 million people at the event and that means a lot of pictures from digital cameras and mobile phones. One way to track all the images is via Flickr. It has set up an official photostream of the days events and as you can imagine, and unofficial group too.

Links:
Official: flickr.com
Unofficial: flickr.com

Live blogs
Those who like to read something a little meatier than 140 characters or don't enjoy being stuck glued to the TV, there are plenty of blogs out there to cover the big event live. Huffington Post has already got the ball rolling with articles on what the First Lady is wearing while the National Post promises to up the ante and live blog from the streets of Washington.

Links:
huffingtonpost.com
nationalpost.com

Afterwards
The inauguration might be just one day but that doesn't mean the coverage ends there. Microsoft and CNN's "capture the moment" plan hopes to bring the big moment to life in 3D. The news broadcaster has asked everyone in the crowd to take a picture at 5pm GMT as the inauguration starts. Using Photosynth software, Microsoft will gather thousands of photographs from CNN - and the public - to capture the moment that Obama takes the Oath of Office. The Photosynth blog states: "From the vast sweep of the crowd to a close-up on the president's hand on the Bible, every part of this historic scene will be frozen in time and presented in 3D as only Photosynth can".

Links:
cnn.com

Comments
Got any other cool ways to catch it all on the web? Let us know in the comments below.