Creativity is a common thread within the Ustream community, and we’re thrilled to be part of an awards ceremony that brings together the best of film for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Awards on Monday, Nov. 30. The nominees for these awards were announced live by The New York Times’ A.O. Scott on Oct. 19–watch the video here.

The Gotham Independent Film Awards will be streamed in its entirety to a worldwide audience on Ustream from the Cipriani Ballroom in New York City starting at 5p PT/8p ET on Monday, Nov. 30. The evening will include appearances by Alec Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, the Coen Brothers, Willem Dafoe, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Chris Rock, Ryan Reynolds, Meryl Streep, Kristen Wiig and more. Watch and interact here, or on our free viewing applications on the iPhone or Android platform, which are available by download from the iTunes App Store or Android Market.

Musicians are embracing the Ustream platform as a way to build community and connect directly with fans.

The most recent example was international superstar Shakira who conducted a world premiere of her latest video using Ustream and our Ustream on Facebook app on Monday, Nov. 16, “Give it Up to Me” featuring Lil Wayne, off her new album “She Wolf.” Nearly 95,000 unique viewers tuned into the broadcast — the highest Ustream has ever seen for a broadcast that lasted only 10 minutes. This was a first-of-a-kind release event with the support of the label, Epic Records. We believe this could change the dynamic of premieres and release of content.

The recorded video can be viewed here.

Fans could log onto Shakira’s Facebook page or Ustream to watch, interact or embed the first-ever live video premiere of “Give It Up To Me” through Facebook comments or our Social Stream.

Epic chose Ustream and Facebook to broadcast this event to bring Shakira’s fan community together and interact in a more social way around a common, shared experience.

Ustream may be playing a part in making history with its involvement in The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie. On Monday, Nov. 16, more than 2 million unique viewers tuned into our exclusive red carpet broadcast with partner MySpace as the stars made their way into the first screening of the film, which hits theaters on Friday, Nov. 20.

The webcast was the farthest-reaching event Ustream has streamed to date with more than two million unique viewers. The event was also the largest number of total viewers for any Ustream red carpet broadcast with an astounding nearly three million viewers, exceeding a previous record set by our broadcast with Sony Pictures of Michael Jackson’s This is It red carpet several weeks ago.

If you missed seeing Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and other stars on Monday, check out the recorded video here.

Going to watch New Moon on opening night? Broadcast or record your experience live using one of Ustream’s mobile applications for iPhone, Android or Nokia phones! Check out details here.

Courtney Glynn, the winner of MySpace’s Red Carpet Correspondent contest, was granted the opportunity to interview the stars during the webcast and attended the premiere. The broadcast was co-hosted by Anya Marina, writer and performer of “Satellite Heart” on The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Quddus, current host of “The MySpace Music Feed.” In attendance from the film were Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Michael Sheen, Nikki Reed, Noot Sear, Jamie Campbell Bower, director Chris Weitz, author Stephenie Meyer, along with celebrity guests 50 Cent, Richie Sambora, Joan Jett, Cat Deeley, Emma Roberts, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jamie Kennedy and more.

Ustream and ABC News today are announcing the debut of the “Nightline” program airing on Ustream every Monday at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time/12:30 p.m. Eastern Time here.

ABC News is collaborating with us for the “Nightline Twittercast,” which is a half-hour web program that is hosted by the show’s anchors and correspondents that provides news analysis on topics of the day.

This program will add even greater depth and breadth of news coverage and analysis to our high-quality premium programming and enables dynamic conversations.

We’re excited to announce this new weekly program to the Ustream line up!

Yesterday we hosted very special celebrity guests here at Ustream. Two of the puppies from the famous “Shiba Six,” sisters Ayumi and Autumn, and their human parents, Mr. and Mrs. SFShiba, came to visit our office and received their Webby statuette! The Shiba Inu Puppy Cam became a global phenomenon in late 2008, when over 30 million people tuned in to watch as the puppies grew, played, slept, and ate, spending the equivalent of 800 years watching the puppies. The Shiba Inu Puppy cam is recognized as the most-watched internet video of all time, and was awarded with a Webby earlier this year as a People’s Voice Award Winner in the viral category.

Ayumi and Autumn celebrated the occasion in their own way– with a dog cake from the Ustream team. After the presentation of the award and cake, Ayumi and Autumn put in some playtime from the Ustream office while Shiba fans from around the world watched.

The pups will be one year old on Oct. 7. Seems like just yesterday we were watching them roll around in their little bed biting on each other’s tails and making the most impossibly cute noises. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. SFShiba and Kika will bless us with another litter soon!
If you missed the fun, check out the recorded video below, or tune in for the daily stream of Ayumi, Kika and Haru here.

Ustream will be streaming start-to-end live coverage of TechCrunch 50, the global competition for startups in its third year. Join us to watch 50 startups via for a $50,000 award. Participate in the chat or Social Stream, and stay tuned for updates!

If you’re attending TechCrunch 50, participate in the Media Stream by recording your own videos from the event using the Ustream iPhone 3GS Recording Application and include #techcrunch50 in the title.

Ustream is adding another great content partner to its roster with the addition of The Pentagon. The Pentagon and Department of Defense have started a Ustream channel to provide military news and information for armed servicemen and their families. For civilians, it will offer an unprecedented opportunity to understand the role of the Department of Defense at home and abroad. The channel will broadcast a mix of military programming, including Department of Defense news briefings, military news, interviews with top DOD officials, short stories about the work of the military, and other programming.

Brian Natwick, general manager of the Pentagon Channel said, “We are delighted to add Ustream to our arsenal of Social Media distribution. For the first time servicemembers from all over can connect with each other while watching the channel any day, any time, 24/7.”

Be sure to tune in to the Pentagon Channel here, and go check out the newly launched Department of Defense’s website!

Ustream is hosting the Senate confirmation hearings for Sonya Sotomayor all week long via partner CBSNews.com’s feed from the Capitol. Catch the hearings live online and talk with others watching via our chat or Social Stream.

Check it out here.

Attention from all over the globe focused today, July 7, on the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the memorial service for Michael Jackson was held.  Thousands today said goodbye to Jackson within the Staples Center, and what’s more, millions were able to be part of it from afar on Ustream.

It was the biggest traffic event in Ustream’s history. We hosted nearly 4.6 million total streams and 1.6 million total uniques from fans around the world, including the breaking news feed from our partner CBSNews.com. It was truly an interactive event, with more than 12,000 messages sent per minute in our chat rooms from viewers throughout the world. More than 3,000 Tweets were sent mentioning @cbsnews – the vast majority came from people watching on Ustream.

Ustream was also the only place to watch the service on the iPhone, via the Ustream Viewing Application.

Check out our homepage with highlights from notable moments of the service, including the Jackson family’s remarks, performances by Usher, Stevie Wonder, and speeches from Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.

Here’s a screenshot of the interactive experience on Ustream, with viewers explaining where they were watching from:

We’re thrilled to announce Ustream is a winner in CNET’s 2009 Webware 100 Award in the Photo and Video category. The Webware 100 Awards recognize the best of Web 2.0 apps as determined by CNET readers and users. This is the third year we have won this high honor and we appreciate the support of our entire community that helped make this happen.

Nearly 630,000 votes were cast during the voting this year. For information about the award and a full list of winners, click here.