Mingle down the stream
Mingle Room hosts can charge admission to their rooms and events, using its own specifically designed Mingle Ticket system. Stevens says this model is ideal for things like online teaching, conferences and even pay-per-view TV streaming.
Indeed, the streaming potential is perhaps the most interesting, if also the most contentious. Because as well as being able to share presentations, photos and slides, users can also stream video content and music in their Mingle Rooms, with the upcoming ability to be able to capture live TV, and even whole films captured live at a cinema.
Sound like trouble? The firm says this is one of the reason it has set up shop in Canada rather than in the US, because Canada's privacy laws allow people to do whatever they want while in the privacy of their own 'rooms' whereas the US can simply invoke the Patriot act to clamp down on things it doesn't approve of.
We asked Stevens whether he was concerned his Mingle Rooms might become a hotspot for piracy, but he told us "we don't want to host content, streaming content is different." Currently Mingleverse allows users to stream content but not upload it.
"We're not trying to be controversial," he added, explaining that it was perfectly legal to invite friends round to your home to watch a film together, and that Mingleverse should be treated like an extension of one's living room.
"It's a merged living room," he explained saying one could invite pals to one's Mingle Room and all watch Oprah together - if one felt so inclined - adding "to the best of my knowledge, there's no other service that can do that."
