YouTube Live beams live broadcasts from your bedroom

YouTube has turned on the option to broadcast live to the watching masses, at youtube.com/live. So put on some trousers, fire up your webcam and get ready to say "Hi mum!".

Selected channels will be first to broadcast live. The option will then be offered to all users. Currently, there's some cricket and some early adopters waffling about very little. The coolest feature is a live comments feed, allowing you to send your remarks to the broadcaster.

To broadcast live, go to the 'My videos and playlists' section of your account. When the Live tab is turned on, you'll be able to create a new live event, with information including a description, tags, category, date and time. Live broadcasts must be scheduled, so there's no big 'Go live!' button.

Live broadcasts can easily be added to your Google, Outlook and iCal calendars so you don't forget about them. Annoyingly, the time of each broadcast is shown in the time zone of the broadcaster, and there's no easy way to change to your own local time.

YouTube launched a live-streaming trial in September last year. It's now poised to use its vast audience to take on other live-streaming sites, such as Ustream, which recently broadcast a performance by Death Cab For Cutie -- apparently the first music video to be recorded live. Spotify is also getting in on the live-streaming action, showing its first UK gig last week.

Last week, Google, YouTube's parent company, was also reported to be planning a massive £60m cash injection to pay for original video, turning the website into a television destination, rather than an online diversion. Live broadcasts of sporting events, concerts, overseas news and the like will certainly help to achieve that goal. The live launch is just in time for next month's royal wedding, which is set to be the most ogled event in history.

We can't wait to get cracking with live broadcasting, so we can bring you videos like the adventures of Drew and Rory arguing their way across Europe on one tank of diesel, or Luke losing his grip on reality in the iPhone 4 launch queue.