SOMEWHAT FRANK

SplashCast Launches Mixed Media Embeddable Video Player

SplashCast, a Portland-based startup, launched today (January 30, 2007) to offer an easy way to create and share videos, photos and audio online with its embeddable player. SplashCast is a Flash-based site and enables users to create a Flash player to play custom videos comprised of photos, uploaded videos, YouTube videos or even RSS feeds from YouTube or Flickr. Since SplashCast is Flash-based it will allow MySpace users and the rest of the web to place video or slide-shows on their sites with ease. Check out this instructional video by Marshall Kirkpatrick, formerly a key contributor to TechCrunch, for more details on how to get started with SplashCast.

Simple to setup and use, a SplashCast feature that I found interesting was the ability to create a video by passing an RSS feed from Flickr or YouTube. I decided to create a video which randomly pulled videos from my YouTube video feeds. Since it just pulled in a feed I was able to create the SplashCast video very quickly. Code was then offered to be snagged and placed on the page below as shown. 

SplashCast is backed by QMind, its parent company, and raised $1.3 million for the use of related software in enterprise e-learning and is now working on another round of funding. To stay up to speed on the latest from SplashCast check out the SplashCast blog.

Bottom-line: SplashCast makes it very easy to create Flash-based video to be embedded into any page.

Desktop RSS Readers Die, RSS Addiction, LinkedIn Resumes, Farecast Insures, Babelgum TV & MyBlogLog Gets Flickr'ed

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 01.28.07

My Kinda Town Lit Up With Photo Effects

I stopped in Chicago this weekend after TECH cocktail 3 to catch-up with friends and relatives and so when I found the above photo I thought it made sense to showcase it. It was taken by Trey Ratcliff from Stuck In Customs. The unique technique he used to stylize his Chicago skyline photo is explained in great detail in this tutorial.

The Decline of Desktop RSS Readers

Read/Write Web pulled together an interesting piece discussing the decline of the desktop RSS feed reader. The article is concluded with a poll which upon voting showed that web-based RSS feed readers were the most preferred by about 55% of voters.

My Life As An RSS Junkie

Can you be addicted to RSS? After reading this article you will definitely think so. Check out this article for more information on technology addictions.

LinkedIn Creates 9 Million hResumes

9 million resumes in a microformat - that is pretty amazing. I wonder if sites like Careerbuilder and Monster.com are feeling the heat as LinkedIn moves in for the kill.

Farecast offers insurance on their Air Ticket predictions

Farecast, the travel fare forcasting startup, is now backing up its fare predictions are accurate by offering insurance to users for $9.95. I wonder how many users jump on the offer?

The Next Generation TV Over the Internet

Babelgum is a desktop client that allows their users to watch videos on their computer in a very TV-like experience. You can browse through the channels and choose your favorites show. You can rate the movies, add them to your favorites and watch them later on the video channel.

MyBlogLog picture feature improved by Flickr

Just as I reported back in December as MyBlogLog added a pictures feature they have since taken on Flickr as well. I think this is a great move as MyBlogLog further positions itself to connect faces with names as a social network built around other web sites, blogs and social network profile pages. Brilliant!

MyPunchbowl Helps Plan Events & Parties

MyPunchbowl, an event planning assistance site, officially launched today (January 15, 2006) to offer a simple way to pull together an at-home party or event. MyPunchbowl offers online assistance throughout the entire event planning life-cycle. MyPunchbowl breaks the event down into four milestones which are shown in the left rail of the site. They can be explained as follows:

1. Save The Date - allows users to create and send a customized “save the date” message.
2. Invitation - enables a user to create a customized invitation. The invitation allows users to search Flickr for Creative Common photos which can be used within the invitation. The invitation also generates a map to the location based on the address entered. Users can change the color of the layout and text by clicking the 'page color' button.
3. Get Supplies - makes it easy to find local supplies stores by listing and mapping them for you.
4. After Party – enables the host to start a message board for all the guests to comment on the event. In addition, the guests can add photos to a shared photo gallery by adding photos directly from Flickr. As a Flickr user this a great feature but I would like to see MyPunchbowl offer the ability to port photos from other services as well.

MyPunchbowl is easy to use and will definitely give Evite some competition as it offers an extremely simple interface with customized layouts. Unfortunately, MyPunchbowl is still working through some Ajax related layout issues that arise when using the site on the Safari web browser - Mac users should user Firefox instead for the full MyPunchbowl experience. As a PC users, this did not stop me from creating a simple invitation example as shown above.

MyPunchbowl was founded by Matt Douglas and Sean Conta who both have music backgrounds and years of product management experience in their past. It’s no surprise that Matt and Sean also like parties. Matt's favorite reason to party is Groundhog Day, while Sean’s is New Years Eve.

For additional perspectives on MyPunchbowl check out these reviews of on Download Squad, VentureBeat, CyberNet and TechCrunch. Also be sure to check out the MyPunchbowl blog for future updates.

Bottom-line: MyPunchbowl offers users all the components necessary to plan a simple event. It offers party planning assistance through the entire planning life-cycle which is compelling to anyone that has ever hosted a party.

What are the best betas of 2006?

Launching a product with the "beta" tag is the way of web 2.0, but the "beta" tag is not meant to be ever-present. I expect that eventually the ever-present "beta" will not be legally acceptable. In the meantime, Museum of Modern Betas recently polled its readers on the best beta's of 2006.

I interpreted it as the best betas launched in 2006, though I have to admit, it is difficult to recall when products actually launched as opposed to when they became popular. After revising my list to remove a few products that launched in late 2005, I selected:

1. Zillow
2. yourminis
3. MyBlogLog

Readers of Museum of Modern Betas encountered the same issue and so the poll results were weighted by year with older betas receiving less points per vote. According to the MoMB poll results the Betas of the Year 2006 are:

1. Flickr
2. Google Docs and Spreadsheet
3. Line Rider

What are your favorite beta products that launched in 2006?
What are your favorite beta products around in 2006?

MyBlogLog Slips In Pictures Feature?

MyBlogLog, the product focused on creating a connected  blogosphere community, appears to have slipped a new pictures feature into the product. MyBlogLog users can now upload images to their account to be on displayed for the rest of the community to view. The picture functionality (shown below) is a very primitive single photo upload which hinders the number of images I would upload to the service. Additionally, all items posted are public as it does not appear to offer security levels.

I am a big fan of MyBlogLog as explained previously on Somewhat Frank. MyBlogLog was also recently acquired by Yahoo. It will be interesting to see how the picture feature evolves.  MyBlogLog asks you for various acquaintance levels (friend, family or admirer) when adding a contact to your profile similar to the way Flickr, another Yahoo property, handles photo privacy so it may make sense for them to lean on Flickr for advice. Or is an integration with Flickr already in the works?

AOL Pictures Launches With New Features

AOL Pictures, the online photo site by AOL, launched today to offer a number of new features and a totally new look. AOL Pictures now allows users to share picture gallery photos openly on the web which is a huge stride in the right direction as it works to gain ground on other sites that have been enabling similar sharing features for a few years.

AOL Pictures also offers an Ajax interface an has introduced tags (single item and multi-select tagging), comments and subscriptions, which are standard web 2.0 features but may be new to AOL users. AOL Pictures allows you to edit photos inline which I found extremely helpful as I currently have to use Preloadr to edit my Flickr photos outside of Flickr site itself. Though it is worth noting, the AOL Pictures edit features only works on the Internet Explorer browser since it requires an ActiveX control. Interestingly, Photobucket, another photo site, does not sport any of these features and boasts 25 million users - go figure.

As an avid Flickr user, I went into using AOL Pictures biased to Flickr. So at first it felt a little awkward to navigate and perform all the actions in AOL Pictures but after learning how it is set up I found it easy to use. I enabled the mobile upload feature and uploaded a number of photos with ease. AOL Pictures makes it easy to share photos via email which I plan on it using for sharing groups of photos with family and friends. Flickr does not offer easy sharing features for non-Flickr users. Since most of my family and friends outside of the web 2.0 echo chamber are non-Flickr users, from now on I am planning on sending my photos to both AOL Pictures and Flickr. TechCrunch was unimpressed by AOL Pictures' simple, non-fancy approach but softens to admit it could be just what AOL users are looking for. For more information and updates from AOL Pictures team, visit the AOL Pictures Blog.

Flickr Photos Now Plottable on Map

Flickr has added geo tagging which allows images to be plotted and searched via a map. This new feature was something that was rumored a few weeks ago. Originally, I was not so moved by the potential new feature but after seeing the implementation I am impressed. The new map features offers you a way to easily drag and drop photos to a location on the map. It adds yet another way to explore Flickr photos.
I was in Arlington, Virginia this past weekend and tried a Harry's Tap Room Ale at none other than Harry's Tap Room. Harry's is on Clarendon Boulevard so I decided to plot this photo on a map by going to the Map tab under Organize. After dragged an image from my brew tasting experience to the map the image displayed as shown above.

Some other interesting features were also released as follows:

"...first, you can now get a "detailed" view for sets which shows larger images and titles, in the style of your photostream or archives (example, compare to the "traditional" view). And you can now add a special tag for photos taken at Upcoming.org events and the photos will show up on the event page and a link to the event will also show on the photo on Flickr..."

Overall, Flickr's new features are pretty sweet. I may even go as far as to say it is one of the slickest mapping mashups currently available. For another perspective check out reports on the Flickr Blog and TechCrunch.

Flickr Tying Tagging to Local Maps?

Flickr may be offering a new geotagging feature soon which could allow users to be tagged based on geography. This feature is said to combine mapping with the drag and drop of photos which could help to combine Yahoo Local and Flickr. There is a screen shot here.

I am a big Flickr fan as I mentioned previously. I have been thinking that the ability to make photos search-able by location would be a pretty sweet feature adding another way to rifle through the countless Flickr photos of people, places and things.  Additionally, it might be interesting to be able to search on people's profiles. For example, I wanted to find all the Chicago photographers on Flickr it is currently a daunting task. I hope the Flickr "map" tab is more than just a rumor and maybe down the road Flickr will add the profile search too.

Yodel Anecdotal: Yahoo! Corporate Blog

Yahoo! under the guidance of summer intern Paul Stamatiou has launched Yodel Anecdotal a blog focused on capturing the Yahoo culture and exposing it to the blogosphere. I think it is great to see a large corporation like Yahoo create a blog just to showcase its culture. The blog is very simple and pleasing to the eye. It is great to see it uses Mint, FeedBurner and Flickr.

It sounds like Paul got some great experience and helped influence the blogging experience at Yahoo! Paul is a talented individual so I hate to say it but the project reminds me of my Gaping Void coffee mug.  For the amount of work that Paul did, I wonder why Yahoo! did not hire Paul part-time or as a blog consultant?

Flickr Goes Down

What impeccable timing Flickr has. Not even a few hours after I compose an article praising Flickr do I come to find out in visiting the site that Flickr is down. Flickr posted (as shown below) the message, "Arrggh! Our Tubes Are Clogged!" Though I appreciate the humor, I am bummed about the temporary storage failure. I guess both humans and the web are not perfect.

Thankfully, photos are safe and have not been lost according to this recent Flickr Blog post.

Applications for the Flickr Obsessed

Flickr is one of my favorite web 2.0 applications. While it is not the most popular photo site on the web (ranking 6th behind Yahoo Photos, Photobucket and a few others in visitor metrics according to a Comscore, June 2006 report), Flickr is a fantastic photo repository and social network for photographers and photo enthusiasts alike. It enables a user to meet and stay in touch with people across the globe though photos. The phrase,“A picture is worth a thousand words” is amplified with Flickr as the photos do all the talking.

There are a number of new mashup applications and mashups that have been built for the Flickr obsessed. Preloadr is a useful Flickr-based online photo editing software. It uses the Flickr API to allow users to login to their Flickr accounts from the Preloadr site and then make photo edits and tweaks. FlickrInspector a non-commercial website, that displays publicly available data about single Flickr users. This could be useful in exploring and contenting with other Flickr users. Aside from the recent TechCrunch article pointing the "Flickr Freaks" to Preloadr and FlickrInspector, there was an excellent article written (back in Feburary 2006) on WebMonkey that names it Top 10 Flickr Mashups. The list includes the following:

Retrievr - Search Flickr by visual input
Spell with Flickr - Spell out messages using Flickr photos
Tagnautica - Explore Flickr visually using related tags
Flappr - Flash-based Flickr browser
Captioner! - Add comic captions to your photos
Fastr - Flickr guessing game for hours of enjoyment
Colr Pickr - Combines a html color wheel with Flickr photos
FlickrFling - Parses and maps news stories to photos
Flickrball - Game based on 6 degrees of separation theory
Flickr Sudoku - Combines Flickr photos with Sudoku game

I have written about Tagnautica and a few others previously on Somewhat Frank. For a list of more Flickr mashups visit the ProgramableWeb Flickr Mashup list. 

What is your favorite Flickr mashup?