Photobucket has some cool technology

Matthew Reinbold gave me a pretty interesting demo of Photobucket at the Utah Tech Spotlight today. The site uses technology from Adobe, and aside from the normal sharing of photos, you can also upload video, and create mixes of photos, videos and music providing a basic movie making tool. It's pretty neat. I created a video with some stills and a video and stitched them together into one file. I also uploaded a small video and edited out a portion that was crappy. It all worked pretty good.

After spending a few hours messing around with it, the interface is pretty good (although filled with ads), the tools are fairly fast, not as fast I had hoped but it was ok. I was generally pleased with the way it worked and I was able to create my videos and was provided a link to embed in my blog.

What I don't like is the layout. The links to the various areas (i.e. photos, videos) are not where I would have expected them to be. They are at the bottom of the screen. I'm sure these are things that will be worked out in the future and doesn't make it any less of a product.

I have a Pro account with Flickr, and Photobucket offers a Pro account as well, but both cost the same. There are limitations on space with Photobucket but not with Flickr. I assume the limitation is because you can create videos that probably don't compressed like pictures. I could be wrong.

Anyway, check it out, its free, and there seems to be some interesting technology there. Thanks Matt.

read more...

Utah Tech Spotlight featuring HireVue

We didn't have as many people at this months Spotlight but personally I thought it was a great presentation. Ryan Money, founder of HireVue was on hand to talk about his company, their technology and other little business tid bits.

[Sorry the video that was here is really crappy so I removed it]

Pictures here.

As usual, Twelve Horses sponsored the event at the Bohemian. If you've never been there I highly recommend you go there at once. And if you're not sure what Twelve Horses is check them out too.

If you want an opportunity to up close and personal technology companies right here in Salt Lake City, Utah, this is the event for you. As Steve mention at todays even, we've heard from several well known companies like Mozy, Control4 and MediaPort. Check out the website and then come to the next event. See you there.

read more...

Safari for Windows, please no

Is there really room for another web browser on the Windows platform? I guess, maybe, but should it be Safari? Safari on the Mac is the default like Internet Explorer is on a Windows machine. But with options like Opera and FireFox, and there are so many more based on the Mozilla engine, that I was a little taken back when I saw that a version of Safari was available for Windows.

My first question is how many Windows user have used Safari on the Mac let alone even heard of Safari. Probably not many and I'm sure that was the idea, we don't have a user base with a negative view of this browser because it has only been available on the Mac, so lets throw it out there on Windows and see how many people will use it.

I have an iMac and I don't use Safari. I can't stand it. I use FireFox and occasionally have to use Internet Explorer (in Windows) for sites that are insane enough to only work with Internet Explorer. But Safari? What value or advantage does that bring to the Windows experience? None I say. The application will assuredly get thousands of downloads as lookylous try it out but in the end it will take a lot more than that to oust FireFox or Internet Explorer from their perch.

Safari on Windows may be faster, maybe, but will it become the defacto standard just on that feature alone? Give me my FireFox plugins please.

read more...

June CodeAway in Salt Lake City

I was finally able to attend my first CodeAway. It was very interesting. By time things got cookin there were about 10 people including a really cute munchkin. Ash and I talked about the new rev of BridesClub.com; Matt and I (and another guy whose name I can't remember, sorry) talked about NASCAR, and racing in general, and of course it's all lost in translation. Mike was pretty quiet. Laura talked about her latest DVD from Starling Fitness (I blogged about her here) and she was assembling mailers. Marleigh was there and I learned that she is so smart and will rule the world one day. And finally, still, no one knows what I do. I really need to frackin work on that. But that's another blog post.

When I first arrived I discovered that Mike and Laura have a cat, and bless his heart, I'm just allergic an no amount of medicine can fix it. I'm not sure why, I guess I need to get that problem resolved. Sorry Laura, I hope you weren't offended in anyway, but I really appreciate you not kicking me out.

There was lots of food, drink and good times. So, next month, I'll try and have a laptop and actually work on a coding project, or something similar to a coding project.

read more...

Shaking my fists at the Hosting Gods

Bear with me while I try and explain why I think the Hosting Gods are against me. For starters the best hosting company I ever had went out of business. Not sure why, there were many reasons I was told. I noticed the service level went way down, couldn't get through to customer service and so on. But this isn't how it always was. The company used to be very responsive. I knew most of the guys there by their first names and I think they knew me pretty well too.

So off I went to find a good web host. One that would give me similar service and features. I found several on my own and had several referred to me. So I picked one, mostly based on price (because they all had similar features), and started the process. I guess I was spoiled because I paid each month for my service, not a whole year up front. I did this for a reason, because I wanted to leave with no strings if needed.

So here is where I start shaking my fists at the Hosting Gods. You cannot tell me that charging for a whole years worth of hosting with no set up fee, nets you more money than letting me pay every month and charging me a setup fee. Oh wait, that's where you make your money, actually, more money, by charging a setup fee. So let's get the facts straight:

1. You charge less per month if you pay for a whole year in advance. OK, discounts are great.

2. You don't charge a setup fee if I choose the lesser priced year in advance.

3. In most cases I can't even pay month to month; you want me to pay quarterly, half yearly or the whole year, the first two with setup fees and no discounted monthly rate.

4. You only have one rate plan; one year in advance.

Yes, I'm ranting. I don't buy the it's easier it all upfront excuse. How hard is it to charge per month? It's not. See, if I pay per month and your service goes down hill, or your product starts crapping out, I can change providers. But when you shackle me to your service for a whole year, I lose options. That's not good business, and I feel sorry for those who are so proud to be a customer of a Hosting company who holds their customers hostage.

If you run a good Hosting company, will let me pay per month and not charge me a pocket lining setup fee, I'd love to hear from you. Prove me wrong. Prove I can have great hosting with good features and good service for a reasonable price.

read more...