Today I’m interviewing Todd Weider, an owner and creator of SplashVision.com that helps folks to keep up with friends, associates and professionals surrounding water related lifestyles. SplashVision gives an opportunity to share videos, photos, ideas and services.

1. Can you tell me a little about your personal background?

My entire life I live in a place surrounded by water. Dating back to the time when I was 13 I lived together with other people in small yachts. At the age of 19 I became a professional mariner by obtaining my first merchant mariners license, accomplishing what only a few could do at such an early age. I began working on many yachts around the globe and obtained deep knowledge about various cultures. At the age of 24 I took command as Captain of the 150′ yacht with 12 crew and 12 guests aboard. The starting point of this voyage was Perth (Australia), and the final terminal - the East Coast of the United States. During this voyage I crossed the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and both the Red and Mediterranean Seas. In 1999 I helped to spearhead a project to developing and providing the technology for TCPIP traffic data to be sent via satellite communication devices. After 2001 I had an opportunity to help assemble a team to design, build and specify another large vessel. This one was going to be the 185′ Oceangoing Mega-Yacht. I was heavily involved in writing of specifications for the vessel, the design of the vessel and design of all onboard communications, navigation systems and AV systems. The project spanned over 3 years. Shortly after that I departed the yachting business and returned to Florida to focus on my real-estate holdings. Early in 2007 I wrote the specification and plan for the PHI lifestyle business and hired a web development team to develop a working model of the only social site of its kind, SplashVision.com.

2. What do you do for a living? What do you do full time?

Besides SplashVision, I tend to manage some of my real estate. However I spend plenty of time building and improving the business of PHI which operates SplashVision. SplashVision is a very young startup and requires constant attention in order to reach its full potential. It’s just a small part of PHI.

3. What’s your university-level education? Degree maybe?

I probably have the best non formal or shall I say an un-structured education available in this world. I learned everything I know from the wealthiest and most educated individuals on the globe, - the guests and owners of 100,000 million dollar Yachts! In many cases I worked directly for them or they were guests. It’s amazing how much you can learn just by listening to them. What’s more incredible is that they share experience, skills and knowledge with me just because they want to talk to someone else…and the travel which took me to all corners of the globe. The marketplace is really huge. I have to say I won’t have trade my education for anything. Oh, and I got paid for it!

4. Why did you choose online video industry to be the major topic of your site?

If you had to make a choice between the internet and the internet on steroids what would you choose? In my eyes it is by far the most powerful medium known. It is also perfect for my audience. Thatэs what they want.

5. Why did you name the service SplashVision?

You’ll get it if you visit SplashVision. “Splash” is water and it is a social media utility, so “Vision” goes very naturally with it.

6. What is your inspiration to work? Or it’s your hobby?

I love the results or shall I say the potential results. It’s incredible to see that you reap the fruits of your labor. It is also a great chance to show your worth as a chief because of your leadership skills and desire to contribute. It’s an awesome high!

7. How much time do you put into this service on a daily basis?

I never stop thinking about it. I am paranoid to fail. But all in all I spend workdays or about to feel completely satisfied if I do something useful. I spend most of my time doing research and understanding the trends. Until recently we were able just to develop this site, but now we can do a fun part. Enjoy our users’ videos.

8. What is your long term vision with SplashVision?

The goal is to create a community that addresses and facilitates the needs of people who live and work in water surroundings. SplashVision realizes this goal. PHI is the core of our long term plan. Exciting times are just around the corner! It will be interesting to see who else wants to join and play with us.

9. Do you have any parting words?

The internet is a crowded space with incredible opportunities. I learned many things and had a good time doing it. IMHO, don’t be afraid of difficulties and never fail. I think a positive attitude is a must. I also believe in great people around you. My teams are always of high-class. When I started this project I did not know anything about it, I am a self-educated person. I think we have done a pretty good job with SplashVision.com and the real excitement is PHI, I think our customers will really like what we are providing.

P.S. I thank Todd for the provided answers!

Technorati Tags: splashvision, interview, videos, photos, web tv, television, tcp ip, web sites, digital media, media

This time I’m interviewing Jeremy, an author of TubeLounge.com and other websites he’s working on. TubeLounge is a kind of video aggregator that holds and collects a wide array of various short-length video clips on different subjects (funny videos, basketball videos, cars videos, goals videos, hip hop videos, hidden camera videos, etc.). The site caters to ill-matched video buffs that will jump for joy.

1. Can you tell me a little about your personal background?

I finished my university sooner then I planned because I realized I’m not getting what I expected there. Since I was active on the web for a while, I decided to start making money on the web.

2. What do you do for a living? What do you do full time?

Besides Tubelounge.com I have several more websites I’m working on. Some of them are in the entertainment industry and some of them are pure business - selling products for a commission. Sometimes I do web design and other similar web related things.

3. What’s your university-level education? Degree maybe?

I have a BA as a Marketing Manager.

4. Why did you choose online video industry to be the major topic of your site?

At the time I started it, Metacafe.com had a great thing with giving links on each of their videos if you embed them on your site. That was a starting point for me because I knew I can get traffic from there, with addition of Technorati who sent good number of visitors then.

5. Why did you name the service TubeLounge? Has something in common with YouTube?

Yep, YouTube was inspiration, that’s obvious I feel great when someone types “you tube xxxxxx videos” and lands on my page. Perfect!

6. What is your inspiration to work? Or it’s your hobby?

The possibilities are enormous and that’s what’s more interesting for me. When I get a new idea, implement it and I see it works - it’s the greatest thing ever for me. It’s not just about money, it’s about making something better. When I see that number of pages viewed is bigger then usual, that’s all I need to keep pushing further.

7. How much time do you put into this service on a daily basis?

It depends. I need 2 hours minimum per day. If I want to do some sort of promotion or an upgrade, I definitely need more than that. But so far it’s easy for me to maintain that blog.

8. What is your long term vision with Tubelounge?

More content and not just videos only. If I can drive more traffic to it, I’ll develop it into something more. I want users to interact with the site and between themselves. Right now I am not focused on this site only, so it’s a slow progress.

9. Do you have any parting words?

Everything I did around Tubelounge earned me some good experience. I almost quit from it one time, but then I accidentally stumbled into great way to develop a site and make something more out of it. I’ve learned that persistence is a great ally for achieving something more.

I thank Jeremy for the provided answers!

Technorati Tags: tubelounge, interview, funny videos, basketball videos, cars videos, goals videos, hip hop videos, hidden camera videos, short-length videos, video clips, videos, web tv

We continue to interview video & web TV communities on the web. This time we interviewed Thomas Rigler, a filmmaker producing and developing programming for television and new media, who co-founded the Internet Television Community GoGooroo.com. Not long ago we reviewed this user-generated online guide and now amuseline visitors have an opportunity to get to know more.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your service?! Why did you name the service “goGOOROO”?

What’s completely missing in the marketplace is a quality user-guide that takes visitors by the hand, determines their needs, offers tailor-made selections and walks them to the destinations of their choice. An Internet video manual if you will, an interactive filter to distill thousands of global broadband channels and millions of YouTube videos down to the listings that actually matter.

Creating this discovery engine benefits both users and manufacturers: Viewers receive a tool to search and discover without frustration, the industry gains the link that connects content providers with ALL platforms, an essential element in the industry-wide and decade-long effort to bridge the divide between PC and TV/set top box environments in the living room.

We named goGOOROO as a word play between the ‘Guru’ who takes the uninitiated by the hand and ‘go’es out into the world = goGOOROO.

2. What makes goGOOROO stand out among all the like services available?

There’s no dedicated destination on the web that creates order from the chaos of American, European, or even global video offerings — a one-stop broadband channel guide is desperately needed.

GoGOOROO is a guide, an index and a community all wrapped into one destination. Unlike traditional program guides, goGOOROO puts the users in the driver’s seat. Similar to the free Internet Encyclopedia Wikipedia, GoGOOROO is a user-generated online guide and every visitor can submit, review and rate channels and videos alongside the GoGOOROO team. This ensure that the catalog grows on a daily basis.

3. What’s your university-level education? Degree maybe?

The founders:

Randolf Hillebrand / University of Cologne with a master in history, political science and German language
Thomas Rigler / Iniversity of Performing Arts, Vienna/Film and Television, Directors program

4. Are you specializing in a particular area of video technology, tools, software?

We’re pretty inclusive but currently focus on flash video players in the broadband & new media space.

5. Can you tell me about your hobbies and interests?

No time for hobbies yet.

6. How much time do you put into this service on a daily basis?

A small team of flexible freelancers keeps the engines running, with lots of hands-on support from the founders.

7. What do you do full time? Your day job?

GoGOOROO is a considerable time commitment that was born out of a professional need to organize an ocean of available broadband video channels.

Other businesses by the goGOOROO founders:

Randolf Hillebrand:
In 2002, Randolf founded brandbuero, a full service online consulting agency for the publishing industry. Since then, brandbuero’s media department has successfully advised its clients in the publishing world on new media content, business strategies and online-marketing. www.brandbuero.de

Today brandbuero’s high profile clients include newspapers and magazines like Handelsblatt, DIE ZEIT, Vanity Fair, WirtschaftsWoche, Karriere, VDI Nachrichten and New Investor. Brandbuero’s experienced editorial staff delivers articles, newsletters and new media content and is in charge of administering many of their clients’ websites.

In 2005, Randolf Hillebrand moved to Los Angeles to open brandbuero LA to research Internet trends for the publishing industry and to create marketing strategies for his clients in the publishing world.

Thomas Rigler:
Thomas develops and produces both narrative and non-fiction projects for production companies, TV networks, non-profits and ad agencies, often across all platforms. Calling on his expertise in these fields, he also consults for companies in the U.S. and Europe.

He is a member of the directors branch at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of directors at the International Documentary Association where he heads the web committee. He currently oversees the re-launch of the IDA’s documentary.org as a groundbreaking video driven online community, scheduled to go live December 2007. Thomas also participates as an industry mentor at the American Film Institute’s Digital Content Lab, collaborating on next generation new media prototypes.

In 2005-2006, Thomas executive produced the launch of The Vine, one of the first multi-channel broadband players operated by a TV network and headed the development and production teams responsible for E!’s multiple broadband, mobile feeds and video on demand programming. rigler.tv

8. How much further has web TV and online video gone?

The Internet is exploding with video content and giving birth to entirely new models of distribution.
YouTube and MySpace have become household names by fostering rapidly growing online communities of video sharing enthusiasts. Niche portals like Revver, Veoh, Vimeo and Break.com are attracting viewers in numbers competing with traditional TV networks.

The quantity of video available on the Internet has grown tremendously. As a result, finding useful and desirable content has become increasingly difficult. If there’s exponentially more available than before, how can we find anything worthwhile?

10. What is your favorite video search engine/video sharing web-site? Why?

Best video sharing sites — they’re all listed on goGOOROO.
We try to stay away from favoring any of them but share our enthusiasm for the niche phenomenon — in this new environment, everyone is a tv broadcaster!!

If we had to, here are some good examples of what’s possible:

Vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/

SuperDeluxe
http://www.superdeluxe.com/

Revver
http://one.revver.com

VBS
http://www.vbs.tv/

New York Times Video
http://video.on.nytimes.com/

Revision 3
http://revision3.com/

Jaman
http://www.jaman.com/

Triggerstreet
http://www.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/index

It’s Your Show
http://www.iystv.com/

11. Do you have any parting words?

Welcome to the super-niche.
Follow the Gooroo and come back often.

Check out more at: blog.gogooroo.com

Thanks to Thomas Rigler for the provided answers!

Technorati Tags: gogooroo, streaming video, web tv, internet communities, revver, user-generated content, interviews, video sharing, rigler.tv, online guide, pc, video tools, software, brandbuero.de, vimeo, vbs, jaman

I’m not going to go into details on motor racing and bikes. Keep in mind, a motorcycle should always be a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle powered by an engine. Get to know more? Kapitalmototv.com reveals tricks and interesting facts by way of the best biking videos available on the web.

1. Tell us the story of kapitalmototv’s beginnings and development. (Why did you name the service ‘kapitalmototv’?)

Kapital Moto TV began as an idea around October 2006. We were sick of searching YouTube for decent motorcycle racing videos, that could only be watched in fairly low quality. We recognised an opportunity to provide the biking community with a destination to watch high quality videos, in terms of both content and visual presentation.

From there we started development of a bespoke video content management system. The official launch of Kapital Moto TV was April 1st, 2007.

2. Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your personal background? Interests, hobbies.

Kapital Moto TV is a founding team of two, Phill Clarke and Antoine Josserand. Phill is Australian and Antoine is French, both currently reside in the South East of England.

We are both motorcycle enthusiasts and specifically dedicated to the Ducati marquee. In 2007 we both raced in the UK’s Ducati Desmodue series. We spend a disproportionate amount of time and money on our motorcycling addiction.

Both of us were disappointed with the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

3. What makes kapitalmototv.com stand out among all the video services available?

The quality of our content is of highest priority. We want to present our audience with visually compelling content sourced from around the world. Our collection of motorcycle content is second to none, and now located in one convenient destination.

4. What is kapitalmototv’s target market?

Dedicated motorcycling enthusiasts are our main audience. There are no street stunts or masses of bikini clad babes on Kapital Moto TV. We want to appeal to the committed motorcyclist who loves their bike and rides as often as possible.

5. How much time do you put into this service on a daily basis?

Between the two of us, at least 8 hours effort per day goes into the Kapital Moto TV service.

6. What do you do for a living? Your day job?

Antoine works as a senior software developer for a marketing agency. Phill is operations manager for a major online stock footage business. We plan to take Kapital Moto TV and associated projects full time in 2008.

7. What’s your university-level education? Degree maybe?

Antoine has a Master of Computer Science and Robotics degree. Phill has attained a Master of Business and Technology.

8. Are you specializing in a particular area of video technology, tools, software?

At the moment we use QuickTime H.264 files on Kapital Moto TV. Although most online video websites use the ubiquitous Flash, we felt that H.264 files provided a superior playback experience, for a minimal file size. However, we’re very interested in the latest Adobe Moviestar Flash Player beta, which does support the H.264 codec.

The Kapital Moto TV website is hosted on a dedicated Debian Linux server and the code base is PHP.

9. Have you ever enjoyed the support of online video encoding services? Was it worth-while? Which one?

We encode all video files ourselves. We currently achieve this through a combination of MPEGStreamclip and QuickTime Pro.

10. What is your favorite video search engine/video sharing web-site? Why?

For video search we like Blinx. They provide high quality results using, parent company, Autonomy’s search technology. Miro.tv is a great concept and DivX’s Stage 6 service provides excellent playback quality, it’s just shame DivX isn’t generally more popular.

11. How much further has web TV and online video gone? Your predictions.

We’re looking forward to the day when IPTV via broadband in the home is a normal part of every day life. Niche programming can really benefit from exposure to the TV watching masses, who don’t necessarily want to spend time in front of a computer watching videos.

12. Do you have any parting words?

Kapital Moto TV is still very much a growing proposition. We’re always adding new content and new functionality. We encourage good quality video submissions for inclusion on the site.

If you have a requirement for an online video product, the content management system used to build Kapital Moto TV is completely transportable and re-usable. Contact us for an affordable quote to achieve your goals.

P.S. Good luck!

Technorati Tags: kaptilamototv, video sharing, internet tv, high quality videos, IPTV, web videos, php, video games, interview, tv, video technology

Today I want visitors of amuseline to meet up Slifeshare.com (called Slife), a live network where you and your friends can share videos, music and photos with each other. Our interviewee is Edison Thomaz.
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your service?! Why did you name the service Slifeshare?

I first built Slife (originally called Onlife), which grew from my research work at the MIT Media Lab. Slife tracks your computer activities and lets you visualize them in various ways. It has a strong visual component that people really enjoy. At one point, we noticed that some people were taking screenshots of the Slife visualizations and sharing with friends, to show them “how busy they’d been”. At that point, we realized that we could do more to help users share their Slife visualizations and activities. And we built Slifeshare. The name Slife comes from “slice of life”.

2. What makes Slifeshare stand out among all the like services available?

Slifeshare is about personal communication and content discovery. People are getting busier, becoming more mobile. Staying in touch with other people is hard work and takes time. Slifeshare functions as a back-channel where you can stay connected to the people you care about by following what they do. If you want to get deeper and find out more, you can always bring the communication to the foreground through email, IM or phone. It’s a simple concept, but I believe it is a powerful one. We call it “behavior communications”.

3. What’s your university-level education? Degree maybe?

MS from MIT Media Lab

4. Are you specializing in a particular area of video technology, tools, software?

I would say that our strong areas are in communications, information visualization and machine learning.

5. Can you tell us about your hobbies and interests?

My personal interests include running, cooking and learning new languages.

6. How much time do you put into this service on a daily basis? What do you do full time?

I work full-time for Slife Labs, a company I founded in 2006 to further develop Slife, Slifeshare and other products that we haven’t released yet. I work with a small team of consultants and advisors out of Atlanta,GA.

7. What is your favorite video search engine/video sharing web-site?

YouTube’s the best thing the Internet has seen since probably Google itself.

8. Do you have any parting words?

We are a small company, but we have big plans. We will be releasing new products in the not too distant future.

P.S. Everybody can becoma a part of ’slice of life’, because “the soul of Slifeshare is a small application called Slife. Slife observes your computer activities in real-time and beams them up to Slifeshare. Music you listen to, sites you visit, videos you watch and more become part of your live Slifeshare page.” Check it out!

Technorati Tags: interview, videos, slifeshare, photos, music, video technology, online video, online community, google, youtube, video sharing, instant messaging, cell phones, slice of life