Shotdesk is an online video manager designed to migrate physical tape libraries to the Internet.
Anyone with a tape library, b-roll footage, or even internal digital video library can use Shotdesk to publish and distribute video online.
Shotdesk main feature is that is format agnostic. This means that the system is designed to support video files in their original formats.
So if you have a library with tapes shot all in DVCPRO-HD you can upload the raw files into Shotdesk via FTP and import them into the system.
If you need other formats, such as H.264 or ProRes-422 just upload them and Shotdesk will simply merge the additional formats with any existing video files that match the same file name.

Our first customer, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler had about 30 GBs of raw DVCPRO-HD footage and they wanted a system to access all their footage online.
Shotdesk was the perfect solution, we took all the footage in a hard drive, compressed it in several formats and uploaded it to our secure servers.
Within a couple of days their entire library was accessible by Internet through an intuitive and searchable interface.
Fairmont’s Shotdesk account was live just in time for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. During the Winter Olympics, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler expected quite a bit of world wide media coverage so they wanted to provide easy access to all their b-roll footage to TV networks, bloggers, and their own marketing team.

Before Shotdesk, if anyone wanted raw video from their hotel, they had to call in, someone look for the tape, go through the content to find matching shots, ship the tapes, and hope that the client got the footage they asked for.
Shotdesk eliminated all that effort by allowing clients to search and immediately download the shots they were looking for.

Here is a list of features that make Shotdesk such a compelling product:

• Format Agnostic – handle video on any format regardless of size or resolution
• Bin module – create selections and save them into bins via drag-and-drop
• Categories and Tags – search shots that share same category or tags
• Logging module – add metadata to shots right from Shotdesk
• FTP upload – upload multiple large files via FTP into Shotdesk
• Smart Video Import – upload several formats of the same shot. Shotdesk merges all formats automatically
• User module – control who access to your Shotdesk video library.
• Stats – view which shots have been viewed and downloaded the most

If you are interested in Shotdesk please let me know (miguel at shotdesk.com) so I can discuss your project’s specific needs and get your video library online in no time

Here is a slide-show with screenshots from the Shotdesk UI:

The original version had my voice which comes with a great Spanish accent from factory. Then, I tried my girlfriend who has a very sexy voice, but then I thought my potential customers would be calling for her number instead of signing up for PointKit
So I gave it some more thought and decided to get a professional to do it. The difference is amazing. My friend Curtis has used several times the voiceover services of Wayne Deschover and he was very happy with his work.
The whole process went really fast. I sent him the script on Friday. Saturday he sent me a demo and once approved I got the final version on Sunday.

A good voice and professional equipment makes a huge difference and it ended being very affordable. Here is the video edited on Final Cut Pro:

Yesterday, I read that a couple of very important ex-facebookers, Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook) and Justin Rosenstein (Facebook Tech Lead), decided to leave Facebook to start their own company called Asana.

Nerdy looing ex-Facebookers Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein

Asana is working on what they believe will revolutionize the way people collaborate, much in the same way Facebook has revolutionized the way people share and stay connected.

They just got $9 million in funding and are actively using that money to recruit very smart engineers. They plan to keep the core of the company small and hire only super smart people.

I decided to drop them a line telling them about PointKit. All I wrote was that the only reason why I would stop developing Pointkit was if I was given the chance to work at a super hot startup like Asana.

Next day I got an email from Justin Rosenstein requesting an invitation for PointKit.
To be very honest I was very surprised that anyone would reply to my email. Let alone, that the reply came directly from one of the co-founders and not some lame automatic canned response from the HR department.

I haven’t heard back from Justin or anyone fro Asana so I assume they are not interested or simply they are too busy.[ EDIT: I just heard from Justin and he thinks PointKit is really cool! (exactly his words). He asked me if I did it all by myself which I did. I told him the only reason I've gotten this far with PointKit is out of sheer passion and determination and suggested that he interviewed me (or flew me over.. why not?) if he and his team wanted to pick my brain about PointKit and working at Asana ]
I would love to have the chance to work for a hot Silicon Valley startup like Asana.

If you check their rather simple site, you can see that they already have a top notch team of genius engineers and the most amazing group of investors one could ever dream of, including, Mark Andreesen, the founder of Netscape, Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus 1-2-3, Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal, and many more famous, rich, and successful entrepreneurs and investors.

I am happy that a cool startup founded and funded by some of the smartest coolest people on the planet has taken a quick and probably meaningless look at my application.
It means a lot to me, it feels like some type of validation that all the hard work I have put over the last 18 months has some value and great people are curious enough to ask me directly for an invitation.

Then again, it just could be that they are looking for fresh ideas and they could simply be interested in seeing what they can rip-off from PointKit’s interface and unique functionality. Even in that case, I still would be pretty honored to have built something so cool some smart people are willing to copy.

They say that you should not worry if people copy your work, only start worrying when they stop imitating you!

Last week I got PayPal integrated using their API. It wasn’t to difficult but it sure took a lot of testing.
First I developed and tested setting up recurring payments using their testing sandbox and after signing up for their Website Payments Pro program ($30.00 USD / month) I was able to test payments for real!.
I used my second credit card to signup for Pointkit and it worked! You cannot believe how excited I was when I got a confirmation message from PayPal with the successful transaction details. I jumped up and down for ten minutes full of happiness. yes! I got my first customer! who cares that that customer was myself. Now I am paying $24.00 USD a month to use my own program.. hahhaa!

Money is now flowing in a circle, from my credit card to PayPal to my bank account. Obviously I am kidding, this is not very sustainable, specially having into account that PayPal takes about %3 of every transaction..

I did subscribe to PointKit using my credit card but once I saw the payment went through I cancelled the newly created account. Because there is a 30 day trial period, I was not debited the $24.00 so I didn’t lose any money while testing.

Integrating payments is a very important landmark for an online business. It means that now I can officially charge people for a product and start generating an income.

However there is much to be done.

About 80% of PointKit is fully functional. The 20% remaining is mostly debugging at this point. All modules are working but there are many small glitches that can affect the user experience considerably. I must thank my dad for taking the time to do some beta testing and point out many issues I wasn’t aware of.

In the following post I will go over what is remaining to be done before PointKit can go live.

You would become a co-founder which in the start up world is the equivalent of “my wife” in the humanoid world.
Also, in the human world you and me would be rising a child, in the startup world we are rising a company.

The analogy is not that far fetched since a great number of the requirements and challenges of rising a child apply equally to building a company.

Being smart is only half of the game here, we have to get along like only life long friends do. This is extremely important because trust between each other has to be absolute.
Our baby needs a lot of care and nurturing and its totally dependent on us to survive.

Looking for a co-founder feels l like when I was dating on LavaLife on 2008.
Back then I was very excited because I was convinced that soon I was going to find a great girl and that we would be very happy together.

2 months and 20 dates later my goal was accomplished. Actually, double accomplished because I ended up with two girlfriends which i dated at the same time for the following 6 months. Needless to say it all ended in catastrophe but somehow I managed to keep one of them. The one still is my girlfriend to this day, that’s how lucky I am.

No worries, when I find you my dear co-founder and life long friend, I won’t make the same mistake. Be assured that you will be the only one.

If you happen to be looking to join a startup in the Vancouver area and would like to be part of Bitmain and toy with the idea of joining me in a great journey full of uncertainty, excitement, new experiences and many peanut butter sandwiches (and you meet the technical requirements outlined below), please get in contact with me.
But before you do make sure you read this great article by Jason Cohen on hiring for a startup here

The article talks about hiring your 1st employee and what should a founder be looking for on that first and most important recruit.
If you think you have the entrepreneurial genetic flaw and want to give Bitmain a try, send me your resume and also make sure to explain in a few sentences:

1. Why do you want to work at Bitmain?
2. Describe a situation in your work-life where you failed.
3. Describe a time when you accomplished something you thought was impossible. (Can be work-related or personal)

I know this is a pain to do but it makes my life a lot easier when weeding through resumes since most won’t have that and will be discarded immediately.

And now with the typical and boring burocrapic job description:

Burocrapic Job Description

I am seeking an Intermediate/Senior Level PHP/MySQL developer to work on a full-time basis at our Vancouver office. The applicant must have at least 5 years of web development experience.

Experience:

• PHP/MySQL: 5+years
• Web Development
• HTML
• JavaScript
• jQuery or other Ajax Libraries
• Full understanding or project lifecycle

Bonus:

• Experience with Linux/Open Source software
• Experience with Linux web servers and database optimization
• Experience working with Content Management Systems
• 3+ years experience in a leadership or supervisory role.

Requirements

• Post-secondary diploma or degree in computer science, engineering, or equivalency with a minimum of 3+ years experience in development.
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills.
• Self-managed and hands-on.
• Excellent organizational, planning and time management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and effective communicator.

In addition to having a flexible and relaxed work environment, we believe that our culture and values set us apart. We are young, vibrant and passionate about what we do. The values that we all share and look for in those we work with include being entrepreneurial, creative, accomplished, team oriented, motivated, hard working and professional.

If you are interested in applying for this job please send me your resume at miguel@bitmain.com.

Ibizaah! is a free service that leverages the powerful YouTube Video API to help people DJ at parties.
Ibizaah! has two YouTube video players, a cross fader, and each player has each own playlist.
Videos can be played and new songs searched simultaneously. Users can also add songs from their playlists in YouTube, reorder playlists playback order, and even animate crowds with a fun air raid siren button.
Ibizaah! original purpose was to be used to teach myself and experiment with the YouTube API, jQuery, and Internet marketing. I have submitted Ibizaah! for review to about 50 different blogs and sites and it already has got some attention.

Pointkit is an online project collaboration service targeted to contractors, freelancers and small teams. It comes with many features including, task managing, invoicing, and time tracking. I built Pointkit using Pointkit itself to keep on track of all the many web development tasks required to build it.
Pointkit is now in Beta mode at Pointkit.com. You can sign and test it for free.

Here is a quick 1 min video explaining how it works:

Once all the main bugs are eliminated there will be a premium account plan which will cost $19 a month and will include all the options.
I like to keep options simple so PointKit will only have two plans, the free one with limited options, and the paid one with all the options.