/* CSS Document */ Streamload Blog: September 2005

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

MediaMax VideoShare

Out of MediaMax’s many useful features, the one that we’re most excited about is our new VideoShare service. VideoShare will allow you to really get the most out of your new digital camcorder by giving you the ability to share the memories you’ve recorded with your friends and family, anytime and anywhere! With just a few mouse-clicks, you’ll be able to send and share video files of any size to anyone you’d like. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays… you won’t have to leave far-away family and friends out of the loop any longer. Harvo, one of our chief programmers, used the service to show us videos of his family just hours after his first baby was born. Congratulations to the proud new papa!

VideoShare also gives you the ability to organize videos into different albums, just like the way you might organize your photo files into albums. If that weren’t cool enough, VideoShare will extract frames from your video file so that you can share still pictures (which might be especially nice if you have a vacation video that has some great shots you’d like to print as photos).

In addition, you’ll be able to assign tags to your files so that you can group files of different types together. For example, clicking the “Baby” tag would allow you to view all of the photos, music, and video you’ve associated with your new bundle of joy. A single click of the Publish button allows you to share all of your “Baby” tagged files – no need to lug that brag book around with you all the time!

As you can tell, we’re pretty amped about it – we can’t wait until you’re able to try it out for yourself! Check out a screen shot here.

Our engineers are working tirelessly as they migrate our current customers over to MediaMax. Although the migration process is taking a little longer than we had originally expected, we wanted to make sure that the new system is absolutely ready for our members so that the switch is as stable and error free as possible. We’ll be sure to keep you updated every step of the way.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

posted by Maxine @ 2:36 PM   0 comments links to this post

Friday, September 23, 2005

A Very Exciting Week

I think this may be the most exciting week to-date in Streamload history. Let me quickly recap:

1. Streamload launched our new service, Streamload MediaMax. After over a year's worth of development, the site is finally live at http://mediamax.streamload.com. It's The World's Largest Online Media Center and we are proud to introduce it to the world! As Maxine has been saying, we are working on moving all of our current Streamloaders from Streamload v4 over to MediaMax over the coming weeks.

2. We just got back from DEMOfall 2005, a technology launching-pad for new technologies. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. There really are a lot of amazing new technologies coming over the next few months. We saw everything from wireless applications, new devices that give users unparalleled portability, new search engines, and tools that have the potential to change the face of everything from ecommerce to online shopping, to name just a few.

Demo has been the new technology launching pad for companies like E*Trade, U.S. Robotics, Skype, Adobe, Handspring (now PalmOne), and Palm (now PalmSource) to name just a few. We were happy to give all of the press and other attendees such an intimate preview of the new MediaMax service. If you're curious you can see our presentation to the entire audience here.

We would like to thank Chris Shipley, Jackie DiPerna, and the rest of the DEMOfall staff for selecting Streamload MediaMax to participate in the event. Also, we would like to thank Keith Shaw and Jason Meserve, both editors at Network World, for selecting us as one of their two favorite technologies on the first day of the DEMOfall show. You can see Jason's interview with us here. For those of you who would like to see other reports from DEMOfall, you can read more here.

Though a lot of work went into this week, there is no rest in sight. We will continue to work our hardest to get all of our customers moved over into the Streamload MediaMax system as soon as possible. Also, we have a whole roadmap worked out for additional features and integrations that will not only make your digital life easier, they're bound to make it a whole lot more fun!

One final note: we are going to be putting a new events page in our news section that will detail all of the upcoming high tech shows we will be attending, so you can see us in person if we're coming to your town. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know that we will be in San Francisco next week, presenting at the Infotrends "Digital Imaging '05" show. Also, we will be demonstrating Streamload MediaMax and presenting a session on Digital Video transfer at Ziff-Davis' Digitallife conference October 14-16 in New York City. Tickets are only $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Our booth is located near HP and LucasArts. If you're in the New York area, please come by and see us.

posted by Max @ 2:44 PM   0 comments links to this post

MediaMax and other Streamload Happenings

Hurray! The clouds have parted, the rain is gone, and it’s back to business as usual here at Streamload. Our new MediaMax product made its official debut last week at DEMOfall 2005, where we’re happy to note that it was met with positive reviews! I’ll be passing the conch over to my colleague, Max, who attended the show and will give you the skinny on Streamload’s adventures at DEMO.

Speaking of MediaMax, the migration process for our current customers to the new service is finally underway! Our database servers are chugging along behind the scenes -- first by migrating the underlying database structure, and then moving actual customer data afterwards. (Sounds logical, doesn’t it? Our other plan involved voodoo dolls and funny smelling potions, so this method sounded much safer).

Unfortunately, this makes our rollout slower than originally planned, but we’ve decided to err on taking the slow and steady route so that our customers continue to receive our current service with as few interruptions as possible. In the meantime, make sure that the email address in your Streamload account is up to date; we’ll be sending out individual emails to let you know that your account has been MediaMax-imized! (That was cheesy, I know.)

The last thing we want to do is keep our customers in the dark, though, so if you have any questions at all, please drop a line to our support staff – they’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the service.

In other news, Streamload was named one of San Diego’s 100 fastest growing privately held companies in San Diego for 2005 by the San Diego Business Journal. And last (but certainly not least), Streamload’s fearless leader, Steve, an award honoring 39 other business and civic leaders under the age of 40 for their achievements. Congratulations, Steve!

Check back early next week, when I’ll be giving the inside scoop on one of MediaMax’s new media-file specific services: Videos, Music, TV & Movie, or Photos… guess which? Not sure? Guess you’ll just have to wait. :)

Happy Streamloading,
Maxine

P.S.: One savvy member noticed that Streamload’s site link to this blog was out of date and not showing the correct information – I apologize if it looked as if we’d done a bit of our own voodoo and were trying to keep information from you. That’s certainly far from our intention! If ever you find any broken links, or see some information that doesn’t look correct, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll be sure to set the record straight. You can even syndicate this blog using Atom from the links at right, so you’ll always have access to this page. Thanks!

posted by Maxine @ 2:17 PM   4 comments links to this post

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Rain Delay

I apologize for the late update -- this surprise thunderstorm here in San Diego has taken the some of the wind out of our sails for today's planned release of Streamload's new service! We experienced a power outage at our corporate offices at around 2 AM this morning, much to the chagrin of our engineers still at work and burning the midnight oil. Only the servers associated with our new version were affected by the outage; Streamload V4 remained running and stable all throughout the storm. Our customers and their data are our number one priority, so we're committed to making sure that the change will be as seamless to you as possible. We're going to wait on deploying the new Streamload out to you, our current customers, until we're completely sure that you'll have a smooth and secure transition. In the meantime, feel free to browse our MediaMax website to take a peek at the fun new features that await you!

I'll be sure to keep you updated via this blog when there's news. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please drop a line to our support staff; they'll be happy to answer any questions or concerns you might have. We really do appreciate your patience and continued business as we strive to provide you with the biggest and best Streamload to date!

posted by Maxine @ 10:43 AM   0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Questions and Answers

Streamload has been keeping us all really busy these days, so I apologize for the late update. We're all working really hard to get everything ready for the September 19 launch date, so the office has been awfully quiet save for the clicking of noisy keyboards!

Our support staff has been getting a lot of emails inquiring about the upcoming changes, so I've decided to post some of the more commonly asked questions here. Read on to find about what the new Streamload has in store for you!
  1. What’s this about a new Streamload? Is everything going to change?

While there will be substantial changes in the way Streamload looks, the service itself should change very little. You’ll still be able to use Streamload to move, manage, and store all of your digital files – only this time you’ll be able to do it more easily, securely, and faster than ever.

We are introducing five new applications wrapped inside one convenient service. Each of the applications will help you more easily do what you want, when you want, with your own private files. Don’t fear, though, the heart of the Streamload you have become familiar with is built into the new service.

We have redesigned the file transfer and storage architecture from the ground up with the goal of giving you a trouble-free and hassle-free experience -- 100% of the time. This new system means your files will always accessible and secure. We are pleased to announce this new, improved service will have a new name as well. However, we can’t announce the new name yet, but we promise you will be the first to know what it is.

  1. How will I find all of my files?

Although Streamload will automatically organize your digital media by type (photos, music, and movies), you’ll still be able to work from a File Manager section that will be remarkably similar to the current “My Files” section of Streamload. The “File Manager” section of the service puts all of your files – media and non-media – in a single section for you to organize and access. It will be familiar, painless, and include many of the more advanced features you’ve come to love in the current Streamload.

While we give you new (and we believe easier) ways to organize your files, if you would prefer, you can still organize and move your files with the new service the same way you do in the current one.

  1. I prefer to use Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape. Will the site work for me?

Streamload will be fully compatible with the most recent releases of Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape, as well as Internet Explorer.

  1. What about the Streamload Uploader and Downloader?

Based on the great feedback we’ve received from our members, we are currently working on a new and improved client application that integrates the Uploader and Downloader into a single easy-to-use program. A sleek new interface and a new size limit-busting backend technology ensure that you’re going to love what you see. Although the product will not be ready until November, our engineers are working hard to make it available as soon as we’re able to deliver you a (free) winning product that truly enhances your Streamload experience.

  1. Will I have to pay a different amount?

Our pricing for customers who sign up after September 19, 2005 will change. However, your account will be “grandfathered” in; you’ll be locked in to your current rate, but have the option to move to one of our new ‘plans’ if you find that they work better for you.

I hope we were able to answer some of your questions. If you've got something on your mind, feel free to drop us a line at feedback@streamload.com.

Keep checking back here for more updates! I'll be adding more very soon.

posted by Maxine @ 2:41 PM   0 comments links to this post