Interim Release V 2.5 B61

Well, we just couldn't wait to do another major release. Too many cool new features and key bug fixes.



Some of the biggest things are under the hood, but their immediate implications are worth noting as well.



* Anytime you do something on the site that generates a list of shows, we now use, what is called internally, a Unified List Renderer. This gives us a consistant UI element that offers ease of change, ease of customization for new networks, and ease of ability to add features... like.....

* Active thumbnails. When you roll over clip's thumbnails in any of the ULR cells, the video clip's thumbnail will begin to play.



* Significantly reduced load time.



* Clip reviews. You can now write reviews for films on the factory 515 platform. On the bottom of the clip info window (you can get there by clicking on [info] in any of the lists or the picture of the slate to the left of the player), there is a place for you to add your review.

While you are adding a review, if you worked on the film, go ahead and list your self as a cast or crew member. You'll need to define yourself as either in front of or behind the camera talent in your PROfile in My Account.

Factory what?

So yeah -- it has been super quiet here. We've been moving our corporate headquarters and while our development team is relatively small, our parent company, brainbox is not. We have a TON of stuff and a very serious network. I've had to play network admin in our move and work with my senior IT guy to get our new facility up and running.

Here's the new joint.

Ok - so 3.0 is running a little late. We'll have something up soon. We're eeking little features & fixes in here and there, so don't be surprised if something new pops up... that's kind of how we do things.

The rest of this year is destined to be busy. We hope to have 3 new major 'releases' before too far into '08.

Introducing Yehia Shouman, Part [2/2]

...continuing from our previous conversation with the '515 front end team lead, Yehia Shouman.

BD: We've done a lot of things in '515 that are really different then other video-based websites.

What are some of your favorite technical achievements that we have made on this project?

Yehia: There's a lot of features in this project that really make it very unique, I will try to highlight some of these in terms of whether they are obvious to the user or not Some of the visible features:
1) The Schedule Concept: Handling time-based playback of videos is a painful process, but it was worth all the pain.
2) Video Preview: Previewing the video before you see it.
3) Autocomplete Search Field; If you remember the name of the movie, you could start typing the first letters and it will auto complete for you. I am emotionally attached to this feature!
4) Realtime Validation in Email To A Friend form
5) Ability to seek through video; this is because we stream video rather than progressively download it like how alot of other websites started.
6) The content quality; we display hi-rez at film frame rates.

Some of the underneath-the-skin features:
1) Broken Video Links Automatic Reporting: The application uses 2 video sources through rtmp. If the CDN failed to deliver the file in a configurable amount of time it will try with another server (And post a message to the owner of the movie with the problem)
2) Centric Configuration File/CSS-Based and Centric place that handles Remoting Calls
3) All sub-modules are completely deattachable from main and connected to it using configurable items

BD: What are you most excited about that we are currently working on, technically?

Yehia: It has to be the new ... [snip... cut by BD... you'll have to stay tuned for this one. :)]

Also, the automatic errors reporting; this is a really robust application. If some error occurs it will automatically report itself to the administrator with information about the user's machine, call error, time and params! That's even better than an OS that sometimes fail to send errors!

BD: What, to you, makes '515 different from the multitude of other video-based sites?

Yehia: There's a lot of things that makes me favor the '515 platform over other sites;The schedule and the autocomplete search field!
The schedule concept is awesome! Also, look at the video quality! Not alot of other websites deliver the same quality as '515 does!

BD: What have you learned working on this project?

Yehia: Persistence, thinking like the user, tolerance is a virtue, being positive about my mistakes (Be Responsible about them and then fix them). Sky is the limit when you think so never imitate!
On the technical level, I have learned a lot. Both, Bill Davidson and Nick Panagopulous are great thinkers, they come up with very challenging and brilliant ideas, that usually requires an additional stretch of legs with a few more steps.

BD: Is there anything else you would like to add?
YS: The future of this project is huge, the amount of extensibility and granularity this platform is makes it very open to a lot of different applications in different life fields. We are also building with a lot of faith, joy and care.

BD: Thanks a lot, Yehia.
YS: Thank you Bill for this opportunity. I am definitely going to put a lot of input in this blog! Also we will demonstrate a lot of our new features here!

We will be hearing much more from Yehia in the future. He is the most vocal of our Cairo team and he loves talking about technology. And we love hearing from him.

quiet...

We've been hard at work to finalize 3.0 and we have some great new features coming... One thing I am excited about is film reviews. Be a critic and review everyone else's films (or your own, if you got issues...)

We hope you'll enjoy it. We're hoping to wrap this puppy up and get it our in the next week or two.

Watch Films fixed.

At some point overnight the highest rated/most viewed/just added component on watch films was fixed.

Thanks for your patience.

broken component.

On the watch films tab on 48.tv there is a broken component... we are aware of the problem and hopefully it will be fixed by our team on the other side of the globe that works while we sleep and before we wake up in the morning.

Thanks for your patience.

Interesting stat of the day.

August was our peak month on 48.tv. We streamed over 28,000 minutes of 48 Hour Films! Very cool... that's around 4,500 films.

Thanks for watching!
-Bill

Get your films up!

We've had a ton of mail from users asking when their films will be loaded onto 48.tv. Well, truth is we don't know... We are going as fast as possible, but you all are just making too many films!! :)

User uploaded films has always been in the development plan for Factory 515.... the problem is when/where. In the next version we will be adding some exciting commerce based features that are taking some time to work out. We'd love to add film uploading now, but we just can't squeeze it into this version.

So where does that leave us? Well - I've had some thoughts of an interim solution to help our Media Manager, Bari Cadel (who I will introduce soon) with the monumental task of loading the 48 Hour Film Festival films. It is going to take some team work, so if you are interested in helping us test this, please shoot me an email (bill.davidson at factory515.com) and I'll give you more details.

Introducing Yehia Shouman, Part [1/2]

I would like to introduce to you our ActionScript guru, and Cairo team lead, Yehia Shouman. Yehia has been with us almost since the beginning and has really changed the way we have done things on the front end. I am sitting down with him via the internet since we are currently separated by almost half the world.

Bill: Yehia, thanks for taking time to talk with me here. Can you tell me a little about why you decided to come on board and work with us on this project?

Yehia: Well, I would like to first thank you for giving me the chance to express my views about 'f515 here! There's alot to say about this platform. Well, without doubt the biggest hype in the internet applications development is the RIA's (Rich Internet Applications) and how they enable a richer experience on the internet. With Adobe Flash a complete new toolset was given to the web developers to enable them to produce super engaging applications than they were ever able before.The first time I heard of the project, I was pretty excited about it. Personally, there has always been some aspects that attracts me to join a project!

The technologies: The project was already decided to be implemented in Adobe Flash, Adobe Flash Media Server, Adobe Coldfusion and Adobe Flash Remoting for the communication between the backend services and the frontend. I have always been working on Adobe Flash since Macromedia Flash 4 but most of these technologies were somehow new to me. So I was instantly excited! There was that challenge for me!

The Idea: A complete RIA Flash-Based Video Platform with alot of richness in interactivity is definitely appealing to any developer. Working with Videos has always been appealing to me too as a fertile new field that software enterprises are nowadays competing in. Also I thought of how engaging it would be when flash rich interactivity is added.

The environment: The environment is a key. It makes a project work or fail! Working with the F515 team was really flexible, we were already organized into two teams; a backend team (BE) and a front end team (FE). I started as the first Frontend AS Developer to join and that has been a great honour to me. I can't remember a single day when I had a new idea haven't shared it directly with Bill or with the rest of the team. It was more fun than work!

So those 3 factors were there! and were enough to make me say "I am definitely in!".

BD: What did you bring that was particularly unique to the team?
YS: Oh Bugs ??! What else ! Well, I'd say on the technical level the adoption of Actionscript 2.0, Strong OOP. On the other side, I'd say as a team lead; the sense of ownership to the code they write, the love of what we do and more organization to which everyone was already open and ready for!

BD: What specific areas of the application are your main focus?
YS: Well, I've been always here and there! I wouldn't be able to look specifically at a certain part and say that this is my main focus or I haven't been there.
However, now that we are at version 2.0, my main focus is on facilitating that any additional class or component that is created for a new feature fits well between the other assets and is re-usable.
I try my best to be a problem solver, I take care of design and architecture of the Frontend Flash Component and the Data Format to be used between Frontend Flash Components and Backend Remoting methods.

We will pick up this conversation in an upcoming blog entry...

Factory 515 + Safari = :)

As of the latest build (Build 57), we believe we finally have Safari playing nice with our platform. Sorry it took so long... I, a LONG TIME Mac-hater, even got a Mac as my primary machine just to put myself in the shoes of a Mac user of 515. While I run Parallels and XP using Windows 95% of the time still, I do now work with the rest of the team to get Mac issues resolved quicker. I am also much less of a hater... Although I am not ready to ditch Windows any time soon (read, EVER).

So Safari lovers - rejoice. you can watch 48.tv in all it's full screen glory now!

Couple other build highlights:

- Non-modal dialog boxes. If you not logged in, for instance, the dialog box that lets you know that is no longer modal - meaning that you can continue to work around the dialog box, it is not NECESSARY to close it before moving on.

- More user registration fixes.

There are a few more things coming in this build that we are still testing on our development server so you can't see them quite yet. :)

-Bill

Version 2.0 B56

Today we posted the latest version of the platform. Build 56 includes a number of bug fixes, enhancements and new features.

New Feature highlights include:
- New FP9 Full screen mode. We now have the ability to do true FULL screen playback using the latest major version of Flash Player, 9.0.x. The absolute latest Flash Player offers Open GL and Direct X hardware accelerated playback when in full screen mode.

- New Clip info. The public beginnings of our community features begin to take shape here. We have added the ability for users to claim their stake on films posted on the site. If you were a cast or crew member for a film, click the clip info button (little i on the schedule) and add your name to the list. Note: you will have to be registered as either talent or crew in your public PROfile. I'll do a walk-through on that in an upcoming post.

Fixes include:

- New registration system. we hope all the problems users have been having registration will be over. However if you do have a problem, please let us know! The support email address is 515-support@factory515.com

Finally Here!

Ever since we launched 2.0 of our Factory 515 platform, I have been dying to get a product blog going. Things have been crazy here at our parent company, BrainBox Enterprises, which I have had the pleasure of being a partner and co-founder since our inception in 1998.

The point of this blog will be for us to be able to discuss where the product is, where it is going, and give us a chance to interact with you, the users.

In case you are wondering, 'what is Factory 515?? I thought this was the 48 Hour Film network,' that is a good question. Factory 515 started off as our DVD creation and onlne DVD distribution arm for BrainBox. One of our most active clients at Factory 515 was the 48 Hour Film Project. This came after we participated in the project many years ago. After years of us doing TV shows for our clients, like Discovery Channel, HGTV, History, Court, and Style, we had an itching to set up our own method for original content distribution. So early in 2006, we began planning what is now Factory 515.

Factory 515, as described on our website, is an Internet Television System and Marketplace. What does that mean? Take YouTube, mix it up with Amazon and throw in a little MYSPACE and you're in the right area. Basically, FACTORY 515 is a platform that can:
*power an iTV Network
*play multiple channels of video content
*be a marketplace for your latest product or service
*be a social networking site for you watch, review, discuss just about anything you can think of

48.TV is our first client, or really we think of them as our partners. We partnered with them to bring you thousands of hours of original content in a format we hold dear to us: short-form creative films. We don't want to be another YouTube or Revver. There are plenty out there. We chose to be something different. While we enjoy a clip of a dog skateboarding as much as the next guy, we were looking for content that was made by creative filmmakers in a wide variety of genres in a format ideal for the web. 48 Hour Film Project is perfect for that.

So like I said, this blog will be where we can talk about the product. We love making it and we feel like we are making a unique product with ways to really partner up with our users and give them content they want and soon, ways to make money doing it.

Lots to come. I'll shortly be letting you know about the new version just posted today, as well as talk about some exciting things we have coming.

Please feel free to add some comments. I love to talk about the technology behind our product, which I will begin to do soon. We have done some things really different that I think the techies reading this blog will enjoy hearing about.

Thanks, and I hope you can enjoy 48.TV, powered by Factory 515.

__________________

Bill Davidson
EVP/Application Development
Factory 515, LLC.
8113 Fenton St
Silver Spring, MD 20910

234 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10001

bill@factory515.com
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