blog.crowdbox.com

Recently I’ve been thinking about a project for annotating web pages and came across some really nice projects that are doing something similar to what I’d like to acheive.  The goal is to add sticky notes and other media on top of a web page in order to collaborate with others.

The most impressive one that I’ve seen so far is:
http://a.nnotate.com - really clean, simple interface, as opposed to:
http://stixy.com/ - seemed a little too cluttered, but on the right path.

One of the goals is to convert a PDF into JPG, PNG image files for display on the web.  A 150 page PDF filled with images can weigh in pretty hefty and that’s a bad thing for collaboration over email.  The agony of waiting for that large file to pass back an forth.

So here’s a solution, that I’ve tested out on windows vista, but need to get it up and running on my linux machine (by the way I did try this out on dreamhost and ran out of memory)

Step 1:
Download the latest version of imagemagick: just install.

Step 2:
Get a copy of gswin32c.exe , ghostscript for windows

Step 3:
create a PHP script, or you can even run this from the command line, luckily imagemagick and ghostscript will update your PATH for you so no need for long pathname to the binaries.

<?php
$file = “foo”;
exec(”convert -verbose -density 600×600 -resize 800×800 -quality 90 {$file}.pdf {$file}.png”);

That’s it!  You’ve now created PNG files from your PDF.

I’ve recently worked on a project called leedcourses.com, a place for building a construction professionals to get the educational and training materials critical to their success on passing the LEED NC v2.2 accreditation exam.  Due to time constraints, we ended up using a flex-based product for the video delivery.  At crowdbox, we’re already a percentage of the way through developing a similar product, but with way cooler features on both the front and back-end.  The admin system for leedcourses.com is also a subset, given that we did not need all the features of the current crowdbox offering for this deliverable.  After this experience, I see this subset of feature turning into a new product of its own, stay tuned…

Please note that leedcourses.com is let by Phoenix’s one and only Mick Dalrymple, owner of AKA Green, a regional leader in sustainable building education.

Finally, the Scottsdale CVB going green seminar series is online using the beta crowdbox player!  Hooray.  Since all the expensive gear was out of the office, I used my handheld cannon and shot the whole thing from the back of the room.  This is a great series about being environmentally conscious in Arizona, plus learning about all the local incentives for recycling, using alternative energy, and a lot of basics on the tools a products that can take your business to the next level.

Presenters include:

• Anne Reichman from Earth 911
• Andrea Chalmers from APS Solutions For Business
• Christina Klein from Scottsdale Water Conservation
• Mick Dalrymple the founder of AKA Green - think a green version of Home Depot

You can see all the presentations at the Scottsdale CVB Going Green website.

Tonight was my first time attending one of the stealthmode partners presentation dinners. There were 3 presenters this evening and their 10 minute pitches were extremely tight, well prepared, and uber professional.  I was impressed by the poignant delivery and that their slides had all the “right” answers.  Phillip Blackerby won some praise from the presenters for his coaching efforts on their behalf.  I hope they all get the investments they’re seeking.   The 3 companies were:

• Ashesi - Ghana based call center.  Steve, the presenter, was rock solid.  Great presentation, gave all the right answers, and showed a very compelling analysis of succesful competitor exits.  He really nailed the unique contrarian opportunity of getting a foothold in the African market as opposed to the saturated call center destinations in India and the Phillipines.
• Yo it’s me! - pre-paid debit cards
• EDLab - a renewable energy company that retrofits standard combustible engines with electric tran motors.  Presented by Nicholas Funke. 

Also met some great people from Fruitkin Law, AZCPA, GPEC, and a very interesting Justin Crossman from Fivetwenty and Delirious Visions who actually saw me present crowdbox at the refresh phoenix demo night… small world.

In a previous post I mentioned that crowdbox would be featured on AZ Family, Channel 3 news. Well, it wasn’t much of a “feature” but I did get my mug on TV - a first for me. Granted it was literally for 2 seconds. Unfortunately, there was no mention of crowdbox or a mention of the website or the blog.

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Yesterday we were invited down to the AZ Channel 3 studios for an interview to talk about crowdbox for a segment on Phoenix based entrepreneurs that will air tonight on the 10PM news (Feb 26, 2008).

The people being interviewed all entered a contest sponsored by the Lucky Napkin, whose partners are all located in Phoenix. There were 5 business reviewed for tonights story, each took about 15-20 minutes to record and the segment that will air is supposed to only last 2 minutes. So I’m not sure how they will manage that.

We spoke to the other entrepreneurs in the lobby of the Channel 3 building, but most were fairly tight-lipped about their projects. Chance gushed on about crowdbox and connected with Michael LaPorte from VBN.tv who will most likely be featured in tonight’s segment.

Interestingly, they recorded the piece in the Channel 3 employee fitness center, and there we actually people working out while we were taping! We’ll see how it came out tonight and we hope that we’ll make an appearance.

I’ve recently started following the crowd at the MiForum google group. It’s moderated by Joan L. Eisenstodt, who is doing an amazing job because the list now has over 22,000 messages and probably adds over 100 posts a day! I have the forum hooked into my google reader application so that I can keep tabs on the community as it grows and keep track of what people are saying. Being in technology, I’m more interesting in learning about the technology needs of the people in the Meetings and Conference planning industries.

Just a footnote, but I believe that MiForum is an offshoot of the mimegasite.com website.

So this was our first trade show. Although we’ve being doing demos and presenting in front of several groups, this was it. And actually a first for me. I’ve been to tradeshows before, but mainly as an attendee.

I think we were able to keep the table looking fairly professional with our signage and with our giveaways. We also had a 32″ LCD on the table to grab some attention.

The tradeshow was fairly laid back. There were about 200 attendees overall and we met quite a few folks there.