Rob Gonda's Blog

Compulsion: clickable hotspots in any video

Check out Compulsion... It allows to create and map hotspots in any Video and make it clickable to anywhere ... Imagine watching a video and clicking on a shirt, chair, location, or anything ... Looks really interesting, I'd love to see the rollout and market penetration ...

Compulsion is a simple, easy to use tool that makes video clickable. The clicks become links that turn the video into an entire interactive universe of your design. You can offer or sell those links for click and shop, gossip, trivia, news, music, more video, or anything you can imagine. Compulsion does not alter the original movie file, and can be used before or after your video is published.
Anyone using this yet?

IIS + Apache, side by side happy together

IIS and Apache running side by side ... why? Well, for me, because I run SVN through Apache in a Windows box. I still like IIS for web sites, especially because I like to keep it similar to my production sites... however, I blogged before about getting multiple SVN repositories working with Apache. I usually switched Apache to listen to an alternate port because IIS binds itself to all port 80 on all IPs, regardless if they are actually being used or not. Good news! I found this Microsoft support document explaining how to unbind IIS from all IPs and include only the ones you want. I know, I actually never even looked for this before, but I have IIS serving my sites and Apache server SVN in the same server, both on port 80. Of course, you can also use this for hosting Trac (easier in Apache than IIS), or even just testing ... By the way, if you don't have the Windows Server CD handy, you can download the Support Tools here.
So, after installing the Support Tools, follow these instructions from the M$ site:

To add an IP address to the IP inclusion list
1.    Click Start, and then click Run.
2.    Type cmd, and then click OK to open a command prompt.
3.    Type the following, where xxx.xxx.x.x is the IP address you want to add:
httpcfg set iplisten -i xxx.xxx.x.x
When this succeeds, Httpcfg returns the following:
HttpSetServiceConfiguration completed with 0

To view additional status codes, see the Httpcfg help.
4.    After the IP address is added, use the following command to list it:
httpcfg query iplisten
Httpcfg returns the following:
IP :xxx.xxx.x.x
5.    From the command prompt, stop the HTTP service and its dependent services. To do this, type the following string at the command prompt:
net stop http /y
6.    From the command prompt, restart the HTTP service and it dependent services. To do this, type the following string at the command prompt:
net start w3svc
Note When you start w3svc, all services that were stopped when HTTP was stopped will start.

Sapient + ichameleon/group/ = more goodness

Sapient Expands Its Interactive Practice With Strategic Group Hire

Group Hire Brings Key Marketing, Development and Design Experts from Award-Winning Independent Interactive Agency iChameleon to Sapient
05/19/2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – May 19, 2008 – Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE) announced today it has expanded its award-winning Interactive business with a strategic group hire that brings cutting-edge marketing, development and design talent to its team.  The company’s decision was driven by the rapidly increasing client demand for Sapient’s unique breadth of interactive marketing services.  The new hires come to Sapient from the highly respected independent interactive agency, iChameleon Group, based in Hollywood, FL.

“We are thrilled to be adding this phenomenally talented and creative group of people to our Interactive team,” said Sapient Chief Creative Officer Gaston Legorburu.  “Client demand is accelerating the need to grow, but it’s absolutely essential that we do so with people who share our passion for revolutionizing the dialog between a brand and its consumers.  These are some of the most sought-after specialists in the industry—and by bringing them into Sapient, we are increasing our ability to continue to deliver rich interactive experiences for our clients.”

The group hire comprises primarily producers, art directors, Flash developers, sound designers and video editors from iChameleon, which is renowned for providing custom interactive development and execution for some of the largest and best recognized brands in the world.

About Sapient
Sapient, a global services firm, operates two groups—Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting—that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace.  Sapient Interactive provides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise.  Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systems design, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such as testing, maintenance and support.

Sapient’s passion for client success—evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovation and solve challenging problems—is the subject of case studies on leadership and organizational behavior used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale.  Leading clients, including BP, Essent Energie, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the company’s unique approach to drive growth and market momentum.  Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sapient operates across North America, Europe and India.  For more information, please visit www.sapient.com.

[source: Sapient PR, May 19, 2008]

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