Slideshare is a rather popular 2.0 service which somehow manages to not attract a lot of attention. It’s a sort of under the radar service that everybody uses, but nobody hypes it. Maybe it’s because of the somewhat dull design or the fact that the founders don’t trash parties in the Valley (Oh wait, they do! See pic).
SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha and undersigned at Web 2.0 Expo SF party
Anyhow, the service does have a large following – for instance, 1113 people have subscribed to their corporate blog. Moreover, everybody who wants to share a presentation online seems to embed it on Slideshare. That’s probably the reason why they raised $3 million in May this year.
So let’s give these folks some well-deserved attention. They’ve just released a new “more professional, clean, clutter-free” design. Part of the change is a focus on navigating the site. There’s a more visible search option, the categories are right in your face and the menu at the top is larger.
But most importantly, Slideshare has dropped the “beta”. Yes, the service has matured and isn’t in some informal test phase anymore. Under the radar, but oh so successful.
According to Fast Company these are the most influential women in Web 2.0. From left to right: Leah Culver (Pownce), Rashmi Sinha (Slideshare), Dina Kaplin (blip.tv), Marissa Mayer (Google), Cyan Banister (Zivity), Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins, and Elisa Camahort Page (BlogHer), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Gina Bianchini (Ning), Kaliya Hamlin (OpenID), Mena Trott (Six Apart) and Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post).
The article is definitely worth reading and explains “What she’s done”, “How she got there” and “What to learn from her” for every woman on the list. It is hard to measure influence of course but there is no doubt these are the 13 most ‘famous’ female online entrepreneurs.
Who do you think is worth their title most? Who is REALLY the most influential? Let us know:
VIDDIX, which started as a study project and launched in February this year, can be best described as a combination between YouTube and Slideshare. The video is playing at a panel on the left, while different web content – such as slides, pictures, YouTube videos, HTML and Flash embeds – shows up in a so-called iPanel at the right.
DCIF’s financial injection in VIDDIX is bigger than the fund regularly gives. Gert-Jan Bennen, fund manager, said in the release: “We’re investing in VIDDIX because its tool is a valueable contribution to existing webvideo services (..). We foresee a good role for this tool in the future of online video.” The Dutch fund normally invests between €20.000 and €40.000, says their website.
Example of VIDDIX video featuring my co-editor Boris
VIDDIX CEO Sébastien Willems is particularly excited about the network of DCIF. He told Emerce that his company is already negotiating with Holland’s largest Internet publisher, Ilse Media. VIDDIX is also working with onine shopping giant Bol.com, the results of which we will see at the end of this year.
In the comments on my review of VIDDIX, Edo van Santen en “1234gybotf” raised questions about VIDDIX’s business model. Turns out that the video company is aiming at a B2B approach, while offering the service for free to normal users. Sounds like a solid plan to me.
Google has acquired Omnisio, a service that allows users to annonate video’s and mash-up videos. Omnisio was founded by three Australians about six months ago. Youtube had its own “remixing” feature before, but had been abandoned ever since. Google announced that the Omnisio team will join Youtube, to integrate the technology in a attempt to make Youtube more interactive.
Another cool feature that the service might bring to Youtube is the ability to synchronize Slideshare presentations. Users where also able to import videos from Youtube, Google video and Blip.tv.
Omnisio is a Y Combinator company, a investor in early stage ideas. They also successfully sold Reddit. TeaxtPayme and Anywhere.FM. Nobody mentioned any numbers about the Youtube deal, but Techcrunch heard whispers of a deal in the $15 (€10) million range.
Most functions on the Omnisio page have been disabled, with a notification that refers to the Youtube page.
Viddix also aimes at the same market by offering the possibility to show presentation slides next to video’s.
Video service VIDDIX – launched in beta today – found a great way to enrich your online video experience. They allow you to add web content to video, since it consists of two panels. The video is playing at the left, while different web content – such as slides, pictures, YouTube videos, HTML and Flash embeds – shows up in the so-called iPanel at the right. So imagine you interviewed Boris about the Next Web conference, it would look something like this:
The guys from VIDDIX came up with their idea during their study Digital Communications. They graduated on VIDDIX and founded the company Invisios to bring their baby to the market. I hardly see any reasons why their project isn’t gonna be a huge hit. I mean, where YouTube and Slideshare end, VIDDIX is just about to get started. On top of that, the service will probably be really viral, since a lot of bloggers might be tempted to use VIDDIX for screencasts and presentations.
Although they might have to improve their embed function. Since the current one doesn’t bring over VIDDIX’s main advantage, namely the web content. I guess it has something to do with the thing in right bottom corner, yet I can’t figure out. Other from that, I foresee a bright future for VIDDIX.
Written on 22nd November 2008
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