This is a guest post from KallOut, winner of the BOSS Mashable Challenge. As the grand prize winner of the challenge, KallOut won $2,000 and the chance to elaborate on their product on Mashable. Below is more on KallOut in their words:

KallOut has invented a new way to search using only your mouse. We call this new method “selection-based search” to distinguish it from “browser-based search,” which is how most people search today.

As shown below, KallOut positions mini-windows with online content and search results that float above your selected text to create “new search real estate” over the entire Web and desktop. In this case, the user has selected a phrase in an Outlook e-mail and chosen the Yahoo! KallOut to view Web page search results in the context of the page:

Before KallOut, search had been trapped inside the browser and required typing your search term into the search box of your favorite search engine. After KallOut, search is set free in terms of when a search can be invoked (i.e., over any browser Web page or Windows document), where your search terms are sent (i.e., to a recommended list of best-of-breed search engines and content providers), and how your search results are presented (i.e., in floating information palettes in the context of your existing document). As our tagline says, KallOut offers “Search Outside the Box.”

Yahoo! Search BOSS API

When the Yahoo! Search BOSS API was released, we were excited because our open approach to delivering search results could now be powered by an equally open, world-class search engine with hundreds of man-years of development invested in it. For the small team of engineers at KallOut, this access to an open Search API with super-relevant results and without volume restrictions was critical.

One of the features which makes KallOut great is the BestGuess™ Search system that provides suggestions related to whatever word or phrase you’ve selected. In order to ensure that these recommendations are as relevant as possible, we combine wisdom of crowds input with proprietary categorization algorithms that have been pre-trained for 100+ million search terms. The Yahoo! Search BOSS API helped make this training possible. The actual engineering effort involved for our team, in terms of augmenting our training system with the BOSS API results, was quite straightforward and was accomplished in a matter of days.

What’s Next

We’ve only scratched the surface in terms of how we plan to leverage the Yahoo! Search BOSS API. One feature coming soon will involve publishing our own KallOut API for developers who wish to use KallOut to enhance the functionality of the Microsoft Office Suite of apps, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Adobe Reader, etc.

As part of this KallOut API, it will be possible for us to expose selected aspects of the BOSS API results for whatever text the user has selected. In this way, application developers who want to build specialized KallOuts will have everything they need in one convenient package. If you’re interested in more information on the KallOut API, sign up here or follow us on Twitter.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:KallOutKallOut Wins BOSS Mashable Challenge, Socialmention Wins Runner UpVoting Round for the BOSS Mashable ChallengeFinal Chance to Vote for Your Favorite BOSS Mashable Challenge SubmissionThe BOSS Mashable Challenge

Source:Mashable!

Making screencasts (also known as “video tutorials”) is already easy, and becomes easier with better tools and broadband proliferation. However, no tech is complete without a human who dives in, does experiments, and discerns best practices from the results.

I’ve made over 200 video tutorials, mostly for the virtual world of Second Life, and I’ve also done tutorials for stuff like YouTube and Sony Vegas. If a picture’s a 1,000 words, then a video is… a LOT more.

Through such experience, these are tips ‘n’ tricks I’m sure you’ll find practical and applicable to your further forays into the video fields:

1. Understand audio engineering

No, you don’t need a degree. Yes, you need ears-on experience — there’s just no other way around it. The good news is, by the time you’re well on your way, your screencasts will sound crisper, louder, and overall better.

In the first place, you don’t need an expensive mic. I use a US$30 Plantronics headset and it captures my voice well.

George Lucas was spot on when he reckoned:

“Sound is 50 percent of the moviegoing experience, and I’ve always believed audiences are moved and excited by what they hear in my movies at least as much as by what they see.”

Basic screencast “audio engineering” is a simple matter of running pre-tests and making sure your mic levels aren’t too “hot” — that is to say, they aren’t digitally clipping. Digital distortion is ugly and unwanted, and many people will think you sound amateurish in the worst way.

One significant step up is immersing yourself into the world of audio plugins. Did you know that there are many times more audio plugins than, say, Photoshop plugins? KVR Audio reveals 1,000s.

While most screencasting tools don’t support the likes of VST (Virtual Studio Technology) and AU (Audio Units on the Mac) plugins, quality non-linear editors do. For example, I record my movies with Camtasia Studio, then place the clips into Sony Vegas for audiovisual processing. Vegas is my fave because its heritage is being a multitrack audio recorder, and I’m from an electronic music background.

Even if you don’t have big bucks to shell out, you may be able to enhance your audio (not just dialog, but music and sound effects too) in a free editor like Audacity, which supports VST plugins. But the tighter the integration, the better.

There are all manner of audio plugins which can produce just about any effect you can imagine, from utilitarian fine-tuning to wacky warping, but 4 must-know “cores” are:

1. Noise Gate - Cuts off noise when it’s below a certain level. Good for eliminating hiss when no one’s speaking. Related but more selective is a noise reducer, which takes a “fingerprint” of noise, analyzes it, then does its best to clean up noise from audio signal (e.g., making someone’s voice more distinct if they’re speaking in a windstorm).

2. Reverb - You probably already know what this is, but just in case: obvious reverb can be found in large spaces like cathedrals, as well as smaller ones with strong acoustic reflections like tiled bathrooms. A light dusting of reverb can help smooth out a voice without it being excessively boomy. A creative use of reverb is to fake a space which is cost-prohibitive to actually record in, like the Grand Canyon.

3. Compressor - Not a “ZIP file compressor”, but a dynamic range compressor. Think of a valley and a mountain — there’s huge vertical distance between them! If a compressor was applied, it would make the mountain shorter so there’s less distance. Applied to audio, a compressor smoothes out the “jumpiness” so the sound is more level. Good compression is often said to be transparent and unnoticeable. If you’ve ever listened to the radio or watched TV and wondered how they got the levels to be so balanced, you’ve heard compression in action.

4. Limiter - Often used with a compressor. The difference: a limiter prevents digital clipping. By using a gain control, the overall volume of a recording can be pushed up without exceeding 0 dB (decibels). That means it maximizes loudness! However, use compression and limiting judiciously, or you run the risk of your sounds being too “flat,” as the loudness wars have shown. Also, since a limiter raises the volume, the noise floor becomes louder too — another good reason to use a “combo chain” of effects, ending with the limiter.

Equalization may be a concern — and there are other ways to adjust frequency imbalance like an exciter — but you may find that recording on a good mic from the get-go diminishes your need to adjust this further. Trust your ears!

All the above effects have some free and low-priced plugins, and even lower-cost software like iMovie has audio effects. Spend time downloading demos from KVR Audio. Be brave about experimenting and compare before/after, and your screencasts’ sound will really stand out!

2. Indulge in templates

Maybe this should’ve been #1, but I feel strongly about both: the point’s been made. Especially if you’re creating a regular series, quick access to “common assets” is fundamental for saving time and trouble:

- Create a folder containing needed common assets for your screencast series. This might be begin & end bumper titles, static graphics that recur, and theme music. The point is to have them all in one place.

- Label everything neatly (no cryptic filenames like “TEST_P243.AVI”). Obvious, but I’m shocked how many people don’t do this — and suffer later.

- Make use of your screen recorder and/or video editor’s template features. These go under different names like “profile” or “setting,” but the principle is the same: fast access to your preferred options. If your editing software doesn’t support choosing templates a la Microsoft Word, at the very least, setup a clean file with the basic layout, stash a locked copy in the common assets folder (to prevent accidentally messing up), and copy it to be modified as needed for each video.

- Iterate and efficiencize. As you gain experience, you may wish to — and almost certainly should — revise your template. For example, I discovered some of my template clips were compressed in a disk-hogging format they didn’t need to be, and they were somewhat longer than what was actually being used. I trimmed and re-encoded them with no visual quality loss, and backed up my common assets folder (just in case). Keep pinpointing your problem spots and building on them.

One of the worst surprises is to be retrieving a video project months down the road (maybe you need to update it or include it in a demo reel) and have your video software bark that a file is missing. This is exactly why I make sure to have each project in its own folder, and often, all episodes of a series (if it’s not too disk space-consuming) in a folder. Stray files are sad ones.

3. Focus on using eye candy to enhance learning

Sure, swirling vectors and all manner of playful motion graphics dazzle. But they’re also a dangerous trap for a couple reasons:

1. They may distract from your actual content. I’ve watched too many vidcuts where particle explosions blocked user interface elements and a hard rock soundtrack was cranked up too loud, drowning out the narrator’s speech (another reason to get into audio engineering). As a result, they were impressive. For about 5 seconds before waves of fatigue. And I didn’t benefit at all, opting instead to close the window and move on.

2. They make you look like “everyone else.” I mean that colloquially, so let’s use a parallel example: the many Web 2.0 sites that look like they were designed by one person. Rounded corners, names with missing vowels, starburst callouts, etc. There’s no sin in being influenced by a trend (and adding your own twist) if it helps you approach your goals, but it’s foolish to copy just because others are doing it. Learn from design greats like Machine Molle and Nik Ainley, but find your own unique voice.

Let’s look at a specific instance of eye candy issues: Clearspace Community’s “What’s New in 2.5″ trailer is basically beautiful and well-presented. But, it has too much distraction in the way of superfluous diagonal tilts in a pseudo-3D perspective. I’d argue there are also too many zooms: Ken Burns Effect is one thing, but excess rapid transitions induces headaches. Past the initial hump o’ novelty, they also damage readability, get tiring, and feel cheap. At least the actual “meat” of this video, the tight narration, is healthy.

So if you use eye candy, take stock of what it’s actually contributing. I like Camtasia’s “spotlight” around the cursor because it clarifies your actions. I also like zooming in to key areas of focus. And Mac users have the pleasure of OmniDazzle.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve gone overboard with eye candy: like everyone’s first time with Photoshop lens flares, you’ll overuse it, then rein in the harness as you continue. The most important thing is to learn by doing.

And others can help inspire you…

4. Learn from the best screencasts in the world

This is fun, because “the best” will be subjective. Some of the most popular screencasts on YouTube have 100,000s of views, but with experience, you’ll watch and go, “Hey, they’re missing X” or “They could do Y better.” And that’s where your perception of what’s superlative will shift, and you’ll get better.

(You’ll also want to watch crappy screencasts to understand what makes them not work. Including the first ones you make. I don’t cringe at my initial attempts because they’re stepping stones that led me to the present.)

Without a doubt, some of the most endearing screencasts are earnest human affairs: Mike Beltzner’s raw “Overview of Firefox 3″ is a standout. Sure, he could’ve used noise reduction, but it serves its purpose: communicating the product’s benefits in a clear, occasionally humorous way.

Some of my faves:

Apple’s Quick Tip of the Week - It’s Apple, what do you expect? Clear branding (important to promote yourself), concise presentation, and astute use of zooms and pans.

Russell Brown - The godfather of Photoshop. He wears wild costumes on zany sets in some of his Adobe TV shows, but for the most part, his voice alone is reason enough to listen.

Video CoPilot - Great inspiration of what you can do by contrasting an ordinary presentation style with the subject matter: special effects. Also note how Andrew Kramer’s tutorials are used to promote and create more value for his software products.

ScreenCastsOnline - Don McAllister’s built up a thriving community by doing Mac screencasting for a living. His jovial English accent and polished style are a treat to learn from.

I’ll have future faves I’ve yet to discover, so let me know what yours are!

5. Practice narrating and love your voice

Not everyone has a golden throat like the late Don LaFontaine. But you totally don’t have to — you’ll stand out more if you can literally speak for yourself. And you’ll learn a lot watching others’ screencasts. Also remember audio techniques can boost your presence. (All these steps connect!)

Some screencasters are too shy, and merely put on-screen text subtitles or use text-to-speech. That limits your greatness, because it’s never a substitute for sharing your vox humana.

Still shy? Think about all the comedians with quirky presences (Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, Gilbert Gottfried) who’ve succeeded in a big way. They put their voices out there, and while strange at first, they’ve become a familiar comfort. Same thing with screencasting — give people a chance to get used to you, then become your devoted fans.

Public speaking helps directly too. When I was a kid, I could be timid about talking. You know what made me grow? Sheer, dogged persistence and repetition — not of the mindless kind, but practicing over and over. I’m now widely-acclaimed for my rich bassy tone, awkward pronunciation of some words, and propensity to say “Friendly greetings!”

Oh yeah, while you’re at it, take advantage of a catchphrase.

6. Be codec-smart, context-aware

It pays to record your screencasts in as high-fidelity as possible, but this doesn’t necessarily mean a lossless (no loss of quality, as the name implies) codec. If you’re doing a walkthrough of a video game and there’s lots of full-motion video and rich palettes with millions of colors, lossless codecs tend to choke (capture low frames per second) and generate huge, unnecessary file sizes. Depending on your broadcast medium — is your video headed for a DVD, YouTube, or both? — extra detail may not be necessary, or even relevant.

Good software helps you handle this, but nonetheless, like NBC sez, “the more you know.” I use DivX with Camtasia (installed via the K-Lite Codec Pack) when recording Second Life and games, and switch to TSCC for standard applications with lots of flat areas. I wish it had a 1-keystroke way to toggle between the two, but making those choices means I don’t have to fuss with unnecessary re-encoding later.

Also, the codec you record with may be different than the one you publish with. H.264 is processor-intensive and unsuitable for editing, but it’s a cross-platform-friendly, high-quality publishing option. If you’re planning to upload a video to the Web (more in Step #7), you’ll want to ensure your video is clear enough to survive yet another round of encoding, since almost all established video-sharing sites use Flash video.

Wish I could be more specific here, but there are many variations across different softwares, and no such thing as a single right answer. One easy-to-follow guide (I’ve seen many junk ones which are incomprehensible) to get you started is Vimeo’s Compression Help. I’ve also shared details of my earlier findings. Try different settings, and compare.

Finally, as much as possible, always keep your original project files. It only hurts you to not have them, even if they run into the 100s of gigabytes. Hard drives keep getting cheaper — I saw a 1TB external for US$100 the other day! — so keep checking sites like DealsPlus and dealnews. It’s worth the cost to store your creativity.

7. Continually explore delivery mediums

This is actually true for everything: stay on top of what’s new.

Instead of being abstractly vague, here’s what I mean:

The importance of ongoing tools exploration is especially true when it comes to sharing your work, because the best screencasts include those which substantially benefit many people. It’s not just raw numbers, it’s about spreading the good word, and some video-sharing sites will help you far more than others. For example, YouTube has the broadest viewer base by far (they get me 95% of my views), so if you want “stumble onto” traffic, they’re primo. Alas, their quality doth suck compared to Vimeo. And if you want to upload gaming clips, Vimeo isn’t friendly to those — but there exist communities which are.

Speaking of, I get lessons handed to me weekly. I only recently wrote “Which video-sharing site should you use? A quick conclusion” and recommended WeGame for gaming screencasts.

Less than a month later, my wife tried WeGame and was having problems, so I searched and found out about Xfire. Shocked me that I wasn’t familiar with it earlier (the site claims it has 11.4+ million registered users), since the free Xfire client records the best gaming footage I’ve seen yet, and can easily upload it to the Web. It also saves to disk, so you can edit further if you desire. See my detailed review.

Not knowing about this would’ve hurt me, and I wish I knew about it earlier — but I do now, so I’m encouraging others to give it a spin.

Just about all of these video-sharing sites allow embedded code snippets to be pasted in your blog or other webpage, and should you find it troublesome to collect videos across multiple places, VodPod is a nifty tool to do that. Keep testing new tools and sticking with the ones that work best — but never avert your gaze to what’s forthcoming. Odds are high it’ll be reported on Mashable like we’ve done before, so subscribe.

On the same thoughtline, I haven’t found many dedicated screencaster communities on the Internet, but since we’re all in the business and pleasure of sharing knowledge, those I have interacted with have been helpful. That means I’m here to help too, and if you have questions, ask me in the comments! And if you found this guide enlightening, share knowledge from your own experiences.

Torley loves life, wife, and watermelons. He amplifies your awesome with the useful and fun. You can check out more of his screencasts at Torley.com

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:MyVideoKaraoke - Social Sing Alongs5 Ways To Log Into Several Gmail Accounts At The Same TimeFlying Spaghetti Monster - The Game!timeXchange Updates to Attract New UsersScoble Lands Channel 9 interview with Bill Gates!FotoFlexer: Photo Editing Supreme?Confirmed: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog for $10 Million

Source:Mashable!

Company Name

LifeSnapz

20-word Description

LifeSnapz enables you to collaboratively create and share a record of your life’s events with your family and friends.

CEO’s Pitch

LifeSnapz’s mission is to enable the recording of history using the Web.  The company’s platform is uniquely built to chronicle events (what happened, where, when and who was there) using photos, videos, descriptions and comments contributed by multiple people. 

The events can be viewed and explored in various ways- via timelines, maps, lists – and they can be instantly customized by clicking tags for specific people, places or types of events.  One person creates an event and shares it with many other group members who can view and collaboratively contribute to it, thereby creating rich recollections from multiple perspectives.

Mashable’s Take

Though there are a number of timeline creation services established on the Web, including names like Dipity and AllofMe, LifeSnapz is really geared to collect all sorts of personal media and streamline their chronology for friends and family to enjoy.

On one hand, LifeSnapz allows you to create groups for things that happened in your life and/or the life of someone or several people you know. They can signify vacations, weddings, family outings, seasonal sport memories, fishing expeditions. You name it. Or you can create events right from the get-go.

The differentiation to make between these options, which at the end of the day are really intertwined, but take separate paths to the same goal, is that the route for grouping allows you to very quickly invite people via email (or from an already assembled LifeSnapz group). This gives you the ability to delegate editing power to anyone you wish to have it.

Perhaps you’re collectively working with family members to assemble a particular moment that happened, and you’ve all got various bits of media to share. Well, LifeSnapz makes that possible without complicating things much at all. The steps it takes to gather a group of users together and document events is completely intuitive.

Whether you’re adding photos or videos, whether it is through your own local collection or things found within your Flickr Photo and Video gallery, Picasa Web account, or YouTube or Vimeo archive, the checklist from start to finish in LifeSnapz is something to appreciate. The method of creation isn’t necessarily the most visually elegant, but the editor utility is as easy to work with as any I’ve come across. You can even map an event if you wish, incorporating a sort of trail of media. If you’ve ever been on a cross-country expedition, this is a feature surely worth tapping into.

All said, LifeSnapz is pretty much just as useful as other timeline-making services. Much of what you can do with it can be done with the competition with varying levels of ease. But if you’ve shied away from more veteran alternatives, and you’d like to play with a well-crafted engine that really puts priority on user permissions and takes you from A to Z with plenty of inputs and customization tools, LifeSnapz is as much a sure thing as you’re likely to get today.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

Where will you be during the third annual celebration of One Web Day, set for this Monday September 22, 2008? Devouring all things Internetastic, we presume.

Of course, if we do our job right, every day feels like One Web Day. But if you tend to get extra comfortable with the applications and entertainment you encounter on a routine basis, next week comes your chance to toast the tubes and the dump trucks of data they send your way.

One Web Day, the creation of University of Michigan law professor Susan Crawford, is indeed the official tip-your-hat-to-networking day, a moment first coined in 2006 to recognize our greater-than-ever need for ethernet, Wi-Fi, and the cloudware we all know and love. As Crawford states, “Peoples’ lives now are as dependent on the Internet as they are on the basics like roads, energy supplies and running water. We can no longer take that for granted and we must advocate for the Internet politically, and support its vitality personally.”

So, how to ring in OWD number three? Well, you can do it right there, from your laptop, PC, mobile phone, or other Web-enabled device. You can also take a trip through Silicon Valley. Or Silicon Alley. Or several other hotbeds for digital imagineering and inventioneering.

Or, more specifically, you can stop by:

Washington Square Park in New York City at noon on Monday to see faces like WNBC notable and Columbia University’s Journalism School professor Sree Sreenivasan, Pandora founder Tim Westergren, Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, Craig Newmark of Craiglist, as well as folks from EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), and Susan Crawford herself.

The nation’s capital, Washington D.C., where Net notables will gather with members of Congress to bury a time capsule and talk about our tubes.

San Francisco’s Department of Technology will orchestrate SF Connect, a volunteer project “to bring residents in public housing online with wireless Internet and donated computer equipment with the help of Free the Net and Meraki wireless.”

Chicagoans get treated to a music seminar at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

People in Cincinnati will be able to attend a town meeting of sorts called “The Next President, the Internet and the Disconnected City.” Representatives of the Obama and McCain campaigns will be in attendance, with Public Knowledge co-founder Gigi Sohn speaking for Barack Obama and former FCC Chairman Michael Powell acting as messenger for John McCain.

Jumping eastward across the Atlantic, residents of Oxford, England can get schooled on starting blogs and view a photo exhibit featuring Iranian bloggers.

Londoners get two hints at where to get their OWD fix: Inn 1888 and The Royal Exchange.

In Israel, the Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL) will be conducting three days of open workshops. The ISOC website has the details.

Curious to know if events are being held anyplace else? Just visit the One Web Day Wiki.

Source:Mashable!

There are only so many ways to draw a timeline, as you might suspect. Left to right is generally the way to do it. So one would have to forgive AllofMe for have a very similar likeness to Dipity, a service we reviewed earlier this month, and any others of the same basic design.

No matter, though. AllofMe is a name that has been floating around the Web for a good number of months now, and since we’ve been given 100 invites to the private beta to share with readers (link after the jump), we thought it’d be as good a time as any to let you in on just why this one is worth its salt.

To begin with, users are given the option to access data from their PCs, mobile devices, as well as sites such as YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, and Twitter. The AllofMe demo clip will show a few more, including RSS, MySpace, and Facebook, though those options are not available upon sign-up. It may be the case that, when AllofMe departs from its current private beta mode, this list will grow, but the options available today are decent enough for most people to start filling their timeline with information they wish to spread across a graph weeks, months, years, or decades in span. Why decades? For its own longevity, of course.

The interactive, billboard-like timeline is intriguing and interactive enough to give users ample playtime - at least for those registrants with a good amount of content hosted by various third-party services. (See this Time magazine cover page to see how things might look for you.) Also, the ability to juxtapose your own digital archives with others on AllofMe is somewhat entertaining. History buffs might enjoy this. Or those who simply wish to see how their lives appear laid among moments that matter to others - or even miscellany like the IMDB 500, just to name one example. (The list of featured timelines is extensive.)

Users can tag faces within photos for easy timeline generation whenever the time comes that such a collection is wanted or needed. You can also quickly generate a timeline unique to any specific stream of information, and cycle through manually or in an automated slideshow. Just keep in mind, when first connecting to one service or another, expect to wait about an hour’s time to see any information come through. This is terribly disruptive to the process, as I’m sure you’ll agree, but so it goes.

Want to take a timeline and place it elsewhere on the Web? Export a widget. There are options listed for default view, a old-style television setting, a “time tunnel,” a cork board, and two options to superimpose images either alongside or directly upon a roadway. The last four are inaccessible, unfortunately, with only a “coming soon” label to appease eager eyes. For all intents and purposes, however, the standard presentation is most like the standard timeline, and if you’re one to favor some degree of uniformity, this is presumably what you will use when you do opt to create a widget. Lastly, the full screen view is there for the purpose of, say, showing off a timeline to visitors in your home or to a group of co-workers.

Think you’d like to give AllofMe a spin? The first 100 people to click here can get their media chronologized.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Discount Code for IsraelWebTour, Hosted by Microsoft