G-Snap! Blog

Flickr & Yrog Integration

January 11, 2010

While you were hopefully enjoying a nice weekend, we rolled out a new feature we wanted to make you aware of. In addition to Twitpic images now auto-rendering in the live stream, we now support yfrog and Flickr! We hope this will encourage you to continue to use your favorite services while you’re on G-Snap!. Here’s a snapshot of what the integration looks like:

How does this work? Well, it’s quite easy? Grab the “link url” from yfrog or a standard Flickr photo page URL, and drop it into the live stream. After a few magical seconds, the link you pasted will auto-render into what you see above. It’s really easy. By the way, if these URLs come in as a result of a Tweet that you import, the photos will also auto-render. Neat, huh?

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, it is now possible to sign in to G-Snap! with your Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo! IDs. With these services, we bring in your profile picture for you as your G-Snap! avatar (or you can choose to use your G-Snap! photo) as well as a few other features that will be coming out soon. As always, we’re building this product and these features for you so if there’s something you’d like to see us build in, please let us know. Your influence is a critical part of keeping this service what it is!

Next up for G-Snap! (other than raising our next round of funding) is a really exciting supersized feature/design update. If you’re interested in being a part of the preview group, let us know.

Thanks everyone…

-The G-Snap! Team
http://gsnap.com

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Great blog post by one of our users…

December 4, 2009

Feel free to stroll on over to George Drapeau’s blog to see what he has to say about G-Snap!. And if you’d like, you can join his Snapcast of the Pac-10 championship blogged live right here on G-Snap! (http://gsnap.com/rich/1011).

The G-Snap! Team
http://gsnap.com

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A Chat with Robert Scoble on all things G-Snap!

December 2, 2009

Thanks Robert, I had a great time taking you through our service. We’re all looking forward to your Le Web Day One Snapcast (to access, go to http://gsnap.com/scobleizer and select the LeWeb Snapcast to RSVP).

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Faster than a speeding…Snapcast?

November 19, 2009

As some of you might have noticed, things are a little zippier on G-Snap! lately. We’ve been so busy building new stuff that every once in a while, we stop to take stock to see how all the parts are running under the hood. For most, nothing will change…but for some, you’ll notice the experience on gsnap.com is substantially faster, especially when first loading a Snapcast.

Oh, we also improved our Facebook and Twitter share features. The Snapcast title and the URL now come along for the ride. Give them a try!

That’s it for now…

-The G-Snap! Team

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Major Feature Update: Sports Goodies and More!

November 6, 2009

Sports fans, listen up! We’ve just completed our latest round of feature enhancements and we’re ready to share the good news. Here’s the breakdown:

Enhanced Scoreboard for Sports Snapcasts

1. Improved Game Clock:

There are many things that could be said about how big of a leap our game clock technology has taken with this release. Rather than describe the specific details, let’s just say we’re excited by how it works now. One thing you might notice immediately is that we took away the slider bar (unfortunately, there were too many complications with it) but we think the new found simplicity will be exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s always amazing to us how our most complicated features can appear so simple.

2. Scoreboard Options:

Running sports related Snapcasts don’t always have to be about “the game”…it could easily be about a “live chat” during a draft. When this is the case, it’s now possible to hide the Scoreboard and simply have a basketball chat by selecting “Hide Scoreboard” in the Scoreboard Options menu.

For those of you actually reporting a game, another new feature we’ve introduced is to give you control over whether or not you want to manage the game clock. If you’d rather not, selecting the options menu and hiding the game clock removes the game clock from your Snapcast.

3. G-Snap! Game Actions:

Starting with Football, we’re introducing G-Snap! Game Actions. G-Snap! Game Actions enable you to quickly indicate what’s happening in your game with the click of a mouse. Starting with Football, it’s easy to manage who has possession of the ball (clearly indicated by a football icon in the scoreboard). You can also specify if there’s a penalty on the field by selecting the penalty icon. Selecting either of these, also puts in a quick Snapshot update to reflect the fact there’s a big change in the game. More Game Actions are on their way (for football and other sports) but we’re going to leave the definition of those to you! That’s right, if there are Game Actions you’d like to see for your particular sport, send us an email via http://gsnap.com/contact.html and let us know!

4. Improved Scoreboard Counters:

As a core component of our Scoreboard module, the ability to track the game score was always one of our favorite features. While it may look the same, trust us, a lot of work has gone into make sure these counters run smoother and faster.

We hope these various configuration options will help you customize your Snapcast to better suit your individual Snapcasting needs!

Game Stats Module

As one of the most requested features, we are happy to introduce a module for tracking customized game statistics. The G-Snap! Game Stats Module allows you to track up to 10 different game stats. Just plug them in and click apply. Don’t want to track stats? Simply “hide” the Game Stats module via the Scoreboard Options. By the way, this feature is available to your viewers only when they are viewing the Snapcast from G-Snap!. Down the road, it’ll be available in the embedded Snapcast. Thanks for requesting the feature, we hope you enjoy it!

RSS Feeds

Access to who is doing what on G-Snap! just got one step easier. With our new RSS feature, you can now subscribe a feed of our “Featured Snapcasts” module (on the homepage) or a feed of any G-Snap! user and the public Snapcasts they’ve created (via their profile). This is a great way to staying plugged in to what’s happening on G-Snap! via your favorite RSS reader/tool (such as My Yahoo! or iGoogle).

RSVP from an Embedded Snapcast

This has been available on our web interface for a little while but today we’ve made this feature available on our embedded Snapcasts. RSVP’ing is a great feature for reminding your viewers that your Snapcast hasn’t started quite yet. If your readers decide to RSVP, G-Snap! will send them an alert just before things get underway. So don’t forget…if your Snapcast starts “in the future”, make sure to select that when you’re creating your Snapcast. Oh, and if it’s created for the future, the room is still open and people can come in and read/chat as usual.

Twitpic

As a nice little extra, TwitPic URLs now automatically render an image preview (instead of just a link). Selecting the image preview will take you to the TwitPic site (in a different browser tab of course).

Well, that’s the news for today. There was a lot of additional work and bug fixes under the hood but let’s leave it at this…. We love sports and we know you do too. We hope you enjoy the new goodies and trust that you’ll put them to good use. As always, please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or additional features you’d like us to build.

Thanks everyone!

-The G-Snap! Team

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A couple new features…

September 28, 2009

Hello folks…

Just a quick note to let you know we’ve added two features today. The first is a new option for when you’re creating a Snapcast. Now, it’s possible to choose whether or not you want to notify your followers of a new Snapcast you’ve created. FYI, followers will still “see” the Snapcast in their Snapcast Activity module but this option gives you the choice of not sending an email notification.

Secondly, we added a module on your Profile that lists some of the top Snapcasters on G-SNAP!. We’re hoping this will help you on your way to finding new people with whom you can connect. If you’d like to be featured in this list, let us know!

Thanks all…

-The G-SNAP! Team

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Just Launched: G-SNAP! Profiles

September 25, 2009

Well, we told you something big was coming, and here it is. We are proud to announce the general availability of new G-SNAP! Profiles, bringing the G-SNAP! community a little closer together. Before we talk about the why, here’s a snapshot of the what.

G-SNAP! Profiles
The new G-SNAP! Profile system gives you the chance to share a little about yourself. You name, your gender, location, favorite URL, a quick “about me”, as well as an interests section. If there’s something you don’t feel comfortable including, well just don’t include it! See how easy that was?

Follow Other G-SNAP! Users
“Follow” G-SNAP! users and stay in the know about their new Snapcasts! That’s right, from either a Snapcast or from their profile, it’s now super easy to learn more about users on G-SNAP! and receive alerts when they create a new Snapcast!

View Your Fans and Those You’re Following
See an entire list of your fans and people you’re following. Unfollow users, block trouble makers or go to someone else’s profile to find others your might be interested in following!

Snapcast Activity Module
This one we’re really excited about. The Snapcast Activity module is a mashup of Snapcasts you’ve created as well as those the people you’re following have created. Or, if you go to someone else’s profile, you also will see an option for Snapcasts they plan on attending giving you the chance to RSVP as well. Of course, we provide you nice filtering options if you want a specific view.

Easy G-SNAP! Profile URLs
It’s finally easy to share a G-SNAP! link with our new and friendly G-SNAP! Profile URLs. This is a great tool for announcing on Twitter or Facebook to let folks know of your upcoming Snapcast. You could say something like, “Join my LIVE Snapcast at http://gsnap.com/rich” or “RSVP for my live game coverage of Texas A&M’s next home game @ http://gsnap.com/rich”. No longer do you need to worry about the “Snapcast ID”! Yay!

Follow Users Directly From a Snapcast
Easy access to following other G-SNAP! users was a critical design requirement as we were building this new feature. Simply follow anyone as their comments come in by hovering over their avatar! You can also access their profile from there!

Blocking
This is one of those features we wish we didn’t have to build but we had to. There are always those out there, no matter how much we hate it, that enjoy ruining a Snapcast. Well, it’s now possible to block an offensive user if they’re following you. This prevents them from seeing your Snapcasts in their Snapcast Activity module lessening the chance that they will attend. With that said, use this powerful feature carefully as blocking is permanent.

Improved Notifications
When you follow a G-SNAP! user, you now receive Snapcast alerts whenever they create a new Snapcast. Or, if you RSVP for a Snapcast, you also receive an email reminder 15 minutes before it starts. In addition, by signing up on your notifications page (when you edit your profile), you can receive RSVP alerts via SMS on your mobile minutes before your Snapcast is about to start. This is a handy tool if you’re on the go! Of course, a notifications system would not be complete without the ability to unsubscribe to any of these notifications.

Now onto the why…as in, why did we build this. Maybe an example will help. Remember that great Snapcast a few weeks ago you were in? You were tuning in to a high school football game and realized the Snapcaster really did a great job of covering the game. Maybe they even really liked your witty commentary. Well, when the game was over, everyone went their own way…with no way to reconnect to talk about your common passion. I know, I know…sounds like a movie script. But with the new G-SNAP! Profile system, you can “follow” each other so that the next time a Snapcast is created, you’re in the know and you can RSVP for a reminder to join!

Bottom line, we hope this helps you guys grow your audiences, engage even more with your viewers/readers, and more importantly we hope this is something that enhances your overall experience on G-SNAP!.

Ready to Start?
Simply go to http://gsnap.com. If you’re logged in, select the My Profile link in the header and enjoy your new public profile (or log in and you’ll be taken there as well). This is your profile…customize, fan other users, RSVP for their Snapcasts, and more!

-The G-SNAP! Team

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Press Release: G-SNAP! Snapcasting Technology Powers KRGV NEWSCHANNEL5 Sports Trackers

September 2, 2009

G-SNAP! announced today that KRGV NEWSCHANNEL 5, the Rio Grande Valley’s premier news channel, is using G-SNAP!’s patent pending Snapcasting technology to empower a new era of citizen journalism with the launch of KRGV’s Sports Trackers.

Livermore, CA (PRWEB) September 2, 2009 — G-SNAP! announced today that KRGV NEWSCHANNEL 5, the Rio Grande Valley’s premier news channel, is using G-SNAP!’s patent pending Snapcasting technology to empower a new era of citizen journalism with the launch of KRGV’s Sports Trackers.

G-SNAP!: On Demand
Social Communities

Snapcasts are a new outlet for community coverage offering an engaging destination to viewers wanting real time event updates as well as event photos, videos, Microsoft Office files, PDFs, etc – all via a simple yet intuitive user interface. Snapcasts are archived, searchable, embeddable into any website, and accessible from any desktop computer or mobile device.

“With the launch of our Sports Trackers program, we’re enabling our viewers to follow live local coverage of high school football on their computers and mobile devices,” says John Kittleman, General Manager of KRGV NEWSCHANNEL 5. “G-SNAP!’s Snapcasting technology is going to allow us to create a new way to reach football fans around the Valley – all on KRGV.com. With G-SNAP!’s help, anyone can catch the action live even if you can’t be at the game.”

“KRGV NEWSCHANNEL 5 is a thought leader in their category,” says Ramsey Ksar, Senior Director of G-SNAP!. “We’re proud to be working with KRGV as they move them into a new era of journalism by providing live coverage of local sports. With G-SNAP!, whether you are hosting a live sporting event, a concert, a corporate meeting, or something similar, Snapcasting is the best solution today for creating on demand social communities for your live event.”

With the launch of our Sports Trackers program, we’re enabling our viewers to follow live local coverage of high school football on their computers and mobile devices

To signup to be a part of KRGV’s Sports Tracker team, email joel(at)krgv(dot)com.

About G-SNAP!
Founded in 2007, G-SNAP!’s mission is to transform how the world broadcasts and attends live events. From concerts to sporting events to new tools for traditional media, G-SNAP! can be used anytime, anywhere and from any device to create on demand social communities to relay real-time event information. For more information, visit www.gsnap.com.

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New Features! Twitter, Themeing, and more!

August 7, 2009

Hey folks, we have a couple of new features to tell you about! It has been a busy few months working on our new beta but while taking care of that, we’ve slipped a few new goodies in there for ya. Here they are:

1. Twitter integration: It’s easy now for a Snapcaster to add up to 5 Twitter accounts to your Snapcast! That means anytime any of those accounts tweet, the tweets are auto-inserted into your Snapcast! You can also search Twitter and add an individual tweet (this is great for hashtags!).

2. Upgraded Themes: you can now have a saved theme to apply whenever you’d like or set it up so that when you create a new Snapcast, voila, it has your saved them auto-applied! We’ve also made it easy to create a one-off theme for a specific Snapcast (accessible via Snapcast settings page). These are your Snapcasts and we want to give you all the flexibility that you need.

3. Easier sharing: Look at the bottom of any Snapcast and you’ll now see Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, and Yahoo! Buzz buttons. Simply select one and it’ll take you to that service to post the URL of the Snapcast! Go ahead, share away!

4. For you tech heads out there, we also recently switched our hosting provider. This was a massive undertaking but we’re glad we did. It’ll give us a lot more flexibility as our product grows. By the way, if you have a Snapcast coming up and you’re expecting a large audience – let us know!

That’s it for now…we hope you like what we’ve been up to. More changes coming VERY soon.

Happy Snapcasting!

-The G-SNAP! Team

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