Will Speaking

Hamid on the Welcome Screen?      OK, so I've worked here for many years and never made it on the AOL Welcome Screen or AOL.COM Welcome Screen.     Hamid did though!    On the day of the launch of AOL Pictures.  How fun is that?          All Hands Video Fun  Some outakes from All Hands Video.   I tried to get creative with a video for the all hands this week,  but didn't give myself any time to get it edited.  Here's what the video looks like.   And finally... No Brand Changes. Since 1885.   Time seems to speed by - especially  internet time. Companies come and go, brands change... So, how about this company from the UK?  "Lyles has been named as Britain's oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since 1885."  Imagine that... since 1885 and no major changes to the brand and logo.  Where have t...

 The Pictures team launched a brand new version of AOL Pictures this morning - for US, UK, Germany, France and Latino .     This version includes great new public gallery, commenting, and tagging.   Explore away at http://pictures.aol.com/   The photos for the new pictures welcome screen are from the team themselves... Taken by individuals on the team - what is cooler than that. They are stunning!            

Check out Employee Central for a great write up on the SLM and Journals team . http://ec.aol.com/news_info/articles/community/slm.shtml

We have a bunch of open positions for Full Time Headcount in AOL Mountain View - and I need your help!        DHTML Engineers Java Server Engineers Product Management Project Management QA Engineers We are actively recruiting for these positions.  Our recruiter Monica Davis is very busy!   Resumes are coming in,  interviewing is happening. But... I still need good referrals from you, to help fill these positions.   Some of our best hires have been from people you recommend.   We have a good referral bonus in place.   Email myself ( williammorris@aol.com ) and Monica ( monicadavis11@aol.com ) with details....  

Return of the PI Our great project infusion team members returned to Irvine and Mountain View, after six weeks at our headquarters..   Please support and welcome them all back! Websuite : Supporting Personal Domains / eAddress If you haven't got a personal domain, get one now!  Free...   The web suite team released the latest version last week that supports Personal Domains, as well as other bug fixes...  Way to go team!  Great work from the team on this! Pictures Beta An update to AOL Pictures public beta was made last week... It's looking good.... Check out the new public gallery , commenting and tagging features.   A British version and German version are also in beta.  I love the British version, it rocks.   AOL Pictures Widget Widgetbox.com has created two AOL Pictures widgets.... check these out!   Using the AOL Pictures API, you can embed these widgets in blogger, typepad, and other web pages.   ...

As I browsed "UncutVideo" today,  this one seems to set the mood.

AOL was honored as one of the top ten Silicon Valley companies in employee cash donations and over 100 backpacks to the Backpack Drive at the Back to School Awards Luncheon, on August 30, 2006 , attended by Patricia Mahan, Santa Clara Mayor.     Thankyou to everyone who contributed !   It all started with the simple intention of one man who, “wanted to do the right thing.” Discussions over what to do with a cash honorarium awarded to the SLM Team for excellence by AOL Products and Technology had been brewing for a few weeks when, at the SLM Team’s staff meeting Chak Nanga, Development Technology Manager, proposed donating a large portion of the award to the AOL Backpack Drive. Immediately the entire SLM Team got behind the idea to support the Drive; which provides backpacks and school supplies to low income school children in San Francisco Bay Area.   Namita Khurana, QA Tech Manager for SLM , explained, “The Team won the AOL Products and Tec...

We have lots of products in beta or getting close to launch!   AIMPages is coming along nicely, as the team builds out the platform.... today I learnt that the omniture metrics show people return to the pages at least once or twice a day -- pretty sticky! AOL Pictures Public Gallery is going well, as it focuses on bringing photo's for everyone to comment on and view. That photo above is from the public gallery. Click on it, and you can add a comment or look at others.  UnCut Video Beta 4 has a cool mobile / email submission.  It works well - I've uploaded a few videos. The host side will transcode the video into flash... Really good "on the go" to capture those crazy moments and share. and AIM Triton has got faster!  I've been using it all this week. Seems much more stable and LOGIN is much, much faster. These are just summary.... check out http://beta.aol.com for more!  

As I was watching the Ellen Show, she said " goto my aim page and check out more videos "....  How about that for some cross promotion! On the page, you'll see a "Life List" -- things to do in your life.  Plus some links to AOL Pictures photos of Ellen.... interesting !

When I hear the term "mashups"  I often recall a very funny product from the UK named "Smash".    This is basically mash potato in a packet -- just add water!   But the adverts (or commercials as we say in the US) were always fun.....   Who can think of a better mashup than this?     Tags: aol silicon valley , mashup