So, if I understand this correctly, I could start uploading a 2GB file, and, while it is still uploading, my recipient could start downloading it, even before the upload has finished?
On this note, I love the concept and the simple design but with all of that open real estate on the homepage you might consider one short explanatory blurb to greet visitors and pull them right in.
I agree, however we would like not to get users confused that Stremfile.com is yet another web 2.0 app with large headlines etc. We want it to breathe backend and be very minimalistic. I mean look at Google.com?
Agreed regarding a video. It's a nice addition to have on an About or Tour page but never rely on a video to be the piece of content that tells potential users who you are and what you do.
You guys have a terrific and unique service offering - one or two well-placed sentences (and perhaps a more link) will work wonders...
In my opinion no explanation should be necessary on the homepage. I went straight to the navigation bar to find an explanation but was tripped up a bit because "How it Works" is the third link on the bar and not the first.
You probably get blocked until your browser times out. Then the question is if your browser can resume (tools like wget can easily resume, for example).
Haven't seen this idea before, and I really dig it.
There are a lot of times where I want to transfer something over Adium, but the connection between the parties can't be established. I always was frustrated by the asynchronous workaround of uploading the file, waiting for its completion, and then distributing the url, so your site will come in handy for me. I also like the https option.
Right now the site is running a bit sluggish, hopefully you guys can remedy that shortly.
Streamfile is thought to work as a service aimed to enterprise environment where bittorent clients and ports are blocked on most client computers & networks. I agree that the streaming progress can be presented in a better way, we are working on this as we speak.
Man, I tried this a bunch of times and it never sent any email and just stared at me pretty blankly.
Until I realized the problem is that your site doesn't except "+" characters in emails and then fails silently entirely, leaving me the expectation that it might be waiting for me.
Anyway, please change the site to something that allows + signs in email addresses so I can try this out that way. Thanks in advance!
You should also fix it such that it doesn't ever fail blankly without any feedback to the user of the problem.
i was the poster of that question and this service and using a complicated name on limewire were the two options i could come up with for my non-IT friends (and even then limewire was 10 steps too far). well done.
This is a very useful service, kimovski, and I wish you the best of luck with selling it.
I still think you should implement my suggestion of: a) having a splash screen explaining that the file isn't finished yet for recipients or b) sending all files with a content-type to make the browser download instead of trying to play media files.
1) No explanation of what you're doing. Minimalism is good, being completely text-free not so much.
2) Entering an invalid email address, I get something that looks like a mangled smartquote (opera on ubuntu): 'Email address Recipient’s email(s) is not valid.'
Great idea. Most likely recipients of a streamfile dont know what a "stream" as opposed to a "file" so in the recipients email, the subj shouldnt be "you have a new stream..." it should be "You have a file...". This will help minimize users passing it over as spam.
Cool idea... I understood instantly what it does ... and I think most of your audience will too... the term "streaming" has become pretty ubiquitous.
How do you plan to monetize?
The plan is soon to launch an API where you pay a monthly fee to integrate streamfile functionality into your own site/domain. Plus we will charge for the regular service, that are currently for free until the 31st of August.
I love the idea (I use eatlime on a very regular basis). Unfortunately, eatlime is faster for me. I'll give you major points for a super clean interface.
I don't believe eatlime have any "streaming" functionality such as starting the DL before the uploader is finished? They may be fast now, but can their platform scale?
This seems a bit simpler, especially if you don't already have a BitTorrent client. But perhaps Streamfile could be a frontend to a simplified BitTorrent tracker.
I don't know the details of how the BitTorrent protocol works, could it start seeding a partially uploaded file, or does it require knowledge of the entire file before seeding can begin?
Yes you start seeding, without uploading a single bit. People connect to your public/private tracker, and start downloading the data from you and from other downloaders who have already downloaded very small chunks of the file.
But you're right this solution is a bit simpler for the average user.
The site may appear slow to north american visitors due to the fact that all servers are located in Sweden, Nothern Europe (this is why we also can afford the bandwith at the moment).
Plans are soon to add server nodes in U.S, Middle East and Hong Kong.
Good question. I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with that Sweden has one of the highest penetration of fiber optic networks due to government subsidization starting early 90-ties.
You may disagree, but It's my opinion that flash should only be used when absolutely necessary.
Great idea, though. Great domain and great design.