<rant>
Peter Norvig discusses the “no hiring manager” philiosophy of Google, which I’ve heard related several times in conversation. “First we decide which candidates are above the hiring threshold, and then we decide what projects they can best contribute to.”

When I’m looking for a job, I’m interested:
1) working with a specific group of awesome people
2) developing and releasing a product that will make a difference
3) working on interesting, innovative tech

There is no way I’m even touching a company that wants to hire me into a pool of candidates that will then be offered specific jobs. I’m sure Google is a great company to work for. I know a lot of people there who are very happy, and not just about the stock options. I just don’t work that way.

And another thing: as a hiring manager, I’ve never hired someone sub-standard just to get a project done. If I’m desperate, I can usually find a contractor who because of their preference or mine would never be a full-time hire. Who wants a sub-standard dork on their *next* project? I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m just saying hire good managers and create an interview process that makes it near impossible to hire the sub-standard.
</rant>

Sharkle, launched in September 2005, is a nice entry into the social video space. The interface is pretty clean, and it does a nice job of keeping you surfing by suggesting related videos. Their Flash video player works well, but is sometimes slow to start.

Highlights from my visit (click on image to see video):

“are you sure clicking this thing will get us online?” (poor image quality, but funny)

The Beaty of Life: a really beautiful hand-drawn animation

Revver shares ad revenue with video creators and affiliates who publish. The videos are transmitted in QuickTime format with an ad embedded at the end. If you click on the ad, it generates revenue. It’s nice that you only see the ad if you watch till the end :)

The first video I watched was Democracy at the Point of a Gun (“SCENE & HEARD: In the red chair!”), which I really liked. I sure hope some of the ad revenue goes back to the artist and not just to the person who filmed and upload it. In any case, I suppose exposure is good. The sound quality was really nice and I love the informal atmosphere of the red chair recording. Just the kind of thing you get with this viral video stuff that is pretty unusual in the mass media.

After browsing around a bit, I found a real cool video of flashlight animation.

How do they do that? Sadly, Revver provides no additional info aside from author, title and keywords. I would love to make a video like this myself… or do the flashlight trails just happen with a regular video camera?