Birthday alarms and reminders have been taken a step further with Kaltura's new Facebook app, the clunky-sounding Friends' Video Cards. It's a cool, fun way to fill an e-card with video and photo content and get mutual friends in on the deal.
I test drove Friends' Video Cards with a greeting for my friend Erin, whose birthday it just happens to be today. Creating the card is cake--the Friends' Video Cards app conveniently pulls your friends' upcoming events or lets you name your own occasion. You just add a title and invite mutual friends, if you want, to participate.
The app lets you upload a video, photo, or drawing. You can create a text slide in the app, or film a video if you've got a camera plugged in. I uploaded a fun alien "Happy Birthday" serenade and jotted down a text slide. It took me a minute to find a compatible video; Friends' Video Cards says it accepts video with FLV, MOV, and WMV extensions, though I made an M4V file type work too, on its own and by renaming the extension.
You can splash out by adding a volume-adjustable soundtrack and can use Kaltura's online editing Web app, which opens in a new tab, to split or trim a clip before sending it on its way.
Thumbs up for a breezy, interactive way to send content. The next step is to integrate a birthday notification feature with the app. The only downside to Friends' Video Cards is Kaltura's aggressive marketing. I was nagged twice to share the app with all my friends, and larger-than-average notices showed up in my minifeed each time I started and sent a new card.
