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Wow.

vzaar’s been live for a year. Well actually it’s been live for a year and and week. Our real birthday was on the 4th. But we didn’t celebrate it, because we’ve all been hard at work. Like crazy hard.

If you’ve seen the home page, you’ll know we’re doing a big server move and upgrade on Monday. This should make uploading quicker and faster and the whole platform much more robust. It should also make it quicker and easier for us to deploy more changes and bring some really exciting functionality to you.

A lot has changed in a year:

• Last year our team was just 2.
• This year it’s 7.

• Last year we had 50 eBay listings with video embedded in them.
• Last week we had 10,000.

• Last year we had had 259 videos watched.
• Now we have had over 1 million.

It’s been an exciting year. I’ve learnt loads. We’ve discovered a lot about what video is doing online and how to help sellers use it best.

We’ve also picked up some great sellers. We all have a soft spot for different sellers in the office. We’ve noticed some products being really popular which we never would have guessed. Diamonds and jewellery have been a great hit. So have antique clocks. and even disco lasers. (that’s something old, something new, something we can’t borrow and nothing blue)

I’d just like to say it’s been a fantastic year, and I can’t wait to see what more we can do with vzaar. I’d also like to thank the great team we have here for making this all happen, and stopping me from my more crazy ideas.

Emma, our Online Herald, for managing PR and Marketing with creativity and zest and ingenuity. Never before has someone done so much with so little (budget). Also for putting up with my house music when it was just the two of us.

Dan, our Social Wizard, for helping to nurture our small community, writing some great articles and sounding fantastic on the radio. Also for bringing a bit of higher studies to the office and making sure we never missed a Dr Who episode.

Mauricio, our Digital Artiste, for bringing the new flavour of vzaar to life, beating IE6 into submission and saving Emma from writing HTML. Also for our constant supply of Brazilian delicacies and giving us a bit of Latin flair.

Jonathan, our Tech Guru, for being the smartest person on the planet, but humble all the same, and building the vzaar platform that is by far the most brilliant thing this side of the galaxy. Also for not making us drink your Romulean Ale and keeping amused with your constant patter and humour. Also for not killing me for my ‘special’ take on REST api’s.

Jamie, our Business Man, for being everything I am not in so many ways. Mate you saved my sanity and I think everyone is exceedingly pleased you are handling so much of the operations and not me. You’re fantastic, and have managed to let everyone focus on what they do best, without I’m sure we would have struggled by several orders of magnitude. Also for being afraid of ketchup, which is the weirdest phobia ever, and keeps me amused on every team night out.

Ian, our Video Guy, for being fantastic with customers and being responsible for the incredible growth in embeds with your careful nurturing of new clients. Also for your Jamaican accent that turns on when you call home and introducing us to the best Jerk Chicken in London.

Ken Moss, our Big Boss, for keeping us all employed and making sure the wheels keep on rolling. Also for your choices in shirts, that shall we call, bold, not loud.

Thanks all, and may the next year be even better.

Adrian, vzaar’s Chief Geek.

Jamie mentioned that a movie would be coming soon on his post about the office move.

You'll find it below in all it's glory. You'll notice how half the office*cough*emmajonathanmauricio*cough found excuses to not be there whilst three of us did all the heavy lifting. Only joking. Jonathan and Mauricio had too much important work to do (some great changes to vzaar coming over the next few months), whilst Emma had a summer festival to attend.

You'll notice the video jumps in places where magically stuff happens very quickly. This isn't because we have an office magic unicorn that packs things up, but rather that Jamie and Ian were more concerned with "getting stuff done" rather than my integrity as a stop motion film maker. I'm sure you're equally appalled at how my creative spirit was trampled on. Alas, my pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Anyway, we all love a bit of video at vzaar so we hope you enjoy our move to new digs.

Yes, it's that time of year again. It's Children in Need time and at vzaar we're doing our bit. Check out our eBay for Charity auctions with videos here.

If you want to know more about selling for charity with vzaar, this video Emma and I made will help.

Don't forget: vzaar is free and it's a great way of raising some money for a good cause.