In order for you, our users, to get better acquainted with Cooliris, we want to present you the people who make the product happen. Check back regularly to read interviews with members of our team. This week we are kicking off the series with a conversation with Marc Shedroff, the Vice President of Business Development.  Marc talks about his background and the latest Cooliris business deals and partnerships in the following clips from the interview.

Read the complete interview here!

Get ready to upgrade to your mobile browsing experience with the release of Cooliris for the iPhone Version 1.5! This newest incarnation focuses on streamlining your social networking and media surfing on the fly.

Let’s talk specifics.

The first thing you’ll notice is the improved speed. We’ve boosted the app’s performance to make your searches up to 5X faster! This souped-up engine is complimented by a beautifully revamped user interface. Version 1.5’s new, snappier design features simplified menus and navigation with an intuitive feel that works naturally with the iPhone.

Have you tried Bing, Microsoft’s new “decision engine”? Cooliris brings it right to your iPhone, with the ability to surf images through Bing, as well as Picasa Web Albums. And no matter which provider you use, v1.5 provides a Safesearch option.

We’ve also introduced a new feature called “My Social” for full Twitter support. Now you can surf through both your personal and public Twitter timelines. You can even pick new users to Follow and can ReTweet your favorite posts. To log into your Twitter account, simply go to Main Menu > Preferences > Login > Twitter Login.

Now, if that’s not enough, we’ve streamlined things to make navigation smoother and easier. For example, now you can view titles for individual items on the Wall without having to select the item. Also, you’ll never lose the context of any Wall item again when switching to the home screen.

And finally, for the geek crowd, here’s a cool trick: Launch any Media RSS feed from Safari using cooliris:// + Feed URL, and it will launch the feed page into Cooliris! For example, enter this feed into Safari on your iPhone: cooliris://feeds.digg.com/digg/news/popular.rss. What’s cool about this is if you have these Cooliris URLs listed anywhere on a webpage, you can easily launch them from Safari without manually entering the URLs into Cooliris. And as long as you’re logged into your Cooliris account, you can favorite or subscribe to these feeds or Walls with just the click of a star!

So check out Cooliris for the iPhone v1.5 at the iTunes App Store, and enjoy a fluid mobile browsing experience at lightning fast speed. Let Cooliris be your window to a world of media “ and the door to sharing that world with friends and family. Connecting just got a whole lot easier.

In a breathtaking display of athleticism and mental toughness, the Cooliris Peninsula team defeated the Cooliris San Francisco team by a score of 2-1 on Friday afternoon in the Cooliris Soccer match.

Versatile striker Kelton Lynn, one of the guys who bring you all the TV episodes in Cooliris, drew first blood for the hosts with a powerful first-half strike before fleet-footed midfielder Wayne Greenwood, UI designer and guitarist extraordinaire, clinically tapped in a second to put the game out of reach. Greenwood even contributed brilliantly on the defensive end, diving majestically to prevent San Francisco captain Tom Montgomery (um, a former starter on the Men’s Soccer team at Stanford University) from finding the net.

San Francisco’s Daniel K-Dan Kaemmerer, as lethal with a soccer ball as he is in eliminating bugs, took advantage of a blunder by bug tester-turned-goalkeeper Calen Ipalook to pull one back mid-way through the second half, but the staunch defending of the Peninsula squad proved to be too much. The San Francisco side was also haunted by a severe lack of ball control; recruiter Katie Lampe took a well-struck ball off the side of her head, a ball which had been kicked by one of her very own teammates. Yep, it was just one of those days for the San Franciscans.

The two sides played each other evenly throughout the entire contest, but it was the tactical approach of the Peninsula team that gave them the edge.

Using an age-old strategy known as turtling, the hosts pulled nearly all of their players back to defend at the slightest hint of danger and would only occasionally maraud into opposing territory. However, they took full advantage of their counterattacking opportunities to slip their two goals past Icelandic national team goalkeeper Brian Truebe. The San Francisco strategy of have Truebe intentionally knock over the goal any time they’re about to score was quickly sniffed out and disallowed by referee and Business Development intern Rob Balian.

Once the final whistle had been blown, all combatants convened joyously around delicious burgers and watermelon. More sporting spectacles between the two sides are most certainly on the horizon; the San Francisco team can content themselves with the fact that they’ll get another shot at their Peninsula counterparts sooner rather than later!

Happy Friday, everyone! The end of the week always brings with it some interesting things at Cooliris. We celebrated a pair of birthdays yesterday, so we’ve decided to hold a staff soccer match today to allow us to run off all the cake we ate while partying. As such, the Cooliris staff has been divided into two formidable teams: the San Francisco team and the Peninsula team.

On paper, the Peninsula team looks to be the stronger side. Featuring the majority of the staff, the Peninsula squad boasts a midfield hydra of User Growth guru Matt Cano, Business Development ninja Rob Balian, and Bug Squasher Calen Ipalook, as well as intimidating (read: 6-foot-5) target-man Josh Schwarzapel. Truthfully, the team seems to have no weaknesses at all.

The San Francisco side is certainly not without hope, however. Captained by Tom Montgomery, a former Stanford player, the team has a strong core of competitors such as tenacious defender Maria Ignatova and midfield maestro Brian Truebe. San Francisco also has no shortage of offensive weapons; striker Katie Lampe, a former diver, has been known to swan dive gracefully at the faintest of contact in the opposing box, winning many penalty kicks for her team. The Peninsula defenders will certainly have to be on their guard.

We’re still hours away from kickoff, but pregame preparation has already begun around the office. Left and right, cleats are being polished and knee-high socks are being ironed. No matter the outcome, it should be quite a feast of football. Err, soccer. We’ll have all the photos and highlights for you on Monday!

Everyone gets a little bit antsy on Fridays due to looming weekend excitement. To help us get prepared for the weekend, we have regular all-company meetings where we fill each other in on what’s been going on, share a few laughs, and enjoy some kind of treat. It’s a pretty sweet little tradition.

Of course, such congregations always prove to be great photo opportunities! Here’s a shot of the whole Cooliris team right outside of the brand new signage on our front office door.

Notice all the happy, smiling faces. We’re all pumped for a couple days of freedom, and surely you guys must be too! Have a great weekend, everyone!