We'd been meaning to do this, but it required me to add support for uploading videos. Fortunately Posterous appeared and solved the problem way more thoroughly than I would have.

I've used Posterous for a very similar purpose. It's great when startups solve a genuine problem.

(pity the application form isn't wufoo!)

"If you want to apply, please submit your application online by 10 pm PST on March 18, 2009. Groups that submit early have an advantage because we have more time to read their applications."

Do we have the chance to update the submitted video with our latest video? For instance, if we decide to submit the application with the video before the deadline, then, decide to update the video later. Can we do so?

> Edit and resubmit as much as you want, but be sure to submit at least once before the deadline (March 18 at 10 pm PST), because you haven't applied till you do.

I assume they simply use the most recent application...

I know. But, are they going to use the latest video?

The last video url you put in the form field will overwrite whatever was there before. We might see an earlier video if you submit your application early, we look at it, and then you update and submit again before the deadline. But (a) it would be very unlikely that all three of us would independently do that and (b) we'd probably also check the new one after applications closed and we started reading them in earnest.

It seems like any service that lets you post a video and access it from a fixed url would be sufficient (so long as the video is as private as the submitter wants it to be). S3 could work just fine, if you made the file public and put it on an obscure path.

so either code a solution (eg, uploader, verify it's a video, verify private urls are secure, etc etc)

or just use a startup you've funded that does exactly this? :)

I was just saying you could have a place to paste in a url, and leave it at that (let the user figure out how to get their video url-accessible). If an applicant can't figure that out, it's probably a worthwhile filter.

[Edit]: Validation of the video is probably desirable, since you then don't have to ping applicants whose videos don't work. I'm willing to bet that posterous does validation and replies if the video is bad.