Kevin Thompson

Recently I found myself wanting to post videos much more frequently to 12seconds.tv, but I couldn’t find an app for my iPhone 2.01 (jailbroken or otherwise) that would allow me to record and email videos (If you’re unfamiliar with 12seconds.tv, it’s essentially a video micro-blogging service, or the visual equivelant of Twitter). The closest I was able to come was recording a video via Qik, which allows you to download an flv of your video immediately after it’s posted, then email that video over to 12seconds to be posted. This process was neither quick, nor convenient, and it required I have access to a computer to download and email the flv. I decided to take a shot at writing a script to download and email the flv for me and within an hour I had a functioning, although buggy, version of the script working.

I’ve taken a few days now to revise the script, and although it’s still a work in progess, I wanted to post a quick how to guide on installing and using the Qik to 12seconds script (which I’m currently calling Syndiqik).

Note: I’m assuming your web server supports PHP and MySQL, and if you plan on using this script with your iPhone, you’ve already jailbroken your iPhone and have Qik installed.

UPDATE: Shortly after I released this script, I setup a hosted version which should be much easier to use and requires very little setup. You can see the hosted version here.

Step 1: Download the latest version of Syndiqik.zip

Step 2: Unzip Syndiqik.zip and open index.php

Step 3: Enter All Configuration Variables:

• Qik Username
• 12seconds.tv Mobile Email (Found on your 12seconds.tv home page in the bottom right)
• Your Email Address
• Local Server Address
• Database Username
• Database Password
• Database Name
• Table in database to store sent videos (to avoid sending duplicates).

Step 4: Upload all three files to a new folder on your web server.

At this point your ready to try out the script. Open up Qik and record a test video. Right now the script is setup to only transfer videos that are 20 seconds or less (keeping in mind 12seconds will only show the first *gasp* 12 seconds of your video). After you’ve recorded a test video, navigate to the folder on your web server where you uploaded the three files earlier and you should see the following screen (bottom right).

Now all that’s left to do is name your video and click “Send Video” and within about 1-2 minutes it should show up on your 12seconds.tv account.

I’ll probably be updating the script over the next few days and I’m working on building in integration with a few other services. Your best bet for catching updates to the script are to follow me on twitter. If you run into any trouble with the script, feel free to comment here, contact me on twitter or email me at thompson [dot] kevind [at] gmail.com.

Update: I completely forgot to give credit to S.C. Chen’s Simple HTML DOM Parser for PHP. This is basically a selector engine like you would find in JavaScript frameworks like jQuery or prototype, but for PHP. This library allows me to quickly and easily grab the link to the flv files off of the Qik profile pages.