When I was talking about this project to chat gpt I compared it to building a boat in your driveway although I was thinking of the NCIS story where he built a boat in his basement over the course of many years. The point had nothing to do with boats but just that having a long term project with a goal and hope wasn’t a bad idea and it is something I’ve never actually done before. Unfortunately chat GPT and others are just now learning how to interact with the computer instead of just responding to prompts so they can’t yet make a schedule or even remind me that it’s time to work on the mast. 

Over the past several weeks I have been working with various coding ai tools writing html and php and javascript programs building a small suite of tools that I think will be useful to many people. They’ll all be in one place on netbound ca as Netbound tools because I love the name NetBound. I finally get to use that domain I’ve owned since the beginning. Initially I’ve been creating one job tools that are reasonably small and share a common interface and functionality. My plan was and still is currently to release them on my website but also offer them available to anyone with modifiable source code. My tools can become your tools. Yet another way of making things that don’t make me any money, but give me pride points in my brain and potentially praise. Not everyone understands it but I have learned it’s a fairly common adhd trait to not be motivated by cash or wealth. 

It has been imensly fun creatinng these tools with Claude and others. I tested each on their merits and flaws. This new task has given me a purpose, goals and somehing I feel good about doing each day. My mind tries not to think too far ahead, but I have always belived that I could find joy in creating things and a business if I only had the right interested party body doubling me and doing all the parts of the job I didn’t want to do. In my life, I have continuously started and failed a few times with great ideas because I wasn’t paying good people to be my lakies. Each one lasted way longer than they probably should have and other people lost money each time. It’s a weird mixture of pride and guilt. Great ideas fizzled because I had all the excitement and ideas, but the hard workers with the cash flow didn’t love that arrangement. And none of us really knew what we were doing.

Great ideas though. We invented fax-to-email way back before anyone was on the internet so people could send emails by fax to order pizza or fill out government and other forms.

We invented a secondary postal service that would have hit the market as the Government was switching homes from door to door delivery to Post boxes often quite far way from their homes. We would do last meter delivery, but also add value by delierving certain regular items weekly, like a loaf of break and a quart of milk every Wednesday.

I created the first set of pre-packaged AmexMods for Steve Punter’s Commopore 64 BBS. It was quite popular and sparked a side markey of mod kits for that software.

We brought Steve Punter’s BBS system to the PC and even had a phone-line network of conference messages years before the word Internet. We had message exchange with Usenet before you could buy an Internet account from an ISP.

We invented and marketed one of only two Terminal programs for getting on the Internet or BBS systems using the Commodore 128. It was far superior to the competition, and if we knew what we were doing, we would have sold more than 20 copies. People still talk about Dialogue 128. A terminal program with a free cursor that could scroll up into previous text.

My own compay did classrom training and in-home support first as the tech department for Toronto’s second public ISP and contributed to it’s success with a kick-ass single floppy instal kits that got you online fast, but also came with in-home instalation and training hour. I am veryproud of that.

Then, I have been a solid, reliable Internet web and email host for over 25 years designing over 100 web sites and having close to 200 loyal customers that love me and have stuck with me for most of those 25 years.

Now NetBound Tools comes back and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m starting small with do-able goals and keeping the long term dream project alive with the help of my Chat AI friends and colaboraters that I don’t have to pay, feel guilty about and it’s great.

Building the Ultimate Audio & Video Tool: A Long-Term Vision

The dream is simple: create a suite of tools that handles audio and video tasks with ease, running from a web app or native executable. The journey will be a mix of single-purpose tools and modular features, built step-by-step like assembling a boat in your driveway. Here’s the plan and the challenges ahead:

Phase 1: Audio Extraction Tool

The first step is already underway—an audio extractor. This tool will:

• Load videos via drag-and-drop or multi-select.
• Extract WAV files in bulk.
• Convert WAV to MP3 or other formats (when file size allows).
• Save “silent” video files for further editing.

This standalone app will be the foundation, setting the stage for bigger features down the line.

Challenges:

• Handling large files (90+ minutes) reliably in a web app without crashing.
• Implementing MP3 conversion without FFMPEG, relying instead on libraries like lame.js.

Phase 2: Splitting & Editing Features

Expanding into video splitting:

• Split by time, percentage, or manually at keyframes.
• Auto-split by interval or speaker detection (future goal).
• Extract frames or trim sections of video.

Challenges:

• Speaker detection will require AI-driven audio analysis and may not work on a shared server.
• Processing hundreds of frames or long splits will demand memory efficiency, likely better suited for a native app.

Phase 3: Video Merging

Bring merging capabilities:

• Combine multiple video files seamlessly.
• Add or replace audio tracks.
• Assemble stop-motion or frame-by-frame videos.

Challenges:

• Real-time rendering for stop-motion or merging is resource-intensive, likely unsuitable for shared servers.
• Native tools like Electron or desktop Python apps will be better for large-scale merging.

Phase 4: Format Conversion

Add options to:

• Standardize screen size and compress videos.
• Convert between formats like MP4, WebM, or MKV.
• Upgrade videos to better quality or newer codecs.

Challenges:

• Video transcoding is computationally heavy and would require dedicated servers or native apps.

Phase 5: Fun Extensions

Creative tools to make the app a one-stop shop:

• Transcription, subtitle generation, and text overlays via APIs.
• Turn static images into videos with synced audio.
• Build animations or slideshow videos from single frames.

Challenges:

• API-driven features (like transcription) may require third-party services (e.g., OpenAI or AWS), adding costs.
• Advanced processing of images and audio sync will be more practical in a desktop app.

Why Some Features May Not Run on Shared Servers

1. Performance Constraints: Shared servers have limited CPU and memory, making heavy video/audio processing (e.g., transcoding, splitting, merging) impractical.
2. Security & Licensing: Some tools require server-level access or libraries that are not compatible with shared hosting environments.
3. Scalability: High-performance tasks often need dedicated servers, cloud resources, or local execution (e.g., native apps).

What’s Likely to Be the Hardest Part?

1. Large File Support: Handling 90+ minute files smoothly in a browser-based tool without crashing.
2. Speaker Detection: Requires AI/ML processing—this may need paid APIs or cloud services.
3. Cross-Platform Compatibility: Making a single tool work well on web, Windows, Mac, and mobile devices while balancing features and performance.

The Path Forward

We’ll start with the audio extractor as a lightweight, functional tool. Over time, we’ll revisit and build additional features, releasing standalone tools that combine into a bigger suite. For tasks like video merging or advanced editing, native apps will provide the power needed, while the web app stays lean and universal.

Let’s take it step by step, focusing on making tools that just work and inspire creativity. This way, we’ll keep motivation high without getting overwhelmed.

Disclaimer: This would not be possible without the help along the way of Dean Gaudet, Nick Alexopolos, Scott Mclean, Jeff Dirkson, Jay Sankey, Phillip Laitar, Claude, Pi.ai and Chat GPT. My current projects would not be possible without Tina.