LinkedIn Could Replace Outlook and SalesForce
I have been a total skeptic on proprietary messaging within social networks. After all, who on earth would want a proprietary tool when e-mail reaches everybody? I love it, though, when circumstances change a deeply ingrained opinion. The technology business has a way of doing that. You've likely heard the expression, "I live in Outlook." Well I used to. Now I hop rather awkwardly between Outlook and Gmail. Could I soon live in LinkedIn? Could you?
I keep on meaning to go Gmail only, but never get around to it. And Gmail has some performance and even some reliability issues, so, hedging my bets for a while seems sensible.
In that context LinkedIn's InMail just seemed like an irritation. However, I am now re-evaluating that. Partly because I am thinking that I may need something like SalesForce, just a basic contact manager. There are many good SalesForce alternatives; we are totally spoiled for choice in that area. But that seems like one more thing to manage/learn and possibly pay for (or use a free service that may not survive).
So, LinkedIn doing both starts to make sense. With a few provisos. The first is a pricing scheme I can agree to. That does not include Free, I don't trust Free in this context, because it too often means, "lock you in and then charge you too much later." Nor will I pay $20 or $50 per month for something that limits how many mails I can send.
Their $60 per year plan sounds good. That's $5 per month. But I would want unlimited mails for my own contacts whether they are in LinkedIn or not. They can still charge me for the right to send mails to people in LinkedIn who I don't know, which sounds like wonderful spam control. So for $60 I get Gmail like functionality. OK, InMail is a long way from Gmail, but all that is is some email software, and I am sure LinkedIn can license, buy or build some good webmail software, ideally with offline sync capability from day one.
Not only would this give them a really solid subscription revenue base, but every email would be viral marketing for LinkedIn.
Why would I use this rather than Gmail? Four reasons:
- Automatic contact management, particularly the self-updating nature (i.e., a contact changes jobs and I can see that and their contact details are always up to date).
- One less system to use, as LinkedIn is becoming enough of a habit that it now takes time each day.
- Built-in spam filter based on white-list. Yes, Gmail has great spam control, but it is still a total pain in Outlook.
- LinkedIn actually helps me sell/recruit/buy through networking. That is a totally different level of value proposition from just helping me to send emails or manage contacts.
Could InMail send/receive mail outside LinkedIn? Of course it could. Email standards are open.
I can envision all kinds of cool CRM 2.0 type features based on the social graph.
Of course, all this is possible because Microsoft has been asleep at the switch. It has been apparent for many years, to many people that the real social graph is in the email system and Microsoft Outlook/Exchange is where biz people keep their emails. Microsoft could have done this already, easily. Possibly they still could, but they are leaving it a bit long.
I am sure Google gets the opportunity. They have the same social graph within Gmail. I wonder what they have brewing in their labs?
Once you make the decision to break the Outlook habit as I have already done, the next step to something like InMail is not a very big one. Already my contact database in LinkedIn is more up to date and clean than my Gmail one.
Like all social networks, LinkedIn is under pressure to "open up." They may be be able to push back on that front if they create enough value so that biz people decide to live in LinkedIn as opposed to living in Outlook and SalesForce or the equivalent CRM. That would save hard $ from those services, so its a good recession play as well. LinkedIn has some weak plays for RSS aggregation, but they can easily do something better that makes LinkedIn more like a fully customizable start page.
LinkedIn could be the big IPO story that will validate this market and the one that we've been waiting for since Google went public.
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June 13th, 2008 - Posted in read write web | | Comments Off
Boston: Mashable’s US Summer Tour 2008
Mashable is heading out to Boston as part of the U.S. Summer Tour. So far I’ve had a funny little anecdote about each of the towns here on the list, but regrettably, the only connection I have to Boston are a couple of web-designing neighbors of mine that once lived there. If I had to judge the entire town based on those folks, though, I’d imagine that this is going to be one of the cooler stops on the tour, as I keep in contact with them to this day.
Hoping to get some more cool contacts of your own? You won’t do any better than our SummerMash event here, where aside from El Capitan Cashmore, Karen Hartline and Brett Petersel, you’ll have a bevy of Boston locals to meet at the Roxy Nightclub.
We will provide the food, fun, adult beverages and music, just add Bostonians (Bostan-ites? Bosses? Just come to the party, is what I’m trying to say). All the pertinent details below!
When: August 5th, Tuesday, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
Where: The Roxy 279 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116
What Else?: Drinks Tickets, Light Appetizers and a few surprises!
RSVP?: Tickets will be released through Eventbrite, 21+ Only
Socialize: Facebook, MySpace, Meetup and Upcoming
Press Passes: Please inquire through events [at] mashable |dot| com for Press Passes
Local Sponsor:
‘TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel community, with more than 25 million monthly visitors, six million members and 15 million reviews and opinions. Real advice from real travelers.’
*There are 2 more “Local Sponsor” positions available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Local Media Partner:
“Bernardo’s List is an email newsletter about upcoming events for entrepreneurs, investors and tech execs in New York and other cities nationwide. Signup is free at http://www.bernardoslist.com!”
Tour Sponsors*
The Sun(TM) Startup Essentials program is designed to help startup businesses off the ground by providing access to industry-leading systems at deep discounts, free world-class software and web-based training, discounts on partner hosting services, and more.
Yoono’s mission is to make the social web accessible, easy and fun for everyone. Its newly expanded service socializes your browser, helps you manage your digital life and brings the best of the web into one single browser-based application. Today, 1.3 million users are leveraging Yoono.
*There is 1 more entire “Tour Sponsor” available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Touring Video Partner
Launched in February 2006, Stickam emerged as the first and largest Web site dedicated to live interactive video streaming. Stickam’s cutting edge technology delivers millions of streams each day, reaching over two million registered users. They are continuing on the path of social interactive TV by adding features that nurture its growing community and tech-savvy broadcasters. Whether you are famous for 15 or 150,000, Stickam.com is where you will find your friends and fans. See and be seen at Stickam.com, The Live Community.
Exclusive Ticketing Partner
“Eventbrite is the world’s largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event.”
Tour Media Partner
“Thrillist is a free daily email that sifts through the crap to bring you the best of what your city’s hiding. Each day, you’ll get one quick email with info on the best food, drinks, gear, services, and events. Whatever it is, we promise it won’t suck. Get on the list.”
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June 13th, 2008 - Posted in Mashable! | | Comments Off
Social Media’s Delusion of Grandeur
Steven Hodson is the cranky old fart as well as respected Web 2.0 and social media pundit behind WinExtra.com. He doesn’t suffer from the illusion that his tweets are making a positive difference for the oppressed and impoverished, but still doesn’t let that stop him.
As human beings we love nothing better than to think that some effort of ours will make a difference somewhere in the world. Whether it be donating to some charity or being involved in a movement of some sort we bask in the glow that comes from being involved. We like to believe that by being involved we are improving both someone else’s; and our own, lot in life a little more each day.
This belief in involvement has also carried over to our online lives as well where some become involved in things like the Open Source movement for software in the belief that freely available software will be an universal equalizer. Others have become involved in an outgrowth called that is supposed to strive for overall equality on the web with catchy buzzwords like OpenID, OAuth and Data Portability. The idea being that the web is a level playground for all who want to participate and that all our actions; companies included, should be transparent and accountable.
Um … no.
Look I’m sorry but as cool as it might be that your elected officials are actually trying to reach out to you I just don’t buy it. After all where is John Edwards on the web now or how about Hillary - is she still Twittering? Besides do you really think that any of those people running for one of the highest positions of power in the world is actually sitting there twittering away. Not to mention but would you really want your President to be twittering away during a meeting in the Oval Office?
Realistically the chances are that whoever is supposed to be representing any one of the Presidential contenders is some flunky intern copying from a pre-made list of talking points handed to them. Politicians throughout our elective history have been past masters at manipulating any and all mediums be it print, television or now - the Internet and no amount of social media is going to change that.
Next to supposedly changing the world of politics social media proponents love to think that all this openness and transparency is going to change our global society into something good and kind. As nice as this fallacy might be the reality is that the lasting effects of anything social media does is gone by the next news cycle or when the next new shiny social cause comes along. You can strut around all you want tossing out catch phrases of how social media is influencing this or making people do some such warm and fuzzy thing but in the dawn of a new morning nothing has changed because of social media.
If social media was making any changes why are the homeless of the Katrina disaster still waiting on the government to fulfill their promises. How about the the Myanmar disaster now that everyone’s attention has turned elsewhere. Where is the social pressure from those bragging about changing the world with social media over the people who are still dying in Darfur. Why is it that social media isn’t holding our own government to the fire over our own homelessness and children falling through the cracks because their isn’t enough money for the services needed to save them.
Social media might be a really good ideal to to have but as long as it is nothing more than conferences in fancy hotels on expense accounts paid for by VC dollars don’t hold it out as society changing. Wanting to change society means more than than setting up some social networking site that lets people chit chat with each other. Changing society involves more than playing with all the newest and coolest toys while you brag about being involved with change.
You want to change society then step away from the keyboard and get your hands dirty. You want to make a difference then start with those things close to you not half a world away.
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June 13th, 2008 - Posted in Mashable! | | Comments Off
Microsoft Goes After “Career Pirates”
Stony Stevenson writes "Microsoft has filed 21 lawsuits in US Federal courts as part of an effort to stop those who continually pirate its software. The suits span 14 states and target people and businesses that have allegedly sold pirated copies of Microsoft software. Eight of the suits target companies that Microsoft refers to as 'repeat offender software pirates.' The eight firms had already been sued by Microsoft for selling counterfeit software."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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June 13th, 2008 - Posted in slashdot | | Comments Off
SketchBox Does Powerful Sticky Notes [Featured Mac Download]
Mac OS X only: Donationware application SketchBox provides multi-functional sticky notes for your Mac desktop. Similar to the default Stickies application that's baked into your Mac, SketchBox has tons more functionality, with typing, drawing, and timers built into every sticky. That means you can create a note, type a few lines or doodle an idea, then set a timer to remind yourself to check back with the note later (perfect for quick to-dos). The app also gives you a robust, iPhoto-style organization window for your sticky notes. SketchBox is donationware, Mac OS X only.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
Opera 9.5 Still in the Browser Race [Screenshot Tour]
While Mozilla prepares to set a Guinness World Record on Tuesday with its release of Firefox 3, and Apple continues to push Safari on Windows and the iPhone, you'd think that there was no more room for web browser alternatives to Internet Explorer—but you'd be wrong. This week, to much less fanfare than Apple, Microsoft, and even Mozilla gets, Opera released its newest version 9.5 and it's not out of the browser race by any means. What sets Opera apart from Firefox? Take a tour of some of the new and improved features that keep Opera a viable alternative to IE, Safari, and—yes, even Firefox.
While Firefox is undoubtedly a robust browser, you get many of Firefox's killer with add-ons—but a number of those features are baked right into Opera 9.5.
Mouse Gestures
For example, Opera includes mouse gestures, a fluid and easy to use interface. The gestures cover a wide range of browsing commands, including the basics like moving backwards and forwards, scrolling, opening new pages, but also more advanced gestures like tab selection and panning. (Try it: in Opera, go back to the previous page by holding the right mouse button then click the left button. To go forward again, hold down left and click right.) Speed Dial
Serving as a default homepage, Opera Speed Dial is a handy launchpad for your browsing experience. Laid out across the screen in like a telephone keypad, screen captures from your selected websites act as links to help you quickly navigate to your favorite locations.
Synchronization
Opera Link synchronizes your Bookmarks, Personal Bar, Notes, and Speed Dial across multiple computers and mobile phones with Opera Mobile. When you are away from your computer or mobile phone the information is still accessible via the Opera Link web site. Note-taking
Opera's built-in note taking feature ensures you always have a scratch pad handy. Access notes directly through the menu bar or using the Ctrl+6 key combination. The note feature is well integrated into Opera, too. Highlight text on a web page and hit Ctrl+Shift+C to copy it to a note. You can also right-click in a web page form (like a new email message) to paste in note contents. BitTorrent
Too engrossed in your browsing to fire up your BitTorrent client? No problem. Opera includes a spartan but effective BitTorrent client built-in. Keep an eye on both your torrents and regular downloads at the same time, both are managed through the Transfers window to make grabbing the newest distributions of your favorite software even easier. Voice-controlled Browsing
If you're feeling particularly adventurous or just have a strong desire to shout from your cubicle, Opera has a voice control feature. Note: the feature requires an additional 10.5MB download, but is more than worth it to be able to issue commands to your web browser like Jean Luc Picard standing confidently on his bridge. Unfortunately, upon further investigation "Opera: Take us to warp 5" did not yield the anticipated outcome. Aside from accepting commands the Voice feature will also talk back. Highlight the text you wish to listen to, and you're one "Opera: Read" away from browsing with your eyes closed. Saved Login Details with the Wand
Auto-Complete's younger and more observant brother, Wand makes filling in login prompts and applications text boxes a breeze. Logins and prompts that Wand recognizes are highlighted in yellow. Click the Wand icon to the right of the address bar or Ctrl+Enter and the Wand auto-completes logins and forms for you. Have multiple logins for the same site? Wand remembers and will prompt you to select the proper login. Fit to Width
Another small but handy feature in Opera is Fit To Width, which reduces pages to fit the size of the browsing window. Mileage varies depending on the web site—CSS style tables sometimes realign themselves poorly—but Fit To Width is still useful and often cited by the users of other browsers as a small feature they'd love to see in their browser of choice.
We know there are some die-hard Opera fans lurking in our readership. Shout out what it is you love about the browser. Is there a favorite feature we overlooked? Tell us about it in the comments. Opera 9.5 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
De-Clog Your Drain and Other Uses for Alka-Seltzer [MacGyver Tip]
Home design weblog Apartment Therapy says that whether you need to quickly de-clog your drain or brighten your toilet, a tab or two of Alka-Seltzer is just the ticket.
This won't work for serious clogs, but it's a low cost solution for a moderately clogged kitchen sink. First drop in a couple Alka-Seltzer tablets down the sink, and follow it up with a chaser of vinegar (1 cup). Allow for the chemical reaction to work its magic for about 2 minutes, then run the hot water at full force to help jettison out the debris. A bonus is your drain should smell better too.The post and several commenters also claim Alka-Seltzer as great for cleaning glass oven cookware, your microwave dish, or your tea pot. It doesn't come close to the many uses for baking soda, but then again, baking soda is an active ingredient in Alka-Seltzer. Photo by ShutterCat7.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
What’s Next for Microsoft and Yahoo!
The clumsy $44 billion mating dance that began in February between Microsoft and Yahoo! officially came to an end today. Yahoo! and Microsoft each issued statements saying that talks had been concluded, though Microsoft left the door open for non-outright-acquisition partnerships. Meanwhile, multiple sources are reporting that Yahoo! and Google are set to announce some sort of search deal, perhaps as early as today. So what's next for both companies?
Yahoo!
Yahoo!'s stock sank 10% on the news that the Microsoft deal was definitely off the table. And the company reportedly lost three key employees today as well. Usama Fayyad, the Executive Vice President of Research, Technology Evangelist and key open source advocate Jeremy Zawodny, and EVP of the Network Division Jeff Weiner are all supposedly planning leave the company. Definitely not a good day for Yahoo!
Plan B prospects don't look great for the Sunnyvale, CA-based company. The brightest alternative is the prospect of a search outsourcing deal with Google. That deal, if it happens, could take any number of forms -- Google takes control of all Yahoo! search marketing, Google takes control of a portion of search marketing, Yahoo! open sources their search marketing allowing both Google and Microsoft to sell on their inventory, etc.
Given that Microsoft left the door open to an "alternative transaction," which we have speculated may be the acquisition of Yahoo!'s search business, it might be unlikely that a Google-Yahoo! deal would shut Microsoft out completely.
The dissolution of the Yahoo!-Microsoft acquisition talks also means more pressure is put on Yahoo!'s in house efforts to bolster their search business -- which slipped again last month -- such as SearchMonkey (our coverage) and Panama (our coverage). Last summer we wrote that the path to fixing Yahoo! started with a developer platform -- that's the direction they are headed with SearchMonkey. Without Microsoft, they have a lot riding on its success.
Microsoft
Microsoft has more options than Yahoo! Without Yahoo!, making a dent in Google's dominant search market share seems even more implausible, but the company can do other things to shake up their web business. We suggested a detail plan B in February that would have Microsoft "split up the search advertising atom" and basically open source their web marketing business. By breaking advertising up into inventory, placement, and parameters and allowing anyone to sell over this open model, we predicted that Microsoft could potentially make a huge impact on Google's web advertising dominance.
"Let Google be the search giant. Instead, focus on shaking up the advertising industry by pushing it toward a democratized structure, make it work for everyone, and weaken Google's business model," we wrote.
We've also suggested that Microsoft could put search on Facebook. "There are two ways people find information on the Internet: via search (which Google is great at), and via their friends (which Facebook is great at). The former we also know how to monetize. If Facebook can get good at search, it could stand to make a lot of money for whoever it partners with for that -- the logical choice being Microsoft," we wrote last month. Microsoft might even consider buying Facebook as an alternative to Yahoo!
Of course, not buying Yahoo! (or Facebook) would free up a ton of cash for Microsoft to do what it said it would last October: start investing heavily in small, web 2.0 start ups. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company would buy 20 companies per year ranging from $50 million to $1 billion for the next five years (likely they can acquire a lot of great technology for even less than that).
Our advice: invest heavily in mobile. If you can't beat Apple in the handset or software market, at least make a move to become the dominant content and advertising provider on the mobile web and beat Google to it.
What do you think are Microsoft and Yahoo!'s next moves? Let us know in the comments below.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in read write web | | Comments Off
MashBash Tel Aviv Recap: Pictures, Video, and More
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who attended MashBash Tel Aviv this past Wednesday. Over 800 people celebrated Mashable’s first event outside of the United States—and we had a great time meeting you! We learned a lot about the amazing web and technology culture and are looking forward to sharing some of our insights and interviews in the upcoming Israel Media Tour series written by special guest writer Ayelet Noff of Blonde 2.0 and filmed by Flixwagon.
Check out Flickr for nearly 200 pictures from the event, in addition to all of the videos we shot live:
A special thanks to our event planner Sharon Kuper, Flixwagon, our media partners and our MashBash Tel Aviv sponsors:
Yedda (an AOL company) provides publishers and content sites with its Ask & Answer platform for increased user-engagement, reach and ad revenue.
The Sun(TM) Startup Essentials program is designed to help startup businesses off the ground by providing access to industry-leading systems at deep discounts, free world-class software and web-based training, discounts on partner hosting services, and more.
Copenda, a unique social people search engine, allows users to cross-search leading social networks to find their friends, singles for dating, people with similar interests and more.
HooQs is a personal mobile media service that lets you publish and share video and music channels for cellphones and receive personalized media recommendations.
Outbrain provides bloggers, media companies (news/magazines), blog networks, rss readers and other publishers with a free rating and personalized content recommendation widget.
Qoof is the Home Shopping Network for the Internet that bridges the world of online video, E-commerce, and Direct Response TV.
Sightix: Social search and mapping engine that delivers individually ranked & personally actionable search results based on user’s circle of trust.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Mashable! | | Comments Off
How to Snap and Edit Screenshots with Picnik [Screencast]
Reader Torley adds a helpful screencast to the Lifehacker Tip Testers Flickr group, which demonstrates how to use the previously mentioned Picnik Firefox extension. Turn up your speakers and hit play to see it in action. You too can show the world how you use stuff we write up—add your own photos and video to the Lifehacker Tip Testers group pool on Flickr.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
Flixwagon Shows Off Homebrew iPhone Video Capture
The iPhone does a lot of things well. Some things it doesn’t do very well. Some things it doesn’t do at all, strangely enough. Copy-paste, MMS are two of the chief no-shows. Video capture is also nowhere to be found. Until now. Enter, Flixwagon.
We’ve covered Flixwagon numerous times before, and are particularly intrigued with what they’ve managed to do this time around. In essence, they’ve enabled iPhone owners the option to use their cameras to take video recordings and broadcast them in near-real-time to viewers online. Impossible, you might think, but proof of this feat has been documented for all to see in the video below. Be warned, however. An out-of-box iPhone won’t be able to employ Flixwagon’s workaround. A “jailbroken” device is required.
If you’re rough on the iPhone’s back history, here’s brief refresher. The iPhone first launched roughly a year ago. And it wasn’t long after release that some people managed to hack the devices to the point at which non-AT&T GSM networks could connect with it. Some engineers even managed to port some interesting third-party applications to the device as well. At the same time, Apple worked to negate such infiltrations as much as possible through a series of firmware updates. But still the hacks, or “jailbreaks,” as they’re more widely known, with some requisite edits have continually shown to be effective at opening up what is by default a very locked down invention.
Forward to today, and we find ourselves less than thirty days from the launch of the new iPhone 3G model. And as we recognize from product documentation, the new generation will debut with the option to install native third-party applications, all of it sanctioned by Steve. And that’s good, because, well, who likes having to work in the shadows? Not startups whose founders are in the business of making a living for themselves.
Alas, even with the SDK, some developers are finding it difficult to accomplish some tasks. And while Flixwagon says they’d very much enjoy working with the Apple-supplied iPhone SDK to get their software aboard the device, they say that an “unlocked” iPhone will be necessary to get their software to function - at least in the short term. But looking at Flixwagon’s demonstration of its alpha iPhone install, it’s perhaps one release that may finally drive some iPhone users still working uncompromised devices to finally twist the lock.
A download of the iPhone-friendly software has not been made immediately available from Flixwagon, but the company says it will release its test case to curious eyes in July. You can register your contact information at this page.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Mashable! | | Comments Off
Red Hat Makes a GPL-Compatible Patent Deal
Bruce Perens writes "Red Hat has settled patent suits with Firestar Software, Inc., Amphion, and Datatern on a patent covering the Object-Relational Database Model, which those companies asserted was used in the jBoss Hibernate package — not in Red Hat Linux. The settlement is said to protect upstream developers and derivative works of the upstream software, thus protecting the overall Open Source community. Full terms of the settlement and patent licenses are not available at this time."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in slashdot | | Comments Off
RedHat Makes a GPL-Compatible Patent Deal
Bruce Perens writes "Red Hat has settled patent suits with Firestar Software, Inc., Amphion, and Datatern on a patent covering the Object-Relational Database Model, which those companies asserted was used in the jBoss Hibernate package — not in Red Hat Linux. The settlement is said to protect upstream developers and derivative works of the upstream software, thus protecting the overall Open Source community. Full terms of the settlement and patent licenses are not available at this time."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in slashdot | | Comments Off
Macrium Reflect Free Creates Disk Images On-the-Fly [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Freeware application Macrium Reflect Free creates disk image snapshots of any hard drive on your computer that you can restore on any other drive to bring your computer back to the same state. Disk imaging is a great solution for going from zero to a completely setup system if something goes wrong, and we've shown you how to hot image your hard drive with a similar software called DriveImage XML. Macrium Reflect Free does basically the same thing as DiX, like creating images while Windows is running, but—also like DiX—the free version of Reflect unfortunately does not do incremental backup. What Reflect does have is a very friendly interface that makes disk imaging seem simple. Just remember that you should still set up automated file backups.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
AMD back on the Havok physics engine bandwagon
Filed under: Gaming
After a relationship drama that belongs on daytime television, AMD is snuggling up to Intel to add Havok physics acceleration to their CPUs and GPUs. AMD likely buckled under pressure to come up with a better physics program for its chips and just went with what Rick Bergman of AMD called "the clear market leader in physics software." AMD will add the Havok Physics engine to both its multi-core CPUs and GPUs, but AMD managing director noted that the focus is on CPUs given feedback from gaming developers who like the idea of offsetting physics computation to CPU cores. Good news for game developers, indeed.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Engadget | | Comments Off
Five Best Photo Sharing Web Sites [Hive Five]
The first consumer-priced, one-megapixel digital cameras hit the streets just over ten years ago, and today digital cameras are everywhere—hell, one megapixel is tiny for even our cell phone cameras. As a result, we snap picture after picture without giving a thought to the price of film, which means you've got hundreds of pictures to share with friends and family. On Tuesday we asked you to tell us your favorite photo sharing web site, and today we're back with the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for the low-down on the five best photo sharing tools the web has to offer, then cast your vote for the site you like best.
SmugMug
SmugMug is a premium photo sharing web site with an emphasis on professional photography. That's not to say that the site's not also perfect for the weekend photographer, as its attractive and user-friendly interface is tempting for any level of photog. The biggest hurdle for new SmugMug users is that the site has no free account (though there is a 14-day free trial), and the minimum price for an account at $40/year. However, SmugMug users—many of whom are former Flickr die-hards (there's even an import tool called Smugglr)—seem very pleased with their choice. Personal Web Site
If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and you've got some hosted web space, you can host your digital photos on your own web site. Granted, it may seem like a lot more work compared to the other options, but hosting your photos on a personal site means you've got total control, and some free, open-source options for rolling your own hosting solution are often as robust on features as their counterparts. If that sounds appealing, we've already walked you through how to set up the free Gallery2 (pictured above) on your hosted web server. You may also want to check out Jalbum (pictured at the top of this article).
Flickr
Flickr was originally conceived in 2002 as a video game-screenshot sharing web site, but it quickly blossomed into a full-fledged photo sharing site with a bustling community. The now Yahoo-owned site offers free accounts with limitations placed on photo uploads and other features, while the $25/year Pro account promises unlimited uploads, storage, and sets. Flickr, like many of the others, also recently added video sharing to their repertoire.
Picasa Web Albums
Picasa Web Albums are the online counterpart to Google's popular, Windows- and Linux-only desktop photo organization software, Picasa. Despite its late entry to the photo sharing game in mid-2006, Picasa Web Album's seamless integration with Picasa and Google accounts quickly gained the service a large following. A free account with Picasa Web Albums gives you 1GB of free storage space, and you can buy extra storage that's shared with your Gmail account for anywhere between $20/year for 10GB to $500/year for 400GB.
Photobucket
Once upon a time, Photobucket was a favorite among internet users looking to quickly host an image and share it online at sites like eBay and MySpace or on blogs and message boards. While that's still true, Photobucket has added several features to keep users coming back to the site for managing photo albums and videos.
Now that you've seen the best, it's time to vote for your favorite:
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Honorable mention goes to social networking web site Facebook and the online artist community deviantArt.
Whether or not it made the short list, let's hear more about your favorite in the comments.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
QuickDrag Boosts Firefox’s Drag-and-Drop Abilities [Featured Firefox Extension]
Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): QuickDrag won't look terribly new to fans of previously-posted extensions Drag de Go or Super DragAndGo, but it's a lighter-weight extension that does similar work. Grab a swatch of text and drag it up to your address or tab bar to perform a search on the term. Grab an image and drop it above to open it in a new frame, or save it Mac-style to your desktop. It also makes non-clickable URLs easy to open by (you guessed it) dragging them into an empty tab space as well. QuickDrag is a free download, works wherever Firefox (including 3) does.
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June 12th, 2008 - Posted in Lifehacker | | Comments Off
