iPhoto Photocasting a la Jobs

[Jason Dunn]

I've just finished watching part of the Macworld keynote (http://macworld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/mw/index.html) where Steve Jobs discussed the way iPhoto does "photocasting". It's basically just photo sharing over RSS, but the way it has been implemented is both impressive and simple - which is no small feat. Because it's based on a .Mac account though, which has a limited amount of storage space (1 GB?), I'm a little suspicious of how useful this will be for serious photographers.

I take a lot of photos, and at most events I'm the designated photographer, so my family and friends tend to rely on me for photo memories. The challenge of course is always how to share them. I've tended to lean towards using Picasa (http://www.picasa.com) to prepare the photos, then I export a Web album, and either upload it to my server or put it on my local Web server, then I send out an email to everyone with the URL to my server. Can you say clumsy? Yup. The end user experience isn't much better - they have a Web-based album to look at, sure. But how do they get those photos onto their own computer? They have to right-click and SAVE AS for each photo. And they're not usually the original high-resolution photos, because I want to select something that will fit on most monitors. Picasa doesn't offer a three-layer option (thumbnail > large > original), so I don't have much choice.

I'm interested to know if anyone has seen something similar on the PC that might approximate the experience. I know I could use Flickr, but the problem is the whole RSS reader on the client end - I shudder thinking of trying to set up and explain RSS to my family members. 8O Anyone have any good ideas for us PC users?

[bmhome1]

Last time I used pBase it offered right-click downloads of all three sizes, including the original uploads at around 2MB each.

[rlobrecht]

I agree that this is brilliant. I host a copy of Gallery http://gallery.menalto.com. It has a new zip download feature, where you can add photos to a shopping cart, and then it zips them all up to download. I don't upload the full 6 megapixel photos, however.

I've already posted on their message boards that it would be great if they supported photocasting, but I haven't seen it generate any traffic yet.

Maybe its time to buy a Mini just for this feature. 8-)

[Phronetix]

I agree that this is brilliant. I host a copy of Gallery http://gallery.menalto.com. It has a new zip download feature, where you can add photos to a shopping cart, and then it zips them all up to download. I don't upload the full 6 megapixel photos, however.

I've already posted on their message boards that it would be great if they supported photocasting, but I haven't seen it generate any traffic yet.

Maybe its time to buy a Mini just for this feature. 8-)

Don't forget that you need a dot Mac account as well.

One of the nice perks of being an Apple user, other than the ribbing from our excellent sitemaster, is that you have access to a selection of very well designed and well conceived products and services like the iPhoto books-to-order, wireless networking made real simple and relatively foolproff, the iChat/iSight combination of high quality video chat, Mail's junkmail filter, Safari's tabbed browsing and built in rss, and now photocasting, to just name my faves. The experience is enhanced if you happen to know others who are also Mac users, as is the case in my friends and family. I'm very pleased that photocasting was designed to utilize rss technology. It'd be even better if apple could release iPhoto for windows... but i'm not holding my breath for y'all.

Good point on the limited space concept Jason, as it does point out a limitation. I doubt that most users of this feature will max out their space, but OTOH, dot Mac regularly has increased its capacity since i joined. (edit: For an additional $140 per year, you can upgrade (http://www.mac.com/1/currencytable.html) your space to a total of 4 GB).

Personally, I'm looking forward to getting my folks set up with this, and just got the iLife shipment notification. :D

[marlof]

I just use smugmug (http://www.smugmug.com). I host my images there (unlimited storage...), they create thumbnails, small, medium and large images, and I choose if I'll keep the originals for download. I keep most images in private and password protected galleries, of which I send out the URL and password. People can also order prints from smugmug if they want to. My friends have no problems in saving the photos one by one, since each will choose different pictures to save. If they like a picture, they press "save photo" and continue to the next, while the image saves in the background.

[[email protected]]

$ 140 for 4 Gigs?! Yearly?

I also use Smugmug, $ 30 / 50 / 100 per year depending on features, all unlimited storage.

I've uploaded a year's worth of photos (1321) and I'm up to 6.26 GB.

[Phronetix]

$ 140 for 4 Gigs?! Yearly?

I also use Smugmug, $ 30 / 50 / 100 per year depending on features, all unlimited storage.

I've uploaded a year's worth of photos (1321) and I'm up to 6.26 GB.

Dot Mac provides more than just photo uploading space, but yeah, it's pricy.

One of the things about technology that we heavy-users often forget is the fact that increasingly it is a barrier to others. My parents could hardly handle using a web browser or iChat, so trying to explain how to set up an rss browser would be impossible. Because the Mac does things so well, on both an advanced level if you wish to delve deeper but more importantly at a very basic level, this is the platform of choice. I want the system to do what it says it does, to do it at the click of a button, and to do it without extensive set-up or the need for constant troubleshooting.

The thing about photocasting which makes the big sell for me, is that Apple did, in fact, make it grandma and grampa-proof. That is worth at least 140 bucks a year, and I'd pay more if it'll work as well as it does on the keynote. People chide Apple for 'dumbing down' the technology, or for seizing too much control of both the hardware and software ends of the production of their products. I value technology that works for me, never fail - which is not true, b/c i do have to occasionally troubleshoot my apple stuff, but i'm speaking in relative terms. This is where the true power of apple's products come out. This is not to say that the average PC user can't do this stuff, and not to say that PC hardware isn't truely powerful.

I'd expect that this feature of Dot Mac and iPhoto will find its way into third party PC apps and possibly into Vista within the next year. It happened with expose and with dashboard, so why not with photocasting.