Archive for June 2008
Import from Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak and Picasa Web Albums
We just released a new version of Phanfare that enables more inputs and outputs so you can access your media any way you want on any device you want.
- Import from Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak, and Picasa web albums directly into your Phanfare account.
- Export from iPhoto to the Phanfare service using our new iPhoto plugin.
- Improved iPhone viewing experience. Just browse to Phanfare using Safari on the iPhone.
- RSS feeds to follow your Phanfare messages using iGoogle, MyYahoo, Google Reader and similar services.
- Media RSS feeds to show your albums on digital photo frames.
- Album viewing pages now have links to album editing pages if you are the owner of the album.
- Numerous bug fixes and small optimizations including support for Firefox 3.
As always, let us know at support @ phanfare.com or bugs @ phanfare.com if you have trouble using the service or want to report a bug.
Preview of iPhoto plugin for Phanfare
For all you Apple iPhoto users out there, we are happy to announce direct support for iPhoto through a plugin that will put Phanfare in the export menu of your iPhoto application.
This is a preview release intended to help us iron out any issues before we more widely advertise the iPhoto plugin in the next Phanfare release.
The iPhoto plugin will allow you to upload any selected images in iPhoto to the Phanfare service directly. you can also create new albums, and control whether or not the album is visible to family and friends.
If you want to import a whole bunch of iPhoto albums to Phanfare at once, while retaining your iPhoto album structure, then please use the Phanfare Mac client and import the albums from that client.
Phanfare for the iPhone
We are happy to announce that we have developed a camera application for the new iPhone store that allows users to share iPhone photos on the web with a single click. The photos are moved wirelessly to the internet where they are immediately visible to friends and family and archivally stored.
We have also released a new mobile viewing experience that targets the Safari web browser built into the iPhone.
Here is a demo of the new Phanfare iPhone application and the mobile viewing experience.
http://albums.phanfare.com/video/4;1003289;2080668;28510947;1309f95956457154c514d89a2c1b4cdd
The Phanfare camera application turns the iPhone into a connected digital camera that takes the PC out of the loop for uploading and sharing. Users enjoy the convenience and portability of the iPhone with all the benefits of cloud-based storage and sharing. After you take a picture, you can instantly add a caption, add the photo to an existing album or create a new album without ever leaving the application. Here is a demonstration of the new iPhone app.
For consumers, digital photography was a huge step forward over film, but uploading digital photos to a computer is just too complicated. The Phanfare iPhone app gets the computer out of the uploading loop and makes digital photography significantly more convenient.
ABC News Now, Ahead of the Curve interview
I recently talked about Phanfare with ABC News Now for their Ahead of the Curve segment.
http://albums.phanfare.com/video/4;1003289;2065440;28222181;e0a6f3cf23b3164288fcd481f17c598b
They were interested specifically about how Phanfare provides secure photo and video sharing for families but I spoke more broadly about what we are doing these days. They were friendly enough to just go along with the flow.
Andrew
The new Jawbone Bluetooth headset is great
I love products and services that are executed flawlessly. I find Broadway musicals intellectually uninspiring, but I love how the performance and production values are flawless. Everyone on stage can sing, dance, and knows their lines. These are the best of the best. The sets, transitions and lighting are all top notch. The show unfolds like origami, every aspect perfectly planned.
You would not expect to find that type of magical execution in something as mundane as a Bluetooth wireless cell phone headset but the new Jawbone is remarkable. I recently got a Jawbone after Walt Mossberg reviewed it and said the thing finally works. The performance is inspiring.
I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to cell phone voice quality. When I travel, I typically take both my Blackberry and family-share flip phone because, when in noisy places, the Blackberry picks up too much background noise to be bearable to the person on the other end of a call.
Background noise seems to be a general problem with any phone device where the microphone is far away from your mouth. To pick up your voice, the microphone needs to have a higher gain, and that means picking up background noise. The problem is exacerbated by any headset that keeps the microphone near your ear, as most Bluetooth ones do.
Ok, so how good is the new Jawbone? I made calls standing on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC while scooters whizzed by and the person on the other end, when asked, thought I was inside.
Then I performed the ultimate test. I made a call while driving with the windows down, sunroof open, going 40mph, with the radio playing loud enough for me to enjoy it inside the car. The person on the other end reported he could hear something in the background but could not make it out. When I switched back to the handset for comparison, the other party asked that we please end the experiment immediately. It was torture.
The real significance of the Jawbone is the increased utility of your cell phone. While it is an attractive idea to make a business call while walking on the street, the background noise is usually so loud that it would be insulting to the other party. But with the Jawbone, the other person thinks you are inside!
How does the Jawbone work? They read the vibrations off your face and use it as a reference signal to filter the audio. Audio that tracks the signal coming off your face is accepted, other audio is rejected. Great idea. Of course, the devil is in the implementation details and with the new Jawbone, they finally got it right.
Only caveats? Wireless headsets are a bit of a hassle since they need to be charged separately, and of course, wearing a Bluetooth wireless headset makes you look like a bit of a dork. But since the thing actually works, and as an Engineer, I really can’t completely lose the dorkiness anyway, those are drawbacks worth living with.
(Note, it seems that Amazon only has the older Jawbones stocked. I bought mine off the Jawbone company website. Took about a week to come)
An Engineer 