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Shutterfly announces Shutterfly Photo Story for iPad
Shutterfly, Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based photo-publishing site, wants to become your one-stop shop for printed photo products. Today it launched a free iPad application called Shutterfly Photo Story , which lets you create your own photo books -- with a difference. Unlike other photo books, Shutterfly Photo Story lets you add 30-second audio messages to each page. Your photo album becomes an instant story, engaging all your relatives and friends in a more intimate and personal experience. A QR code printed on the photo book lets readers hear the recorded messages. A "record" button appears on each page as you create your photo pages in Shutterfly Photo Story, and you can choose to add one audio file for the entire book or add audio to every page. When you share your photo book via email or Facebook, a clickable icon appears on pages with embedded audio. For the hard cover books, a QR code is printed on the back. Readers scan the code to open a digital version of the book and listen to the audio, according to Shutterfly. Shutterfly offers a choice of 10 different styles and three book sizes. Printed book prices range from US$29.99 to $59.99. You can only order an 20-page, 8 x 8-inch, 8 x 11-inch or 12 x 12-inch book with audio. Pages can be added for an additional fee and there is a choice of a hard or soft cover for your book. Less-expensive and small-sized books are also available, but do not include the new audio feature. Shutterfly Photo Story imports photos from Facebook, Instagram, Shutterfly or your iPad Photo Stream. As with Shutterfly's other photo book products, the book can be shared on Facebook or printed as an actual hard copy. For creating a book without audio, Shutterfly for iPad is also available from the iTunes store. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch notes that Shutterfly is not the first service to offer in-book audio. Memorability offered audio in books first, but alas, their books can be shared, but not printed. Shutterfly Photo Story works on the iPad 2 and above and the iPad mini with iOS 6 or later. The limitations include that you cannot edit projects created on the iPad on your Mac, nor can you edit projects created on the Mac on your iPad, so for now, projects are device-dependent. In the past couple of years Shutterfly has acquired the Kodak Gallery, card seller Tiny Prints, ThisLife and, most recently, MyPublisher, another photo book publisher. For a limited time, photo products bought at Best Buy come with a Shutterfly code for a free book. (I received one when I bought a camera at Best Buy two weeks ago.) Shutterfly also offers a sales page for specials and discounts. Just to prove that sometimes we use the products that we review, I've printed a number of books from Shutterfly. Now, I just need to import the shots to my iPad and add audio to create that wonderful personal experience for my Mom! [via TechCrunch]
Photographer creates amazing photo book with iPhone and Camera+
Almost every day, we see people putting the iPhone 4's camera to amazing use, but New York wedding photographer Joshua Brown took it to the next level. Using tap tap tap's US$1.99 Camera+, Joshua created an entire photo book of a recent trip to Italy. The results are eyebrow-raising to say the least; every shot looks like it was taken with a high-end DSLR rather than the iPhone 4's decent but decidedly consumer-level camera. "I actually went out there to shoot a wedding in Florence, so I had my [Canon] 5D with me, but I really felt like I wanted to just relax and not haul a bunch of gear around all week," says Joshua. "I did actually bring the 5D out a few times, but all the images that made it to the book were from the iPhone." You can check out some choice shots at tap tap tap's blog, or check out a preview of the entire book here (sorry, iOS users, it's in Flash it should work fine on the iPad or iPhone). Although it's not going to replace my DSLR, after seeing Joshua's shots, I'll likely take my iPhone 4's camera a lot more seriously than I have thus far. As an aside, if you have an iPhone 4 and are even remotely interested in taking above-average pictures with it, Camera+ is a must-have.
Review: iPhoto '11 is a very mixed bag
When iLife '11 was announced, I was quite excited to hear there was an update to iPhoto, and even more surprised to learn my local Apple Store had the software in stock the day after the "Back to the Mac" event. The feature list for the latest version of iPhoto is impressive, and since I do so much photography it seemed a no-brainer to get it. New features include: Full screen mode A direct link to Facebook for posting comments and pictures New slideshow templates New book designs Enhanced templates for emailing photos Letterpress Cards for sending to family and friends For US$49, with GarageBand '11 and iMovie '11 in the mix in addition to iPhoto, I was ready to buy iLife. Let's go over the changes, then deal with some of the ugly truths.
Aperture gets updated to 2.1.2
Apple just released an update for their professional photo management software, Aperture. Update 2.1.2 "Improves the printing quality of books ordered through the Aperture printing service." It sounds like this would be a welcomed update by many professional users who rely on photo books and prints ordered through Aperture. You can download this update through Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update), or by downloading the installer package from Apple's update download website.Update: Apple has just created a download page for the Aperture update.Thanks for the tip, Nik!
Apple offers photo book discounts for Mother's Day
If you've been looking to get the perfect Mother's Day gift, Apple says to look no further than iPhoto or Aperture. It's that special time of year when we celebrate our mothers (of course, if you ask Mom every day is Mother's Day), and Apple is cutting us a break! You can now get 20% off of iPhoto books when you use the promo code LoveMom at checkout. This promo code is valid for iPhoto or Aperture users in the US and Canada and is good until May 11, 2008. Apple recommends that you order by April 30 for standard delivery and May 4 for express delivery so that you get your book in time for Mother's Day. You can read more about this promotion on Apple's website.
iPhoto books and calendar discounts
If you want to "cash-in" on all of those after holiday sales, look no further than your Mac's desktop. Apple is starting a new winter promotion for iPhoto books and calendars. By using two promotional codes you can save 20% on books and calendars through February 29, 2008. Apple says that the book code will also work in Aperture. For calendars, use code: NAWinterCal08For photo books, use code: NAWinterBook08Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Update: a recent commenter shared with us the codes for the UK iPhoto: For calendars, use code: EUWinterCal08For photo books, use code: EUWinterBook08
