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Flickr upload Automator action 1.0
It's been a while since we've hit the Automator beat; too long, in my opinion. And what better way to bring everyone's favorite little automate-able robot back into the TUAW spotlight than with the Flickr upload Automator action from James Pitts? After some simple instructions for installing, this action is prime for all sorts of image-related workflows, such as a Folder Action that allows you to drop pictures onto a folder to simultaneously add them to iPhoto, Aperture and Flickr (with tags) - all without lifting a finger (well, that is, if you don't count the original finger you had to lift to drop the photos on the folder in the first place). I ran into a catch getting this installed, however: following James' instructions to the letter, I couldn't get Automator to see the action when I installed it for all users - it would only work when installed in my own user's Home directory. That isn't too big of a deal, personally, since I'm the only user on my machine, but I figured this was worth noting for those who work on multi-user Macs. James Pitts provides his Flickr upload Automator action with instructions for free at his blog.
PictureSync 2 screenshots posted
The crew at Holocore have seen it fit to begin teasing users of PictureSync, a slick app for both Mac and PC that makes it easy to upload pictures and videos to various social media sites, with screenshots of a forthcoming update to version 2.0. The app has clearly taken on a very i-App UI, placing image and video sources such as iPhoto in a left sidebar, with any services you upload said media to just below that list. The scaling slider in the lower right is a very nice touch, as the current version only displays fixed thumbnails that can sometimes make it difficult to pick out images in a lineup. These new features are, of course, in addition to PictureSync's present abilities which include turning your iPhoto keywords into tags for most services (including Flickr and Vox), as well as being able to edit extensive amounts of metadata, even in batches, and grab geolocation data from Google Earth.PictureSync at present is free when used with one online service at a time, but its real power comes from spending a mere $15 for a license which enables uploading to as many services at once as your heart desires. An alpha of this v2 update is expected to be ready for Windows by the middle of next month, with a beta shortly thereafter. The Mac version will apparently follow a little later.
Automator Action: Upload to Box.net
We mentioned Box.net, an iDisk-like online hard drive service, back when we could begin mounting them on our Macs. To simplify uploading files to your Box.net account, Daniel Ryan has created an Automator action that not only lets you upload with a simple right click, but it also takes care of changing any spaces in file names to underscores, making them much more web-friendly. It isn't difficult to set up or use, but be sure to read Daniel's instructions at Automator World, as the action depends on you having mounted your drive with Mac OS X (which creates a Keychain item to store your password). If Box.net isn't much more than a file repository for sharing (perhaps via their blog-friendly widget), this action should streamline your efforts.
YouTube QuickUploader compatible with Mac OS X
As if it wasn't already way, way too easy to get stuck in YouTubeLand... now there's an instant upload feature, for those moments when you've just got to make that video of your kitten right NOW. The upload widget is built in Flash, and seems to work fine with Safari (although be prepared to wait a while for the postprocessing step). Combine this with the Huckleberry and you can YouTube your life effortlessly.[via Lifehacker]
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom + Flickr Uploadr
Fraser Speirs already released a Flickr plugin for Aperture, but what about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users in the crowd (John Gruber has a nice piece on the ridiculousness of adding the 'Photoshop' prefix to Lightroom's name)? As it turns out, through a little trickery, Lightroom can be tweaked for uploading your images to Flickr.This Mac OS X Hints post describes the simple setup, as well as a couple of drawbacks, to using Lightroom and the official Flickr Uploadr tool in conjunction; one simply needs to change the external editor preference to the Flickr Uploadr, then chose the Uploadr as the option from the Post-processing page during an export. Check out Mac OS X Hints though for more details and possible inspiration for asking Mr. Speirs (nicely) for a true-blue Lightroom Flickr plugin.
FlickrExport 2.0.1 released with bug fixes, API update
Fraser Speirs has updated his fantastic FlickrExport plugin for iPhoto to 2.0.1, ushering in a few key bug fixes an an API compatibility update. The specific bugs that Mr. Speirs squashed (murderer!) are the 'Waiting for Flickr' hangup the plugin could sometimes experience upon finishing an upload (I've been personally bitten by this one on occasion), as well as a nasty iPhoto crash upon upload.You can grab the update from Fraser's update post on his Connected Flow blog, or from the main Connected Flow product page.Thanks Nik Fletcher!
Google releases Mac photo uploader for Picasa Web Albums
No, Google hasn't brought Picasa to Mac OS X, but they did release two tools to let Mac users upload photos to their Picasa Web Albums service (think: 'Google does Flickr'). The first app (honesty a bit of a surprise) is a full-on plugin for iPhoto to let users upload their images right from within Apple's popular photo-management app. The second tool is a good ol' fashioned stand-alone uploader for those who want to fly solo.I've never used the service before myself, though I signed up when Google first opened it up (I like to make myself available, when possible). I just took the iPhoto plugin for a spin and it works well, though I don't think Picasa Web Albums is aimed at your typical Flickr user (its largest and most obvious potential competitor). Most of the social aspects of Flickr, such as tagging, groups, etc., don't exist in Picasa Web Albums - it seems much more geared to those who mainly want a place to upload their photos online, with a simple gallery that is easy to link family and friends to (it's also obviously geared towards Picasa users on Windows too). Users can chose whether to make uploaded albums public or private, which is where one of Picasa Web Albums' social features comes into play: users do have the ability to set other users as favorites in order to more easily view images and albums they upload (though, strangely, I can't seem to find any kind of public area where I can go hunting for other users). On the downside, however, Picasa Web Albums only offers a measly 250MB of storage space for free, with a $25 upgrade option for an extra 6GB of space.All in all this is a handy service and the new tools are a great gesture on Google's part towards the Mac community. However, due to Flickr's overwhelming popularity (especially among Mac users) and a seeming lack of integration with other Google tools (where are my GmailThis! and BlogThis! buttons?), I think Picasa Web Albums has a little ways to go before it gains any significant interest among Mac users.
Fraser Speirs: "who wants me to make an ApertureExport?"
Fraser Speirs, creator of the highly useful FlickrExport and other apps, is asking for feedback on his blog as to whether users would be interested in a similar ApertureExport app. He warns that ApertureExport wouldn't be quite as well tied into Aperture as FlickrExport is to iPhoto, and this is due to the current version of Aperture (apparently) lacking a plugin API.Still, if the idea of being able to point at a feature in your own copy of ApertureExport some day and telling your friends "that was my idea!" sounds appealing, head over to Mr. Speirs' post and toss in your $0.02.
Flock releases 0.7 beta
Finally, after months of small alpha version bumps, Flock, the social web browser based on Firefox, has unleashed a 0.7 beta with a whole slew of updates, improvements and bug fixes. Along with a site re-design, check out their blog entry for a thorough rundown of what's new and what's still on the way.This beta-worthy version has been a long time coming, and my copy is downloading as I write this. In case you aren't familiar: Flock has Firefox at its core, but includes a ton of features and capabilities built around the concept of using and interacting with the web - not just surfing it. Features like built-in blogging, uploading to/keeping tabs on Flickr and integrated del.icio.us bookmarking are all on the feature list. It's quite a slick browser if you've been looking for a solid, integrated tool for both browsing and participating in the web. Check it out.[via Download Squad]
Transmit 3.5 - where have you been all my life?
Last month Dave Caolo mentioned that Transmit updated to v3.5, went universal and added droplets, amongst other things like Growl support. While I'm sure droplets aren't a new concept by any means, these handy little DnD (drag-n-drop) extras that can perform all sorts of tasks seem to be all the rage lately with applications both old and new. Photoshop does them, DVGuru discovered Compressor does them, and Transmit 3.5's droplets were one of the few key reasons why I purchased a license a few days ago.Transmit's droplets are icons you can effortlessly create that allow a quick DnD operation to send files/folders up to a specific directory in one of your Transmit FTP accounts. What's even nicer is that you can opt to save the relevant password in the droplet, or require it to be input each time you use it to upload something. Creating a droplet is simple: right-click (control-click) on a directory in Transmit and chose the "Save droplet for Folder..." option like I have pictured.The one drawback of these droplets is that they still have to start Transmit in order to actually perform the upload. On the flip side, however, they also automatically quit the app when finished. Ultimately, these droplets are incredibly handy if you have multiple FTP accounts with various directories into which you simply need to dump stuff.Another new feature is Growl support. Since I am a lover of Growl, this is most welcome, but Transmit's implementation is a little quirky as there is no option in Transmit to toggle this feature; it's all done through the Growl System Preferences pane. Heads up to those who are new to the realm of Growl.The last major new feature in 3.5, the one that truly made this love affair flourish, is the "edit any remote file, in any application" feature Dave mentioned. This one almost has to be experienced to believe: you can now double-click remote files in Transmit (such as image or text files) and it will download and open them in an external editor you specify in the preferences. You can then work your magic, simply hit "Save" and Transmit uploads the altered file - seamlessly (try this on an image file with Photoshop for an insta-drool effect). Gone are the days of "download, surf to your local directory, open the file, edit, save, then upload." This alone was worth purchasing a license.Which reminds me: Transmit offers a 15 day trial, while a single license is a bargain at $29.95. Bulk pricing and upgrades are available.
