Digital Photo Superguide

Boost Your Photo Fun (cont'd)

Imeem

These days, text and photo blogs are as hot as Web sites were in 1996. But some people are reluctant to post personal photographs to a blog that the entire universe has access to. If you're looking for a way to share pictures, text, and files with a select group of friends and family, look no further than Imeem. Imeem is not a Web site; it's a program that hosts content such as text blogs, photos, discussion forums, instant messaging, and file sharing. Once you create your online space with Imeem, only people you personally approve can see your content. Or you can relax the privacy rules and let a wider circle of people see your stuff--such as friends of anyone directly linked to you--or you can just open the floodgates to the whole world.

When you're not logged in to Imeem, your user profile and text blogs remain available to anyone who has permission to see them, because they reside at Imeem's site. Your photos stay on your PC, however, so they're available for public viewing only when you're online. And when someone else views your photos, the program stores copies of the pictures on that person's PC. As an alternative to renting space on a public server, Imeem works well--especially if you link to a lot of friends. Free.

Slide

Slide is unlike a typical photo-sharing service. Whereas most sites post pictures online for visitors to peruse in a browser-based photo album, Slide displays your photos in a rolling filmstrip that scrolls slowly down the side of your computer screen. The pictures are small and unobtrusive; but if you hover over a particular image, the filmstrip pauses and the selected image pops into a larger window for closer inspection. Controls in the window let you share the picture instantly--at its original resolution--with anyone via e-mail. (The images are stored locally and are always sent from your own machine.)

Slide's filmstrip routinely displays images stored throughout your PC; this can lead to serendipitous rediscovery of long-lost photos. If you like, you can organize photos into channels and invite friends and family to subscribe to them so that they can see your photos on their own desktops. You can subscribe to other people's channels as well, so at any given moment you may be watching a filmstrip of your cousin's best photos. Some Web sites have created their own channels: You can subscribe to Gizmodo.com's parade of gadget-related photos, for instance. Free.

Avvenu

Sometimes, in spite of the growing number of online file-sharing sites, the hardest part of digital photography can be showing off what you've done. Generally you can't e-mail 6-megapixel images because most e-mail servers balk at such large files. Enter Avvenu, a service for sharing photos or entire folders on your computer with friends and family.

The photos stay on your PC, while Avvenu acts as a Web-based go-between. Use Avvenu to share photos, music, and other files; the recipient gets an e-mail message containing a preview of the photos and a link to the appropriate online location for downloading a copy of the files. From then on, your friends can access anything you throw into your shared folders. The downloads are secure; only people you choose can obtain them.

You can access the Avvenu service from any Web-enabled device, including mobile phones and PDAs, and browse your photos from the palm of your hand. Free.