If you're one of those people who upload all of their digital photos to the web you could be missing out on earning some cash in the process. Image Reward is a new image hosting site that allows you to earn cash for simply uploading your photos and having your friends view them. Pretty simple, yeah?

Users have unlimited space to upload their pics as long as no one file exceeds 1024k. Much like other image sites you can organize your photos into albums, adds descriptions and tags, make photos public or private, and post your photos in forums or on sites like Myspace and Facebook. Where Image Reward is a little different is that they give you rewards for hosting your pictures with them in the form of points that can be redeemed for fabulous cash and prizes.

Each time your photos are viewed you earn 2 points, and you earn 20 for every friend referral. Once you get to certain point threshold you can trade your points in for cash. $10 is the smallest amount you can redeem and you'll have to have earned 20,000 points to get it. 400,000 points will earn you $200. Points can also be redeemed for Amazon and Super gift certificates. The site is still in beta so it still has a few hiccups, it looks like it could shape up into something pretty nice in the near future however.

Have you ever lost information on your hard drive, especially photos, or maybe even accidentally deleted all the files on your camera memory card? Harsh stuff. Especially since many people don't even bother to print out, or backup digital photos now. That could be the reason why ProtectMyPhotos started up. It's a way to securely, and automatically backup digital photos. So, if anything ever happens to your digital photos, hard drive crashes, corruption, or maybe even a fire, images that are stored on your computer are safe, the secure archived ones can easily be accessed, and recovery of the lost ones will start. The ProtectMyPhotos online application also allows the user to look at backup photos online, with their photo viewer.

In order to get things started, you have to install a free software package. Upon installation, you will be asked what folders of images you wish to backup and protect. Your photos will automatically be uploaded, and monitoring of the images folders that you had specified will be monitored in case of changes. If you decide to get rid of red eye in some of your photos, or do some editing, the files that are stored on ProtectMyPhotos.com will be instantly uploaded to reflect the changes. Files can then be viewed online, anywhere there is internet access. ProtectMyPhotos.com is a free site when it comes to images. They do have another option if you wish to protect movies, music and documents for $39.95/ year, and it works the same way as the image protection works.

UPDATE: ProtectMyPhotos offers 2 plans for photos. Plan 1 is a free account with unlimited photos, and lower res. Plan 2 is unlimited storage for $39.95/year.

On Wednesday, Google pushed its digital photo application Picasa out of beta, with many new updates. The Picasa Build 32.91 updates include:

• Sharing photos online though Picasa web albums
• Choose how folders are displayed in Picasa, though a nested folder view, or date view.
• Importing photos into an existing folder.
• Choose between four presentation views for screensavers.
• Tell Picasa where you shot each photo, and geotagging ads some nice integration with Google Earth. KMZ files can be exported and shared with others.
• Thumbnails appear larger and clearer.
• RAW formats and more camera models are supported.
• Caption editing has been updated.
• Starred photos get organized into a special album.
• Buttons can be configured to the user's specifications.

Google has also added a Tools > Experimental menu where users can test out features that Google is working to develop. Sorry, but Picasa is currently only available for PC and Linux downloads at the moment.

I love Picasa, and use it daily to organize, view and store my digital photos. Over the past few months I have been experimenting with the Picasa Web feature, and I have to say, it's a great tool to use to send digital pictures to family and friends for viewing anywhere, and display them in a nice online gallery.