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Filed under: Internet, Photo, Video, Holiday Gift Guide, Social Software

3 photo sharing sites for your new shutterbug - Holiday Gift Guide



If you know someone on your gift list is getting a camera or is a new shutterbug, you might want to consider getting them a "pro" photo sharing account where they can upload all their new photos. This is a nice gift for several reasons: 1. A pro account is a must have since most free accounts have a storage limit that the average photographer will easily exceed. 2. Pro accounts are ad free. 3. Pro accounts have more features and allow the upload of larger file sizes. 4. As the giver of the account, it stands to reason you might be given access to your shutterbug's photostream, although, it's equally possible you might not.

Here are my top picks for investing in a pro account. (Many thanks to our readers for enthusiastically recommending Smugmug).

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Filed under: Internet, Security, Web services, web 2.0

SmugMug doesn't seem to understand the meaning of privacy

SmugMug privacy
The folks at Google Blogoscoped have uncovered what appears to be a pretty glaring privacy hole in online photo sharing site SmugMug. Like many online photo sharing services, SmugMug allows users to mark images as public or private. If your images are private they won't show up on your profile page and other users are only supposed to be able to find them if you send them a special URL, which is not password protected.

Sure, a password would make the page more secure, but it would also make it more inconvenient for your friends, family, and colleagues to see your vacation photos. But as long as there's no easy way for the general public to find your photos, they're still secure from prying eyes, right?

Maybe not. The problem is that SmugMug gives images a predictable URL string, starting with http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1000. All you have to do is change the number and you'll start to find photo album after photo album, whether they're market public or private.

As Google Blogoscope's Philipp Lenssen points out, the solution could be as simple as using a random string of characters. But the CEO of SmugMug replied in an email to Lenssen that the system wasn't built for randomized strings, and changing it now would be expensive. And you know what? If most SmugMug users remain blissfully unaware that their "private" images might be publicly accessible then maybe it's not wroth the time and money to fix the flaw. But we kind of think SmugMug and any other company that claims to offer users some level of privacy should really be willing to improve their system when flaws are pointed out.

Filed under: Photo, Web services, Commercial

After outage, smugmug updates customization

smugmug

Smugmug may be a perennial also-ran in the photo-sharing space, but the service is trying to stay ahead of the curve by offering its members more customization features. After database glitches brought the service down for several hours earlier today, smugmug unveiled a massive CSS overhaul, which lets members customize virtually every aspect of their photo galleries. Unfortunately, the service's own default style still sports a hideous day-glo-on-black look, but at least it's easier to get rid of it — if you're willing to pay a price. Smugmug limits customization to its "Power" and "Pro" users, who pay $49.95 and $99.95 a year, respectively. "Standard" customers are stuck in day-glo world for their $29.95 a year. I still like smugmug, and I think $49.95 is a reasonable price for unlimited uploads and downloads, along with full customization. But I think they really should offer a free tier — and hire a new designer — if they want to compete more aggressively in this space.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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