Summer Vacation 2007 (1 of 6) - Vacation from My Vacation

Maybe it is transporting 6 people all across the East. Maybe it is 3000 miles I am putting on the rented Yukon. Maybe because I am not visiting my side of the family. Maybe it is the awful East coast driving in cramped space. Whatever the reason, I need a vacation from my vacation!

Now don't get me wrong...it is great seeing family (even The In-Laws!). The mountains in PA & OH are a spectacular site. The beach at Ocean City, MD was powerful and soothing and neat. But it was rush to get there, rush to see everyone and rush to do everything once you are there and with family and friends!

Where is the relaxation! NO TIME!

My children and wife had the time of their life. I am VERY thankful for that.

-Durk-

Photo Sharing with Google & Yahoo

I am continuing my discussion of photo sharing sites. Photobucket is ad-driven. Shutterfly has less ads and allows you to order prints. Snapfish offers a personalized photo product line. Today's photo sharing sites are sponsored by Google & Yahoo!

http://www.flickr.com/
Flickr is associated with Yahoo and uses one's Yahoo account info (login and password).

Wikipedia says this:

Flickr is a photo sharing website and web services suite, and an online community platform, which is generally considered an early example of a Web 2.0 application.

In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository. Its popularity has been fueled by its innovative online community tools that allow photos to be tagged and browsed by folksonomic means.

Stats at a glance for http://www.flickr.com/:

• Cost: Free with Yahoo ads, but limited bandwidth, limited archiving and the account disappears after 90 consecutive days of inactivity.
• Upgrade: $24.95/yr to upgrade to a pro account and get pretty much unlimited everything and permanent archiving and ad-free browsing.
• Storage: When you have a free Flickr account, you can upload 100MB worth of photos each calendar month. This is a bandwidth limit, and not an amount of space that you have on Flickr servers.
• Software: Flickr (free download)
• What sets this site apart: The ability to tag pictures with keywords and blog and photo integration.
  

http://picasaweb.google.com/
picasaweb is associated with Google and uses one's Google account info (login and password).

Wikipedia says this:

Picasa is a computer application for organizing and editing digital photos. In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa from Idealab and began offering Picasa for free download.

For organizing photos, Picasa has file importing and tracking features, as well as tags and collections for further sorting. It also offers several basic photo editing functions, including color enhancement, red eye reduction and cropping. Other features include slide shows, printing and image timelines. Images can also be prepared for external use, such as for e-mailing or printing, by reducing file size and setting-up page layouts. There is also integration with online photo printing services.

Stats at a glance for http://picasaweb.google.com/:

• Cost: Free with not too many ads but limited storage.
  Upgrade: 6.25 GB ($25 USD per year)
  25 GB ($100 USD per year)
  100 GB ($250 USD per year)
  250 GB ($500 USD per year)
• Storage: 1GB of free storage.
• Software: Picasa (free download)
• What sets this site apart: The ability to tag pictures with keywords, Picasa's web albums and simple photo editing.

Next time I will talk about Dotphoto. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing for more info on photo sharing.

-Durk-

Sprint Mogul (PPC6800) by HTC Officially Unveiled

Well, the phone I have been waiting for, nay, dreaming about was finally released this week. The next version of the PPC6700-my phone that I love so much-has finally been released. UTStarcom was bought by HTC and HTC has just released the Mogul.

Here is an initail review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/mogul-153-by-htc/4505-6452_7-32471386.html?tag=nefdprod.rev

Of course I want one, heck I want 5! But for now I am reading up on it. I just can't justify the $400. I also have a friend who got one for free. I hope to check his out. I hope I don't kill him in the process and steal it. I liked him just fine until I found out that he got one for FREE! FOR FREE!?

-Durk-

Photo Sharing-Snapfish

I am continuing my discussion of photo sharing sites. Photobucket is ad-driven. Shutterfly has less ads and allows you to order prints. Today's site steps it up again!

http://www.snapfish.com/
Snapfish is a web-based image sharing and print service currently owned by Hewlett-Packard which was launched in April 2000. As of 2006, Snapfish claims to have over 19 million members, and houses over 350 million unique digital pictures.

Once again snapfish ups the ante by allowing you to buy stuff with the pictures that you have uploaded to their site-your pictures on their stuff! Stuff like shirts, mugws and playing cards, just to name a few. Click here for a quick peek. Very cool!

Photo sharing sites are super user friendly. All of the photo sharing sites that I discuss have been incredibly easy to sign up with. They all offer very easy-to-use interfaces and all upload pictures at a very speedy rate. The difference is in the amount of space that they have to offer and what "extra" the sites have to offer, Photobucket offers video hosting, Shutterfly offers reprints and software. Snapfish also offers free Photo editing and organizing software-Snapfish Express PhotoShow.



Stats at a glance for http://www.snapfish.com/:

• Cost: Free with ads for shutterfly services (less external ads)
• Upgrade: none
• Storage: unlimited
• Software: Snapfish Express PhotoShow (free download)
• What sets this site apart: The ability to oder products with your pictures on it.

Next time I will talk about Yahoo's and Google's photo sharing sites. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing for more info on photo sharing.

-Durk-

Memorial Day 2007

Memorial Day holds unique significance to me because my father passed away on Memorial Day in 2005. He gave me life and loved me. And I miss him much.

In honor of Memorial Day I thought I’d post my thoughts from a few years ago.

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I embarrassingly bought the pregnancy test. I read the positive results by email. Minnie was pregnant again! I tried not to tell anyone; that lasted about 5 minutes. When the doctor’s found two heartbeats for the first time I was elated. I thought “Twins again?! No problem!”

Minnie’s first pregnancy with our identical twin boys was full of potential complications: Bed rest in the hospital, delivering early admitted to the NICU. But in the end they turned out perfect. They are handfuls and ornery, but they are our pride and joy.

We thought that the next pregnancy would be a breeze, we thought, “How easy it will be to have only one child?” Minnie’s next two pregnancies ended tragically in miscarriages. The first hit us very hard; we tried to gain closure by having a memorial service. The second seemed easier.

I don’t know if it was the novelty of having twins again, that fact that Minnie and I were in a good place to plan for more kids, or just that Minnie and I were going to have babies in the house again. Whatever the reasons I really wanted these babies.

I prayed so hard as the doctor’s searched for the heartbeats again a few days later. "Please God, Please God…" Smaller babies. No heartbeats. Our babies died. Another miscarriage.

Minnie found comfort from friends. She found comfort in the Bible. She found comfort through songs.

For me, there are questions: Where is God?

I thought He was there with Kaleb & Keegan. I thought I saw his work. Does he give us gifts just to turn around and take them away? Was this really His will? What kind of God is that?

Where was God? Is He a God who put things in motion in the beginning and now just sits back? Where is the personal God I’ve grown up with? Is this really for the best? Will good come out of it? I don't want "good," I want the babies.

And I'm mad. I'm mad at God for not stepping into my life, and I'm mad that I am close enough to Him to get mad at Him. Maybe if I distance myself from him, He can't hurt me; He can't anger me…and I won't hurt Him by getting mad at Him.

Then I am reminded of Jesus, who was fully man and fully God.

I'm reminded that Jesus prayed hard, he asked for the cup to be taken away. It wasn't. I'm reminded that Jesus asked questions: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" God didn't forsake him. I'm reminded that Jesus grieved: "Jesus wept."

In the end there are no answers. In the end it is just Jesus and me, pondering, asking, expecting answers. It is Jesus and me grieving. But the best part is is that it is Jesus and me.
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“I really Wanted these babies” Written February 8th 2002 and read in worship at Christ Community Church shortly after. Thanks Pastor Dave for encouraging me to reflect and write.

Since this writing God has blessed my wife and I with 2 more healthy boys, Calvin Wesley and Corbin Riley, they join twins, Kaleb Nathaniel & Keegan Daniel.

-Durk-

Photo Sharing-Shutterfly.com

I am continuing my discussion of photo sharing sites. Like my friend Bill said in his comments about my last post: "You get what you pay for." His reference to godaddy.com is pretty incredible price for web hosting. So while the "you get what you pay for" addage is mostly true, photo sharing sites today have much to offer for free! And then have even more to offer at a fair price.

http://www.shutterfly.com
My wife turned me on to Shutterfly when she decided to take a step into digital scrapbooking. Shutterfly, Inc. is a photo sharing website that was founded in 1999 by Netscape and Silicon Graphics founder James Clark. It provides a digital photo printing service to customers. In response to market changes in recent years, Shutterfly now offers other products, such as customized calendars and greeting cards. Shutterfly also offers a free download photo editor: http://www.shutterfly.com/studio/overviews.jsp

Here is their limit policy:

For our customers, we offer free, unlimited storage: we will let you store as
many pictures as you wish, with no fee to upload or store your pictures. All
pictures, whether uploaded digitally or from our 35mm film service, will be kept
in your account until you delete them yourself. (Please note that Shutterfly
reserves the right to modify this policy if necessary.)

We also offer a service called Shutterfly Pro Galleries, where you can sell prints online, naming your own price-- with discounted printing provided by Shutterfly. For Pro Galleries, we offer hosted storage for an annual fee, with storage levels starting at 5 GB for the Pro plan and unlimited storage for the Premier plan. Please note that the storage limit is based upon the files posted to your galleries at a single
time. For more information, please see our Pro Galleries page at: http://www.shutterfly.com/progallery

Shutterfly does not currently have a maximum file size limit. We do encourage customers to keep image file sizes to within reason (usually under 10 megs, as there is no added benefit in terms of our printing with larger sizes).

The thing that sets Shutterfly apart from Photobucket (besides less ads!) is that Shutterfly allows you to order prints-You upload your digital pictures then merely order prints to be delivered by mail. Another VERY cool feature at shutterfly is that they have a very simple-to-use interface that allows you to create a photo album-a real-honest-to goodness book, one that you can hold in your hand! One of the presents I got this year was my very own photo album. Shuterfly allows you to choose the layout, pick your pics, create captions or even create a story line and then you submit an order and in a few days you get a bound book delivered to your doorstep. Pretty cool!

Here is a digital version of a book made for grandma: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/project/2AasWbZi4asWEv/landing

Stats at a glance for http://www.shutterfly.com/ :

• Cost: Free with ads for shutterfly services (less external ads)
• Upgrade: none
• Storage: unlimited
• Software: Shutterfly Studio (free download)
• What sets this site apart: The ability to oder prints and other simple proiducts.

Next time I will talk about snapfish.com Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing for more info on photo sharing.

-Durk-

Photo Sharing-Photobucket.com

As I became more serious about selling on ebay I discovered that I could be much more creative using HTML code and that I could have as many pictures as I wanted in an auction or store item if the pictures were hosted somewhere else (off of ebay). So I began to sign up with myspace, msn spaces (now spaces.live) and the like (this blog site) only to find out that you could not store pictures at these site-in fact these sites depended on an outside site to host pictures. Some of those sites have changed thier policies and do allow you to store pics, but usually the space is limited. I was stumped for a bit. Those that pay to host a website know how valuable the storage space is-usually about $100/yr for about 500mb.

Then a myspace user told me about photobucket. Photobucket is simply a site where you can upload pictures and then share them with others-either by using a blog or a myspace site to display the pictures or by offering someone an address to where your photo is on the Photobucket site. This is called photosharing and it has become VERY popular on the internet.

The advantage of using a photosharing site is that you can host pictures online for free-think of it as free storage, free space. And most of these sites offer quite a bit of space-a GB or more! Another advantage is that you can use a single location to organize your pictures. You can usually create folders or albums. And then of course you can share your photos with loved ones and friends. To meet my goal I signed up with Photobucket and was able to put the location of those pictures into my ebay code and the pictures showed up in auctions and store items without having to pay an additional ebay fee! SWEET. Others sign up with a myspace or a blog site (such as this one, blogspot) and can display pictures.

Photo sharing sites may have much in common but they are not all ceated equal. Most of the free photosharing sites offer their free photosharing services because they sell ads on their website. Selling ads on websites have been around for a long time and is continuing to be very big business. Photobucket is a heavy with ads-and that is why they can offer their service for free. Most offer an upgraded service for a small fee-then you can get rid of the adds. All photo sharing sites offer some sort of interface for you to select pictures from your computer and then upload them to the photo sharing site. And all photo sharing sites offer methods of sharing your photos. Some sites stop there and others offer many additional pay services-such as ordering prints, creating a bound photo album, creating pretty cool digital displays, and even ordering stuff with your pictures on it. Pay-as in these extra services cost money, and that is another way the sites can offer their services for free. And many of their services are at a really great price!

http://www.photobucket.com/
Photobucket offers image hosting, free photo sharing and video sharing. Upload your photos, host your videos, and share them with friends and family. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. It is free to sign up, you get 1GB of space and are allowed 25GB of monthly bandwidth. Photobucket has 36 million registered users and adds 85,000 new users per day.

Most of the free photosharing sites offer their free service because they sell ads on their website. Selling ads on websites have been around for a longt time and is continuing to be very big business. Photobucket is a heavy with ads-and that is why they can offer their service for free.

Photobucket is the first site that was recommended to me. They allow you to not only upload pictures but also upload videos and movies. I actually have more than one photobucket account. Photobucket also offers some simple but cool ways to display your pics. My picture to the left is an exmple of a Photobucket stamp. Below are pictures of my minivan after a deer kicked its butt (notice the Kung-Fu-HIY YAH!). In my previous posts I have used Photobucket Strips.

Stats at a glance for http://www.photobucket.com/:

• Cost: Free with lots of ads
• Upgrade: $25 a year (no ads, more space a few more services)
• Storage: 1GB of space
• Software: none
• What sets this site apart: Offers free video hosting

Next time I will talk about Shutterfly.com. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing for more info on photo sharing.

-Durk-