December 21, 2004

Service: Upload Digital Photos for Prints and Next Day Pickup

Author note: I'm not sure where this post is going as far as EA is concerned...a service, a solution / application (or two, digital photo processing / shopping cart), some basic web-form thin-client-server technology pattern for uploading digital photo files (there's the main part of my information layer). In this 2005 direction, I suppose: VO's communication / weblog universe as prototype 'enterprise' to document on AboutEA using EA practices...name (potential): The VO Weblog Enterprise or VO Weblog Enterprises (an enterprise of enterprises).

I'm looking to print a bunch of photos for still-to-be-finalized gifts, so I thought I'd try out a few different photo services (Longs, Target, so far) using a couple of different methods (files on CD, internet upload / store pickup), to see what the services are like.

Herbie Hancock and Ron Dhanifu
PBJF Press Conference 2004: Herbie Hancock and Ron Dhanifu"

The first try before hoops practice this evening was physically taking a CD burned from a Mac iPhoto album, but this was somewhat thwarted by a too-smart file-finding mechanism on the kiosk that also found the same-named thumb-nails that iPhoto exports on the CD...and the regular and thumbnail photos are displayed the same size on the kiosk! I couldn't easily tell the difference and I was very time challenged. I ran to the van in the Longs parking lot, opened the laptop to do a quick iPhoto export and burn to run back in and try again with only the to-print pics on the CD...but the burn went on too long and I had 8 young hoopsters needing a full hour of drills and fun...so I let it burn as I headed back toward practice.

Anyway, so now at 11:00 pm both Longs and Target are closed, so we focus on the Upload services, hoping to be able to upload some pictures, get prints ordered, and have them ready to pick up when I need them tomorrow...hopefully in the morning...somewhere rationally between here and there...and maybe we'll try out the in-store digital photo services when we get there.

  • Longs Drug @ Digital Camera Developing.com (Powered by Fuji Film): Uploading about 6 good sized jazz cool JPGs to get some 5x7's or so for my Playboy Jazz Festival Press Conference amigo and Jazz 88 host, Ron Dhanifu. The photo upload is clunky in that you have to select each file individually...which is why I picked an album with a small number of photos. And now as I check the started upload...an Error...ugh..."CartUpdate expects..."...bleep bloop bleep...horrible user experience so far. Trying to back down the number of files from 6 (12MB) to 1...and while responding a bit faster, it comes up with 'no images'...wow. So this is where Fuji Film is at online...and I even tried one more time to upload just one picture, but the UI keeps coming back 'no images'.
  • Target Photo Center powered by Kodak. Well, all six photos uploaded first try...navigate shopping cart...and find that they 'ship' them to the Target store...3 to 5 days...longer during holidays...how cannister-in-drop-slot old school! I now wonder if their in-store digi-prints will be 1-hour, 1-day, 1-?.
  • Apple iPhoto 'Buy Prints' (Kodak Print Service). I knew this was a order prints, but checked to make sure...yep...1-2 days...not good enough.
  • Other internet sites, like http://Flickr.com or http://Webshots.com or http://Snapfish,com. No time to try right now, but I'm skeptical they would have some easy way to print my pictures at a location I'm going to be at. The partnership between a web-only photo service and a print-on-location show seems hard to imagine.
  • Photo hardware / services places like Ritz Camera (http://ritzpix.com). Ritz looks to have the same potential as Longs / Target...and they use Fuji web-services like Longs...but theirs responds better...same clunky upload individual files interface, but...6 prints ordered for pick-up tomorrow. If they look good, Ritz may get some in-store prints from CD ordered. We'll see. Note to self: Next time put my cell-phone email address in for the 'other email notification' feature...then I can get some sort of notification on my phone when it's ready to pick-up...cool!
  • FedEx Kinko's (http:fedexkinkos.com) . Print photos on their printers from CD or some on-line service...that's a more feasible partnership for the online photo shops...I think. Add the ability for FedEx to deliver the pictures...um...looks like they see the possibilities too.

    So lots of options, and I haven't even touched on just getting a better photo quality printer myself and printing at home. I just can't imagine the quality would be better at home than those big honker machines where they spit the prints out. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll pursue...Christmas gifts depend upon our perseverence on this one!

    If I'm consistent at all, I'll update this with the results of picking up the order prints at Ritz and trying their in-store-order-from-CD service. If I'm not, you can just ask me how it came out! That's the kind of enterprise we run here!!

    Posted by outlawv at December 21, 2004 12:55 AM
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