Darryl.net

Today, Yahoo! Photos launched a limited beta of the new site. We’ve completely revamped the backend to support meta-data and search, incorporated some javascript wizardry on the front end to make a slick drag-and-drop interface, and will be opening our API to 3rd party developers. Here’s the AP article, and a couple other interesting takes. If you want to join, look for the “Join Beta” link at the top right of the page (note that it is not available on SBC/Yahoo or Verizon/Yahoo):

One commonly requested feature is the ability to download high-resolution photos — your own, or your guest’s. Many photo sites, like Ofoto and Snapfish, charge you for this since the bandwidth is expensive and they want to keep you locked into the service. This is the beauty of branded advertising - we can offer customers what they want… for free. In order to keep people from taking their photos elsewhere, we’re just planning on offering a better product.

Today, AOL partnered with Walgreens to offer print-to-store functionality for AOL Pictures. This is a big deal for AOL for two reasons: 1) Walgreens has many, many stores nationwide that are within a few miles of most of the country’s population, and 2) customers love this feature - many have probably been flocking to competitors who have added this goodness over this past year. Indeed, the Target-Yahoo connection has been great for consumers.

While print-to-store is a boon for consumers, it’s really only a boon for the consumers who shop at those stores already. If you use one online photo service that works with a retail store you never visit, you might actually end up putting photos on many services depending on which way you are driving home that day. The online photo site that offers more choices will acquire and retain more users… sending more people to each retail partner.

Consumer Reports just released their Annual Photo Guide and covered online and retail photofinishing as part of their review. They named Yahoo! Photos as the “best online choice overall,” along with Kodak EasyShare Gallery and the Target Photo Center (which, incidentally, is just a co-branded version of Yahoo! Photos). With the new Yahoo! Photos service launching sometime this summer, we look to further our lead.

Is Google finally launching an online complement to Picasa? TechCrunch reports that some inadvertent links on the Picasa site revealed their intentions to launch on online “Web Albums.” No other reports than I can find just yet on what this service will be. Having an integrated desktop-online photo experience could be very interesting, depending on how the integration works. When I was at Ofoto (sorry… Kodak EasyShare Gallery), the EasyShare Software generated a large proportion of the uploads and sharing activity, even though the integration wasn’t as good as it is now.

My wife just launched her letterpress wedding invitations company: One Blossom. If you want the most beautiful handcrafted invitations you have ever seen, drop her a line.

I was chatting with my friend Tom K the other day about life, liberty, and the pursuit of extracting oneself from a cubicle farm, when we stumbled across the career of auto-mechanic.

That’s right, we both can program computers, and fixing cars these days involves intricate knowledge of fancy gadgets (what geek can resist fancy gadgets?). Furthermore, it looks like salaries are comparable to high-flying silicon valley jobs. Soon, car companies will offer stock options to their ‘auto technicians,’ GM will recruit straight from the Computer Science program at Berkeley, and slashtire.org will be overloaded with postings about open-source engine management software.

Stranger things have happened.

Take this quiz to see if you want to be a car mechanic.

Anyone who commutes around the bay area knows that it can be hell. I used to have a motorcycle and that made things a lot easier. But since I’m not going to go down that dangerous path again, I need something that’s safer but has the same traits. Enter the future of commuting: www.commutercars.com. 0-60 in 4 seconds, 150 mph top speed, electric, and you can split lanes! And if it rains, you don’t get wet.

You probably can’t see him, but that’s Ahhnold speaking at Yahoo! right now. “We have lots of spending addicts in Sacramento.”

Actually, IBM, if you could just scan the body text for a question mark, and then put a “?” next to the subject line of the email, I’d know who needs a response. The “!” isn’t helpful since it could require a response or just be important information. Perhaps add a “?” button next to the “!” button for the sender.

A friend of mine told me about IBM Remail yesterday, IBM’s research project on how to build a better email client. After looking through the screenshots and ideas, I’m now waiting with baited breath for when they might release anything. IBM, please help us!