Digital Media

Amateur photographers are being offered a chance to get their work published in an official presidential inaugural photography book.

Publisher Epicenter Communications announced Friday that for the first time it will allow anyone to submit photos to be considered for the large-format book it produces for each new president. The photos will appear alongside those from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and professional photographers of past presidents.

Photos can be submitted to the Web site of The Official Barack Obama Inaugural Book, hosted by Photobucket, or directly on the Photobucket site. Photos can be uploaded from a computer or cell phone. The book will be available in April.

Meanwhile, Obama has become the first U.S. president to have his official presidential portrait taken with a digital camera.

(Credit: Epicenter Communications)

Only two and a half months after announcing Picasa 3 beta, Google has done the uncharacteristic and on Thursday has issued Picasa 3.

Here's the clincher:Picasa 3 is the exact same desktop organizer and editor it has been under the beta flag. (This is a good wagon for the Gmail team to climb aboard--Google's e-mail service has been in beta since 2004 and its latest releases have been earthshaking themes and emoticons.)

Although Version 3 beta users won't see changes in this release, those switching from Version 2.7 will enjoy the substantial boost in features. Version 3 stacks on over a dozen more tricks to refine the editing, creative, and sharing options in what has for years been a solid consumer app. Highlights below.

With a little creativity, you can make gorgeous collages like this in Picasa 3.

(Credit: Tara Morrison/Google)

Syncing and sharing
Instead of manually uploading new photos to Picasa Web Albums from Picasa 3, you'll be able to click "Sync to Web" to keep the folder automatically updated. You can exclude photos by right-clicking and choosing "block from uploading" from the context menu.

Sharing has also gotten much easier. In previous versions, you would upload the photos from Picasa and then click within the Web album to e-mail the link to friends. The 'Share' button next to Picasa's syncing button helpfully auto-uploads the album and sends the Web link without compelling you to go online.

No more leaving Picasa for the Web to update or share photos.

(Credit: CNET)

Movie Maker
A terrific but light addition, Picasa 3's new movie maker can take videos from your digital camera and other clips and intersperse them with any other file Picasa supports. You can then upload your video to YouTube or to Picasa Web, or share via e-mail.

Bare-bones editing tools will trim the clips and add a song for background. However, they don't do fading and there's no template to carry your caption style from frame to frame. Video output is currently only the WMV format, and encoding takes a little time--be patient while it renders.

Drop Box
Drop Box is the new default storage locker for newly uploaded photos, for pictures you don't want to assign to an album, and for multitaskers who tell Picasa to take it easy on the bandwidth so they can simultaneously surf and upload. The Drop Box also holds photos uploaded via Orkut, ShoZu, and other third-party photo uploading services that integrate with Picasa Web Albums. This is one of those features that some users will love and many will ignore.

Screenshots
Picasa 3 hooks into your keyboard's PrintScreen key to index captures of your screen, Webcam input, or a video. For casual users, this feature may replace independent screen-capturing software like Gadwin PrintScreen, Capture.NET, and SnagIt. Those who continue to use those apps may find the cataloging amusing or mildly annoying.

You can upload photos to the drop box and start making a movie from Picasa 3's toolbar.

(Credit: CNET)

Other notables
Picasa 3's red-eye reduction tool detects and auto-corrects all the red-eyes in a photo. This substantially cuts out the hassle of clicking and dragging over individual eyes to wipe out the redness, and it works well most of the time. For blotchy faces and other minor blemishes, the retouch tool will awkwardly but fairly effectively let you blot out problem areas.

Finally, the collage tool has gotten more customizable. Before Picasa 3, you couldn't delete, drag, angle, or print in full resolution. Now you can. These substantial additions make the tool an easy way to get really creative (see photo).

There's always room for improvement, especially with the movie maker and red-eye tool, which could use some more precision controls, but this Version 3 release is an excellent effort that will give people much greater control over their photos and Web albums without sacrificing simplicity. All without clinging to beta.

>>Want more detail? See the full list of additions and changes in Picasa 3.

Google's Photostream application is for viewing Flickr photos on Android phones.

(Credit: Google)

Google released on Thursday a new sample application called Photostream that will let phones running its Android phone operating system view photos stored at Yahoo's Flickr photo-sharing site.

Although Photostream is intended to be a tool to illustrate the use of various Android features, it also looks like a potentially useful application for when the phones start shipping later this year. The open-source program lets people browse a particular user's photos, in groups or individually, and create separate shortcuts to different Flickr accounts, according to a description at the Android developers blog.

Google is trying to attract developers to Android so the project has a rich set of applications. Part of the promise of the effort is to build an "open" foundation, not unlike personal computers, where people can install new software.

Users will be able to find new applications at the Android Market, though that online service likely will launch only with free applications, so developers hoping to profit from the site will probably have to wait.

Google is also moving technology from its Chrome browser to Android.

Microsoft has always been rather strident on the topic of copyright infringement, as you may have noticed, which makes tale of its "Iconic Britain" photo contest all the more astonishing.

The competition was designed as part of the marketing campaign around Windows Live Image Search, with Nikon as the prize partner. Unlike most photographic competitions, which tend to involve photographers submitting their own work (crazy, I know), this one invited entrants to search for other people's online pictures, then submit the ones they felt were iconic British stuff, in the hope of winning a Nikon camera. As for the photographers themselves, they get nada--not even a link-back to their site or a credit of their name.

Spotted the problem yet?

Inevitably, the reality of this situation hit the photographic community, following which the feces really hit the fan. Here's a particularly entertaining thread on Flickr, in which members vent at the fact that their photos--many of which had been set for private viewing only--had been scraped by Microsoft and pulled over, creditless, to Microsoft's servers. Amusingly, some of the scraped "entries" were of iconic British landscapes such as that of, er, Tennessee.

The Pro-Imaging Web site went knocking on Microsoft's door, and got this response:

It is always very important to Microsoft that we respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we regret that this specific marketing program fell short regarding our own very high standards. We are grateful to Pro-Imaging for raising its concerns about the use of photographers' works on the Iconic Britain website. We have since taken steps to obtain the rights to use every image to be featured in the subsequent stages of the Iconic Britain competition. We also welcome the invitation by Pro-Imaging to discuss with them best practices when using photographs in similar competitions.

Note the phrasing: "taken steps to obtain the rights." We approached Microsoft on this point today, and were assured that the competition's final stage--planned but as yet without a date--would feature photographs for which Microsoft is "currently obtaining the copyrights." Yep, that means it still doesn't have the rights. With goodwill like that, what a shocker!

As for Nikon, it's pulled out of the competition in what I would like to think was disgust. Here's its statement:

Nikon UK would like to confirm that it has formally withdrawn its support from Microsoft's Iconic Britain competition. This is due to the feedback and concerns raised by photographers and entrants surrounding the competition mechanic that was developed and promoted by Microsoft. As the camera prizes that were on offer have already been won, Nikon will fulfill its commitment to these winners, however it will not be associated with the competition going forward.

Again, note the phrasing. It seems to me that the prizes Nikon refers to were for early stages of the competition, and someone else is going to have to provide the prizes for the grand finale, whenever that takes place.

Weirdly, the competition Web site (featuring what look to be poorly edited pictures of Nikon cameras that no longer bear the Nikon logo) still says the final round of voting will close on 14 August (two days from now), despite the fact that that round of voting doesn't seem to have actually started yet.

What else? Oh yes, at one point the competition seems to have decided everyone was a winner. Heck--why not?

A final point of interest regards the judges for the competition. We can fairly assume that Nikon's judge, Simon Coleman, has now fled the judging process, but what of the remaining three judges? These would be Mike Selby, editorial director of the Rex Features stock agency, and--most splendidly--Brian Blessed and Joanna Lumley. No word yet as to whether they're still involved.

It's all a very bizarre story, and particularly outrageous coming from Microsoft--a company we thought knew a thing or two about digital rights. We have asked them how this all managed to slip through the net (a question that was met with 15 seconds of stony silence from Microsoft's PR when I tried it over the phone--let's see if e-mail works!), and will of course let you know as soon as we hear back.

UPDATE: Selby, Blessed, and Lumley are all still judges, Microsoft just told us. They still refuse to explain how they (Microsoft) screwed up so badly, though.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

As an avid amateur photographer, my biggest problem with my online media has nothing to do with editing images, but organizing them first. I can click off several hundred photos of the family dog or a hiking trip, but before I even start tweaking colors of a sunset, I have a tough time even finding the right photograph. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 aims to help consumers with that common problem.

In Tuesday's edition of the Daily Debrief, I speak with senior writer and serious photographer Stephen Shankland about the new software released Monday. Retailing for $299 new or $99 as an upgrade, this 2.0 version seems to offer as many new organizational tools as editing ones. According to Shankland, some of the best features include the ability to apply edits to a batch of photos instead of one at a time. Also, the software will always maintain your original digital negative regardless of how many changes and edits you make.

AOL is scrapping some online destinations but will push others harder in an attempt to improve its finances, according to internal memos.

Among those products to be shuttered are Bluestring, a site to share videos, music, and photos; Xdrive, a general-purpose online storage service; and AOL Pictures, where people could store and share photos, according to a July 14 memo from Kevin Conroy, AOL's executive vice president of products and marketing. The memo was published Thursday by TechCrunch.

Kevin Conroy

(Credit: AOL)

"These consumer storage products haven't gained sufficient traction in the marketplace or the monetization levels necessary to offset the high cost of their operation," Conroy said in the memo. Also to be closed is MyMobile which repackages various AOL services for use on mobile devices.

AOL is likewise paring back some of the blogs it hosts, according to a different memo obtained by PaidContent.org. The DIYLife blog is being shut down, according to that report, and bloggers there and at the Unofficial Apple Weblog and DownloadSquad, who are paid by the post, have been told to stop posting until July 31 to cut costs.

It's not unusual for companies to cut products to improve finances, but AOL has a particular incentive: corporate owner Time Warner is trying to prepare the once-powerful subsidiary for sale or other strategic alternatives.

AOL will push several other products harder in an attempt to boost revenue. Those products include AOL's browser toolbar, its desktop software, its e-mail service, and its Truveo video search site, according to the July 14 memo.

Update 8:41 a.m. PDT: A source within AOL has confirmed the authenticity of the memos and a plan Conroy mentioned to sell the Xdrive division.

The source characterized the cuts as part of AOL's standard procedures to maintain profitability. Last year, the company cut 50 online properties, including its video download service. As with that change, AOL will provide users options such as partnerships with competitors or archival CDs and DVDs to preserve their data, the source said.

Packaging for sale
Time Warner is separating AOL's two components, audience and access, the former being its online properties and the latter its dial-up Internet access business. The company is doing so "to increase the accountability and operational focus of each of those businesses, and...to enhance our strategic flexibility," said Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes earlier this year.

Splitting off the dial-up business is important. With broadband increasingly ordinary, dial-up is going nowhere but down, and selling access to the Internet is an operation most content and advertising companies would be loath to absorb.

Some of the cuts at AOL are of divisions that are aligned with the old dial-up business. For example, Xdrive is offered as one of the perks of premium subscription plans. And AOL Pictures was an early online photo option for subscribers.

So AOL is trying to transform itself into a modern Internet company, with high-traffic properties and online advertising. The question is who might be up for a deal with AOL?

There are two obvious candidates: Yahoo and Microsoft. Both have significant cash, significant online operations, and significant troubles keeping up with Google's rise to prominence. They would love the extra Web site traffic: each page viewed is an opportunity to sell advertisements, and adding all that extra ad inventory expands the clout of the companies' ad networks during a time of consolidation.

It should be noted that AOL's ad network, Platform-A, delivers advertisements to a larger fraction of U.S. Internet users than any of its competitors, according to ComScore's latest statistics. Its reach of 90 percent is ahead of Yahoo, at 83 percent, and Google, at 81 percent.

Online ad growth
Here's why, even with the current economic troubles, AOL is potentially desirable, despite its troubles: U.S. spending on online ads will increase from $25.9 billion this year to $41 billion in 2011, analysis firm eMarketer projects.

But AOL specializes in display ads, the graphical variety that cost advertisers when they're put on Web pages. Google minted its billions of dollars in revenue chiefly on textual search ads, which are paid only when users click on them, a structure that makes it easier for advertisers to measure performance and justify the expense of ad campaigns.

With the economy gone sour, it's these display ads that are under more pressure.

Cowen analysts Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman on Friday lowered their forecast for display ad spending in the United States, saying that search ad spending is stronger. "We believe paid search spending is much less exposed to ad budget cuts than other media, based on our previously published analysis of the historical spending patterns on direct mail during recessions," the analysts said.

And display is a smaller part of online ad spending: eMarketer projects that U.S. display ad revenue will increase from $5.5 billion in 2008 to $7.9 billion in 2011, while search ads will increase from $10.4 billion to $16 billion.

For search ads, AOL relies on Google's technology and shares the resulting revenue. Yahoo and Microsoft, though, could swap out the Google ads with their own, adding significant heft to their search ad operations.

Other buyers?
Who else might be interested? Google is showing more signs of interest in diversifying to traditional Internet portal activities such as e-mail, news, finance, and shopping, but it also appears to have the patience to build its own properties using its staggering cash flow. It's got its troubles, but it completely lacks the odor of urgency that emanates from Yahoo and Microsoft.

Another possibility is IAC/InterActiveCorp, a conglomerate of many online properties. However, while IAC wants to expand its advertising network, it also looks not to be in the mood for consolidation. It's seeking to spin off operations such as LendingTree, Ticketmaster, and HSN.

Probably more likely would be a more traditional media company such as or , both of which have shown interest in hitching their carts to the online bandwagon.

The New York Times' advertising revenue decreased 17.8 percent in its most recent quarter, the company said Wednesday, "because of weakness in print advertising," so online advertising could help even if it's not a miracle cure. The Times also announced a partnership with online contacts management site LinkedIn and runs the About.com site.

News Corp., meanwhile, operates MySpace and has an investment in online video site Hulu and has a strong interest in online advertising.

At first glance, Kevin Connolly's photographs simply capture random people on random streets around the world. But look again, and it becomes clear his photos tell a much more complex story--the split-second shock and curiosity on strangers' faces when they encounter a man with no legs, gliding past on a skateboard, propelling himself with his hands.

Connolly, 22, was born legless. He has gone from award-winning skier who tears down slopes in his custom-built mono-ski to professional photographer probably best-known for "The Rolling Exhibition," his series of digital photos that show strangers looking at him with expressions ranging from fear to confusion to sympathy. The images have drawn big crowds online.

"The Rolling Exhibition" crew: Kevin Connolly, his Nikon D200, and his skateboard.

(Credit: Chris Toalson)

Now, having just graduated from Montana State University in May, the self-proclaimed "camera geek" is looking forward with a move to New Zealand and a book about the exhibit in the works.

"There's a certain shock value in his images, and we are faced with who we are when we look it them," said Dan Wise, an adjunct instructor at Montana State University who taught Connolly the basics of black-and-white analog photography. "That's the power of his photography."

It started two years ago. Traveling in Europe while he studied in New Zealand, Connolly felt the gaze of a passerby, an experience he had become accustomed to throughout his life. But this time he pointed his trusty Nikon D200 digital SLR camera and clicked. He liked the image so much he decided to travel around the world and take more.

Connolly traveled through 15 countries and across the U.S. during the summer of 2007. Getting around on his skateboard, he shot from the hip, literally, only sizing up the photos in his mind, without one glance through the viewfinder. The method was unusual for the photographer, who was accustomed to carefully planning out his shots before snapping.

"The only way I was able to figure out how to effectively shoot from the hip was setting a lot of limits around myself," he explained during a recent phone interview with CNET News.com. "For instance, every single photo in the series is taken off of one focal length--an 18-millimeter Nikkor lens. So I basically was able to memorize the frame line that that would create based on where it was situated on my hip and be able to largely frame up subjects just by feel."

When he returned home to his college town of Bozeman, Mont., he had 32,728 pictures to show for his travels--and was a bit disappointed when a fellow camera lover sent him an article saying Connolly's Nikon model would probably stop functioning after 100,000 to 110,000 pictures.

"To buy a camera and then immediately go out and shoot nearly a third of its life off...for a poor college kid, that was kind of sad," he laughed.

Not to mention the gadget was pretty banged-up.

"The left side of the camera body is actually sheared off about a fourth of inch just by virtue of it being so close to the ground," he said. "It definitely looks a little worse for wear."

Connolly took this shot during his first trip to Tokyo. Click on the image to see more photos from "The Rolling Exhibition."

(Credit: Kevin Connolly)

Connolly picked out 48 pictures that represented an equal spread of the countries he visited and the people he saw. A user of both Macs and PCs, he utilized Adobe Creative Suite 3 for minor photo touch-ups, like erasing the dust on his lens, which was held close to the ground. However, he left most pictures unedited.

The photographer felt as if his camera caught people at their most vulnerable, as their minds churned to explain his state.

He discovered that when people see him rolling by on his skateboard they want to make up a story for him. According to the artist statement on his Web site, he has been asked if he was a victim of a shark attack or a car accident, or if he was a veteran of the war in Iraq.

"These stories kind of followed me around to all these different places in the world," he said. "The interesting thing is that these stories would always vary with the context in which a person is pulling their information."

In Sarajevo, Bosnia, Connolly saw how context influenced his "story" more than ever. The country's stigma about the Balkan War was reflected back onto Connolly by the strangers who encountered him.

"So many people would assume that I was a victim of mortar or a land mine," he said, "and that assumption was just so much more prevalent and powerful there than anywhere else, that it really began to hit me, the nuance of the series."

Connolly's first showing of "The Rolling Exhibition" drew 600 people. Now, his Web site gets about 1,000 hits a week, but has spiked to as many as 70,000 when his story appears in the media.

"The funny thing is that the studio that designed my Web site is actually a couple of old high school buddies," Connolly said. "We just sat down and drew out basically what we wanted it to look like for this project and then set it up, never with any idea that it would gain this much traffic. It's just been really funny to watch such a small, simply designed site gain so much attention."

Although Connolly never expected such a response, he has no qualms about receiving such a warm reception for his first photo project.

"I think a lot of people are drawn instantly by the look of it and the common thread of curiosity. Some other people, if they dig a little big more might dig on the nuance of these stories that people tell based on their country," he said. "But I think a fair number of people are just sucked in by the logistic craziness of it all--a no-legged guy skating around the world."

Connolly, a recent graduate of Montana State University, offers rides on his skateboard to fellow park goers in his college town of Bozeman.

(Credit: Sarah Nutsford)

As a "no-legged guy," Connolly has found technology at the center of activities he loves. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in media and theater arts, with a focus on film--and he plans to embark soon on a documentary about the Olympics and Para-Olympics. When he wants to take some time away from group projects, he turns to digital photography. And when the digital darkroom gets stuffy, he can take to the road, driving his car with the help of hand controls.

But he also takes to the slopes in Montana, perched on his mono-ski made of fiberglass, plastic, and metal to simulate legs and a single ski. He also uses outriggers to navigate down the slopes. With the help of this mono-ski, Connolly nabbed the silver medal in the 2007 Winter X-Games. At this year's games he overshot his landing at the end of one of the qualifying rounds and broke his mono-ski's frame, so he could not compete.

"He's a way overachiever, which is a good thing. I don't think he has an off button," Connolly's teacher Wise said. "He's incredibly self-motivated. It's hard to say anything about Kevin that hasn't been said. He's inspirational to not only himself but to others."

Despite all his accomplishments, Connolly's goal isn't to be an inspirational story.

"After a couple weeks of press I rang up my dad and was kind of whining about how all these people focused on the inspirational angle or the physical challenge angle instead, and how I didn't want to be thought of as an inspiration," Connolly said. "My dad just kind of laughed and responded, 'It doesn't matter what you think. People are going to take away what they want to take away from it.' I guess my stance is that the only way to continue being an inspiration is to just keep doing what I'm doing."

AUDIO

Kevin Connolly talks shop
Creator of "The Rolling Exhibition" talks with News.com's Holly Jackson about his Nikon D200, how he takes pictures, and how he feels about being viewed as an inspiration.
Download mp3 (3.57MB)

There are signs Picasa Web Albums could be renamed Google Photos.

Google's Picasa Web Albums

Google Operating System noticed several references to the term in the code that powers the Web site.

Among the examples: "This photo will be available to view and share in Google Photos, Google's free photo hosting service." And: "By submitting this form, you're alerting the Google Photos team to inappropriate content on this page."

Poring through a source code may sound like a dodgy way to predict the future, but programming code snippets can be revealing. Some wording in the Apple iPhone developer kit indicated a change might come to the company's .Mac online service, and sure enough, it became MobileMe earlier this month.

Picasa also is the name of software Google offers for free to perform basic photo editing and to upload photos to the Web site.