Webware

Photo-sharing site Zooomr is mostly relaunched in its version 3 incarnation, and now the two-person company has begun offering $19.95 "pro" account subscriptions in hopes of raising money.

Zooomr wants users to buy new pro accounts.

(Credit: Zooomr)

"We do need to make at least a little money to survive," Chief Executive Thomas Hawk said in a blog posting Monday. "The community has stepped up and helped us in the most generous of ways, and we are hoping that all of you who find Zooomr meaningful will also consider helping us out by turning pro."

Those with pro accounts won't see ads when the company starts showing them "some time in the near future to help pay the bills." Pro account holders also will get access to analysis tools and other features not available to those with free accounts, he added.

Zooomr's chief competitor, Yahoo's photo-sharing behemoth Flickr, costs $24.95 per year.

Photo-sharing site Zooomr began a second try Monday to launch its third-generation photo-sharing Web site, attempting to combine social-networking features with unlimited photo storage and, eventually, the capability for photographers to sell their own pictures.

Zooomr's new Zipline chat and status feature

(Credit: Zooomr)

The new site, when available, features a Twitter-like interface called Zipline that lets members tell their contacts what they're up to and hear the same from those contacts, according to a video demonstration by co-founder Kristopher Tate. It also lets members join groups and subscribe to discussions.

Zooomr had attempted to fire up the Mark III site in March, but instead bugs and migration issues kept the site was unavailable for nearly a week. The start-up rolled back to the earlier version and postponed the upgrade.

Founder Kristopher Tate estimated the new relaunch would be done within 24 hours. He and Chief Executive Thomas Hawk appeared on a late-night video feed Monday holding a two-man launch party and answering questions. (Hawk likes both Pacifica and Rolling Rock beer, has a bachelor's degree in political science, and gets "in sort of this Zen state when I'm out there with the camera shooting.")

Zooomr has had a rocky few months. Shortly after the relaunch snafu, its investor pulled out its money when the start-up's cash flow turned positive. That's delaying some new hardware purchases.

Then, just before Monday's second relaunch attempt, a database hard drive crashed and Tate and Hawk had to drive from San Francisco to Silicon Valley in the middle of the night to repair it.

Zooomr Mark III Take 2 will arrive in three weeks, but at the same time, the photo-sharing site may enter a "hiatus."

A screenshot of Zooomr's redesigned site

(Credit: Zooomr)

In March, glitches forced the photo-sharing site to back off a redesign that would permit Zooomr users to sell their own photos and would lift storage limits, among other changes. The new version now is scheduled to arrive in three weeks--May 21--said lead programmer Kristopher Tate on his blog Monday.

Tate also said the company is looking for new investors.

"I have some breaking news to share that may create a period of hiatus for Zooomr: Our initial investor heard we were cash-positive and has decided to pull their money out of our accounts," Tate said.

The lack of funds will "hinder" the purchase of storage systems, he said, but Mark III will be launched nonetheless.

"In the above interests, we've started to look for fresh investment," Tate said. "We know there are angels, VCs and other investors reading our blog--so if you think you can help, please let us know!"

Tate also posted a screenshot of the redesigned Zooomr.