I don’t know a lot about digital pictures or cameras. But lately I have a renewed interest – maybe due to new baby – and I’ve been running into places where you can post your pictures for free.
Generally the deal is that these web sites will allow you to upload digital pictures for free and your friends and family can then order the pictures through their service. You seem to be able to upload unlimited number of pictures, edit pictures, and share them digitally – all for free.
Here are a couple of services that I’d tried:
Snap Fish
They offer digital camera prints for 15¢ and film developing for as low as $2.99 per roll.
ofoto
They offer “Kodak” prints for 22¢ and seem to offer a wide range of print sizes.
I have used both of these services as the friend of a photographer and I must say they were easy to use and I was able to get free copies of the digital pictures. Photographers have told me that they are easy to use too.
Today’s Byte is for the Web Developers. This week I was reminded of one of my favorite freebie web tools- MapQuest Business Solution Maps.
If you need to provide a map on your site and budget is an issue, I strongly suggest looking into MapQuest’s Link Free product. With it you can provide a link to a detailed, interactive map of a single location. Visitors will be able to zoom in, zoom out, or enter their address for door to door directions. Here is an example.
I suspect most of us have used Map Quest for door to door directions. I have heard that they don’t always provide the quickest route from A to B – but I have always had good luck using them. If you haven’t tried MapQuest for directions, think about them next time you’re going to a new location.
This week I will be in Hibbing at the Rural Summit so I may be more difficult to reach. I will be reading email and listening to messages – or you can follow the direction in the example above to track me down in person.
Phishing is another name for a type of Internet fraud. It is an email or pop up ad that looks like it is a business you know and trust, but isn’t. The offending company will use the logo of your bank or a vendor and find a reason to ask you to confirm important details, such as a credit card or bank account number.
Two people I know have been “phished” in the last two weeks. Both times it was an email message that looks as if it comes from US Bank. The messages have looked pretty authentic. Each time the message said there was a security issue with the account and that the recipient needed to provide/confirm bank information through the web sit – immediately. One recipient was not even a US Bank customer.
So, what can you do?
Beware of anyone asking for confidential information. If a bank has an issue – they will call you; they won’t use email. (Now, telephone fraud is another issue – but the advice is the same – beware.) Try to use an alternative means to contact the organization if you have further doubts. Finally, never give private data via email; it’s just not safe. For more information, check out the FTC consumer alert on phishing.
Added note on earlier Byte – Microsoft Settlement:
Marit in Minneapolis wisely suggested that Minnesota Microsoft users might want to donate their Microsoft settlement vouchers to a nonprofit organization. You can learn more by checking out the settlement page.
I have a new favorite web site for the week – www.bugmenot.com. I learned about it from Time Magazine.
Bugmenot.com is a place to share username and passwords for web sites that require them – but don’t requirement payment. The Minneapolis newspaper is one example. To access more than one story, the Star Tribune now requires registration – as do many other newspapers, such as the NY Times, Washington Post, and others.
To get the username and password, you simply visit bugmenot.com, submit the URL of the web site in question, and if there is an account available and registered with bugmenot.com, they will tell you the username and password to use. If there isn’t an account set up, then you are invited to set up a fake account and register it with bugmenot.com.
I would not promote this site for paid sites, or for sites where they use your registration to customize your experience, but plenty of sites just seem to require registration for commercial purposes – registration doesn’t enhance the experience. In those cases, I’m going to go with bugmenot.com.
