Yahoo Latest News about Yahoo is touching up its popular online photo-sharing service, Flickr, with free editing tools aimed at the growing number of shutterbugs who want to doctor their digital pictures.
The editing software, introduced Tuesday in a partnership with Picnik, represents Yahoo's latest attempt to broaden Flickr's appeal as the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company closes its older Yahoo Photos service.
"We think this is going to be very attractive to mainstream users," said Kakul Srivastava, Flickr's senior director of product management.
Searching for Profit
With its stock price stuck in a malaise that has lasted two years, Yahoo has been trying to make more money from all its services, including Flickr, which it bought in 2005. The profit push is one reason Yahoo is closing Yahoo Photos, which launched in 2000.
Although Flickr offers free accounts with limited photo storage to all comers, the service also sells US$24.95 annual subscriptions that accommodate unlimited uploading. Yahoo is betting the editing tools will encourage more people to pay to show a larger number of pictures on the site.
Picnik, a Seattle-based startup run by an entrepreneur who sold his last venture, software startup PhatBits, to Google Latest News about Google for an undisclosed amount in early 2005, is counting on the Flickr connection to help pay the bills now.
A more sophisticated version of Picnik's editing tools costs $24.95 a year.
Filling a Void
The editing software fills a glaring void at Flickr, which has blossomed into one of the Web's busiest photo-sharing communities.
Most of Flickr's rivals, including Shutterfly, Hewlett-Packard's Snapfish, Kodak Gallery and Google's Picasa, already offer free photo-editing tools.
Flickr's decision to adopt Picnik's software reflects the rising demand for photo-editing applications now that people regularly post pictures they take with their mobile phones, said Gartner Latest News about Gartner analyst Michael McGuire. Most phones don't have high-quality cameras so the pictures they produce beg for more touching up.
Even without the allure of photo editing, according to comScore Media Metrix, Flickr is the most-trafficked U.S. photo-sharing site that doesn't revolve around a social network.
Third Place
Flickr attracted 14.7 million U.S. visitors in October, ranking only behind Facebook's Latest News about Facebook photo-sharing service, which had 23.2 million visitors, and Photobucket.com, which had 22.2 million and caters to MySpace Latest News about MySpace users. Both Photobucket and MySpace are owned by News Corp.
Picnik's software provides more than 20 different applications that handle basic editing jobs, like removing red eyes from photos, and provide special effects that can jazz up photos with richer colors and fanciful borders.
"When they are using Picnik, people get the feeling that they are never more than one click away from being a rock-star photographer," said Jonathan Sposato, Picnik's CEO.
Sposato stayed at Google for nearly a year before leaving to take the reins at Picnik.
Neither Sposato nor Flickr's Srivastava would discuss whether Yahoo explored buying Picnik instead of simply partnering with the startup.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
AOL is providing the newest communications channel on Google Latest News about Google.
AOL is providing the newest communications channel on Google Latest News about Google.
Fulfilling a pledge made two years ago, Google this week unveiled a feature that enables people to chat on AOL's instant messaging service through Gmail -- the popular search company's free e-mail E-Mail service.
Not all Gmail users can get at the instant message service yet because Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is still rolling out the coding that includes the settings to log on to AOL instant messaging, or AIM. Google officials didn't set a timetable for making AIM available to all its Gmail users.
Long Time Coming
It took a long time to get this far. Google first disclosed its plans to open its doors to AIM in December 2005 when it paid US$1 billion for a 5 percent stake in Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL.
The plan went on the back burner while Google engineers worked on myriad other projects, said Mike Jazayeri, a senior product manager for Google.
Meanwhile, rivals Microsoft Latest News about Microsoft and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Latest News about Yahoo last year cross-pollinated their instant messaging services.
Adding access to AOL's instant messaging service may help Google attract more people to its e-mail service, which has been gaining ground on its larger rivals.
Gaining Ground
Gmail had 87 million users worldwide in October, a 64 percent increase from the same time last year, according to comScore Media Metrix. That still ranked a distant third behind Yahoo's e-mail, which had 262 million users worldwide, and Microsoft's e-mail, which had 256 million users.
AOL also ranked third in the worldwide instant messaging standings with 35.4 million users in October, Media Metrix said. Microsoft's instant messaging services had nearly 223 million users followed by Yahoo instant messaging at 97 million.
Fulfilling a pledge made two years ago, Google this week unveiled a feature that enables people to chat on AOL's instant messaging service through Gmail -- the popular search company's free e-mail E-Mail service.
Not all Gmail users can get at the instant message service yet because Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is still rolling out the coding that includes the settings to log on to AOL instant messaging, or AIM. Google officials didn't set a timetable for making AIM available to all its Gmail users.
Long Time Coming
It took a long time to get this far. Google first disclosed its plans to open its doors to AIM in December 2005 when it paid US$1 billion for a 5 percent stake in Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL.
The plan went on the back burner while Google engineers worked on myriad other projects, said Mike Jazayeri, a senior product manager for Google.
Meanwhile, rivals Microsoft Latest News about Microsoft and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Latest News about Yahoo last year cross-pollinated their instant messaging services.
Adding access to AOL's instant messaging service may help Google attract more people to its e-mail service, which has been gaining ground on its larger rivals.
Gaining Ground
Gmail had 87 million users worldwide in October, a 64 percent increase from the same time last year, according to comScore Media Metrix. That still ranked a distant third behind Yahoo's e-mail, which had 262 million users worldwide, and Microsoft's e-mail, which had 256 million users.
AOL also ranked third in the worldwide instant messaging standings with 35.4 million users in October, Media Metrix said. Microsoft's instant messaging services had nearly 223 million users followed by Yahoo instant messaging at 97 million.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft's Latest News about Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 have been released to manufacturing and are now available for MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscribers to download, the company announced Monday.
Included in Visual Studio 2008 are enhancements such as visual designers for faster development with the .Net Framework 3.5, significant improvements to Web development tools and language enhancements that speed development with all types of data, Microsoft said. The platform provides developers with all the tools and framework support required to create compelling, expressive, Ajax-enabled (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications, it added.
.Net Framework 3.5, meanwhile, builds incrementally on the new features added in .Net Framework 3.0, including feature sets in Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace. Version 3.5 also contains a number of new features to avoid breaking changes, Microsoft said.
250 New Features
"Visual Studio 2008 delivers over 250 new features, makes improvements to existing features including performance work on many areas, and we've made significant enhancements to every version of Visual Studio 2008, from the Express Editions to Visual Studio Team System," said S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of the developer division at Microsoft.
"In Visual Studio Team System in particular, I'm pleased with the progress we made in scalability and performance for Team Foundation Server (TFS)," he added.
Although the products are now available for download, they won't be officially released until February.
Web 2.0 Functionality
Visual Studio 2008 delivers improved language and data features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), that make it easier for individual programmers to build solutions that analyze and act on information. It also provides developers with the ability to build applications that target the .Net Framework 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5, supporting a wide variety of projects in the same environment, Microsoft said.
New tools speed the creation of connected applications on the latest platforms including the Web, Windows Vista, Office 2007, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008, while other additions help improve collaboration in development teams, including tools that help integrate database professionals and graphic designers into the development process.
New features in .Net Framework 3.5 deep integration of LINQ, ASP.Net Ajax and new Web protocol support for building WCF services including Ajax, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), REST (Representational State Transfer), POX (Plain Old XML), RSS (Really Simple Syndication), Atom, and several new WS-* standards.
Together, Visual Studio and the .Net Framework reduce the need for common plumbing code, reducing development time and enabling developers to concentrate on solving problems, Microsoft said.
Hitting a 'Sore Spot'
"I think the LINQ feature is really the No. 1 new feature in Visual Studio," Greg DeMichillie, lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told TechNewsWorld.
All programmers write programs that access data, using either Visual Basic or C# with SQL, DeMichillie noted. LINQ makes it easier to write code that queries databases, and so is a particularly important addition because it "really hits a sore spot for developers," he explained. "Virtually 100 percent of customers will end up using that feature."
Life Cycle Management
.Net Framework 3.5 will also help visual designers create and manage graphically rich Web 2.0 software, Melinda Ballou, program director with IDC, told TechNewsWorld. In addition, Visual Studio 2008's TFS makes improvements in both performance and version control, she said.
"My main concern about Web 2.0 development is the need to do better quality testing," Ballou added. Web 2.0 applications, because of their complexity and incorporation of diverse types of data, require different steps in managing the life cycle, she noted.
"I look forward to companies such as Microsoft and others providing effective life cycle management support for both Web 2.0 and service oriented architecture (SOA)-based software," Ballou said.
Included in Visual Studio 2008 are enhancements such as visual designers for faster development with the .Net Framework 3.5, significant improvements to Web development tools and language enhancements that speed development with all types of data, Microsoft said. The platform provides developers with all the tools and framework support required to create compelling, expressive, Ajax-enabled (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications, it added.
.Net Framework 3.5, meanwhile, builds incrementally on the new features added in .Net Framework 3.0, including feature sets in Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace. Version 3.5 also contains a number of new features to avoid breaking changes, Microsoft said.
250 New Features
"Visual Studio 2008 delivers over 250 new features, makes improvements to existing features including performance work on many areas, and we've made significant enhancements to every version of Visual Studio 2008, from the Express Editions to Visual Studio Team System," said S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of the developer division at Microsoft.
"In Visual Studio Team System in particular, I'm pleased with the progress we made in scalability and performance for Team Foundation Server (TFS)," he added.
Although the products are now available for download, they won't be officially released until February.
Web 2.0 Functionality
Visual Studio 2008 delivers improved language and data features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), that make it easier for individual programmers to build solutions that analyze and act on information. It also provides developers with the ability to build applications that target the .Net Framework 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5, supporting a wide variety of projects in the same environment, Microsoft said.
New tools speed the creation of connected applications on the latest platforms including the Web, Windows Vista, Office 2007, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008, while other additions help improve collaboration in development teams, including tools that help integrate database professionals and graphic designers into the development process.
New features in .Net Framework 3.5 deep integration of LINQ, ASP.Net Ajax and new Web protocol support for building WCF services including Ajax, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), REST (Representational State Transfer), POX (Plain Old XML), RSS (Really Simple Syndication), Atom, and several new WS-* standards.
Together, Visual Studio and the .Net Framework reduce the need for common plumbing code, reducing development time and enabling developers to concentrate on solving problems, Microsoft said.
Hitting a 'Sore Spot'
"I think the LINQ feature is really the No. 1 new feature in Visual Studio," Greg DeMichillie, lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told TechNewsWorld.
All programmers write programs that access data, using either Visual Basic or C# with SQL, DeMichillie noted. LINQ makes it easier to write code that queries databases, and so is a particularly important addition because it "really hits a sore spot for developers," he explained. "Virtually 100 percent of customers will end up using that feature."
Life Cycle Management
.Net Framework 3.5 will also help visual designers create and manage graphically rich Web 2.0 software, Melinda Ballou, program director with IDC, told TechNewsWorld. In addition, Visual Studio 2008's TFS makes improvements in both performance and version control, she said.
"My main concern about Web 2.0 development is the need to do better quality testing," Ballou added. Web 2.0 applications, because of their complexity and incorporation of diverse types of data, require different steps in managing the life cycle, she noted.
"I look forward to companies such as Microsoft and others providing effective life cycle management support for both Web 2.0 and service oriented architecture (SOA)-based software," Ballou said.
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