Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

On Friday I started a poll — similar to one I’d done several months back asking a simple question. Where is the best place to share photos? I was frankly surprised to see how well Flickr did, garnering the first place result with 41% of the poll. 2nd place went to Google+ with 36% of the poll. A distant third place went to 500px.

Given their size, both Facebook and Instagram seemed really poorly represented in the poll, garnering 6% and 3% respectively.

I posted the poll to my G+ stream, to my Flickr stream, to Twitter and to my Facebook account. I have lots of followers on all of these sites. The poll is not at all scientific of course and there are a million reasons why it could be horribly flawed, but it got me thinking more about flickr.

A few months after Google+ had launched I penned a dramatic post entitled “Flickr is Dead.” My feeling on Flickr at that time was that it was a sinking ship — a former photo sharing heavyweight who simply refused to innovate no matter what. The site felt poorly managed with an anti-user ethos. It felt like it had been left to it’s own devices by a dying parent company that was simply unaware or didn’t care.

Against an increasingly competitive backdrop of new and old photo sharing options (Google+, Instagram, 500px, SmugMug) it felt like users were jumping ship. Unique users were/are down as measured by compete.com at Flickr. But lately it’s starting to feel a bit like Flickr might be ramping up a bit.

In February Flickr rolled out a refresh to their photos from your contacts page — one of the first significant refreshes the site has had in years. The page still feels a touch clunky (infinite scrolling doesn’t feel quite as infinite as things like Cool Iris — or does any remember Flickrleech from years ago?) but it’s a huge improvement over the old page that was there. You can now see reasonable sized images in an attractive mosaic where they are easy to fave. Flickr should consider taking away the “more photos” paging button for paid Pro accounts who don’t abuse it — that would be a nice distinction to get people to upgrade to Pro. They’ve also rolled out their new page design to users’ favorite photos section as well.

Flickr also seems to be stepping up a bit in the community management area. They’ve set up a very nice new photo meetup board with meetup.com. They held a few successful photowalks on the East Coast and have a big San Francisco photowalk coming up on this Saturday (I’m attending this one myself).

In January Flickr Chief Markus Spiering promised us a renewed Flickr. So far I like what I’m seeing. I think more work still needs to be done (flickr needs circles/buckets, more robust blocking tools, notifications, an improved mobile experience that includes a group thread reader, and lots more) but they seem to be headed in the right direction. I’ve also noticed what feels like a pick up in activity on Flickr. I’ve noticed that the views on my own photos there recently seem to have picked up a bit.

Flickr seems to be doing better with fewer employees as well. At the end of 2010 flickr had 56 staffers. Today, after a couple of rounds of layoffs, Flickr has 41. They lost at least three people in Yahoo’s big restructure last week and they laid off a number of people in their customer service dept earlier this year. Nolan Caudill, a former Flickr staffer, blasted Yahoo after the January layoffs, but more and more I’m of the opinion that those layoffs were a good thing for Flickr, not a bad thing. In many regards Flickr’s customer service folks were some of the most disliked people by actual users. Getting rid of some of the staffers that were making things bad for users could have actually been smart management.

Which brings me to my next point.

Google should buy Flickr.

Now is the time to get this done. Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram and I actually think that Flickr has far more potential than Instagram. Google’s got a ton of cash. Yahoo is dying. Facebook is Google’s biggest competitor now and Yahoo is officially at patent war with Facebook. As odd as it would be for these two former search foes to come together for a deal, Flickr makes all the sense in the world for Google who could throw some amazing engineering talent and legitimacy to the site.

More than anything else at Google, Google is betting big on Google+ — and for good reason. Google+ provides Google very valuable data that can be used for advertising. Yesterday I was talking with my friend Robert Scoble about the money Facebook paid for Instagram. Robert said that he thought Facebook bought Instagram for so much because they want the data that’s in the photos.

Think about all the data that is in our photos: who you are photographed with in a photo (maybe an algorithm should show you more of these people’s posts), when it was taken, where it was taken, what concerts you go to, what restaurants you eat at, etc.

What about the photos that you favorite or comment on or like? Isn’t this even more data and more signal that you provide? Do I favorite lots of photos of ice cream? Maybe I like ice cream. Do I favorite lots of photos of fashion? Maybe I care about fashion. Do I fave lots of photos of Nascar, or bicycles or surfing, or… you get the idea. By analyzing what is in the photos that we take and post and what we like and favorite, we provide an amazing amount of information about who we are as human beings. What we like. What we might buy if it were advertised towards us.

So what would Google get with Flickr? For starters they would get the largest highly organized library of images in the world with an impecable pedigree and social DNA. Other sites like Facebook may have more photos, but nobody has a library as organized as Flickr’s. For years people have tagged and organized their photos in all kinds of ways. This data around the photos is very valuable for Flickr. It tells us what is inside of a photo without having to resort to image recognition software.

Google would also get alot of potential high profile accounts. President Obama is on Flickr. The Royal Family is on flickr. The Library of Congress is on Flickr. Lots of big institutions, libraries, art museums, etc.

They would also get Flickr’s excellent photo organizational capabilities. This is one area where Flickr shines compared to anyone else. I have almost 1,700 sets on Flickr now. Why do I use Flickr for my sets instead of Google+ or Facebook or other sites? Easy, I can use Jeremy Brooks excellent program SuprSetr to organize my sets by keywords. Imagine if your Flickr stream could just autopost to your Google+ stream in full big size just like Google+. How cool would that be?

Facebook buying Instagram is upping the ante in the photo sharing game. Facebook paid a billion for Instragram. Google is sitting on over $44 billion in cash. The entire company Yahoo is only valued at $17 billion. Of that, most of the value is related to the positions that they own in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba.

If Instagram is worth a billion, Flickr is worth more. By selling Flickr to Google, this would allow Yahoo to unlock some value for shareholders with an asset that likely contributes very little to Yahoo’s bottom line.

You can follow me on Flickr here.

What a GREAT show tonight. We’re interviewing +Star Rush and talking about the new Google+ layout, the Facebook Instagram deal and much, much more. We’re also giving away a year of Pro on SmugMug to one person in the chat room during the broadcast. Come hangout tonight at 8PM Pacific Time on the Vidcast Network here!

Along with my cohost +Lotus Carroll, we have a great lineup of panelists including +Andrea Acailawen +Sam Breach +Daniel Milnor +Keith Barrett and +Petra Cross

Thanks to our sponsors +Blurb Books and +SmugMug!

Check them out at http://blurb.com and http://smugmug.com!!!

Photo Talk Plus LIVE Tonight 8PM PST!!!! http://vidcastnetwork.com with Special Guest Mickey Osterreicher, General Counsel National Press Photographers Association.

Well we have a GREAT show lined up for you tonight. Mickey Osterreicher is the General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and is well versed on the nuances of various photography related legal issues. Come listen to an update on the legal hotspots for photographers, including your legal right to photograph the police vs. wiretapping laws that have been in the press lately.

This will be a great chance for you to ask questions live in our chatroom from a real lawyer working in this important area of the law.

Joining myself and co-host Lotus Carroll tonight will be panelists Dave Cohen (from Google Photos), Carlos Miller (who is currently defending his third arrest for photography and runs the excellent blog Photography is Not a Crime), Sandra Parlow, Tamara Pruessner and Vidcast Network’s Keith Barrett.

In addition to our interview with Mickey, well talk about how to find out the view counts on your photos on Google+, an update on the new photo album organization tool released this week, an update on the Google+ SXSW phototwalk in Austin and our contest for the 5D Mark II giveaway from last week that was won by Cameron Siguenza.

I’ll also have a copy of the new Plus One Collection book on hand to show everyone live on the broadcast as well. (Thanks Ivan Makarov!)

Don’t miss this exciting episode and looking forward to seeing everyone tonight in the chat room! Thanks as always to our wonderful sponsors at Drobo and SmugMug for supporting our show. Be sure to check them out at http://drobo.com and http://smugmug.com

About 7 years ago I bought my first speciality camera bag. I’d been using a regular backpack to lug my stuff around, but I needed something more targeted for camera gear and so I bought the LowePro CompuDaypack. It was an excellent lightweight bag that was perfect for carrying around my camera, a few lenses and my laptop computer. One of the reasons why I bought the bag from LowePro was because it had a lifetime guarantee. If something has a lifetime guarantee, the quality should be pretty high (assuming that they honor the guarantee).

Over the course of the next 5 years or so I wouldn’t say I abused that bag, but I wore it every single day of my life. It went into abandoned buildings, over fences, through broken windows, up on bridges and roofs and on tons of trips — it went through rain, sleet, snow, deserts, mountains, beaches, everywhere. I’m not your typical weekend shooter and so I’m not sure that any bag could possibly withstand the sort of turmoil I put a bag through. Inevitably the bag began to wear out. When you use a bag like I do this will probably happen to any bag. The fabric literally began to tear apart at the bottom of the bag where I’d set it on the ground over and over and over again.

I loved my LowePro though. It was perfect for me. I liked it so much that I bought another LowePro as my next bag purchase. This time a bigger bag to accomodate even more lenses, the CompuTrekker Plus AW. I had more to carry around and needed something even more robust for my photography adventures.

Probably the biggest vulnerability on any bag is the zipper. After about 2 years, the zipper on my CompuTrekker Plus AW went out. Disappointed, I decided to send my bag back into LowePro to see if it could be repaired. Since I was mailing them my new backpack anyways, I thought I’d also through my old CompuDayPack bag in as well and see how well LowePro honored their lifetime guarantee on their bags.

To my surprise after sending both bags into LowePro they sent me back two brand new bags. I don’t think they make the CompuTrekker Plus AW anymore so instead they replaced it with one of the best bags that they make, the Lowepro Pro Runner 450 AW. They also sent me a brand new CompuDaypack.

When a company stands behind their products and honors their lifetime guarantee like this, I think it’s only fair to write up a blog post on them as a satisfied customer and share an example of excellent customer support with the rest of the world. Not only does LowePro make great camera bags, but they stand by their product even when someone puts it through the sort of workout that I do.

Thanks, LowePro!

Note the photo of this Yahoo advert on the side of the bus originally read “The internet is under new management, yours” — I hacked it to make it read “The internet is under new management ours.” This is meant as parody.

Apparently Yahoo is suing Facebook. All Things Digital broke the story here. More coverage from Venturebeat.

Complaint for Patent Infringement

These are the specific patents that Yahoo is suing over according to the lawsuit document.

1. 6,907,566 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage.

2. 7,100,111 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage.

3. 7,373,599 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage

4. 7,668,861 System and method to determine the validity of an interaction on a network

5. 7,269,590 Method and system for customizing views of information associated with a social network user

6. 7,599,935, Control for enabling a user to preview display of selected content based on another user’s authorization level

7. 7,454,509 Online playback system with community bias

8. 5983,227 Dynamic page generator

9. 7,747,648 World modeling using a relationship network with communication channels to entities

10. 7,406,501 System and method for instant messaging using an e-mail protocol

“From my perspective, Google+ is to Facebook and Twitter what Macintosh is to Windows: Better, but fewer people use it, and the pundits prophesy that it will fail. As a lover of great products, this rankles my soul.

The year 1987 was the last time I wrote a book about a product (The Macintosh Way). After using Google+ for a few months, I felt the need to write another product-oriented book. This book explains “what the plus” makes Google+ as special as Macintosh.”

– Guy Kawasaki

Spent some time yesterday going through Guy Kawasaki’s excellent new book “What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us.” This book is probably the most comprehensive book I’ve seen so far on Google+. It’s chock full of really great advice on the various best practices that users should consider as they navigate the site. It’s written in an easy to comprehend and familiar way that I think will be especially helpful for newcommers.

The book is 137 pages long and is full of great screenshots that show examples of how Guy and other successful users have navigated and understood the site. It’s pretty cheap as an eBook at only $2.99. It covers not just the technical “how to” material around posting, photography, hangouts, circles, etc., but it also covers a lot of the etiquette on how the community uses Google+ and helpful tips to make your experience on Google+ as fulfilling as it can be.

Most of you know Guy of course as the the former Chief Apple Evangelist. From this perspective I thought it was interesting in the book that he made the comparison above that Google+ is the Mac.

I feel the same way as Guy does. It’s hard to describe why Google+ feels like a better product to me. I know Facebook is improving more these days than ever before and trying to get better and better, but for me it’s so many of the little things (like the little things that make me like my Mac more than the PC). For example, on Facebook I have to press option-return to get a new paragraph (grrrrr… that just bums me out every time I have to do that) it’s a wonky workaround to have to use in order to do something that you want.

Google+ flows better, feels better, etc. Google+ is by no means complete, but I find it an easier place to have a conversation than Twitter where I seem to be running around trying to load new pages to get what anyone is talking about when they @thomashawk me a lot of the time.

Anyways, check it out. It’s a great read and an especially great thing for you to send to someone who isn’t on Google+ but who you know would be someone who would love it once they make the switch. Sometimes making a switch is hard. I was a PC user for years before I finally broke down in August of 2006 and bought a Mac. It was one of the best things I ever did. I needed a push though. This book may be just the sort of guidebook that you could give to a friend of yours who needs that push as well.

Well what a great episode we had last night on Photo Talk Plus. Our special guest for this week’s episode is New York City Photographer Vivienne Gucwa. Vivienne talks about her pasion, her work as a full time NYC photographer, her camera and shooting techniques and shares where you can get some of the tastiest noodles in New York City — no joke!

Joining Cohost Lotus Carroll and myself this week are panelists Eric Cheng (from Lytro), Ricardo Lagos (from Google), Photographer Christina Lawrie Vidcast Network’s Keith Barrett (who now has a new tech show that he hosts himself on Vidcast called Tech+ Hangout) Photographer Daniel Enloe and almost Mae Hogan (Mae had a difficult time connecting to the hangout but we are so having her back in a future episode — we may have Mae back in May, just kidding, hopefully next week).

Congratulations to Cameron Siguenza who won a Canon 5D Mark II courtesy of SmugMug during this broadcast. Other topics include the new Lightroom 4, the Canon 5D Mark III, an update on SmugMug’s new Awesomize Camera Awesome and information from Eric Cheng on the new Lytro camera and some upcoming photowalks.

Thanks as always to our great sponsors over at SmugMug and Drobo! Be sure to check them out at http://smugmug.com and http://drobo.com.

Adobe Lightroom 4 is officially available today and at half the cost of Lightroom 3. The new version costs $79 for an upgrade and $149 for a brand new purchase. Many of you have been using the beta for the past few months which will probably expire soon. You can download a 30 day trial version to decide before you buy of Lightroom 4 here. The new release requires Windows Vista SP2 or later, or OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later so make sure your current operating system can support it.

So… is Lightroom 4 worth it?

In a word, hell yeah!

Opps, that was two words.

Why?

Well for no other reason the new lighting controls are fantastic. Every photographer knows at the end of the day it’s all about the light, and here the good folks at Adobe have outdone themselves with reworking the old exposure, recovery, fill light, and black sliders into four new sliders: highlights, shadows, whites and blacks. These new sliders give you far more control over how the light is exposed in your photographs allowing you much more granular control in all the details that matter. You also still get a broad exposure slider as well, but the other lighting sliders are where the action is for Lightroom 4. The new control over highlight light is especially welcome.

What else is cool and better with Lightroom 4? Clarity. The clarity slider in Lightroom 4 gives that ever so lovely grit that you love — only now with much less glowing halo. I feel like I’m addicted to clarity these days.

My favorite improvement of all though is more of a pet peeve than anything. The thing that probably drove me nuts the most about Lightroom 3 was that my noise reduction and sharpening effects would not render correctly in fill view in the Develop module. I had my fingers crossed big time when the Lightroom 4 beta came out that they’d fix this problem and indeed they did. Ironically noise reduction and sharpening effects still do not render correctly at fill view in the Library module, but this is of much less concern to me than the Develop module where I spend most of my time processing.

As far as speed goes, Lightroom 4 is an improvement over the Lightroom 4 beta (which was slow as hell), but not really much of an improvement over Lightroom 3 for me. This may be my biggest disappointment in the release. I was hoping for a bigger speed boost, but Lightroom 4 still feels just a touch sluggish to me. I’m on a 3-year-old MacBook Pro though and maybe this is just God/Mother Nature’s way of telling me that it’s about time for me to upgrade my Mac and finally make the jump to SSD while I’m at it.

I’ve also now begun changing my workflow with Lightroom 4 and am now importing all of my photos as DNG instead of CR2 files. I’m doing this mostly because I’m hoping that Lightroom will run faster if I do this. Recent comments made by Product Manager Tom Hogarty suggest that DNG adoption may improve performance with Lightroom 4.

With Lightroom 4 you get much better control with your brushes these days as well. Adjustment brushes now include temperature, noise reduction, shadows and highlights.

Additional improvements include a new Book module (which I don’t use now, but who knows, maybe someday I will), the ability to do very basic video edits, reverse geodecoding and tons of bug fixes.

More from CNET, 9 to 5 Mac, the Verge, and MacWorld.

Wow, what a great episode for camera tech episode 13 was for Photo Talk Plus In this episode we talk with the one and only Robert Scoble about the latest trends emerging in camera technology. Topics include the latest and hottest new iPhone Camera App Camera Awesome, the new Lytro lightfield camera, the Canon 5D Mark III, 3D camera technology and more.

Cohost Lotus Carroll joins a knock out group of panelists including Natalie Villalobos from Google+, SmugMug Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Geek Don MacAskill, Camera Labs‘ Editor Gordon Laing, photographer Karen Hutton, and Vidcast Network’s Keith Barrett.

Another great episode and thanks to our sponsors SmugMug and Drobo! Be sure to check them out at http://smugmug.com and http://drobo.com.