Archive for November 17th, 2008

Today, the Windows Live team announced a brand-new photo-sharing service that integrates directly with the Windows Live Photo Gallery desktop software, a part of the Windows Live client applications. (More info on Photo Gallery is here). Simply called Windows Live Photos, the new online service lets you upload photos directly from your computer and create and manage online galleries of photos.

The online service mirrors some of the functions of the desktop software – for example, you can tag people in your photos, tag yourself, or rename the photo’s title. However, the online gallery also provides new features like the ability to add comments to the photos or copy an embed code for posting your photos elsewhere on the web. There’s a photo URL provided, too, if you just want to link to the photo itself.

Through Live Photos’ privacy controls, you can specify who, if anyone, has access to your photos and what they can do – view, edit, delete, download, etc. 

One of the best features in the new service, though, is definitely the photo slideshow, which you can launch at anytime from the “More” menu. The slideshow is easy to click through with its navigation buttons at the bottom or you can let it auto-play. When you’re finished viewing the images, you can easily return to your photo gallery either by clicking the link provided or just hitting “escape.”

The new Live Photos service will also be available from the new Windows Live homepage, also announced today.

New Photo Sharing Service Announced: Windows Live Photos | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Amid all the news last week about the upcoming new Windows Live and new Windows Live Photos service, one thing that may have been overlooked is how Windows Live SkyDrive was tied into those announcements. According to a post on the SkyDrive team blog, the team is increasing the amount of online storage from 5 GB to 25 GB! The reason for the increase is to provide more room for all the photos that will soon be uploaded using the new online photo service.

In addition to the storage increase, the SkyDrive service will also offer more features like the ability to download photos directly from SkyDrive to your Windows Live Photo Gallery desktop software. You can also choose to download entire folders as zip files, move files between folders, and copy files to multiple folders.

Another big revamp involves the sharing features and functionality. With the new SkyDrive, you’ll be able to share files and photos with others without requiring them to use a Windows Live ID. If you have certain groups of people that you share photos with on regular basis, you’ll be able to organize them into groups to make repeat sharing easier and faster. And you can see what your family and friends have shared with you all in one place. Commenting on photos will be improved with HTML, spam control and other options.

For Internet Explorer users, there will be an option to keep your IE favorites in sync in between all your computers, too.

The new SkyDrive will have a new look-and-feel when it relaunches so it fits in better with the rest of the new Windows Live. It’s not here yet, but, according to the team blog post, it will be here soon. Stay tuned!

Want 25 GB Of Free Online Storage? | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10