My First Frogfish

I've been a certified scuba diver since 1992. I have dived in Israel, Sinai and Seychelles - and saw many interesting things underwater. I'm not a spoiled diver. Just give me salty and calm water, and I'll have my fun. Still, it's always fun to discover and see new creatures underwater. Yesterday, while diving in Eilat, I saw my first ever Frogfish.

We actually went to Eilat to try and get a glimpse of the Whale Shark, that's been hanging out there for a few weeks. No luck in that department, but we still had lots of fun and 6 dives in two days - which is cool.

So, here's my first ever Frogfish (more pictures on Flickr):

Flickr Video is now Live

The rumors have been true - we have Flickr video. If you login to your Flickr account, you'll see that you are now able to upload videos as well as pictures.

There's a limit of 90 seconds and 150 MB to uploaded videos.

Flickr video has two basic rules: only "safe" and "moderated" content is allowed, and you can only upload videos that you have created yourself.

Only pro members can upload video content, but anyone can view it, provided they have permission. There are no general upload limits, except the ones on the individual clip.

Flickr supports uploads of AVI, WMV, MPEG, MOV and 3gp videos.

I uploaded a 21 MB clip, which of course took forever and a day. Once it uploads, the video is processed rather quickly. Quality is good. You can also embed it in your blog if you feel like it. The clip can be watched from the photo stream itself, which is rather cool.

It's a very nice addition to have alongside the pictures, especially with digital cameras these days, which give you the option to shoot short clips.

Obviously, this is not a YouTube replacement. I don't think we'll be seeing much music clips or news bloopers - I guess the Flickr video experience will be more personal and artsy. We'll see. In the mean time, I hope to get some cool clips to add to my photo stream, in the upcoming diving safari in Sinai.

Flickr Video on its Way?

Reports and rumors around the net are talking about an upcoming Flickr Video service.

CNET reports that Flickr Video is due this April (Which is 2 weeks from now, mind you). Flickr Video is not supposed to replace Yahoo Video. So, is Yahoo/Flickr going to compete directly with YouTube? Can it be done via Flickr at all?

Flickr isn't just a photo-sharing site. It's a community, and a very vociferous one, as well. Will they accept the addition of videos, or will they bail on Flickr, looking for a quieter realm for storing their photos?

I have been a Flickr and YouTube user for a while. If Flickr launches a good video service, I might start using it instead of YouTube - but winning over the regular YouTube user isn't going to be easy. Users don't switch easily between services, even free ones. I wonder if pro-Flickr users are going to get some benefits, and how all of this is going to look.

In any case, it's always good to hear about new developments and new services. Keeps everything more interesting and dynamic. I guess I'll be following this subject as well.

Flickr Enables Online Photo Editing

Flickr, the photo-sharing site, has announced a partnership with Picnik, an online photo editing service.

Above your photos, you can see an "Edit" icon. Clicking on it will lead to a screen with some basic photo-editing options - crop, resize, sharpen, red-eye removal etc. Every option has an automatic setting, so even if you don't know much about editing digital pictures, this service might try and fix the common problems for you.

After you are done with editing, you can move to the "Create" tab and add text, shapes and special effects to your photo.

The service is running smoothly and working well. It supports Firefox, which is not an obvious these days. For those of us who regularly use Photoshop, or other editing software, this online service might not be necessary. It's not designed for bulk editing, either. Also, there are many free online picture editors (Like Snipshot). Still, for those minor fixes and fun, it's a neat solution. Picnik has partnerships with Facebook, Picasa, Photobucket and Webshots.

Two Billion Photos on Flickr

Now, that's a number for you. Flickr has hit the 2,000,000,000 photos mark.

The uploader of the historical picture is a user named yukesmooks, and this is the picture (click on it to see the original):

It would have been nice if this picture had a more symbolic meaning, but you really can't control this kind of thing. That's user generated content for you.

I use Flickr, but not as much as I used to. I have a pro account and I am very happy with it. For me, Flickr isn't really a community or a social site - just a cool place to store my pictures. I used Flickr once to make very cool business cards (via MOO), and I might use other features - but the entire groups-contacts-comments thing never really caught on with me. I use the site mainly for storage, and to send links of my photo sets to my friends.

I know there are other great picture storage sites (like PhotoBucket), but since I'm cool with Flickr for the moment, I don't plan on switching.

So, congratulations to Flickr. See ya in the 3,000,000,000 photo!