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To: Ausdauer who wrote (18055)	1/9/2001 1:21:58 AM
From: rjk01	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Digital photos depict the future Here's a surefire prediction: developing prints from digital cameras will get much easier this year with help from retailers. That trend will help keep propelling digital photography into the mainstream. Related Links Shutterfly gets backing from Jim Clark. Kodak announces $100M exposure to VC. Goodbye film developers, hello Web. Previous Shop Talk: New year, new B2B. Instead of dropping off film rolls at local drugstores, you'll see an increasing number of amateur shutterbugs uploading images from their cameras or camera memory cards into computer kiosks. Forgetting the hype about printing at home with computer printers, they'll pick up finished prints, in some cases just minutes later, at the store. Drugstore chain CVS (NYSE: CVS) began offering this service last year, but you're sure to see more of these kiosks this year. A friend of mine in Japan recently sent me some excellent prints developed this way. Consequently, you can expect digital photography to be one of the bright spots this year in the consumer electronics and computer industries. Manufacturers of digital cameras, printers, and related gizmos are rolling out new products, with many of them being introduced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. PRINTING PROOFS Also expect market research firms to release rosy results for digital photography product sales when they announce tallies from the past quarter's holiday season. My predictions are based partly on my own recent experiences. Not one to be an early technology adopter, I finally broke down and bought a digital camera last month after my wife lost our trusty six-year-old point-and-shoot camera. Within a week after buying an Olympus D-460, which I found on the Internet for $275 (list price: $499), I had taken a family portrait, transmitted the image to Ofoto, and had mailed back to me 90 prints, ready to send with our holiday greeting cards. I did all this without leaving the house. Usually I jump on bandwagons only after hordes of other people have gone before me, to avoid getting burned by new technology, and I know there are many people like myself. By that logic, I figured lots of people now must be embracing digital photography. To check my thesis, I called James Joaquin, Ofoto's CEO and president. He told me his photo-developing Web site posted record upload numbers on Christmas Day and the day after. Sales for the fourth quarter are expected to be double the previous quarter's. Mr. Joaquin wouldn't disclose specific numbers, citing competitive reasons and the company's privately held status. "The No. 1 reason people get their photos online is to share them," Mr. Joaquin says. "We're seeing them sharing with more people, uploading more often, and ordering prints more often." NEGATIVES The Berkeley, California-based Ofoto was founded about a year and a half ago and had received $16.5 million in venture capital from the Barksdale Group and Benchmark Capital. The company has a staff of about 100 employees who help print photos and develop digital imaging software. Mr. Joaquin indicated he'd soon be announcing another capital infusion for his company. Ofoto competes against many large and small companies vying for the online photo-processing market, including Kodak (NYSE: EK), Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Imagestation.com, Zing Network, and Shutterfly. Still, digital photography has some big hurdles to overcome before it truly becomes mainstream. Although using digital cameras is getting easier, they still typically require some tinkering with cables, PCs, and special software. And while the total cost now approaches film-based pictures, uploading images onto the Internet can be time-consuming and troublesome. For example, when I tried transmitting 40 shots to Ofoto on a dial-up connection, I was informed it'd take an hour and a half. Even so, I got an error message midway and had to shut down the program. "There's certainly a learning curve, there's no doubt about that," says InfoTrends Research Group analyst Lia Schubert. After returning from a vacation with the equivalent of ten rolls of film, Ms. Schubert asks, who wants a hassle? I certainly don't. But with traditional retailers becoming a lot more accommodating to digital photographers, we should see the market continue to expand.

To: Ausdauer who wrote (18055)	1/9/2001 10:03:02 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Respond to of 60323

Aus, thanks for the link to the Polaroid 2+ mpixel digital camera. Did you notice that the camera is compatible with Windows based PC's, but NOT with a Macintosh? Art