Online Photo Processor myPhotopipe.com Announces New Tools to Improve Broadband Experience for Owners of Digital Cameras

23 July 2006

myPhotopipe.com, an online service for ordering prints from digital photos, today unveiled a suite of online tools and resources for digital photographers. The tools are designed to demystify the online experience particularly when it comes to bits, bytes, the Internet, transfer speeds, and upload times.

"For us, online ordering is up 600 percent versus a year ago but too many photographers are suffering from poor broadband experiences and we need to do something about that," said myPhotopipe.com CEO L. Douglas Keeney. "Photographers are uploaders, not downloaders, and in broadband the upload speeds are a mere fraction of the heavily advertised download speeds -- and that's a sore point in our market. In our recent survey, 9 out 10 of our online customers had upload speeds at or below 340K -- that's barely over the legal minimum stipulated by the FCC. Add that to the inherent confusion about pixels, bits, bytes, and print quality and you have problems. We can't force the telcos to be more upfront about their speeds but we can help align expectations with experiences."

To help, myPhotopipe.com today announced a series of initiatives designed to make broadband a little less confusing and far more satisfying. The tools include an upload speed test, a download speed test, a photo file calculator with a byte-to-bit converter, and an upload time estimator. The new tools may be found at http://www.myphotopipe.com/speedtest/index.html. A user can scan their Internet connection using a packet test and then calculate the expected upload time using a digital pad that converts bits into bytes. Those wanting assistance have a button that will link them to RetroTechs (http://www.retrotechs.com). Using real-time diagnostic tools, RetroTechs can remotely assist a photographer with computer issues or recommend a new broadband provider in their area. Additional tools include an automatic download of Google's Picasa, a photo organizer, a plug-in to Apple's iPhoto, and, soon, a series of online tutorials that explain dpi, ppi, megabits and how they relate to print quality. The company is developing the tutorials in partnership with Dealership University, an online training company based in Atlanta, GA (http://www.dealershipuniversity.com).

"We've got 100+ million owners of digital cameras, probably the largest group of potential migrants to broadband since the explosion in online music, and they're coming online to a place where things can be a little fuzzy if not frustrating," said Keeney. "We have to make that initial experience satisfying and that means that we have to present tech data in the language of photography."

About myPhotopipe.com

myPhotopipe.com is one of the nation's leading web sites for serious amateur and professional photographers. With more than 94 print options, it affords digital photographers more choices while offering professional color management, professional papers and hand inspections.

For more information, contact:

Douglas Keeney

1-404-881-3855

http://www.myphotopipe.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

Source: prnewswire