Hello today!

Thank you for continuing to send in your comments – on the blog and through our feedback survey. We are reading every response. Even if we cannot respond to you individually know that every issue is going on a task list to fix or improve and/or letting us know what we need to explain here on the blog. For any specific issue the best way to get help is through our Help System so we can track issues and communicate back and forth.

DropBox and Video and Photo Uploading

The new DropBox that was release when the new site went live had some upload issues that we discussed yesterday. Those were fixed so now you can re-download the DropBox and it will now upload new photos and videos in the larger and higher quality version that fits the new DropShots service level and design. Download New DropBox Here

Calendar View

We have had several people comment that they preferred the calendar organization and viewing of the old site. Yes, we know that one of the unique features of DropShots is you can just drag in a file folder of photos and videos (even dozens of years worth) and it will automatically organize every photo and video according to the date the image was originally taken. Then you can view it in that order on DropShots. That still exists, now it is a much more dynamic and easier to navigate format.

When you first go to your user page you see ALL your recently uploaded photos and videos according to date (latest on top) and your most recent comments. On the left you will see a tab called "By Date".

Click that tab and it will open up the calendar.

Now click on any year and you will see the months open up.

Click on the month you want to see and walla!

You can also just click on the year to see all that year’s photos and videos.

Additionally, we are finishing up the Search feature. That will enable you to find photos according to just photos or videos, Tags/keywords or rating.

Blog Links

If you uploaded a photo or video to DropShots then you embedded it into a blog or external website all those photos and videos are showing and working fine. One known bug is that if you click on that photo or video, it should take the viewer to your DropShots page. Right now it is not. This has been added to the list to fix. You do not have to do anything, once we have fixed it the links will work again.

Thanks again for your comments and feedback, that is how we are making this better and better! Our development team is being fed RedBull, coffee or green tea (sometimes all 3 at once!) intraveneously and working around the clock to optimize everything. We appreciate your patience and continued support!

Darren Hardy
CEO, DropShots

Hello and thank you for the overwhelming enthusiasm for the new DropShots 2.0 site!

With every new technology release there are always wrinkles to get ironed out. During this process I am going to personally update this blog to inform you of updates.

Also keep in mind, for some people, change or something new and different can take some getting used to. I know when Microsoft updated to Office 2007 I didn’t like it at first and wanted to go back to the older version. Not being able to (didn’t have copy of the old program), I got used to it and now MUCH prefer it over the old version. The new DropShots platform IS very different and a BIG leap forward technologically. Please give it some time. As you continue to play with it and show your friends and family I think you too will come to absolutely love it!

The New DropBox release and Uploading Video
This is the biggest snafu we found. For some odd reason the new DropBox release experienced an encoding bug so it was not uploading videos correctly. The bug is being worked on right now and should be completed within the next 24-48 hours. This is only a problem for those that downloaded the new DropBox over the past 48 hours (that is when the new version was available). In the meantime the old version is available for download. The only downside is it will only upload video in the quality and size of the old site. This will be A-OK very soon! If you need to re-download the DropBox, click here

Web Uploader
Working great, just informing you that it will no longer upload video (use DropBox for video). You probably weren’t using it for video anyhow because it took too long. With the new video size and quality it takes way too long to really be a viable option. The DropBox on the other hand will upload high quality video in lightening speed by comparison.

Knowledge Base/ Help System
During the transfer of our database system yesterday if you tried to access our Knowledge Base or send a support ticket you got an error. This is fixed now and working great.

Titles
Titles was a function that was needed and unique to the old style of DropShots. Before you only saw the first 3 photos of all that days activities. Many users used the Title section to explain the events and point out that there are other pictures (not visible in the first 3) about other activities and subjects. Now that you can see ALL the photos and videos on one infinitely scrollable page, titling a "Day" is no longer applicable. Now you can use the Caption to describe that specific photo.

To bring the past into the future we WILL be bringing all your old titles into your library so you have that information accumulated from the past. This will happen over the next week or two so please stay tuned. Going forward, the better way to identify and share information about your memories is on the Caption function of each photo and/or video.

Making Captions
Making captions is easy to do, but admittedly it is not as obvious or intuitive as it needs to be – we are working on that. Here is how you add a caption to a photo or video:

From your User Home page click on the photo or video thumbnail you want to caption. Roll over the area below the date and it will become blue:
 
Click and it will become an input box where you can add your caption. Hit enter and your done!

Deleting/Editing Comments
We know you cannot edit or delete existing comments now, but will be adding that functionality soon.

Video Quality
Some of the videos you uploaded in the past might look a little more pixilated now. All that is happening is your video is being shown larger so the pixels are more noticeable. Any videos you upload with the new DropBox (when we re-release it in 24-48 hrs from now) will be uploaded as a larger and higher quality video.

Downloading Videos
To stream video online effectively the format you upload video in is encoded, transcoded and converted to Flash – most all video sharing services stream video in Flash otherwise it would not be possible to stream and view over the internet. The new higher quality Flash version we are using to give you the higher quality experience does not convert back to WMV or MPG4 efficiently. The solution is to download it in FLV format then you can download a Flash (FLV) player to watch it on your computer. Here is a link to download a free FLV player: Windows – http://www.dropshots.com/binaries/FLVPlayerSetup.exe Mac – http://www.dropshots.com/binaries/Perian_1.0.dmg

Feedback Survey
For some reason the survey was not activated until recently. It looked like it was receiving your survey inputs but it wasn’t being captured. It has since been properly activated and is working. If you gave us feedback before it is likely we didn’t get it.

Keep checking this blog for continued updates and thanks again for all your enthusiastic support! 

Darren Hardy
CEO, DropShots

See video tutorials too! HERE

First be sure to download the New DropBox. There are several new features to it including the settings that allow you to upload much larger and higher quality photos and videos.

Navigation

You can navigate your entire experience of DropShots on the left navigation.

By Date – This is one of the fantastic features of DropShots. DropShots automatically identifies the date and time you originally took the photo or video and automatically arranges them accordingly. On this tab you can drill down to find any photo or video in your entire library by date taken.

When you click on the tab it opens up to show you all the years you have uploaded files. Click on the "+" sign and it will open up all the months as well.

Albums – You can now organize your photos and videos on DropShots into albums! Just click on the Albums tab, then click on "Create a New Album" and give it a name:

Now just drag-n-drop the photo and/or video thumbnails into the album you just created. You can select multiple thumbnails at a time by using the Cntrl or Shft keys:

Trash - You can delete albums, friends and photos and videos by just dragging-n-dropping into the trash. You can select multiple thumbnails at at time by using the Ctrl or Shft button.

Search - coming soon! You will be able to search by tag (any word from a title, caption or comment) and rating for either photos, videos or both.

 Infinite Scroll - On every section of the new DropShots site you can scroll infinitely without ever needing to refresh or click to another page.

On the User Home page:

And the thumbnails on the Large View can be scrolled infinitely:

To Post your photo or video to a blog:

1) Go to a photo or video you would like to post on your blog. Click the Blog icon on the transparency of your photo or video.
 

2) Click on the appropriate icon for where you want to post it – done!

or…

1) Select the HTML code by clicking once on the code in the box. 
2) Copy the HTML code by right-clicking the code and selecting ‘Copy’. 
3) Open up a second browser window and log in to your blog account. 
4) Select create new blog entry. 
5) Select HTML or Source option.
6) Paste in your HTML code. 
7) Click the View Source checkbox again to uncheck it and return to rich-edit mode.
8) Now you will see your photo or video and can continue to edit your blog entry as normal.

To password protect your account (now available to both Premium and Basic membership!):

WARNING: Now everyone will have to remember the URL to your DropShots page as well as this password. DropShots does not allow search engines to index your photos and videos so only someone who knows your URL will ever have access to your site anyway. Password protection is just another layer of security if you feel you want it.

1) Click on the "Settings" link at the top of any Dropshots page.
2) Click on the "User Settings" tab at the left.
4) Where it says "Password Protection" enter your own personal password.
5) Click on "Save".

To email your photos and videos to friends:

1) Go to your user page after you have uploaded some photos or videos. 
2) Double click on a photo to get to the "Large View" 
3) Click the Email icon on the transparency of the photo or video

4) Select the email client you use to send email.

5) Enter your family and friends’ email addresses. You may enter multiple email addresses at once. 
6) Enter your personal message. Click Send.

See video tutorials too! HERE

Hello everyone, welcome to the brand new DropShots! We have been working hard all year rebuilding DropShots from the ground up to be fastest and most valuable place to share your personal photos and video. 

I started working on DropShots about 5 years ago as a university research project to make sharing photos online more effortless and rewarding. Today many things have changed: I’ve long since graduated, DropShots turned into a company, I got married, and just a few days ago my baby boy, Lucas, was born. 

Along with the birth of my baby boy is the birth of the new DropShots. With the new DropShots I can now drag and drop thumbnails to create albums for “Lucas’ birthday” or “Lucas playing”. 4x larger video allows me to capture more detail of Lucas’ many facial expressions.   As a busy father, the new speed of DropShots allows me to quickly view and share photos. The new thumbnail view lets me see entire screen full of thumbnails of Lucas.  But this is just the birth with a whole new platform to grow on. We will be building on this new platform with many new features and functions that I think will continue to transform the way families can share personal memories and life experiences. 

We have all worked hard, and are happy to release the new DropShots. I hope you find all the new features as valuable as I do. Thank you very much for using DropShots to share your most valuable memories, it means a lot of all of us here.

Ryan Sit
Founder and CTO

See a tutorial of our new features

Lots of love, blood, sweat and tears has gone into
delivering this new baby…

Go to your user page or Join here now!

With great anticipation…

While there might not be people sleeping outside our office to be the first to try the new DropShots 2.0 platform as they were outside of Apple stores for the new iPhone, I am excited to report quite a bit of buzz and anticipation has built-up for our new release.

The new DropShots service will be the FASTEST photo and video sharing service on the web.

I don’t know about you, but I hate slow responding websites. DropShots 2.0 was built for speed. DropShots has become a family favorite for photo and video sharing because it is so simple to use. Now we have combined ease of use with electrifying performance, creating the power of a desktop application like iPhoto or Windows Vista Photo Gallery, but ONLINE.

A look through the keyhole to a few of the new features:

New User Interface:

See your ENTIRE library of photos and videos with infinite scroll on one page. It’s AMAZING!

Drag-n-drop Album Creation:

See all Comments on one full page:

BIGGER and HIGHER QUALITY photo and video browsing than any other site on the web:

And much, MUCH more! Can’t give you all the juicy details now… got to save something to still eagerly await.

DropShots 2.0 will be released in the next 7-14 days.

How much all this new technology and service cost you? Nothing! Free limits are the same and premium membership is the same.

What do you have to do? Nada! One day you will wake up and it will be a whole new world at DropShots – Faster, Better, Easier and Tons More Fun!

With great excitement…

Darren Hardy

CEO, DropShots

Greetings! 

We are quickly approaching the release of DropShots 2.0. If you like DropShots (even just a little) you will LOVE what’s coming!

Even easier, faster and simpler to use.

Our very talented technology team has created new proprietary technology systems making it even easier to manage and view all your important memories. These new technologies will also make DropShots lightening fast!

Higher quality and more features.

DropShots 2.0 will enable higher quality files, larger photos and full screen videos. New features will include drag-n-drop album creation, bulk deleting and date changing, one-click posting to blogs, and new sorting and organizing features like tagging, ratings and friends updates.

And more privacy, security and ways to share.

These are just a few highlights of the many exciting features to be unveiled in our completely updated service launching within 30-60 days. All these new features will be added for – no additional costs!

Keep sharing those memories!

Sincerely, 
Darren Hardy 
CEO DropShots, Inc.

P.S. More important update information to follow – stay tuned!