iPhoto print products make their way to townWith the prices of digital cameras dropping and the technology getting so much simpler
for people to adopt, it's no wonder we get trigger-happy and shoot more pictures. When it's time to print them, we find ourselves making trips to the printing shop or trying to find ink cartridges for our printers. A one-stop solution would be a godsend, and now it is here for Mac users.
Mac users will already be familiar with iPhoto, a program designed to organize your pictures in an orderly manner and view them as a slideshow. Previous versions of iPhoto only allowed users in the Asia region to share their pictures by emailing or publishing on the Web. With the new iPhoto '08 (part of the iLife '08 suite), you can order personalized books, calendars, postcards and even photo prints online, which will be delivered right to your doorstep. To enjoy this service, you'll need iPhoto '08 (updated with iPhoto Update 7.1.2), running on a G4 machine at least, with 1GB of RAM. Unlike iTunes which is made available to PC users, iPhoto '08 is exclusive only for Mac machines. Within iPhoto '08, there are 13 themes for picture books and seven for calendars to choose from. If you find the themes tacky and want something original, you can use Aperture 2.0 (Apple's equivalent to Photoshop) and create your own theme for the book. A demonstration at the launch proved that making a book is only a matter of setting the theme, populating the project with images (or letting iPhoto decide automatically), and clicking on the confirmation button. It's really that easy. The price ranges from S$7 for a small (2.6 x 3.5 inch, double-sided, 20-page, pack of three) softcover photo book to S$49 for a large (8.5 x 11 inch, double-sided, 20-page) hardcover photo book complete with dust cover and foil printing on the front. There are also wire-bound photo books, customized calendars and postcards which you can specify where you want them to be sent to. Normal photo prints ranging from 2.5 x 3.5 inch are also available. To ensure the quality and consistency of the print products, your files will actually be sent to Apple in the US and it will be printed, cut and bound there before shipping back to you. It spans about five to seven days from the date you send out till you receive the final product. Therefore, expect shipping charges as well. Normal photo prints will be printed locally and a standard delivery charge of S$2 applies regardless of the size or quantity. With the recent sex scandal happening in Hong Kong, you will be assured to know that once the printing is done, your files will be deleted from Apple's system immediately. As Darren Sng, senior manager of Software Product Marketing at Apple Singapore said during the press conference: "…your files will be deleted in the same way we dispose of Apple's documents." An additional feature in iPhoto '08 we like is that we can do basic image corrections as we would have in other image-editing programs. The original image is always there, so you don't have to worry about making mistakes when applying changes. Also, if your picture is not high-resolution enough for a stipulated print size, a small warning will appear to warn you. If you're not fussy, you can still go ahead and print. There is also a return policy that we think is very reasonable. If your prints reach you in an unsatisfactory manner or are damaged, Apple will redo your book for free. Cancellation policies are just as fair. Should you change your mind or realize that the orders of the pictures are wrong, you can cancel the order at no additional charge. However, if your book is printed already, you won't be able to cancel the order. There are certain kinds of photos that Apple will not print though. Content that is deemed obscene or explicit by the Cupertino company will be rejected. As with Apple iTunes, most of its services used to be exclusive only to users in certain countries. We still lament about the disregard of the iTunes store for certain Asian countries, but now it seems Apple has finally paid some attention to this growing group of users. Will iTunes be next in line to reach our shores? We hope so.
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