Snap! Uploading Photos Is That Easy

By Rick Broida 

Every real estate professional knows that photos and video help drive property sales like nothing else. Likewise, you know what a time-consuming hassle it can be to add these items to your blog or Web site. Usually it means a trip back to the office computer, long waits copying the files from your camera or camcorder, and then the often tricky task of uploading the media.  •  At least, that’s how it used to be. Thanks to a handful of modern products and services, you no longer have to suffer the old ways of adding new media to your listings. Here’s your guide to spending less time computing and more time selling.

Go Mobile

>> For starters, cut out the trip back to the Internet-connected office computer—by bringing the Internet with you. Most of the major mobile-phone carriers offer high-speed wireless modems that plug into your notebook’s USB port. Prices and service plans vary, but it’s not uncommon to find deals offering a free modem when you sign up for service (much like with cell phones).

The advantage, of course, is that you’ll be able to upload photos and video from just about anywhere—like, say, the property you’re visiting. No room in the budget for a USB modem? Check with your carrier to see if your phone can double as one. Many models can “tether” to a PC for modem duty.

Cut the Cord

>> Next, look for ways you can bypass your PC altogether. For example, if you use Flickr® to host photos for your blog (it supports most popular services, including Blogger, LiveJournal, and WordPress), you can e-mail snapshots directly from your phone and turn them into new entries—no computer required.

Just head to the “Settings” page for your Flickr® account, supply your blog’s username and password, then perform a few final setup steps. Now any photos e-mailed to your special Flickr®-account address will automatically appear on your blog in the form of a new post. You can even use the body of your e-mail as the text content for that post. (Speaking of blogs, be sure to check out Flickrslidr.com , a free tool that lets you embed Flickr® slideshows on any blog or Web site.)

Of course, most cell phones take pictures that could graciously be described as mediocre. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could upload photos straight from your camera, even when you’re out and about? That’s the idea behind the $129.99 Eye-Fi Explore (www.eye.fi), a 2-gigabyte Secure Digital (SD) memory card with built-in Wi-Fi.

The Eye-Fi is compatible with all cameras that use SD media. After a few setup steps, you just pop it into your camera and shoot like normal. When you’re done, find the nearest Wayport hotspot (there are about 10,000 of them in the U.S.) and the Eye-Fi will automatically upload your snaps to an online photo service. The card currently supports more than 20 of them, including Flickr®, Facebook, and PropertyPreviews.com , a site that automatically turns static photos into Ken Burns-style slideshows. Those slideshows can then be personalized with editing tools and your choice of background music.

Meanwhile, once your camera gets in range of your computer, it will automatically (and wirelessly) copy photos to the hard drive for archiving. As an added bonus, the Eye-Fi also Geotags your photos, adding latitude and longitude information to each picture’s information file. Could come in handy.

Interestingly, there are a handful of cameras from Canon, Kodak, and Nikon that have built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, but none of them offers the automation and photo-service acumen of the Eye-Fi card—which works with nearly any camera.

Upload-and-Go Video

>> As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, if property photos are good, property videos are roughly a million times better. In the old days (circa 2005), shooting a video walkthrough required a pricey tape-based camcorder and considerable time spent copying the footage to your PC, editing it, saving it in a Web-friendly format, and then uploading it to YouTube. Not any more. These days, you can add videos to your site faster than you can say, “lights, camera, action.”

What you need is a camcorder (or camera) that’s built for the job, like the $179.99 Flip Mino (theflip.com ) or $99.99 Creative Vado (creative.com ). These pocket-size camcorders record YouTube-optimized video (read: low resolution, but suitable for online viewing) to internal memory, so you don’t have to mess with tapes or storage cards. Plus, they have hidden USB connectors so you can plug them directly into your PC. Best of all, built-in software helps you edit videos and upload them to YouTube in just a few steps. From there, you can just embed the videos on your site like you normally would.

If you’d rather not carry another gadget, look for a digital camera that pulls double duty as a camcorder. Many of Casio’s Exilim models, for instance, offer a YouTube mode that captures video clips much like the Mino and Vado. And bundled software helps with the uploading, though you have to install it from a CD first. Pair a camera like the Exilim with a memory card like the Eye-Fi and you’ve got some pretty killer hardware for uploading photos and video on the run.

Rick Broida is a freelance writer to numerous outlets including Wired Magazine; he also is the author of How to Do Everything with Your Palm Powered Handheld, 6th Edition.