Many of our users have asked for the ability to upload photos from their iPhone photo library. At first this was a very easy decision for us. If everybody wants this feature, why not give it to them?
The problem is, we've been getting feedback from some of our users that tells us NOT to do this feature. They are afraid that adding the ability to upload a photo from the library will change the spirit and meaning of Fuzzyshot. Right now we can guarantee you that *almost* every photo you see on the site is "live" and "in the moment". We can also guarantee you that the photos came from an iPhone versus a regular camera.
Knowing these two things definitely adds to the appeal of Fuzzyshot. Once we open up the application to allow uploads from the library, it *may* introduce photos from people's regular digital cameras or even photos they saved off of the internet.
We want to know what our users think. How will you take advantage of the library upload feature? Will you take photos with the built-in camera and then upload those photos at a later time through the Fuzzyshot application?
Will you sync non-iPhone photos from your computers onto your iPhones in order to upload them to Fuzzyshot?
One thing we could do is only allow the live photos to make it to the incoming photos stream and the public browsing pages. Is this a good enough solution?
Before we push a feature like this onto the app, we want to hear from our users. How do you think this feature will change Fuzzyshot? (Or maybe you think it won't change at all?)
Please leave responses in the comments section of this post.
Thanks for your feedback!
-Founders
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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30 comments:
I am one of the people that requested this feature, but I am also concerned about its potential misuse. Some people simply don't care about the intent of an app (e.g. "Shout"). The reason I wanted this feature is that the FuzzyShot capture screen obscures too much of the picture with the dark overlay when I want to frame a shot carefully or quickly, making the built-in camera app a better choice for these situations. If FuzzyShot can do away with the dark overlay, or make the final shot easily visible by whatever means, then I can use it as my default camera app and won't need this feature. Thanks for asking!
redrummy, we wish we could change the way photos are taken too but unfortunately that is out of our control. Every application on the App Store has to use this camera interface which comes with black bars and is extremely slow while it is "saving photo". We're hoping Apple will update this feature in future iPhone OS releases.
As far as the "Photo Black Bars" are concerned...they appear after the shot...it's a bit awkward...but we can see the photo at full scale before it's published.
Now, about the Photo Library feature. I use this feature in other apps (Sketches) and like it, but you are correct, it will change the spirit or meaning of Fuzzyshot IF we have access to imported photo's.
The community you are building is unique. Fuzzyshot is more than a photo library. You are, as you say, a Mobile Photo Blog. Live!
SOLUTION: I notice some apps give you the ability to grab from the Library, and some others, such as Evernote (free), allow a user can grab photo's ONLY from the Camera Roll. Therefore, we are only accessing captures from the iPhone, keeping the spirit of Fuzzyshot.
AMEN! Get er done : )
I have several photo uploaders on my iPhone, and I wasn't really sure what the difference was in practice until I started using Fuzzyshot.
I quickly realized that it was a great way to keep in touch with just a few quick words and images, to let my friends and family know what I'm up to and seeing and even precisely where I am on any given day.
So that's what I use it for. And I was frustrated at first that I couldn't use my camera roll, but I soon came to appreciate the spontaneity of Fuzzyshot.
Now I like the fact that I'm forced to only record what I can grab on the go. I do think that's the spirit of Fuzzyshot. It's a useful limitation, in my opinion. There are plenty of other iPhone photo uploaders that can serve other purposes.
Choosing from the current roll would work better for me. I like to take several shots as fast as I can then select those that worked well and delete the rest.
Having to shoot, stop, create a title, wait for it to upload, etc. keeps me from being spontaneous and in the moment.
-a-
"Our aim is simple: build the most interactive mobile photo blogging platform on the internet."
As a friend of an iphone owner (but not an iphone owner myself), I would like to be able to interact on the site without the prerequisite of owning an iphone. I also think having a friends only photo section would be nice.
Opening up the site to all people would go far in making this interactive.
When I started reading this I was like yeah that would be great if I could upload from the library! But then I kept reading. I do not think it should be an option. I love how everything IS in the moment and has been taken from only an iPhone. Keep it the way it is. Its working.
I think it works well the way it is. But, as i'm using it, I feel like I need to be able to take several shots that might be put into a queu, and then later add captions and post to the site. Other than that, I like the forced spontaneity.
Thank you all for your responses. It means a lot to us. We'll think about this some more over the weekend. Keep taking those fuzzy shots!
Yea, yea, you've heard me before. For a product that isn't mine, I sure give it a lot of thought. And I have a day job.
PLOT: Definitely CAMERA ROLL, but not Library. This expands our options while keeping it all iPhone Fuzzy. I have to decide whether I'm going to take 1 Fuzzyshot photo, or multiple Camera shots. I like to take multiple shots and post the best shot that captures the moment. It's still NOT importing.
SUB PLOT: What I like about the current state of Fuzzyshot; Our lives are captured as they are. Everything is linear. We tell a story with images. Otherwise it's just a scatter of photo's.
So, even if you decide not to use the Library, but consider Camera Roll, you still have a dilemma. It messes with the natural order. Personally, I think the Camera Roll is a sacrifice worth taking. I like to see photo's that paint a story, and I don't think Camera Roll disrupts that idea enough. A little, but not the magnitude of imported photo's.
Fuzzyshot could share the photo blogging market by opening itself to Library import , OR you can strive to be the market leader for mobile blogging. You're not limiting yourself. The possibilities of accepting additional phone manufacturers photo's or future camera with upload capabilities are bright in this market.
As someone who downloaded this as an impulse and has not yet used it--
There are a half-dozen iPhone apps/sites that are EXACTLY the same as yours. That's why why I chuckled a bit at the "chat with the founders" thing. All I can say is..."your name may be Kevin, but you ain't Kevin Rose.". I know Kevin Rose--about as well as I'd know you if I took you up on the chat. We exchanged a couple of emails back before he was "KEVIN ROSE!?!". Back in the TechTV days. After he was a host (with Patrick Norton) but before G4. I know Norton about as well from his dl.tv days.
Here's my advice. If you REALLY want to be Kevin Rose (and not just do a little code you can sell to Google in a few months) you need something DIFFERENT. Maybe that's the "in the moment" quality. Maybe that's already too common--I see a lot of those out there. Whatever it is-~find it and stick with it. And remember that that other Kevin is a VERY busy guy. It's not a hobby anymore.
And I guarantee you'll DESTROY your chance at being the next Kevin Rose if you implement anything resembling the "friends of iPhone owners" section. That may be the stupidest suggestion ever made online. And remember that Digg respects it's users wants, but still has to, in the end, do what's best for Digg as a whole. They have often had to disappoint some users to best serve ALL users.
Good luck and best wishes. And send me an email so, when you ARE famous, I can say "I exchanged a few emails with him back then.". Maybe I'll be smart enough to keep yours. Nobody kept email back then...
Gee, Spookey, why don't you tell us what your working on, if anything, so we can open you up to criticism.
Even if you say is true, there is always room for competition and channels of growth.
Are you the same guy that complains about developers charging 99 cents per app for their creativity, labor and skill? These guys aren't just playing video games and getting fat.
I like the idea but can also see other's concerns. However, as it is, I ahve to choose whether to make an image part of my iPhone library and as such, send it to a blogger blog I write, or use exclusively as a FuzzyShot. An alternative solution could be to enable FuzzyShot images to also be e-mailed and/or transferred to the IPhone photo album as well. That would work just as well for me.
@Bob: Thanks for leaving a comment. If you take a photo with Fuzzyshot, it should save into your Camera Roll so that you can access it later or for another application.
Hope that helps. Send us an email if you have any questions.
i absolutely love the current setup. please do not open it up to photo library or camera role. fuzzy blog is so spontaneous and unique and that's why i use it daily.
fuzzy blog is my real-time photo journal that i choose to share with the public. it's so interesting to see what others around the world are doing at any given moment. it shows me how different yet similar we all are.
thanks for creating a community of fuzzy shot bloggers! bravo! : )
Please leave things as they are now- it's the reason myself of many others use this app.
It's simplicity at it's finest.
That's a tough one. I love your product, and will support whatever decision you make, but the reality is, my iPhone photo life doesn't revolve around Fuzzyshot. When I use your product, I lose the ability to capture a special moment with multiple shots. I'm too busy in your app, hoping I get 1 descent shot. Fuzzyshot should enhance our experience without minimizing our use of tools.
Possible Solution:
Does Fuzzyshot display the date and time for each photo based on "Time of Post" or the "Time-Stamped Photo?" I understand you have a 24 hour limit to upload photos per Category. If your app recognizes the time-stamp, and a user imports a photo from Camera Roll within 24 hours, the photo's should go to it's proper place. If so, it's still an iPhone shot, while keeping our timeline in order.
Ha, nice thought Stinky, but since the photo's are blog posts, accompanied with text, I'm quite sure the photo's date and time is created when you publish the entry. However, you bring up a good point. The Categories do have a 24 hour limit, thus assuring that photo's remain in their proper place in time. I too support whatever decision the founders make. I'm sure there will be many upcoming photo blog apps with many options. I wish these guys luck, and I'll stick with them.
Thanks for the tip. I'm new to iPhone and newer to FuzzyShot and didn't realize the FuzzyShot images saved to my iPhone library as well. This enables me to e-mail post them to other blogs. The ability to DOWNLOAD FuzzyShot images from the web page might be nice, but not a big deal.
So I'd vote NO. It works great the way it is. I think enabling uploads would for sure have people using it for reasons other than it was intended ...and I like knowing the images I'm looking at were definitely someone's spur of the moment urge to capture a little moment in their life.
I like the idea of people knowing that these are images on the fly. I agree that I'd like the process to be faster. If I'm trying to capture a moment, it kind of sucks when the moment is nowhere near when you click the button. You have to be kind of jedi and push the button before the event. I wish it would allow me to take landscape photos. Otherwise, I think it's great.
it would be nice if I could at least use an app like Picoli to do a quick edit on the iphone's image before upload to fuzzyshot. I agree that letting folks upload anything and everything would simply ruin the cool, fuzzy vibe... but being able to do a quick edit to adjust contract, color, etc. would be awesome.
Perhaps an answer would be to open a second site just for the purpose of uploading static photos from the camera's gallery, I see the potential for you to maybe tap other phones. I know there have been times when I was able to take a succession of photos more quickly with the native camera controls that I would have loved to have blogged up onto the site...these would have shown a fluid of motion that can not be captured with your applet.
I would like to be able to upload pics from my library, I have pics that were n the moment from my digital camera as well as my iPhone. I have pics that would add some color to my blog. Why don't you let those who want to be able to upload turn a feature on which allows you to do so. And for those that don't click the feature off.
Don't allow access to the Photo App.
I definitely vote "yes" to allowing photos to be taken from the Camera Roll.
A good tool gets out of the way and allows you to do that which you'd like to do.
Give the people a platform and let them do as they wish. Not allowing importing from the Camera Roll seems arbitrary, and decreases the value of Fuzzyshot.
I would probably use Fuzzyshot nearly exclusively from the Camera Roll, once that feature is available.
I would say leave it as is. Its a great concept to have a medium that is real time NOW life sharing. If users want more photos sharing ability to upload from their camera or computer, there are plenty of mediums out there that will let them do this. I say keep it simple and pure. This will also help to keep it less congested.
At first I couldn't figure out why Fuzzy left out the ability to use camera roll but after reading it makes some sense and it wouldn't matter to me which direction you guys choose. Now I don't know if it's just me but I can't figure out how to allow only friends to view pictures? If this is not a option it would be a great addition, there's certian parts of my life I would rather not share with the public.
I have been using the application for a few days and I think you should add the feature of being able to upload photos that are stored on the iPhone. The main benefit of your program for me is the easy of use to quickly post pics to the site. Not having to hook up my iPhone to the PC and then uploading from the PC is huge. I actually use this site ( compared to other photo sites ) because it is no hassle to get them online for others to see with minimal work on my part.
upload feature is an absolute necessity... It's unfair not to implement or the reasons states.... There should be direct from iPhone only uploading though forcing it all to be done through iPhone rwgardless
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