Month: January 2009

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100% Kodak-brand Products, All New Photo Experience: our redesigned online photo and photo gift service

Welcome to ShareMyPhotosNow.com
Redesigned, Lower prices, backed by our same-day service and more than 18-years as leaders in the photo imaging industry. ShareMyPhotosNow.com is a division of ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc. Now that your old photos are digitized, have fun, share and make things with it to last a lifetime and more.
All New Photo Experience: Just for you, our redesigned ShareMyPhotosNow.com online photo and photo gift service is now ready to take your order. Any questions, use our free 24/7 Live Help support desk. PhotoCentral 3 is the exciting new, improved online service from ScanMyPhotos.com and ShareMyPhotosNow.com that lets you View, Edit, Share, Print and Archive your digital photos.
Benefits to you: PhotoCentral 3 features an all-new, tabbed interface that simplifies navigation and online ordering. Orders are ready in minutes at our Orange County, California retail photo center, or mailed back the same business day. The hundreds of unique products and features from our retail photo kiosks are now easy to load onto your computer. In minutes, you design super-easy photo books, 4×8 photo greeting cards, 5×7 folded cards and hundred of other innovative and extraordinary products to share and save your photo memories. And, even regular 4×6 Kodak quality pictures at just 15-cent each.
UPLOAD YOUR PHOTOS Upload your photos to our ShareMyPhotosNow.com site, create albums to order prints from or share with others. It’s the quick and easy way to let others view your photos of family and friends or that special occasion, such as a wedding, vacation or birthday. Fast, easy, super affordable and fun!!!

PRINT YOUR PHOTOS Choose the photos you want to print, what size and quantity you want. Hit send and your order is sent to our Irvine, California headquarters for processing. All orders received by 2PM Pacific Time, Monday – Friday, will be printed the same day.Everyone loves to share their pictures. But not everyone is as careful with your prints as you are. You want to protect them for years to come. Don’t worry! Prints from ScanMyPhotos are coated with KODAK XTRALIFEtm lamination to be especially durable. Real KODAK pictures with XTRALIFEtm lamination are waterproof. Just wiped the water off — no damage to the quality of the picture. So fingerprints, smudges, liquids, and even mustard will wipe right off.

PHOTO PRODUCTS PHOTO BOOKS: Create custom Photo Books to tell your story in a fun way that is ideal for both presentation and preservation of your memories. You choose the page layout from many different templates, add text and edit your photos. Don’t just show your photos, tell the story with them instead. Great for photos from weddings, vacations, parties or just for fun! Learn even more ways you can use photo books PHOTO GREETING CARDS: Photo greeting cards are a great way to share your photos. Custom cards for every occasion and holiday. Create the traditional one-sided 4×8 photo card or all new custom 5×7 folded cards with your photos and your custom text. Its like having your own greeting card company at your fingertips. Envelopes are included with every order and cards are as low as 59 cents per card.

WINDOWS & MAC FRIENDLY The look, the feel, and the fun of the new ScanMyPhotos are identical on Macintosh and Windows computers using Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome.

IPHOTO & PICASA PLUG-INS Download and install our all new iPhoto (Mac) or Picasa (PC) plug-in and you can export your photos from the two most popular photo organization programs directly to ScanMyPhotos. It’s free and easy. Edit the photos your way, upload only the photos you want and have them printed, instantly.

More info at ShareMyPhotosNow.com

EDIT YOUR PHOTOS Our new store lets you crop, zoom, pan, grayscale, and antique your online photos. You can even remove red-eye with one button click. You can undo any edits and even revert to the original photo at any time.The new interface features a new WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) photo cropping tool that’s part of the Print Order page. You can now crop your photos, in the aspect ratio of the print size just ordered, without leaving the Print Order page.

SHARE, TAG & BLOG YOUR PHOTOS You can share any album to a family member or friend with your customized message and even features an Address Book where you can define groups like My Friends, My Family, Baseball Mothers, etc… – you can share to everyone in any group with a single click.You can specify the caption, people, event, date, place, and even rate your online photos. We call this photo tagging. And you can search your albums and albums shared to you for matches to these tags. It will display the found photos in a custom view – you can even save this view to a new album. And share it! Album owners and their share recipients can add a running commentary to any photo in an album. We call them Yaks. And anytime a yak has been added to a photo, the owner and last yakker get notified by email. The recipient clicks a link in the email and gets sent directly to the yakked photo.

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Dealerscope Magazine Profiles ScanMyPhotos.com

Dealerscope – Mitch Goldstone, President and CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com (Irvine, CA)

By, Audrey Gray
 

Ever heard of “National Photo Preservation Month“? Don’t worry if you missed it this January, it’s still a new concept, but proof of a rare form of retail audacity: make-it-up-as-you-go-along marketing.

National Photo Preservation Month was just the latest brainchild of Mitch Goldstone, president and CEO of a photo specialty store in Irvine, California, that has evolved, in recent years, to become the celebrated brand Scanmyphotos.com.

Goldstone wants Americans especially to send him their shoe boxes of old photographs so he can first convert the pix to digital files and then covert those files into high-margin photo books, posters, calendars, collages and Kodak Picture DVDs. And he’s come up with a remarkable variety of marketing ploys to get them to do just that, even in the tumultuous last six months.

“The economy has no relevance to what’s going on with this business,” said Goldstone, a native New Yorker whose ballsy business attitude has earned him a reputation as a doer in industry organizations like the International Photo Marketing Association. “Sales are exponentially increasing day-to-day, week to week… we have tripled our staff in the last year. I just hired someone else yesterday, even in this economy.”

Goldstone’s niche success is based on a simple ideas: specialty retailers must change with the times, finding a new niche service for every age, and then use every modern means of communication out there to publicize the niche. When Goldstone and business partner Carl Berman opened their Orange County store, 30 Minute Photos Etc., back in 1990, their niche was to be a quick turn-around photo lab for the thousands of Californians who passed by daily on the freeways. It worked for a while, until the turn of the century hit and with it, the demise of film processing.

“Back then, business was exponentially plunging off the cliff,” remembers Goldstone. “It was the perfect storm where after 9-11, people stopped travelling, stopped spending money, stopped film-based picture taking. We were all set for digital, even setting up online ordering, but no one ordered!

“It was time for a reinvention, something Goldstone says they later decided to make a habit. They set about to turn their store into a social gathering place, offering customers a creative space to learn about getting images off of memory cards. Partnering with Kodak, they set up comfortable digital work spaces, put up compelling examples of the latest picture products and created a website with a blog that offers a constant supply of ideas and photography tips. They turned their customers’ e-mail addresses into a direct marketing resource, regularly sending out newsletters that included special promotions and coupons.

“Mitch’s online presence is phenomenal,” said Megan Schneider, Worldwide partnership Marketing Manager for Kodak. “He really has a way with marketing in-store too. He’s put up big screens in his store where customers can view Picture Movie DVDs as they are made. Everyone is just swept away. He runs loops on new products too.”

Goldstone’s most successful reinvention, however, has nothing to do with brick and mortar. In 2006, he launched scanmyphotos.com, an online service which allows customers worldwide to safely ship their old photo prints to Irvine, where they are scanned and digitized for a flat rate (typically, $49.95 for 1,000 pictures), and then returned right away.

The service tapped into an enormous need (Goldstone says there are 3.5 trillion analog pictures out there, sometimes as many as 5,000 per household) and, after a couple of ramp up years, was featured in David Pogue’s popular New York Times technology column.

“We rethink, reinvent, restyle, and return to profitability,” said Goldstone, who isn’t resting on his success. A few months ago, he converted his printing technology to Kodak’s APEX system, a fast, chemical-free dry lab that allows him to produce 2200 prints an hour. “All eco-friendly,” he added.

His marketing campaign is progressing as well. In addition to creating and promoting National Photo Preservation Month, Goldstone has been experimenting with online social networking. “We’ve made an occasional offer where we do free scanning–you pay $19.95 for the shipping–but the only requirement is that you post a review on your Facebook page or blog,” he said. “I think that kind of thing makes customers feel like they’ve latched on to the new high-tech company.”

About Dealerscope: The publication gives retail readers the knowledge they need to make the right decisions in the fast-moving consumer technology market. It helps retail- ers to more profitably market and sell consumer technology. Most importantly, Dealerscope assists manufacturers and distributors in communicating best practices to retail.

[source: Dealerscope]

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New Retail Photo Experience Center Opens at ScanMyPhotos.com

 

ScanMyPhotos.com and its parent company, 30 Minute Photos Etc. have opened a Retail Photo Experience Center in Orange County, Calif. to showcase all the latest digital imaging and photo printing and photo gifting products.

This new, retail environment is enticing and very hand-on. It serves as a showcase and center of innovation for how ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc. creates new consumer expectations and helps distract from the economic troubles, by providing a fun and new way to involve the whole family with new, do-it-yourself hobby photo projects.
The ScanMyPhotos.com Retail Photo Experience Center is powered by KODAK technology with an updated look at the photo business. It is fully do-it-yourself (DIY), interactive and a fun, new way to think about taking and sharing pictures. A large staff is also on hand to provide training and advice.
The Retail Photo Experience Center features in-store KODAK kiosk do-it-yourself service and is linked to a new KODAK APEX printer system. It is more powerful and economical; customer prices are much lower -the entire photo experience is better, more streamlined, neater and fun. The new Retail Photo Experience Center is designed to create word-of-mouth marketing buzz and enhance customer loyalty by engaging the customer.
It is all about making digital photography fun and easy to understand. Technology today makes that happen. Visitors instantly see more than 20 new products on the KODAK photo kiosks and a very inviting and relaxed place to work on their pictures. While they wait, more than 1,000 photos are scanned in about fifteen-minutes, then the magic begins. Guests at 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com can then restore and enhance each picture, zoom, crop and change every pictures on the KODAK kiosks.

Photography has been redefined by integrating a new way to make photographic pictures and 100s of other custom photo products. It leverages proven KODAK technology to maximize the customer experience and is efficient and eco-friendly.
The new printing solutions are showcased at 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com at their retail photo center in Irvine (Southern California).
Click here for directions and more info.
“The new Retail Experience Photo Center showcases an ongoing commitment by 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com to deliver the best KODAK technology and new high-speed innovations to create an enjoyable and fun experience for consumers to do more with their pictures,” said company president and CEO, Mitch Goldstone.
All products are instant and presented to the customer, all completed and ready for sharing within minutes. including instant KODAK Perfect Touch photo products, photo books, KODAK Picture Movie DVDs, prints from your camera phone, giant collage posters from your favorite snapshots and more.
Much more
As an environmentally friendly photo center, 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com invites you to visit today. The new retail environment is energy efficient from the ground up – from modern air conditioning to energy efficient lighting and an array of eco-friendly solutions that helps protect the environment. There is no more chemistry or silver recovery processing units.
Bring lots of memory cards, shoeboxes of photo snapshots, a camera phone with saved pictures and your imagination. Then, get ready to have fun and revisit your favorite photo memories and make new ones.
Make Something KODAK.
To learn more, click here

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ScanMyPhotos.com CEO, Mitch Goldstone to Address Lyra Research Imaging Symposium on January 28th

  

(January 13, 2009) Irvine, Calif. — “Pictures are everything, we make yours last a lifetime and more,” is what ScanMyPhotos.com has championed as a pioneer in super-fast and affordable photo scanning and digital imaging. “This slogan is the foundation for our 18-years of leadership in the photo imaging industry,” said Mitch Goldstone, president and CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com.

Photo printing and protecting generations of analog images, along with today’s digital pictures will be the central theme of Mr. Goldstone’s panel discussion at the 2009 Lyra Imaging Symposium

on January 26 – 28 at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California.

The 12th annual symposium’s varied presentations and panel discussions will examine the event’s official theme, “Collaboration, Customization, and Innovation in the ‘New’ Imaging Industry.

The “Photo Printing” panel discussion on January 28th at 2:25 PM – 3:05 PM will be moderated by Steve Hoffenberg, Lyra’s director of Consumer Imaging Research. The panel discussion includes Kevin Frisch, Chief Marketer, Snapfish, Alexis Gerard, President, Future Image Inc., Mitch Goldstone, President & CEO, ScanMyPhotos.com, and Geoff Soord, Group Development Manager, Software Imaging.

Topics for discussion include:

  • Market developments
  • Marketing of photo printing
  • Experience with the new Kodak photo kiosks and Kodak Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX), an innovative modular and scalable dry lab solution

Lyra Research, the digital imaging authority (www.lyra.com), is hosting the symposium to bring attendees two days of illuminating industry information and primary research results to help them examine how the imaging industry will change over the next five years. Attendees will receive comprehensive presentations by the imaging industry’s leading players to identify opportunities for market growth and expansion.

Background: Mitch Goldstone, a well-known leader in the photo imaging industry, operates an international Ecommerce photo imaging company and retail photo center based in Irvine, Calif. ScanMyPhotos.com and its parent company, 30 Minute Photos Etc., collectively have digitally preserved tens of millions of pictures since 1990 and is regularly profiled for its innovations and entrepreneurial creativity to help picture-takers save and share generations of photo memories. ScanMyPhotos.com media coverage includes a profile in The New York Times by “Personal Tech” columnist, David Pogue. “Tales from the World of Photo Scanning” [

blog.ScanMyPhotos.com] is the company’s daily news, commentary and special discounts blog. Goldstone, a longtime member of PMA and IPI has addressed many photo industry conferences and the International Consumer Electronics Show.

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Free Inauguration Day Party Hosted by 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com

Your ticket to history: Join us in Orange County, California for the Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
Not everyone can make it to Washington, D.C. to attend the presidential inauguration, but you can still be part of history and participate by attending a free Inauguration Day party in Irvine, hosted by 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com.
  • Where: 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com, 92 Corporate Park Plaza, Suite B, (Irvine corner of Jamboree & Barranca Parkway, next to El Pollo Loco)
  • When: 7:00 am – 2:00 pm, Tuesday, January 20, 2009
  • Reservation: RSVP by January 16th by calling 949-474-7654, email: info @ ScanMyPhotos.com
30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com, the southern California-based retail and ecommerce photo imaging company are hosting a free, all-day presidential inauguration party beginning at 7:00 am on Tuesday, January 20th.
Join us and view all the events and the swearing-in ceremony on large flat-screen televisions. Complimentary Inauguration Day American-themed lunch, dessert, gift prizes and surprises will be provided. Must RSVP before January 16th by calling: 949-474-7654.
“While mindful of our nation’s challenges and sensitive economic state, this is a time for everyone to come together and celebrate an historic, new beginning. We are inviting the entire business and residential community to gather with our staff, friends and neighbors to share in this historic moment,” explained Mitch Goldstone, president and CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com.
During the election campaign, ScanMyPhotos.com formed “Entrepreneurs Support Obama” so companies can stand united and share their support and voice.” See link.
To get ready for this historic day, ScanMyPhotos.com recommends that all guests view President-Elect Barack Obama’s Victory Speech. See link.
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Why Tomorrow’s CES Tech Trends Are Old News At ScanMyPhotos.com

Since 1990, we’ve been making news, mostly about our entrepreneurial innovations to help consumers take and save their photos. Many of the new tech trends you will be reading about at the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas begins at the micro level, forged from ideas by entrepreneurs and their creative ways to bring new products to market. For us, it was high speed and affordable photo scanning and Kodak Picture Kiosk DIY solutions. Click here for more info on ScanMyPhotos.co and its parent company, 30 Minute Photos Etc., based in Orange County, Calif.

Here is a sampling of news and blog postings profiling ScanMyPhotos.com

 

Read some external reviews of our service

 

Todd and Kristin – A View into Our Lives

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“Free Help for Preserving Old Photographs” (via OC Register)

Staff writer Cameron Bird over at the Orange County Register just wrote about ScanMyPhotos.com and the National Photo Preservation Month campaign. To read more, click here. Remember the local Irvine business also operates retail location for walk-in service and for its famous DIY Kodak Photo Kiosk services at super low prices.

Excerpt:

Rummage the attic, excavate old shoeboxes and search anyplace else you can for those photographs long-lost and tucked away from the light of day, urges ScanMyPhotos.com, which has gleaned attention for its super-fast digital scanners.


Now, the company has given January the nickname “National Photo Preservation Month” and is dedicating the entire 31 days to the cause. As part of the grand event, ScanMyPhotos has extended its free Web-based help desk at
“The demand to digitize pictures is mandated by the span of time which leads many older photos to fade away or become misplaced,” said company founder/president/CEO Mitch Goldstone in a press release. “The month-long NPPM
campaign will also help connect entire families with their past, as they revisit, share and create new ways to preserve and have fun with their snapshots.”

Via Goldstone, here are some tips for making the most of the month:

  1. Collect all your old (non-copyrighted) photos. Get your entire family and circle of friends involved as a treasure hunt to track down those Polaroid snapshots, shoeboxes of pictures and photos stacked away in draws and on closet shelves.
  2. Use social networking sites, from MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and others to ask relatives and friends to find those old (non-copyrighted) school pictures, vacation shots, wedding and other special occasion photo memories.
  3. Share your stories. Write to local newspapers and blog about your experience as you revisit those special photo memories. Once your photos are digitized, tag each one with descriptive messages and narratives. Write a story about who was in the picture and note something special about the person, scene or event so future generations can keep those memories alive.
  4. Keep the momentum going. According to reports by ScanMyPhotos.com customers, the average household has about 5,000 photo snapshots. Once the pictures are pooled together, get it scanned. There are a variety of photo scanning services available, from independent photo imaging retail labs to high-volume, bulk scanning services.
[source, OC Register, Irvine Retail Blog]

blog.scanmyphotos.com to answer folks’ questions about preserving of “analog” film photos (as opposed to digital ones), which tend to fade and degrade over time.

 

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“It’s national photo preservation month at the CES” (via Examiner.com)


Thanks to Dan Appleman and his “Gadgets Examiner” pre–CES column. Click here.

Admission; yes, National Photo Preservation Month (NPPM) is a gimmick, and what marketing campaign isn’t? Do you know the millions of dollars invested in promoting tech products at CES? How much are Sony, HP and other giant conglomerates spending to attend CES? It’s nearly impossible to trump the primary noise at CES – the economy is in a free fall and hotels, like the Wynn Resorts ($159 a night) are having fire sales. Front row tickets to LOVE at the Mirage were still available two weeks ago (at 25% off) during what is the world’s largest consumer trade show, which is looking more and more like a no-show. Companies are cutting back and consumer interest is a million miles away from Las Vegas right now. With all this dire news, how can a smart, entrepreneurial company make news amidst all the media clutter? Launch the NPPM. Yes, it’s a marketing gimmick, but, as Dan agrees, is one that has an important mission. We want to help preserve generations of photo memories, quickly and affordably, and thus our NPPM was established. Click here to read more.

Excerpt from Dan’s column:

 

A high speed photo scanning service can help insure your memories. Did you know that January is National Photo Preservation Month? Most people don’t. You might wonder what act of Congress or executive order from the White House made January National Photo Preservation month. Only a cynic would imagine that National Photo Preservation Month is just a marketing gimmick created by ScanMyPhotos.com in conjunction with the CES to encourage people to digitize their old photographs to DVD using their high speed photo scanning technology.

Cynical or not, that is exactly what it is – a marketing gimmick.

However, just because something is a marketing gimmick doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. It’s heartbreaking to read stories of people who have lost their family photos due to fire or accident. Photos are among the few things we own that are truly irreplaceable. And there’s really no practical or economical way to backup large numbers of printed photos or negatives. But it’s easy and cheap to backup a DVD.

ScanMyPhotos.com will scan photos for under a nickle a piece. For $125 you can fill a prepaid box with as many photos as it will hold. Photos are scanned, and digitally corrected, and returned on a DVD. In most cases they offer overnight turnaround. Once you have a DVD you can make multiple copies and store them in a safe deposit box or using an online archiving service.

National Photo Preservation Month may be a marketing gimmick, but let us leave cynicism aside – it’s a good idea and ScanMyPhotos.com provides an important and economical service that everyone with boxes of old photos should consider.

Dan Appleman bio (via Examiner.com): He is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in hardware, software and gadgets of all kinds. Author of How Computer Programming Works and numerous other technical books and articles, he stubbornly insists that technology be judged by its real value, and not just by how new or cool it is.photo scanning, slide scanning, how to scan photos , , , , , , ,

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“Imagine” The World Without Tech Columnist David Pogue

Like all techie’s we too admire the New York Times’ tech columnist David Pogue, and that was even before his August 14th ScanMyPhotos.com NY Times review. If you aren’t already a loyal fan of David’s you will after hearing him sing a new version of “imagine,” watch him play the piano and teach us about gadgets and technology as only he can.

From ForaTV: David Pogue, personal-technology columnist for the New York Times, delivers an entertaining talk about the cellular technology trends of 2009.EG is the celebration of the American entertainment industry. Since 1984, Richard Saul Wurman has created extraordinary gatherings about learning and understanding. EG is a rich extension of these ideas – a conference that explores the attitude of understanding in music, film, television, radio, technology, advertising, gaming, interactivity and the web – The Entertainment Gathering David Pogue is the weekly tech columnist for the New York Times, a weekly CNBC reporter, and an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning. He has written or co-written seven books in the “…for Dummies” series (including Apple computers, magic, opera, and classical music); and in 1999, he launched his own series of computer how-to books, called the Missing Manual series, which includes over 60 titles.

 

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ScanMyPhotos.com: As Seen on KPIX-TV CBS 5 Eyewitness News

What a great way to begin the new year, helping preserve millions of additional family photo memories. On January 1st, KPIX-TV (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose), the CBS Eyewitness News affiliate, profiled ScanMyPhotos.com as part Sue Kwon’s ConsumerWatch Report.
Click here to view story.

 

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