Photo Printing Prices Compared

Online printing prices for many online providers:

4×6 5×7 8×10 CVS $0.15 $1.49 $3.99 FujiFilm $0.21 $1.29 $2.99 Kodak $0.15 $0.99 $3.99 Shutterfly $0.19 $0.99 $3.99 Walgreens $0.19 $1.59 $2.99 PicMe Photo Sharing $0.19 $0.98 $2.98

This week we added photo printing to the many features of PicMe Photo Sharing. I put together a quick table of the many online printing options to show you that not only is it easier to order prints with PicMe Photo Sharing but most of the time it’s cheaper as well. I’m of course biased but I think we’re pretty competative to Kodak. The other savings that’s harder to calculate across providers is shipping costs. We don’t mark up our shipping so we’re cheaper then the other providers in most cases. A lot of the larger providers mark up the shipping costs to encourage in-store pickup. We don’t do that and instead we make shipping very affordable, (under $2 for most orders).

If you haven’t tried our software yet you can get it free at http://picme.raizlabs.com

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The future of desktop Linux

The current dogma is that Linux can’t become a popular desktop operating system while the worlds most popular applications are written for Windows. But that’s just not true anymore. My grandfather who’s in his 90’s recently got his first computer. The only two applications that matter are web and email. The fact is that the OS matters much less now then it did in 2001 and it’ll matter even less in 2010.

Applications are moving to the web and application platforms are moving online as well. Flex from Adobe is moving things into the Air platform. Silverlight from Microsoft is bringing .Net onto the web.???? Prism from Mozilla is also bridging the gap by bringing web applications to the desktop…. And Java, ahh Java, but that’s another story.

There’s no reason the next OS platform can’t be Linux but there has to be something in it for the typical web user experience. Even if Linux takes a foothold on the desktop the open source community will wake up to find that the field goals have moved. While everyone was touting Linux standards and open platforms everyone will have moved on and the operating system will be the Web. Your apps, your files and your data live in the cloud, not on the desktop.???? This future is coming closer every day and it often feels like Linux on the desktop ignores this eventuality.

For the Linux desktop to succeed it needs to begin to enhance the user experience for the web user. it also has to be more relevant to today’s developers. Currently the browser experience is disconnected from the desktop and the innovations from KDE, Gnome and others aren’t relevant or visible to the web-community. (Both end-users and web-developers)
Questions Linux Architects need to ask:

• What can Linux as a platform do to enhance the web experience?
• What can Linux as a platform do to get developers excited about writing apps, the way that people are excited about writing iPhone apps.
• How will Linux innovate and set itself apart from Windows and Mac? The hardware and the software are starting to look the same, what can Linux do with new interaction techniques and innovative hardware that will make people say wow, I want that!

For next year to be the year of the Linux desktop it needs to become relevant and provide something more then a free alternative to something that everyone already gets for free with their computers.

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ANOTHER WAY TO BEAT THAT NONCOMPETE!

We spend most of our time blogging about ways to get around unfair and oppressive noncompete agreements...and here is another tactic you might enjoy!

Illegal Conduct by Your Employer: That's right! If your employer is engaged in illegal activity and requires you to do the same...you may just have a way to walk out of that job and out of that noncompete agreement. Examples are numerous: (1) a salesperson who is ordered to alter invoices to reflect higher prices than the consumer agreed to may be able to avoid his noncompete as the boss may be guilty of "unclean hands;" (2) a pharmaceutical employee may be able to escape a noncompete by showing she was subject to illegal racial and sexual harassment on the job; (3) how about the medical office worker who knows her physician boss wants the staff to change or alter patient medical or billing records; and (4) the office worker in the accountant's office who is directed to take liberties with client records in such a way as to lower the client's tax liability.

The lesson: If your employer is less than honest and your job places you at risk for legal responsibility for those acts of dishonesty....you may have a good argument to defeat the noncompete!

Google Uses Non-Competes

I ran across some discussions on the Internet recently about Googles' use of noncompete agreements. It appears that recently departed DoubleClick employees (purchased by Google) are saying that Google managers asked them to sign one-year noncompete agreements and then laid them off one week later.

I don't know if these allegations are true or not. But I do know that noncompetes in employment contracts for IT professionals are becoming increasingly more common due to the amount of intellectual property involved.

Whether the noncompete contracts are enforceable depends on the state law involved. In California most non-competes are unenforceable but in Virginia a different analysis applies.

Word to the Wise: Better know your rights BEFORE signing a noncompete!