Picture Perfect Software

Lorenz Sell President, Blue Lava Technologies

Americans snap nearly 30 million digital photos each year, says Lorenz Sell, the 27-year-old co-founder and president of Blue Lava Technologies in Honolulu. But what happens to those memories after you shoot a few dozen pictures at your cousin’s wedding or your daughter’s graduation? “Many times, nothing happens,” says Sell, who developed a free, Mac-only program called iLovePhotos, which he says makes viewing and sharing photos as easy as taking them. He came up with the idea after learning that his friend, Tetris mogul Henk Rogers, who is also co-founder of Blue Lava Technologies, needed a way to deal with more than 15,000 of his photos.

iLovePhotos.com is expected to debut in September.

Here’s how it works:

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AUTOMATIC SHARING:
iLovePhotos is downloaded directly onto your Mac desktop where your photos actually are. So no need to upload them to a Web site like Flickr. The software can also be fully integrated with your email address book, allowing one-click sharing directly from your desktop with the people in each photo.


VISUAL TAGGING:
Index your photos and visually tag them using what Sell says is the first desktop application on the market that uses facial detection software to organize photos. This allows users to quickly sort any number of digital images according to the faces in the photos and then quickly post them on a personal Web page or click an email address. Or, just set it up to do such things as automatically email all pictures of your newborn to your parents.


SMART SLIDESHOWS:
iLovePhotos also applies that advanced technology to create personalized slideshows. Slideshows can then be viewed on the Web, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV or digital picture frame.


HOW IT MAKES MONEY:
iLovePhotos.com will generate income solely from online ad sales. The free download is designed to drive Web traffic.

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