FocalPower…the blog

We fought hard against the urge to post some sort of spoof this morning, we figured we would go in the other direction. It’s April’s Fools Day. But we’re not fooling…

…we’ve expanded our infrastructure and for a limited time we are taking new Alpha Users on board!

For the next 5 days, anyone who wants to get a sneak peak at what FocalPower has been building just has to fill out the Alpha Form (yeah, we know it says application…but don’t worry, everyone who applies will get accepted). Feedback from photo bloggers is that they love the flexibility of the FocalPower platform. Even non photo bloggers have been impressed. And that’s with a system that’s still in alpha…so, come check it out!

We haven’t expanded as much as this guy’s head…after all, we’re still in Alpha. But, if you’re interested you’ll have to hurry because the form will shut down on April 6th…

(Photo by Scott Ableman)

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Today, the Quote Archive hit a new milestone when the 500th quote was added (quote might not be visible through RSS Readers):

provided by FocalPower

I find myself smirking at the fact that this is the historic 500th quote.

The Quote Archive became public about a year ago this month. Since that time, the archive has gone through spurts of growth, especially since the ability for anyone to submit quotes to the Archive went live. To all those who have helped contribute to the success of the archive, Thanks You!

To all of those who have enjoyed the archive by sharing it’s quotes on your website or blog, had a spark of enlightenment or enjoyment hit when reading a quote from the archive, or sent us your kind words of encouragement…your support makes the archive possible!

We look forward to seeing all the new and wonderful quotes related to photography that the community will add in the future!

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If you have been following the progress of FocalPower, then you might have noticed that development slowed down at the end of January. Well, it was because I was taking a break and having a great time on vacation snowboarding in Vail, Colorado. We were lucky and the snow conditions were some of the best I’ve experienced in years. As a result, I didn’t take too many photos but here are a few from the trip. The snowboarder in orange is me.

Now that I’m back and rested, alpha users of the system will start to see some new features released over the next several weeks.

David
Engineering

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Today we flipped the first switch. The alpha version of FocalPower went live with invites to the initial group of alpha users being sent out. So, if you applied for the alpha, check you in-box!

We had such a terrific response to our call for alpha users that we quickly used up all of our alpha user accounts. We regret that we couldn’t invite everyone. If additional accounts become available, we will invite additional applicants.

The FocalPower professional grade photo hosting platform is designed for photographers who have photos that they need to display on multiple websites or blogs. Once photos are uploaded, they can be shared on multiple sites using our photo sharing widgets. The goal is to reduce the work load of photographers by allowing them to upload their photos once and then control where and how their images are displayed. The platform gives more control to photographers by letting them share different groups of images on different sites (i.e., professional portfolios on your business’ website, examples and fun stuff on your blog, personal pictures on your family blog) while retaining a central point of control. And best of all, we fully support both EXIF and IPTC meta data; so all the work that you invested in key wording and inserting meta data in your photos are part of your work flow can be fully leveraged!

More details will be coming as we get closer to the full launch. In the meantime, I wanted to introduce the latest member of the FocalPower team…my launch companion Napoleon. He was keeping my feet company as I typed the keys that flipped that switch…

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The holidays have come and gone. Another year gone by. And what a fast year it has been too. We have been so busy working on the alpha release of FocalPower, that I’m not sure we have all our New Year’s resolutions in place yet!

That being said, this is the closing call for anyone who is interested in being an alpha user for FocalPower service. The FocalPower team anticipates releasing the alpha version in the next few days. If you are interested in being an alpha user for FocalPower’s Professional Grade Photo Hosting and Management, then please fill out our alpha user application.

Remember that the system isn’t 100% complete yet but it is usable. We need early users to put the system through it’s paces and provide us feedback. Those who do will receive a free one year subscription to the service once we release it to the public!

Since FocalPower is focused on widget based photo hosting, applications from people who have multiple locations where they need to display their photos will get higher preference (i.e., you have a photography website as well as a photography related blog, you have a photography blog and are actively involved in photography related forums).

All alpha user applicants will be informed of our decision shortly.

Thanks for everyone’s continue support and interest!

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The FocalPower Team has been fielding questions about the status of the Alpha release and the selection of Alpha Users. The limited access alpha release of FocalPower has not happened yet…so yes, people who are interested in applying to be an Alpha User can still apply via the application form. With the holidays so near, we realize that everyone has important activities during this time of the year. So stay tuned for the alpha release after the holiday season.

Enjoy your holidays!

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