Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
Exposure: two billion photos, in your pocket
Connected Flow, the company behind my favorite iPhoto plugin: FlickrExport, has just posted some information about a brand new app made just for the iPhone: Exposure. Exposure is a Flickr browsing client that makes it easy to see what folks are up to on Flickr. Browse your own photos, your contacts, or stranger's photos easily and using all that bells and whistles one would expect from a full fledged iPhone app. You can also comment on photos, favorite them, share them via email and more.The most interesting feature of Exposure, though, has to be the 'Near Me' button. Click this button and using the magic of GPS (or the almost GPS that the first gen iPhones and iPod touches have) Exposure shows you pictures on Flickr that were taken near your current location.
Exposure will be available in two versions:
- The free version will feature ads via The Deck
- $9.99 will get you 'Exposure Premium' which has no ads
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
TomWBrowning said 6:37PM on 7-07-2008
10 bucks for a flickr browser? Methinks not.
Google iPhlickr, I mean, sure it has no 'Near me' functionality but, I wonder if I'm that bothered.
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jane said 8:43PM on 7-07-2008
What exactly do you do for a living?
None of this stuff writes itself for free. Do you also complain to Apple about OS X being $129 if you buy it separately? Wait, ANY application? Like everything from Exposure to Adobe CS3? Or do you just pirate everything you feel like using that you don't want to pay for because you think software should be free in every way with no ads or nagging based on your arbitrary criteria?
Yes, there are some people who work on free-as-in-beer open source projects, but they usually need a job or a significant amount of donations/revenue (from other sources, like ads) to keep working, cause someone's gotta pay for food and general living expenses. Nothing involved is free. It's almost insulting to imply that this developer should give away his work for free just because you don't want to deal with ads (deplorable? well guess what, it's how so many websites and services are able to provide anything worthwhile to you at no cost, like tuaw!) or don't want to pay for it.
For what it's worth, a lot of flickr uploading tools for OS X are awful and FlickrExport is the only one I can stand using. And since I love to take a lot of pics on my iPhone and I want a nice way to check out Flickr on it, I think Exposure would be a fantastic application for that purpose, and I'm willing to put up with ads and maybe even pay for it (gasp, the horror). If you've emailed pics to Flickr and dealt with their awful mobile interface, you'd agree with me too.
TomWBrowning said 9:09PM on 7-07-2008
Relax. I pay for software, I never said it should all be free.
What I said was that I do not intend to pay for access to a free website. Not $10 anyway. Maybe $5. Maybe not.
I like how you assume I'm a pirate. Such a nice person you are.
TomWBrowning said 9:10PM on 7-07-2008
An app is not a service. Ads for services, up front payment for apps. Thanks.
TomWBrowning said 9:13PM on 7-07-2008
Also, you are an idiot for assuming I have anything to do with that scummy bunch of fucks that think all software should be free.
Just shows how much fanboyism affects everything around us, even people on the side that is right.
Justin Williams said 11:41PM on 7-07-2008
If you think the $10 is too much to justify for Exposure, either use the ad supported version or don't download it.
As a reader of TUAW, it's tiring to always see senseless bitching over the price of an application. As an independent Mac developer, it's even more frustrating to read those things.
We charge for our software because it's our livelihood. Taking out the 30% apple cut, Fraser/Connected Flow gets $7 a license. Now, factor in support costs, business costs and taxes out of that $7. Doesn't leave much.
The point is, before the next mindless reaction to the pricing of an application, think the investment we put into providing these applications. If you don't want to support paid (or ad supported) software, I'm sure you can find alternate solutions. Just spare us from the quibbling over $10.
TomWBrowning said 4:15AM on 7-08-2008
No worries Justin, I won't be buying any software from you regardless, given the fact that you can't read.
fishface said 6:51PM on 7-07-2008
who would pay 10 bucks just so ads won't appear
not even extra features
they're crazy!!
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TomWBrowning said 6:58PM on 7-07-2008
Never heard of twitterrific? That one charges $15 to get rid of the ads. Personally I think putting ads onto someone's phone or desktop is deplorable at best. Reminds me of Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger. Yeurgh.
Anonymous Coward said 9:17PM on 7-07-2008
Someone who believes in supporting independent software developers that make useful things they use, perhaps?
Todd Sieling said 10:40PM on 7-07-2008
I paid for Twitterific.
Regarding access, it's not that which is being charged for in the ConnectedFlow app - it's mediated access that works for the device you're using better than the generic website (or so one hopes). You're paying for the work of presenting what flickr serves in a better experience, so nobody is charging for access.
Jason said 7:04PM on 7-07-2008
Why would users pay $20 for Flickr Export, also made by Connected Flow? You can upload your photos to Flickr for free, yet lots of people still buy this app. I did, because it's better than Flickr's own solutions. Maybe this will be better too.
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Alex Paris said 7:23PM on 7-07-2008
whats with the crazy REDACTED image?
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Mark Boszko said 7:44PM on 7-07-2008
Ah, quit yer whinin'. It's a bargain at twice the price!
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Unregistered said 8:02PM on 7-07-2008
I have no idea what REDACTED is, but according to Wikipedia, redact may refer to
- Redaction, a form of editing in which multiple sources are combined and subjected to minor alteration to create a definitive and coherent work
- Sanitization (classified information), the process of removing sensitive information
Seems like both interpretations fit.
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David Chartier said 8:14PM on 7-07-2008
To answer a couple quick points:
1) I'll pay for Exposure because it's awesome software that provides features I want, and its developer spent a lot of time on it. Code doesn't write itself.
2) The [REDACTED] stuff is sort of a joke among developers writing iPhone apps, since as I understand it, all this stuff is technically under NDA until the App Store officially launches. On Twitter you'll see developers joke around with posts like "Work on [REDACTED] is going well, but yatta yatta..." as kind of a nod to the fact that most people can put 2 + 2 together to figure out what they're working on, but they can't officially speak about it yet.
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dance said 8:42PM on 7-07-2008
Ads from The Deck are pretty classy and not that annoying, at least on websites. I'm guessing their real business model is ad-supported and they aren't expecting too many people to buy the premium version.
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Justin Miller said 9:20PM on 7-07-2008
Regarding developers charging for seemingly simple apps (and I do mean seemingly), have a read here and see what you think:
http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/481/it-should-be-free
http://codesorcery.net/2008/03/31/the-price-of-free
http://codesorcery.net/2007/12/27/bait-and-switch-no-its-called-software-development
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Nano said 5:24AM on 7-08-2008
Or you could install the completely free and ad free Mobile Flickr available for a couple of months now.
Add this source to Installer on your jailbroken iPhone:
http://xk72.com/iphone/repos/
Lots of features. More so than Exposure except for the location thing which I'm sure it's great for some people but completely useless to me (just me).
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eric f. said 10:31AM on 7-08-2008
I wonder if Alien Skin will care that another App is named "Exposure". maybe Connected Flow can get away with it since theirs is for the Iphone and not a computer? I can't believe they haven't heard of Alien Skin Exposure?
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