Upload Issues Again

I managed to upload the Raya photographs onto Flickr with no issues. But yesterday, when untried to upload the photos from Pavilion and Kuala Selangor, things got a bit awry. Download was not a problem, but uploading my snaps took helm of a long time.

My main connection at the Gombak House was P1. It played up before Puasa but seemed to improved a bit since - although the speed still left plenty to be desired. Last night it was hardly uploading. I then switched to my phones, both Maxis and Celcom. No joy.

I decided to sleep on it and tried again this morning. Much smoother.

I guessed there must have been plenty of traffic at my local area. But slow internet speed is just becoming painful especially when I used the cloud rather readily. Hopefully the connection get better as I have plenty more uploads to do .....

Flickr Playing Up?

Since yesterday, the upload speed onto Flickr was abysmally slow. Add to that, it sometimes uploaded duplicates, and the geotagging failed as well. In fact, if you go onto the website, it would highlight that the photos were taken at "a mysterious place with no name".

Were they having this glitch as part of their upgrade work. I must say that I like the new look Flickr, and the galleries and groups pages were had also had a make-over.

I tried uploading using a few devices and the results were just the same. My Blackberry upload actually resulted in 5 duplicates. Speed-wise were the same across all platform - as in slow - despite using a 30 MBit connection. Hopefully the problem would be sorted out soon. I have plenty of upload coming during Raya period ....

New Flickr. Y No Pro?

I've been a Flickr member since Nov 2007, before converting into a Pro in 2009. I've never looked back ever since. I do host most of my photos on SmugMug though and I tried 500px and Picasa in the past. I've never trusted Facebook with my photos. I was keen on Google Plus but felt Flickr was still the clear winner.

So, I was glad to learn that Marissa Meyer made Flickr one of her main products when she took over Yahoo! Certainly Flickr is a good product, and the previous management neglected this diamond. So, which way did the new regime was taking Flickr?

I knew things were serious when the 3-months Pro account was given away before Xmas last year. I was waiting for them to implement a face-lift a lot earlier. So, when it finally came, I was actually very happy. Google probably caught wind of this change since they only updated their Plus experience only last. For the better.

I'm happy with the new interface. Definitely more modern. But the subscription model made me sit back. I felt that the company missed one important element here. Flickr was actually built on loyalty.

During the lean times, the user stood by the product. They wore their Pro badges with pride. I was one of them. By abolishing Pro - only allowing old timers to be grandfathered in if they have a recurring payment program - these hardcore band would wither away. I personally felt that the loyalty wasn't rewarded. In the days of social media, 6 years is a long time!

The jacked-up interface was a welcomed change. But I was hoping that there would be movement to recognise these Pro group of users who had stayed on through thick and thin. If there is one, I would sign up in a heartbeat. To have to pay extra just to have no advert is just plain lame.....

Free Flickr

There had been a few changes in Yahoo! since Marissa Meyer took over at the helm. The Yahoo! Mail had been upgraded. They still used Bing search, but at least they now realised the gem in their possession, Flickr! It could have been Instagram if Yahoo played their cards right five years ago. Certainly it needed fresh impetus and at least now Yahoo! is taking the brand more seriously.

I have had the Pro account for 4 years now at least. it forms one of my repositories - the main one was still SmugMug. It was kinda fun uploaded photos from my bobile on the go. It also had a very strong community driving it through. The fellow user were generally very supportive of each other, and often held meeting in real live. In fact, I had made plenty of friends through the local chapter, KLickr.

For Xmas - or possibly celebrating the apocalype - Yahoo! was offering its Pro users free 3-month extension to their subscription. All you had to do was sign in, look for the banner at the top of your home screen, and walla. After a couple of clicks, your account is extended. Enjoy!

KLickrVille

We sure had fun setting it up, but in the end, we realised that a 40 by 40 feet in open air may just be a touch too big to be cosy. We made the best of it though. We were at the KLue area in Urbanscapes, right at the end, near the much-maligned non-floating hot air balloon area. At least KLcikrVille took off ……

Since internet was sluggish, we brought our own P1 unit, so surfing in and around the tent was smooth. So was the uploads of photos. The open space however, negated our effort to have a good audio and visual projection, bright sunlight and loud live music conspired against our effort somewhat. The theme was the colours of flicker - re pick and purple. Right, it was not me doing the picking. We got our own sound system, projectors and drinks. Cameras of course. Despite being at KLickerVille almost all day, I still managed more than 200 snaps! We shared our tent with a lomo photography group, so they were the one pulling in the visitors. We distributed leaflets and managed to get crowd in from time to time, but the location well away from the main walking area did not help. The bright sunshine and breezy day was a contrast from the thunderstorm the previous couple of days. Shame that the hot air balloon did not take off, as it would have been a great spectacle. Clear blue sky and carnival atmosphere, and you have balloon in the sky …. Bliss!

What was important was we plodded on, and was rewarded with successful 5 minute Photo Express session. I was also currently in the middle of selecting the winner for the Photo Hunt we organised. Shafina, the Mayor of KLickr was ill however that afternoon, which was a bit of a downer. And with my family traveling down from Kuala Kangsar, I had to leave early as well, meaning before 9, and Bunkface showing up. I did listen to them during their soundcheck a day earlier anyhow, so I was not really complaining.