14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's .Mac service was a prickly subject, even amongst Mac users. When it debuted, the service was very popular, but after the company decided to charge for it and after years of the service stagnating because of the lack of new features, not to mention nearly all other web services catching up with it, .Mac fell into disgrace. Now Apple has updated the service, offering better integration with popular apps such as iPhoto and iMovie, as well as better value by increasing the amount of storage tenfold.
The .Mac Web Gallery is the heart of the improved integration with iPhoto and iMovie, offering a new way for users to share content over the Internet. This new features lets members share content across platforms and it even allows collaboration as visitors to these galleries can download high quality images for printing and even contribute photos using a standard web browser or email. Other new features include the ability to purchase more storage, support for personal domains for iWeb websites and enhancements to .Mac Mail.
".Mac Web Gallery is an awesome way to share photos and movies on the Internet with friends and family," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in the press release. "You can share your favorite photos and movies with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone, and they can turn them into high-quality prints as well as contribute photos to your site using a web browser or email."
Additional information about the new and improved .Mac service:
With iPhoto '08, .Mac members can easily create a .Mac Web Gallery with just a few clicks and choose whether they want to make their albums available to everyone or limit access to specific people, allow visitors to download high-quality images suitable for making up to 16x20-inch prints, and even allow friends and family to contribute photos.
.Mac Web Gallery offers an amazing online photo experience that feels more like a desktop application than a web page. Visitors will have the same rich viewing experience whether they are using a Mac or PC and can experience .Mac Web Gallery photo albums in their choice of views, including mosaic, grid, slideshow or carousel. Users can skim through albums just like they do in iPhoto by simply moving their mouse over an album on the web page to see the photos inside.
Friends and family can easily contribute to a .Mac Web Gallery by clicking the upload button from their browser or sending an email. iPhoto '08 automatically stays in sync and downloads contributed photos directly to the .Mac member's iPhoto library. .Mac Web Gallery is also designed to work great with iPhone, enabling users to view albums or simply snap a picture, choose an album and post it to their .Mac Web Gallery.
With iMovie '08, .Mac members can easily encode and upload their movies to their .Mac Web Gallery for viewing in several sizes, with the largest size offering higher-than-DVD resolution. Visitors can view .Mac Web Gallery movies on a Mac, PC or iPhone. .Mac members can also choose to make their movies available for download, so that friends and family can play them back on their computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.
.Mac members now have 10 times more online storage space for photo and movie sharing, email, website hosting, exchanging files and backing up important documents, increasing from 1GB to 10GB for individual members and from 2GB to 20GB for Family Pack customers. Members can choose to purchase an additional 10GB of storage. .Mac members can send and receive larger email attachments up to a maximum size of 20MB and manage unwanted mail better with improved webmail spam filtering. Using iWeb '08, .Mac members can embed dynamic web widgets like Google Maps, Google AdSense, .Mac Web Gallery albums or HTML snippets in their .Mac website and host their websites at their own personal domain.
.Mac is available as a subscription-based service for US$99.95 per year for individuals and $179.95 for a Family Pack which includes one master account and four sub accounts. Customers save $30 on either the individual subscription or the Family Pack when purchased with a new Macintosh. Individuals can optionally purchase an additional 10GB of storage for $49.95 annually.