I just looked at some GoDaddy statistics and was very pleased to see that ProStockMaster software run 75,568 times in the last 14 days. It makes a very respectable number of 5,397 in average runs a day. I do not know how many images were uploaded at each run, but the guys in the stock agencies definitely can collect this information looking for "ProStockMaster" user agent HTTP header in their log files.
Assuming an average of uploading 5 images daily at each run, we end up with 377,840 stock photographs uploaded with ProStockMaster just in 2 last weeks.

Nice, is not it?

We have the number of runs here because each time ProStockMaster starts it makes a request for the new software updates to www.prostockmaster.com. These anonymous requests are collected by GoDaddy stats and that's why we can count how many times the software has been started.

So, what you can expect in the upcoming version?
Let me give you a brief preview.

As usual, we listen very carefully to our customers, knowing that what they ask for is what they need.
We are working on:

1. Altering file statuses & upload time, so you can mark any image on your HD as "already uploaded" to some agency. This will help to avoid re-uploads, providing one source for stock image archive data.

2. Speeding up the image browsing. Like many other application, ProStockMaster will now store the generated thumbnails in the DB, thus making the browsing of the folder fast & efficient.


3. The keywords generation user interface will change, allowing you to play with the list of existing and generated keywords for each new keyword you enter.

4. StockXpert issue is solved in this release.

I am thinking about adding "find a duplicate image" functionality (anyway PSM keeps the images DB and anyway the app knows a lot about each indexed image), but I am not sure that there is a demand for that. Drop me a message/comment if you think it is something required.

We do not plan adding any new agency this time. Instead, we have to remove LO
We are checking what else we can do in the short term, not delaying the upcoming release for too long.

We plan releasing the new version in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

David

I hate to see that Lucky Oliver did not make it. It was a really nice agency and I wish a lot of good luck to Bryan and the LO team.  Thank you guys and see you in your next venture.

We are proud to provide our Russian-speaking customers with even better service and with the technical support in their native language.

[-- Announcement in Russian --]
Мы рады представить русскую версию нашего веб-сайта. В дополнение к информации, связанной с нашим програмным обеспечением ProStockMaster, Вы найдете здесь полезные рекомендации для сток-фотографа и материалы, связанные с фотосъемкой для сток агентств. Мы рады также предоставить нашим рускоязычным клиентам техническую поддержку на русском языке.

Since I am involved in telco business in my daily work, I will be next week at GSM World Congress in Barcelona (Feb 11-14). If you are in the area and if you want to chat with me in person, I will be happy to meet you there. Drop me a message here or to our support account (support(at)prostockmaster(dot)com) and we'll set up a time to meet (meet for a beer at the evening can also do!)

I can be quite slow answering customer support calls at this time - sorry for that guys.

David

v1.4.1 has a flow with StockXpert uploads - only 1 (first) image in the batch is uplaoded. All the rest are reported to be uplaoded, but never appear on StockXpert web site.
I am going to investigate this problem and once resolved I'll issue a software update.

Recently Fotolia.com has switched from HTTP to HTTPS login, thus providing some additional security to photographers' credentials at login. This was accompanied with change in login parameters, so ProStockMaster could not work with Fotolia anymore.

The new version 1.4.1 released today follows the Fotolia's change and fixes Fotolia login/statisitcs/uploads.
The auto-update should automatically update your software with the latest components, so there is no need to re-download / re-install the porgram.
Thank you all who alerted me about issues with Fotolia: Jack, Les, Einar and others.


David

New v1.4.0 is here!
It brings you two new agencies:
1. Alamy, the first non-micro agency which we decided to include. Meanwhile we have implmented uploading only, however we plan to extend Alamy support in further releases.

2. The long-awaited (and millions times requested) Stockxpert! Many thanks to Steve Kapsinow from Stockxpert for his valued help.

Upload issues with Dreamstime and 123rf reported in my previous post are also fixed in this version.

Our list of supported stock sites reaches for the first time a two-digits number: there are 10 supported agencies on the list now. It's a nice milestone.

I am happy to announce the new version of ProStockMaster web site. It took us a few weeks to rebuild the site providing better graphics design and solid infrastructure for the further developments. Major functionality remains the same meanwhile, however it can be easily extended now .

Note the banners at your affiliate account (login to get them).

Due to recent changes at these sites the uploads to DT and 123rf do not work temporary. It will be fixed in the upcoming release - stay tuned.

ProStockMaster expands to "macro-" stock territory adding Alamy support in its next version.
Coming soon!

-David

Well, it seems I finished the setup for my local mini-network including my Mac and variou Windows computers, so there are no more excuses for delaying the software upgrades 
So, what's the next?
There is a long queue of ideas and suggestions from you guys and as usual I am very happy to implement them in the product.

The next version of ProStockMaster will introduce a few more stock agencies.
What agencies will be included? Stay tuned, and you will see!


- David

What's inside:
1. Fotolia uploads can go now either to "unfinished" zone (like it was in all versions prior to v1.3.3) or directly-to-approval-queue (like it was introduced in v1.3.3).
This behavior is controlled by Preferences and can be manually changed for any group of files your going to upload to Fotolia.

For instance, if the files you are about to upload require model releases, you can select uploading to "unfinished" zone, uplaod the files and then add model releases. Alternatively, if you are going to upload e.g. nature shots, you can upload directly to approval queue, thus saving significant amount of dirty work at Fotolia web.

2. Issues with BigStockPhoto uploads, caused by the changes at BigStockPhoto web, are fixed now.

Note that iStock has strict submission rules for the image metadata: the title, the description and the keywords.
I suggets you carefully reviewing iStock submission guidelines if you face this uplaod issues.
In many cases ProStockMaster can not determine that iStock has reported an error and the application returns OK status.
In this case you rimage will go into "unfinished" zone and, typically, iStock will completely ignore its metadata.
 
Here is an example of what can go wrong:
 

Unfortunately, iStock web also does not provide a "re-read metadata from uploaded image" option, like some other sites do.
I have just added a suugestion on their "Suggestion Forum" to add such a button to HTTP upload process.

So, if it is your case there only two possible solutions meanwhile:

    a)       delete the uploaded image, correct metadata in the original image according to iStock submission guidelines and     then re-upload the file

    b)       enter the metadata manually on their web - this can be a lot of dirty work

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It seems there are issues in the current v1.3.3 uploading images to BigStockPhoto. I am working on it and the update will be released soon.

I've recently switched computers and it tremendously slows me down - hours of routine work just to get the things work at least like they worked before. The good news are that the new stuff is much much faster.


Update 23-Sep-07:
And this is what I got today while testing the software update:



Hmm.. Seems I can not test it until tomorrow at least. BSP guys work hard cleaning up their queue

Fotolia V2 is supported in this version (welcome back, Fotolia!). Like for iStockPhoto.com, uploaded images will go directly to the approval queue - no need to "finalize" the uploaded work before sending it inspectors. A default category is attached to all the uploaded images - change it later if you believe that buyers search Fotolia by categories

Like it was promised in the past, the new v1.3.3 speeds up images preparation workflow by extending "Copy" functionality.
"Copy" wizard is now bi-directional, i.e. it can copy data to the selected image from any other (previously prepared) image or, alternatively, copy data from the selected to multiple images selected by the photographer.

Let me tell a few words about this latest feature. Imagine that you have a series of 15 studio shots with a nice model handling a fruits basket. Now you have added a title, description and keywords to the first image in this series (do not forget to press "Generate" button to get some automated help on the keywording!), and have selected sites where you want this image and all the rest images from your series to be uploaded.

Next, press "Copy" button in the IPTC panel. You will get the following window:




Note that you can copy metadata and/or sites selection from this first image to all the others. Pressing the "Next" button will show the window where you can create and manage the list of images that should get this data:



If you press "Add" button, you will be prompted to add files to this list. Following our example, you will select here all the images that belong to that "model-with-a-fruits-basket" shooting session:



When you press "Select" in the window above, all the images you have selected are added to the list.




You can now add more images, delete images that probably were added here by a mistake, cancel or approve the "Copy" procedure. If you approve your selection by pressing "Finish" button, all the listed images will get exactly the same metadata - title, description, keywords and will get exactly the same sites selection like you have defined for the first image in the series, which is currently selected in the main application window.

Now, when you go to "Tools->Upload Images..." menu, you will see that all the images in your series are properly indexed with the identical metadata and are ready to be uploaded to all the sites you wanted. You can upload them all in button click or, alternatively, edit titles and other metadata for some images to be more image-specific before uploading the entire series.

-David

What's new in this upcoming update?

First, Fotolia uploads and statistics will come back. It seems I am going to implement this stuff without using their API, since Fotolia guys are sooo slow in replying emails. Could it be caused by their V2 web site which is unreasonably slow too?

Indeed, the site features almost the same functionality like the previous version and with very similar look and feel. They claim it took them 1 year to develop V2. Add here a week or so while Fotolia web was off-line, loosing their money...
And now "completly redesigned" Fotolia V2 still lacks some basic "must-to-have" functionality (IMO), e.g. "Search-in-Forums". (Should I use Google for that? - come on, guys!)
Personally, I would expect getting something better than their current V2 after all these efforts.
Hopefully, it will change soon. I believe that Fotolia guys have a pool of features that they are going to implement basing on their new infrastructure.

So, meanwhile I am still waiting for my Fotolia V2 API developer key and my customers are waiting to upload their work to Fotolia. It seems I do not have much choice at the moment, so I'll go for a proven "straight-forward" implementation technique - and this is what will be included in upcoming v1.3.3.

Next, I am working on speeding up the images preparation procedure. More specifically, on speeding up multiple images selection for the upload.
 
As you know, ProStockMaster sports 2 options for the files upload: uploading a folder and uploading "a manual selection".
Uploading a folder is wizard-based procedure allowing you to upload a folder full of your stock images just in a few seconds clicking on "Next"->"Next"->"Next".

Uploading a selection is also quite fast. However, making the selection is not fast at all.
You have open each file, add title, description, keywords and select sites for uploading. This is a one-by-one procedure, which can be considerable time consuming.
In order to speed up the selection and image preparation process, I am going to add some new functionality to "Copy" button in the main IPTC panel.

"Copy" button will open a wizard asking you if you wish to copy metadata to or from currently open image. Another option will allow you to add sites selection as a part of data that will be copied.
It will look similar to this:




If you select "from this image to other multiple images" the next wizard window will allow you to select multiple files located anywhere in your system. Once you finish your selection, IPTC metadata and/or sites selection will be copied from the currently open file to the selected files.

I believe it significantly speeds up preparation of multiple images that are going to be uploaded on the same sites. If these images represent a set with the same subject, copying IPTC data from the "master" image to all the rest can also help.

Alternatively, if you select "to this" image the wizard will allow you to select a single image on your system, which will be used as a source for IPTC data and/or for the site selection.

Here is how to install Java 5 on your computer if for some reason your Mac is not updated automatically with the latest Java releases:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/j2se50release4intel.html

David

UPDATE: The issue is fixed. Please note Mac upgrade instructions change.
If you do not care about your upload history, you can re-download/re-install the complete 1.3.2 Mac package at http://www.prostockmaster.com/download.php


There is an issue with Mac application packaging (java bundle) and the application can not start on OS X. I will solve it tonight.

David