Consumers today love the immediacy, ease of storage and ease of sharing of digital images. Storage of images “in the cloud” allows for anywhere/anytime access. Storage of images on their smartphone has similar benefits. Although slightly different in degree, both of these storage modalities also have risk of image loss due to long-term technology changes. In general, consumers are totally unaware of this risk, which could potentially leave a whole generation of picture takers, including Moms who are typically the “chief family photo officer”, without a long-term record of their lifetime events. This paper will provide a brief overview of the history and concerns of technology obsolescence as it relates to the long-term preservation of consumers' digital image files and show how promotion of hard copy printing provides a simple and cost effective means to the consumer for secure, technology-proof preservation of their precious memories.

As the number of prints being made declines, photo retailers seek new business models to make up the lost revenues. This paper provides some insights into the wide range of personalized photo products that can be produced to achieve this goal.

Utopia Digital Technologies, a New Berlin, Wis.-based division of S-One Holdings Corporation, has developed a transportable image receptive coating which incorporates both ink receptor and adhesive properties on one side and an inherent print protective layer on the other side. This patent-pending technology is called Avatrex™. A significant functional solution of this technology is the ability to print on bonded leather and produce custom hard covers for photo books and photo albums using equipment that exists in most print shops.

There are a wide range of digital print technologies available today, including Silver halide, Inkjet, Electrophotographic, and Dye Sublimation. However, only one, silver halide paper, specifically KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Premier Paper, incorporates imaging technology that provides an optimal balance of lab-preferred and consumer-preferred characteristics regarding image quality, high productivity, low cost and long-term permanence. This paper will discuss those technologies and how they enable KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Premier Paper to meet the needs of the critical portrait/social market. In addition, there is a general lack of awareness of the long-term storage and accessibility issues associated with digital files for which printing can fill a significant need. The optimal performance of KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Premier Paper provides the easiest, most economical solution for multi-generation preservation through hard copy printing of digital files. A print made on KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Premier Paper is a human-readable technology-independent record that will provide long-term access for multiple generations and provides a solution to the needs of long-term preservation of digital files by the consumer.

The future of digital clutter - trigger happy consumers today are capturing thousands of photos a year and inadvertently creating digital clutter on their hard drives or cloud storage services. This digital clutter has become a barrier in print fulfillment and/or enjoyment of photos. We will propose a solution which is a combination of technology and the trained human eye that can take a "heap" of digital photos and transform them into a beautifully laid out "photo story" that can be printed or enjoyed on a digital display/mobile device with zero work from the user. Conversion rates of this solution for photo stories (from photo upload to print) are north of 75% in comparison to the best photo book tools that are in the range of 30%. We will discuss sharing of these photo stories across platforms - mobile, web and TV.

This paper describes in addition to the paper presented last year how videos can be implemented into printed photo books and presents first results about the users' implementation. We will show that –surprisingly or not- pictures from videos are similarly used such as classical images to tell compelling stories. Videos taken with a traditional camcorder are not good candidates for implementation into photo books, as they are usually made with the intention of generating a movie. Videos taken by DSCs and smart phones are taken on the fly and are on average less than one minute in length and are the basis for the following evaluations.

We will discuss the myriads of challenges faced by a consumer in digitization, restoration and long term archival of their personal visual assets - photos, negatives, albums, video tapes and movie film. Special emphasis on preservation of B&W negatives and movie film which see the most abrasion damage. We will present a workflow and solution for duplication of degrading old photo albums in order to enable distribution and sharing of family legacy photos.

Until 2006 the PhotoBook was called the Photo Album, which was a luxury book with pages, where the developed photographic paper was attached in different modalities. The introduction of the digital camera has entirely changed this market. The evolution of the Photo Book began around 2006 and is fluctuating so rapidly that it is becoming a real revolution. Before 2006 the pictures were mostly digitally, but more people wanted to print the images to show them to family and friends in a convenient way, but also in varying sizes, such as 8x 10 in full color. The introduction of enhanced software tools have created the chance to manipulate the digital pictures, adding some features like trees, beaches, sun, etc. with the possibility to zoom, rotate the pictures on photo paper. This new software was mainly used by the online printers, because of the technical features of the newly developed digital printers. The software became more sophisticated with auxiliary possibilities. In fact, the software industry has changed the Photo Album into the 'PhotoBook' as we know today. In the early stages, this possibility of creation was a marvelous tool to assemble beautiful PhotoBooks, but had limited users who were familiar with the software programs. Some consumers spent hours to improve the image and composition of their Photo Book, and the results were great for special occasions. More than two-thirds of the people that started the composition of a Photo Book never finished the book. Only for these special occasions are they ready to spend so much time to create a unique presentation. In our times, consumers are looking for fast solutions and want to have it “now”. Consumers are looking to local places to make their PhotoBooks. Some stores have recognized this desire of consumers for instant solutions: the PhotoBook produced while shopping in the store. To give the consumer a simple immediate solution, the kiosk was introduced in the store. The kiosk may have different forms from a classic printer to a specially designed machine including payment systems. The Photo Book for the kiosk and minilabs must meet different requirements, because the result must compete with the PhotoBooks produced in the industrial environment of the online digital printers. These digital printers have the advantage by the capability to print the content and also produce the cover for the binding. It is obviously very simple for the industrial printers to offer a full color cover with a picture of an event. The digital printing industry has invested millions of dollars per production unit. The solution for many thousands shops must be very cost effective in the thousands of dollars, not the millions. Very important is the low investment per kiosk, but also the binding operation must be very simple and the result must be perfect. The stores may employ temporary people, whose tasks include making a PhotoBook. Motivation to deliver a perfect product is a challenge, where failure of possibility must be reduced to nearly zero. The tool for the making the full color cover and binding must be very economical as the footprint is very small in the shop. The step in creating a PhotoBook must be limited and done with specific guides. The make of the full color cover must be very simple and very fast. The binding must be very solid and secure. Different companies supply partial solutions for these requirements. Unibind has several complete solutions for all these requirements. All the solutions of Unibind are based on Hard-Covers with a channel in steel, which can be crimped in an automated crimping tool to the exact thickness of the bound photo paper. Unibind has the honor to present during this conference, the evolution of the PhotoBook with 2 new innovations: One innovation for the inside of the PhotoBook with the lay flat paper solution called 'UniPaper' and a second innovation for the full color outside of the PhotoBook called the 'CaseCover'. The solution for the full color outside is called the CaseCover. This new product of Unibind brings our solution to produce a full color hardcover. The first PhotoBooks were the evolution from the albums, where the outside hardcover of the album was manufactured in a factory in many different colors and many standard logos and slogans. The first PhotoBooks were done with the same way of thinking: many colors, many logos and slogans, but all standard from the factory, not adaptable at the specific request of the customer. The onliner printers offered the solution where the imitation leather was replaced by a panorama printed picture selected by the customer. This was a wrap around cover then glued on the hardcover produced in their factory. For the PhotoBooks made outside the factory in the stores with kiosks or other print solutions, there was no satisfying solution until recently Unibind created a new solution. The Unibind solution, the CaseCover, offers 3 different possible solutions: a printed picture on the front side of the hardcover, a printed picture on the front and the back side of the hardcover and the third solution is the complete panorama printed picture glued around the hardcover. To transform the blank CaseCover into a full color Cover, Unibind has developed, the CaseMaker 350, which Walgreens has installed 4,198 CaseMaker 350 to date. Many other retailers outside the USA are ordering the CaseMaker 350, which can produce in the store a personalized PhotoBook with a customer cover in only a few minutes. To make this personalized panorama PhotoBook, the operator must first cut the outside print to size, and use the positioning guide, fix the outside print to the CaseCover, fix the front side of the outside print and finally fix the back side to the CaseCover. Once the blank CaseCover is transformed into a full color CaseCover, the operator can bind the printed photo paper in the binding machine to realize a perfect PhotoBook that will be delivered to the customer in minutes after loading their pictures in the kiosk. This high quality PhotoBook will compete with the PhotoBooks made in a factory and delivered after a few days at home or at a pick up place. Another innovation from Unibind is 'UniPaper' which is a lay flat paper solution. This solution to produce PhotoBooks with the lay flat binding is called the UniPaper. The first PhotoBook albums were pictures affixed with glue or with other attachments. These albums were made with heavy paper and lay flat was not offered for these albums as there were no “panorama” cameras or panorama pictures. Recently there were cameras developed with the very wide angle or with a movie application, both resulting in pictures with a double landscape view. Then the industry of PhotoBooks must also develop PhotoBooks with these double landscape printed paper. Unibind has developed this solution, the UniPaper, with the special folding technique to be used with the system of binding based on the channel in steel. The UniPaper can be printed with single images or with the panorama view. Of course for the panorama view, the printer must be programmed to have the exact distance from the edge of the paper. Once the program is installed, the printing and the binding is exactly the same as with normal paper. The results are extremely simple, fast and beautiful PhotoBook. The combined solution of the CaseCover with the UniPaper gives every store the possibility to instantly produce extremely professional and customized PhotoBooks with an investment as low as but less than two thousand dollars. No delay, no transport, no disappointment. This is the quality solution for the present generation of “NOW”.