Growing Pains

We're suffering from growing pains...

Our download and server traffic is pretty high, and demand comes from all over the world so we've splashed out on a CDN (which basically means you're PJ downloads and updates will be much faster.)

So if you have any feedback about our download speeds, we'd love to hear how you're finding it.

Cheers

Danny

PJ Remix 1.2 Final Released

PJ Remix 1.2 Final was launched yesterday. Open your existing version and software update will take care of the rest. ( release notes )

Also we've been private beta testing a new feature, portable projects. Feedback has been good and we're looking for more eager testers. If you're keen please email and let us know. info@photojunction.com

Cheers

Team PJ

Free PJ Remix!

We're at it again - we're giving you the chance to score yourself a free 12-month PJ Remix sub.

We want you to share your favourite PJ feature or useful tip with us.

Record a short video explaining or demonstrating your favourite PJ Remix feature or tip, send it to us, and well credit your account with a 12-month PJ sub. 

We’re not looking for a feature movie; a quick recording on a digital camera or screen shot software will do the job! Check out an example here.

We’ll upload them all onto our YouTube channel, and we’ll post the best ones on our blog.

Either send your videos to info@photojunction.com, or upload them to YouTube, send us the link, and we'll add them to our channel.

Happy movie making!

PS standard quality YouTube video has a picture of 320x240 pixels. 

Portable Projects

I don't like talking about features prior to release but I'll make an exception for this one. We're currently reworking how your data is stored for PJ Remix as there are shortcomings with our current implementation. If you're up for it, grab a cup of coffee and I'll tell you the full story ;-)

First I need to explain our decisions to date.

In PJ Retro we (and users) had four things to keep track of (the PJF and PJT files and the High and Low Res image folders). Our point of view may be different from yours, but support was a nightmare - clients (and not just the computer illiterate) got it wrong, frequently.

PJ Remix came along and we (over)simplified things by putting everything into one database, from which you could "import" and "export" projects if necessary.

This hasn't worked for everyone, but we do feel we're on the right track. In other words we don't want to "fix" our current problems by reverting to how Retro did things, with Retro's shortcomings. Rather we need to move forward.

So we are going to create individual "project files" that contain the client/event/album data and the low resolution images. These files will be "portable projects" that can be moved and saved anywhere you like (eg on a networked server, your desktop or external hard drive).

Some data (eg supplier resources etc) will continue to be stored locally in the user's central data base. Amongst other things, this will have a speed advantage if you want to operate over a network.

Keep in mind these Portable Projects will be reasonably large in size: 200Mb for a standard event and upwards of 500mb for a larger event (2000 images). While your first reaction may be to think that's a big file, it isn't really in proportion to the size of the 'event'. For instance a 200Mb project file was generated from a set of 700 jpegs totaling 3.5GB.  That's quite reasonable by comparison but a lot of data to open over a network.

These will be cross platform and will work on any machine, but keep in mind that high resolution exports will require access to the original high resolution images (which you can re-link, as now).

Portable Projects will also be 'double clickable' to open them in PJ.

By default PJ Remix will still store Portable Projects in a 'managed back-end' but you'll be able to move them individually if you desire. PJ Remix will also try to keep a record of these files which will be opened whenever you access them.

We're actually not that far off, in fact we're ready for a small private beta to test so if you're interested let us know by emailing info@photojunction.com

Cheers

Danny

Photokina Roundup

Photokina was huge - over 160,000 visitors and more than 140 countries represented.

The exhibition center was equally impressive with eleven different halls; some of them two stories high (my feet are still sore from all the walking!)

There weren't really any surprises. The album companies we saw didn't show us too much that we hadn't already seen. I guess that's a good thing. We got to meet and chat to a number of album companies based in non-English speaking countries, most of whom knew all about us. Another promising sign.

IMHO we didn't come across an album PJ couldn't design, or a piece of comparable software. But... of course we'd say that ;-)

Cheers. Danny

PJ reviews, reviewed

Can't believe Danny and Stephen interrupted a perfectly legit wedding to grab this shot (in Switzerland)

Our 'PJ Remix Loves U' promo is over, but our little button has been popping up all over the place. Which means we've been giving away heaps of 12-month PJ Remix subs.

Thanks to all those who posted a review. Here are some of our favs...

- Top marks to Karen Dahlquist from Happyfish. Not only was she one of the first to review, but also one of most in-depth. Karen runs a design service with PJ, in case you're tempted.

- Dean Kaus raved about PJ Remix on his blog - flexible is our middle name ;)

- Vito Amati shared how PJ Remix fits into and streamlines his workflow

- Jennifer Bowen from Jennifer Bowen Photography gave us a run down of some of her favourite PJ Remix features (including it's drag-and-drop interface, export functionality and template management).

Thanks again to all those who reviewed.