Bring the Family

Wink: Photobooth Print Sharing

Posted by Toni | Filed under Through the Lens

[Editor's Note (Hey! That's me!): This isn't a paid review or a product offered to me for evaluation - I don't do the former and will always disclose before doing the latter. I purchase the gear and other cool stuff I review at Bring the Family myself and filter it through my experience, knowledge, and personal preferences as a family travel and parenting writer, always with an eye toward usefulness to my readers.]

Here’s how I spent five minutes of my morning yesterday: uploading an iPhone app for a new service called Wink, (offered by Shutterfly), choosing four images to create a retro “photostrip” (remember photo booths?), and having it mailed to my in-laws in Florida, all for free. Not a bad way to spend a few minutes.

That first photostrip was free with the download of the Wink iPhone app, which is also free. Free is good. We like free. Otherwise, it’s $2.50 per 2 x 6 photostrip, and they accept credit cards and PayPal.

I get really excited about great, simple ideas like this that are so easily executed. Let’s say we’re on a hike, vacationing somewhere, or at a school play: I can take a few iPhone snapshots (preferably in ample lighting for the best iPhone photo quality), make them into a photostrip, and send it as a postcard to the boys’ grandparents. If my husband and I are at a party, a few snaps of friends and maybe the candlelit centerpiece at the dinner table can be mailed to the hosts as a novel thank you for their hospitality. I sometimes send my kids’ birthday party guests photos of the child with the birthday boy to accompany thank you notes; here’s an easy way to do that moments after the party ends.

You don’t need an iPhone to use Wink; you can make photostrips from your images stored at Shutterfly, Flickr, Facebook or on your computer hard drive. If you don’t have your recipient’s snail mail address on hand, Wink will email them to request a delivery address.

Ideas like this could change the face of travel, allowing us to document our favorite milestones in the form of custom-made souvenirs. And I think the price point is just right – inexpensive enough to make it fun but costly enough to merit some consideration of each creation. We all have digital images stored on our phones, laptops, and desktop computers, but how often do we get around to printing them these days? (Guilty as charged). Wink provides a simple way to nudge some of those moments into the physical world, anchored to our favorite memories.

Permalink | Comments (1) | March 23, 2010

One Response to “Wink: Photobooth Print Sharing”

1. Maman A Droit Says:
   March 24th, 2010 at 12:15 pm

   What a fun idea! I might have to go check out that app and maybe print off some pics of Baby. I think this would be fun for anyone, but I think a couple of Baby’s computer illiterate great-grandmas would especially like getting a strip of 4 pics they can display!

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website