The Best Tools for Finding Free and Legal Images

July 29th, 2011 Posted in Blogs

Every blogger knows they have to get permission to use any images in a post that they publish. In the early days that was a royal pain in the neck. However, times have changed and there are some fantastic tools available to help ease the pain and ultimately keep you legal and out of trouble, Here are just a few.

Creative Commons Search Engine
This is an awesome site to find many images that include permission to freely use in many forms. It searches the following sites for the following type of resources:

Google Web (Web)
Google Images (Image)
Flickr (Image)
Blip.tv (Video)
Jamendo (Music)
SpinXpress (Media)
Wikimedia Commons (Media)

Pay close attention to the type of search you’re doing by selecting the options to the right of the search box. They are for commercial purposes, modify, adapt or Build upon.

Another excellent search engine is the MorgueFile which has a vast archive of free images. As with all of these search engines, you should also read the fine print to ensure that you have sufficient rights to use the image.

U.S. Government Photos and Images
Believe it or not, you can find a boatload of free images to use on the U.S. Government’s website. However, you still need to verify that the image gives full permission for the type of usage you plan to use. Here is the full disclaimer.

Find photos and images by topic. Some of these photos and images are in the public domain and may be used and reproduced without permission or fee. However, some photos and images may be protected by license. We strongly recommend you thoroughly read the disclaimers on each site before use.

If your blog is running on a self-hosted WordPress platform then by far my favorite tool is the PhotoDropper plugin which makes it a breeze to find free images you can use. PhotoDropper searches not only the CreateCommons site but also Flickr’s creative commons catalog.

Not only that, it also inserts the photo into your blog post along with the image permissions along with links to the original source and photographer! You just pick from three different sizes (S, M, L) and then it does the rest of the dirty work for you.

Flickr’s Creative Commons
Yahoo’s popular Flickr photo service has an ever-growing library of CC images. Just make sure you use them the right way. They make it very easy to identify the types of rights available for each photo.

Stock.Xchng has been around a long time and just keeps getting better with time. It requires joining the service but it’s well worth it.

Once you do a search and find the image you like, look for the image permission link that comes with every image (bottom right of the image)

This is where you will find what you need to know. I’ve highlighted the three sections in Green (good to use), Yellow (good to use if the owner approves its usage) and Red (Do not use it in the manner stated)

Image License

The following is a legal agreement between You and the owners of SXC.hu ("Website"), HAAP Media Ltd. ("SXC", "We") which governs the use of non-watermarked images ("Images") downloaded from our Website. By downloading an Image You agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement automatically, without any other conditions or declarations. If You do not agree with these terms, You are not allowed to download the Image.
All Images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of SXC or its Image providers. All rights are reserved unless otherwise granted to You. Your rights to use the Image are subject to this agreement and the restrictions specified at each Image.
We hereby grant to You a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Image on the terms and conditions explained in this Agreement and on the Image preview page FREE OF CHARGE.

You may use the Image

In digital format on websites, multimedia presentations, broadcast film and video, cell phones.
In printed promotional materials, magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, flyers, CD/DVD covers, etc.
Along with your corporate identity on business cards, letterhead, etc.
To decorate your home, your office or any public place.

You may not use the Image

For pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, sociteties, cultures.
To endorse products and services if it depicts a person.
In a way that can give a bad name to SXC or the person(s) depicted on the Image.
As part of a trademark, service mark or logo.
SELLING AND REDISTRIBUTION OF THE IMAGE (INDIVIDUALLY OR ALONG WITH OTHER IMAGES) IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! DO NOT SHARE THE IMAGE WITH OTHERS!

Always ask permission from the photographer if you want to use the Image

In website templates that You intend to sell or distribute.
For creating printed reproductions that You intend to sell.
On "print on demand" items such as t-shirts, postcards, mouse pads, mugs (e.g. on sites like Cafepress), or on any similar mass produced item that would contain the Image in a dominant way.

Information on rights
Since SXC does NOT require a written Model Release for each Image that has identifiable people on it, We cannot guarantee that you will be able to use the Image for any purpose You like. Also, if there is a model release for the Image, We do not represent or make warranties whatsoever as to the legality or validity of it.
Furthermore, certain Images may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights. SXC does not represent or make any warranties that it owns or licenses any of the mentioned, nor does it grant them. It’s your sole responsibility to make sure that You have all the necessary rights, consents and licenses for the use of the Image.
You acknowledge that by your download the ownership of Image does not get transferred to You and You must not claim that it is yours. Your license is non-transferable, which means that You are not allowed to sell, rent, give, sublicense, or otherwise transfer the Image or the right to use the Image to anyone else. The work You create with the Image must be used either by yourself or by your client. You warrant that You do your best to prevent third parties from duplicating the Image.
You also agree to take the time to comment on and rate the Image you downloaded and do your best to show the work you created with the Image to the photographer. This is a simple thing and means a lot to many of our contributors who simply would like to know how their work is used.
IMPORTANT!
SXC cannot be held responsible for any copyright violations, and cannot guarantee the legality of the Images stored in its system. If you want to make sure, always contact the photographers. You use the site and the photos at your own risk!
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless SXC and its officers, employees, shareholders, directors and suppliers against all claims, liability, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees and expenses, arising out of or related to a breach of this Agreement, the use of this site and the use or the inability of use of any Image, your failure to abide by any restriction regarding the use of an Image, or any claim by a third party related to the use of an Image.
Warranty and Liability
THE WEBSITE AND THE IMAGES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS". WE OFFER NO WARRANTY, EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED, REGARDING ANY IMAGES, THE WEBSITE, THE ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION, OR ANY RIGHTS OR LICENSES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SXC DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE OR THE IMAGES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THEIR USE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE.
SXC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY GENERAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES, COSTS OR LOSSES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR THE IMAGES.

Summary

Ok, so now you should have no more excuses for breaking the law. You can find a ton of free AND LEGAL images, videos and music for whatever work you publish online and offline. Just remember to double-check the permissions.

Blogging, images, Photos

Mobile me

March 23rd, 2011 Posted in Blogs, Technology

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Ciao! I’m writing this from my iPhone with the official app from WordPress. It’s been around a long time but it keeps getting better all the time. You can include photos too.

I love this because it means you can always publish something to your blog whenever you want no matter where you are even if you don’t have wifi you can use 3G.

Mobile

Best Practices for Social Media Marketing from a Tech Perspective

August 27th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, Social Media

22 Comments »

I was tagged by Chris Brogan to contribute a post about best practices for social media marketing in response to Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation. Since I mostly blog about technology I will share my take on this question from that perspective. How does someone from a tech point of view look at social media marketing?

Pai’s best practice for social media marketing involving technology:

1. Be Honest: It sounds simple but it isn’t when it comes to social media. It can be like high school with some of the cliquish things that go on with some circles. Too many people are afraid to be totally honest about things in fear of not being liked by an A-lister (GASP!). I learned that everyone, including those rare mutants known as A-listers appreciates and respect honesty above everything else. I apply the same practice to my reviews of technology and startups.

2. Be Respectful: Always remember that behind all of this technology and all these cool tools are real live human beings. Too often we lose sight of that fact and say things that truly hurt people’s feelings. We need to remember to respect everyone’s dignity no matter how much we disagree with them or what they’ve said or done.

As far as sharing someone else’s work regarding this topic I am pleased to share an excellent post from Jackie Peters called “Caught in the Echo Chambers”. It still has me thinking deeply about things. It’s so well-written and thought out. Take your time and read it carefully. Great stuff.

I will tag the following who I know will have great tips to share!

Tojosan who’s a master in socializing no matter what the platform online or offline. He also puts his money where he mouth is (huh?). For example, for a great cause (mail our military promotion) he offered to shave his head if they reached a certain donation level. Needless to say, his new name is TojoSANSHair (yea, I coined that one for him).

Purplecar is a writer who also loves social media and uses the tools. Everyone loves Christine and she will have some insightful secrets for sure.

social media marketing best practices

Flying Solo

July 27th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, Wordpress

10 Comments »

“Should I host my own blog?” Sooner or later, every blogger will ask that very question. Eventually, you will want to know the pro’s and cons of hosting your own blog vs staying with a free host like blogger or WordPress.com. Is it worth the expense and all the trouble to fly solo?

I recently did the research and came to the conclusion that it was well worth the expense and effort to “wing it” myself. I’ll share everything I learned, some things the hard way! There’s a great deal of information out there but this will be a stripped down collection of what I feel is the most important information you need to know about this subject matter. Ultimately, it’ll still be your decision whether to be your own pilot or continue to let someone else fly your plane.

Let’s start with a simple comparison of the two choices. We will use WordPress.org (self hosting) and WordPress.com (free blog host) just to compare apples to apples.

Feature/Option

	WordPress.com (Free)	WordPress.org (Self Hosting)
Your own Domain name	No (http://name.wordpress.com)	Yes
Hosting cost per month	Free	Average is $5-$10 per month
Easy Management	Yes	No (lots of manual updates)
Open Plugin support	NO	YES
Open Theme support	NO	YES
Customizable html/css code	NO	Yes
Automatic Backups	Yes	No
Allows Ads	No	Yes

The verdict? Well, it depends on you, of course. How serious are you about blogging? What is the goal of your blog? If it’s just a personal blog and you are not that technically savvy then perhaps the free choice is the right fit for you. However, if you enjoy tinkering with this stuff anf want full and complete control of your blog then self-hosting is a no-brainer. It’s also the right choice if you want to have a professional or business blog with any hopes of monetizing it.

Preflight Checklist

download wordpress software (use peazip to unzip files)
Register new domain name
Register new web host (WordPress approved hosts )
Export all posts/comments from existing blog

Spreading Your Wings! (Here are Detailed instructions from WordPress.org )

Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.
Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor and fill in your database details.
Upload your WordPress files with an FTP program such as the free Filezilla to the desired location on your web server:

- If you want to integrate WordPress into the root of your domain (e.g. http://example.com/), move or upload all contents of the unzipped WordPress directory (but excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server.
- If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own subdirectory on your web site (e.g. http://example.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you’d like the subdirectory to have and move or upload it to your web server. For example if you want the WordPress installation in a subdirectory called “blog”, you should rename the directory called “wordpress” to “blog” and upload it to the root directory of your web server.
Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in your favorite web browser.If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.phpIf you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
Import all posts/comments into new blog
Upload all themes and apply the one you want to use
Upload all plugins and active the ones you want to use
Add all badges and widgets that you want to use

Postflight checklist

change feedburner information
change technorati information
change all links to blog in profiles to new url (twitter, friendfeed, etc.)
Spread the word about the change
Backup database/blog (schedule regular backups as well)
Optional: If you want to redirect traffic from your old wordpress.com blog to your new self-hosted wordpress.org blog then checkout this PDF from Blog-Well.com.

Free blog software

www.wordpress.org

Free unzipping utility

PeaZip

Free Automatic Blog Backup Services

blogbackuponline(50 MB of storage)
WordPress Plugin for Database backup

Free FTP Software

FileZilla

Free blog themes & templates

http://themes.wordpress.net

http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

11 free magazine style themes

WPThemesFree

Mashable’s 70 fresh & modern templates

Free blog plugins

WordPress Plugin Library

Best plugins

Word Press stats

addthis plugin for wp

Subscribe to comments

Best widgets

disqus or Sezwho

Final Thoughts
Speaking for myself, I must admit that I wish I made the decision to fly solo a long time ago!
Despite all warnings and fears, it truly isn’t that difficult to do. Best of all, it’s tremendously more fun and rewarding. Think of it like this: Do you want to be the passenger on a commercial airliner or do you want to fly your very own plane? Do you want to fly from point to point or do you want to go where you want to go and do loop de loops? Give it a test flight and I hope to see you up in the clouds real soon!

Blogs, Self-hosting, Wordpress.org

Never Miss another Tweet

June 13th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, twitter

No Comments

One of the downsides of having a large group of friends on Twitter is the difficulty in following all of the tweets directed at you. In most cases, it’s impossible to catch all of the messages that normally would interest you.

Thus, most of us are relegated to using twitter search engines such as Summize or TweetScan. While both are fine services, they are manual processes that take time that we don’t normally have.

Enter TweetBeep which can send you email alerts whenever someone mentions you, your blog or any other keyword you want to track. For example, whenever someone mentions your name with or without the @ sign it will be captured and a email will be sent with all of the tweets every hour or once a day (your choice). If you want to be alerted for any mention of your websites or blogs then those alerts will take place instantly because the searches are performed live on twitter. The nice thing is that this works even when people use URL shortening services.

Final Thoughts

Search alert tools such as TweetBeep and SM2 (covered in “What About Me“) allow us to keep tabs on everything that’s important to us on the ever expanding information super-highway (Thank you Al Gore!). It’s like having our very own private investigators combing the web for us.

These time-savers are much appreciated as we become increasingly busy. Thanks to these types of services we never have to miss anything again.

twitter

Twhirl's Firehose Filter

June 11th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, twitter

122 Comments »

The new Twhirl update (0.8.2) has included a much needed new feature for everyone who has ever wanted to create groups for twitter. They now support Rooms on FriendFeed which means you can now filter your firehose of information to whatever you want according to the room you join or create.

For example, you can create a room for your favorite sports team and see only updates on that topic from the people who join that room. Likewise for any other topic such as Social Media, Stamp Collecting, or whatever the case may be. Here’s the room filter option on the bottom right of the FriendFeed client window (the pound sign #): I’ve created a room for Utterz which is selected in the following image.

The beauty is that you can quickly and easily jump from room to room without impacting your other Twhirl window which contains all of your twitter messages. Thus, the digital age’s equivalent of walking and chewing gum at the same time!

Yes, Twitter should’ve done this type of thing long ago, but that’s all right. Just be glad this is here now. We finally have a useful tool that will help us drink from that firehose without getting soaking wet!

Friendfeed, Twhirl, twitter

You've Got Milk

June 5th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, rss, Uncategorized

No Comments

Thanks to an excellent Adobe Air application called Snackr, you can now view the posts on Utterz from your circle of friends on your desktop! The good news is that it works on Windows, the Mac and even Linux and best of all it’s FREE!

Here’s how easy it is to setup:

Go to Utterz and copy the URL to your circle of friends (sometimes referred to as your Herd). Tip: It will be in this format: http://www.utterz.com/~h-Paisano/v-circle/r-1/rss.php (replace Paisano with your Utterz name, of course).

Go to http://snackr.net to download and install their cool RSS ticker. If you’ve never installed Adobe Air before (used by other services such as Twhirl, Snitter, AlertThingy and many others) then you will need to install it first. Go here to install Adobe Air.

Once Snackr is installed it will ask you what you want to do. Select the manually add feeds. Then click the plus sign on the bottom leftside of your screen and paste the URL of the RSS feed for your circle of friends on Utterz.

Within seconds all of your friends’ utterz including your own will begin scrolling across your screen and look like this:

Note: You can add all kinds of other RSS feeds to Snackr as well. This was just a way to show utterz members how to add their feed to their desktop.

Want a Personal MilkShake?

By the way, you can add your own Utterz RSS feed to services like GoogleReader and FriendFeed. Just add your own RSS feed from Utterz just as you would for any other RSS feed. (On FriendFeed click the add Blog feed option) Here’s the format:
http://www.utterz.com/~h-Paisano/list.php (again, replace my name with your Utterz user name). Bada Bing, Bada Boom! You’ve Got Milk!

rss, Snackr, utterz

What About Me?

June 2nd, 2008 Posted in Blogs, Marketing, Search

5 Comments »

Techrigy’s SM2 is an excellent search tool that will scour the vast world wide web for any mention of your name or any of your websites or blogs. They offer a free account that allows you to search for up to five keywords or phrases and stores up to 1,000 search results which is excellent. The results are can even be sent to your email account on a daily basis if that’s what you want.

SM2 was designed for PR & marketing professionals but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use the tool for researching your own personal brand. The results will surprise you and teach you a few things too.

Final thoughts: There are a bunch of ways to manually search the web for your name and personal brand such as TweetScan for Twitter or google for your blog, but SM2 provides a powerful search mechanism along with impressive analysis tools including charting with comparisons, demographics, geo-location, sentiment and drill-down reports.

Analysis, Blogs, Search

How to Add RSS feeds to your Outlook

May 29th, 2008 Posted in Blogs, Microsoft, rss

No Comments

How to Add RSS feeds to your Outlook

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a way for content publishers to make news, blogs, and other content available to subscribers. You can add your favorite RSS Feeds as subscriptions in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. There are a couple of ways to add an RSS Feed.

Adding a single feed at a time

Copy the feed URL that you want to add to Outlook

Go to the RSS folder in Outlook and Right-Click the root

The following menu will appear:

Select the Add a New RSS Feed (Third choice from the top)

Paste the RSS URL in the following box

Important Tip: Outlook seems to like XML RSS Feeds the best so whenever possible select that type of feed. It will look like this: View Feed XML

If you don’t see that link, you can try adding ?format=xml to the end of their rss feed.

How to add a collection of RSS feeds

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 supports the .opml file format for exchanging a collection of RSS Feed configuration information between programs that can organize and display RSS Feeds. Such programs are known as RSS aggregators. Office Outlook 2007 includes the functionality of an RSS aggregator.

A collection of RSS Feeds is shared by exporting it to an XML file with the .opml file extension and sending the file to the other person. You can attach the .opml file in an e-mail message, copy the .opml file to a network shared folder that both people have access to, or copy the .opml file to removable media such as a disk, CD, or a memory device. The other person can then import the .opml file and choose which RSS Feeds to add to Outlook.

In Office Outlook 2007, a collection of RSS Feeds can be exported to a file with the .opml extenstion.

You can import a file with the .opml extension to Office Outlook 2007 or other RSS programs.

On the File menu, click Import and Export.
Select Import RSS Feeds from an OPML file.
Click Next.
Click Browse to specify where the file to be imported is located, and then click Open.
Click Next.
Select the Feed name check box for each subscription that you want to import.

Tip Click Select All or Clear All to quickly select or clear all check boxes.

Note You are importing only the subscription information, not the actual items from the subscription.
Click Next.The .opml file is imported to Office Outlook 2007

How to export Your Google Reader RSS Collection as an OPML file

Click the Manage Subscriptions link and click the Import/Export option
click the Export Your Subscriptions as an OPML file
Save the file to your local system
Now you can import your Google Reader feeds into Outlook (all of them or selected feeds)

Microsoft Office, outlook, rss

Doriano Carta

Renaissance 2.0

The Best Tools for Finding Free and Legal Images

Summary

Mobile me

Flying Solo

Never Miss another Tweet

Twhirl's Firehose Filter

You've Got Milk

What About Me?

How to Add RSS feeds to your Outlook

Follow Pai!

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