Editor's Report - What's New? - Jun 27, 2005

Editor's Report - What's New?
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by (archives)
June 27, 2005
An update on the 2005 Meet, the Magazine and something new on LP - LP Live.

What's New?

Meet Update
The 2005 LaughingPlace.com Annual Meet is coming along great (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can click here to read about it). There's still time to buy tickets if you'd like to come. The t-shirts and pins have just arrived and will begin shipping on Wednesday along with the tickets. Even if  you're not coming to the meet, you can purchase a t-shirt and/or pin set and support LaughingPlace.com and the 2005 Meet. If you're interested in attending the meet or purchasing merchandise, click here.


My favorite model showing off the new t-shirt

The Magazine
Issue #3 of Tales from the Laughing Place is almost ready to go to press. I think it's looking really nice and I can't wait to see the finished product. Undoubtedly the highlight of the issue will be the in-depth look at Expedition: Everest, but there's much more including a wonderful interview with Andreas Deja by Rhett Wickham. This is the last week to purchase a subscription that starts with Issue #2. Starting July 1st subscriptions will begin with Issue #3 (though Issues #1 and #2 can be purchased individually). Click to order a subscription, Issue #1 or Issue #2.

Something New
We debuted LaughingPlace Live shortly before the big Disneyland and Walt Disney World events in May. Up until now only a few LP staffers have been able to send pictures, but our intent has always been to allow anyone to send pictures to LP Live. Well we're finally ready to being to roll that out. So, if you'd like to participate here's a FAQ to help you out.

What is LaughingPlace Live?
LaughingPlace Live (more commonly known as LP Live) is a way for readers to take pictures with their cell phone and have them appear almost instantly on LaughingPlace.com at LaughingPlace.com/Live.asp.

What types of pictures should I send?
We assume most pictures sent will be taken in the theme parks. You can send new or interesting stuff you see or just a family photo.  There are thousands of people all over the world viewing LP and it's fun for them (and me) to be able to see what you're doing in the parks at any given time - even the relatively mundane stuff. You can also send pictures taken outside the parks (maybe a local Disney event or your holiday display) - as long as it's Disney related.

What types of pictures should I not send?
Obviously, nothing obscene should be sent. In addition, please do your best to avoid sending pictures that include people - especially children - that are not a part of your group. Ultimately, our staff will make the final determination as to whether or not a picture is appropriate for LP Live.

Do pictures appear as soon as they are sent?
When a picture arrives at LP Live our staff gets a message letting them know and one of them needs to approve it prior to it appearing on LP Live. No picture goes up on LP Live unless it's either taken by an LP staffer or approved by an LP staffer.

How do I send a picture?
There are two steps:

  1. You must be a registered user of LaughingPlace.com. Edit your profile and enter your cell phone's email address in the "LiveAddresses" field. If you have multiple cell phones, you can enter more than one address by separating them with commas. If you're unsure what your cell phone's address is, send an image to your home email address and you should see it.
  2. When you're ready to send a picture, email it from your cell phone to [email protected] (yes, that's LaughingPlaceStore.com, not LaughingPlace.com). Any message you type in will be used as a caption. If your phone allows more than one picture to be sent at a time, please only send one. LP Live can only handle one picture per message.

It's also great if you send pictures in the highest resolution your cell phone supports.

Will my cell phone number be shown to others?
No. Your cell phone number is generally a part of your cell phone's email address, but that number is only stored in your profile. It is not shown to anyone outside of LP staff and it will not show when your picture appears on the website.

What types of cell phones work with LP Live?
LP Live should work with any cell phone that sends pictures in JPG format as attachments. LP Live also works with the proprietary format used by Sprint PCS. If we encounter other systems we'll do our best to make them work.

Is there a fee?
LaughingPlace.com, of course, doesn't charge you anything to submit pictures. However, your cell phone company may. Some plans include unlimited picture mail for a flat fee, but some charge on a per-picture basis. Please be aware of what you may be charged before you send a ton of pictures.

Can I do a test?
Sure, just send it to [email protected] and use "Test" as the caption. We'll email you back and let you know if it worked or not.

Anything else I need to know?
The astute reader will notice LP Live accepts any picture as an attachment. So what's to stop you from just emailing a picture from your desktop? Nothing. But the idea is for LP Live to have "Live" pictures, so we generally will not accept pictures sent that aren't "Live".

Also, we're just getting started with this new feature, so there will be some technical issues to work out. But we expect things will be running very smoothly before too long.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

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-- Doobie Moseley
-- Posted June 27, 2005