Technology

The best free sites for sharing photos and videos with your family

Published

6 months ago

July 21, 2024

The best free sites for sharing photos and videos with your family

In a world where every moment is captured, the question isn’t just about taking photos and videos. It’s about sharing them with those who matter most. Kim from Tinton Falls, New Jersey, echoes a common concern: How can a family share digital memories, both past gatherings and present moments, in a way that’s secure, private and shareable? Here’s her question to us:

“My extended family wants to find a way to share lots of photos and videos (from days of older and also when we gather). We are hoping to find a free site, and a site that won’t be pervasive or have dangerous privacy policies. We would like everyone in our family to have access to upload into their own folders that they can name, and everyone in the family to download them.” — Kim, Tinton Falls, New Jersey

Kim’s dilemma is one many families face. They seek a platform that’s free, non-invasive and respectful of privacy. A virtual space where each family member can contribute to their personalized folders, with the freedom to download cherished memories at will. Ideally, this platform would empower users to set expiration dates on their shared content, ensuring their digital footprints don’t linger indefinitely in the cloud.

Here are some recommended solutions that meet Kim’s criteria for privacy, security and ease of use for family photo sharing.

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A family photo (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Private and free photo-sharing platforms

1. Google Photos

Free Storage: 15 GB shared across Google services.
Features: Automatic organization, shared albums and smart search.
Privacy: Google has robust privacy policies, but users should review and adjust their privacy settings as needed.
How to Use: Create a shared album and invite family members to contribute. Each member can upload photos and videos to their own folders within the album.
Note: There have been concerns about Google’s data collection practices and privacy policies. If you are concerned about data privacy, you should consider alternative storage solutions.

How to set up Google Photos

Install the Google Photos app from the Google Play Store (Android) or the App Store (iOS).
Open the app and sign in with your Google Account.

How to create a shared Google Photos album

Navigate to the “Photos” tab.
Tap on the “Library” tab, then “New album.”
Select the photos and videos you want to include in the album.
Tap on the “Share” button, then select “Create shared album”.
Enter the email addresses of the family members you want to invite. They will receive an invitation to join the album.

Google photos app (Google)

2. Dropbox

Free Storage: 2 GB.
Features: File syncing, easy sharing and a mobile app.
Privacy: Strong security features, including two-factor authentication.
How to Use: Create a shared folder and invite family members. Members can upload and organize their photos and videos in personal subfolders.

How to set up Dropbox

Install the Dropbox app from the Google Play Store (Android) or the App Store (iOS), or download the desktop application from the Dropbox website.
Open the app and sign in with your Dropbox account or create a new account if you don’t have one.

How to upload files

Launch the Dropbox app or desktop application.
Click on the “Upload” button. Select the photos or videos you want to upload from your device.

How to create a shared folder

In the Dropbox app or desktop application, click on “New folder”.
Give the folder a name that is easily recognizable for all family members.
Right-click on the folder and select “Share” or use the share icon.
Enter the email addresses of the family members you want to invite. They will receive an invitation to join the folder.

How to organize files

Within the shared folder, create subfolders for each family member. This helps in organizing the photos and videos.
Each family member can upload their photos and videos to their respective subfolders.

Dropbox website and app (Dropbox)

3. Box

Free Storage: 10 GB.
Features: Collaboration tools and secure sharing options.
Privacy: High-level security and compliance with various privacy regulations.
How to Use: Set up a shared folder for the family. Each member can create and manage their own subfolders.

How to set up Box

Go to the Box website and sign up for a free account if you don’t already have one.
Install the Box app from the Google Play Store (Android) or the App Store (iOS), or download the desktop application from the Box website.

How to upload files

Launch the Box app or desktop application.
Click on the “Upload” button. Select the photos or videos you want to upload from your device.

How to create a shared folder

In the Box app or desktop application, click on “New” and then “Folder.”
Give the folder a name that is easily recognizable for all family members.
Right-click (or click the ellipsis (…)) on the folder and select “Share” from the More Options menu.
Enter the email addresses of the family members you want to invite. They will receive an invitation to join the folder.

How to organize files

Within the shared folder, create subfolders for each family member. This helps in organizing the photos and videos.
Each family member can upload their photos and videos to their respective subfolders.

Box website and app (Box)

While these solutions directly address Kim’s needs for family photo sharing, it’s also worth considering device-specific options and additional cloud storage services. These can complement your chosen family-sharing platform or provide alternative solutions depending on your devices and preferences. Also, with the solutions of sharing with family members, you should be aware of the need to increase storage space if needed.

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Device-specific and cloud storage options

The solution you choose may also depend on the devices your family uses. Whether you’re an Apple owner, have an Android device or use a mix of both, there are options tailored to your needs. Let’s explore some device-specific and cloud-storage solutions:

Photo logos (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Photography tools

Apple iCloud offers a free tier with 5 GB of storage, featuring seamless integration, automatic backup and shared albums. Paid tiers include 50 GB for $0.99 per month, 200 GB for $2.99 per month, and 2 TB for $9.99 per month.

Google Photos provides an unlimited free tier at limited resolution, with smart search, automatic organization and shared albums. Google One plans offer 15 GB for free with various paid pricing options.

Amazon Prime Photos is included with an Amazon Prime subscription and offers unlimited full-resolution storage and family sharing. For a fee, Amazon Photos provides additional storage options.

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Maximize your mobile storage on iOS/iPhone

With iCloud Photos, you can make more space available on your device and still have access to your entire full-resolution collection wherever you go. To get started with iCloud Photos:

Tap Settings
Click your name
Then click iCloud
Next, tap Photos
Tap Sync this iPhone. In iOS 15 or earlier, tap to turn on iCloud Photos.
Select Optimize iPhone Storage to save space on your device.

When Optimize Storage is turned on, full-resolution photos and videos are stored in iCloud, and space-saving copies are stored on your device when needed. As long as you have enough space in iCloud, you can store as many photos and videos as you want.

If you need more storage

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5 GB of free storage. If you need more, you can upgrade to iCloud+.
If you need more storage on your device, you can transfer the photos and videos that you don’t want to store in iCloud to your computer.

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IPad and iphone using iCloud (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Maximize your mobile storage on Android

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Photos app
Sign in to your Google Account
At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial
Tap Photos settings
Then click Backup
Under “Settings,” tap Back up device folders.
Select the folders you want to back up.

Cloud storage

Dropbox offers 2 GB of free storage with features like file syncing, easy sharing and a mobile app. It also has paid plans such as Plus, which provides 2 TB for $9.99 per month, and a family plan that offers a shared 2 TB for $16.99 per month.

Box provides 10 GB of free storage and includes collaboration tools and secure sharing options. It offers business plans that come with more storage and additional features.

IDrive gives you 5 GB for free and is designed for backing up multiple devices, along with file versioning. Its personal plans include 2 TB of storage for $69.50 per year.

Photo services

Flickr allows users to store up to 1,000 photos or videos for free and is known for its community and photo organization features. It offers a pro subscription with unlimited storage for $7.99 per month.

500px permits only limited uploads for free users but is a platform dedicated to the photography community and includes portfolio features. Its Awesome plan is priced at $6.49 per month, and the Pro plan is available for $12.99 per month.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

These days, sharing family memories securely is both a challenge and a necessity. For Kim and families like hers, platforms such as Google Photos, Dropbox and Box offer free, secure solutions that balance privacy with ease of use. While device-specific options provide seamless integration, cloud services ensure cross-platform accessibility. Remember to regularly review privacy settings, use strong passwords and consider the 3-2-1 backup rule for your precious memories. By choosing the right platform and following best practices, you can create a private, shared digital space to cherish your moments together, both past and present.

What challenges or benefits have you experienced in trying to balance convenience, privacy and meaningful connection when sharing photos and videos with loved ones? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

How Watch Duty’s wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA

Published

2 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

How Watch Duty’s wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA

If you live in Los Angeles, you are probably already intimately familiar with Watch Duty, the free app that shows active fires, mandatory evacuation zones, air quality indexes, wind direction, and a wealth of other information that everyone, from firefighters to regular people, have come to rely on during this week’s historic and devastating wildfires.

Watch Duty is unique in the tech world in that it doesn’t care about user engagement, time spent, or ad sales. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind it only cares about the accuracy of the information it provides and the speed with which the service can deliver that information. The app itself has taken off, rocketing to the top of Apple’s and Google’s app stores. Over 1 million people have downloaded it over the last few days alone.

The elegance of the app lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t scrape user data, show ads, require any kind of login, or track your information. Its simple tech stack and UI — most of which is maintained by volunteer engineers and reporters — has likely helped save countless lives. While Watch Duty is free to use, the app accepts tax-deductible donations and offers two tiers of membership that unlock additional features, like a firefighting flight tracker and the ability to set alerts for more than four counties.

With plans to expand the service across the United States, as well as overseas and into other emergency services, Watch Duty may eventually replace some of the slower and less reliable local government alert systems for millions of people.

Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images

An app born from fire

The idea for Watch Duty came to cofounder John Mills while he was trying to protect his off-grid Sonoma County home from the Walbridge fire in 2020. He realized there wasn’t a single source for all the information people needed to protect themselves from the blaze, which ultimately killed 33 people and destroyed 156 homes. John and his friend David Merritt, who is Watch Duty’s cofounder and CTO, decided to build an app to help.

“This came out of an idea that John had, and he talked to me about it four years ago,” Merritt tells The Verge. “We built the app in 60 days, and it was run completely by volunteers, no full-time staff. It was a side project for a lot of engineers, so the aim was to keep it as simple as possible.”

Fire reporting is piecemeal at best in fire-prone areas and frequently scattered across platforms like Facebook and X, where fire departments and counties have verified pages sharing relevant updates. But increasingly, social media platforms are putting automated access for alert services behind paywalls. Governments also use a wide variety of alert systems, causing delays that can cost lives, especially in fast-moving fires like the Palisades and Eaton fires that have forced evacuations for more than 180,000 people. And sometimes, these government-run alerts are sent out mistakenly, causing mass confusion.

Watch Duty simplifies all that for millions of people.

“We view what we are doing as a public service,” says Merritt. “It is a utility that everyone should have, which is timely, relevant information for their safety during emergencies. Right now, it’s very scattered. Even the agencies themselves, which have the best intentions, their hands are tied by bureaucracy or contracts. We partner with government sources with a focus on firefighting.”

“We view what we are doing as a public service.”

One of the biggest issues around fires, in particular, is that they can move quickly and consume large swaths of land and structures in minutes. For example, the winds that drove the Palisades fire to spread to more than 10,000 acres reached 90 miles per hour on Tuesday. When minutes matter, the piecemeal alert system that Watch Duty replaces can cause delays that cost lives.

“Some of the delivery systems for push notifications and text messages that government agencies use had a 15-minute delay, which is not good for fire,” says Merritt. “We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute. Right now, 1.5 million people in LA are getting push notifications through the app. That’s a lot of messages to send out in 60 seconds. In general, people are getting it pretty much all at the same time.”

A simple tech stack

For Watch Duty, this kind of mass communication requires reliable technology as well as a group of dedicated staff and skilled volunteers. Merritt says that Watch Duty relies on a number of corporate partners with whom it has relationships and contracts to provide its service.

“We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute.”

The app is built on a mix of technology, including Google’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, Firebase, Fastly, and Heroku. Merritt says the app uses some AI, but only for internal routing of alerts and emails. Reporters at Watch Duty — those who listen to scanners and update the app with push notifications about everything from air drops to evacuation updates — are mostly volunteers who coordinate coverage via Slack.

“All information is vetted for quality over quantity,” he says. “We have a code of conduct for reporters. For example, we never report on injuries or give specific addresses. It’s all tailored with a specific set of criteria. We don’t editorialize. We report on what we have heard on the scanners.”

According to Merritt, the app has 100 percent uptime. Even though it started with volunteer engineers, the nonprofit has slowly added more full-time people. “We still have volunteers helping us, but it’s becoming more on the internal paid staff as we grow, as things get more complex, and as we have more rigorous processes,” he says.

“All information is vetted for quality over quantity.”

He says there are no plans to ever charge for the app or scrape user data. The approach is kind of the Field of Dreams method to building a free app that saves people’s lives: if you build it well, the funding will come.

“It’s the antithesis of what a lot of tech does,” Merritt says. “We don’t want you to spend time in the app. You get information and get out. We have the option of adding more photos, but we limit those to the ones that provide different views of a fire we have been tracking. We don’t want people doom scrolling.”

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images

Collecting information in the era of Trump

Watch Duty relies heavily on publicly available information from places like the National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. Should the incoming Trump administration decide to execute on threats to dismantle and disband the EPA (which monitors air quality) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency to the National Weather Service, such moves would impact Watch Duty’s ability to operate.

Even still, Merritt is optimistic. “We will be pretty well insulated from any change to policy,” he says. “We are either buying that information ourselves already or we are happy to buy it, and we will take that cost on. The fact that we’re soon going to be covering the entire US will defray the cost of anything that shifts from a policy perspective. Our operation costs are mostly salaries. We are trying to hire really good engineers and have a really solid platform. If we need to raise a grant to buy data from the National Weather Service, then we will.”

Regardless of what the next administration does, it’s clear that Watch Duty has become a critical and necessary app for those in Southern California right now. The app currently covers 22 states and plans to roll out nationwide soon.

“We got 1.4 million app downloads in the last few days,” according to Merritt. “I think we have only received 60 support tickets, so that shows that something is working there. We are really just focused on the delivery of this information.”

Technology

China’s newest humanoid robot is ready to serve like never before

Published

2 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

China’s newest humanoid robot is ready to serve like never before

Chinese startup Pudu Robotics has unveiled its latest creation, the D9 humanoid robot, designed to revolutionize the way we work and interact with machines.

Standing at an impressive 5.57 feet tall, this bipedal machine is not just another robot — it’s a versatile assistant ready to tackle a wide range of tasks in various settings.

D9 humanoid robot. (Pudu Robotics)

Capabilities and features of the humanoid robot

The D9 is no ordinary robot. With its ability to walk upright and carry loads up to 44 pounds, it’s built to handle real-world challenges. But what sets it apart from its predecessors?

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Advanced mobility: The D9 can walk at speeds of up to 4.5 mph, outpacing the average human stroll. It’s not just about speed, though. This robot can navigate stairs, slopes and even maintain balance when knocked off-kilter.

Intelligent navigation: Equipped with high-accuracy sensors, the D9 creates real-time 3D semantic maps of its surroundings. This allows for autonomous route planning and precise self-positioning.

Versatile applications: From performing ground cleaning tasks with the Pudu SH1 to carrying boxes in warehouses and stocking shelves in stores, the D9’s potential applications are vast.

Natural interaction: Perhaps most impressively, the D9 boasts “human-level multimodal natural interactions,” thanks to its sophisticated artificial intelligence processing frameworks.

D9 humanoid robot. (Pudu Robotics)

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The evolution of Pudu robotics

The D9 isn’t Pudu’s first foray into robotics. In September, they introduced the D7, a semi-humanoid robot on wheels designed for tasks like sorting components, serving in restaurants and operating elevators. The D9 builds on this foundation, expanding the range of possible applications.

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D9 humanoid robot. (Pudu Robotics)

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Competitive landscape

With the introduction of the D9, Pudu Robotics enters a competitive field alongside giants like Tesla and Unitree. While pricing details for the D9 are yet to be announced, it’s speculated to fall in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, similar to Tesla’s Optimus.

D9 humanoid robot. (Pudu Robotics)

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Kurt’s key takeaways

The Pudu D9 showcases advanced mobility and intelligent interaction capabilities. As it prepares to enter the market, its potential impact on various industries could be profound, transforming how we approach tasks across sectors. The future looks promising for humanoid robots like the D9 as they pave the way for more efficient and interactive work environments.

What concerns do you have about the potential impact of humanoid robots like the Pudu D9 on the future of work and everyday life? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions:

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Technology

Intel still dreams of modular PCs — it brought a tablet laptop gaming handheld to CES

Published

12 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Intel still dreams of modular PCs — it brought a tablet laptop gaming handheld to CES

At CES 2025, Intel let journalists into its private “Innovation Showcase,” where we saw things like prototype next-gen laptops and giant stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.

While I was there, I also spotted a heavy metal handheld on a table that didn’t seem… fully attached… to its screen. When I lifted the screen, it came away easily.

It felt suspiciously light to be a real tablet, so I flipped it over and saw three connectors underneath:

Above it, on a shelf, was a laptop with a suspiciously sized chunk of plastic on the bottom that looked like a perfect match. A minute later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms confirmed: I was looking at a concept modular PC.

That module contains a complete Intel Lunar Lake computer, the entire guts you’d need to make one work outside of peripherals and screen. It’s basically a reboot of Intel’s abandoned Compute Card idea, except it’s not all Intel’s doing and you probably shouldn’t ever expect it to ship.

It’s a concept from Quanta, a company whose name you don’t typically see on the laptops and tablets they create, because Quanta is an ODM (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple’s better known iPhone supplier Foxconn) that designs and manufactures hardware on behalf of brand names.

Quanta’s calling the whole modular system the “AI8A,” and the aforementioned module at its heart is the “Detachable AI Core.” Helms told me it plugs into other concept computers as well, including an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn’t have to show off. And presumably, like the Compute Card idea, you could upgrade your computer just by putting a new new module into it.

The modular laptop has lots of concept-y bells and whistles too, so many that Intel’s CES staff hadn’t even worked them all out yet.

For starts, the laptop has a motorized hinge, so you can tell it to open and close its own lid; it also claims to offer eye-tracking that lets you sling around multitasking windows just by looking at where you’d like them to be. It apparently comes with a mouse integrated into a ring that you could wear.

The most mundane: a built-in Qi wireless charging pad in the palmrest, with indicator lights to show your battery’s remaining capacity.

I couldn’t try any of it working, unfortunately, nor did I manage to ask what “AI8A” means, because I mistakenly thought it said Aiba until I checked my photos closely just now. Nor could we hotswap the module between the handheld and laptop, since the module apparently doesn’t have a battery inside.

Again, this is a cool computing concept car: it’s not likely that this computer will ever ship, even in a more practical / less gadgety form. Thankfully, we have begun to see some real, practical modularity in the laptop space since the death of Intel’s Compute Card. Framework just celebrated its fifth anniversary this week, and Dell took a smaller step forward at CES with its first modular repairable USB-C port.

Photos by Sean Hollister / The Verge