Image monster wants images NOM NOM NOM
April 19, 2011 10:39 PM   Subscribe

How can I easily save the images I find online for later viewing?

Is there an online service that will let me save an image "in the cloud"?

Specifics:

- A web app
- These images are not mine - they're images on the web
- I do want the service to save a copy of the image
- I don't want to upload files
- I don't need any social/sharing/friends features
- I want "bookmarking" the image to be as frictionless as possible, from a web page
- I want to be able to view the images later - a great UI for viewing is essential.

Bonus points for:
- a Chrome extension/bookmarklet.
- An API of some sort
- Tagging/sorting/search/metadata features

Services I've looked at that don't seem to meet my criteria:
Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Cooliris, and Evernote. Pinterest in private mode looks workable, but it's in closed beta.

Any suggestions?
posted by bkudria to Computers & Internet (14 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Have you looked into www.imgur.com and the chrome extension?
posted by caliban at 10:44 PM on April 19, 2011


Response by poster: Let me clarify: I'm looking for tool this is also optimized for viewing the images in a "lightbox" interface, as well as many at once.
posted by bkudria at 10:55 PM on April 19, 2011


Tumblr plus Post To Tumblr? I mean, the social stuff is there, but it's not exactly compulsory. If you don't want people randomly stumbling onto your stuff you can set a password.
posted by btfreek at 11:00 PM on April 19, 2011


My husband likes Evernote.
posted by leahwrenn at 11:04 PM on April 19, 2011


Response by poster: First, just to clarify, no, this is not for porn.

btfreek: Interesting - hadn't considered using a stock "for photographs" theme. Good idea, will investigate.

leahwrenn: How is the image/photo support?
posted by bkudria at 11:15 PM on April 19, 2011


I use DownThemAll on Firefox, plus an extension that grabs every image on a page. Can't remember the name now though.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:23 PM on April 19, 2011


If the only thing holding you back from Pinterest is an invite, I can send you one to the email in your profile, or a different one if you memail me it.

I don't know that Pinterest will do everything you want, though. I haven't played with it in a few months, but I just went back to poke around after seeing your question, and found annoying UI changes. With a fresh new account, they won't affect you, but for me, they had the effect of making all the tags and price info I had added the old way invisible and uneditable - that information isn't visible to me in my old pins. It certainly makes me reluctant to use the site. There also doesn't seem to be any way to search only your own pins.
posted by booksherpa at 6:38 AM on April 20, 2011


mlkshk.
posted by lia at 6:47 AM on April 20, 2011


Aviary Google chrome extension.
posted by bru at 6:47 AM on April 20, 2011


Seconding mlkshk. It's new and still in mostly beta, but it does exactly what you're asking.
posted by Laura Macbeth at 7:17 AM on April 20, 2011


Best answer: Zootool?
posted by misterbrandt at 8:40 AM on April 20, 2011


Response by poster: misterbrandt: Wow, Zootool is actually awesome and perfect. Curious to see how mlkshk stacks up. Zootool's "add image" flow could be a bit better, but it's not bad at all. Thanks!
posted by bkudria at 12:35 PM on April 20, 2011


bkudria, What do you dislike about the "add image" process? (You're using the bookmarklet?) It's not as slick as the way weheartit does it (also a possible candidate, but the UI isn't quite what you want, I think?), but not awful.
posted by misterbrandt at 3:32 PM on April 20, 2011


Response by poster: misterbrandt: I'm using the Chrome extension, which I assume is similar. I guess my only complaint is that there is an extra step to confirm the image you want to add.

With a Flickr photo, it takes you directly to the "Add" flow, with tags and so on. That's fine. However, on another site (I tried a Tumblr post) it first makes you choose what exactly you want to save - the image, the RSS feed, etc. It's designed for saving *anything*, not just images, so there is an extra step in the flow. It's a pretty minor complaint, and I like Zootool despite it.
posted by bkudria at 3:58 PM on April 21, 2011


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