AOL Ajax-Powered Photo Website Adds New Features

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Thursday, June 8, 2006; 04:47 AM

AOL announced a partnership with Walgreens that will enable users of its free AOL Pictures online photo service to order prints online and then pick them up at virtually any of the more than 5,200 Walgreens locations across the U.S. The new retail photo pick up service will be available through the AOL Pictures website: http://www.aol.com/pictures or http://pictures.aol.com.

With the new Walgreens photo pick up service, AOL(R) Pictures users can order 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 prints and pick them up in as little as one hour at their local Walgreens store. Additional print size options will be available soon. Print prices start as low as $.19 for 4x6 prints and there is no service fee to pick up prints at a Walgreens location. The new photo pick up service will further expand the full-range of convenient printing options that AOL Pictures offers consumers which include the ability to use a home printer to easily print photos in various sizes (from wallet size to 8x10) and the ability to order prints and other photo gifts online and have them delivered by mail.

"One of the many joys of digital photography is being able to quickly receive actual prints of the photos you've taken, so we're really excited to work with Walgreens to offer AOL Pictures users another convenient and fast option for getting their high-quality prints," said David Liu, Vice President and General Manager, AOL.com. "From easy ways to share digital pictures to unlimited photo storage, to the convenience of printing photos through Walgreens, AOL Pictures gives consumers a complete digital photo experience."

"Printing your AOL Pictures at Walgreens is an especially convenient service for grandparents who don't live near their grandchildren," said John Sugrue, Walgreens General Merchandise Manager for Photofinishing. "Birthday party photos sent to AOL Pictures from the child's home in Chicago can be picked up the same day by grandparents in Florida at their local Walgreens. We also offer the convenience of more than 1,500 locations open 24 hours for around-the-clock photo service."

AOL Pictures is an online service which provides a comprehensive digital photo solution for consumers who want an easy way to store, organize, share, print and protect all of their favorite images. The service is built on the latest Web innovations and technologies, such as AJAX, to provide users with even more ease and convenience with application-like features such as drag-and-drop functionality. AOL Pictures offers free and unlimited storage for digital photos in their original resolution, and is available free to anyone on the Internet through the AOL.com portal (http://www.aol.com/pictures or http://pictures.aol.com), as well as on the AOL(R) service.

AOL also announced new features available for consumers:

-- As part of AOL's AIM(R) Pages next generation community offering, consumers can easily integrate photos they've stored on AOL Pictures into their personalized Web page with a new "My Pictures" module. By simply dragging and dropping the My Pictures module onto their AIM Page, consumers can display multiple AOL Pictures albums like a virtual scrapbook. An initial beta version of AIM Pages and the My Pictures module is available now at http://www.aimpages.com.

-- Currently in testing, a new "Mobile Pictures Upload" feature allows users to automatically post photos from supported mobile phones directly to their AOL Pictures accounts, making it easier for users to manage all of their camera phone and digital camera pictures in one place. By uploading their mobile photos to their AOL Pictures account, consumers can easily share photos with friends and family via instant messaging or email, edit photos, and order prints and other photo gifts. The feature can be enabled through the AOL Pictures website.

-- Coming soon: To make it even faster and more convenient to store and share photos online, a new "Auto Upload" feature will enable users to transfer images directly from supported digital cameras to their AOL Pictures accounts.