Sony site allows photo printouts at Longs outlets

SONY Electronics Inc. and Longs Drug Stores Corp. are teaming up to give one-hour photo processing service to digital photography customers who use Sony's ImageStation.com.

ImageStation is an online photo service that enables members to upload, store and share digital images and video clips. Users can now transmit those images, for one-hour printing, to any of the more than 470 Longs Drugs in Hawaii, California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon.

On the Net:
» www.imagestation.com

Printing of digital photos has long been widely available at venues including Longs, but this extension of Sony's ImageStation service allows customers do so from home -- in wallet-sized, 4-by-6-inch, 5-by-7-inch or 8-by-10-inch prints.

"Essentially now, Sony customers have the option to get their prints at Longs," said Farra Levin, Longs spokeswoman.

"They could have been a customer of Longs already ... but this saves (them) the trip of having to go (to a store) the first time" to drop off film or a camera card.

Customers can transmit pictures for printing at any time of day or night to any Longs store, "and with 31 locations in Hawaii, chances are there's one right down the street," she said.

Of course, the store has to be open in order for pick-up to be possible.

ImageStation.com does not appear to be an exclusive Sony-user playground and registration to use the service is free. Fees for the assorted printing services are explained on the Web site.

The site accepts JPEG, TIFF and BMP formats for still images and MPEG, MP4 and 3GP formats for video, according to Jenny Mehlow, a Sony public relations strategist.

Online storage of photos is available also, with an option to share them with others.

"Pictures can be marked private and password-protected, or can be designated accessible to the public," Mehlow said.

Drink gets ink

A Roy's drink got national ink last week, when the "Nations Restaurant News" magazine "Beverage Trends" newsletter arrived in e-mail in-boxes.

Roy's Signature Hawaiian Martini made with vodka, vanilla-flavored vodka and coconut-flavored rum and infused with fresh pineapple was pictured in the newsletter.

The $10 drink is served at Roy's 31 locations in the U.S., Guam and Japan, according to the newsletter.

Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com