Tech Watch

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Do you have a love-hate relationship with your digital camera? If you adore being able to view your pictures onscreen within seconds of taking them, but abhor trying to figure out the best way to share them with friends and family, you're not alone. E-mail attachments often don't come through correctly, or take forever to download. Here are three smart new alternatives:

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• SHAREALOT This program sends photos directly from your hard drive to your recipients', bypassing everyone's e-mail. When you download from www.sharealot.com, a yellow icon of a digital camera will appear on your desktop. Select the "Create a new share" option and follow the clear directions. Files are automatically compressed to save upload and download time. ShareALot works on Macs and PCs; recipients need the program, too, to see the photos.

• OURPICTURES Not as simple as ShareALot, OurPictures offers a more attractive interface and lets you edit photos before sending them. Tools include rotation, cropping and brightness controls. Recipients don't have to download any software. From an e-mail notification, they simply click on a link that takes them to a website where they can view and download pictures. Available in a free test version at www.ourpictures.com, the program will cost $20 a year (for senders only) once the final version is released.

• PHOTOSITE This new online photo site offers great-looking albums with a variety of virtual frames, styles and background colors. To create an album, download the PhotoSite Album Builder software from www.photosite.com. Next, select the pictures you want to post online, design the look of your album and click the Publish button. Friends will receive an e-mail invitation to view the pictures, which they can save to their computers. PhotoSite is free for the first 150 photos or $70 a year for an unlimited number of pictures.