WordPress.com automates PicApp images for bloggers
For many bloggers, finding and uploading images for their posts are a pain in the neck. WordPress.com, the free blogging site that claims 7.5 million users, has added a way for its users to embed images — such as this one of Apple’s Steve Jobs — from PicApp’s free, legal, real-time library. PicApp includes Getty Images and Corbis among its licensed sources.
Technically, WordPress has added what’s called an embed code for PicApp. To insert a PicApp photo, bloggers copy the embed code from PicApp’s photo catalog and paste it into their WordPress post. It’s a lot less work than Googling for an image and then uploading it into WordPress yourself.
Besides being easy to use, PicApp images are legally safe for use even on commercial sites. This was such good news for me that I fact-checked it with the company before posting about it. PicApp warns that putting Steve’s photo into an ad, or using him as a fake promoter, would be a violation of terms of use. But using photos of Steve to illustrate your incendiary blog? Go for it.
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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