Frequently Asked Questions

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE, CURRENT AFFAIRS AND OTHER GLOBAL PHENOMENA

What's shwup? Is it edible?

Well, until some smart aleck comes up with shwup for a buffet spread, it's really not fit for public consumption. But shwup's best enjoyed with family and friends. All you have to do is set up an album on shwup. Then, invite the people who were present at a party, sports event or wedding. They don't even have to sign up on shwup to view or contribute photos and videos to the album. And since your albums are strictly by-invitation-only, shwup is totally private so there's no way some Internet weirdo or psycho ex-girlfriend can find your album.

Online sharing? No thanks, social networking ain't my thing.

With shwup, you can create a private online album for each event you want to share and choose to invite the people you want to share your photos or videos with. This is what we call some-to-some sharing. For instance, the album for the stag party has a different guest list than the album for the wedding. And you have photos of a particularly festive night out? No need to invite your boss to that one. Some-to-some sharing just makes more sense.

Who exactly is muvee and what kind of name is that?

We're muvee and it's a groovy kind of name. We've been helping people share their memories for over six years and you might already know us for our flagship desktop product, muvee Reveal, which can take your photos, videos and music to create awesome slideshows and music videos. For more information, you can read more about our company and our people.

INVITATIONS, RSVPs & NO-SHOWS

Does my invite list need to sign up with shwup to view or contribute to albums?

Each e-mail invitation comes with a personalized link in it. Clicking the link goes directly to the album you invited them to so they can add photos and videos to the album, leave comments and create muvees without signing up with shwup.

What do people see when I invite them?

The people you invite receive emails with a personalized link. They can click the link to view the album.

How can I remind my friends to add their stuff?

Simply click the name of one of the invited guests in the "Invited" box and click "Send a poke". Your guest will receive a friendly e-mail reminder to add their stuff to the album. They can even reply to the email reminder with attachments and the attachments will appear in the album. It's so easy that even your busiest friends will have no excuse not to share.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

What if I have photos to share with some people, but not everyone?

On shwup, all albums are private and by-invitation-only. You can set up albums for each event so the stag party album has a different invite list from the wedding or the honeymoon.

Why do I have to confirm my email address to invite somebody?

When you invite somebody, we are sending an e-mail on your behalf. Confirming your email address helps prevent our system from being used to send spam or other unwanted emails. So we make sure you are really who you say you are before sending e-mail invitations.

(UP)LOADING

My mom thinks "uploading" is what forklift trucks do. Can I get her to share online?

If she usually e-mails photos to you, you can invite her to the album with shwup. The invitation e-mail has your name in the "From" field so Mom can just reply to the e-mail and attach photos, like she already does. And presto! They're instantly shared in the album you set up!

What media formats do you accept?

We accept photos in JPG, BMP, GIF, and PNG as well as videos in MPG, MPEG, WMV, MOV, AVI, QT, 3GP and MP4. When you send email attachments, shwup accepts and processes .zip files, even if they contain multiple files. Smart, yes?

Why is my video not appearing in the album?

Patience is a virtue, my friend! Before we can show a video on the web, we have to transcode it to FLV, a format that's suitable for web streaming. This may take some time but don't worry, your video will appear soon.

How can I see all the photos and videos I've uploaded?

Click "Organize" at the top of the screen. This will show you a list of the photos and videos you've uploaded, organized by the album they're in. This is where you can choose to share or delete your stuff.

Can you e-mail me when somebody adds photos to the album?

Yes! If there are activities going on in the album(s) you belong to, we'll send you an activity notification email to let you know.

ALBUMS AND OTHER MISCELLANY

What can I name my album?

Absolutely anything you want. When you create an album, we automatically suggest a URL. While the URL has to be unique, the name of your album can be anything. We support UTF-8, so you can even use Chinese characters, if you like!

Why are my albums not listed under my name?

shwup is a some-to-some sharing site. This means the host creates a private online album and invites some people to share their photos and videos. Everything is centered on a shared private album so it's about the group, not the individual.

How do I view my albums?

Click "My Albums" at the top of the screen. You'll see a list of your albums – the ones you created and the ones you were invited to. You can also view all the albums you've been invited to even if you don't have an account on shwup.

How do I remove photos or videos taken of me on a bad hair-day?

If you are the album's host or the person who added the photo, then click the photo or video you want to remove, followed by clicking "Unshare".

Oh my gosh, what was that all about?

If you encounter inappropriate or objectionable content or maybe you would just like us to see something that's out of this world, e-mail us at feedback-shwup@muvee.com.

MUVEES – LIKE MOVIES BUT SLICKER

What's a muvee?

muvees are music videos shwup creates from the photos and videos in your album. You can also make your own muvees by choosing the content, style and music when you click "Make muvee".

How can I make the most amazing muvees ever?

1. Click "Make muvee".
2. Add photos and videos for your muvee to "muvee Timeline".
3. Choose a style with transitions, effects and pacing that best suits your muvee.
4. Choose a music track.
5. Click "Publish" and share your muvee with the rest of the group!

To create truly entertaining, personalized muvees, you might just want to give our desktop software, muvee Reveal, a shot! (It's absolutely free!)

How did my muvees become higher-resolution after a while?

When we first create muvees, we make a preview-size version so it's nice and quick. Behind the scenes, we create a full-resolution version to swap out the preview-size.

What's a muvee style?

Styles set the mood of your muvee from heart-thumping party videos to heartwarming wedding videos. shwup only provides seven styles but our desktop software, muvee Reveal, lets you use your own music, add captions, voiceovers and even burn to a DVD.

Can I download my muvees?

Yes you can! You can now zip up your entire album and download it with the email link we'll send soon after. Everything in the album, your photos, videos and muvees can be downloaded. A note though, they are not in original resolution..…yet.

Can I embed muvees on my blog?

Yes you can! Just click on the 'Blog it' button and you can copy and paste the code on your blog site and voila! You are ready to share your muvee!

Can I post my muvees to Facebook?

Yes you can (finally!) We know it's been on your wish list.

Post your muvee to your profile page and invite your friends to marvel at your creation. You can even pit your muvee-making skills against each other and see who's the muvee Master.

TECHNICALITIES FOR THOSE WHO SPEAK BINARY

What browsers and operating systems do you support?

Hello g33k, we support Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X and Linux.

Are my photos and videos safe from power outages, natural disasters and rogue unicorns?

Everything you upload is stored in its original size and format on our servers hosted in California by Equinix, a recognized leader in high-end hosting. The infrastructure is built to tolerate power outages, earthquakes, fires and floods. So yes, your files are safe.

How many photos can I upload? How many albums can I create?

For beta users like you, you can upload as many photos and videos as you please as well as create as many albums as you want. The multi-file uploader accepts photos of any dimension. When you add photos in the file-by-file uploader or by e-mail, they can be a maximum dimension of 3000x3000. Each file can be a max of 100MB.

Which photo sites can I import from?

We can import photos from Flickr and Facebook. And if you give us a URL, we can grab images from that page too.

Is shwup available in other languages?

shwup's interface is only available in English but we support the UTF-8 character set so you can use European languages, Russian, Korean, Japanese or Chinese for album titles and comments.

LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO

Imitation may be the best form of flattery but how do I deal with copy cats?

If you believe that your intellectual property rights have been infringed by another party, please send a written notification of claimed infringement as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to MUVEE at 133 Middle Road, Level 4 BOC Plaza, Singapore 188974, addressed to the Contracts and Compliance Manager. In addition, you may send such notification to feedback-shwup@muvee.com.

Please include in your notification:

1. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work alleged to be infringed; or if multiple copyrighted works are alleged to be infringed, a representative list of such works.
3. Identification of the material that is allegedly infringing and that is to be removed or access to which denied and information so as to permit us to locate on the Website the material that is allegedly infringing;
4. Your address, telephone number and email address;
5. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
6. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury that the above information provided by you is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
7. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements in this section, your DMCA notification may not be valid.

QUESTIONS WHICH DO NOT FIT ANYWHERE

What's with the glass marbles?

We like glass marbles. We think they're marble-ous.

How do I tell you how much I love you?

Simply send us an e-mail or two or three at feedback-shwup@muvee.com.

Will shwup be having a print service?

Yep! We're planning for it but in the meantime do have fun sharing with your friends and family online first.