What is nowthen?

People can use nowthen for many a thing! Here are examples of how you can use nowthen:

- As a free, addictive and easy way for you and your family & friends to share pictures back and forth on your cell phones
- Automatically broadcast your pictures straight to your site, blog or Myspace
- Show family and friends what you’re up to when you travel for business or vacation
- Follow your friends’ updates - receive them directly to your phone
- Save time and money by blasting a text or pic message to a bunch of friends at once

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Does nowthen cost anything?

nowthen is free to use!

You will only be charged if your own cell phone plan charges for each text message or picture that is sent and received on your phone.

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Do you put charges on my phone bill?

No, we do not.

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How many pictures can I store on nowthen?

As many as your heart desires.

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Why do you need my cell number?

nowthen's service is all about portability and using your cell phone as a recording device for your life. Also, to protect your privacy, we need to know your number so we can recognize pics or texts that come from your phone!

Don't worry, we will not share your number to anyone else.

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Will you send spam to my cell or email inbox?

No! We will not share your phone number or email with any outside parties. You will only receive alerts to your email or phone when your friends have sent you new pictures or messages. We may also occasionally send you e-mail updates when we have new features on the site.

You can turn off all nowthen alerts by editing your account at your 'Me' page.

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Why do I have to sign-up to watch a friend?

If your friend has a friends-only account, then you have to sign in to view their updates. This ensures that loony stalkers can't access their pics and their privacy is respected.

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Can my phone take pictures?

Most cell phones can take pictures these days. You can usually tell really easily because, if you look over the phone body, there'll be a plastic lens on it somewhere.

If you're not sure, just email us at feedback@nowthen.com.

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How do I take a picture on my phone?

Most phones have a special camera button somewhere on the body (just look for a camera icon). If not, you may have to get to it through your phone's Main menu. Look for an option called 'camera'.

Still stuck? Email us at feedback@nowthen.com for help!



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How do I send pics or texts to nowthen from my cell?

No matter where you are in the world, you can send pics to nowthen by emailing them through your phone to upload@nowthen.com. If you're in the US, you can also MMS or text message to 415 646 6842. If you're nowthening from the UK, you can MMS your pics or text message to 07983 111 222.

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How long will it take for my pictures to appear on nowthen?

Once we get your picture it takes less than a minute. Depending on your phone, your carrier and where you are, the time it takes for the picture to get from your phone to us can take between 10 seconds and 10 minutes.

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Will nowthen work with my phone or carrier?

Though we have not tested every cell phone in existence, we've covered a good number of them. nowthen works with most cell phones provided they can either text message and/or send pictures.

If your carrier does not yet have the capability to send pictures via text or email, nowthen will not work with them. Check with your cell phone provider to see if they support text and picture mail.

If you are having problems sending from your cell phone, please email feedback@nowthen.com.

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415 646 6842? Why?

'415' because we live in San Francisco, California! '646-6842' because it looks cool when you dial the number...

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Do I have to be in area code (415) to use nowthen?

Nope. Sending a pic to the US is the same price no matter where you are, so you should have no problem texting nowthen wherever you are in the country.

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What about using nowthen from outside the US?

You're welcome to use nowthen from outside the US. We've only tested it fully with US and UK networks but we have friends who use nowthen from other locations.

If you're nowthening from the UK, you can MMS your pics or text message to 07983 111 222.

Bear in mind that if you're texting/sending pics from abroad it may cost you more. Contact your cell phone provider to find out details.

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My phone doesn't have a camera. Can I still use nowthen?

Don't be glum, there's hope for you yet! nowthen can send and receive both text-based messages (SMS) as well as multimedia messages (MMS). Therefore, if you can send a text message, you can definitely use nowthen to text all your friends at once!

You can also post pics directly from your computer to nowthen.com at our post page .

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What RSS feeds can I follow on nowthen?

As long as you have an RSS reader (e.g., Feedreader), you can automatically receive regular updates on the most recent pics and texts coming into nowthen.

nowthen members can watch 3 different types of RSS feeds:

 1.  Latest public posts to nowthen.com
 2.  Latest public comments to nowthen.com
 3.  Individual user feeds - (links available at any public user’s profile)

Also, if your posts are public, you can share your personal RSS feed (URL found at your "Me" pg) with friends so they can tune into your most recent posts. Learn more about RSS feeds here.

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I do/don't want my pictures to be Public and appear on the main site. How do I turn that feature on/off?

When you register for nowthen.com, you are given the choice to post your pictures as Public or Private. If you do not want your pictures to be on the main site, choose Private. In Private mode, no one can view your pictures except you.

If you want to switch from one setting to the other, just login and go to your Home page and click 'Edit settings'.

There, a check box for Privacy will appear. Check (or un-check) the box to submit your changes.

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I'm in Public mode, but I have "personal" pictures. How do I make them Private posts (seen ONLY by me)?

Two ways. First, you can add the code priv in the beginning of your pic's caption (e.g., PRIV This pic is just for moi!). The photo will show up on your 'Me' page as "This pic is just for moi!"

The second way to make your pics Private is to email it from your cell to priv@nowthen.com.

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I'm in Private mode, but I want to post some pics for all to see. How do I make them public (seen by everyone)?

There are two ways to do that. First, you can add the code publ in the beginning of your pic's caption or text message (e.g., PUBL This pic is for everyone to see!). It'll show up on nowthen.com as "This pic is for everyone to see!"

The second way to make your pics Public is to email the pic from your cell to publ@nowthen.com.

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How do I send my posts to my nowthen friends ONLY?

Two ways. First, you can add the code frie in the beginning of your pic's caption or text message (e.g., FRIE This pic is for my friends' eyes only!). Your friends will receive the pic with the caption "This pic is for my friends' eyes only!"

The second way to share a pic with only your nowthen friends is to email the pic from your cell to frie@nowthen.com.

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How do I add a friend?

Adding a friend is really simple. Just login and view a user's profile page and click 'Add as a friend' to send them a friend request. There, now wasn't that easy?

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How do I watch a friend’s recent pictures and texts?

You can receive phone or email alerts whenever there are new updates from your friend.

You can watch a friend in two ways: You can text “watch [your friend’s user name]” to nowthen or you can go to your list of friends at your ‘Me’ page and click ‘watch’ by your friend’s name.

You will then automatically receive their updates. If you would like to turn off this feature, text “stop [your friend’s user name]” to nowthen or click the ‘stop watching’ icon next to their name from your 'Me' page.

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How do I comment on a friend’s pic from my phone?

When you receive a friend’s pic on your phone, just reply to it and begin your text with “comment [friend’s user name]” and enter in your comment.

For example, to reply to your pal Rob’s pic, you’d text, “comment Rob That’s a hilarious shot!” He will then receive a text alert about your comment and it’ll also be visible on his picture’s page as “That’s a hilarious shot!”

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How do I turn on/off new comment alerts to my phone?

There are two ways to do so. First, you can send a text message to nowthen that says “comments on” or “comments off”. You can also edit this setting by logging in, going to your ‘Edit Account’ page, and checking or unchecking the box that reads “Send me new comment alerts via text message”.

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How do I turn on/off my phone alerts?

 1.  Log in to nowthen.com
 2.  At the top of the page you'll see "Phone alerts are turned ON". Click on "ON" to switch your alerts off (and vice versa if you wish to turn your phone alerts back on).

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How do I invite a friend?

Easy! Login and click on the 'Invite' link at the top of your screen. Enter your friend's name along with their email OR cell number and click 'Send'. An invitation will be sent to them and once they join, you can both nowthen it up together!

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How do I delete a former friend?

To delete a friend, just login and go to 'Your friends' in your 'Me' page. From there you can 'drop' your ex-friend. You're better off without 'em anyway.

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What are 'Groups'?

Want to share wild pics from your party with your friends but NOT your family members or coworkers? Sounds like you need to create some groups!

You can divide your nowthen friends into different groups from your 'Me' page. This allows you to decide which of your nowthen friends can see certain pics.

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How do I set up special Groups?

Just go to your 'Me' page and look at 'Your Groups'. You can click on 'Create New Group' to make a new one (some examples: family, school, coworkers, etc.).

Once you've created it, click on 'Add/Drop user' to select which of your nowthen friends make the cut into the particular group.

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I've set up my groups, how do I send pics and texts to them?

Designate a group text code word by clicking 'Edit' under the group title.

You can use this code in two ways:

1) Text your code word in the beginning of the specific picture's caption in order to be sent to your group, or...

2) Email the pic directly to [codeword]@nowthen.com.

For example, I can create a group called 'Coworkers' that consists of only my coworkers. My text code will be "WORK". So if I take a pic of my coworkers going to lunch, I can...

1) Send it to nowthen with my code word in the caption: WORK The boss finally treats us to a decent lunch! Only my coworkers will receive that photo and see the caption as "The boss finally treats us to a decent lunch!"

2) Or I can send the same pic to the email address WORK@nowthen.com with the message "The boss finally treats us to a decent lunch!" The photo and caption will then only be sent to my coworkers.

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Can I put my posts onto my blog or myspace

You sure can (and your nowthen posts are amazing).

Get your embeddable nowthen badge here

Copy and paste the provided embed code onto your blog/website/myspace. This lets your friends and viewers check out all of your nowthen updates AND text your cell directly from your site!

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How do I resize my widget?

After you’ve pasted the provided code to your site, you should see the size values for ‘Height’ and ‘Width’ within it. From there, you can edit them at your leisure. Experiment. Go wild!

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How do I change my profile picture?

Login and click 'Edit Account' on your 'Me' page. This will allow you to browse for a picture from your computer. Select your picture and click 'Submit' to save changes.

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How do I change my password?

Login and from your 'Me' page, select the 'Edit Account' button. From there you can click on "Change password".

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How do I change my display name?

Login and click the 'Edit Account' button on your 'Me' page. Fill in your new display name in the box labeled 'display name' (surprise, surprise). Click on 'Submit' to save changes.

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How do I leave nowthen?

There is no escape from our grasp.

Just kidding! Sign in and select 'Unregister' from the 'Edit Profile' section of your home page. But we've gotta confess - we'll miss you, friend.

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Tell me more about the company behind nowthen

nowthen was built by the team at blinkx. Most of us have camera phones and never know what to do with the pictures so we came up with nowthen as a way to save those pictures and share them easily. We thought it worked so well that we decided to release it. You can check out our day job at www.blinkx.com... the world's largest video search engine!

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Did we miss something? Please email us at feedback@nowthen.com!