Walk into just about any office with a computer and you can find an array of commercial screen savers glaring at you. Now a local business is offering a more "at home" atmosphere screen saver.
FotoSynthesys Inc. offers custom full-color Windows screen savers, allowing the customer to include special photos of the family, pets, weddings, graduations, missions and more.Mike Reid, owner, has been working on the concept for the past three years and is now able to offer the customized screen saver for as little as $3.50 per photo.
"This is a great alternative for a Christmas card," Reid said. "Because we keep our overhead very low, we can offer this for less than our competition."
The Wall Street Journal has projected that the screen saver industry will climb from an $80 million to a $180 million industry in the next few years. Reid believes that while screen savers like Bart Simpson, Start Trek and Mickey Mouse have a market, custom screen savers offer more options and with a personal touch.
"This is a unique, no-hassle gift," Reid said. "Not just for Christmas but for birthdays and other occasions. For instance the company is planning a catalog of titles including LDS history, LDS temples, Utah scenes, Hogle Zoo, famous cities, national parks and more."
Currently the company is offering two special packages: five photos for $24.20, which includes tax and shipping; or 10 photos for $40.23 including tax and shipping.
"The program is easy to install and use," Reid said. "As the program was developed, we incorporated many suggested features from our test market."
Once FotoSynthesys receives customers' photos, they are scanned and the custom screen savers, along with the original prints, are returned within a matter of a few days.
Reid said other screen saver projects are also in the works that will offer on-screen titles with photos, and a viewer program that allows the user to access text files about each photograph. The personalized screen savers can be viewed at the Portrait Terminal in the University Mall. Screen savers may also be made from video images taken of customers at the Portrait Terminal.
For information, call FotoSynthesys, Inc. at 423-2090.