Moments after spotting a new McDonald’s advertisement on last week’s episode of “Arrested Development,” I received a forwarded email from Dina via Tim, both of whom had either seen or been told of the commercial as well. Our network is strong and growing…

Screen captures and analysis of the commercial can be found on its page in the TV Commercials section; let us know what you think. Is it implying that your Arch Card can be used in photobooths? Do they realize their photobooth has two different prices on it? Photobooth.net wants to know.

For if he did, he’d have heard about what happened in Lufkin, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Mason, Ohio, and he would have thought twice before making out with a stripper in a photobooth.

I guess we weren’t really around to help, because, as reported today in any number of tabloid-ish websites though not yet on their own, The National Enquirer claims today that such an incident happened in 1997, and is just now coming to light, with the photos to prove it. We don’t have any photobooths listed for Atlanta yet — perhaps we’ll get a lead out of it?

We’ve been checking in occasionally on Stuff Magazine’s so-called photo booth challenge, which asks women to “slip behind the curtain of a photo booth near you and show us your stuff… Remember: No nudity. (Unless you’re Jonathan Taylor Thomas.)” 

Sadly, only one set of photos in recent weeks has been a real photostrip; all the rest of the submissions posted on the contest page are poor imitations, studio glamour shots taken in front of a curtain and arranged vertically onto a white background. Does this mean no one is taking part in the contest? Who are these girls, and are they all piling into Stuff HQ to get their fake photobooth shots taken? Perhaps all of the submissions from real photobooths are ending up in the print edition of the magazine; any readers out there care to confirm?

Stuff also provides a list of photobooths to visit on their rules and instructions page, a list that looks a whole lot like the one I assembled over many months on Doubleperf.com before Photobooth.net was born. That and a smattering of Dingos.net locations and the results of a few Google searches; come on, Stuffies, can’t you do a little better than all this? 

A five day trip to Austin last week netted eight photobooths around the city, six of which live in various locations of Amy’s Ice Creams around town. I called a random location before I arrived and was told that three locations had photobooths, but as I went from one to the next, I learned from the helpful folks behind the counter about other locations with photobooths as well. Unfortunately, of the six locations I visited last week, only two had working photobooths. I can imagine it’s pretty tough to keep a fleet of old classics going all the time, and we applaud Amy and Steve for the great work they’ve done in keeping photobooths alive in Austin. 

My first afternoon in town, I took a walk down 6th to Waterloo Records, Book People, and the 6th Street Amy’s. Their photobooth, a black and white Auto-Photo Model 20, produces a photostrip that is a solid 3/4″ shorter than a regular strip, meaning each photo is a discernible fraction shorter than a traditional photo. I can’t remember seeing a strip like this before; I’m curious as to how and why it’s so much shorter. The photos I got had an appealing sepia tone, but also a lots of cloudiness around the edges.

Next up, Caroline and I hit Chuy’s that night, and tested out their wonderful Model 11 complete with Elvis cut-out standing on top. Nice rounded bottom corners on the photos, which turned out a little fuzzy. 

From Chuy’s, we set off to the Dobie Mall, where we found the typical grey-striped color photobooth in the basement, with a digital booth by its side. The photos turned out fine, but the transmission treated the strip a bit roughly, and left the bottom and sides creased and wrinkled. 

For the last stop of the evening, we headed up to Amy’s Ice Creams on Guadalupe, and found another nice Model 20 that was unfortunately out of order. 

We discovered along the way that the photobooths I saw mentioned online at MugShots and another bar whose name I can’t remember (Jackalope — thanks, Caroline) turned out to both be digital.

The last day I was in town, Caroline helped me out on my quest once again as we hit four more Amy’s locations, though we only found one working booth. We started at the Super South location, home to a Model 14 black and white machine, and then proceeded to the Westgate location, where we found a working Model 20B with beach-towel curtain, plus lots of photobooth photos on the wall.

The search came to a close with two locations north of town, at the Arboretum, where the helpful staff warned us the booth wasn’t working, and even opened up the machine, a nice rounded model. The machine when through the motions, but it turned out there was no paper left. From the Arboretum, we headed up to The Wood, where we found out last booth, a nice un-numbered model with the great “miniature portaits” advertisement on the ends. 

Despite the lack of photostrips to show for it, the trip was a great success, and I left very impressed with Austin’s photobooth population. I’m sure I missed a few, and I look forward to a return trip to catch a few of the machines that were out of order this time around. Thanks to Caroline for playing along — it was a lot of fun.

In one of the stranger cross-promotions we’ve seen in recent memory, Procter & Gamble is using photobooths (and actress Nicollette Sheridan) to promote Crest Whitestrips for the holidays. Banking on the tenuous connection of “photo strips” and “Whitestrips,” the company is offering free photoboothing to visitors in San Francisco and New York from December 7th to the 11th. 

Will your smile be ready for all your family holiday moments? From photo strips to Crest Whitestrips Premium, strips are all the rage this season! Beginning at 9AM on December 7th in New York City, Nicollette Sheridan will kick-off the holidays by officially opening Crest Whitestrips Premium’s bi-coastal, old fashioned photo booth extravaganza. Smile booths will open to the public at two fun-filled, festive locations — from December 7th through the 11th at Wollman Skating Rink in New York City’s Central Park and from December 8th through 11th at Pier 39 on San Francisco’s historic Fisherman’s Wharf for people to take free holiday photos and learn more about getting their smiles camera ready.

In the spirit of the holidays, everyone to stop by the booths can take complimentary family photo strips…

We encourage Photobooth.net users to visit these booths and take a photostrip and a picture of the booth, because we’d really like to see how they look. You can’t beat free photostrips, so go on out and give it a shot this weekend!