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As long as some people simply can't stand leaving their USB ports unoccupied for any length of time, here's at least one way that they can be used without making a fool of oneself while saving some desk space at the same time. The "Photo Frame Speakers" will blast away in stereo from behind the frames on either side of the computer, though the pictures aren't digital--not exactly seemless technological convergence, as Everything USB notes, but it'll do in a pinch. Especially if you use them at the office while your Metal Gear Solid 4 … Read more

Oosah is a solid Flash-based media manager that lets you create little slide shows and share pictures with your friends. It competes with some pretty good applications, such as Flektor, Slide, and Splashcast, though, and isn't likely to rocket to superstardom as just another media destination site.

But a new feature, being introduced today, takes Oosah to a whole different place: It lets you drag images between your PC and online accounts, such as Flickr and Facebook, or even directly between your online accounts, avoiding your PC and your Oosah storage allotment. That's not just new and cool, … Read more

Mother's Day is only a couple of weeks away, and that can mean only one thing: The floodgates are about to unleash a torrent of digital photo frames.

While we've never understood the attraction of this wildly overproduced product category--especially those that are larger than life--we've long acknowledged the usefulness of Ceiva's networked variety to keep in touch with long-distance loved ones. And this year it's offering versions with customizable frame designs, at least for those offspring consumers who don't wait till the last minute.

It does seem a bit of a ripoff (… Read more

The FastStone Image Viewer is a good find for a multipurpose image tool. Although the main interface looks too cluttered with buttons at first glance, the three main windows are intuitive enough once get your bearings and several included skins make it easy on the eyes.

Clicking a thumbnail puts a larger view of the shot in the lower-left pane, and you zoom in simply by dragging the mouse around. You can resize, crop, remove red-eye, and adjust color, brightness, and contrast. You'll also find a few simple effects and filters, including Lens, Waves, and Morphs. Other nifty features … Read more

Though carriers have loosened some of the reins in the last couple of years, it still can be a tricky process to get photos off your camera phone. The most common method, sending your snaps as a multimedia message to an e-mail address, costs money. Sure, you can offset individual messaging fees with a messaging plan, but that too will add a few dollars to your monthly bill. A Bluetooth file transfer is a better (and free) option, but you'll need Bluetooth on both ends. Also, up until recently some carriers restricted Bluetooth use so they wouldn't lose … Read more

I take a lot of pictures with my digital camera at birthdays, family gatherings, and other events, so I'm always on the lookout for new ways to share the photos. As new programs hit the scene and older programs evolve over time, my favorites change because of various factors like ease of use, number of features, and of course, the king of all reasons: price.

One of the best ways I've found to share pictures with friends and family is to make them as accessible as possible by creating Web albums. With the right software, you can lay … Read more

Want to learn the secrets to creating beautiful HDR photographs? xTrain, a provider of online video training courses has announced a new high dynamic range (HDR) Mastery online video course by Photoshop expert Ben Willmore. HDR is the process of taking a sequence of exposures, allowing you to lighten the underexposed areas and darken the overexposed areas of a digital image to better simulate what the human eye would actually see.

The online course shows learners step-by-step the best practices of creating HDR photos. Students learn how to best choose subjects for HDR, such as watching for movement and clouds, … Read more

I've been on a bit of a de-cluttering jag over the past year or so. Too much paper, too much "stuff" around the house. So I've been slowly dumping the junk and selling or donating the rest.

This includes photographs. I had stacks of snapshots of family, friends, places, and so forth sitting around in various drawers and boxes. I had made a half-hearted effort to digitize some of the old slides previously, but scanning is really tedious work. Scanning the hundreds of photos involved here was just more than I realistically felt like tackling.

Over … Read more

The preponderance of digital photo frames has been a standard rant in this space, and for good reason. Not only are they overproduced and overmarketed in every iteration, from keychains to cubes, but they can also be found in practically every size imaginable.

Yet here's one that may prove to be a good idea despite its original pedestrian concept: a tiny digital magnet for the refrigerator door. Rather than having a virtually useless display all of 2.4 inches and 320 x 240 resolution, we've got a far more practical application. If you're trying to lose weight, … Read more