filtering

Photogene2 is the successor of a favorite photo-editing app of ours on iOS, and this completely rebuilt version is definitely worth checking out. To start off, a redesigned interface offers intuitive controls for exploring Photogene2's many editing options.

Photogene has a bunch of editing tools and effects you can use with your images. Either take a snapshot with your iPhone camera or grab an image from your photo library to get started. From there, the app features a radial menu on the bottom that divides up Photogene's main functions, including crop, rotate, color adjust, effects presets, and retouching … Read more

Twitter said today that it will withhold tweets from a country when there are local restrictions rather than having to block them globally.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," the company wrote on its blog. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content."

Until now, the only way Twitter could … Read more

The latest update to McAfee Mobile Security opens a window onto app permissions and gives you a filter to screen out annoying communiques.

McAfee Mobile Security 2.0 (download for Android) arrived in the Android Market three days ago, and brings two new features to its already-robust set of options for Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian users. The new App Protection interprets how apps handle your personal and private data, and tells you whether those app permissions are risky. What it doesn't do is advise you what to do about those risks, but to be fair, none of the other … Read more

If you need to print in black and white in OS X, you can, but it may not be obvious how to do it.

Apple used to include an obvious setting in its print dialog boxes for color or black and white, but in OS X this has disappeared since these options are now handled by the specific driver for your printer.

You can certainly still print in grayscale and there are various ways to do it, although some of these options might be a bit obscure, may only be available on some systems, or might require a few extra steps.… Read more

HP open sources WebOS as the fire sale on the TouchPad burns out in minutes; Apple announces that 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store; and Amazon promises a software update to the Kindle Fire to alleviate some of the user interface issues.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Golden Filter Premium v3.0 Safe Internet browsing filter is categorized as Parental Control freeware, and its installer and setup wizard depict shocked children viewing a computer screen. But its developer, Gsi Egypt, points out companies, universities, coffee shops, and other places can use it "for controlling computers and Internet from preventing adults from watching inappropriate content." It's designed to be hidden from users in daily operation, and it can't be uninstalled except from inside the software.

Despite an army of red flags, we downloaded and installed Golden Filter Premium. We're glad we found out … Read more

The original Holga toy cameras were all about reveling in low fidelity. Just because you have fancy modern camera technology in your iPhone doesn't mean you have to forgo all the fun.

The Holga iPhone Lens Filter Kit will whisk your iPhone back to an '80s level of cheap camera design with a rotating kaleidoscope of plastic filters.

The filter kit fits on like a case and sports nine different color and special effect filters. These range from the tame to the wacky.… Read more

Three U.S. senators are asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to investigate recent reports that Internet-monitoring gear made by two California-based companies has found its way to Syria.

In a letter (PDF) made public today, the senators ask Clinton to investigate reports that devices made by NetApp and Blue Coat Systems were sold to Syria in a possible violation of U.S. law. The companies are both publicly traded and located in Sunnyvale, Calif., about an hour's drive south of San Francisco.

"We are deeply concerned about the reported sale of Internet monitoring and censorship technology to … Read more

Big Lens is an image-editing app with a unique interface for adding effects and manipulating focus in your images. You start by snapping a picture or importing one from your photo library, then use touch-screen controls to set the aperture, change periphery blur levels, and adjust background light to create a bokeh effect. What's interesting about the app is that you have the ability to draw where you want focus or blur effects.

You start by drawing over the part of the image you want in focus, then hitting the arrow in the upper right to apply the effect. … Read more