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Convert Word-lessly with Free PDF to Word Doc Converter

Microsoft Word is the No. 1 word processing program, but not everyone has it. That can be a problem if you need to submit something as a Word document (DOC format), but it's hardly insurmountable, thanks to tools like Free PDF to Word Doc Converter. It takes your PDFs, extracts and converts the data, and saves it in a DOC file that can be opened and edited with Word. It handles multiple pages, and it can reproduce images or remove them, depending on which suits your needs.

Free file converters tend to have simple GUIs, and Free PDF to … Read more

View and edit images with FastStone Image Viewer

Despite its name, FastStone Image Viewer is more than just a program for viewing images. It's also capable of performing a fairly significant number of editing functions, which come packaged in an innovative interface. It's no Photoshop replacement, but we think it's a good choice if you need a way to view images and perform basic editing and correction tasks.

At first glance, the program's interface is a bit cluttered; there are toolbars with lots of buttons across the top, and there are panes where you can navigate to particular directories, view thumbnails of the contents, … Read more

Lightroom 4.2 supports large swath of new cameras

With the Photokina show in Germany producing so many new high-end cameras, it's evidently been a busy season for Adobe Systems' Lightroom team.

That team just released Lightroom 4.2, which supports 22 new cameras, 43 new lenses, and lets people shoot with 11 new cameras tethered to a computer. It takes work to figure out how to decode each camera's proprietary raw format.

Here's the full list of new cameras supported, but note that the Nikon D600 support is "preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when … Read more

How camera makers are getting their design groove on

COLOGNE, Germany -- A decade ago, a cataclysm rocked the photography business as digital image sensors replaced fim.

It turns out that was just the beginning.

At the Photokina show here, it was clear a second wave of change is sweeping through the industry. Cameras produced during the first digital photography revolution looked and worked very similarly to their film precursors, but now designers have begun liberating them from the old constraints.

Three big developments are pushing the changes: a new class of interchangeable-lens cameras, the arrival of smartphones with wireless networking, and the sudden enthusiasm for full-frame sensors for … Read more

Get CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 (Win) for free

When it comes to freebie photo software, savvy users typically look to favorites like GIMP and Paint.net.

Those are great tools, no doubt about it, but why not score a commercial product if you can? Especially if you have the chance to get it for free?

For a limited time (the site says 98 days are left, but I suspect that's a mistake), Download Crew has CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 (Win) free of charge. This program has a list price of $99.95.

PhotoDirector 2011 comes from the company behind PowerDirector, a top-rated video-editing tool. It's an all-in-one … Read more

Grab, edit, and share

Anyone who needs lightweight screen-capturing and editing software will love Skitch for Mac. Although it lacks some of the tools -- such as mask and layer -- that you find in a high-end image editor such as Photoshop, its well-designed, intuitive interface guides you all the way through the quick and effective editing actions, and the result speaks for itself.

The app launches in a gray window with a white canvas in the center, while the outer borders contain all the available options, allowing you to perform a long list of actions. But since Skitch is centered around screenshots, you … Read more

iPhone 5 camera powered by Sony sensor

Sony has been on a roll with its camera image sensors, and a close look by ChipWorks shows that the iPhone 5 uses one of its products for the main camera.

A close-up photo shows the Sony brand name on the 8-megapixel sensor at the heart of the camera.

It's not a big surprise: Sony is very competitive with image sensors these days, and former Sony CEO Howard Stringer let slip earlier this year that Sony was supplying camera technology to Apple.

But the iPhone 5 has two cameras, of course. The lesser one, a front-facing camera for videoconferencing … Read more

iPhoto 1.1 for iOS now handles 36-megapixel images

Good news for all you Nikon D800 owners who have a third-generation iPad or are about to buy an iPhone 5: the new iPhoto 1.1 iOS app now can handle your 36.3-megapixel images.

iPhoto 1.0 for iOS, or version 1.1 on earlier iPhones and iPods, could handle only 19-megapixel images, which ruled out its use on photos from higher-end cameras such as Canon's 5D Mark II and Mark III and Sony's NEX-7.

The support for images up to 36.5 megapixels is one of a slew of features and fixes in the iPhoto 1.1 updateRead more

iPhone 5 unboxing photos leak out ahead of launch

The iPhone 5 doesn't hit stores until this Friday, though photos of its insides have already hit the Web.

The insides of the box it comes in, that is.

Boy Genius Report today posted just three photos of Apple's latest iPhone model getting unboxed, a time-honored gadget tradition.

Inside are few surprises -- short of just how much space Apple's EarPods and their carrying case take up compared with the USB wall plug and new USB-to-Lightning cable. Apple released the EarPods as a standalone product last week, and now includes them as a standard accessory on the … Read more

Fitbit adds Zip to its workout routine

Tuesday's CNET Update has some Zip:

If you geek out over workout and personal fitness technology, then check out the review of the new Fitbit Zip. For $60, this fitness tracker is an advanced pedometer that records calories are burned over time. Progress is displayed on the app, and data is synced to an iPhone via Bluetooth. (Bluetooth syncing not yet available for Android.) Users also earn fitness badges and share progress with friends. The higher-end model is called the Fitbit One, which in addition tracks sleep and has a silent vibrating alarm. That comes out in early October … Read more