focus

The large amount of photo editing software currently on the market makes this genre very competitive. Focus Effect, however, stands out among the crowd. It delivers just what it claims to deliver: high-quality images. Users will be amazed at the artistic photos that can be created with an easy-to-use mobile application.

At 6MB, Focus Effect is not an incredibly light application, but that is expected from image editing software of this caliber. Download times may be extended if the user is not connected to a Wi-Fi network, so a high-speed connection is recommended. The user interface is very clean and … Read more

dSLR cameras undoubtedly produce the highest quality images available. AfterFocus claims to bring the high quality creative photography of these devices to the world of Android. The reality is that nothing can replace the dSLR camera, but this app does a great job of trying.

At almost 7 megabytes, this app takes a little longer to download than other, far simpler applications. It may take a while on 3G networks, but it is worth the slight inconvenience. AfterFocus opens quickly and instantly greets the user with a beginner's tutorial. The convenience of this feature is great because it makes … Read more

Toshiba is in the process of upping its smartphone camera game. The device-maker is creating Lytro-like camera technology for mobile devices that should be released before the end of 2013, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun (h/t Engadget).

Much like Lytro's light-field camera, Toshiba's technology reportedly lets users choose what part of a photo they'd like to focus on well after they've taken the shot. It will also allow users to put the entire picture into focus. For the most part, this type of technology has only been seen in Lytro cameras and has … Read more

If you're still enjoying the dog days of summer, sitting by the pool drinking lemonade (hard or otherwise), good for you. But here in CNET-land, we're already gearing up for the fall rush. This week, we've had our noses to the grindstone reviewing Samsung's most lovely laptop, as well as do-it-all NAS drives, among other tech products. We had a little fun too, though, with an iPhone case you can use in that pool should you decide you absolutely have to surf the Web while you surf the waves. (You don't by the way, but … Read more

Steve Jurvetson says electric vehicles are undoubtedly the cars of the future. Not too surprising, given that his VC firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, was an early investor in electric vehicle company Tesla Motors. But to really get an idea of how passionate he is about EVs, you have to hear the story about how he wound up getting the keys to the new Model S -- beating out even Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk had been dodging Jurvetson's numerous requests to put down a deposit on the car, saying that reservations for the vehicle couldn't be taken until … Read more

What's a reviews editor to do when a week passes without a single major hardware announcement? With no frenzied launch events to stalk and no 24-hour-turnaround product reviews to write, your average tech journalist just pours a glass of bourbon, kicks back, and plays Max Payne 3 until his eyes bleed. But not us. We dug deeper. We found a really freaking cool laptop desk. Truly, we did -- it's downright chilly.

We're fans of this one, peeps The NZXT Cryo E40 is a laptop desk for the type of gamer (or author, or coder) who might … Read more

The way I see it, there are three major draws to AT&T's Samsung Focus 2, a Windows phone that goes on sale May 20. First, there's the glossy-white design. Second there's the LTE compatibility, and third, and for some, most importantly, there's the $49.99 price.

The cameras and processor do a good job rounding out the midrange features, but there are a few ups and downs with the smartphone that you may want to keep in mind as you decide if this is one of the many Samsung Windows phones, or of AT&… Read more

Workers cut off from office e-mail for five days exhibited more natural, variable heart rates and toggled between screens less frequently than those with e-mail access, according to new research out of the University of California, Irvine, and the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center near Boston.

The "A pace not dictated by electrons" study of 13 civilian employees at the Army center is undoubtedly small, and the results, presented this week at a meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery in Austin, Texas, are only preliminary. Still, researchers say the findings were surprisingly consistent in favor of … Read more