lo-fi

Give digital photos a retro look with Lo-Fi

People take a lot of bad and/or boring photos (myself included). Do it with a smartphone, though, and you've got a bunch of apps, such as Hipstamatic for iPhone and Vignette for Android, to make things more interesting or cover up flaws. However, things are a little more complicated for people who still use a regular camera, and that's where Lo-Fi comes in.

The software--available for Mac and Windows--lets you do what those apps do by quickly applying different effects based on film types, flashes, and lenses. What's nice about using Lo-Fi is that it doesn'… Read more

PictureShow 3.0: A stylish camera, photo editor for iPhone

A stylish camera and fun photo editor, PictureShow, now updated to version 3.0, offers users a vast array of effects, adjustments, and camera styles to choose from when snapping and editing their photos.

PictureShow has been my go-to photo editor to get that popular low-fi look that seems to be spreading around the Web. New additions to the camera function in version 3.0 are 5 new lenses including a cool multiexposure look, a rule-of-thirds grid, and a 10-second timer function.

PictureShow has also added 11 new styles to their already impressive array of filters. Calm, Vintage Red, Light … Read more

Sinkholes of Sound: Hi, Lo, & No-Fi in the Age of the iPod

I just heard a guy on the radio refer to Fountains of Wayne's "Traffic and Weather" CD as a lo-fi wonder. What's up with that? Most of the lo-fi recordings I've bought from street musicians sound like the band I heard on the street, which is definitely a good thing. Which is more than you can say about most of today's slickly produced pop and rock music CDs. They sound awful--voices never sound remotely human, guitars don't sound like guitars, and drums, forget about it, they bear absolutely no relationship to the actual … Read more

You just bought a 1080p TV--why listen to its lo-fi speakers?

Tom Hannaher of ZVOX Audio and I were chewing the fat about the state of the consumer electronics business when the subject veered over to flat-screen TV manufacturers. They're all under incredible pressure to slash prices while they load on more and more features, and it's getting kinda scary.

I've had folks in the TV biz tell me not to wait any longer to buy a flat display because the manufacturers are starting to substitute lower-quality parts to keep lowering retail prices. But long before they do anything drastic that would affect picture quality or reliability, they … Read more