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There are a lot of image editors out there, but few of them are designed with professional photographers in mind, and even fewer are designed by photographers themselves. Capture NX 2 for Windows and Mac is one of those rare editors designed by professionals but is easy enough for hobbyists to use, and Nikon has just given it a major overhaul.

Capture NX simplifies and enhances common photo editing tools in a customizable layout.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Available for purchase at $179.95 or upgrade at $109.95, the program introduces a revamped interface, closer integration with other Nikon programs such as View NX, and a battery of new tools that simplify and enhance the photo-editing work flow. This should make any photographer seriously consider making the jump for nearly every kind of edit.

Although Capture NX's improvements on the photographer's work flow are undeniably helpful, the most unique new tool in the program are Control Points. Based on proprietary Nikon technology called U Point, the control points allow the user to make selective changes instead of global ones. From sharpening to color changes, the points can affect image-wide edits, but their true power lies in the ability to narrow tweaks to a user-defined space.

There are several control point-based tools. The Black, Neutral, and White Control Point tools, which look like eyedroppers in front of circles on the toolbar, are used to manage color. By clicking on one and then clicking on the image, a small circle appears with sliders extending from it. Moving the sliders adjusts both the desired effect and the diameter of the circle that radiates from the control point. If you don't like the positioning of a point, but are happy with the effect, click and drag the point to a different location on the image.

The Selection Control Points eliminate the need for editors to manually mask off the part of the image they want to change. They function the same way as the color control points, except that they can be used to sharpen, reduce noise, adjust contrast, saturation, and more. Once a point has been created, the control panel that natively lives on the right of the editing window can be used to select the desired effect.

Control points and sliders make Capture NX's photo-editing workflow easy to manage.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Another excellent new tool is the Auto-Retouch brush, which does exactly what its name implies. What's impressive about this version of the popular tool, found in many programs, is that it can accomplish with one click what other programs take four or five. This may not sound like much initially, but when repeatedly removing dust or skin blemishes the saved time is noticeable.

Other improvements to the program include common hot keys and further compatibility with Nikon's View NX software, making batch edits and creating common settings a cinch. The Quick Fix menu also cuts out repetition by offering up a selection of standard changes ranging from curves to lens correction. The Quick Fix wouldn't be as useful as it is if it were inaccurate, but clearly a lot of work has gone into making the algorithms controlling the tool flexible and effective. The Soft Proof tool that lives at the bottom of the open image window makes accurate printing pain-free.

One of the subtle improvements of the program is the manner by which layers have been worked in. Called Steps here, they are woven seamlessly in the work flow, making control of previous changes as simple as unchecking a box. Most of the changes are made via sliders, controllable both from the image and from the Edit List, which is where the Adjustment Window lives.

However, the layout of the various components is malleable--users can hide, minimize, and drag windows around at will with no delay in processing time. This happens, in part, because Capture NX 2 is much smaller than Photoshop, which needs to appeal to designers as well as photographers. One drawback of Capture NX is that it's not capable of creating an image montage easily. However, since those are rarely high resolution images because they're made up of many smaller photos, it's not a glaring oversight.

Capture NX 2 combines multiple editing options into one manageable panel, cutting out extraneous mousing around.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Capture NX supports TIFF-16, TIFF-8, JPG, and Nikon's own proprietary NEF format. It does not support Canon's CR2 or other RAW configurations, which should decrease the appeal of the program to non-Nikon photographers. Images can be saved as TIFF, NEF, or JPG, metatag information can be kept or destroyed as the user sees fit, and changes saved to a NEF can be easily undone by unchecking the changes from the Edit List.

Overall, as a lifelong Photoshop user for my personal photo editing and printing needs, Capture NX 2 is nothing less than spectacular and should be considered by any photographer looking to enhance their work flow by cutting out tools that they never touch and emphasizing the ones they always need.

UPDATED: The relationship between Nikon, Inc., and Nik Software has been corrected. Although the Japanese division of Nikon does have an equity stake in Nik Software, Nik is an independent company. View NX and Capture NX are owned and published by Nikon, Inc. Also, Capture NX 2 and View NX do not support non-Nikon RAW formats, as previously reported.

This is as far as Google Maps Street View will take you in North Oaks, Minn., before it politely takes a right turn.

(Credit: Google)

A small town in Minnesota has told Google that its Street View feature can hit the road.

North Oaks, a private community of 4,500 residents north of St. Paul, isn't too keen on outsiders traipsing through its privately owned streets--even if is only on the Internet. According to the city's Web site, the roads are privately owned, and a no-trespassing sign greets potential visitors to the city.

So city officials were really unhappy when images of their streets and homes appeared on the Google Maps Street View feature, which presents a view of dozens of United States cities from a driver's perspective.

The North Oaks City Council sent the Internet search giant a letter in January demanding that images be removed or risk being cited for trespassing, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

"It's not the hoity-toity folks trying to figure out how to keep the world away," Mayor Thomas Watson told the newspaper. "They really didn't have any authorization to go on private property."

The company removed the images shortly thereafter, a Google representative told the newspaper.

"This is very rare, where an entire town would request to be taken off," Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo told the paper, adding that the company removes images when individuals make the request.

Google is no stranger to complaints about its Street View service. Not long after the feature launched in May 2007, privacy advocates criticized Google for displaying photographs that included people's faces and car license plates. In May, the company announced that it had begun testing face-blurring technology for the service.

In April, a Pittsburgh couple sued Google over photographs of their home that appeared on the company's site, saying Google should honor a private road sign on their street. It claims that Google's "reckless conduct" has "exposed plaintiff's private information to the public."

For those who weren't exactly comfortable with ordinary photos of their property appearing on the Net, get ready to reveal a little more. A couple of weeks ago, Google confirmed that it is gathering 3D data, along with the photographs it takes for its online Street View service.

If the industry press is to be believed, Tuesday's announcement that Sony would be producing TVs with Tru2way compatibility was a watershed event--the electronics world equivalent of the Magna Carta or the Treaty of Versailles. But let's step back a bit and examine what this really means.

Tru2way is a digital cable technology developed by CableLabs that's designed to be built directly into TVs, eliminating the need for an outboard set-top box. In theory, you'd be able to buy a Tru2way-compatible TV, bring it home, connect it to your coaxial cable, and instantly be able to receive your entire lineup of digital cable and high-def channels--including all the interactive video-on-demand and pay-per-view channels that currently require a cable box.

(Credit: CableLabs)

If this sounds familiar, it's because many of the same promises were made several years ago with a technology called CableCard. TVs that shipped with a CableCard slot were called "Digital Cable Ready" (DCR); they required a smart card, provided by your local cable operator, to receive digital and HD channels. The problem with CableCard was that it was an interim solution that satisfied nobody. Everyone--cable companies, hardware manufacturers, government regulators, and consumers--found CableCard technology lacking. Among the problems:

• CableCard was effectively a one-way technology, so it was incompatible with any interactive services, including video-on-demand and pay-per-view services that customers have grown to like, and cable companies depend on as a major revenue stream.
• CableCard was incompatible with Switched Digital Video (SDV) technology, which more cable providers are--or will soon be--utilizing to deliver more HD channels despite bandwidth limitations. As a result, CableCard devices such as the TiVo HD DVR need an outboard tuner (basically, a second cable box) to receive those channels, which often include the newest and most desirable HD stations.
• The CableCard installation and setup still required the cable companies to "roll a truck" to the customer's home--so it didn't save the company any time or money versus a cable box setup.
• Original CableCard setups were limited to just one tuner, so dual-tuner applications--such as picture in picture and the ability to record one show while watching another--were unavailable. (This issue was addressed with dual slots on the TiVo HD, as well as the multi-stream "M-card," which allowed for dual tuning--it was rarely deployed by cable operators.)
• CableCard setups are notoriously finicky, and often require one or more follow-up visits from the cable technician.
• The electronic programming guide (EPG) interface on most CableCard TVs was either bare bones or nonexistent. That was bad for users who've grown used to increasingly sophisticated EPGs (on TiVo and satellite DVRs). It also frustrated cable providers who were used to controlling that interface on their own boxes, where--for better or worse--they could add advertisements, customized graphics, and other "branding" that so excites multimillion dollar corporations.
• TVs with CableCard support often charged a slight premium over their non-CableCard counterparts--meaning that consumers were often paying more, but (as evidenced by the laundry list of issues above) getting less.

Not surprisingly, there was an immediate clamor for "CableCard 2.0" to address all of those issues. And that's effectively what Tru2way is: the next-gen CableCard, without the physical card. (You may have heard it mentioned during its years of development, when it was alternately referred to as "OpenCable" or "Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP)".) And--on paper, at least--it seems as if CableLabs and its partners finally got it right this time.

Tru2way is designed from the ground up to be interactive, customizable (for the cable provider), and plug-and-play. Switched digital video, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, HD channels, dual-tuner support--it should all work without a hitch, and deliver an identical experience on your local cable system, no matter which Tru2way TV you're buying.

There are plenty of other potential advantages. Tru2way TVs should be able to offer additional functionality, such as built-in DVRs. (A handful of CableCard DVR/TV combos were released, but they never took off, thanks largely to the problems outlined above.) And including the tuner inside the TV would offer the potential for better picture quality, since a TV signal native to the TV would no longer be reliant on the so-so video processing found on most set-top boxes.

Beyond the TV, Tru2way functionality could be built in to third-party DVRs (TiVo is already said to be working on a "Series4" DVR that utilizes the technology) and accessories. Among the other possibilities: a Tru2way Slingbox with a built-in tuner; an adapter that turns the Xbox 360 or PS3 into a cable-ready DVR; true home theater PCs; and portable TV viewers (such as the Comcast/Panasonic player shown in January).

So what's not to like? Nothing--except that none of this yet exists in the real world. Until you can actually buy one of these Tru2way products at Best Buy, Circuit City, or Amazon.com, it's all theoretical.

Sony joins Panasonic, Samsung, and RCA on the Tru2way roadmap, but whether any of these companies will actually deliver a real world Tru2way product before the end of the year remains to be seen. And even if they do, there are plenty of other questions. How much will cable companies charge you for the privilege of connecting a Tru2way product to their pipe? (Our guess: exactly the same fee they charge for renting the box you have now.)

And why will companies like TiVo bother developing Tru2way boxes if the consumer will be forced to use the drab cable company interface versus the far superior TiVo UI? Just imagine, for instance, if a future Apple TV offers Tru2way compatibility, but instead of its slick Apple home screen, you're stuck with a Comcast/Time Warner/Cox EPG the minute you toggle to live TV. For most users, that would eliminate the whole reason for upgrading in the first place.

Color us skeptical
The bottom line is this: Tru2way certainly looks to offer the potential for cable customers to return to the simple, halcyon days of "cable ready" TVs--just one wire, just one remote. But until we see the products hit stores in the real world, and see how--or if--they work as advertised on cable systems around the country, color us skeptical. In the meantime, we'll be waiting patiently in the downstairs rec room, sitting on hold with tech support, trying to get the CableCard PC up and running.

What do you think: Will Tru2way make for a better cable TV experience? Or will it be the latest consumer electronics scheme to overpromise and underdeliver?

Update (5/29/2008): Be sure to read the detailed comment below from reader MegaZone (who runs the Gizmolovers website). He offers some important corrections and expansions to my CableCard/Tru2way analysis.

Google confirmed today it's gathering 3D data along with the photographs it takes for its online Street View service, a potential boon for those of us who fantasize about flying like Superman through urban landscapes, at least virtually.

"The imaging technology includes lasers that collect 3D geometry data," the company said Thursday in a statement. However, for now at least, the 3D information is just experimental, Google said.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth gives a 3D view of thee world.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Savvy observers, looking at Flickr pictures of Google Street View cars gathering images in Milan, had identified the 3D laser scanners in April. At the time, Google didn't comment at the time, but now has confirmed the scanners as well as the expansion of Google Street View to Europe.

Laser scanners can be used to produce detailed 3D models of buildings or other features, and overlaying photographic imagery can give those models a more lifelike appearance.

Microsoft has been working to add more sophisticated 3D models to its Virtual Earth site, also using automated technology. Microsoft's software lets people cruise above Las Vegas and a few other cities with detailed 3D maps.

The move probably makes sense, given that it's more economical to gather the most information possible while driving around various cities. And of course Google has a lot of room to store 3D data and servers to process it into something useful that combines the 3D scan data with the photographed view.

It's not clear if there are privacy implications from the move. It's certainly possible that giving people the ability to fly through an extremely realistic reconstruction of the world could set off those who got the willies from Street View's debut or, for that matter, the satellite imagery that now seems relatively mundane.

But I'd think twice before trying to sneak that new addition onto the side of your house without getting a building permit.

Update 10:40 a.m. PDT: I added comment from Google and its confirmation that it has indeed begun photographing European cities.

Google Street View would raise problems if brought to Europe, an official with the European Union's data protection agency said Thursday.

Google Street View now blurs some faces in Manhattan.

(Credit: Google)

"Making pictures everywhere is certainly going to create some problems," EU Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx said at a news conference to present his annual report, according to a Reuters report.

Hustinx also said he expected Google would be able to comply with laws.

"Apparently there is the capacity to adapt this in different modes," he said.

Indeed, to address privacy concerns, Google this week began blurring faces shown in Street View.

Google Street View cars sporting cameras have been spotted driving around Paris, Milan, and Rome, but so far the service to provide a driver's-eye view of the world only has U.S. cities online.

Google confirmed it's begun photographing European areas to expand Street View, but said the service will be legal.

"We will not launch in Europe until we are confident that Street View complies with local law, including law relating to the display of images of individuals," the company said. "We'll use technology like automated face-blurring and operational controls such as image removal tools so Street View remains useful and in keeping with local laws and norms wherever it is available."

Google Street View now blurs some faces in Manhattan.

(Credit: Google)

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Google has begun testing face-blurring technology for its Street View service, responding to privacy concerns from the search giant's all-seeing digital camera eye.

The technology uses a computer algorithm to scour Google's image database for faces, then blurs them, said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Google Maps, in an interview at the Where 2.0 conference here.

Google has begun testing the technology in Manhattan, the company announced on its LatLong blog. Ultimately, though, Hanke expects it to be used more broadly.

Dealing with privacy--both legal requirements and social norms--is hard but necessary, Hanke said.

"It's a legitimate issue," he said. He likened the issues some have with Street View to the ones that took place when Google introduced aerial views to Google Maps. It took time for the public, regulators, and Google to get comfortable with the feature, but, "It needs that debate. We see that and try to let it play out."

John Hanke, head of Google Maps and Google Earth, speaks at the Where 2.0 conference in Burlingame, Calif.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)

New jurisdictions, new rules
Street View poses other privacy issues besides just faces. Some people aren't eager to have their houses on display, for example. But much of the hubbub seems to have waned since Google launched Street View in May 2007, and indeed other companies such as Blue Dasher are working on similar technology.

Street View presents a view of dozens of United States cities from a driver's perspective (unless a plastic bag is stuck over the Street View camera). It appears Google has begun collecting imagery in Europe as well, along with detailed 3D maps, including Milan, Rome, and Paris.

A Pittsburg couple sued Google for allegedly photographing images on a private drive in April, but it's legal to take photos from public streets in the United States. However, standards vary.

"A just balance needs to be found between what can be publicized, in deference to the principles of freedom of expression and of information, and what has to be safeguarded from excessive public curiosity, so as to avoid infringing the individual's right to privacy and right to his or her picture," the French embassy observes.

Years of research
The face-blurring technology took a year to develop and is based on prior research that took several more years, Hanke said.

Face detection, which humans perform effortlessly with help from some dedicated neurons in the visual cortex, is a decades-old computer science problem. It's finally arriving in basic form in real-world applications, though, including digital cameras that use it to track and properly expose subjects or take a picture only when subjects are smiling.

There are some potential complications for Google Street View, though. False positives that blur billboards or works of art with faces could degrade Street View a bit, but missing some faces that are visible could pose privacy problems.

Google thinks its technology has struck the right technology balance in general.

"It does a good job of figuring that out. It uses a variety of technologies to filter," Hanke said, though it's "not perfect."

Many times computer algorithms struggle to recognize faces that aren't straightforward views. But that problem isn't as bad for Google: the faces that are obscured by hair, telephone poles, or oblique views are likely the ones identifiable already.

Have you found any examples of faces the algorithm missed or that it should have caught? Share the links or other thoughts in the comments section below.

Privacy advocates should take note of an effective way to avert the prying eyes of Google Street View: the lowly plastic bag.

Google Street View foiled by a plastic bag.

(Credit: Google)

A block of College Road in Fairbanks, Alaska, along with portions of Minnie St. and Third St. show what a driver would see only if wearing a plastic bag on his or her head. As Google Sightseeing observes, you can tell what it is by the fact that it says "plastic bag" on the inside.

So now perhaps we know which scheming multibillion dollar search engine is behind San Francisco's ban on plastic bags.

Google Maps directions now are augmented with Street View imagery, where it's available.

(Credit: Google)

Google has built its Street View into Google Maps' ability to provide driving directions, the company said Tuesday.

With the feature, a small camera icon appears next to the intersections in the turn-by-turn directions. Clicking on the icon brings up a view of the intersection so people can see the area in question.

Google Street View is available in 44 areas of the United States, and there are strong signs Google is bringing Street View to Europe. Street View is available through the Google Maps programming interface so that those using Google Maps can add Street View abilities to their Web sites.

AOL announced on Friday that it posted double-digit growth in March, posting new traffic records for the former high-flying Internet darling.

Page views on AOL's programming sites jumped 35 percent in March, compared to a year ago, while unique visitors rose 11 percent, to 56.5 million users, in the same comparison period, according to ComScore Media Metrix.

"Our strong growth is a direct result of rebuilding each and every one of our vertical Web sites over the past 12 months, with the goal of providing consumers highly relevant and rich experiences that focus on key passion points," Bill Wilson, AOL Vertical Programming executive vice president, said in a statement.

Some of AOL's core sites that received a makeover included Money & Finance, which rose 24 percent in year-over-year page views in March, News, which climbed 20 percent, and Sports, which rose a whopping 148 percent.

During the past year, AOL has launched a number of new sites, ranging from men's site Asylum to Spinner.com for Indie music fans to personal-finance consumer news site WalletPop.

And in March, AOL acquired social-networking site Bebo for $850 million. Bebo, which has a strong following in the U.K., Ireland, and New Zealand, said that acquisition was made as part of AOL's efforts to grab more eyes internationally. Over the past year, AOL has launched 17 international sites.

All these efforts are designed to also drive revenue for AOL, which has struggled over the years to reposition itself, after its saw its core dial-up subscription business fall dramatically as broadband competitors came on strong. In 2006, AOL underwent a major overhaul, ditching its long-held subscription business for an advertising-supported business model. To generate ad revenues, you have to have lots of eyeballs pursuing your sites.

Last September, AOL launched its Platform-A, an advertising network designed to sell ad inventory on its own Web sites, as well as third-party sites. But in earlier this month, AOL's ad unit began to cut 100 positions from its operations.