photos

Following the release of HP's iPrint Photo application, which allows printing from the iPhone to capable HP printers, River Past Corporation has released another wireless printing application with one key advantage: the ability to direct output to printers from any manufacturer.

The new iPhone app, dubbed Air Photo, requires a server to be installed on a host Windows or Mac OS X system. That means it's not a direct-to-device solution like HP's offering. The software's description reads:

"Set up the printer only once on your computer, then simply tap "Print" with Air Photo … Read more

I've been on the phone with several iPhone application developers this week and the common thread has been that all are excited about the success of the iPhone App Store. But one of the developers wanted to point out that one of his applications that's been around since the beginning, but hadn't seen much exposure yet. After checking it out, I decided to include it in this weeks post.

This week's applications include a free photo-driven social-networking application and a game that plays like a classic stand-up arcade game from the past.

PhotoShare (free) from Big … Read more

A new iPhone application allows users to bypass the iPhone's inherent one-photo-per-email limit. Appropriately dubbed "Multi-Photo Email," the applications works by connecting to a user's SMTP server and sending photos as simple attachments. Users can designate a subject and body, in essence making this application the first third-party email client for the iPhone.

Multi-Photo Email includes the following features:

The new app is priced at $0.99 and is available through the iTunes App Store.

Photogene is an image-manipulation tool that lets users crop images, correct color distribution, sharpen, rotate, and mirror images, as well as add special effects.

The application responds quickly to commands. We expected the application to bog down when changing color distributions with the histogram or cropping images, but the changes were nearly instant.

Photogene ran fast and worked nearly flawlessly during our few days with it. The only bug we ran into with the application was while creating screenshots for this review, so most people will probably never run into the same issue. When you create a screenshot while the … Read more

You don't have to try learning a complex program like PhotoShop if you just want to sharpen photos and other images for scrapbooks, simple brochures, and newsletters. This app puts the essential tools in the hands of novices and other users who are intimidated by the learning curve required by professional-level programs.

NuGenImageWorks launches a large, easy-to-navigate interface with two essential screens: the first displays the original image you want to manipulate; the second shows the image with your changes in real time. Novices may have trouble understanding some of the tool names initially if they aren't familiar … Read more

Smartparts has added two new pocket-size touch-screen digital photo viewers to its current lineup, the 2.4-inch SP24PC and the 3.5-inch SP35PC.

These compact digital photo viewers give people the capability to enjoy their favorite photos on the go. Users upload photos by connecting the viewer to their computer via USB cable. Both viewers are compatible with Mac and Windows.

The SP24PC can hold up to 50 images in its internal memory, and the SP35PC can hold up to 100 images. They both have a built-in rechargeable battery that automatically charges when the viewer is attached to a computer … Read more

In case you're watching the digital-photo frame market, it appears that prices are coming down nicely heading into the spring of 2009. Hitting stores next month, Pandigital's new PanTouch Clear line features an allegedly simplified touch-screen interface and an eye-catching floating-image design for a relatively affordable price.

The PanTouch Clear models come in 7- and 8-inch size frames. They offer 800x600 resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio, 6-in-1 card reader, and 1 GB of internal memory. They'll be available next month, with the 7-incher listed at $119 and the 8-inch model listed for $139.99. Both models … Read more

In 2007, U.S. officials recalled melamine-laced pet food that caused the deaths of cats and dogs and lead-coated toys that endangered toddlers. Now, digital photo frames infected with computer viruses are the latest problem import from China.

"That phenomenon apparently has bled over to the digital side as well," Marcus Sachs, director of the Internet Storm Center at the SANS Institute (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security), said of the Chinese manufacturing problems that get exported. "Essentially, it's a supply chain problem. We've become dependent on a cheap source coming out of Asia."

The culprit … Read more

With its launch of iPhoto 09, Apple has begun showing some reasons why it's worth enduring the hassle of geotagging your photos.

It's generally not easy right now to label your photos with information about where you took the pictures--the process usually is done with special software to marry the photos with location data taken from a separate GPS receiver.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, demonstrated what you can do with iPhoto at the Macworld 2009 keynote Tuesday.

iPhoto 09 works best with photos that already have been tagged. That's getting more common, as GPS hardware support becomes less of a rarity. For example, Nikon's Coolpix P6000 has a built-in GPS receiver, and Nikon has begun selling its GP-1 GPS receiver, which can plug into its SLR's flash mount so location data is embedded in the photo. Apple's iPhone can geotag its own photos, and camera manufacturers say GPS support in cameras has become a matter of when, not if.

But the software also can help you tag your own images. Clicking a photo flips it over, letting you type in a location, then showing the spot using a map. (Google supplies back-end mapping services). Helpfully, iPhoto then can spread that location data to other photos with similar time stamps, and they can be bundled together into a group called an event.

OK, but what can you do? Once you have geotagged photos, what can you do with them?

For one thing, sift through them geographically using iPhotos' new Places interface. Viewing an iPhoto event can show an associated collection of pushpins on a map, and clicking each pin shows the photo.

For another, you can search for photos based on where you took them, not on whatever filing system you might use. iPhoto can handle geographic hierarchies, so if you labeled a photo with "Eiffel Tower," it'll find it with a search for "France" or "Paris." … Read more