Far more robust than Microsoft Paint, but nowhere near as loaded with features as Photoshop, Paint.NET occupies a niche perfect for users who want a free image editor that has more than resizing and inverting. Version 3.5 includes an enormous number of stability tweaks and menu adjustments, as well as a couple of new minor features and some Windows 7 love, too.
Paint.NET 3.5 includes better Aero-theme integration and a new Utilities menu.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)One of the biggest changes makes the program's installation far less obvious. The new version automatically downloads and installs the program's prerequisites, including the latest Microsoft .Net version and Windows Installer. It will update in the background now, too, so that you can continue to use the program until it's ready to restart. Longtime users should notice that the program starts up about 20 percent faster, according to the publisher.
The program has been visually tweaked to look better on Aero for both Vista and Windows 7. Mostly, this means that the menu bar appears offset from the Aero pane border, and it looks good. The Selection tool will no longer use the "dancing ants" that most other image editors use. Instead, a context-sensitive gray overlay appears as you make your selection. This works fine when using the lasso tool, but was hard to discern when used with the magic wand. According to the publisher, this change was made to reduce CPU consumption. There are three new effects, as well, for Surface blurs, Dents, and Crystalize.
The new Utilities option on the menu bar now hosts the Language submenu, Manage Fonts, which loads the Windows font control panel, and the manual Check for Updates tool. The full list of program changes can be found here.
If you're a blogger, you know that finding images, videos, and audio for your blog without worry of copyright issues can be difficult. Either the content is copyrighted, or you need to pay for it. In either case, it's not as tempting as freely available, copyright-free media.
Luckily, there are resources across the Web that allow you to use multimedia content for free with some simple attribution. It's a great way to add interesting flavor to your blog without worry of copyright issues.
Let's take a look:
Go public
Creative Commons A search for public-domain multimedia content usually starts with Creative Commons. The site is one of the best places to go, if you're looking for content to add to your blog.
When you get to Creative Commons, you'll find a search box where you can input a query. From there, a handy tabbed-browsing interface is shown, allowing you to send your query to Google search, Google Images, Flickr, and more.
Creative Commons' site is quick to point out that all the searches bring you to third-party sites, and there's no guarantee that the content is free to use, but you'll notice under the search box that the page automatically searches for content that's "free to use, share, or modify, even commercially."
I've used the search engine on numerous occasions and had some success using it. Try out Creative Commons, if you want to search several sites for some photos.
Creative Commons' tabbed search feature.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)EveryStockPhoto EveryStockPhoto is a search engine for those who want free, public-domain photos to use on their site.
Overall, I was really impressed by EveryStockPhoto. When you get to the site, you have the option of viewing photos in popular categories or using the page's prominent search box to find photos. When you search the site, it finds images from several resources, including many of those mentioned in this roundup. Flickr is one of its most used sources.
When you click on an image in EveryStockPhoto, you can see who owns it, the licensing rights associated with it, and more. I really liked EveryStockPhoto. Check it out.
EveryStockPhoto helps you find public-domain images across the Web.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
It has become conventional wisdom in the PC industry that periodically reinstalling Windows can restore an old PC's youthful vigor. Unfortunately, the process has become a challenge—and a real time-sink, to boot. Better to create a disc image of your hard drive when everything's working well and restore that image when things turn sour.
Recently, my nearly new laptop PC froze in the middle of Windows loading. After a forced shutdown, Vista repaired itself and reverted to a saved restore point. Things were back to normal in no time, but the event reminded me that I hadn't yet created a disc image of the hard drive's active partition.
Doing so doesn't cost home users anything other than the price of a few blank DVDs or some other removable medium. Paramount Software's Macrium Reflect disk-imaging software is free for personal use, though businesses, schools, and charities are asked to pay $39.99 for the full version (30-day trial available).
After you install the program, you're prompted to create a backup, including an XML Backup Definition File to facilitate restoring the backup from your desktop. You can also create a rescue CD (or DVD) that uses either Linux or the BartPE boot routines. Linux is the default selection and the one recommended for all but Windows XP and Server 2003 systems.
Macrium Reflect prompts you to create a disc backup after it installs.
(Credit: Paramount Software)Backing up 68GB of data on a 222GB hard-drive partition took about 45 minutes and four DVDs. Even if restoring the partition required twice that amount of time, the process is still faster than reinstalling Windows, downloading and installing the gigabytes of Windows updates, reinstalling your applications, and restoring your data files and settings.
Backing up a 66GB drive partition to four DVDs took Macrium Reflect less than 45 minutes.
(Credit: Paramount Software)Once I had created the Linux boot disc, I was ready for nearly any Windows emergency. Now I have to lug around five DVDs, but that's a small price to pay for the added peace of mind.
Of course, there are times when reinstalling Windows is your only recourse—such as when you have to repair a PC that has no backups. You'll find step-by-step instructions for reinstalling XP and older versions of Windows in Lincoln Spector's "How to Reinstall Windows XP." Microsoft's Windows Help and How-to site describes how to use Vista's Startup Repair feature. A separate article on the site explains your Vista installation and reinstallation options.
If your PC shipped without a Windows installation disc—and chances are increasingly likely it didn't include one—your only option is reinstalling your OS from the recovery partition on the hard drive. The steps vary depending on the PC vendor, so check the company's site for the instructions for your system.
With or without a Windows installation CD, restoring a known-good disk image is faster, simpler, and at least as effective as starting from scratch.
True Image 2010 offers a more streamlined interface and a few additional options.
(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)Excited about Windows 7 but not sure if your current XP computer can handle it? Maybe it's a good idea to make sure you can go back to the operating system you used prior to the upgrade. This is where system backup software such as that made by Acronis comes into play.
The company announced Tuesday the latest version of its backup software for home users, the Acronis True Image Home 2010, which supports Windows 7 as well as previous versions of the OS.
Like previous iterations, the True Image Home 2010 features Acronis' patented disk-imaging technology. It creates a full image of the whole system, which, once restored, brings the system back to the state when the image was created.
I personally have lots of experience with Acronis backup software and find it among the best for backing up the whole system. The software allows for creating full, incremental, or differential backups.
... Read more
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CNET)
The Cooliris Firefox plug-in (Mac or Windows) is one of the most popular extensions in our library. Fire it up once, and you'll see why: Cooliris turns your image or movie searches into a 3D wall that is easy to navigate and just plain cool looking. When they came out with an app for iPhone some time ago, it didn't have enough of the cool features to make it worthwhile. But they've just released version 1.5 for iPhone and after giving it a test drive, I think it might be worthy of another look.
Once your search is completed, touch the right side of the screen to see the full image wall
(Credit: CNET)Cooliris for iPhone attempts to move the mostly seamless browsing experience from the Firefox Extension on to your touch-screen iPhone, and it does a fairly good job. You'll need a fast broadband Wi-Fi connection to get quick load times, but the app is still usable on slower connections. New features in this 1.5 release include faster search results (up to five-times faster, according to Cooliris), the capability to use Microsoft's Bing search engine for queries, and full Twitter support (read content from the public Twitter feed or read Tweets from the people you follow). They've moved to a slide-out user interface (think of a drawer being pulled out from the left) for most of the features like switching search engines, choosing browseable news categories, and RSS feed management.
Overall, Cooliris for iPhone is a unique and fun way to browse images, videos, feeds, and tweets, and it's difficult to find fault with such an interesting and unique app that's always been free.
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CNET)
Last week I mentioned how long it took to sync my iPhone to iTunes and it seems I'm not alone. I think almost all Mac users reported that syncing only took a few minutes, but a lot of Windows users (with some exceptions) were having the same experience as me. Is Windows doing something to muck up the process or is syncing different across platforms? Hopefully, this is something Apple will look into in future updates.
Following your advice, and the advice of other iPhone forums, I restored my iPhone and then used my latest backup to get my information back. Unfortunately, I lost almost all of my apps...it seems Transfer Purchases to iTunes doesn't mean what I think it means. While I redownload all of my favorite apps check out this week's picks.
This week's iPhone apps include a program that lets you create unique presentations with your images and a free-form off-road racer that's surprisingly fun.
Follow the onscreen instructions to create pan and zoom presentations (Ken Burns style)
(Credit: CNET)Pix Remix ($2.99) lets you take photos with your iPhone camera and present them in three unique ways. You can create a slideshow, a collage, or a slow pan/zoom type of thing (Ken Burns style) which you can then share with your friends via e-mail or post to Facebook or Twitter. Pix Remix is very easy to use, with a fairly straightforward interface, and also gives you onscreen instructions to create each type of presentation.
To start, just pick which type of "show" you want to create. The slideshow is pretty straightforward--just pick all the pictures you want to include, add captions, reorder as desired, and you're done. With the collage option you can pick whatever images you want, and then you're given the opportunity to drag and arrange them how you want on screen. The pan and zoom option might be the most dramatic because you can write captions for each stage, turning one image into a complete story. Pix Remix also utilizes iPhone specific features letting you shake your iPhone to rearrange photos and plenty of touch screen interaction with the interface. If you want a new way to send your images to friends or post on the Web, this app is a fun and unique choice.
Use any path necessary to get to the gates before your opponents do
(Credit: CNET)4x4 Jam ($3.99) is an off-road racer that lets you drive wherever you want--an ongoing and changing landscape continues in every direction. Steer by turning your iPhone left and right and you have several options for control sets depending on how much control (over gas and brakes) you want. You can choose between a VW bug-like off-road racer or a 4x4 truck, with four skin options for each. You can participate in a couple of different race types with computer controlled players including an Off Road Race (try to beat your opponents to each gate) or a Jam (collect points by passing through more gates than your opponents. Sadly there is no career mode, so there is little to keep you interested if you don't like the race types offered. But there are three difficulty levels to keep things somewhat interesting.
The first thing I noticed apart from the free form racing was the well implemented physics. As you make turns you really notice the centrifugal force and stopping to turn on a dime is pretty much impossible. This only adds to the fun as you and your opponents jockey for position and you even have opportunities to force them away from gates to get an advantage. Overall, 4x4 Jam is an excellent concept with fun and challenging racing action, but the lack of a career mode might be enough of a reason to wait for future updates before spending the money.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you have an unique image app that's better than Pix Remix? Is 4x4 Jam worth it even without the career mode? Let me know in the comments!
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CNET)
Anyone who has posted images to a Web site or blog knows that making the image "Internet-friendly" is crucial to fast page-loading times. Similarly, optimizing images for e-mail is important because sending enormous image files through your e-mail client can cause problems for those with slower connection speeds. There are several software tools available to reformat and optimize your images, but I found one recently that's free, easy, and effective.
RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool) (Free) for Windows takes the side-by-side interface approach for painless image optimization. Those who have used Adobe ImageReady will immediately recognize the layout of the interface, with the original image on the left and the optimized image on the right. The file size is listed above both the before and after images, so you can tell how your tweaks will affect the end result. You also can zoom in to see how much your changes effect image details.
Use the quality slider to check the optimized image for changes.
(Credit: CNET)If you've ever optimized images before, you know that there are many ways to lower image size without degrading the quality of the image to the human eye. RIOT lets you output to Internet-friendly formats like JPEG, GIF, or PNG, and lets you tweak different settings for each format. For a JPEG image, you are given a slider you can adjust to tweak the quality or you can adjust between four levels of Chroma subsampling (Wikipedia link) to reduce size. GIF and PNG formats allow for color reduction (often the most effective method), which you can choose from a dropdown menu or use a slider. Alternatively, RIOT also lets you choose between two predetermined color quantization algorithms to take the guesswork out of optimizing. Our favorite feature is the "Compress to size" button, which lets you pick your optimal size and RIOT gives you the result. Obviously, you'll need to experiment with this option to get your desired results.
Along with the handy side-by-side optimization features, RIOT offers basic image editing tools like rotation and flip horizontal and vertical. We should point out that RIOT is still in beta, but in all of our tests the software performed without a hitch. One thing we would like to see in future versions is the capability to batch optimize, but as a standalone, free image optimization tool, RIOT is definitely worth checking out.
There's undoubtedly something striking about the style of photography that draws attention to a focal object by making the rest of the scene black and white (here's a good example). This kind of selected colorization is within reach on your iPhone if you use ColorSplash for iPhone, a relatively new image-editing app from the developer of Juxtaposer and Juxtaposer Lite, two other image editors for iPhone photos.
After you load an image, ColorSplash will turn it into a black-and-white photo--but not permanently. Your full-color image will remain in your iPhone's camera roll. You use your finger as a paintbrush in ColorSplash, and with every swipe, more of the photo's original color is revealed. Keeping control over the brush strokes was our biggest challenge. While pinching and pulling the screen to zoom in is the recommended way to paint the object you want to emphasize, this was in many cases laborious, certainly more so than it would be to choose a smaller brush size.
Although you can't cut a slimmer swath with the brush, you can choose among four brush types that include hard and soft edges and varying transparency levels. An even better feature is the masking button, the red circle on the top navigation bar that lets you see the area you're coloring in bright red. The crimson hue is a sure way to catch your mistakes, especially if the area you're working in is light or the boundaries between areas is otherwise difficult to detect.
While we didn't encounter issues with photo size, the developer's notes warn that images exceeding 1,024 pixels will be shrunk down in the app. ColorSplash can save newly tinkered images in your Camera Roll alongside the originals, and can even let you reload sessions to edit your work. If you frequently share your mobile images with others or online, ColorSplash could be a creative way to add some zing to your photo, though it's not as practical on a daily basis as a classic photo-editing app like Picoli, that will sharpen and color-correct images.
If you have to ask yourself why out of the teems of top-notch freeware image editors at your disposal, folks consistently choose IrfanView, then you don't know IrfanView.
It may not be the slickest-looking app by a long shot, or even the most complex. But its combination of simplicity and strength make the classic image viewer and editor a middleweight favorite. It doesn't hurt that the feature set has some unique extras in addition to the regular touch-up tools. Check out IrfanView in this First Look video.
Other great image-editing applications
-FastStone Image Viewer
-GIMP
-Paint.NET
-Picasa
If you're a demanding aesthete who insists on stamping your imprimatur all over your computer's interface, TweakXPlorer might be just what you've been looking for. If you're looking for a serious Explorer performance-enhancing drug, you're probably going to want to look elsewhere.
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Seth Rosenblatt/CNET Networks)
TweakXPlorer is a simple utility that lets you slap an image in Explorer's background, change font colors, and adjust background settings for the Explorer toolbar. Simple buttons with clean icons will help you navigate through the three main interface tabs.
There's TweakFolder for folder changes, TweakToolbar for toolbar adjustments, and TweakThumbnail to change thumbnail resolution and size. Importing an image into the toolbar automatically resizes it for the toolbar's rectangular dimensions, and the app makes use of sliders to avoid becoming visually stale.
It's portable, although the reasoning behind that decision is not exactly clear. Portable Firefox is something I understand, but for TweakXPlorer it just added several tedious steps before I could test it out.
You'll have to locate your images through the program's file browser, since drag and drop doesn't work here. Other than that, the biggest limitation the program faces is that it's kind of pointless beyond the skinning. If the visual customizations could be coupled with actual improvements for XP's Explorer, I'd be more willing to recommend the program enthusiastically.
