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No-frills conversions

We frequently find ourselves needing to convert or resize images to e-mail to friends, post on blogs, or share on social networking Web sites. All the full-featured images editing programs can take care of these tasks, but we're sure we're not the only ones who don't want to launch a huge program for such a simple job. Kigo Image Converter is a lightweight program that makes quick work of image conversion and resizing, and offers a few extra features to boot.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, and we had no trouble figuring out how … Read more

MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature where we answer questions e-mailed to us by readers. This week, we have questions on the specifics of Mail's "Find" behaviors, whether an old iPhone can be used as an iPod Touch, how to downgrade Safari 5 to Safari 4, and options for viewing animated Gif files that are sent in email messages.… Read more

Spotty performance

As its name would suggest, Konverter does indeed give users the ability to convert their files to a wide variety of different file formats, and it does so with ease. But its other included features didn't quite measure up.

The program's simple, self-explanatory main interface features drop-down menus lining the top of the window, as well as frequently used commands. We started by testing the Convert option. The program offers an impressive list of file format options, including PNG, PTIFF, SGI, and more. We selected a JPEG file and, using the Convert menu, opted to convert it to … Read more

Mediocre GIF converter

Gif To Swf Converter is an easy-to-use program that allows users to convert GIF images into Flash files. The program works, mostly, but it doesn't have a lot of features, and it isn't entirely clear about the ones it does have.

Gif To Swf Converter's interface is fairly plain, with buttons for selecting one or more images or directories of images for conversion. We like the program's preview pane, which displays each animated GIF before conversion, if you want it to. Gif To Swf Converter is quite simple to use: You specify whether you want to … Read more

Little big pic

Digital camera owners will love Mihov.com's Image Resizer, a tiny, efficient bit of freeware that resizes your digital images, converts JPEG, GIF, and BMP formats from any one to the other, rotates images, performs grayscale conversions, and does a few more simple tasks related to getting your digital pics into the right size, orientation, and image quality for whatever you want to use them for: posting online, saving in a scrapbook, printing them out as snapshots, or emailing to friends and relatives.

At 363KB, Image Resizer is about as small a bit of software as you'll encounter … Read more

Jiffy GIFs

Easy Gif Maker provides an incredibly basic set of tools for creating GIF animations. Its simple layout proves to be an asset, as this program is welcoming to experts and novices alike.

We were initially turned off by the program's generic interface, which has just a few basic buttons and no design flair at all. However, we soon warmed up to Easy Gif Maker, once we realized its utilitarian design was aimed at making the entire process of creating GIF animations easy for anyone to master. While we couldn't actually create the frames necessary for animation, we were … Read more

Basic photo viewer

NewView Graphics' File Viewer is a basic image viewer and photo editor that allows users to make simple changes to their images. Although the program works fine, there are definitely more sophisticated options for doing this sort of work.

The program's interface is dated and plain, and it's not immediately clear how to get started. The fact that we couldn't actually open a file using the File menu threw us a little bit. It turns out that users must navigate to their desired location from the Directory pane within the program; a separate pane displays the contents … Read more

Gifsoup turns YouTube vids into animated GIFs

Note: Gifsoup, as it turns out, is a violation of YouTube's terms of service, which state that user-submitted videos cannot be downloaded unless the author has allowed it and the download is taking place on YouTube.com, and not via its API.

In my book, animated GIFs are one step above glitter graphics in terms of junk trends of the Internet, but I'm a big fan of any tool that makes creating them easy and fun. Gifsoup is no exception--you just point it towards any YouTube video and it turns it into an animated GIF.

To do this, … Read more

Helpful photo doctor

Amazing Photo Editor provides users with the tools to make either sweeping or subtle changes to their pictures. While there are a lot of things to love, there are a few annoying spots that make this program less-than-perfect.

The program's interface is best described as cluttered, but manageable. Combining several small screens and a long string of command icons, users will want to look over the Help file before getting started. We were frustrated that simply scrolling our cursor over a specific icon didn't tell us either its title or what function the button provided. The only way … Read more

Quick images conversions

AZImage is a basic image converter that lets users quickly resize and convert images. The program's ease of use and a few cool extra features make this a good choice for conversion jobs of all sizes.

The program's interface is fairly intuitive and attractive, with three tabs that represent the steps in the conversion process. In the first, users select the images they want to convert; images can be selected individually, or users can select entire folds of images for batch conversions. In the next tab, users select the format, size, and destination for the new images. The … Read more