camera

Smartphones have rarely been accused of being elegant cameras. Tablets are even more troublesome. Sometimes, it would be easier to hold your device flat and snap a picture. Try that now and you'll get a lovely shot of your feet. Try it with a HiLO right-angle lens, and you'll get a real photo.

The HiLO hides three lenses and a prism inside that allow the image to bounce into the correct part of your camera. An app is also part of the Kickstarter project, so you'll be able to quickly correct for the image mirroring caused by the prism.… Read more

While there are numerous apps that help you edit, organize, and share your digital images, many of them cost a lot and are geared toward users with experience in image editing. Picasa is an app from Google that offers only the basics and it won't cost you a dime.

The app's gray interface is on the plain side, but all of the options are easily accessible and even less experienced users should be able to jump right in. If you do run into difficulties, you can visit the Help center to view tutorials from the publisher and from … Read more

If you're looking for a decent photo editor without breaking your wallet, FX Photo Studio for Mac is a solid solution. It comes with plenty of tools and filters for post processing and adding flare to your photos.

Upon launching the program, users are welcomed with a slick, dark interface that directs your attention to the photo itself. The layout makes great use of screen estate and the interface is clean and uncluttered. The overall experience of Photo Studio really focuses on bringing out the elements and emotions that you want out of the photo through its custom filters … Read more

Congrats to Jean F. of Gainesville, Fla., for scoring a Crux360 iPad case with Bluetooth keyboard in last week's giveaway.

Do a lot of driving? You and your car (and your insurance company) will love this week's freebie, a Cowon Auto Capsule AC1 dashboard camera.

The 2-megapixel cam with a 16:9 wide screen records and stores high-resolution 1,280x720-pixel high-definition footage in real time at 30 frames per second. When the device's internal accelerometer detects a shock, it automatically captures a video clip ("see, a Tasmanian devil really did dash in front of me!"). … Read more

It's true, the panorama feature Apple included in iOS 6 isn't anything new. Sure, it's new to the camera app, but iOS users have been able to download and use plenty of apps from the App Store designed to take panoramas. But, not everyone goes looking for panorama apps.

What Apple did was introduce panorama photos to everyone who has an iPhone. Naturally we're going to see an increase in shared panorama photos across social networks, including apps designed specifically to share panoramas.

Starting today, Zazzle is giving iOS 6 users another option to show off … Read more

Since the late 1800s, researchers and the curious have been trying to use photography to capture images of animals in the wild. Over the decades, the technology behind these camera traps has gone from trip-wire film cameras to sophisticated digital rigs. And these days, with the accessibility of digital video, the footage being collected is absolutely arresting. Check out the World Wildlife Fund or the Wildlife Conservation Society to see some of their videos of tigers, gorillas, and rhinos in their natural habitats.

Closer to home, we caught up with a technology specialist who works at Jasper Ridge, Stanford University'… Read more

As of yet, no Apple device has included near field communications technology. But the on-and-off rumor is on again.

NFC is a short range, secure wireless technology that can be used to transfer data from one device to another. So far it's been used in smartphones to do things like transfer media, as well as let users pay for things by tapping their smartphone onto a terminal, which reads a user's credit card information.

As the announcement of the iPhone 5 neared, and even with the iPhone 4S before it, several rumors floated about the possibility that the … Read more

CyberLink YouCam 5 is a Webcam manager that not only manages your installed Webcams and feeds but also lets you jazz them up with cool effects, avatars, gadgets, and so on. YouCam includes productivity tools for making presentations, tutorials, and instructional videos. It records HD video, and its TrueTheater feature enhances them. You can add special effects to your Webcam feed, and even download unlimited free effects from DirectZone. New features include Face Login, which uses facial-recognition technology to access your PC and Web sites like Facebook and Amazon. CyberLink YouCam 5 is free to try for 15 days.

CyberLink … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--GoPro pulled the wraps off of a new generation of its line of Hero sports camera packages built around the smallest, most powerful camera that it has ever offered: the GoPro Hero3.

The GoPro Hero3 Black Edition is the flagship model that will retail for $399.99. This new model features a chassis that is 30 percent smaller and 25 percent lighter than the outgoing Hero2 model and is only 20mm thick when removed from its plastic shell. The plastic shell itself is also smaller (obviously) and features a new flat lens. The case also features a double lock … Read more