gallery

Windows does photos

Windows Live Photo Gallery collects a simple set of tools for downloading, editing, and sharing photos. Its functional design and excellent capabilities make it one of the most user-friendly photo programs we've ever tested.

The program's interface was clearly designed by Microsoft and felt instantly comfortable, with the familiar feel of Windows. All the commands and functions were logically organized, and the program was pleasing to use, though the Help file's vague instructions for panoramic photos were a disappointment. Nevertheless, we uploaded some photos from our digital camera with a single button click and were quickly able … Read more

MobileMe movie gallery: "Unable to connect to MobileMe"

Users may experience the alert, "Unable to connect to MobileMe", when attempting to upload a large movie file to their MobileMe movie gallery. This alert, according to Apple, may appear erroneously during large file uploads to MobileMe and may appear even if you are successfully connected to MobileMe's servers.… Read more

California artist rebuilds world economy with antimatter

The overlap with the title of this blog, Matter/Antimatter, is completely coincidental, but since most meaningful events are coincidental, it makes perfect sense that it prompted San Francisco-based conceptual artist Jonathon Keats to send me a note pointing to his upcoming exhibition "The First Bank of Antimatter."

Keats' previous artistic enterprises include applying string theory to real estate development, and in the wake of global economic collapse, Keats is now introducing a hedge against future catastrophe by creating a mirror economy designed to skyrocket as world markets plummet: the first holistic response to the great recession.

"… Read more

Irresistible puzzle game

Super Collapse Puzzle Gallery 4 is a fun and addictive puzzle game. Stay away from this one unless you have time to spare, because it's hard to stop playing once you start!

The game's premise is simple enough: each puzzle is a grid filled with different colored squares, and the object is to get rid of all of them. When a user clicks on a square with at least two squares of the same color adjacent to it, all those squares disappear, and any that were above collapse downward. Users must systematically select which groups of squares they'… Read more

Photo organizer

Arclab Thumb Studio provides users with an advanced program for sorting, resizing, and viewing their computer's digital photo collection. With smooth direction and well-planned design this will help a lot of people get organized.

This program's professional interface was a big plus for us. Users are shown a wizard-like tool featuring screens containing various project options, all in a smooth, easy-to-use flow. The screens are so simple to navigate that most users will not need to look at the User's Manual PDF that comes with the program. Actually designing a photo album, slideshow, or batch processing job … Read more

Microsoft is really milking the kid thing

If one cute kid can help sell products, more kids must be better, right?

After debuting its first "rookies" spot last week showing 4-year-old Kylie using Windows Live Photo Gallery to fix her goldfish picture, Microsoft is back with a new spot that shows 7-year-old Alexa using the software to create a panoramic photo.

Microsoft is clearly trying to convince us its software is so easy that a kid can master it.

It's not a bad strategy. But I'm a little surprised it's are back at it with Photo Gallery. The first ad was pretty … Read more

Microsoft tugs at heartstrings with Windows ad

Microsoft's new Windows ad made its expected debut over the weekend, with a 4-year-old cutie named Kylie showing how easy it is to use Windows Live Photo Gallery to edit and share photos.

As I noted last week, Microsoft is pushing ahead with new spots in its Windows ad campaign after taking some time off following the Gates/Seinfeld and "I'm a PC" spots.

In the new spot, which debuted during the Grammy Awards Sunday (and is embedded below), Kylie shows how she uses the program to touch up her photo and then share it with … Read more

Browser add-on makes Flickr's galleries faster

Browser add-on Flickr Gallery Plus adds extended functionality to Flickr's set view, allowing users to click through to see full versions of each shot without having to reload the page. Once installed it will go out and pre-fetch the larger sized version of each shot, making big sets a cinch to speed through. This includes the addition of keyboard shortcuts (something you can't get in Flickr without a Greasemonkey script) which lets you go back and forth between shots using your arrow keys.

In addition to its thumbnail optimizer, the add-on includes a simple slideshow viewer that doesn'… Read more

Photos: Black Friday deals you should know about

For many, nothing says the day after Thanksgiving like queuing before dawn outside their favorite store.

To help you out, we here at Crave have compiled some of the best Black Friday deals (both online and off) we could find.

Click here or on the picture above for a link to all the discounted goodness.

E-mail, photo programs stripped from Windows 7

Microsoft has decided that Windows 7 won't include built-in programs for e-mail, photo editing, and movie making, as was done with Windows Vista, CNET News.com has learned.

The software maker included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as part of Vista, but later chose to offer separate downloadable Windows Live programs that essentially replaced those components with versions that could connect to online services from Microsoft and others.

Microsoft told CNET News late Monday that it has decided to remove those features entirely from Windows 7 and instead offer only the service-connected Windows Live versions … Read more