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Most versions of Windows do a pretty good job of changing your wallpaper, whether once a day or every few seconds. But if your version of Windows lacks those features (some do) or you're running an older version of Windows (some do) or you just don't like the Windows tool (some don't), you can use aftermarket freeware like 100dof Wallpaper Rotator.

It's a simple tool that can rotate your wallpaper at startup or manually. It stretches images to fit, and it handles the most common image types. What sets it apart from the crowd is its … Read more

Google launched WebP to outdo JPEG. Now a new version is designed to take on another dominant graphics format on the Web, PNG.

WebP is based on the open-source compression technology used in Google's WebM video encoding technology, and with it, Google hopes to reduce Web page file sizes and thereby speed up the Net. There are plenty of challenges for the technology, but Google just made WebP a bit more competitive through the addition of two major features.

First is a "lossless" compression option that can image data without loss of fidelity. Second is support for … Read more

Media Converter for Android lets you convert images, videos, audio files, and more into just about any compatible format, from PDF to MP4 to you name it. It can even convert video files to MP3s.

Media Converter's interface is as straightforward as it gets. Just launch the app, then choose one of the converter options on the Home screen: Video Converter, Audio Converter, Image Converter, Document Converter, Ebook Converter, or Archive Converter. From there, browse for your file, choose your output format, hit Convert, and watch the magic happen. The app itself actually doesn't do much converting. What … Read more

Creating icons is a necessary task for software developers, but they're not the only ones who make icons; average Joes and Janes also enjoy customizing their desktops with icons of their own creation. Whether you need to make icons for business or pleasure, Imagicon is a simple way to do it. It has advanced features for more-experienced users, but even newbies will be able to master its basics.

Imagicon's interface is just a small square with a few menus across the top; using it isn't an entirely intuitive process, but we were able to figure it out … Read more

Vectorization sounds complex, but in fact it's the fairly simple process of converting raster images, which we'll call "pictures," into vector sets that can be used in CAD, GIS, CNC, and similar digital design, control, and automation environments. Simple, yes; but elaborate in methods and processes. That's where WinTopo Standard enters the picture. It's a free tool for extracting vectors from JPEG, GIF, PNG, and other images. It's essentially a pared-down version of a pro tool, but its results are more than good enough for millions of users, apparently.

WinTopo's interface resembles … Read more

Vallen Jpegger is a fast, free, efficient image viewing tool that is capable of displaying virtually any kind of image file (more than 40 file types) as well as music, sound, and other files. It supports lossless JPEG rotation, so you can orient your snapshots without losing any data or clarity. It has fully scalable print support, a command-line option, slideshow mode, and a screenshot tool. It runs in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions, including Windows 7. It also offers a huge range of language options, with more added all the time. It's designed for quickly browsing and … Read more

Chances are, if you've had your computer for any amount of time, you've burned a CD or DVD and needed a cover for it. UnderCoverXP makes it easy to create covers for a variety of types of digital media. It's not a design program, exactly; it's more of a utility for scaling images to the right size and printing them so that they'll fit in whatever type of case you're using. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of making covers; UnderCoverXP gets the dimensions right every time.

The program's interface is … Read more

Cool PDF Reader provides users with a fast and easy way of viewing PDF files. With simple controls and some added benefits, this program is a fine alternative to more popular programs like Acrobat.

The program's interface shouldn't take too much work to understand, since its tightly packed command icons all come with descriptions when the mouse rolls over them. This is fortunate, since the program's online Help file is a confusing maze that we could never sort out. The program begins with users selecting a PDF by using a standard file tree search method. The document … Read more

Bill Gates wonders why Google would want to make a browser-based operating system. In fact he wonders what exactly a browser is anyway. We also have some crazy Steve Ballmer quotes and some crazy stats of how many people respond to spam.

Bill Gates on Google's Chrome OS http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286308-56.html

Ballmer: what IS this thing!? http://paidcontent.org/article/419-microsofts-microsofts-ballmer-on-google-chrome-os-who-knows-what-this-t/

Gates: Natal to bring gesture recognition to Windows too http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286309-56.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286772-56.html

TechCrunch receives … Read more