Get a free 3-month subscription to FotoJet Plus
Cheapskate exclusive! Create social-media artwork, edit photos, build photo collages and more.
CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones , gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and follow the Cheapskate on Facebook and Twitter!
Use FotoJet to whip up professional-looking cards, banners, ads and more.
Think you're no good at graphic design? Maybe you just need the right tools.
FotoJet is a free browser-based graphic-design tool that lets you edit photos, build collages and -- best of all, to my thinking -- easily create everything from business cards to flyers to social-media banners.
Of course, why stick with free when you can go premium? For a limited time, Cheapskate readers can get three months of FotoJet Plus for free. After completing the sign-up process, use promotion code FJCNT3 to activate this extended subscription.
FotoJet Plus normally runs $4.99 per month, so this is a $15 value.
It's divided into three primary functions: Edit, Collage and Design. The editor lets you import a photo from your PC or Facebook , then do just about anything to that photo: crop, resize, adjust exposure, sharpen, etc. You can even apply a tilt-shift effect with just a couple of clicks.
The editor also offers a wide range of filters, overlays, frames and the like, and lets you add text and/or clipart as well. It's an admirably simple tool, but also very versatile.
In Collage mode, you choose from a huge range of templates, then add one or more photos. This is fun to mess around with, but a little more gimmicky than practical, I think.
Here's an example of the kinds of templates you'll find in FotoJet's Design module.
Finally, there's Design mode, which offers things like posters, invitations, Facebook-formatted ads and banners, YouTube-channel art and so on. This is really valuable stuff for freelancers, small-business owners and other folks who want to look good across social media but don't know how to create images and format them correctly.
Speaking of business, the same company offers a companion service, DesignEvo, for creating custom logos. It's free to use!
The advantages of FotoJet Plus over FotoJet Free include an ad-free workspace, premium support and tons more fonts, templates, effects, frames and the like.
Bottom line: This is a versatile but novice-friendly design tool, one that's great for folks who want to generate attractive images but have limited design skills and/or budget.
Your thoughts?
The latest JJRC drone includes a motion-sensitive remote and three batteries.
Bonus deal: Another drone ? Hear me out. I've obviously become a fan of models that have gesture-controlled remotes, like this one I mentioned last week. (By the way, it's currently on sale for $17.99! Though it'll be shipping from China, so don't expect 2-day delivery.)
That model, however, comes with only one battery, doesn't transport particularly well and lacks a camera. Thus, I give you this: For a limited time, and while supplies last, Tomtop has the JJRC H37 Mini Baby Elfie quadcopter for $38.99 shipped (from China, alas).
Not much larger than a deck of cards, the Baby Elfie has folding arms, and even comes with a dual-pouch zippered carrying case for easier transport. It sports a front-facing 720p camera that can be angled 30 degrees -- though you have to do this manually; you can't adjust the angle mid-flight.
You also get three cartridge-style batteries, each good for about six minutes of flight time. But the real kicker is the remote: It looks like something that would come with a game console, but it's gesture-sensitive: tilt forward to go forward, back to go back and so on. Use the upper joystick to adjust altitude and turn; press various buttons to toggle speeds, activate headless mode, etc.
I must admit I found this remote a little less intuitive than the one that comes with the aforementioned TechBoy drone, but this is still a fun and easy drone to fly. And you can mix in the JJRC app for shooting photos and videos, performing flips and more.