Digital photos…EVERYONE is taking them. Everyone is sharing them. Everyone is, well…wondering just what the heck to do WITH them once their taken. This is one of the reasons why I really like applications like HP Photo Creations – Image Zone. It’s a multi-platform digital photo creation app.

HP Photo Creations is free software that lets you easily create photo books, calendars, collages, greeting cards and other keepsakes that can be printed at home or shipped to you. With HP Photo Creations, you can quickly and easily make beautiful keepsakes with just a few mouse clicks; or you can take your time and customize them. The application has over 1,800 high quality artwork designs, 1,300 placeable graphics, text boxes, custom fonts, borders, and dozens of photo editing tools.

With HP Photo Creations, you can easily create cards, calendars, photo books, and much more. You can customize your projects with backgrounds, styled text, hundreds of graphics and thousands of border styles. Drawing experience from film, television, and special effects, when you choose the Automatic Smart Arrangement option, the software analyzes your photos and arranges them into colorful, multi-layered designs that truly tell your story.

HP Photo Creations allows you to personalize almost every aspect of your project using text and graphics. You can use effects such as tinting, blending and airbrushing. Best of all, you can instantly add your design to any item and the real-time 3D preview will show you exactly how your finished project will look—there’s no need to start over.

HP Photo Creations – Image Zone is a lot of fun to use. The fact that projects can be printed at home or for shipment to your home is cool. This means you can purchase hard cover photo books and can truly preserve your memories for years and generations to come.

Download HP Photo Creations

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When Adobe created the PDF document (PDF stands for Portable Document Format), it hoped that it would be creating a standard. I don’t think they thought it would be as successful or as lasting as it has been. I also don’t think they thought it would foster the creation of so many different applications and companies that support the format with third party products.

It’s actually quite amazing. Everyone uses PDF’s now-a-days to create near source, identically-formatted documents for secure distribution to friends and colleagues who need the information, but (authors) don’t want/need readers to edit them. This is why I like apps like Foxit PDF Editor. It’s a PDF creating and editing tool for Windows.

We all need to create or archive professional looking personal documents, collaborate with teammates, design company forms, produce company collateral, finalize agreements, apply digital signatures. Foxit PDF Editor is one of the leading solutions for home/home offices, small and medium sized businesses, and large enterprises in this space. It comes in three versions to fit the diverse use cases that different users require.

Foxit PDF Editor Express is great for home/home office or business users. It helps you create standards PDF files. You can create PDF’s directly from MS Office with one button click; or batch create PDF documents from other common formats. You can also use its convenient annotation tools to add comments, notes and other annotations. Foxit PDF Editor Express provides a quick and easy way to get the job done.

Foxit PDF Editor Standard is ideal for any size business. Foxit PDF Editor Standard expands upon Foxit PDF Editor Express by allowing you to directly edit the text in the PDF document. After you are done editing, Foxit PDF Editor Standard’s robust security features keep your business documents safe. You can include password and certificate encryption, and a digital signature. Its form design tools let you develop forms. Its import tools allow data to be automatically imported into forms; and custom JavaScript actions allow increased forms customization.

Foxit PDF Editor Business is robust for the needs of businesses. Foxit PDF Editor Business expands upon Foxit PDF Editor Standard by providing the security that helps companies meet regulatory compliance and corporate governance for their important documents and archives. It ensures documents don’t change after they are approved. You can extend the usage control benefits of Microsoft’s Active Directory Rights Management Service to all your PDF documents. Author can control document features within each PDF, where they can certify documents and set permitted actions.

Download Foxit PDF Editor

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There’s are reasons why Apple hasn’t released the rumored iPad Mini. In part 2 of this 2 part series, I break down the rumors…

Apple rumors are fun. Apple’s secretive culture often sparks and breeds the development of rumors and many people in the tech journalism industry love to speculate and see how right the mill is every time Apple releases new products. Last minute speculations aside, it’s difficult to crack the Apple rumor nut. However, after slowly and carefully finishing the Steve Jobs Biography, I think I have a decent understanding of where Steve was wanting things with Apple Product Development to go.

I’ve had a couple people come to me over the past couple of weeks and either ask me about or tell me about the rumored 7″ iPad, nicknamed the “iPad Mini,” that Apple is supposedly set to release “soon.” I’ve chuckled a bit at these folks and their immediate response was, “What..? You don’t think they’re going to release it?”

My response has been, “I don’t know.”

Trying to guess what Apple is going to do with their product road map is very much like trying to predict the weather – there’s gonna be some [weather]; and forecasters have a 50-50 chance of being right.

However, you never really know if it’s going to rain or not until you stick your head out the window. In part 2 of this 2 part series, going to concentrate on Tim Cook. It all comes down to who’s the captain of the ship.

Is the Customer Always Right?
Last week, I talked a bit about why the late Steve Jobs hated the idea of a 7″ iPad. Put succinctly, Jobs felt it confused customers by blurring the lines too much between the iPod Touch and the original, 9.7″ iPad. Customers interested in that device size might be better served with the (we’ll call it) 4″ iPod Touch or by taking the plunge and moving up to the full 9.7″ screen on the iPad.

In a Jobs run Apple, there would be no ’7″ iPad Mini.’ The game totally changes in an Apple run by Tim Cook. Here’s why…

Tim Cook is Apple’s former Chief Operating Officer. As an operations guy, Tim Cook listens to, or is at least accustomed to listening to, the voice of the customer. Customers clearly like the idea of a 7″ iOS tablet. The idea of a lighter smaller iPad, with all of its power and capabilities, appeals to a great many people.

The product confusion issues between an (about) 4″ iPod Touch, 7″ iPad Mini, and the 9.7″ iPad still exist – Is the 7″ iOS device a iPod that’s too big, or an iPad that’s too small..? The question is valid, as the iPod Touch does very well, and the iPad is currently expected to be the king of the “tablet hill” until at least 2016.

Tim Cook is the unknown element here. His good friend and confidante, Steve Jobs was very clear on his 7″ tablet stance – No. However, Tim Cook’s operations background may move him to green light the project; but you have to ask how that will effect Apple’s bottom line (manufacturing and marketing costs vs. potential sales, for example) before you start drooling over the idea of an iPad that you can carry in a jacket pocket.

I’ve been wrong before, but at the end of the day, I still don’t think we’re going to get a 7″ iOS tablet; but not because of Jobs’ product aesthetics stance. I don’t think the device has enough legs to warrant the manufacturing line and component costs.

However, we’re really going to have to wait and see… I wouldn’t be the first Apple prognosticator to be wrong about what Apple actually decides to do if they did release a 7″ iPad.

Related Posts:

• 7″ iPad Rumor Analysis – Part 1: Why Jobs Hated the iPad Mini
• Microsoft Surface – I am SO Disappointed…
• Is Convergence the Way to Go?
• iPad 3 Rumor Roundup
• Nokia Windows 8 tablet to hit the stores in early 2012

There’s are reasons why Apple hasn’t released the rumored iPad Mini. Let’s break it down…

Apple rumors are fun. Apple’s secretive culture often sparks and breeds the development of rumors and many people in the tech journalism industry love to speculate and see how right the mill is every time Apple releases new products. Last minute speculations aside, it’s difficult to crack the Apple rumor nut. However, after slowly and carefully finishing the Steve Jobs Biography, I think I have a decent understanding of where Steve was wanting things with Apple Product Development to go.

I’ve had a couple people come to me over the past couple of weeks and either ask me about or tell me about the rumored 7″ iPad, nicknamed the “iPad Mini,” that Apple is supposedly set to release “soon.” I’ve chuckled a bit at these folks and their immediate response was, “What..? You don’t think they’re going to release it?”

My response has been, “I don’t know.”

Trying to guess what Apple is going to do with their product road map is very much like trying to predict the weather – there’s gonna be some [weather]; and forecasters have a 50-50 chance of being right.

However, you never really know if it’s going to rain or not until you stick your head out the window. In this 2 part series, I’m going to look at two deciding factors related to Apple’s “iPad Mini.” Part 1 will concentrate on Steve Jobs. Part 2 is going to concentrate on Tim Cook. It all comes down to who’s the captain of the ship.

Why Jobs Hated the iPad Mini

It’s a very well-known fact that Steve Jobs thought the iPad’s form-factor was perfect as is. In his estimation, around 10 inches was the right and ideal size for this size computing platform. Netbooks, which the iPad was originally thought to be when Apple was originally developing the iPad, fragment the computing landscape and muck with the ecosystem. As such, you really don’t see a lot of netbooks on the market today. That computing form has really died off. They’re too under powered, and too small to be of any real use.

At 7 inches, an iOS powered tablet sticks itself directly between the 3.7 (let’s call it 4 inches for the sake of argument) iPod Touch and the iPad. Jobs looked at this middle sized form factor and pronounced it a “piece of shit,” because it brought confusion, more than value, to iOS devices. Most people don’t understand why, and it took me to get through the Walter Isaacson biography to really get it myself.

I am almost positive that Apple put a 7″ iPad prototype together. I’m certain that there was likely more than one; and that they got passed around Jobs’ and Jony Ivy’s inner circles. Jobs killed it because it too closely blurred the lines between the 4″ iPod Touch and the 9.7″ iPad.

Ultimately, it would have cannibalized sales of both existing products, without adding any additional value or features. Jobs thought 7 inches was too small of a screen to accommodate a tablet and its use cases (games, movies, etc.) and too big to carry around as an iPod. (Face, it, you’re not going to go jogging with a 7″ device strapped to your arm.) When trying to determine which device to purchase, customers wouldn’t understand the differences between the iPod and the iPad (Mini) at that point, and from what I’ve read in Isaacson’s biography, that drove Steve bonkers.

Come back next time, and I’ll go into the other side of the coin – Tim Cook.

Related Posts:

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Let’s face it. You use Facebook to keep up with your friends and family. You share pictures, stories, and stuff, and it’s a lot of fun. When it comes to connecting with friends, sometimes, getting the cute fluff out of the way so you can chat with yo’ peeps is just what is needed. This is the reason why I really like fTalk. It’s a multiplatform chat client, specifically designed to work with Facebook.

fTalk enhances your social media experience by taking Facebook to the next level. With fTalk, you can chat with your Facebook friends directly from your desktop, without having to run a browser and surf to Facebook. fTalk enables you to chat with your friends even when you’re at work or in a public environment where you don’t necessarily want to; or can’t open Facebook.  You can see which of your friends have logged in, you can change your status, use emoticons and even video chat! fTalk offers a fun and light Facebook chat experience; and its free.

fTalk is a decent app. It allows you to chat with your FB friends even without having an active FB session going in your browser. It’s very much like Skype for Facebook; or something similar. The app is great. I like it. However its only real value is that it automatically integrates with your FB account and pulls in all your FB Friends.  You could manually do that with Skype Windows Live Messenger, AIM or any other chat client that also supported video. While this doesn’t kill the application’s usefulness, it does limit you to just chatting or video calling to only your FB friends, and if someone does want to chat or video chat with you, they have to be your Facebook friend first.

download fTalk

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If you know me, and see me on my commuter train, then you’re likely to see me doing this multiple times a week. I love me some Angry Birds, and I’ve played all the games on most of my Android phones. Following the success of their Angry Birds Rio, and Angry Birds Seasons editions of the popular game, Rovio has released their multiplatform edition Angry Birds Space, with new birds, new abilities and of course, more fun for your PC.

The premise to the game is pretty cool.  After a giant claw kidnaps their eggs, the Angry Birds chase it into a wormhole and find themselves floating in a strange new galaxy – surrounded by space pigs. Thankfully, the Angry Birds have been transformed into space-faring astro-birds, and they have new, enhanced abilities of their own.

In Angry Birds Space, you’re introduced to new adventures on planets, in zero gravity, and in enhanced gravity wells, resulting in spectacular gameplay ranging from slow-motion puzzles to light speed destruction. With new birds, new abilities, and a whole galaxy to explore, the sky is no longer the limit. Once you master the concepts of zero and enhanced gravity situations, making the bird’s new, enhanced abilities work for you can provide hours of entertaining game play.

Once you finish the standard levels, you have the ability to enter the DANGER ZONE, the most difficult Angry Birds levels ever! It isn’t easy.  The Danger Zone was named that way for a reason. You’ll spend many hours here, and likely extra money purchasing Giant Eagles in order to help move you past levels that seem nearly impossible to solve without them.

Read full review | Download Angry Birds Space for Windows | Download Angry Birds Android (with ads) | Buy Angry Birds for Android (ad-free version) | Buy Angry Birds for Windows | Buy Angry Birds for iPhone | Buy Angry Birds for iPad | Buy  Angry Birds Space for Mac

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With the holidays fast approaching, people are going to be taking a LOT of digital pictures. With my digital SLR, its easy, and not uncommon for me to take well over 300 pictures at a family gathering. After that, it’s usually transfer, convert and tweak…the first two are easy. The last one, however, can be a bit of a problem as finding the right tools to tweak pictures the way you want isn’t always easy. That’s why I’m glad I’ve got ACDSee 14. It’s an awesome digital photo manager and editor, and its available for Windows.

ACDSee 14 is the ideal photo editor and photo manager for your PC, with all the features you need to organize your photo collection. You can edit and add effects to your images, and share your photos online. You can quickly find and organize your photos, and with its easy-to-use photo editing tools, get a perfect result every time. If you make a mistake, don’t worry. Your originals are always preserved, so you can go back and start over if needed.

Getting the best exposure for your shots is often difficult. It’s easy to ruin a great shot with too much or too little light. If that happens, don’t worry. ACDSee’s patented LCE (Lighting and Contrast Enhancement) technology can instantly lighten shadows and reduce highlights in one click; or you can manually adjust individual sliders to fine tune every aspect of your photo. You can change the tonal range, white balance, and color balance of your photos with its easy-to-use adjustment tools.

You can unleash your creativity with its cool special effects and then share your images through e-mail, social media or your own personal space on ACDSeeOnline.com. You can showcase images in an attractive, advertising-free photo sharing interface and easily manage your online images. To insure that only the “right” people see your shots, ACDSeeOnline.com employs full privacy control. You can also control resolution settings. You’ll have a full 10GB of free storage space for your photo collection.

read full review | download ACDSee 14

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A few years ago, gaming wasn’t a big deal. Most computer users were focused on productivity and well, we thought that gaming PC’s were expensive toys for over indulged children.  I mean, wasn’t that what gaming consoles were for? It’s totally different today.  Gaming is now driving much of the PC innovation seen today, and game development is a multibillion dollar industry. That’s one of the reasons why I really like Steam. It’s one of the best ways to get today’s most popular games on a PC near you.

Steam gives you the ability to purchase, download, and play over 1,100 games from any computer. You can easily check out new releases, indie hits, casual favorites and everything in between.  If you’re bored and need a playing partner, it’s easy to find someone to play with, meet up with friends, connect with groups of similar interests, or host and join chats, matches, and tournaments.

Communication is key during gaming campaigns, and Steam allows you to chat with your friends while you’re gaming.  You can see when your friends come online or are playing games.  You can  and easily join the same games together. During play, you can chat with your buddies, or use your microphone to communicate in any game.

One of the biggest problems with gaming is keeping up with patches and updates. With Steam, that’s all taken care of for you.  With automatic game updates, hunting for patches and downloading from unorganized web sites is a thing of the past. On Steam, your games stay up-to-date by themselves.

If you’re a Mac and want to play your favorite games, don’t worry.  Steam brings PC’s biggest gaming platform and games to the Mac.  You can download your games to your Mac and play against your PC friends in multiplayer games.  If you’ve got an Android or iOS device, you can also play games on the go. Steam Mobile gives you access on your tablet or smartphone.

read full review | download Steam

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