The Top Pick for Free Photo Editing

Google Picasa 3.9

Google's Picasa (free) continues to impress with the smoothness with which it lets you import, organize, and perfect your digital photos. I've praised the app in the past for its leading integration with its online component, Picasa Web Albums in previous reviews, but since the advent of Google Plus, the clarity of this integration has become muddied somewhat, with a new emphasis on Google Plus, which unfortunately comes at the expense of sharing to places more people care about: Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. Despite that one self-inflicted injury, Picasa is still a great photo app (and basic video editor), and the new version adds a bunch of clever new effects, thanks to Google's purchase of (and shuttering of) the much-loved Picnik online photo editor.

As a standalone photo editing and organizing app, Picasa remains one of the best free options you can choose. Its face recognition, geo-tagging, effects, and text overlay tools are class-leading, as is the ease of using these them. Some have called into question Google's continuation of Picasa as a desktop app, though, so you may have to get it while you can. One piece of evidence for this is the new Creative Kit, an online photo editor that bears a family resemblance to Picnik. For now, though, let's tour what you get in this standout piece of software.


Signup and Setup
Google recently abandoned Picasa for Linux, with the last Linux version at 3 (and that's labeled "beta"), so none of the updates discussed here apply to that OS. The current version runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X (Intel only). The small 14.5MB Windows installer downloaded in a jiffy, though after installation it takes up 63MB on your hard drive. Note that the installer tries to switch your browser search engine to Google if you're using Bing, Yahoo, or another default search.

When you first run the app, you'll get only one choice: whether to use Picasa as your default photo viewer. Then along the lower-right side of your screen, you'll notifications as all the photos in all the likely folders on your computer are sucked into Picasa's database. In earlier versions, the initial run also asked whether you wanted Picasa just to scan your My Picture, My Documents, and Desktop folders or you whole computer for any added photos, but now it makes that choice for you, picking the former. On Windows, you'll see your iCloud Photo Stream if you've got that set up on your iPhone or iPad, but Picasa doesn't support iCloud on the Mac.

Interface
Picasa 3.9's interface remains largely similar to its preceding versions. Folders on your computer are shown in a panel on the left, as are entries for Albums, People, Projects. The folders are organized by year and sorted in chronological order. Buttons at lower-right let you show People, Places, tags, or photo info in a right panel. At center bottom are the buttons that let you share to Google Plus, email, export, star, or quick rotate. A neat little touch is the animated star that flies up and spins when you start a photo. At lower-left is a tray that helpfully lets you pick photos to work on temporarily. A new side-by side comparison view helps in choosing the best of a pair of images or edited versus un-edited.
Once you click into a folder, you'll get the shuttle control on the right instead of the standard scrollbar you see when you're in an album. I previously thought this shuttle was a nifty interface innovation, but now it just seems inconsistent within the program. Oddly, when working in the Recently Updated auto-Album, Picasa wouldn’t let me scroll to the bottom of the photo set, though I could see more thumbnails peeking up from below the window edge.

After I clicked into a photo, Picasa's editing tools appeared in a left panel, with a couple new additions. Now there are five tabs here, where formerly there were three. The new ones are for effects presumably brought over from Picnik. I still like the easy rotate and view zooming choices below the photo view, as well as the histogram. I could also show full EXIF info in the right panel. Nice clear buttons let you Undo any effects you've applied. And adding a caption (which will be transferred to the online gallery) was easy as pie from the space below the image.

Importing and Organizing
A prominent Import button gets you started, and Picasa helpfully adds a choice to the Autoplay dialog that pops up when you insert camera memory into your computer. Groups of shot thumbnails are grouped in the import dialog by time periods, similar to the Events in Apple iPhoto ($14.99, 4 stars), and you can see larger previews of the photos you're about to import on the right side of the window. To its credit, Picasa had no trouble importing camera raw files from my Canon DSLR—Windows Live Photo Gallery (Free, 4 stars) requires a codec installation for this, while iPhoto is equally adept out of the box. You can star or reject photos even before import, but you can't apply tags or preset edits to the group, as you can in many other photo apps. Windows Live Movie Maker lets you rate with one to five stars as opposed to Picasa's simple on or off star, but the single star will suffice for most users. You can also apply effects in batch, or even copy multiple adjustments from one image and apply them to a selected group.

What do you know about LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is positively invaluable for any career-minded person over the age of 20. The site, which launched in 2003, is the place where professionals stay connected. You can think of it as a social networking site—and certainly, a good deal of socialization does go on—although it's really more of a professional networking site.

LinkedIn is free for a basic account, with additional features available to paid subscribers.
As with other networking sites, users set up a free account and draft an online profile, only here profiles resemble resumes and CVs. Where social networking sites frame tiresome lists of movies, bands, and favorite quotes as evidence of one's persona, LinkedIn emphasizes professional affiliations, work experiences, and job titles.

The site provides a huge array of services, but most people don't need to use every last one to reap the benefits of having a LinkedIn account. In that sense, LinkedIn can be very low maintenance, which is a huge benefit to busy professionals. For users who aren't actively seeking work or clients, logging in just once a month can pay off with huge results.

Setting Up
Free to use, LinkedIn requires little more than an email address and password to get started—although there's no benefit to using the service if you don't also fill in your profile. As mentioned, the profile is very similar to a resume, with a summary section and job history prominently displayed. LinkedIn prompts you to upload other information about yourself, including a photo. Until your profile is 100 percent filled in, the site will remind you periodically to complete the process—and it's mutually useful that it does. Users get more out of the site when their profiles are complete, and the the more user data the site has, the better an experience it can deliver.

The next step is to connect to people you know. You can find them by importing names and addresses from an email program. Most of the big webmail services are supported, but to grab contacts from Outlook, Apple Mail, and other desktop email clients, you need to first create a .csv, .txt, or .vcf file.

As you connect with co-workers, friends, business partners, etc., LinkedIn will begin to suggest people you may know based on shared relationship and company affiliations. The suggestions are unobtrusive and easy to accept or hide with one click of the mouse.

Which Android game is worth to buy?

Asphalt 5 HD (for Android)
3.5 stars, $ 4.99

From racing games available on Android, Gameloft Asphalt 5 HD ($ 4.99, right) led the pack. Asphalt 5 looks good, and drives better by putting you in the driver's seat with three different control schemes. When it comes to the garage, this rider laps the competition with 30 customizable vehicles. Multiple-choice accounts of how the game physics to use the proper handling of women as accessories of auto-damaging other a smooth journey. And for all the luxury and glamorous, Asphalt 5 can not match revelries rube from Reckless Racing ($ 4.99, right). But for those who seek treatment VIP racing, Asphalt 5 is your journey.

Backbreaker Football (for Android)
$ 2.99

If you are looking for arcade-style soccer that allows you to feel pigskin without learning a complex control scheme, together with Backbreaker Football. Backbreaker drops you into the game, and, if you're still standing in 90 seconds, you'll be ready for the big leagues. The goal is simple: get the ball to the other side of the field. Once you start running and the defender came charging, but with the complexity becomes painful, bone crushingly obvious. By combining reaction-spin, side steps, Jukes-by-tilting your phone's accelerometer to control the direction-you dodge, sprint, and likes to show off the road to the stars. With back-to destroy a stadium animation and carefully drawn, Backbreaker catch tactility and adrenaline of the game.

Jump Doodle

It's hard to imagine getting more mileage than a dollar from Doodle Direct. This game sends endurance (sweet) you "doodle" platform jumping to new heights. The premise is simple: travel as high as you can without missing a platform, or hit a baddie. You control your doodle by tilting your phone from side to side and aimed upgrades such as springs, jet pack, and force fields. Tapping anywhere on the screen lets you fire (spit?) On your opponent are equally captivating. If it sounds simple jaw-droopingly, it is because it is. However, two elements that will make you jump: captivating graphics-game looks as if it had doodled on graph paper-integration and high scores, traced the red line along the right side of the page.


Dungeon Defender: First Wave (for Android)
$ 4.99
With the strategy, action, character development, and a hyper-stylish cartoon world of fantasy perched on the Unreal Engine, Dungeon Defender ($ 4.99) to assemble all the components that are fun and highly addictive mobile games. Located in Etheria mythic, the game lets you control four characters, each with different equipment, attack, and the tower. With the wave routing the enemy, you gain experience by which you could upgrade (level-up) character or their towers. As indicated by the title, dungeons-eight of them-are very important for the game-play, each with a unique layout that demands a certain player's strategy, calling the tower. Defender Dungeon siege in two modes: you can prevent the enemy on your own (Local) or join up to four friends online (Online). For those looking for more action-and-horsepower in their tower defense game, Defender Dungeon: First Wave will be satisfactory.

Jewellust (for Android)
$ 2.95

Jewellust ($ 2.95) brings jewel swapping and destroy the new, more exotic locales, with 30 levels spread across seven pyramids. Much like Bejeweled, Jewellust asking adventure to swap adjacent gems to form vertical columns or horizontal lines. However, this is only one part of the puzzle: You are also tasked with opening the cryptic puzzle pieces before time runs out. If you succeed, you will run away with the prize jewel of the Ancient. The game packs two modes: Campaign, where you navigate the seven pyramids of Egypt to collect the seven crystals to open the Pharaoh's Treasury, and Survival, in which the same rules apply, but the points are paramount. Along the way, there are plenty of luxury and glamor to make you shoot, the Destroyers, which triggered a chain reaction is suitable to eliminate the gems, to the Big Bang, which randomly attacks and blasts away cut gems.


Real Soccer 2011 HD (for Android)
$ 4.99

Real Soccer 2011 HD ($ 4.99) lets you kick-off Euro Cup 2012 today. With nine leagues and 245 teams, there are teams for the most finicky fan, in accordance with a dynamic camera angle based on motion capture technology that ensures you'll never miss a kick, you can even share your favorite replays on YouTube or challenge friends over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. There is a mode for every mood, including the Historic Challenge that lets you turn back, and the possibility of forming again, the history of football, and Being a legend, where you can command a certain player for the entire season. Unlocking achievements and trivia answer, you will find that the more you play, the more you'll want to play-not like the game itself.

Reckless Racing (for Android)
$ 4.99
The fact that Reckless Racing ($ 4.99) originally wore this moniker "Deliverance" sidekick noisy racer, the roots of the country. Reckless Racing features six vehicle driven by a, how should we say, vibrant cast of characters including Bubba, Cletus, Floyd, Lurlene, and Otis. If you do not tend to fork it, immersive game graphics, banjo soundtrack, and 3D physics will send you skidding, sliding, and slipping in a number of racetracks rough and tumble. hillbilly hijinks comes in three modes: Dirt Rally (race against five opponents), Hot Lap (time attack), and Deliver (where you must collect and distribute the packet within the specified time.) Another challenge bumpkins over a LAN or the Internet or using the built-in chat to coordinate your derby.

Sims 3 HD (for Android)
4 stars, $ 6.99

EA Mobile has ported the definitive simulation game, Sims 3 HD ($ 6.99), for the iPhone, iPad, or on your Android phone. This application has an additional feature the latest from the desktop version, including the ability to Wish mobile-systems that consolidate Wants and Fears to 70 + Goals and Wishes-while exploiting through mini-games. Solid graphics and camera controls are fairly easy to follow your character (Sim) from home to town and back again. If the daily maintenance is not satisfactory, there is a feature called The Story Progression Sim that follows you through life. For gamers who prefer not to throw them to the desktop Sims, Sims 3 HD optimize the experience for on-the-go gaming.

Spider-Man: Mayhem Total HD (for Android)
4 stars, $ 4.99
In Spider-Man Gameloft: Total Mayhem HD ($ 4.99), available for Android, iPhone and iPad, New York is invaded by evil from the last game the Red Sox. As a young Peter Parker, it challenges you to fight and involves a cast of unsavory criminals who had escaped from prison and dismissed the city's streets. Total Mayhem relieve you of the most famous nemeses of the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Electro to Venom-at a level that sends you a dozen swings in the Manhattan sky, brushing the subway, and criminals beating with 20 combinations of explosive battles and special attacks.



SteamBirds (for Android)
4 stars, $ 1.99
One of the steam-punk, two-part strategy, and three-part air dogfight, Steambirds ($ 1.99) from Spry Fox LLC is a cocktail, if rigid, satisfying for gamers Android. The story begins in a vision of steam-punked from 1835 when Sir Albert Pendleton finds a low temperature fusion that powers then-although "nuclear hotboxes"-the first plane. Games take on World War I (and II) where you and Axis Allies face a nuclear-powered steam-equipped Powers. In 1939 Paris-smoldering rubble for the first victim of nuclear weapons-and you have to fight the attackers atoms through the air turn-based dogfights. You're pathetic outgunned, as reflected in the difficulty in mounting a challenge, but if you can shoot down the enemy before you're gunned down, you can save your skin, and the world.