frames

For the past couple of years, I have been writing the iPhone apps of the week in this space. But we've decided that instead of the same old app rundown, we're going to do something a little different. Starting this week, we're going to be putting together three apps that fulfill a specific theme. We're going to try to introduce one or two new apps and put them alongside older classics in the category. This way, you will be able to compare new apps with older ones, and also, find out about apps in the category that you may not have seen before.

This week's apps revolve around your iPhone's camera capabilities. The first one is a popular app for snapping old-school photos, the second lets you take photos that make objects appear miniature, and the third is a newer app for chronicling gradual changes in your appearance.

Hipstamatic ($1.99) is an extremely popular app that turns your iPhone's digital camera into an old-school single-shot camera of the past to give your images that grainy, washed-out (in a good way) retro look. The interface is a bit confusing at first, but you'll soon figure out how to switch among different types of retro film, different types of lenses, and even effects for different types of flashes. You can switch between each of the different variables with a swipe of your finger, with dramatically different results depending on the combination you choose before taking your snapshot.… Read more

It's hard not to prejudge a program called Glitter Frame GIF Maker. We had visions of a program that would likely only be appealing to a 10-year-old girl, and indeed, our prediction wasn't far off. That doesn't make it a bad choice, though--just a program with a limited audience.

The application's interface is plain and fairly easy to navigate. It comes loaded with 10 animated GIF frames, most of which include some combination of flowers, stars, hearts, and bubbles. To apply a frame to an image, simply load the photo you want to use, crop it … Read more

News and media typically find their way to your eyeballs through three types of screens: your TV, your computer, and your mobile phone. The Chumby 8 hopes to add a fourth screen to that equation.

Part tablet, part digital photo frame, and part jukebox, the Chumby 8 packs a ton of content behind an 8-inch touch screen. Unlike its forefathers (the Sony Dash, Insignia Infocast, or the original Chumby), the Chumby 8 offers a simplified new interface and a built-in Web browser.

Throwing a browser onto the Chumby 8 makes it possible to add and delete apps from the device … Read more

Earlier this year, I splurged on a Kodak Pulse photo frame. Though not the cheapest of its kind, it's definitely one of the easiest to use and manage. It can pull photos from your Facebook account or receive them directly via e-mail. That's right: the Pulse has its own e-mail address. (And you get to choose it, too.)

The original Pulse had a 7-inch display, but Kodak just released a 10-inch model. The list price is steep ($199.95), but Provantage has the 10-inch Kodak Pulse for $164.25--the lowest price I've found anywhere. Shipping adds … Read more

In today's slightly bonkers gadget news, Nikon has unveiled the NF-300i, a digital photo frame powered by Android that turns your photos into a 3D extravaganza--all without the aid of funny glasses.

The frankly rather ugly 7.2-inch digital frame boasts a double-density lenticular screen with 800x600-pixel resolution. It works in 2D mode or displays your 2D photos in 3D, after they're converted in the cloud by Nikon's online photo storage service.

The NF-300i packs 4GB of internal memory, alongside a USB socket, and Ethernet and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi to show pictures from the Web.

Read … Read more

Ah, it's the digital photo frame only iPod/iPhone and Panasonic Lumix camera users could love. Panasonic's refreshed its MW-10 stereo system/digital frame/iPod dock as the MW-20, which does basically the same stuff as its predecessor. It's a single-speaker stereo system (can a single-speaker system be stereo?) with a 9-inch high-resolution screen (no specs were included in the announcement), an iPod/iPhone dock for music, photo, and video playback (it charges, too), 2GB of internal memory, and an SD card slot.

The MW-20 has a special incentive for Panasonic camera users as well. A Lumix … Read more

ImageKlebor from Shoran Software is a free tool that combines multiple image files into a single image. It has a command-line option that makes it useful for automation and pipeline integration, and it's free to use, even commercially. However, most folks will find that ImageKlebor is best suited for assembling multiple images into one picture, such as scans of LP album covers; they're too big for all but the largest scanners, and most folks end up scanning covers in two passes and then trying to put the two together in an image editor. With ImageKlebor, putting chunks of … Read more

Google's Chrome Frame, a project to retrofit older versions of Internet Explorer with modern browser features, has reached "stable" status, which the company believes means it's ready for widespread use. (Chrome Frame is available for download from Google and CNET Download.com.)

"After months of polishing, Google Chrome Frame now starts three times faster on Windows Vista and Windows 7 and the most common conflicts with other plug-ins have been fixed," said programmers Tomas Gunnarsson and Robert Shield in a blog post Wednesday. Chrome Frame emerged publicly one year ago as a developer preview and graduated to beta status in June, and the programmers promised further improvements in the future as Chrome Frame gets on the six-week release cycle of the standalone Chrome browser.

Loathing for IE6 is universal among Web developers who must reckon with its lack of standards support, sluggish JavaScript support, and less secure design; Microsoft is among those who fervently want to see it replaced. Chrome frame is a curious approach to the problem, though: given abundanct free browser alternatives--including two other major IE releases that arrived since IE6's 2001 debut--it's not clear why somebody would choose an IE brain transplant over just installing a new browser. … Read more

If you ever wished for a way to view your iPhone snapshots on a bigger screen (without first copying them to your PC), here's your answer. WiiPhoto transmits photos to your HDTV by way of your Wii game console.

It's a terrific idea, but one marred by a couple of gotchas and the limitations of the console itself. The app works with any iOS device that's connected to your home Wi-Fi network: iPhone, iPod, iPad, and so on. You'll also need the Wii Internet Channel on your console if you don't already have it.

When … Read more