Your camera will have the option to save your photos in a number of different resolutions. Typically these range from 640X480 pixels (VGA) up to 7.2 megapixels (a nigh quality 8X10) photo. When you snap your picture the sensor in the camera picks up the image in its maximum resolution. Then, a computer algorithm built into the camera’s firmware compresses the image to the resolution you have selected. In this compression process some information is lost. The result is your initial JPEG image that gets loaded into your computer ready for photo editing. IMPORTANT: You should NEVER edit your initial image. Make a copy of it and work with the copy. The reason is obvious, if you mess up your editing you will always be able to start over.

While you are editing it might be convenient or smart and even necessary to save your work in progress. This is where a small problem arises. Each time you save a JPEG image the computer algorithm is applied and there is some loss of information. An image may survive several saves with little discernible rot but eventually it sets in. It’s like making copies of copies on a photocopy machine. The small print gets blurry and is eventually unreadable.

Fortunately there is a simple solution. There are other common non-lossy image formats and most photo editing programs support them. I would recommend saving images in the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format. That’s it! No more rot. Now it is conceivable that you might need your final image in JPEG format. In that case simply make your final SAVE back to JPEG or use a converter. Free converters for any OS are easy to find on the internet.

Assuming you have met this challenge and the photos now live happily somewhere on your drive, you will delete the really crappy ones and probably wish you could fix some that are not quite right. Perhaps a little dark, a little crooked, off center or who knows what.  For this you need a photo editor. Cameras sometimes come with some editing software that you may like, but in my experience this software is usually not very capable. Furthermore it is usually Windows only and Mac and Linux users must look elsewhere. In this post I will give you a short list of software that will allow you to touch up your photos before printing or uploading.

Adobe Photoshop CS (Creative Suite)

This is an expensive (around $6oo) tool for professionals. If you are such a person then you already know this and this article is not for you. I include it because I am always amused by the hacker who has downloaded an illegal copy and brags that he/she has the best there is. It is certainly not the best for the casual user and his camera purchased at Wal-Mart.

The GIMP

Originally, the Linux equivalent of Photoshop, The GIMP has now been ported to Windows. Like most Linux software it is freeware. Go to GimPhoto for details and downloads for Windows and Linux. At the price ($0) it will you the feel of a high end program. Find Photoshop tutorials on the web and you should have little trouble applying them to GimPhoto.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Call this Photoshop’s little brother. It’s a dumbed down version of Adobe’s flagship product with fewer features and less capability but more than enough to keep the ameteur photographer happy. Adobe prices it at around $100. Currently it’s at version 7, but look for version 2 if you have a Linux machine. On my machine the help system had a problem but the photo editing worked well. When I was webmaster for a real estate company I used this program often to remove unwanted objects like trees and auto bumpers from property photos.

PhotoPlus6

Serif software offers a free version of PhotoPlus6. This is a very capable photo editor. An upgrade to version 8 is available for just a few dollars. It runs on Windows and might run on Linux but that is untested. It will perform all the basic editing functions plus some advanced ones like “cloning.” Again, at the price, you should definitely download and try this software.

Irfanview

I consider this as a “must have” program for any Windows user. Irfanview is often called the Swiss Army Knife for photo editing. Irfanview can crop, resize, apply effects and do most of the things one would expect in a higher end tool. It’s easy to use and it’s free. Most of the time it will be the only tool you need. Some have gotten it to work with Linux although I have not (yet).

Picasa

While not an editing tool, this free goodie from Google is a fine way to keep your photos organized. Google has released versions for all three platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux.

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Even more troubling is the patent awarded to Apple regarding the use of multi-touch screens. This patent was applied for in 2008 and took only a matter of months to be awarded. Again, Apple did not invent the multi-touch hardware.  They were the first to write software to to make use of the hardware in the form of the iPhone and iPod Touch. In January 2009 Palm announced the Palm Pre smartphone which would behave in a manner similar to the iPhone. Other companies, including Microsoft, announced projects that would incorporate multi-touch. What now? Surely, Palm is not stealing Apple’s code.

I believe that the Patent Office needs to do some rethinking. Software innovation should be rewarded but not in it’s concept but in it’s features. Competition benefits consumers. For example, as a software consumer I have a choice to use Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or Lotus Symphony all of which are “office suites.”  Now suppose Microsoft applied for and was awawarded  a patent on the concept of a suite, i.e. several related applications bundles and integrated into one. That would kill off all the competition and Microsoft could charge whatever the market would bear for the software. Of course, that’s not going to happen so why is the Patent Office giving Apple the opportunity to do the same????

In today’s marketplace even the cheapest cell phones have some form of computer technology in the form of a contact list and a way to edit it. As models progress, more features are added like calculators, cameras, and mp3 players. Somebody finally added a keyboard and called the gadget a “smartphone.” Not a bad name for it.

About five years ago, Nokia, a leader in phone technology, realized that the two related, but independent technologies, telephony and computing could be separated. They introduced the N770, an “Internet Tablet.” The N770 has a touch sensitive screen. A stylus is used for input and the device has both a virtual keyboard and handwriting software that works fairly well. Skype is supported for those who want to use the device as a telephone. Later models added an optional physical keyboard thereby putting it in the category of a smartphone. The operating system for the device is Linux based, and was given the name Maemo.

Apple joined the crowd with their introduction of the iPhone. Apple was also had the wisdom to realize that the two technologies could be separated and almost simultaneously released the iPod Touch which is simply an IPhone without telephone capability. The platform quickly attracted a huge number of developers. Input to the iPhone/Touch is via a virtual keyboard. The devices also have built-in sensitivity to motion and orientation. This enables applications to be controlled by tilting and shaking. The OS is a special version of the Mac OS which is a Unix style opearating system.

Coming in just a few weeks is the Palm Pre. It will have many of the same characteristics of the iPhone but will include a keyboard. The OS is called WebOS and is based on Linux. The Palm will be open to third party applications as is the iPhone. While there is no mention of a no-phone model, if the Pre is successful that is certainly a possibility.

IMHO, for these small portable devices, virtual keyboards make a lot more sense than physical keyboards. Most likely, you will hold the device in one hand and poke in the characters withone  or two fingers of the other. Furthermore, the QWERTY character arrangement is a system developed over a century ago for mechanical typewriters and two handed input. The underlying principles no longer apply. Familiararity is the only reason it survives today. I also believe that VOIP services such as Skype are better alternatives for telephone type communication on the Internet. And finally there are services like Twitter.  Keep in touch with your buddies all day long with free messaging.

Later this year, a startup company called TechCrunch will be introducing an Internet Tablet with a 12 inch touch screen and virtual keyboard input. The OS will be Linux based and the device will sell for less than $300. This just might be the netbook and smartphone “killer.”

Over the years I have found only one truth that is infallable in regards to computer rekated technology. What is new and good today will be out-of-date in a year or so and most likely obsolete in four or five. In the last two decades I have not purchased any computer, peripheral, or software package with the expectation of still using it after 36 months. Most items have not made it that long.

The latest technology craze is netbooks. First intoduced about a year ago by a company called Asus, there are now a number of competitors including some models from well known manufacturers such as Acer, HP and Dell. The concept behind the netbook is simple. Take an inexpensive low powered processor (specifically the Intel Atom processor), cut out peripherals like optical drives and numeric keypads, and fit the result into a chassis about the size of a small textbook. Finally, use flash memory instead of a disk drive thereby eliminating moving parts and making the gadget more rugged. As memory is limited, office type applications would be performed on remote desktops via the internet as well as the multitude of other activities now being delivered by the world wide web.

Clearly these devices fill a niche. I can envision these gadgets being of incredible utility to students, for example. But are they worth the cost? My local BestBuy has a nice selection of Asus models. The small, entry level model with a 7 inch screen and running a Linux based operating system, is priced at $279. If ultra portability is really important to you that might be just the machine for you. For myself, a home user,  it’s just not enough “bang for the buck.” A far better investment would be a budget laptop/desktop with more power, more memory, larger screen and etc. Like most new technology I think we can expect to see price drops within six months. That’s simply the result of good retail strategy.

Also, in six months I predict that Microsoft will have released Windows 7. The Atom processor does not handle Vista very well. XP is okay and Microsoft has extened it’s extended it’s life mostly to accommodate the new netbooks. On the other hand netbooks are truly great evironments for Linux based operating systems availble now and exceeding the capabilities of XP. Fearing this competition is another reason for my prediction.

If you are considering a netbook here is something to think about. Unlike Linux, Microsoft operating systems are subject viruses and must be protected against them. The protection doesn’t always work. Now imagine that a virus infects your netbook (without an optical drive) and trashes your system. How do you restore your netbook??