Posted 11/05/09 at 07:53:51 PM by Ryan Whitwam

We all know Google has a lot of information about us. Now there’s a way to have all that data laid out before you in terrifying detail. Google Dashboard is the search giant’s new site aimed at increasing user control over personal information.

The Dashboard is available in your account settings page (or just go here), and kept behind an additional sign-in page. Once logged in, you’ll see all the Google services you use along with a summary of its use. There is currently support of more than 20 Google services including Gmail, Latitude, Google Voice, Google Docs, Gtalk, YouTube and Picasa.
 
Google offers quick access to the settings for each service if you’re not happy with the information being stored.  So, feel better?

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Posted 11/05/09 at 01:30:00 PM by Mark Edward Soper

RAW mode, a feature of virtually all digital SLR cameras and an increasing number of high-end point-and-shoot cameras, enables your camera to capture all of the image data in your photographs in full quality without distortion caused by JPEG data compression. RAW files enable you to repair white balance and color temperature problems, solve exposure problems, and adjust color intensity and other settings far better than you can with JPEG files. Unfortunately, you must use software that supports RAW files to optimize your picture and export it to a format you can use for other purposes, such as JPEG or TIFF.

Thankfully, you don't need to spend a fortune on software to edit RAW images. Or be a hardcore digital photography buff, either. 

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Posted 10/09/09 at 08:00:53 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Google has armed its Sites tool with some new features. It now supports RSS feeds and custom templates. It is now possible to import Picasa Web Albums photos from the “Insert” menu, which also makes it possible for a user to import other forms of data from various Google service. Sites is a drag-and-drop tool for building intranets and simple websites.

 Another option is to upload photos directly to Picasa, which can now be accomplished from within Sites itself, just in case they are not already hosted online and you still wish to add them to your site. RSS feed of a page built using the Sites tool can be accessed quite easily by adding posts.xml to the end of its URL.

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Posted 05/15/09 at 10:00:00 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Windows 7 has the potential to be the most imaging-friendly version of Windows yet developed. Windows 7 makes viewing JPEG and other common file formats easy, displays exposure metadata, and supports more viewing options than Windows XP, while offering better performance than Windows Vista. However, to get the maximum benefit from Windows 7, digital photographers will want to make two additions:

• Installing RAW image support for their DSLR
• Installing a photo organizer and editor

Wondering how to get RAW support for 64-bit versions of Windows 7? Not sure which free program (Windows Live Photo Gallery or Picasa) is better at fixing common digital photo problems? Looking for the best solution for organizing your rapidly growing digital photo collection? Join us after the jump for the answers.

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Posted 12/31/08 at 04:30:19 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I’ve noticed a weird problem on a clean Vista 64 SP1 install. It first happened when I was using Picasa. I selected some photos and then hit “e-mail,” but Outlook 2007 never popped up. I first thought it was just a Picasa problem, so I ignored it.

I then tried right-clicking a small file, choosing Send To, Mail Recipient, and again Outlook 2007 didn’t open. As I understand it, the program should have opened a new message with the attachment.

Do you have any idea what could be going on?

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Posted 10/05/08 at 12:02:13 AM by Justin Kerr

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Posted 10/01/08 at 03:15:36 PM by David Murphy

Economy got you down? No longer able to make those day-long trips to your local computer store of choice for all the latest and greatest software tools? Tired of paying top-dollar for programs that don't quite have the functionality you want? Well get ready. It's freeware and open-source week at Maximum PC. We're going to spend the next week showing you the best (and cheapest) software we've been able to find across different themes: graphics design, system optimization, games, and office/productivity.

Just because it doesn't come in a box doesn't mean that these titles are any less powerful than their retail counterparts. The graphics category exemplifies that fact, offering programs that are every bit as good as their hundred-dollar Adobe counterparts.  But just for good measure, we threw in our favorite free Adobe graphics program too.  Check out that, and the rest of our exclusive list, after the jump!

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Posted 09/05/08 at 10:44:07 PM by Mark Edward Soper

This week, Google unveiled a public beta of its Picasa 3.0 photo-sharing software. Picasa 3.0 offers a huge number of new and improved features that will appeal to both point and shoot and DSLR users. I was particularly impressed by the following:

• A new photo viewer that integrates with Windows Explorer and supports PNG, TGA and RAW formats as well as JPEG, TIFF, BMP, and GIF. The preview window displays thumbnails of other photos in the folder for faster navigation and offers one-click editing in Picasa, one-click uploading, or a one-click slideshow. Even on my less than swift single-core laptop, it displays Canon CR2 RAW files much faster than Windows Live Photo Gallery does. Google tested Picasa 3.0 on systems with up to 1 million photos, and it shows.
• The ability to display image metadata for RAW files from within Picasa.
• The enhanced photo collage creator with six preset designs along with easy drag and drop repositioning and image rotation. It's so good that I wonder if Microsoft Research's new AutoCollage 2008 (which costs $19.95) can compete.
• Improved photo editing tools such as the retouching tool (good for removing scratches and dust) and the tuning tool, which features highlight, shadow, fill light, color picker, and color temperature controls. If you don't want to learn (or pay for) Adobe Photoshop Elements, you can do quite well in fixing less-than-perfect photos.

To see the photo viewer in action, and to find out where to learn more (or just get your hands on Picasa 3.0), join us after the jump.

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