BitStrips

BitStrips is a an app where you can make comics of your life and post it on Facebook. It is the definition of a fad.

While I did download it to my Droid X and got to make an avatar I never got past that point. The app is so large it does not allow me to make comics and sticks on the "make your own" screen.

Sounds fun but not made for older phones so thumbs down.

Inpaint

Inpaint 5.5 is a photo removal software that I been using for a long time and it works great. The program matches pixels nearby to replace the pixels you select. If you have complicated thing you want to erase and  time and patience then it may take a while. For simple pictures one pass and your done.

Here I try to get rid of some legs and shadows crossing three different backgrounds:

Guy walking away ruined my shot.

Using just the marker and the Select tool and Mask tool.

After six different passes this is what I got and it took a minute.

If I wanted to be more precise I could use a smaller marker, the lasso, polygonal lasso, magic wand, or guide lines. Since I like doing things quickly I want rather just use the mark and repeated passes. Of course I can take some time and go at a pixel by pixel level and it would be seamless.

I have used this program to remove plenty of hands and entire people and it works great. The example above was very rough and I wanted to see if I can do it in less than a minute. From start up to six passes and saving the photo took one minute on my Windows Vista laptop.

This program can be easy or become complex but it still loads lighter than Gimp. I would recommend getting this for free at Give Away of the Day next time it is offered. Also over at Inpaint you can order the newest with free upgrades for $19.99, Mac and PC compatible.

Silent Camera

One of the more annoying features of my camera phone is how loud the camera is always. There is no way to turn down the volume or make it quiet. This was done to stop creepers from doing pervy stuff.

I take pictures at work of paper files that I would need to refer to later but my office is so quiet the my camera app sounds like I am with the paparazzi. So I recently downloaded this handy app just to stop the odd looks.

Silent Camera

Alleged screenshot from original Google Play store that is only half fake.

The app itself is easy to figure out but there are few instructions. This is a Japanese app so stuff may not be obvious. The camera app works well but the photo quality is lacking and the ads are always on. The reason is this is basically a screenshot of the video image produced while the camera is on. It avoids the sound of a click by just taking a screenshot and not an actual image, that is why they can do burst mode. Burst mode is just a series of screenshots of the video feed.


I only downloaded this one because it was popular but I am looking for a better one.

Avast Free Antivirus

avast! Free Antivirus is rated one of the best Windows security programs even among the paid versions. I had Norton Symantec Endpoint Protection 10.2 for years but as of July, 4, 2013 it was no longer updating or being supported.

On my other computers I have McAfee but it is a monster of a program and tends to slow things down. So I was looking for a lighter alternative on computer that I only use to play online games and check emails. avast! Free Antivirus seemed great and most of the online reviews were positive.

Installation was easy and the first thing it does was a quick scan. It also checked for out-of-date programs and found two which I updated. Unfortunately trying to automatically update one program did not work and I had to do it manually.

The third thing I did was run a full scan and it took less than 2 hours on my 60 GB drive. I thought it would be faster but it was the first time so maybe it will improve. I found nothing bad as I expected so I think it was worth it.

They have other free tools and internet security options but I will ignore most of those. They do try to install some Google toolbars but I just opted out so no big deal.

Overall this is a 90% program, while for a free program it is great I expected more with all the race review. Also it could have been lighter because sometimes I noticed a bit of lag when navigating the tabs on the avast! free antivirus interface.

Skitch

Skitch for Windows to be exact. This is a Mac first program so I expected a few problems. Unfortunately it never worked past opening the program itself.

Skitch is supposed to be a quick annotation software from Evernote. I am always on the lookout for photo editing software that does one specific thing well to save time. I have no time to launch Gimp just to add an arrow, which Gimp does not do with out a special arrow plug-in.

This program seemed ideal but just would not work on my Windows setup no matter what I tried. While I cannot fully blame there website does not have a systems requirement page, at least I cannot find one.

My system does not have a graphics card but I still am able to do plenty, I assume that Skitch requires a graphics card. Oh well I still have Fireshot.

Picasa

As with everything else being updated Picasa is harder to navigate. The new interface does not allow for simple picture viewing instead it overrides common linear displays for an aesthetic never ending scroll. the problem of course is finding an image is near impossible and that programmers opinion on best photos is not mine.

Each time I want to check my new photos of my money collection at Coined For Money I have to go through many steps.

You have to:

• Click Photos
• Click the album you want to see
• Click Organize
• Click Date Taken
• Then click Reverse
• Then Done.
• After that you still have to click on each picture to view details.

Again this is done for tablet and phone users but does not give the simple option for desktop users.

Flickr

Before Facebook. Before Instagram. Before Twitter. There was Flickr a photo sharing site. It was social and simple. The community were skilled and it never catered to kids or celebs but was for the amateur photographer. The best part was seeing the exif info this way you knew how to setup similar shots. The worse part was the 200 photo limit for free accounts.

Well now they raised their limit to 1 terabyte for free or about 50,000 10 mp pictures. if you upload 0.5 mp photos that is over 1.5 million pictures. Sure now cameras are 20 mp or more but it silly to upload those since staling is common on the internet and a lower mp upload is always recommended.

Great photo showing the issue.

The problem is the new forma. It is made for tablets and young people who do not read and just like photos. I want details. I want to read captions and exif detail. There is an EDIT button that will take you to http://www.flickr.com/photos/<INSERT YOUR ID>/?details=1. The ?details=1 is what I want as a default layout or at least a second choice.

I have paid for the pro account so I am a big fan of Flickr hopefully I will find a way to use this new format.