JPEG

Simplicity is a trait we love in software, and JPEGtoPDF delivers it in spades. This basic utility makes the process of converting images into PDFs as easy as pie. It has just the right number of features; you can customize your conversion job, but you won't spend hours digging through menus and tweaking the program's settings. It's a great choice for anyone looking for a way to convert JPEGs to PDF files without a lot of fuss.

The program's interface is plain, consisting of a single screen that contains all of the utility's features. First, … Read more

Google has improved the quality of WebP, an image format it promises will speed up the Web--if the company can just convince people to use it instead of JPEG.

WebP, unveiled last year, is a still-image variation of the company's open-source, royalty-free WebM video technology. Google's sales pitch: with its newer compression technology, Web pages will load faster and less network bandwidth is necessary compared to using JPEGs.

Now the company argues that it's improved quality of WebP images through more elaborate encoding software. It can, for example, concentrate its data on the complicated parts of … Read more

Adobe plans to update its Lightroom software and Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop next week to address a "potentially severe bug" involving JPEG files.

The problem could affect people saving JPEG images taken with cameras that store large amounts of private camera information in the file's metadata--textual information such as captions, keywords, and titles that can accompany the actual photo.

"To date we've only found one camera that generates these large blocks of private data, the HP PhotoSmart R607," said Lightroom program manager Tom Hogarty in a blog post today. He added:

This bug … Read more

There's a lot to like about how digital photography is evolving. But that doesn't mean every trend is positive. At a minimum, some technologies are taking longer to mature than some of us might wish.

Interchangeable Lens Compacts (ILCs) are a case in point. Significantly smaller than today's dSLRs, they're also referred to as micro-4/3 (after the mirrorless interchangeable lens standard used by many of these cameras) or the somewhat tongue in cheek EVIL which alludes to the Electronic Viewfinder that's an option for most models in this class.

ILCs are certainly an exciting concept. … Read more

Pixia is a free image-editing and drawing program. It's essentially the English language edition of a popular Japanese application. Like many such tools, it offers Photoshop-like capabilities such as layers, multiple undos, and plug-ins; it will even accept Photoshop's plug-ins. The difference, of course, is that Pixia is free, something Photoshop certainly is not.

Pixia's installer is so polite, it even asked to be associated with its proprietary file format. The program's interface resembles similar applications' layouts. Pixia uses pop-ups to configure items like filters and masks, and expandable Palette, Color, Pen, and Layer windows that … Read more

It turns out there was more to Google's WebM technology than just a plan to revolutionize Web-based video. The company also wants to revolutionize still images on the Web with a new format called WebP.

Google plans to announce the new WebP graphics format today along with its research that indicates its use could cut image file sizes by 40 percent compared to today's dominant JPEG file format. That translates to faster file transfers and lower network burden if Google can convince people to adopt WebP.

WebP, like JPEG, lets its users trade off image quality for file … Read more

Chances are, if you've had your computer for any amount of time, you've burned a CD or DVD and needed a cover for it. UnderCoverXP makes it easy to create covers for a variety of types of digital media. It's not a design program, exactly; it's more of a utility for scaling images to the right size and printing them so that they'll fit in whatever type of case you're using. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of making covers; UnderCoverXP gets the dimensions right every time.

The program's interface is … Read more

The first time we tried to use Foxonic Professional, we didn't understand it. But we hadn't slept well the night before, so we decided to set it aside and come back to it when we were feeling a little more focused. Our second attempt at understanding Foxonic Professional was more successful, but the fact remains that some aspects of the program just don't make any sense.

The program's interface is plain and not particularly intuitive. For the most part it just consists of a file viewer that allows users to navigate to and select the files … Read more

It's a fair question for photography enthusiasts uploading their latest shots to the Web or backing up an archive: where do you set the JPEG quality slider?

Sure, a higher setting means more quality but bigger files, but beyond that vagueness, it's a question without easy answers. Happily, at least for those using Adobe Systems' Lightroom software for photo editing and cataloging, there's an answer coming.

That's because Lightroom plug-in programmer Jeffrey Friedl is adding some quality automation tools to his image export software. Earlier this month he posted an analysis of Lightroom's JPEG photo quality … Read more