focus

There are tons of photo-editing apps in the iTunes App Store, but a recent update to an old favorite might be one of the best yet. It's called Photogene 2 and it offers so many tools that it's almost like it does the job of multiple apps.

Photogene 2 (99 cents until November 17) is the successor of a favorite photo-editing app of ours on iOS, and this completely rebuilt version is definitely worth checking out. To start off, a redesigned interface offers intuitive controls for exploring Photogene2's many editing options.… Read more

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by AT&T's Samsung Focus Flash.

The specs looked more than reasonable for a smartphone that costs a quarter of the price of most high-end smartphones out there. More than that, the features all came together to achieve a solid Windows Phone at a stellar value. While the Samsung Focus S may be a better choice for those interested in more onboard memory (16GB versus 8GB) and a potentially higher-end camera (8 mexapixels versus 5), this model has its own shot at mass appeal.… Read more

AT&T's newest Windows Phone Mango devices go on sale this Sunday, and the Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash are looking to be nice improvements over its predecessor.

Building on last year's Samsung Focus, the Samsung Focus S and Samsung Focus Flash feature a faster 1.4GHz processor, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and support for AT&T's HSPA+ network.

Of the two, the $199.99 Focus S is the higher-end handset, offering a larger and sharper 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, an 8-megapixel camera, and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. Meanwhile, the Focus … Read more

Microsoft's Word and its clones dominate the word-processing scene, but some alternatives are worth a look, especially when they take a different approach. Take FocusWriter, for instance. It encourages focus and productivity with a full-screen view and a pared-down interface and features such as autosave, goal-tracking, formatting, spell checker, and find-and-replace. FocusWriter Portable is a fully portable version of this versatile freeware. You can save it on a USB drive and run it on any compatible Windows PC.

FocusWriter opened with a plain gray screen displaying our cursor. Hovering over the top edge produced a menu bar, while at … Read more

Ford today started taking orders for the 2012 Focus Electric, a battery-electric sedan with a retail price just under $40,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit and state incentives.

With the launch of Ford's first full-production, all-electric passenger car, the Focus Electric will join plug-in electric cars Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, which debuted earlier this year. People can preorder online the Focus Electric, which has a base price of $39,995 including destination fees or will be available through a lease of $713 a month for five years.

For comparison, Nissan's Leaf has a price … Read more

America's first "4G" Windows phone is right around the corner. AT&T recently announced pricing and availability for the Samsung Focus S, which will run on AT&T's HSPA+ network (not AT&T's 4G LTE).

Starting November 6, you'll be able to pick up the higher-end Focus S for $199.99, along with the budget and Samsung Focus Flash for just $49.99. Both require a new two-year contract and a minimum $15-per-month data plan. … Read more

At the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas, seeing 100 different custom incarnations of big, powerful Ford Mustangs is par for the course. This year, however, Ford is thinking small.

This year, Ford is choosing to focus on the B- and C-segment 2011 Fiesta and 2012 Focus and will be filling its booth with custom examples of each. We got a sneak peek at 10 renderings of these tiny customs and are happy to see that they run the gamut. From high-performance examples by Roush, Steeda, and Cobb Tuning to styling exercises by the ID Agency, M2-Motoring, and 3dCarbon, if … Read more

The 2012 Ford Focus Electric, 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, 2012 Mitsubishi i, 2012 Toyota Prius v, and 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI are all finalists for 2012 Green Car of the Year, Green Car Journal announced today in a press release.

The winner will be announced during a press conference at a Los Angeles Auto Show press day on November 17. This marks the seventh consecutive year the award has been given out.

Green Car Journal editors considered dozens of models that were designed to reduce their environmental impact and be more energy-efficient. According to the press release, the cars … Read more

So far the Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash have remained shy, but now they've gotten over a little of their stage fright.

Microsoft offered a good, clear view of the two Windows Phone 7.5 Mango smartphones at D Asia today. There's no pricing or availability yet, but we did want to pass along Microsoft's photos from the show. Enjoy!