class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/jdownloader.png" alt="mass file downloader" />We’ve published href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/download-manager/">lots of articles about download managers here at MakeUseOf. FlashGet, Free Download Manager, and Download Accelerator plus are some of the favorites among Windows users. DownThemAll is usually the pick when we’re going for a mass downloader compatible with our favorite browser. One that we’ve yet to feature is href="http://jdownloader.com/">JDownloader. Some would say that it’s for the more advanced user, but it’s quickly becoming my favorite.

To help you guys fall in love with this little tool, I’m here to show you how to use JDownloader, in conjunction with a free and simple web tool, to mass download images or other files from open directories and websites.

In this example, I’ll be using an open directory that I found over at href="http://www.reddit.com/r/opendirectories/">/r/opendirectories on Reddit. That’s a great little spot to find downloadable content in ridiculous amounts. From there, I’ve managed to find an open directory full of sound effects. Let’s check out one href="http://silenteternity.org.nyud.net/Sound_Effects/BBC%20Sound%20Effects%20Library,%20The/ Animals%20&%20Birds">with sound effects for animals and birds (this link may be dead before you’re able to get to it, so a screenshot is below).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/opendirectory.png" alt="mass file downloader" />

We’re hoarders and we want it all. The next step is to go to href="http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/link-extractor.shtml">Webmaster Toolkit’s Link Extractor. This unique little tool will extract the links and images of any website you push through. Let’s copy and paste the open directory’s URL here. Since they’re links, we are extracting HREFs, not IMGs. IMGs would be used for extracting images. Those results should show up as displayed below.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/linkextractor.png" alt="mass file downloader program" />

Copy all of the results, excluding the last one. The last one is the parent directory link, which is basically one folder up in the directory. For anyone downloading from many open directories, you’ll always want to exclude the last result. Even if you include it though, you’ll just be downloading a single HTML webpage, so it’s not a big deal. Make sure the results are copied to your clipboard.

Your next step is to href="http://jdownloader.com/downloads/JDownloader.exe">download JDownloader and get it running.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/jdownloader_main.png" alt="mass file downloader program" />

Now let’s select where you’ll be saving the files to. Click on the Settings tab and you should see the following.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/jdownloader_settings.png" alt="mass file downloader program" />

After you’ve selected your directory, click the Linkgrabber tab. The Linkgrabber is basically JDownloader’s built-in system for checking the validity of links. That way, you won’t be attempting to download 404 pages or files that do not exist. It’s a good middleman between you and getting the files you want. Near the bottom left of this window, click Add URL(s). You should then see the following.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/jdownloader_list.png" alt="mass file downloader free" />

JDownloader has attempted to pull the list of URLs we copied from your clipboard, but for some reason the application seems to handle URLs with spaces incorrectly. Links should not include spaces, anyway.

Let’s bring up Notepad now. Paste your list of URLs. From the Edit menu, click Replace…. In the Find what: field, you want to put in a space. In the Replace with field, you want to enter “%20″ (without quotes). %20 is the hexidecimal value for a space. Then click Replace All. It should then replace all spaces with the hexidecimal value, and you’ll see an awful lot of them in your list. Don’t worry, that means it worked (you do not need to include this step in the process for websites without spaces in links, which is the case 99% of the time).

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/notepadurls.png" alt="mass file downloader free" />

Now we want to copy that list of URLs. Delete the single line in the JDownloader list and paste our new list. JDownloader then proceeds to check every file in the list and gives you a total download size.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/linklist.png" alt="mass file downloader free" />

Now, click the play button at the top to start your downloads. You’ll be automatically switched to the Downloads tab and you’ll be able to monitor your download progress. Your files are now downloading!

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/linkdownloads.png" alt="mass file downloader" />

Remember, using the link extractor you can extract HREFs or IMGs. If you have a particular page, forum thread, or other website filled with images you want to save, you can use this exact same process.

If you need any help or have any other questions regarding this little method, feel free to drop a line in the comments. JDownloader is for more advanced users (in my opinion) and further unassisted configuration can get a little tricky. I’m here to help.

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FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails.jpg" alt="preview image thumbnail"/>Browsing image search engines has been the major source of inspiration to me. It is amazing how much creative work is stored and searched online.

This post will hopefully make your web image searching and browsing even more fun: the three addons listed will let you easily zoom the image thumbnails in to quicker choose one from search results.

Let’s see how we can quickly preview thumbnails in search results, download any image in its original size and preview your contacts’ Facebook photos right from your dashboard:

Thumbnail Zoom

href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/thumbnail-zoom/">Thumbnail Zoom is a fun addon that lets href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/preview/">preview thumbnail pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Google Picasa, DeviantART, PhotoBucket, Flickr, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, YouTube, Google Images and a few other popular services Any supported site can be enabled or disabled using the toolbar menu and the addon settings dialog.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails-04.jpg" alt="preview image thumbnail" width="550" height="333" />

The addon also adds an extra context right-click menu item that allows to download the enlarged image without ever opening it.

The options panel lets you disable any of the supported services as well as set the delay before displaying the image and its opacity:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails-05.jpg" alt="firefox preview images" width="550" height="488" />

Cool Previews

href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/coolpreviews/">CoolPreviews is the multi-feature FireFox addon that lets you preview any linked content including images. The image preview panel enables you to:

• Zoom the image in or out;
• Open the linked image in the separate tab;
• Email the current link;
• Play all the images on the page in the slideshow (works especially well for popular image search services like Flickr, Google Images, etc)

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails-01.jpg" alt="firefox preview images" width="550" height="435" />

You can also turn previews on/off on specific sites anytime by clicking the icon on the status bar (or for those who have no status bar in FireFox 4, the same settings can be accessed in Tools -> Addons). CoolPreviews will memorize your settings.

The “Settings” dialog lets you customize your image previewing experience in many ways:

• Set when you want the preview panel to appear: on mouse-over, on clicking the CoolPreviews icon, on mouse-over + CTRL key;
• Set the location of the preview panel (relative to the cursor or the link);
• Control the speed (how fast you want the preview panel to appear)
• Set the theme (dark or ice);

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails-02.jpg" alt="firefox preview images" width="400" height="459" />

Additional fun features:

• Temporarily bookmark images to the right column with “stacks” feature;
• Scroll Google Image search results on an “infinite 3D Wall” (Cooliris addon required).
• Preview multiple thumbnails simultaneously without (mouse over subsequent images on a page while the preview window is open or pinned).

Obviously, there’s no point in using the above two addons simultaneously, so you should pick one.

Facebook PhotoZoom

href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-photozoom/">Facebook PhotoZoom only works for Facebook, but I am sure most of the readers frequent the site, so they’ll find the addon very useful. The tool works as a magnifier for Facebook thumbnails (both profile pictures and album photos): when you hover over a thumbnail, a tooltip will appear with the bigger image in it.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preview-thumbnails-03.jpg" alt="preview image thumbnail" width="309" height="377" />

They have a few reported issues (some people experience problems making it work on Windows), but I’ve had no such issues.

Do you have any more tips for better thumbnail preview in href="www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox/">FireFox? Are you aware of any similar tools for other browsers? />
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More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/browsing/" title="browsing" rel="tag">browsing, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/browsing-tools/" title="browsing tools" rel="tag">browsing tools, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox/" title="firefox" rel="tag">firefox, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox-addons/" title="firefox addons" rel="tag">firefox addons, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox-tips/" title="firefox tips" rel="tag">firefox tips, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/image/" title="image" rel="tag">image, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/image-viewer/" title="image viewer" rel="tag">image viewer, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/images/" title="images" rel="tag">images, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mozilla/" title="Mozilla" rel="tag">Mozilla, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/preview/" title="preview" rel="tag">preview, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/thumbnails/" title="thumbnails" rel="tag">thumbnails />

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FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.

View full post on FileHippo.com

FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/intro.jpg" alt="image mounting software" width="180" height="180" />The ability to use a virtual drive to mount optical media from a file will undoubtedly save you time and effort, but if you’re a Windows user then your operating system can’t do it without a helping hand.

For years DAEMON Tools has been regarded by many as ahead of its class in this field, but it is not without its rivals. If you’re searching for a decent alternative then we’ve got 3 hot tips right here.

If you’re using Linux then you can href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/extract-iso-files-linux/">get better instructions here, these apps are Windows-only.

id="more-66978">

Do I Need A Virtual Drive?

You only really need a virtual drive if you want to mount image files. Image files are digital copies of optical media, such as CDs, DVDs and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-blurays-replacement-dvd/">Blu-Ray discs. It is possible to rip the entire contents of a CD (or other optical media), and then mount it with image mounting software.

The software (in this case DAEMON Tools) installs a virtual optical drive on your PC, which functions exactly the same as a normal drive – only instead of physical media, you feed it image files. You can then access the image file as if you had put a disc into your computer. If you download software or applications and want to avoid burning the downloaded file to a CD, then you can simply mount your chosen software in the virtual drive.

You could even href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ripping/">rip often used media so it’s that little bit easier to access. Using virtual drives in this way can vastly speed up your workflow, especially with multiple-disc installs.

href="http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite">DAEMON Tools Lite

There exists a free version of the commercial DAEMON Tools product line, DAEMON Tools Lite. This is the best alternative to the paid versions, with a few restrictions imposed over the pro edition. The interface is familiar and easy to use, and there’s plenty of power beneath the hood.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/daemon.jpg" alt="image mounting software" width="347" height="252" />

Not only will it mount a wide variety of familiar and obscure file types (.MDX, .MDS/.MDF, .ISO, .B5T, .B6T, .BWT, .CCD, .CDI, .CUE, .NRG, .PDI, .ISZ) but you can also have up to 4 simultaneous virtual drives (which should suffice for personal use).

DAEMON Tools Lite also includes the ability to make disc image files from your own optical media. As this is the free version, you can only rip to .MDS/*.MDF and .MDX.

Alternatives

Maybe you’ve tried DAEMON Tools, decided it’s not for you and fancy something else. You may also be one of the unlucky few who experience problems with the program, and need something a bit different.

Here are 3 good alternatives to DAEMON Tools that won’t cost you a penny.

href="http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/">WinCDEmu

The first on the list is the completely free and open source WinCDEmu. As there are no commercial versions of the software, the free version packs everything the developers could come up with into one cost-effective package.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/cdemu.jpg" alt="image mounting programs" width="526" height="354" />

Mountable images are limited to: .ISO, .CUE, .NRG, .MDS/.MDF, .CCD and .IMG. This isn’t quite as many as DAEMON Tools, but the major formats are fully supported. WinCDEmu completely integrates with Windows Explorer, allowing you to simply double-click a supported image file for it to be immediately mounted. You can then unmount the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/disk-image/">disc image using the right-click context menu from My Computer.

WinCDEmu should suffice for most common disk image tasks. What’s more its free and open source to boot.

href="http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition">Alcohol 52%

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/alc2.png" alt="image mounting programs" width="491" height="432" />

Brought to you by Alcohol Software, Alcohol 52% is the smaller, non-commercial edition of the popular Alcohol 120% image tool. It supports the mounting of common image file formats and a maximum of 6 virtual drives in this free edition.

Alcohol does not integrate with Explorer quite in the same way as WinCDEmu, instead you must add your image files to Alcohol first and then double-click to mount them.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/alc1.png" alt="image mounting programs" width="528" height="191" />

This version is free for non-commercial and personal use only, otherwise you’ll need a licence. Don’t forget to uncheck that pesky Alcohol Soft Toolbar that’s bundled along!

Note: if you’ve been using Alcohol 120% and want to downgrade to this free version be sure to remove your old version first.

href="http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html">Virtual CloneDrive

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/virtualclonedrive.png" alt="image mounting" width="359" height="293" />

We’ve href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-simple-free-virtual-drive-tools-to-mount-disks-iso-images/">mentioned it before, and for good reason. Virtual CloneDrive is a freeware image mounting tool with the usual support for common formats (including .ISO, .BIN and .CCD) and a whopping 8 virtual drives. You may get a Windows driver warning whilst installing, but soldier on and click Continue Anyway to proceed with the installation.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/drivererror.png" alt="image mounting software" width="402" height="325" />

Once installed you can associate your image files with the program so that in future all it takes is a double-click to mount. Virtual CloneDrive is simple, cost-free and effective.

Conclusion

We’ve already covered a lot of optical media tools, but it’s always nice to have a selection. All of these programs should work on machines running the Windows XP, 2000, Vista and 7 operating systems. let us know if they work out better than DAEMON Tools for you.

Do you have any preferred image mounting software? Have your say in the comments.

Image credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-64299655/stock-photo-cd-isolated-on-white.html?src=d29eded5d29324e78fafd5d7eb7f6ad1-1-3">Shutterstock />
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FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.

View full post on FileHippo.com

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images.jpg" alt="google image search"/> href="http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi">Google Images search has two huge advantages over other image search engines: it operates the largest database on the web and it is getting smarter by the day. Apart from serving as a great source of content for your website, Google Images can be a powerful tool to find inspiration and spur creativity.

This post is about making you even more inspired with Google Image search results: it shares some really creative Google Images href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/visualizing/">visualization projects that can both entertain and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/inspire-write-750-words-day/">inspire.

id="more-62343">

1. Google Image Inspiration: Dreamlines

href="http://www.solaas.com.ar/dreamlines/">Dreamlines is an interesting project that deserves more recognition that it seems to be getting.

Just enter a couple of words that describe the topic you need inspiration for and wait for the tool “to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association“.

The tool uses Google Images Search to retrieve the images but in fact you’ll never see an actual image. What you will see is a dream:

The program generates a personal moving picture, unique, unpredictable, and forever gone when it is finished, just like dreams. But that dream is made out of pieces taken form the subconscious of the whole net, gathered by some words of the user and the obscure logic of searching algorithms.

It is both well-said and well-performed. I wish it could be turned into a video clip or screen saver because it looks too beautiful: try it yourself and see! And it does inspire a creative eye by letting you forget about everything and dive into the new abstract world of Dreamlines:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-01.jpg" alt="google image search" width="550" height="342" />

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-02.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="337" />

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-03.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="357" />

I was very much tempted to make hundreds of screenshots.

2. Google Image Art: Montage-a-Google

href="http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/default.htm">Montage-a-Google is a more straightforward project than the above one: it lets you create large, colorful montages using Google’s image search.

According to the creator, it allows for both an alternative, fun way to browse the Web and to create desktop wallpaper or even posters on the topic that inspires you.

Here’s my winter montage, for example:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-04.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="328" />

And here are some posters created by the users:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-07.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="343" />

3. Google Image Games: Guess-the-Google

href="http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/">Guess-the-Google is another project by the same developer as the Montage-a-Google project we have just covered. It offers a fun and somewhat addictive game to get your brain working.

The tool shows you a collection of images and you should quickly guess the search term that triggered the collection:

It turns the mental activity of searching into a fun, visual and engaging game where people can enjoy the challenge of being the fastest and most efficient at making that connection between search terms and their results.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-05.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="363" />

4. Google Image Designs: Google House

href="http://www.incident.net/works/googlehouse/">Google House is an interesting concept offering you a chance to build a house using Google Images. It builds unpredictable, dynamic image collages using your house-related search queries.

I am not sure about the practical application of this one but it certainly offers a fun and addictive experience.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-06.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="324" />

5. Honorable Mention: Google Swirl

A post about Google Images Search visualizations would be incomplete without including the official Google Labs project: href="http://image-swirl.googlelabs.com/">Google Image Swirl (here’s MUO review of this href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/google-cool-image-search/">cool image search from Google Labs) – it is more search-related than any of the projects listed above but it does spur creativity by creating and visualizing the structure of results based on their visual and semantic similarities.

Think of this as a huge family tree for images on the Internet: by clicking on images, more subsequent circles and related images are created.

For example, in ambiguous queries such as “machine”, Image Swirl separates the top search results into categories such as “automation”, “computers”, “robotics”, etc.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-08.jpg" alt="google image search" width="550" height="429" />

Are you aware of any interesting Google Image Search visualization projects? Please share them in the comments! />
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style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/pinta-icon.png" alt="free image editing software"/> href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/gimp/">GIMP lovers may disagree, but the world’s needed a GTK photo editor with an easy-to-understand interface for a while. Featuring layers, various effects and good old fashioned editing functions, Pinta is the photo editor missing on Linux systems, as well as Windows and OS X. Think Paint.net, but cross-platform.

But even if you don’t use Linux, you just might find Pinta to be your new favorite free image editor. It’s fast, functional and gets the job done. If you’ve used Paint.net, or even Photoshop before, you’ll probably not have any trouble finding anything. But if you haven’t, consider Pinta a fantastic introduction to what photo editing software can do that’s not too cofusing to use.

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Toolkit

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Fire up Pinta for the first time and the interface will largely look familar. It’s not that different, at first glace, from Microsoft Paint: toolkit on the left, layers and history on the right, image in the center.

The toolkit should be familar to you, even if the only photo editing tool you’ve ever used is Microsoft Paint. If not, don’t worry: hovering over a given tool will cause a helpful popup to appear:

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The menu is also worth browsing; you’ll find many useful things there. Rotating the image, viewing options, and various effects all await you.

You can also adjust the curves and colors, which is very useful should you need to correct a photo in this regard:

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I could go on, but it’s best to just fire up the program and explore yourself. I highly recommend playing with the various effects to get an idea of what’s possible. Whether you want to make your photo look like an oil painting or just remove red eye from a family portrait, there’s lots to explore there.

Layers

If you’ve ever really gotten into photo editing, you know that layers are essential. Whether you’re trying to add elements to photos or simply stylize, the concept of layers become crucial very quickly. Pinta supports this, putting it above the simplest image editing software.

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Even with this seeming complexity, however, Pinta is a piece of software the average computer user should have no trouble at all using. Even the way layers is done is very easy to understand and use, if you experiment with it.

History

Another indispensable tool for image editing is your history. This allows you to see all the changes you’ve made while editing your image, and to roll them back at will.

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This is self-explanatory, but very important if you like to experiment a great deal with your images. Note, however, that the current release of Pinta stores you entire history in the RAM, meaning this program will take up a lot of memory very quickly.

Installing Pinta

Want to get started? Head over the href="http://pinta-project.com/">Pinta’s official web site. You’ll find installation files for Ubuntu, Mac and Windows, which is the best way to get started.

The currrent incarnation of Pinta is only the beginning, so if you’re not quite happy with what you see here be sure to check back again in a couple of months. Dynamic projects like this can be a lot of fun to watch, and really represent the power of open source at its best!

Oh, and if you’re a Linux user not quite dedicated to the idea of installation, I highly recommend you download the program over at href="http://portablelinuxapps.org/">PortableLinuxApps.org. It’s the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/portable-linux-apps-work-linux-distro/">place to find Linux downloads the work on every distro, and it couldn’t be easier to use.

So, what do you think of Pinta? Please share in the comments below. Also feel free to represent other free image editing programs, because I and our readers always love to learn about new software! />
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If you’ve used Google Image Search recently you will probably have noticed that it looks a bit different than before. That is because Google recently unveiled a major update to the service.

This update added many new features that make Image Search quicker and easier to use. Some of the new features are obvious, but some are a bit under-the-hood, so you may not realize that they’re there unless you go looking.

Improved Tile Interface

The first new feature you’ll notice when you use Google Image Search is that revamped tile layout that is used to display images. Previously images were displayed with their file name, image size and other information listed below each image. That information has now been moved and instead appears when you hover your mouse cursor over an image.

In addition to the tile layout, the interface has also been improved by adding an “instant scroll” feature. In the old Image Search you had to view images page by page, but now you can simply scroll through a huge number of them at a time. If you want even more images to appear you can simply click the “Show More” button. More images will load on the same page.

Better Image View Pane

One of the most annoying traits of the old image search was that clicking on an image did not take you directly to it. Instead a framed window opened with the image in thumbnail at the top and the webpage the image was on at the bottom. To open the full size image you had to click the thumbnail again.

Not anymore! Clicking on a thumbnail now loads a full size version of the photo instantly in the foreground. The webpage the photo is located on is in the background, fully visible but grayed out. If you want to view the full webpage you can simply click on the X to close the image.

Information about the image, including website name, resolution and file size is available on the right side of the browser. Also, if the image has a very high resolution it won’t be displayed at full size automatically. To display it at full size you’ll need to click the “Full-size image” link.

Better Keyboard Integration

The new features of Image Search are a mouse cursor’s best friend. The larger tile layout, with bigger thumbnails and clearer links, makes navigating with a mouse much easier than ever before.

However, the old-fashioned keyboard has not been forgotten, and Image Search now makes use of the Page Up/Page Down keys. Try it. You’ll find that moving through Image Search with your keyboard can now be every bit as accurate as using your mouse.

New Search Methods

Not all of the improvements to Image Search focus on the interface. Google also has made changes to how you can search for images, and the changes are actually quite fantastic. For example, you can now search for individual images based on color. Let’s say you want to find red bicycles. On the left side of Image Search there is a color palette. If you select red and then search for bicycles you will only receive images of red bicycles.

There are twelve colors available that you can currently search for, and you can also search exclusively for images that are full color or in black and white. Other search functions, like the ability to search only for faces, photos, clip art or line drawings, remain.

Conclusion

These new Google Image Search features are long overdue, but now that they’re here the service is quicker, easier to use, and more powerful. Image Search was beginning to look a bit out of date compared to its competitors, but not anymore. These new features work only on Chrome, Safari, Firefox 3.x, and Internet Explorer 7/8, so if you have an older web browser this is another good reason to upgrade.

Which part of the new Image Search do you like the best?

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IrfanView is a compact graphic viewer for Windows. It’s small, fast, and offers an incredible amount of features. Best of all, it’s freeware.

Per default, IrfanView comes with some basic features, including multi-language support, a large number of supported file formats, paint options, slideshow capability, batch conversion, and a lot more. The application can be enhanced further by installing a myriad of IranView plugins.

To help you get an idea what is available and make a decision which ones you really need, I’m reviewing some of the coolest IranView plugins.

IrfanView Plugins come in five different packages: a media, a formats, an effects, a misc, and a full plugin collection. In addition, there are plugins that are not yet part of any of the packages.

The packages are .zip archives and each plugin can be installed separately. The installation procedure is described in the included readme text file. The full package is also available as self-installing .exe file.

1. SLIDESHOW: Save Slideshows As An .exe or .scr file

As mentioned above, IrfanView has the capability to show slideshows of your pictures. To set up a slideshow, go to > File > Slideshow and set up your show. Per default, you can save the file names to a .txt file and re-load it to show the same slideshow again. With the slideshow plugin, you can also save your show as .exe or .scr, which will preserve all your settings.

This plugin is part of the media collection. If you would also like to burn your slideshows to a CD, get the BURNING plugin from the same plugins collection.

2. EXIF: View Exif Data From JPGs

Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif) data provide information about the camera settings used to take the respective picture. The EXIF plugin makes this information viewable for JPG images. When the plugin is installed, go to > Image > Information and click the > EXIF info* button.

This plugin is part of the misc collection.

3. FILTERS_UNLIMITED: Use Filters Unlimited plugins From PhotoShop

If you’re using PhotoShop, you can use its Filters Unlimited plugins in IrfanView with the help of this plugin. Naturally, you will need a copy of Filters Unlimited itself. The IrfanView plugin is merely an interface.

When everything was installed correctly, you can go to > Image > Effects > Filters Unlimited to start using the respective filters.

This plugin is part of the effects collection. A similar plugin is FILTER_FACTORY.

4. MPG: Extract Frames From MPEG Files

Using this plugin, you can extract a set of frames from .mpeg movies. The images will be saved as .bmp files.

This plugin is part of the formats collection.

5. FORMATS: Extend Support For Rare Image Formats

Quickly get additional file type support and view all files with these extensions in IrfanView: PSP, G3, RAS, IFF/LBM, BioRAD, Mosaic, XBM, XPM, GEM-IMG, SGI, RLE, WBMP, TTF, FITS, PIC, HDR, MAG, WAD, WAL, DNG, EEF, NEF, ORF, RAF, MRW, DCR, SRF/ARW, PEF, X3F, CAM, SFW, YUV, PVR, SIF.

This plugin is pat of the formats collection.

Some other IranView plugins from that collection should also be noted. There is QUICKTIME which obviously adds support for Quicktime files, then there is another that allows you to play MP3 files in IrfanView, and finally you can also watch Flash movies in IrfanView, if the respective plugin is installed.

6. OCR_KADMOS: Adds OCR Features

OCR_Kadmos is an optical character recognition (OCR) component for IrfanView. It will recognize and extract text from loaded images. Load an image that contains text, then go to > Options > Start OCR… (Plugin). The software window opens. Select the type of text and language, then select the text you wish to see recognized with the mouse. The recognized characters will appear in a window in the bottom left.

This plugin is not yet part of a package mentioned above. For now you have to download and install it separately.

We have previously written about IrfanView:

• IrfanView Blows Windows Viewer Out of the Water by Jimmy
• How to Take a Screenshot & Batch Process Images with IrfanView by Ryan

Which one is your favorite IrfanView plugin?

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I wrote an article about how to create an image for your website with clickable regions or hotspots using GIMP.  This kind of clickable image is called an image map.  Image maps have been around for a while but they are still widely used to give web designers flexibility.

In the comments someone asked me if this was possible to do using Paint.NET (can it be a Photoshop alternative?).  For this reason I set out to not only install and use Paint.NET for the first time, but to figure out how to do image maps using it.

Yes, I did have to leave Ubuntu for a few minutes and boot into my Windows installation (I know there’s an Ubuntu version but I wasn’t sure if everything would work the same) but it was worth the change of pace.

The conclusion I came to was that yes, it is possible but you’ll need the help of a plugin.

Download & Install The Plugin

Plugins are fairly easy to implement in Paint.NET and it basically consists of downloading the files and putting them in the correct folder.  The plugin needed in order to make an image map is called “Create Image Map” and you can download it from this link.  The page is a bit messy so check out the screenshot below to find it easily.

You’ll be downloading a zip file containing the correct files.  Once downloaded, just put them into here: C/Program Files/Paint.NET/Effects

Now just restart Paint.NET and you should have it installed. Open the image and you should be all set.

Use The Image Map Editor To Get The Right Code

Open the image map editor: Effects -> Image Application -> Create Image Map

Drag (pretending you are seeing a box) and name each hotspot.

Click OK when finished.  You will then get a pop-up with some code you will need to grab.

Edit The Code & Get It Ready For Your Site

Open Notepad or a similar text editor and paste the code.  You’ll probably end up with all of the code on one line.  The easiest way is to separate the lines the way I did in the screenshot below.

Notice that I added a line of code at the top.  This line of code specifies where the image is located on the server (you did upload it right?) and the name of the map being used over the image.

You’ll also notice that I named the map.  In order to tie the image to the map, you will need to do that.  Also replace the “#” signs with URLs of the links you want inserted.

So yes, there is another way to make an image map.  It’s also possible to do by hand without the help of an image editing program but who has the time for that?

What do you use to make image maps?

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Download and install a Virtual CD/DVD ROM program (Virtual Clone Drive). Mount the iso image with the program. The iso/cue/bin should operate as a normal CD/DVD would when you put it in the CD ROM drive. And that’s why it’s called a “Virtual CD.” You can install now. You can download Virtual Clone Drive at www.slysoft.com The benefits You do not need to burn an iso to a CD/DVD just in order for it to work. If you do want to have it for future uses, then you can burn it. Virtual CD/DVD drive programs 1. Virtual Clone Drive 2. Alcohol 120% 3. PowerIso ______________________________________ All personal downloads can be found here www.mediafire.com * I am the writer of all documented information found in this folder. Do not distribute as your own! ______________________________________ Background music Masanori Takumi – Ginme no majo * www.mediafire.com *

Macrium Reflect is a free disk imaging program with which you can create a complete backup image. freepcsecurity.co.uk

You can’t just use any image you find online on your blog, and doing so can lead to a legal mess. This is because most of the photos on the Internet are subject to copyright, meaning the photographer who took the photo has the exclusive legal right to use the image.

Some images aren’t subject to copyright, however, and there are three potential reasons for this. The first potential reason is the image is so old copyright no longer applies. The second reason is the photo was taken by a government branch, and as such belongs to the public. The third, and perhaps most common reason on the web, is that the original artist gave up his or her copyright.

There can be many reasons for giving up copyright. Some people do it for ideological reasons: believing that information should be free means standing behind that idea with your own work. Others do it as a means of self-promotion, knowing that allowing others to use their work could help build their personal brand. Others do it because they simply don’t care to make money off their work.

This does not mean that all images on the Internet are free for you to use, however. You need to be familiar with the various licenses before you can start using other people’s pictures on your website. So let’s go over the basics!

Creative Commons

The most common free license in use on the Internet is the Creative Commons set of licenses. People wanting to use this license can choose from a number of conditions, including that a given photo cannot by used commercially. As such, finding a photo licensed by Creative Commons does not necessarily mean you have the right to use the photo.

The good news is that anything licensed by Creative Commons is clearly labeled, with a link to the terms of the license for those looking to use the photo. Read more about Creative Commons licenses, and make sure you understand what it means before you use any such photos.  Also take a read of Sandra’s article on the subject.

GNU Public License

Typically a software license, the GNU Public License (GPL) is frequently used to license photographs on the web – particularly at Wikipedia. This license is long – read it here – but for the most part what it means is easy to understand: you can use and even alter this picture as you see fit, provided you release your work under the same terms and include mention of its license.

This means most GPL pictures aren’t useful for larger corporate blogs but just might work perfectly for some. As always, make sure you have a clear understanding of the license’s implications before you use a photo licensed using it.

Public Domain

Public domain is a free-for-all, meaning you can do with the photo as you will. This is true of pretty much every photo older than one hundred years old, depending on where you are in the world. It’s also true of any photo produced by the US (and other) governments. This means any picture produced by NASA, for example, can be used without any concern for copyright at all.

Royalty free photos in the public domain are clearly labeled as such, but may not be public in your country even if it is listed as such. Be sure to read up on your country’s copyright laws before making use of public domain photos.

Where To Find Files

Finding free photos on the web is something we’ve discussed here at MakeUseOf quite a bit, but it’s still worth mentioning a few of the larger sites.

My personal favorite is Wikimedia Commons. This site stores all the photos used in the various Wikimedia projects on the web, including the world-famous Wikipedia. Here you can search for free images and find many, a lot of them spectacular.

• Flickr is the largest image sharing site in the world, and is also a great place to find photos you can just for your blog. Just do a Creative Commons search under Advanced Search and you’ll have access to millions of photos licensed for you to use. Just be sure to review the terms of the license before you use them.

• OpenClipArt is a collection of pictures you can use freely, so be sure to check that out.

• Morguefile is a site with a massive amount of royalty free images you can search and crop online; Tim wrote all about it in his article Find & Quickly Crop Free Images For Your Blog with Morguefile.

• Sprixi is another service that indexes free photos. As Saikat points out in his post Sprixi: A Free Image Search Engine With Creditworthy Image Use For Blogs,  this service is very easy to use.

Don’t have enough sources yet? Check out John’s article 5 Free Websites for Copyright Free Photographs or Tina’s article Add Some Glamour With Royalty Free Images for more.

Conclusion

For generating traffic on your page nothing matches original content. Making your own images is usually worth the time. Still, it’s nice having a massive database of free images to pick from. Familiarize yourself with copyright law and you’ll quickly find there are millions of usable photos on the web.

Did I miss any good ones, you guys? Share in the comments below. I’d also like to hear about any licenses I neglected to mention, because there are hundreds out there.

P.S. Having images isn’t always enough; sometimes you need to edit them. I myself enjoy and use The Gimp, but if you’re looking for a comparison of the free options out there I recommend Tina’s article 10 Free Image Editing Programs for Your PC.

Image Credit : ŇÄĵŵÅ – Free Photographer

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Duplicate mp3 finder and duplicate image finder are two softwares, tools or programs which, as their name suggests, help you to find duplicate image files or duplicate mp3 files on your computer which block your hard disk space un-necessarily. It is suggested that you take your computer or computer network system through a scan every few days to identify such files and deal with them accordingly.

Let us find out how these duplicate mp3 files or duplicate image files are created in our computer. It will give us a basic insight into the fact that how we ourselves are responsible for creating this mess and then looking for ways to get rid of them and free our hard drive of this clutter. So often do we find ourselves downloading mp3 files from internet, copying image files from friend’s computers, grabbing mp3′s from CD you can have a several copies of the same song and so on.

If users create limited number of duplicate mp3 files or image files there is little problem. But if you have a lot of duplicate mp3′s or image files you have to realize that you are wasting space of your hard disk quite un-necessarily. And it has been generally observed that one tires quickly of listening to any file very often. And if you have several duplicates of one such mp3 file or image files you are in for a bid trouble.

If you are in such a situation already then your answer lies in buying and installing duplicate mp3 finder program, duplicate image finder program or software for cleaning your computer or entire computer system. If you don’t buy duplicate MP3 finder and duplicate image finder programs, you will have to check all your mp3 files manually and eliminate the duplicates that you find.

For manually deleting or moving the MP3 files or image files is a huge and cumbersome job. You will first need to sort out a list of your mp3s or images to decide which ones are duplicates and should be deleted. Then you need to remove every duplicate file manually. This procedure gets very boring and dull after a certain time. The way to tackle this situation and save yourself of hours of manual labor, install Duplicate MP3 Finder and Duplicate Image Finder on your computer. These are automated duplicate mp3 checker and remover programs and will make the work comparatively quite easy for you.

Duplicate MP3 finder and duplicate image finders are safe and reliable tools that help you find duplicate MP3 files and image files on your computer. It has various versions and works in several ways. Let’s discuss how this program after all works! 

To begin with the program scans computer disks / folders and searches all mp3 and image files and makes them into one big list. As it proceeds it also reads ID3 tags where artist and title info is stored. In the 2nd step the duplicate finder program compares files and builds another list only with duplicate mp3 or image files.

After you verify the duplicate mp3s and image files and confirm elimination/removal, change of folder etc, Duplicate MP3 finder and duplicate image finder programs will be follow the instruction respectively and likewise.