Google Maps is incredibly useful, but it's also got some fantastic aerial images of our planet. With a little effort you can grab these images and make great, high quality wallpapers or even print them. Here's how to do that! You can do it in Windows or OSX, and you'll need Firefox with the Screengrab! extension installed.

First, go to Google Maps and find the image you want. It's best if you find it manually, and once you have, click Satellite, and turn of the labels, so your map is clean. Then click Link and copy the HTML code as below.

Now, open your text editor, like Notepad, and paste in the HTML. All you have to do is change the width and height values in the code - something much bigger than your screen, like 3000 x 3000 pixels - and then save it as "filename.html" .

Now, find this saved HTML file and drag it into Firefox. You should see the map open now! To save the entire image, click the Screengrab! icon, choose save and the 'complete page/frame' option. Make sure to save the file somewhere you'll remember. I chose suck a big size as the image is saved with navigation arrows in the top right corner, and saving a larger area than you need means you can edit this out.

Now you'll have a huge high quality image, that you can trim using any image editor and set as your wallpaper.

[Via: OnSoftware DE]

I love traveling abroad and I usually take my camera with me. That means that I have thousands of photos and videos at home, but I wasn't not sure what the best way to share those pictures would be. After doing a bit of research, I came to the conclusion that creating a multimedia presentation is probably the best option, and Live Movie Maker the best tool to work with.

Live Movie Maker is part of the Microsoft Live family: a basic and functional video editor with a visually appealing interface that doesn't require any technical skills to use. Unlike other more professional video editing tools, Live Movie Maker doesn't feature a timeline or complicated menus. Its interface is divided into two main areas (a built-in player to preview your video, and a library to drag and drop images and videos) and has adopted the characteristic ribbon interface from the latest Microsoft apps, with separate tabs for the program's main areas: Home, Animations, Visual effects, View and Edit.

Creating a video with your photos in Live Movie Maker couldn't be easier: after launching the program, double click the library pane or drag and dr0p media files onto it, and they'll be automatically added to the movie. Click the 'Add music' button if you want to have some nice background music, which you can later on adjust to the video length with the 'Fit to music' option. Other tools you can find in this Home tab let you insert titles, add credits at the end of the movie and insert text captions for each photo. A special feature that is also worth noting is 'AutoMovie': it creates the complete movie automatically for you, with title, credits and crossfade transitions.

Windows: If you ever want to do something creative with your photos, try collages! With Shape Collage you can create original compositions with your photos, in any shape you want. The program has been updated to version 2.5, which features a dozen new languages, more shapes and a much faster algorithm to create collages with thousands of photos in the blink of an eye.

Mac: Imagine if you could send audio not by wires, but by WiFi. That's exactly what Airfoil does (now updated to version 3.3.2) allowing you to send any audio from your computer via wireless signal to any other machine whether it be PC or Mac. It's incredibly flexible supporting Apple TV and Airport Express and just about any audio application that you want it to work with.

iPhone: Quite why you'd want to experience the joys of working in a supermarket during your free time I don't know. Nevertheless, Supermarket Mania Lite has proved a popular iPhone game in the App Store. You play the role of eager shop worker Nikki, who must keep the customers of five stores happy by stacking the shelves and making sure the shop is clean and tidy.

iPhone: If you’re a fan of console soccer games and have been waiting for a decent one to come to iPhone then get straight to the App Store because X2 Football 2009 is here. This excellent football game looks and plays a lot like Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA. It contains loads of international teams, all with real players, and a control system that is as intuitive as a console.

Windows: When you enlarge a photo you usually end up with a garbled mess of pixels. If you want to avoid that, use SmillaEnlarger, a free small app that can make your pictures larger while keeping quality loss at a minimum. Simply load up the selected photo and tweak the size algorithm options to obtain the perfect result!

Mac: If you haven't installed Flip4Mac WMV on your Mac yet then how on earth have you survived without it? Flip4Mac WMV is an essential collection of QuickTime components that allow you to play, import, and export Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac using your favorite QuickTime-based applications.

iPhone: If you enjoyed playing the board game Connect Four as a kid then make sure you install Touch4 on your iPhone. The game is a fun simulation of the original which will keep you amused for hours. The best thing about Touch4 is that it allows you to play against other people either locally, or across the globe via the Internet.

Mac: As the number of RSS feeds continues to escalate, there is a greater need for some way to maintain control over the reams of relevant articles without becoming consumed by the management process. Good looking, intuitive, customizable and light-weight, BlogBridge, is a complete cross-platform newsreader package. BlogBridge aims to keeps you informed about the state of your subscriptions in a simple way.

Windows: Do you need to take screenshots on a regular basis? FastStone Capture can make this task easier and quicker for you. This full featured image capturing tool lets you take snapshots of your screen in a variety of ways and then apply diverse filters and effects to them. It supports all popular formats and is really to use.

Summer is traditionally the time of the year when most people go on holiday, traveling around the world and taking photos of everything they see. With high-end digital cameras becoming increasingly more affordable, you have no excuse not to take a snapshot of all the beautiful places you visit this summer. But if your budget is still too low, you can always use the built-in camera on your phone - even if it's not very good - and then process the images with Mobile Photo Enhancer.

This simple application lets you easily improve the quality of the pictures you take with your mobile phone by reducing noise, applying some sharpening and enhancing color. Of course, we're talking about small improvements here: Mobile Photo Enhancer won't turn your mobile photo into an impressive Pulitzer deserving shot, but at least you'll be able to make it look better than the original picture.

Mobile Photo Enhancer includes two different executable files: one to work with one single photo and another one to process multiple images simultaneously. Unless all of your photos are quite similar and you're sure they all require the same adjustments, I'd advise to use the single-photo version, because you may have to try a few times with different adjustments before obtaining a satisfying result.

I didn't expect to like Bing, but I have to admit it's a pretty cool search engine. I'm still using Google by default - it's hard to break the habit - but it's nice to have Bing around too. The first thing anyone notices about Microsoft's new wannabe is the great background images.

With the free Bing Downloader, you can quickly grab every day's Bing backgrounds just by opening it. It doesn't need an installation, just double click the EXE file to go. Download it free here. Once you have, wherever you keep the EXE file, create a folder in the same place called "BingImages". All the images will then be automatically saved there.

It only takes a moment to open it, and doing so daily, you'll soon have a ton of great looking wallpaper images! There are three every day - did you know there are three different local versions of Bing? I had no idea, but US, Japan and the rest of the world (International) each get different backgrounds.

Don't have any exciting plans for the weekend? Don't worry! Even if you're going to spend most of your spare time sitting in front the computer at home, there's still plenty of fun things to do. If you don't believe me, get a few photos from your friends, download Cartoonist and be ready for a good laugh.

This simple tool enables you to apply hilarious warping effects to your pictures in just a few mouse gestures. The best thing about Cartoonist is that it doesn't require any technical or artistic skills at all! Just select the appropriate warp radius size, click on the photo area you want to modify and you'll see the results in real time.

You can undo any change you make (only the last five actions though) and also revert to the original image at any time. When done, you can save the image in several formats (JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF). Don't forget to send a copy by email to the friend you just warped!

Mac: If you're constantly making the same old file transfers, it's really annoying having to browse to the right folders all the time. Dropzone does the hard work for you by allowing you to setup handy shortcuts for all your main transfer needs. All you need to do is setup a shortcut folder to which you can drag and drop files and you're done!

iPhone: If you're a fan of the Resident Evil games then make sure you check out Resident Evil: Degeneration Lite. This iPhone version of the popular zombie slasher is a completely adventure where you must save the World from a mutant attack. The back story is that a lone zombie is released into an airport when a plane mysteriously crashes into the terminal. Soon, everyone's becoming infected - and it's your job to blow them to pieces.

Windows: Would you like to apply a nice sketch effect to any image, but you have no clue about how to use Photoshop? Then this is the app you need. FotoSketcher Portable is a standalone tool that doesn't require installation and turns your photos into beautiful pencil sketches in just a couple of clicks. No artistic skills needed!

Say you're going on holiday to a big metropolitan area like New York, or a wilder region like the US National Parks. Whatever your destination, you're probably going to take dozens of photos. But what if you want your pictures to stand out from the rest? An easy way to obtain really eye-catching images is the so called HDR method, which lets you create bright, colorful photos by combining several shots of the same place with different exposure values. It may sound complicated but it's easier than it seems. Some cameras have a built-in HDR functionality that lets you take three photos in one shot at different exposure values. Plus, Photoshop already includes a built-in tool to create HDR images in a few steps. Want to see how?

1. Open Photoshop and go to File > Automate > Merge to HDR. Select the images you want to use. They should all be identical images of the same place, so it's recommended that you use a tripod to take them.  You'll need at least three images to create an HDR composition, though the more you use, the better the results will be.

2. Photoshop will automatically blend them into an unique image and display the result. You can use the slider to adjust the final image, but be careful because the slightest movement can dramatically alter the HDR image.

3.  Click OK and Photoshop will open the resulting image as an independent file. Now it's a good time to save the file as a PSD. After that, go to Image > Mode and change it to 16 bits. You'll see an HDR Conversion window, where you can adjust Exposure and Gamma. The trick here is adjusting Gamma first, according to the amount of contrast you want to have on your image, and then adjust Exposure accordingly.

Aurora is definitely one of the best photo optimization and sharing apps I've tried and the great news is, the developers are currently offering a 24 hour free offer. Normally the app would set you back $20. All you have to do is click on the "Buy Now" links for either Mac or Windows and enter the promotional code "FREE24" when checking-out your copy. The offer is valid until 9:15 a.m. EST. Don't be put-off by the Paypal or Verfied by Visa logos either - the download link and validation code will be sent to your e-mail address. [Er... it looks like we published this post at the exact moment that the offer ended. D'oh! - Tom]

The special offer is Lightcraft's way of celebrating their newly upgraded Mac version which I've been very impressed with. The app packs a lot of powerful optimization tools into an interface that's elegant and easy to use. Aurora is all about retouching, organizing and sharing photos. It's mainly designed to bring the best out of light or color imbalanced photos via an easy to use GUI.

The photo editor features a pop-up image selector that lets you preview and tinker with your photo until the desired results are achieved. Amongst the tasks you can perform are re-touch, straighten, adjust color strength, crispness and warmth, crop, zoom and adjust red-eye. The most useful feature is probably the relight tool which seems to magically add new life to photos and bring out colors and details that weren't as clearly visible before.

All the folders containing photos on your computer are listed down the left hand side of the main grid. Selecting any one of them will reveal the photos contained in them on the photo grid. I found that the photos took a while to load into the grid compared to iPhoto or Picasa but it's no big problem bearing in mind this is not a photo editing rather than a photo viewing app.

Mosaics are one of the most visually appealing photo effects you can create, but they also require a lot of work: thinking about the right design, gathering all the necessary pictures, laying them out so that colors and lights match... these are all tasks you obviously need help with. Luckily there are a bunch of software tools out there that can help you create a mosaic with your photos in almost no time. They hardly require any user intervention, and some of them even include a collection of ready-made images, in case you don't have enough for your own mosaic! Let's take a look at three popular examples of photo mosaic software: Mazaika, Andreamosaic and Foto-Mosaik.

Mazaika is a shareware app that enables you to create photo mosaics in a snap. It lets you use any sort of images, from 32x32 icon files to large photos from your digital camera. In case your personal collection isn't big enough, you can download special mosaic-ready image collections from the developer's website. Also, Mazaika is the only mosaic application that lets you adjust each tile individually, once the mosaic is finished - which may come handy to tweak the final result or place a specific image in a specific location as your personal signature. Mazaika has a 30-day trial version you can download here.

Andreamosaic is a freeware tool with which you can create mosaics in a very easy way. The program itself features a rather dull interface - a gray window with all the options you can select for your mosaic - but the results can be pretty impressive. Of course, you need to have an extensive collection of photos to obtain a better looking mosaic. Andreamosaic features a pre-loaded collection of 500 images just in case. The program is thoroughly documented, so it won't take you long to get the hang of it. You can download it from here.

  Windows: Lightscreen portable is a small, efficient and highly configurable screenshot tool. It can be installed and run from a pen drive if you want, and all of its functions can be mapped to hot key commands of your choice. It may not have an image editor, but it's still a fantastic tool for taking screenshots.

Mac: Managing multiple cameras on your Mac can be a headache with generic disk images littered across your desktop to represent each device. Cameras removes this problem by providing a way of managing different camera devices connected at any one time and most importantly, allowing you to configure which applications to launch for which cameras.

iPhone: Getting bored of your iPhone wallpaper? Then get a load of them with this collection of Backgrounds. There are hundreds to choose from and all of them are neatly organized into categories so you can quickly pick one that suits your mood.  Simply browse to an image that you like, click ‘Save’ and it will be automatically downloaded to your photo library.

Fed up of waiting for the Windows Mobile Marketplace to open its doors? Then use this time to check out the best of the existing apps for Pocket PC and Smartphone devices. Microsoft's new mobile app store will launch with 600 applications but we shouldn't forget that there's already a ton available to download now that will power up your mobile experience. Here are 20 that I strongly recommend you to take a look at.

fring -Ultra-handy way to chat over IM or Skype while you're sat on the bus

Nimbuzz - Another stellar instant messaging and VoIP app for Windows Mobile

Spb Mobile Shell - treat yourself to a much cooler and more powerful front-enda

Opera Mobile - Quite simply, the best way to browse the Web on a mobile phone

Google Maps - Who needs an expensive sat-nav system when you've got good old Google?

Kaspersky Mobile Security - Probably the most complete security tool for Windows Mobile

TCMP - Media player with enough guts to handle a massive range of formats

Skype for Pocket PC - Save yourself a heck of a lot of money on phone calls

vTap - Turn on the tap to a deluge of online videos

Facebook for Windows Mobile - Never lose touch with your friends. Ever

Capturing whatever is on your screen at a given moment can be as easy as pressing the PrtScr key. But what if you want to take a snapshot of only a certain area of a website, and then add some annotations to it? Then your only option would probably be searching for a software tool that meets your requirements... or simply using Talon, one of the latest tools released by the powerful online image suite Aviary.

Talon can be used in three different ways. The first and most obvious method is heading to the Talon website straight away and enter the URL of the website you want to capture. You can choose the screen resolution, image quality and captured region - meaning you can take a screenshot of the whole website, and not just the portion that's actually visible in the browser's window.

The second way to use Talon requires installing Talon's special plug-in for Firefox. This plug-in adds a new button to the top toolbar that enables you to take a snapshot of the website you're currently visiting. You can choose to capture a specific region on the web page, capture the visible portion in your browser or take a screenshot of the whole website from top to bottom.