The iPhone's camera may not have the most pixels, but it can take impressive photos. Unfortunately, the native camera app is really basic, so here are some apps to help!

Take better Pictures:

Grid Cam - Composition isn't my strong point with photography, and this simple app helps a lot. It adds a grid to the screen, making it easy to think about the composition of your photograph. Grid Cam also adds a spirit level to the center of the screen so your there's no excuse for wonky pictures!

Darkroom - Blurry photos are often caused by shaky hands, and Darkroom fixes this in two ways. Firstly it increases the shutter speed, and secondly it picks a stable moment to take a photo giving you a much better chance of a crisp result. It's not perfect, but will stop you getting blurred images.

Edit your pictures:

PhotoShop Mobile - If you want to add an effect, alter the focus or color saturation of a picture, the most user friendly app is Photoshop. It really takes advantage of the touchscreen, allowing you to drag your finger left to right to increase an effect on an image, and see the results in real time. You can also crop, rotate and flip images with ease.

Mill Colour - Only edits color, but is a bit more professional than Photoshop. It has some really good color controls, giving you a lot of subtle power over your pictures. It's less user friendly, but with practice is much more flexible. It also features a great range of instant 'Looks' that you can add to an image, and I think the selection is more tasteful than Photoshop's.

Add tools:

Camera Plus - There's no digital zoom on the iPhone's camera app, and Camera Plus sorts that out. Of course, digital zoom never gives great results, but it's better than no zoom! This also adds a digital flash, which digitally alters your images as if the iPhone had a flash. It's not fantastic, but does help lighten images take in dark places!

QuadCamera - The only paid app in my list, but I love this toy. It takes four or eight pictures in quick succession, meaning you can take great pictures capturing movement. You can even turn the results into animated GIFs!  The interface is great, and the app has really good settings so you can capture images the way you want to.

Now there's no excuse not to leave your computer and get on your bike. Google has finally launched a cycle route mapping addition to Google Maps. What makes it different from other features on Google Maps? The new biking feature plots routes that have been specifically designed with cyclists in mind. So no more setting off on your cycle route only to get blocked by a vehicles only road or other obstacle.

At the moment, the service only works in the USA and it's still in beta. It's also quite limited. If you try to plot anything more than a few kilometers, it will usually tell you that the route can't be plotted and offer you walking or driving alternatives instead.

Google is encouraging users to correct them where they discover problems or blockages on routes. Much of the data currently used has been provided by the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy and while usually accurate, changes to routes can of course happen at any time.

To use it, enter your directions as normal and selecting Bicycling from the drop down menu:

You can then see the route and change different points along it if you want:

If you want to see other bicycling routes in the area, select Bicycling from the More menu and green routes display where they are.

If you're a bit of a motorhead then you'll no doubt be gearing up for the start of the Formula 1 season this weekend. I love F1, but I find it very hard to take time out over the weekend to sit in front of the TV and watch the events unfold. Luckily, there's a bunch of apps that let you follow the action on your phone while you're out and about. Here's my pick of the best F1 apps for all the various mobile platforms. All of them keep you updated with the latest news, standings and race information, and some even deliver live coverage of races.

[Image: stock.xchng]

iPhone:  Formula 1 Live Racing 2010. If you want to stay close to the action on your iPhone then this is the app for you. Formula 1 Live Racing 2010 not only delivers the latest news during the season, but you also get live commentary, lap-by-lap race positions and real-time leaderboards. The application also offers in-depth guides to each of the F1 circuits, including distances and weather information.

Palm/Windows Mobile: F1 Season 2010. Although this one doesn't offer any live commentary, F1 Season 2010 does make for a useful companion to the coming season. It offers lots of information about the drivers, cars and teams, and provides maps of all of the circuits. The app can be updated after every race so you have up-to-date stats on the current standings in the race for the Formula 1 championship.

BlackBerry: ScoreMobile. For some reason, F1 BlackBerry apps are a little thin on the ground. However, you can get coverage of races from the F1 section of the ScoreMobile application. You can view details of upcoming races, check the latest standings, and follow all the news on live blogs. One good thing about ScoreMobile is its integration with your BlackBerry calendar, allowing you to set reminders of when the Grand Prixes are on.

Android: F1Android. If you're serious about Formula 1 then this Android F1 app is for you. Besides bringing you the very latest news from a variety of sources, the program offers detailed information about all of the courses, current standings, and even an archive of Grand Prixes from years past. The Teams and Drivers section gives you the full run-down of all this season's contenders.

Symbian/Java: F1 Live Formula 1 News. The Symbian platform is another that's poorly served in terms of F1 apps. This Java-based application is probably the comprehensive you'll find. It offers Formula 1 news in six different languages, along with the latest information about teams and drivers. The app gives you a choice of news services to follow, so you can get fully informed about all the latest developments.

You could also check out the mobile sites of some of the big Formula 1 news services, such as Planet F1 or ESPN F1. Also, keep an eye on the digital store of the offical F1 site. It promises both a new mobile web site and a free F1 timing app, so it's worth keeping tabs on.

Windows: Wondering where all that hard drive space went? Find the answer with Disk Space Fan, a simple, effective hard drive analysis tool that scans your hard drive in a few minutes. Results are displayes in a nicely designed colorful chart you can browse until you find the largest files and folders, the ones which are eating up all the space disk... and act accordingly!

iPhone: Chatting on Skype, GTalk, Yahoo!, MSN, Facebook, etc. on your phone is great fun. But constantly switching between all these networks can get annoying and constantly logging in. fring is designed to change all that, providing you with a single platform, based on your mobile, where all of your online friends are available in one place. It allows you to make cheap, or even free calls over VoIP and even has videoconferencing support.

Mac: Although Macs are fairly self maintaining, a little TLC now and again won't harm it. Cocktail (now updated to version 4.7.1) can do all your essential maintenance tasks from clearing your cache to controlling sleep times. There's nothing new in Cocktail that you can't do in Terminal but Cocktail makes it so much easier through an easy to use GUI.

Do you want to get the excellent Mac web designer RapidWeaver for just €20? If so, you've got less than 48 hours now to claim a superb deal from the MacHeist team with their nanoBundle2 which includes RapidWeaver, Tales of Monkey Island plus nine more apps for the bargain price of $20. Even better, 25% of the profits go to charity so everyone is a winner.

However, until 50,000 bundles have been purchased, RapidWeaver won't be unlocked so do yourself and everyone that's bought one a favor and purchase a nanoBundle now. If you're still not convinced, then check out what else you get for your money, all of which you can try here:

MacJournal Elegant and easy to use Journal designed specifically for Macs

RipIt Easy to use and powerful DVD ripper

Clips Extends the power of your clipboard

CoverScout Search for album covers on Amazon, iTunes Music Store and Google Images.

Flow FTP client designed specifically for Leopard

And if that's not enough, if you tweet about the MacHeist offer after purchasing, you'll get these thrown in for free:

Airburst Extreme A fun air-balloon shooting game

Tracks Search iTunes tracks from any app

Burning Monkey Solitaire Solitaire with a fun monkey theme.

Buy the nanoBundle here!

Windows: If real time strategy is your favorite videogame genre, you're going to like this one. Supreme Commander 2 is an excellent real time strategy adventure that focuses on huge scale. Set in a future where three different humanity factions are at war, your aim is to build up and maintain a massive army, and of course, defeat your enemy!

Mac: One of the most popular screen capture tools for Windows, SnagIt has now been released in beta for Mac users to check out. OSX has screen capture built-in, so can a dedicated program offer anything extra? The answer to that is most definitely yes. SnagIt has a neat interface that sits at the edge of the screen, popping out when you scroll over it. Here you can take full screen, area or window captures.

iPhone: Touch DJ is the first serious mixing app for the iPhone. It makes excellent use of the touchscreen to create a quite unique DJ-ing tool. This is a relatively expensive application at $19.99, but it's a surprisingly powerful tool, packed with features. If you've used mixing software on a desktop computer, there is very little that you won't find in Touch DJ.

There's a whole lot of wallpapers out there, but don't you sometimes get bored with the same old same old? It's time to inject a bit of life into your desktop, and I'm here to tell you how.

If you want 'wow' of the low-effort variety, take a look at a wallpaper randomizer. If you're a fan of Vladstudio's pretty designs, try Vladstudio Companion, an app that will find fresh, size-appropriate Vladstudio wallpapers at the click of a mouse. Bing's not my favorite search engine, but it has some impressive images that can be used on your desktop. Zapbing will grab the best, while the very cool NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader will do the same from National Geographic's impressive collection. Obviously Flickr is the number one internet photo resource: apps like Flickr Wallpaper Rotator and Fleace will comb the website for you, finding images specified by tags or usernames.

If you're handy with a camera, you're in luck. Lots of wallpaper apps are specifically designed to use your personal photos. Look out for ones with good rotation and display options, so you can make sure that your works of art always look their best. Moody Desktop is a small, no-install app that does just this, while Walyk lets you change you images manually or automatically. Bee Wallpapers, meanwhile, lets you intersperse your images with ones from the net, so you can make sure you'll never get bored.

Most of us enjoy our favorite music on mobile phones and MP3 players. But every now and then I still need CDs to listen to music – for example, when I'm in my car. Ands this is when ImgBurn comes in handy: a free, easy CD and DVD burning tool that lets you perform all sort of disk burning related tasks. Here's a short tutorial on how to use ImgBurn to create custom audio CD:

1. Open ImgBurn, go to Mode and select Write.

2. On the next window, click the icon with a CD and a musical note, so that ImgBurn knows you're creating an audio CD.

3. Click on the top right button to browse files in your hard drive and add them to the recording queue for the CUE file.

Windows: Do you need to be constantly reminded of important dates, events or tasks, but don't want to cover your desk in bits of paper? Use StickyNote instead! With this virtual version of the classic post-it note you won't forget any important information again! It's highly customizable, supports alarms and lets you share notes by email.

Mac: CleanMyMac is a fully comprehensive cleaning suite that helps keep your Mac free of any malware and useless files that take up valuable disk space. With just two simple clicks you can delete useless files that tend to mount-up and waste valuable disk space such as temporary files, disk images and all types of caches. This cleaner goes very deep so be warned that you won't even be able to see your "most recent" list in applications such as Excel and Word once you've used it.

iPhone:  Barcode Reader is just what it says it is. Utilizing the iPhone's camera, it allows you to scan barcodes, and theoretically check for product prices online. This is a really easy app to use. Simply open Barcode Reader, hit Scan Barcode, then point your iPhone at a barcode. After a second or too, it will have read and be searching for the code.

Most files can be open with just a double click on them. This is possible because they've been assigned a default program, that is, an application that all the files with the same extension are set to use when you open them. But what happens if the program that used to work as default has been replaced by a different one? No problem: the default app can be restored in two simple steps.

First, right click the file type you want to restore the default app for, and select Open with. If you don't see this option, you may have to press the Shift key while right clicking the file. Then, select Choose Program.

In the following dialog window, select the right default program from the list – or use the Browse button to search for it on your hard drive – and tick the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file, so that the extension is permanently associated with the program you just selected.

Click OK and you're done. Your files will go back to their default apps! Oh, and if you're having problems with finding the right app for your files, remember we also explained how to configure file associations a few weeks ago.

If you ever need to resize multiple images at the same time, you have two options: either you open and resize them one by one in a standard graphic editor – long and boring task – or you use VSO Image Resizer, a simple, nice little tool that has been developed especially to serve that purpose: to resize as many images as you need at the same time.

Despite its apparent simplicity, VSO Image Resizer features all the options you need to resize multiple images in just a few clicks. Not only does it include a few predefined resizing profiles that make the job even easier, but also lets you create new ones to suit your specific needs. Worried about overwriting your original images? Don't be. VSO Image Resizer can be set to add a suffix to the file's name, create copies and save them on a different folder, to make sure your original photos stay the same.

But that's not all. The Effects tab in the program's interface includes a variety of special effects you can add to the images at the same time you resize them. Choose between applying a watermark, inverting colors, converting to grayscale or sepia and adding  border, and you'll be able to create special versions of your original photos in no time!

Today I spent a over 30 minutes trying to kill an unholy mangle of Spotify, VMWare and an Excel document - it was a geek's nightmare! When I realized that not one, but three programs had frozen, I tried to end the tasks in Task Manager. When I realized that that wasn't working, I tracked them down in Processes and tried to exterminate them there. What happened? Nada, nothing, zilch. What's a girl to do?

The reasons for my mess of frozen programs could have been many and varied. From viruses to overloaded systems, why a program (or three) might freeze is a discussion for another day. My main concern was how to get rid of them without having to resort to the old cybertrick of turning it off and on again.

There are dozens of websites to play online Flash games, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to play them when you have no Internet connection available? In fact, it's easier than it seems. Just follow these simple steps and you'll be able to download Flash games to your hard drive and play them offline in no time.

1. First of all, open the web page where the game you want to download is stored. Copy the URL to the clipboard, and then open a new tab to browse to File2HD.com.

2. File2HD.com extracts all the files you see on a web page. Paste the address in the URL field, tick agreement checkbox and filter the contents by Objects. The page will display a list of all available files, from which you have to identify the SWF that corresponds to the game. Right click on it and save it to your hard drive.

3. Now that you have the SWF on your computer, it's time to turn it into a playable file. Download and install FlashOffliner. When you run the program, click on the system tray icon and select Create new FlashOffliner package.

4. Fill in the fields with the required information (game name, SWF file) and press Start Packing. This will create a FOP file in the selected output folder.

Mac users are used to being last in the queue when it comes to software releases. Well, maybe we're not quite as hard done by as Linux users, but you know what I mean.

We grudgingly accept that Windows still dominates the market and usually, we're happy to wait just a little bit longer if it means we don't have to use anything made by Microsoft.

However, when it comes to three and a half years after the release of a piece of hardware, our patience starts to wear thin.

In this case its the Amazon Kindle, first released in the USA in November 2007. Today, Mac users still have to sign-up for notification when Kindle software will be released on Macs. This is crazy when you consider its already available on PC, iPhone and BlackBerry.

It's also all the more strange for three very good reasons:

• The release of the iPad: You'd think that Amazon would at least be in a rush to get a foothold in the e-book market before Mac users start flocking to Apple's latest invention.
• Kindles basically run Linux: From a technical standpoint, other than Linux, Macs should be the easiest platform to develop Kindle software. As Chris Dannen points out at Fast Company, Kindles basically run Linux and Java applications.
• Mac users are generally early adopters: Not afraid of splashing-out cash for something that actually works properly and looks good, Mac users are often the most eager to try new gizmos and gadgets, even those that aren't made by Apple.

Amazon haven't done themselves any favors either in embracing developers on this issues. By all accounts, developers have had the doors shut in their faces whenever they've tried to approach them about developing third-party software for the Kindle. For now, Mac users will have to do with one paltry screenshot of how Kindle for Mac will look:

By the looks of it, it might be nothing to get excited about anyway. As Jon pointed out, if it's anything like the Windows version which offers little of the functionality of the Kindle itself, it will be disappointing. And more to the point, if you've got a Kindle, do you really need to read a book on your Mac anyway?

Well, if you insist, you can always try Stanza.

As I walked to work this morning I noticed the first early buds on the trees. And you know what this means? Time to get out in the garden again and get everything ready for the spring spectacle. To avoid some of the disasters I had last year, I decided that I would add a new weapon to my arsenal of gardening tools - my iPhone. There are plenty of apps available that will help you make your garden looking blooming marvelous. Here's a selection of some of my favorites. (Note, you'll need iTunes in order to open the links).

Keep an eye on the sky with WeatherBug

The weather can be your plants' biggest friend or its worst enemy. A more comprehensive forecast tool than The Weather Channel or Accuweather.com is WeatherBug. Pulling data from your nearest weather station, it displays temperature (current plus highest and lowest of the day), wind speed and direction, wind chill and rainfall. It even goes into stuff like the dew point, pressure and humidity. A seven-day forecast is also available. Free

Work out what to plant with Garden Plants Database

Choosing the right plants and flowers for your garden can be a daunting prospect. Garden Plants Database makes it easy to figure out what you want before you even set out for the garden center. The bumper database contains more than 1,000 common plant names and their descriptions. Each entry includes a photo, along with information such as height, spread, colors, and bloom time. $0.99

Know your trees with Botany Buddy

It's quite expensive, but if you're looking to expand your knowledge of trees and shrubs, Botany Buddy is the perfect app. It features an impressive search tool that lets you identify a tree you don't know, or find the right plant to go in your garden. The database boasts 1,300 native and ornamental species, giving you helpful info about size, habits, exposure, seeds, flowers, and more. $9.99

Find out how much soil you need with PotVolume

If you're potting this spring, PotVolume will help you make sure you use the right amount of soil every time. The app is very simple to use. You simply enter the height of your pot, along with its width at the top and bottom. Then, PotVolume calculates the volume in cubic inches and quarts. You can then use these figures to work out how much potting soil to use for that particular pot. $0.99

Catalog your harvests with Homegrown

Ideal for those who grown fruit and vegetables, Homegrown lets you keep a record of everything you pick. once you've added the details of all the fruit-bearing plants in your garden, you're able to quickly input the number of fruits or veggies that you pick on a given date. You can set the start of the season for each plant, then view your personal harvest data for the entire season on one graph. $0.99

Get the hottest tips with Gardening News and Updates

For the latest in what's going down in the gardening world, install Gardening News and Updates on your iPhone. This reader loads the latest tips and tricks from a host of popular gardening blogs. The app comes with some neat features, suchas the ability to read blogs offline, to check for new blog posts when you launch, and to search all the blogs using one particular keyword. $0.99

Get practical help with iGarden USA

Americans are nuts about gardening, and iGarden USA provides hands-on help to anyone looking to feed their green-fingered habit. It contains a wealth of helpful features, such as recommending planting dates for your particular location, lots of data on vegetables, herbs and fruits, plus a guide to identifying particular garden pests. You can even add your own seeds, including planting dates and photos. $4.99

Figure out how much concrete you need with Concrete Calc

If your gardening ambitions extend to constructing paths, patios or terraces then Concrete Calc could come in very handy. The app calculates how many cubic yards of concrete are needed for any given job. You simply type in the length, width and thickness, then hit the Calculate button and you'll be given the specifications you need. There's also a Waste Overage option in the input fields if you need it. $0.99

Plan a BBQ with Weber's On the Grill

Once you've got your garden looking great, why not invite your friends round for a barbecue in it? Weber's On the Grill is a fantastic resource for planning a BBQ, featuring 250 classic recipe, along with 40 recipes for rubs. Besides the recipes, you can record ingredients that you need in an itemized shopping list, watch instructional grilling videos, and browse more than 100 barbecuing tips. There's even a built-in timer for cooking meat to perfection. $4.99

Take a time out and play a gardening game

After all that hard graft you deserve a bit of time to yourself to relax. So sit down, pull out your iPhone and play one of the many fun garden-themed games that are available for the device. My favorite is the gripping (and terrifying) Plants Vs Zombies, in which you must cultivate killer plants to take down the undead. Others include the sedate mowing game, Sunday Lawn, and the potting puzzler, GreenFingers.