Image stabilization technology in cameras and in lenses has revolutionized digital photography, enabling photographers to get dramatically sharper photos without hauling around a tripod. But it’s not obvious how to use a digital SLR’s image-stabilized lens–after all, the very fact that it has an on/off switch implies you shouldn’t leave the feature on all the time.

Photographers love to talk about the “magic hour” in the morning and late afternoon when the sun is perfectly positioned for awe-inspiring photos. Listen to enough of that sort of talk, and you’ll start to believe that early morning and dusk are the only times of day you could possibly get any good photos at all.

On the upside, you don’t have to install anything, and you can edit your photos anywhere you have an Internet connection. The downside? Just what you’d expect: these programs generally offer only a fraction of the features found in stand-alone image editors like Photoshop, and you can’t work without an Internet connection.

By Jeff Bertolucci

PC World (US)

January 21, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO  - Reliability and Service: Printers
Printers in 2008 were slightly more reliable than desktops or laptops, according to our survey participants. About 3 in 10 respondents reported having one or more significant hardware or software problems with their printers during the preceding year. That figure correlates neatly with [...]

By Melissa Riofrio

PC World (US)

December 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Canon’s Pixma MP620 color inkjet multifunction printer offers connectivity and capacity galore. While its design has a few shortcomings, overall the Pixma MP620 offers a good deal, especially for a busy home or school setting.
A few premium features distinguish the silvery Pixma MP620. The control panel [...]

By Melissa Riofrio

PC World (US)

December 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Brother’s US$180 MFC-790CW color inkjet multifunction printer has a tempting array of goodies, but offers lackluster performance. Despite its aspirations, the MFC-790CW can’t compete with other machines in its price range, such as the HP OfficeJet J4680.
Though the MFC-790CW is compact, it still provides some nice [...]

By Brennon Slattery

PC World (US)

January 21, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (01/16/2009) - Couch potatoes, rejoice: now you can watch YouTube right in your living room on your big-screen television. YouTube announced its union with Sony and Nintendo to bring YouTube for Television (that’s http://www.youtube.com/tv — a link only accessible via a game console) through the PlayStation 3 [...]

By Jeff Bertolucci

PC World (US)

January 06, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - LG Electronics this spring will launch a series of broadband-enabled HDTVs that will stream movies, TV shows, and other high-definition content from Netflix, without the need for an external set-top box, the company has announced. LG and Netflix are demonstrating the new products this week at [...]

By Lincoln Spector

PC World (US)

December 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - A TV can’t do much by itself. To get true movie sound, you need to supplement it with a home theater system: a digitally friendly amplifier, a large subwoofer, and at least five satellite speakers (or something like Yamaha’s YSP-1000 virtual surround sound set). And your [...]

By Matt Peckham

PC World (US)

February 17, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Are you bored with beautiful games? Alright, okay, I know — just because they’re pretty doesn’t mean they’re empty-headed. But you’ve gotta admit, after all these years, and for all the passionate chatter about gaming “growing up,” there’s still a kind of funky-smelling obsession out there [...]