Fotobounce Photo Sharing & Organization Software with Face Recognition

It is very apparent that I feel comfortable sharing watermarked photos of my family on 3G2S and on Facebook.  I realize that not everyone enjoys that level of comfort when it comes to their personal photos and would much prefer private sharing.  If you fall into this category, then you might like to know about the Fotobounce software that is available to download for free to help you share and organize your photos with friends and family.

Some important features offered by the Fotobounce software:

• You can customize your Private Network by inviting friends and family via email to become Fotobounce users (or "Bouncers").  To make this process easier, you can import contacts from your Gmail and Yahoo address books.
• Only members of the same Private Network can view each other's encrypted photos files.
• If you are a Facebook user, then you know what a chore tagging your photos (i.e. labeling photos with the names of those who appear in those particular photos) can be.  Fotobounce's unique face recognition ability allows this software to auto-tag your photos.
• Since so many photo sharers already utilize Facebook and Flicker, it only makes sense that this software is compatible with both sites.  Fotobounce photos can be uploaded to both Facebook and Flicker without the need for re-tagging the photos.  
• Fotobounce is also compatible with Twitter.  You can send a single photo or an entire album to Twitter directly from Fotobounce.

The ad-supported version of Fotobounce can be downloaded for free for Windows and Mac users.  The version without ads is available for purchase on Fotobounce.com for $49.  Once you have downloaded the Fotobounce software, you can also install Fotobounce Viewer, a free application for Windows, Mac, and Android users that  allows the user to view photos sorted into albums or by face recognition tags.  If you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Blackberry, compatible versions of Fotobounce will be introduced soon.  In the meantime, you can use Fotobounce Mobile for your on-the-go photo sharing needs.

To learn more about the Fotobounce software, visit Fotobounce.com,  Fotobounce on Facebook, and Fotobounce on Twitter. 

Free PDF Trial at Adobe CreatePDF

As you may recall, I recently wrote an article about why being able to create PDF files and convert PDF files is important to a blogger.  I had started thinking about this because I am about to do a mini redesign for my blog and I would need to alter my media kit to coordinate with it.  This would be fine if I wanted to leave the media kit in a Word document format, but I would very much like to have a PDF version because it does look much more professional.

So my dilemma was (and still is) about my struggling to decide if I could spend the money on PDF software.  Money is tight right now, so can I really justify the expense?  Well, this free PDF trial might be a solution for anyone in my situation.  One of the benefits of the free trial is that it offers you 5 free PDF conversions. You are required to register with your name, email, password, age, and geographic location.

Has anyone tried this free trial before?  I am curious to know if there are any other requirements aside from the registration.  If not, this would be perfect if you have a specific one-time project to complete.

Free "My Heritage" Online Family Tree Building Tool

If you've ever wondered about the generations of your family that have come before your grandparents or great-grandparents, then you might want to try out this online genealogy software. The basic version is free, so why not try it?

This site also contains free family tree software. The main idea is that you can start a family website and invite all your known living relatives to contribute. Then they can help you fill in the missing information, such as dates-of-birth, photos, maiden names, and places of origin. Your family's site is divided into six tabbed sections. The main ones, your homepage (or dashboard), Family Tree, Family Photos, and Family Events calendar, are shown below. It is almost like having your own private mini-community for your family and relatives.

(Click on the image below to enlarge)

Also available on MyHeritage.com is a section called "Celebrities & Fun". There you can find out what celebrity your resemble, create a video showing your face morphing into a celebrity, and use the Look-alike Meter to see which parent a child resembles the most. We have always said that our 6yr old son is exactly half my husband and half myself. Well, we were close. According to the Look-alike Meter, our son looks 55% like his father and 45% like me. The results are also easily shared through email, Facebook, your blog, and other popular social networks.

Free Easy Photo Collages & Wallpapers

Last month, this company called Photovisi dropped me an email to introduce their new photo collage website. I told them that I would check it out and, if I liked it, I would be happy to share it with my readers. I did not get a chance to look around the site until today, but I am glad I did.

Although I could create a collage like the one below using any graphics software, I would not be able to complete it in just 5 minutes. That's how long it took for me to make this photo collage. Basically, I chose one of 18 layouts, uploaded all the photos I wanted to use in one step, and added one more photo for the background. Here is a summary of how you can customize your collage:

1. You can move each photo by dragging and dropping it with your mouse.
2. You can bring any photo to the front by just clicking on it.
3. You can change how the photo is framed by re-cropping it.

Something I would like to have seen is the ability choose which photos show up as landscape or portrait. Many times A vertical photo would show up in a horizontal frame, so I had to crop the photo to show the section of the photo that was important. Also, there is no way to edit the background at all.

Still, this was a quick and easy way to create a collage. When I was done, I clicked on save. Then I was presented with several photo gifts I had the option to purchase along with the link to download my collage for free. After I downloaded it and saved a copy on my computer, I just right-clicked on the image and selected "Set As Background" and it popped right into place as my computer's wallpaper.

I think if you take a lot of photos and like to change your wallpaper frequently, then Photovisi.com is a useful time-saving tool. It also gives you a fresh way to present your photos on your blog or website.

This article was written based on my own experiences with this website. I was not compensated in anyway for sharing my experiences with my readers.

10 Tips For Preventing Cyber Bullying

You may or may have not heard recent talk about cyber bullying and cyber stalking. This is something real that is happening to adult bloggers. If it is scary for an adult, then you can imagine how it must feel for a tween or a teen to be a victim of such a thing.

Here are ten tips offered by Ellen Ohlenbusch, a mom who also happens to be President of McGruff Safeguard, on how to protect your child from being a victim of cyber bullying . . .

1. Keep computers in an open area – not in a child’s bedroom

2. Tell kids to keep passwords safe, private and difficult to guess – no pet names as passwords!

3. Don’t allow your child to maintain multiple accounts with alias names

4. Teach children to respect others online, as they would in person

5. Discuss bullying and the emotional impact it creates

6. Discuss what content is and is not appropriate to share online

7. Tell kids that what they post online is “out there” forever – they can’t control how other people will use their photos or information

8. Discuss how ‘piling’ on is not appropriate. That while they may not start something, if they see cyber bullying happening, they should not contribute.

9. Set a clear standard/example for your children to follow

10. Install a parental monitoring software that sends email alerts if cyber bullying is detected.

As a tool to assist parents, McGruff Safeguard offers a FREE parental monitoring software that analyzes emails, chats and IMs, and social networking websites. To learn more about this software, visit GoMcGruff.com .

Thank you to McGruff Safeguard and Middleberg Communications for providing the information shared in this article.

Free Photo Editing Software - Aurora Quick Fix

I just wanted to let my readers know about this great freebie that was brought to my attention . . .

Lightcrafts, the creator of the original Aurora photo editing software has recently released a new simplified version called Aurora Quick Fix. This software is free to download.

Although I have not personally tried this new software, I have used the original full-featured Aurora and loved it. You can read my review of Aurora here. The Aurora Quick Fix allows you to relight, crop, resize, organize your photos, and more. If you get a chance to download Aurora Quick Fix for free, come back and let me know how you like it.