Windows 7’s version of Microsoft Paint is a big step up from the edition provided with Windows Vista, but it’s still not much use for editing photos or creating your own graphics from scratch. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a brilliant open source photo editor that’s amazingly powerful, and is available to download and use completely free. It’s not quite as feature-packed as Adobe Photoshop, but it has everything hobbyist photographers need to make their shots look amazing before print

Buying a state-of-the-art phone will not only give you improved speeds for downloading apps and streaming video, you’ll also be helping all those still using older devices. TechRadar attended a Gigabit LTE showcase in London where the next generation of network was demoed, and it’s good news for every mobile user – no matter how old your smartphone is. The carriers in your country will also need to provide a Gigabit LTE network. It’s limited at the moment, but there are 26 operators in 18 countr

This became apparent after I had installed the Ring Video Doorbell. I also installed a Ring Chime Pro – this is a unit that you plug in and plays a doorbell chime when the doorbell is pressed – handy if your phone isn’t around. This doubles as a Wi-Fi extender for the Ring Video Doorbell if it struggles to get Wi-Fi outside your house. Anyway, the addition of the Ring Chime Pro has caused some issues which I think is hardware-based, as the Chime keeps dropping its connection (Ring has kindly sen

Prime Day starts on July 10, with discounts on a vast range of products exclusively for Amazon Prime customers. According to Amazon’s vice president of voice shopping Assaf Ronen: “Prime members have asked, ‘Alexa, what are your deals?’ more than three million times since we launched Alexa deals last year, and we’re thrilled to deliver even better deals this year.”Alexa, save me money! If you want to get the best deals during Prime Day, make sure to keep your eyes on our Prime Day page. For all

After revealing at the Unite Europe conference that its Mixed Reality headsets should be commercially available to consumers by Christmas of this year, Microsoft has showcased its plans for the platform at a WinHEC (Windows Hardware Development Conference) workshop in Taipei. According to VRFocus, a demonstration took place which involved Acer’s Mixed Reality headset being used alongside Microsoft’s HoloLens. To encourage cross-platform experiences like this Microsoft is offering a shared develo

Apple has filed a patent for the next iteration of the AirPods that could mean the little wireless earphones become a fitness tracker in and of themselves. The patent shows that the AirPods will contain biometric sensors. According to the patent found by Patently Apple, the sensors aren’t just limited to simple heart-rate monitors either. It appears there are plans for EKG sensors, that monitor the electrical activity of your heart, impedance cardiography sensors, and more. It’s a major step up

The risk of humanity going extinct due to a large asteroid hitting the Earth is small, but large enough to be worth worrying about. That’s why Nasa has a particular interest in developing technology that could deflect an asteroid on a dangerous trajectory towards Earth. You might think that a tiny spacecraft wouldn’t have much effect on a massive asteroid, and you’d be right. Testing it OutCheng and his colleagues are planning to test DART on a small, non-threatening asteroid in 2024. “With DART

It’s announced that it will be making all of its cars ‘electric’ by 2019. This means there will be electric cars in the wild made by Volvo without its badges, just Polestar branding. Electric avenueAll of this comes as Tesla is nearing the launch of its own lower cost electric car. Volvo is hoping that its move to electric will reduce the company’s carbon emissions, helping make its factories ‘climate-neutral’ by 2025. We’re guessing it will also be hoping that it can make a name for itself in t

The OpenIV modding tool is now officially back in action for Grand Theft Auto V following the recent legal fracas which concluded at the close of last month, but the downside here is that the OpenIV team has cancelled a big project – namely ‘Liberty City in GTA V’. OpenIV – a utility which allows players to extensively customize the game – was shut down early in June when it came under legal fire from Take-Two’s lawyers over in Russia, but the GTA V publisher subsequently relented after a huge c

Three has launched a new plan aimed at those who watch most of their TV online, offering data plans which give ‘free’ internet to watch services like Netflix. Using these services will be ‘zero-rated’, which means customers will be able to stream as much as they want through certain services without the data used affecting their monthly allowance of gigabytes. While Vodafone offers free access to online services from Sky as part of its price plans, the data used will still be taken from your dat

The company, however, has announced more attractive plans, in line with the rules and regulations, to appeal to the masses. Jio has announced new data plans exclusively to JioFi users, which is the company’s portable router that can be carried around practically anywhere. The new plans cost the same as their prepaid smartphone versions, but with more benefits exclusive for JioFi users. The company offers 224GB of data for free when you purchase a JioFi and a Jio SIM card. A new JioFi router will

The pace of technological change doesn’t seem to slowing down, and paper tickets could be the next relic of a bygone age to be consigned to history: Ticketmaster is partnering with a company called Lisnr to get you into your next gig with a short blast of audio from your phone. It’s a bit like flashing a QR code at the door but (perhaps) even more convenient. It doesn’t need much in the way of infrastructure at the other end either, with just a phone app required to receive the tone and verify s

A lack of big data to learn from is one of the reasons holding back the full launch of Bixby, according to a new report. Samsung’s smart digital assistant still hasn’t appeared on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus outside of South Korea, though the phones themselves went on sale worldwide in April. Now The Korea Herald says the ongoing delays are because Bixby just doesn’t have enough sample data to power its algorithms, something we’ve heard hints about before. “Developing Bixby in other languag

However, as the guide’s creator Karen Wiesner says, sticking to it takes real commitment and you have to dedicate a decent chunk of your time to the process. What eats up my time isn’t making my own posts, but reading reading other people’s. Solving this problem on my phone was very simple: I’ve just uninstalled the Twitter mobile app for now. To avoid this, I’m trying Simple Blocker for Chrome – a tool designed with students in mind, but ideal for anyone whose willpower needs propping up. Simpl

Your DSLR has comes with a highly advanced autofocus system, so why on earth would you want to use manual focus? It uses edges or textures to focus on areas of contrast. Manual focus, then, helps you get sharp shots when AF can’t correctly interpret what the lens is seeing. So switch to manual focus when you know your camera could get confused. Get close to your subjectAlthough most macro lenses have autofocus, manual focus is the best technique for close-ups of small subjects.

Instead, HMD wants to continue the Nokia brand where it left off, building on its 150 years of history without rewriting its values. There are three new Android handsets bearing the famous name, with the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 bringing a fresh sense of style and affordability mixed with just enough familiarity to excite loyal fans. The new 3310’s job was to get these smartphones, and the once iconic brand, back into the minds of consumers – and it appears to have worked. Rantala wouldn’t r

First, get your video ready to upload to Instagram. You can do this within the Instagram app itself, but it’s much easier to make accurate edits using a mouse and dedicated editing software than Instagram’s simple tools. Download and install ShotCut, then open your video and, click the Filters button, followed by the + button, then select the screen icon to see video effects. It’s also worth experimenting with the other filters here, which are much more customizable than Instagram’s own tools. Y

Speedo has just launched a new service to help you track and improve your swims. Called Speedo On, it’s accessible from the web and mobile devices, but you can even sync your data directly from certain wearables. Speedo On is compatible with swim-enabled Garmin and Misfit devices, such as the Misfit Shine 2 or Garmin Swim, so any swims you do while wearing them can automatically be sent to the service. But Speedo claims that more devices will be made compatible over time and even if yours isn’t

Edge Sense is the HTC U11’s headline feature, letting you squeeze the phone to interact with it in a variety of ways, but you might not have to buy HTC’s flagship to get a squeezable phone of your own, as rumors suggest a mid-range HTC handset is on the way with Edge Sense baked in. Revealed by TheLeaker and @LlabTooFeR, the phone is apparently called the HTC Ocean Life, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it launches under a different name. It will also supposedly run HTC’s Sense 9 interface on

Xiaomi has waited quite some time to send out the Android 7.0 update to its smartphones. Thankfully, there’s finally some good news for the customers of Xiaomi smartphones as the company has officially revealed the names of the devices that will be eligible for the Android 7.0 update. Strangely enough, Xiaomi will be sending out Android 7.0 to some devices and Android 7.1 to a handful of others. It is not known, however, if the company will update Android 7.0 devices to Android 7.1 in the future