Smartphone cameras are great — except, usually, for zooming in, lighting and producing high-quality photos.

Researchers at MIT, however, have developed a processor chip that they say can instantly convert mobile device snapshots into professional-looking pictures.

The chip, pictured here, integrates into any mobile device or digital camera, and can be used to improve lighting, apply effects and kill low-light background noise. Plus, researchers say, it uses significantly less power than full computer processors or video cards.

One of the chip's tasks enhances low light photos. "Typically when taking pictures in a low-light situation, if we don’t use flash on the camera we get images that are pretty dark and noisy," Rahul Rithe, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, says in a press release. "And if we do use the flash we get bright images but with harsh lighting, and the ambience created by the natural lighting in the room is lost."

So, to avoid photos turning out like this, the chip takes two images — one using flash, one without it — and combines only the most desirable parts of both photos into a composite image.



It's unclear when the processor will come to market. The group presented their findings at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, which wrapped up today.

Does this sound like something you'd use?

To learn more, and read the official release here.

6 Apps for Editing Photos

5. Filterstorm

Filterstorm offers many of the same features you might find in a powerful desktop photo editor on your mobile phone. The app can support up to five layers at a time, and allows you to make adjustments to the image including brush, gradient, color range, vignette or selecting opacity. You can work with the brightness/contrast in a photo, the temperature, exposure, and saturation as well as crop a picture how you would like and specify a specific aspect ratio you’d like the final image to be.



Photoshop Express

Who says you need a computer to use Photoshop? Adobe Photoshop Express is a free, lightweight version of the popular photo editor that allows you to do things like crop and straighten your photos, as well as apply filters, effects and even borders to your prints.

The free app comes with a number of basic features. With a number of other filters, effects, and more available as in-app purchases.



1. Camera+

Camera+ is an app designed for not only editing your photos, but for taking them as well. The app has a built-in stabilizer for steadying your camera while taking pictures, a 6x zoom for getting close to your subject, and as well as a grid to help you line up your shot perfectly.

Once you’ve taken a photo, Camera+ has some built-in editing tools as well as a ton of built-in effects for giving your picture a finishing touch, as well as built-in borders. Finished pictures can be shared instantly on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr from directly within the app.



2. PicsPlay Pro - FX Photo Editor

PicsPlay Pro for Android has over 200 professional presets, allowing you to customize your photo on the fly. The app has several built-in themes such as HDR, Blur, Vintage and Black & White, and has real-time opacity control on those presets, allowing you to customize each one to best fit your own personal needs.
Photos edited using the app can be instantly shared with others on a variety of different services, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.


3. Pixlr-O-Matic

With more than 100 effects, 280 overlays and almost 200 different borders Pixlr-o-Matic lets you customize your pictures quickly and easily to give them a seemingly endless array of different looks. In addition to editing photos already stored on your phone, you can also use the app to take new pictures. Finished photos can be shared with friends via Facebook, or saved to your phone as high-resolution files that you can then print out or use in other projects.



4. PicSay Pro

Ever wish your dog could talk? Anything is possible with PicSay Pro. The Android app has a number of traditional photo editing features such as the ability to remove red eye and crop and straighten photos, and adds to it special effects like the ability to add tech and word balloons to your pictures or make just a small portion of a black-and-white photo color.


Thumbnail image via iStockphoto, PeskyMonkey; post image courtesy of MIT


















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Once upon a time, you could launch mass email campaigns with the assumption that a significant portion of the emails would find their way to a desktop computer. But no longer.

Smartphones have changed the game. To better understand the challenges you now face, let’s carefully consider the perspective of the smartphone user.

Enter Pete, your typical smartphone user. Pete is a thirty-something male who purchased an iPhone last October. He uses it frequently to change his Facebook status, upload vacation pictures, tweet witty opinions, check the weather, browse YouTube videos, text his friends, and check his email—all while he drops off dry cleaning, picks up a latte, walks to the office, and eats a burrito for lunch.

As you can see, your message in Pete’s inbox has a lot of competitors for his undivided attention. In fact, there are so many competitors that nothing wins Pete’s sustained attention for long, and you have to be smart to get a slice of it. This is the new game.

Here is what you need to know to play it well.

#1: Pete Will Read Your Pre-Header

When Pete receives your message on his smartphone, he is going to see three things, one right after the other. The first is the sender (you), the second is the subject line, and the third is the preheader (the first few lines of your email). If you don’t make the most of it, the preheader may be all that Pete reads of your email before deleting it.

Your goal is to get Pete to open the email based on what he reads in the pre-header. Come up with something catchy, or link a plain-text version of the email in the preheader (remember that not all mobile devices can read HTML). The preheader does not have to be fancy, but it should be inviting.

#2: Your Email Is Under Pete’s Thumb

After Pete has read the preheader and then opened your email, he is open to encountering any number of frustrations. Maybe that important cheeseburger image didn’t load. Or maybe your double columned newsletter is difficult to navigate now that it has been shrunk to microscopic proportions. Or maybe you stacked three links right next to each other and his giant thumb can’t open the middle one.

You do not want Pete to face any of these problems. The best way to avoid them is to check what your email will look like on a variety of mobile devices. There are websites that will provide demo versions for different mobile devices. Find one and test your design before you send out a mass email. In short, your email should be understandable, readable, and clickable no matter what screen Pete uses to read it.

#3: Pete Is Probably On the Go

This means that he doesn’t have time to read a novel on his phone while running to catch his flight to Chicago. In other words, keep your email short and sweet. Have a tightly focused call to action to which Pete can easily respond. Make it simple for Pete to go to your landing page (which should also be compatible with his iPhone). Make it even simpler for Pete to share your product through his social media networks.

After all, Pete is not just another potential customer. Pete represents a highly connected network of potential customers. He’s compulsively addicted to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—they never leave his thumb or his pocket. By reaching Pete with your mobile email marketing campaign, you can possibly reach his friends too. But only if you play the game.





































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iMovie

iMovie is Apple’s video editor made for the iPhone and iPad. Much like the desktop version of the app, the mobile version of iMovie lets you edit your videos, add music and transitions, and create a trailer for your finished flick.

Completed movies can be shared to your camera roll for sharing via email or iMessage, or can be uploaded and published directly to a number of websites including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and CNN iReport.

iSuper8

Miss the days of Super 8 cameras? iSuper8 lets you give videos you’ve recorded on your iPhone a vintage look, grading each pixel of your video to give it a unique vintage look. The app allows you to adjust the frame rate of videos you’ve recorded to 12, 18, or 24 frames per second and has number of customizable film stocks you can use to make your video look its best.

Vyclone

Vyclone uses the GPS in your phone to determine where you are shooting a video, and then matches you up with other people who are doing the same to create a multi-camera look at the same scene.

The free iOS app edits videos from up to four different iPhone cameras together automatically. You can also edit the videos together manually on your own. The finished product can be shared in one tap on Facebook and Twitter, and can be saved to your phone’s camera roll.

VidTrim Pro

VidTrim Pro is a video editor and organizer for Android that allows you to trim and edit your videos on your Android device as well as compress your finished videos and share them with friends via email or on video sharing sites such as YouTube. The app also has a built-in "frame grabber" you can use to grab specific frames out of your video to use as stills.

Viddy

Not for longer-form projects, Viddy lets you capture, edit, filter and share 15-second video clips, or "viddys." The app comes with a number of built-in effects and filters to use to create the ultimate short video . Finished videos can then be shared in one lick on asocial media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Videolicious

Videolicious lets you edit videos and photos from your iPhone’s library, turning them into a documentary-style film. The easy-to-use app has number of built-in video ideas and instructions on how to create things like a video thank you note, a product or restaurant review, or your own news report. Finished videos can be saved to your phone’s camera roll to share with others, or uploaded directly to Facebook or YouTube from within the app.

Lapse It Pro

Lapse It Pro is a quick and easy way to create time-lapse videos using your Android phone. The app lets you capture time-lapse videos, add different effects, and flip and trim your finished product. Videos created with the app can be rendered to MP4, MOV, and FLV and can be shared to directly to a number of sites including YouTube, Facebook, and Google+.

AndroMedia HD

AndroMedia is a full-featured video-editing program for Android that offers many of the same features you might find on a traditional desktop video editor. Features include the ability to add effects and transitions, to overlay title clips and captions, and to fade in and out video.

The app supports MP4,MOV,JPG,PNG,MP3, and WAV file formats, and finished videos can be exported in standard or high-definition and uploaded directly to YouTube from within the app.

CinemaFX

CinemaFX gives your finished videos a new look with its palate of 55 effects. Stackable with up to three effects at a time, effects can be adjusted to create your own unique finished look. Videos can be previewed side-by-side against the original, and finished videos can be exported to your phone in a variety of different formats as well as uploaded directly to YouTube or emailed to friends from within the app.



Just a few years ago creating your own movie would have required an expensive camcorder to shoot, and your own –- often expensive -– video editing equipment in order to polish your video into something you’d want to share with others.

Now most smartphones come with built-in video cameras that can often capture high-definition videos worthy of your 50-inch high-definition television.

In addition to replacing the camcorder, your smartphone can also be used as a video editor. There are a variety of different apps available on the market today for editing video. From basic video editors that let you trim out pieces of your video you don’t want, to themed editors that let you change the frame rate and filter of your video to make it look like an old school 8mm film.

Whether you’re packing an iPhone or an Android handset in your pocket there’s bound to be a video editor perfect for helping you create videos on the go just how you want them to be.

Not just for your TV anymore, most mobile video editors also allow you to share your finished creation instantly on the web with built-in integration to sites like YouTube and Facebook. Connect your phone to your television and you can watch your masterpiece on the big screen.

Check out the gallery above for a look at some of our favorite mobile apps for video editing.

Have your own favorite that isn’t on the list? Tell us about other video editing apps and your own experience creating mobile videos in the comments.
































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Going mobile with your SEO can make your business sharper, quicker, and more responsive.
As more and more businesses realize the value of SEO, defending and improving client’s visibility increasingly demands constant vigilance.

With these smartphone apps, you can keep an eye on multiple variables at once, and get a better idea of what is working for your clients and what isn’t.

These apps will keep you on top of your game at all times, whether youíre on the subway or stuck in the waiting room at the dentist.

1. Raven Tools

Raven Tools mobile app is a must-have if youíre already a Raven user; it ís easily the most comprehensive toolkit on this list. While the app is free, the subscription cost makes this something of a luxury alternative to Google Analytics or other free tools. Raven covers many SEO indicators that others miss, like social mentions and a clearer connection between marketing expenses and their impact on revenue. If you’re willing to take the plunge and make a big investment, Raven Tools is the obvious choice, and this app is the only one you need.

Cost: Free

Operating System: Apple (iOS)

2. iSEO

This app allows you to skim dozens of rankings, including Blog Worth, Google, Technorati Authority, Alexa, MSN/Yahoo! Indexed pages, and Google Indexed pages. You can also get a snapshot of a pages social media activity, as well as its keyword density. iSEO allows you to examine these indicators over time, so you can isolate the content that generates buzz from the flops. You can also use these indicators to monitor competitors movements, and learn from their successes and failures. The interface is otherwise fairly sparse, but the app does provide email functionality, to share results with partners so you can strategize based on your findings.

Cost: $1.99

Operating System: Apple iOS

3. Ego

Ego is a great way to streamline your analysis if you or your clients use more than one analytical tool. The app aggregates all your information in one app, so you don’t have to constantly switch between SEO apps and sites. While this app provides only broad, shallow analysis, itís a good way to get a birds-eye view of Twitter followers, feed subscriptions, and pageviews across multiple platforms.

Cost: $1.99

Mobile Operating System: Apple  iOS

4. Google Analytics

If you’re looking for free tools, this app is the whole package. From one screen, you can take in a broad, detailed picture of whatís happening on your sites, including average time spent on your site, pageviews per visitor, percentage of repeat visitors, where visitors come from, and who referred them. For a smartphone app, the Google Analytics app is easily the deepest standalone tool you can find; and it is free. Analytics features many ways of comparing your sites data, including measuring different timeframes side-by-side, assessing performance compared with goals, and correlating revenue with SEO expenditures. This app also stands alone on our list as the only option for Android users. Accordingly, performance is shakier on iPhones and some Android devices. Users of Samsung phones reported the fewest errors, while HTC users appeared to have more trouble.

Cost: Free

Moibile Operating System: Android, Apple iOS

5. Link Juice

Link Juice can help you locate and diagnose top-performing pages to make sure that you duplicate successful practices and discontinue failing ones. By comparing your big success stories with your flops, it ís easy to discern where your effort should be focused to improve sites PageRank and draw in more traffic. When you know where to direct your efforts, your expenditures and time can be used much more effectively.

Cost: $1.99

Operating System: Apple iOS

What About You?

How are you using mobile apps as a marketer. Do you use any of these tools?
What are apps that you have found useful to ensure that you are aware of what is happening on your websites?
































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