TechTip

CNET News and The New York Times recently ran an article talking about printing digital photos from home. I'll sum it up for you in 5 words: don't buy a color printer. More specifically, don't buy a color printer if the main reason is for printing digital photos. The ink and paper for those printers is going to cost you a lot more than sending it to a lab, plus you will get an inferior photo. The photo lab down the street is always going to have better equipment that you do in your home office. My recommendation, therefore, is to use one of the many online services that will print your photos for pickup or delivery.

This segways quite nicely into another recommendation I have for digital photo organization and correction. Google's Picasa is just about the best photo program that I have seen for a number of reasons.

1. It's free--can't beat that!
2. Does an excellent job of basic photo manipulation techniques, such as red-eye reduction, converting to black & white, cropping, and resizing.
3. Allows you to send photos through your GMail or other email account in an extremely easy way.
4. Let's you upload your photos directly to the aforementioned digital photo labs, such as Walmart.com and Ritz Camera stores.

With that said, I don't want any phone calls asking me if you should buy that snazzy new color printer :)