I am trying to work out Christmas gifts in advance this year; I know, how organized of me…right? Anyway, there are a couple of people I dearly love, but who are nearly impossible to buy for because they have just about everything they have ever wanted. On the one hand, I am so happy that they are in this position; on the other hand, it sure makes buying gifts difficult! When I ask them what they might like for Christmas, I get nothing but blank looks and a scrunchy face as they try to think of something. Hmm.

Years ago, Julie made me a photo book after our families took a trip to Scotland together. It is still one of the most thoughtful gifts I can remember ever getting from anyone, so when this Picaboo Photo Books special passed through my inbox, I thought it might be just the ticket. Unfortunately it is only for Windows, so I am not yet sure if I will do it — but maybe one of you can benefit from the deal.

You can create and buy one Picaboo Photo Book and get a second copy free when you use the code NVBGF; this offer is only good until November 30; simple books start at $19.99, but they can get much pricier and very elaborate.

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Tired of flash photography that makes your victims look like a deer-in-the-headlights? Here’s a cool photography tool designed for the everday picture taker. Place Professor Kobre’s Lightscoop over your camera’s built-in flash and it directs the bright flash upward instead of directly into the faces of your subject(s). This reduces that “spotlight” look and helps eliminate red-eye.

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Just in case you missed it two exciting new applications hit the iTunes App Store a few days ago.

Tweetie 2 and Adobe Photoshop Mobile have both only been out a few days but have both been receiving high praise from iPhone users everywhere.

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Photogene is one of my “must have” iPhone photo apps. It is great for rotating and cropping images, adding frames and effects and doing assorted other tricks with your photos.

When I bought it at $2.99 I thought it well worth the price. Right now, however, it is on sale for just $.99. To my mind that is a bargain. Grab it NOW!!!

Nanny cams come in all shapes and sizes.  From Teddy Bears to cigarette packs, it seems there’s a hidden camera disguised as almost any common household item these days.

Now comes the “Mini MP3 Cam” designed by Chinese manufacturer Xiangyun Industry.  This time the video camera has been cleverly hidden inside what looks to be a second generation iPod Shuffle.

The 1.3 MP video camera records 640×480 video at 20 fps in AVI or it can also take still .jpg images when triggered.  The camera has a USB connector for getting the media onto your computer as well.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a U.S. distributor set up yet but the camera sells for only $15-$30 based on quantity purchased.

Via Slashgear.

At home I’ve got both an iMac and an Mac Book Pro.  One of the things I sometimes struggle with is getting pictures off my iPhone and on to my Mac Book Pro.  My iPhone does all its syncing with the iMac, and I so I avoid confusing it I don’t allow it to communicate with the Mac Book Pro.

Now with WiFiPhoto I can easily and more perhaps importantly, wirelessly pull pictures off my iPhone and bring them on to my Mac Book Pro. The application only requires the installation of its 99¢ iPhone app, and nothing else that running on the computer you want to transfer photos with.  This means you’ll be able to transfer pictures to any computer, anytime, anywhere.

I just set up the app, and I had my photos on my computer in under 10 seconds.

Check out the demo.

You can download WiFiPhoto from the iTunes App Store here.

Do you have summer photos just hanging around on your hard drive, abandoned now that fall is here?  (Well, or almost here if you live in Texas!)  Don’t let them get forgotten–upload them to Picaboo!

Picaboo is a service that allows you to create photo books and cards from your digital photos, starting at just $9.99 for a softcover book.

They offer easy-to-use software that guides you through the creation process with tons of  layouts, backgrounds, fonts, and sample albums to help spark ideas.  Possibly the coolest feature of the software is the ability to auto-create a photo book in just minutes, similar to the Autoflow feature when creating a book in iPhoto.

They have different book options with various cover styles and sizes so that you can find the perfect fit for your album of photos from the summer trip, taking the kids to the beach, or documenting your honeymoon.  You can also share photo books you’ve created online.

I really like the options they have available.  I am a horrible former bride, and I still need to do something special with the photos from my wedding.  I think this would be the perfect way to create a keepsake for ourselves as well as our parents.  Christmas IS creeping up a lot sooner than I’d like–a photo book sounds like the perfect gift for my in-laws!  I smell a project coming on…

OK, so it took me a little longer than most to adopt the new iPhone into my life. Truth be told I preferred the video and still image functions of the Nokia over the Apple product.

It wasn’t until recently that I seriously began questioning my choice of cellphones.

The final convincer was a mention of some new software and iPhone app by onOne Software, Inc. that allowed the user to control one of many of the newer DSLR cameras remotely from their iPhone (or iPod Touch) device.  Sold.

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Mobile Mechatronics is introducing what they say is the first iPhone to Tripod Adapter. Whether they’re first to market or not their concept seems sound. Take a mini tripod, add a bracket to hold your iPhone and eliminate those blurred photos from shaking the camera while taking pictures or video. They’ll also soon have an iPhone application that enables picture delay, multi-picture taking with adjustable delay, time lapse and level.

Mobile Mechatronics

We all know how popular the iPhone’s camera is.  And we also know how equally popular the photo sharing service Flickr is.

Now the two truly are in sync with today’s iTunes App Store release of the official Flickr application for the iPhone OS.

The free application allows you to share pictures you’ve taken with your iPhone’s camera, geo-tag them and or upload them to sets.

I can’t help but wonder if the release was timed in conjunction with the pending rumored announcement of the new iPods with cameras.

Get it here, in the App Store.

OK, I am definitely a product of the 80’s & 90’s…nothing beats GI Joe (uh..the original!), Saved By the Bell, Alf (yeah that just happened), and Polaroid pictures! Unless you are able to track down one of these relics at a yard sale or flea market, what can you do?.

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The Sungale CD358LD Desk Lamp is a super energy efficient LED Desk Lamp sporting an ultra thin 3.5 Inch LCD Screen that not only displays and stores hundreds of photos of friends and family back home but it also doubles as a video and audio player with built in speakers, calendar, analogue clock and alarm functions with user friendly navigation buttons and shortcut keys to access content.

With internal memory storage of 512 MB with optional SD, MMC, and MS memory card support the Sungale CD358LD Desk Lamp can store up to 2 GB of JPEG, AVI and MP3 files so watching movies, video clips and listening to music while studying is easy and convenient.
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Here’s another quick look at a fun gadget from Budget Gadgets.com

The Jelly Lens 6 Mirage Maker gently sticks to the lens of your cell phone or digital camera.

Once on your phone you can turn regular old photographs into morphed 6 headed images with ease.

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My dad made the rather exciting purchase of a jet ski some months ago, and during the summer it was an absolute hoot to go out on the water and race around doing over 100kph (62mph) under the warm sun.

I wanted to get some video to show just how quick the jet ski was, but mounting a camera in such a way that it wouldn’t fall off proved difficult. Then it occured to me: the Gorillapod. With its flexible legs I could surely work out some way of mounting it on the front of the jet ski. Dan reviewed the Gorillapod a few days ago, and after showing him my little test of it he insisted I put my thoughts up too.

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PanDigital has announced that it’s new PanTouch Clear 8 inch picture frame is now available. The PanTouch Clear 8 inch frame has 1 GB of memory and a touch screen interface.  You can use a USB cable or a 6-in-1 card reader for loading it up with pictures of your loved ones. It also has WiFi, clock and calendar features. This frame could be just the thing for your mom or for prettying up your desk at work, and it’s available on the PanDigital web site for$119.99.