Looking at pictures of the family picnic can get pretty boring as you open one file, close it and open the next picture file. Wouldn’t it be cooler if you can create your own slideshow – displaying one picture after another, in sequence and at the pace you choose? It makes sense to viewers, that’s for sure. Especially if we’re talking about an instructional slideshow or a professional looking business presentation.

You want to look good and you want the visual information properly sequenced and paced to suit your purposes, whether it’s to entertain, educate or to show a new employee how to insert Tab A into Slot B.

You can purchase slideshow software but why would you when there are so many open source software apps and tools available, as in FREE. Here are some of my favorites. Try them. One of them will become your favorite. Guaranteed.

Roll ‘em.

1. Smilebox

I’m amazed at how deep in features Smilebox is. It does almost everything you could want:

* choose from 100s of predesigned templates
* design a slideshow for a specific occasion like a birthday or wedding reception
* integrate stills, digital video clips, narration and even a music bed and sound FX
* output the finished slideshow to an email, print it out or burn to a DVD with a click
* import files from any source – just browse your way to the best looking presentation ever

The interface is totally user friendly, making it easy to upload files and place them on the time line. You can also mix audio to create a narrated presentation complete with music – all in just a few minutes.

Smilebox is perfect for making personalized e-cards, online scrapbooks, photo albums, business quality presentations for upload to a client’s site – the list is endless.

And the cost? Zip. You’ll love how easy Smilebox makes slideshow creation. Even more, you’ll love how good your pictures look – especially when you provide a little narration to describe each shot.

Smilebox is one cool, photo sharing tool.

2. Photozig

Photozig does deliver a robust slideshow creator but there’s more to this download than putting on a good looking slideshow.

Photozig is also a great tool for organizing your picture files, using a “slide tray” to display all of your images. You can save pictures to different folders, create multimedia presentations, download complete folder contents to the time line for easy picture manipulation and edit your pictures with a centering and crop tool that lets you show your best side.

Photozig also lets you create personalized or business-oriented screensavers, wallpapers, DVDs and CDs. I’ve used Photozig a few times now and each time I do I discover more features and more functionality.

This slideshow editor gets two thumbs up from this reviewer.

3. Microsoft’s Photo Story 3

You know MS has to stake a claim in the photo editing realm and Photo Story 3 puts Microsoft on my “best of” list for the simple reason that it configures seamlessly with other Microsoft apps. It’s made by MS so it works with all other Microsoft image manipulation tools running in Windows XP.

The basic, home edition is pretty robust, but if you’re serious about your presentations, Microsoft also offers an MS Media Center edition, a special net book edition and a somewhat pricey professional edition for businesses that need more than PowerPoint.

The pro version is more than you need to create a slideshow for grandma, but for professionals who blog or otherwise work in the web world, Photo Story 3 puts control of your pix in your hands.

Try it, all you fans of MS. You’ll like the way it syncs up with all your other Microsoft tools.

4. PhotoStage

PhotoStage is made by NCH Software and it comes with a basketful of goodies.

First, there’s a complete, intuitive photo editor that simplifies preloading – something you’ll appreciate and a feature missing from some other free slideshow creators. You can zoom in or out, crop images, auto enhance and otherwise manipulate your pictures to suit your artistic preferences or your instructional needs. And it’s easy to use the PhotoStage editor.

Second, your finished slideshow can be output to DVD for viewing on any TV monitor (including high-def flat screens) or PSP, send your slide deck to any mobile device automatically, add vid-clips and more.

Finally, PhotoStage is 100% compatible with Vista based apps. You can add 100s of different pictures to create visual interest and keep your audience engaged, while looking every bit the professional in the process with a full slate of transition options.

Fun, fast and simple. This MS based slide sorter is a favorite.

5. Picasa

Most bloggers are familiar with Picasa – part of the Google Apps suite. It’s Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Photo Story product line and, I must say, it’s a handy little tool to download. FREE.

Unlike a lot of other OSS image creation software, Picasa has a lot of editing options that simplify photo editing and slideshow creation. For example, there’s an Auto Color option that optimizes the colors, even in scanned images in low res formats like gifs.

Picasa comes with an Auto Contrast feature, a Redeye compensator, a simple alignment tool, a border creation tool, templates and other fun stuff to simplify slideshow creation and photo editing.

I especially recommend Picasa for those shutterbugs who are using older digital cameras with lower res than the standards of today. The automated enhancement features “fill-in” the holes in your source materials making lower res images crystal clear. You’ll never have to delete an older photo. Just open it in Picasa, click the auto enhance features and even your old pix will pop on any HD screen.

I’ve used all of these tools for different purposes – from creating a family photo album to creating slideshows for enterprise tier corporate clients. Check ‘em out. One of these is perfect, whatever your slideshow creation needs.

And….cut.

Here we take a look at top 50 most viewed videos on YouTube of all time:

1. The Evolution of Dance

You only need 6 minutes to become a superstar. Judson Laipply, a 30-year-old comedian/motivational speaker from Cleveland, created this video titled ‘The Evolution of Dance‘ back in year 2006 which features the comedian dancing to 32 different songs over a six minute period. From Hound Dog of Elvis Presley to Dirt Off Your Shoulder of Jay-Z, he has managed to compile a list of songs from various famous artists and created a dance with his unusual dance medley.

2. Girlfriend

“Girlfriend” is a song by Canadian sweetie Avril Lavigne, released as the single for her 3rd album, The Best Damn Thing. When the song was 1st released in US, it topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and the chart in Australia for 6 weeks, while hanging on the 2nd spot in the UK. It caused a bit of controversy when it was reported that the views were generated by auto-refreshing bot.

The YouTube video of the Avril Lavigne song Girlfriend has also been accused of having an exaggerated number of views due to the use of a link with an auto-refresh mechanism posted by AvrilBandAids, a fansite devoted to Avril Lavigne. Clicking on the link will automatically reload the YouTube video of Girlfriend every fifteen seconds. Fans of Avril Lavigne are encouraged to: “Keep this page open while you browse the internet, study for exams, or even sleep. For extra viewing power, open up two or more browser windows at this page!”

Nevertheless, it’s still a good music video and definitely a nice song from the queen of pop.

3. Charlie Bit my Finger

There is nothing more amusing to YouTube viewers than the antics of children. The look on the kid’s face after Charlie bit him was priceless. Cute babies with English accent are perhaps the main reason the video garnered so many views on Youtube. This video is so viral that a lot of spoofs came out portraying the two little boys.

4. Miley Cyrus – 7 Things – Official Music Video (HQ)

The Hannah Montana fever continues on Youtube as her single hit – 7 Things in her second album, Breakout attracted teenagers from all around the world to enjoy the music video of their idol on Youtube. The single debuted at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 and two weeks later of its release, it raised sixty spots from number 70 to number nine.

5. Lo que tú Quieras Oír

Lo que tú Quieras Oír (Whatever You Want To Hear) is a Spanish short drama written and directed by Guilermo Zapata. The video was added to YouTube on March 26, 2006 and it was notable for being the most-watched non-English video on YouTube. The story revolves around Sofia, who returns home to find a voicemail from her husband, “Miguel”, who decided to leave her. Sofia decided to change the message which sounds like Miguel was begging her for forgiveness and he regrets for doing so. Sofia told the remix voicemail that she will not accept Miguel anymore.

6. Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music
7. Chris Brown – With You
8. Jeff Dunham – Achmed the Dead Terrorist
9. Hahaha
10. Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
11. Alicia Keys – No One
12. Timbaland – Apologize (feat. One Republic)
13. Susan Boyle – Britains Got Talent 2009
14. Lady Gaga – Just Dance
15. KATY PERRY – Hot n cold
16. Jonas Brothers – SOS Official Music Video
17. Jonas Brothers – Burnin’ Up Official Music Video
18. Vanessa Hudgens – Say Ok Official Music Video (With Zac Efron)
19. Chris Brown featuring T-Pain – Kiss Kiss
20. Potter Puppet Pals in The Mysterious Ticking Noise
21. Michael Jackson – Thriller
22. Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
23. Akon – Don’t Matter
24. Guitar
25. Jizz In My Pants
26. Timbaland – The Way I Are Official Music Video
27. Soulja Boy Tell`em – Crank That (Soulja Boy)
28. Rihanna – Take A Bow
29. Paul – Nessun Dorma
30. Gummy Bear Song
31. Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown – No Air
32. Beyoncé – If I Were A Boy
33. High School Musical
34. Connie Talbot – Britains Got Talent
35. Chris Brown – Forever
36. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
37. Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls
38. Beyoncé – Halo
39. Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)
40. Free Hugs Campaign – Official Page
41. “Weird Al” Yankovic – White & Nerdy
42. Rihanna – Hate That I Love You
43. FLO Rida feat. T.Pain Music from the Movie Step Up 2 ‘Low’
44. High School Musical 2 – Everyday
45. OK Go – Here It Goes Again
46. Battle at Kruger
47. Miley Cyrus – The Climb
48. Michael Jackson – Beat It
49. Aerosmith – I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing
50. Rihanna – Disturbia

Content is king. Everyone knows that, and in fact that’s one of the method to convert any random visitors into loyal readers. To get more visitors, you can spice up your blog content with delicious news and hot tips, but with so many probloggers out there, no one read every word you write and tend to focus only on keywords.

There’s an old saying which says ‘Never judge a book by it’s cover‘, but all human are born to be superficial (Not sure about you but I am ) Who loves Ugly Betty when there’s Jessica Alba? Same theory applies to your Twitter account. With a beautiful and attractive Twitter background, it will leave a deep impression for the visitors and who knows, maybe this is one of the reason they decide to follow you on Twitter!

List of 14 free and beautiful Twitter backgrounds after the jump.

Twitbacks.com

TwitterBackgrounds.com

TwitRounds.com

TwitterBacks.com

Twitpaper.com

TwitterBackground.com

TwitterImage.com

PrettyTweet.com

TweetStyle.com

DoctorTwitter.com

FreeTwitterSkins.com

TweetBacks.com

TwitterBacksNow.com

TweetHawk.com

WishAFriend.com

Rollip.com, the new project of Polaroid Corporation is a new website which users can upload their photos and apply polaroid effects on the photos. It’s fairly easy to use and you can print and download the photos after that.

The whole process takes less than 1 minute to finish. So if you are a Photoshop dummy that’s looking for easy way to modify your images, Rollip is definitely the one that suits you best.

Think this is a good app? Help to promote by tweeting to your friends!

Tagging your friends on Facebook is fun and easy to do, but it’s troublesome to find a good picture that can fit all of your buddies inside. With the list of tag your friends pictures, you won’t have to worry of being alone in Facebook anymore.

10 Tag Your Friends Facebook Pictures

Credits : Freesocialstuff.com

Credit : Wiqs43.com

Credit : Dobi.nu

Credit : Superlative1.files.wordpress.com

Credit : Colcedolly.com

Credit : Anonymous

Credit : Anonymous

Credit : Myotee.com

Credit : Anonymous

Credit : idigitalcitizen.files.wordpress.com

Twitter Mosaic is a cool site where people get to generate twitter mosaic on several products, which includes mug, cards, shirt, bag and mousepad.

It’s easy to do it, just put in your Twitter username and a twitter mosaic consists of your Twitter followers will be generated.

While it is cool to have your followers on these goodies, they don’t come for free (Which is a pain in the butt). A Twitter Mosaic classic bag will cost you £19.80 including shipping fees to Malaysa, which is equivalent to RM117.

Anyone of you interested in getting any of the products?

Great news for Flickr users as they can share their pictures on Facebook with friends directly through their Facebook profiles, highlight recent photos, and connecting with Flickr peeps that are on Facebook. This is definitely an great app since you can brighten up your Facebook profile with some cool pictures from your Flickr account. Here’s how to do it:

1. Login to your Facebook account

2. Save this bookmarklet to your web browser’s bookmarks (You can either choose to right click it, then choose Bookmark This Link, or left click it, hold and drag to the top of your browser, right under your address bar)

3. Go to the Flickr page with the image which you would like to upload to your Facebook profile

4. Click on the bookmarklet

5. Doing step 4 will trigger the Flickr2Facebook logo to be appeared over the image.

6. Choose the album you would like to upload the image into.

Expecting more steps? Sorry to dissapoint you