Picnik
Picnik is a free program that allows you to edit and alter your photos by linking up with the places you store and share them, such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Photobucket and Picasa's online albums, as well as those stored on your computer. You can then email the image to Snapfish, Tumblr, SmugMug, WalMart, and many more. Logging into Facebook through Picnik also allows you to edit your friends' pictures, although you can't re-upload them to your friends' profiles (phew!).
An ad-free premium account allows you to manage photos across all your photo-sharing sites, and has advanced options such as levels, curves and full-screen editing.
Edit: This allows you to rotate, crop and resize pictures, as well as altering the exposure. Exposure, sharpening, highlight and shadows can be adjusted with simple slider, with the aid of a histogram. There's an autofix button, white balance correction and a red-eye fix that distinguishes between human and animal eyes. One nifty feature is the ability to draw a line across the image that Picnik will then use to straighten the image.
Effects: There's a wide range of filters and effects, from the obvious black and white, sepia, saturated or softened, to retro camera styles such as Lomo and Holga, or cool neon and gooify effects -- pictured above. You can also frame images, doodle on them, and add text in an impressive array of fonts.
Blog image: Resizing by pixels or percentage is possible, but no resolution change.
CNET.co.uk verdict: Comprehensive compatibility with other sites, plenty of effects and impressive editing options make Picnik the one to beat. 8/10


