XLsoft Lens Photos

Forget the craze for anime. Ignore the penchant for Tamagotchi pendants. The latest, strangest import from Japan’s pop culture has already popped into Orange County malls: Photo booths that make miniature photo stickers, where the model’s smiling face is framed with a customized border and background.

Now, the software is heading out of the five-and-dime arcades and straight to the PC. Irvine-based XLsoft International has licensed the StickerPIX software from Media Navigation, a Japanese software leader in this snappy industry.

“Everyone’s trading pictures online, so it seemed like a natural move for the home computer market,” XLsoft spokesman Brian Kimura said. “And in Japan, we find that software stores can’t keep it in stock.”

The program, a hybrid disk that works on both Macintosh and PC machines, will allow people to set their digital pictures against 260 different backdrops: Stand next to Godzilla, hang out on the beach or shriek in the middle of a haunted house.

Pick a setting and drop in the photo. Place the accompanying sheet of blank stickers into an inkjet printer and hit print. Moments later, 16 tiny photos are ready to decorate key chains, letters and other personal items.

XLsoft plans to begin distributing StickerPIX through its Web site, https://www.xlsoft.com, and software stores nationally in September. The program, which retails for $39.99, comes with five sticker sheets. Additional sheets cost $1 each.

P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at [email protected]