How can I accomplish these two things?

In my web designing class, I have to create something unique. And although this isn’t unique, no one else has thought of it in my class.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1751291,00.asp (Click on Slideshow to View)

I think these people are doing it with PowerPoint. Is there an easier way to do it? I don’t know how to code that much.

I also want to do this:
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_x800_xl_roundup/

Have the images as thumbnails and then display them in a bigger size with “Next”, “Previous” and the drop down menu. Can someone tell me how I can do that?

I have heard somewhere that it requires a database and I think we can use whatever we want to present the project. Thx.