Project Wetbrush acurately simulates painting

There's no shortage of painting apps that can simulate different artistic styles. But Adobe and Nvidia partnered up to create a physically accurate painting simulation running in real time.

Lightroom 2.0 for Android can snap RAW photos

Photo fans will want to try out the new Lightroom 2.0 for Android which, among several added features, can now capture photos in RAW (DNG) format.

Adobe Post allows you to create amazing images in seconds

Tired of unsuccessfully trying to create a beautiful image for a product, service, or a simple motivational message? Maybe it's time you give the new Adobe Post app a try, and become an instant master of great design.

Adobe Lightroom for iOS goes (really) free

The Adobe Lightroom photo app requires no introduction, but you may want to give it another shot, now that it's finally free... for real.

Adobe eBook reader has been secretly spying on what you read

Would you be able to visit in a library and read a book while someone else lurked over your shoulder and wrote down which books you were reading and for how long? Most wouldn't, but that's precisely what Adobe is doing to everyone using their Adobe Digital Editions eBook and PDF reader software.

Adobe Voice for iPad lets you easily creat presentation videos

It's not easy to grab people's attention. When you need to make a point, a nice animated video can do wonders and tell people all they need to know in a minute or so - and with the new Adobe Voice for iPad, Adobe wants to make it easier for anyone to create this kind of videos.

You've all seen it by now, from new products and services to crowdfunding campaigns, a presentation video is a must for all the cases where words or photos aren't enough. But now everyone has the required skills in video editing to create those effects and animations that make it interesting enough to grab our attention for the duration. With Adobe Voice, anyone can do it, using simple step by step directions with hints and recommendations along each step of the way.

To use Adobe Voice you'll need a Creative Cloud account, but it can be the "free version". After that, nothing stands in your way to make amazing presentation videos for your products, as well as to spice up things in anniversaries and even school work - if you need it. The only risk is that we'll soon see a flood of "Adobe Voice-styled" video in the internet, but experience tells me that it's not because a new tool makes a task easier that "less-good" content becomes better than the actual good content - just like having a powerful word processor in every computer doesn't worry the world's best writers. Sure, the tools are there and are nice to have... but they don't actually do much if you don't have a creative mind to begin with.

The origins of Adobe and PostScript

Today, no one will stop to think how the text that shows up in their computer screens is transformed into pixels that make it legible no matter if it's being shown on a large screen TV or a tiny smartphone display. It's one of the many things we take for granted. But in order for it to work, someone had to deal with the not very appealing task of making it happen.

A few decades ago, the mere act of displaying different fonts in different type sizes was a big headache. And considering you'd need to create fonts that could handle different devices, ranging from a low resolution computer screen to the highest DPI high-quality printer, it's no surprise that the "right solution" would become a very big deal. Professor Brailsford from the University of Nottingham tells us the John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, as they setup Adobe and created PostScript.

Two more "genius" that came from Xerox PARC, the place from which we owe so much today, starting with the mouse and the windowed graphical user interfaces we've grown to love so much.

The Free Adobe Photoshop... that Wasn't

In the past couple of days, a very intriguing announcement zipped across the web: Adobe was offering their popular image editing program - Photoshop - and several others, for free!

Sure, it was the older CS2 version, but hey... if it's free what's to complain? (And let's face it, even that old Photoshop is more than enough for 99.9% of the things most people will want to do.)

But, as I suspected, even this was too good to be true:

On behalf of Adobe Systems Incorporated ...

You have heard wrong! Adobe is absolutely not providing free copies of CS2!

What is true is that Adobe is terminating the activation servers for CS2 and that for existing licensed users of CS2 who need to reinstall their software, copies of CS2 that don't require activation but do require valid serial numbers are available. (Special serial numbers are provided on the page for each product download.) See forums.adobe.com.

You are only legally entitled to download and install with that serial number if you have a valid license to the product.

Meaning... Adobe is facing what all DRM-validated software activation will inevitably face: that eventually some old activation server will be shut down, and users will have to search around and find ways to bypass it. At least in this case they're providing some valid serials... and not simply redirecting customers to a "pirate" key generator.

The provided serials for end-of-life Adobe CS2 product follows:

Adobe Loves Apple Loves Adobe Loves Flash?

Reminds me of the great ad wars between Audi and BMW. Now, thanks to the Flash incident between Apple and Adobe, it looks like we're in for a similar ad campaign.

After all that Apple has said about Adobe's Flash, Adobe's answer was to publish a "we love Apple" ad:

Well... no matter what you think about Apple's position regarding flash, you have to admit their answer was brilliant! :)
Update: looks like it's just something made by an Apple fan.

Let's see if Adobe is up to the match. :)

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Preview

The most popular image editing software will soon become even more powerful. See some of the things the new Adobe Photoshop CS5 will allow you to do:



Seeing is no longer believing! :)

Adobe Buzzword

Web based applications are nothing new, but each day new and improved apps pop up.
If you frequently need word processors, then you should try Adobe's Buzzword, what they call the "First Real Web-Based Word Processor" and check everything it can do, and the attention to details in its amazing user interface.



For me, Google Docs is more than enough, but if you don't mind Flash, then this Buzzword may soon be your preferred word processor.

Photoshop Express Will Stop Stealing Your Photos

A lot has been said and praised about Photoshop Express,the free online version of the image editing software Photoshop (probably the most famous in the World.)

While this online version only has a reduced subset of the editing functions found on the desktop version, it's still more than enough for the majority of users wanting to do just some quick fixes.

There was only a small problem...
(that kind of problem that usually comes written in the smallest letters...)

Whenever you uploaded an image to edit, you were given Adobe the full rights to do whatever they pleased with your images!

This includes them claiming full ownership and being able to sell your photos as their own!

But finally, it seems they've realized they went too far, and starting on April 10, they're only claiming "those limited rights that allow us to operate the service" and won't "claim ownership of your content and won't sell your images."

[Photoshop Express terms of Use via Gizmodo]

Flash Player Updates

If you haven't checked it yet, be sure to visit this Adobe webpage to check your current Flash Player version, and if required update it.

An outdated Flash player poses a very serious security risk, and I'm sure that's something you can live without.

If you use multiple browsers, like Firefox and IE, don't forget to repeat the procedure for each browser, as they use different Flash players and need to be updated separately.