Abobe Releases Lightroom 2.0
July 29, 2008 by Doug
Filed under Mac Software, News/Events, PC Software, Software
Now a 64 bit app with dual monitor support.
Adobe Systems today announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 software. Lightroom is a set of tools for the serious amateur or professional photographer for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs.
Enhancements with this version include dual-monitor support, radical advancements in non-destructive image correction, and streamlined search capabilities. Adobe is also claiming improved memory performance for dealing with large-scale images over the last version.
This is Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel processors and Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems.
“A worldwide community of photographers provided valuable insight and feedback, as part of the Lightroom 2 public beta program, ultimately helping us deliver a better product,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe.
“Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals –NAPP.
Other New Features
In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image.
Plus Lightroom 2 helps photographers print more efficiently, while saving money, with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink.
New Camera Raw Released
The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 cameras.
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now through the Adobe Store in English, French and German. The Japanese language version will be released at a future date. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD $99 for qualified registered users of Lightroom.
Recommended system requirements:
Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel® based processor.
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1 GB RAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen.
Sprint Enables Customers with Personalized Web Content
July 29, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Cell Phones
Sprint is making it easier for customers to get the content they want with today’s launch of Sprint Web, a next-generation mobile Web browsing experience on popular Sprint phones. Sprint Web offers an adaptive home page that delivers content based on the customer’s previous usage, along with direct access to search from Google. This enhancement is automatic for Sprint customers who currently access the mobile Web on these phones and requires no additional action on their part.
“Sprint customers have always been able to access the Internet on data-capable Sprint phones, and with Sprint Web we’ve made it even easier for them to quickly find the information that they need,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product and technology development for Sprint. “Sprint Web automatically learns what content the customer likes and puts it on their home page, along with Google search of the full Internet. This allows Sprint customers to get the most from the Internet on their phones even faster, when and where they want to, with the Now Network.”
The new Sprint Web home page uses technology by ChangingWorlds, a global expert in mobile Internet personalization and content discovery technologies, to provide each customer with dynamic, relevant content and information as a result of their past usage. If a customer continually goes to sports links, the top sports stories will be featured. This allows customers to quickly get information based on what they use most. To access Sprint Web, customers simply click the Web icon on the main menu of their phone.
Sprint Web also gives customers direct access from the home page to Google search. Google is now the default mobile search provider for open Internet search on Sprint phones with Sprint Web. To access Google search on these phones, customers simply click the Web icon on the main menu of their phone and enter a term into the search box on the new Sprint Web homepage.
Sprint Web is available today on 40+ popular Sprint phones, including RAZR2 by Motorola, Centro by Palm, Rumor by LG, Upstage by Samsung, and Katana DLX by Sanyo. Sprint plans to make Sprint Web available on virtually all Web-capable Sprint feature phones over the coming weeks.
Sprint Web and Google search are available at no additional charge to Sprint data subscribers, including customers subscribing to Everything plans such as the $99 Simply Everything plan, Talk/Message/Data Share plans and data packs. Standard data usage charges apply for customers without a data subscription.
Pentax Announces the Release of the OPTIO E60
July 28, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Digital Imaging
Pentax has announced the PENTAX Optio E60 compact digital camera. With 10.1 megapixels, the PENTAX Optio E60 offers both new and experienced digital users beautiful high-resolution images and a variety of easy-to-use features at a budget price.
This latest member of the PENTAX Optio E series is newly equipped with an optical 3X zoom lens featuring a wide angle of view (equivalent to 32mm to 96mm in 35mm format).
The Optio E60 has several different shooting modes including Auto Picture, Face Recognition, High Sensitivity Digital Shake Reduction, and Green mode that sets exposure, sensitivity and other parameters with a single touch of a button. The PENTAX Optio E60 is powered by AA batteries. It has World Time and Date Imprint functions, and an Image Recovery function to retrieve accidentally-erased images.
The PENTAX Optio E60 will be available in a black finish in October for under US $140.00
GetThere Launches Travel Portal Aimed at Executive Admins.
GetThere, who specializes in online business travel procurement announced they have developed an enhanced portal dedicated to the needs of travel arrangers at corporations. The new portal, targeted on all global distribution systems in August, gives travel arrangers a wide range of information and tools immediately upon login.
GetThere estimates that approximately one-third of its bookings, nearly four million transactions annually, are made by travel arrangers. Nearly 4,000 companies worldwide use GetThere, including more than half of the Fortune 200 that use an online booking solution.
GetThere, a Sabre Travel Network business, facilitated the booking of $9.4 billion in travel in 2007.
Highlights of the portal include:
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Instant access to all travelers under the arranger’s purview, with at-a-glance viewing of trips and other information for the arranger’s 10 most frequent and/or most important travelers upon login
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Roll-over icons alerting arrangers to the need to update a traveler’s profile, visa information, etc.
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Ability to easily access and build both traveler and arranger-authored trip templates.
“In an era where negotiated volume commitments must be met to drive maximum value for corporations, the ability to influence this group of “power users” at the point of sale adds immense flexibility for travel managers,” said Suzanne Neufang, vice president of product marketing and user experience for GetThere. “The ability to target arrangers - who in many cases book business class air and four-star and above hotels for executives - helps procurement managers shift share at a moment’s notice, aiding companies in meeting their volume goals across their entire spectrum of supplier relationships.”
GetThere will demonstrate the new travel arranger portal for attendees at next week’s National Business Travel Association event in Los Angeles, Calif., at booth number 831.
KIGOO Release Enables Google Calendar Management Via Outlook
July 24, 2008 by Laura
Filed under News/Events, PC Software
The new application KiGoo offers users a two-way link between Google and MS Outlook. The application, running with Kayxo Insight technology, enables Google users to fully manage their main calendar and contacts through the MS Outlook interface.
KiGoo users are able to create, read, update or delete appointments in their Google Calendar directly from MS Outlook in real time because the KiGoo application takes advantage of Kayxo Insight platform’s .NET extensibility to access directly to the Google API. Kayxo technology enables this capability to act as a bridge between any external API or database and MS Outlook, leveraging the low access MAPI protocol but avoiding applications to deal with it directly.
In addition to being able to manage both Exchange and Google calendars in one program, KiGoo enables users to check the availability status of all Google contacts who share their information. And no synchronization is needed to be able to see, browse, update, email and invite Google contacts from MS Outlook.
This application operates in real time and is free to download. KiGoo supports MS Outlook 2007, costs nothing to download or utilize, and is supported by the technology platform Kayxo Insight. To learn more about or to download KiGoo, visit www.getkigoo.com.
Cartoon Network Creates New Multiplayer Online Game for Kids
July 24, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Mac Software, PC Software, Software, Video Games
Cartoon Network New Media along with its development partner, Grigon Entertainment, today announced the integration of the Unity Technologies game engine to create the first AAA, browser-based massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall. The use of the Unity’s game engine in FusionFall provides an online gaming experience for kids and tweens while supporting game-play on virtually any computer, PC or Mac.
FusionFall is a re-imagined and futuristic three-dimensional adventure set during an alien invasion of the Cartoon Network universe. Consisting of 60 play areas, FusionFall players team up with one another and Cartoon Network characters to defend the universe from an alien invasion. Launching this fall, the game targets the kids’ interactive gaming market and brings Cartoon Network’s stars of Ben 10: Alien Force; Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends; Ed, Edd n Eddy; Dexter’s Laboratory; The Powerpuff Girls; and more, to the online gaming realm.
“We are excited to bring the first AAA, browser-based MMOG for kids to the marketplace and expand the category of interactive casual gaming,” said Paul Condolora, senior vice president, digital for Turner Broadcasting System Inc.’s Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media Group. “Unity Technologies shares our vision of providing easily accessible, dynamic gaming experiences and we are pleased to deliver on this promise.”
FusionFall loads via the browser, making game-play throughout the Cartoon Network universe seamless. The game offers the use of a click and play browser-based game combined with the quality expected of today’s MMOG titles.
AirMe is Popular New iPhone Photo Application
July 21, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Cell Phones
AirMe, is a photo sharing application, that debuted with the opening of Apple’s new App Store for the iPhone 2.0. AirMe is a downloaded application that enables iPhone users to take photos and have them instantly tagged and sent to the user’s Flickr account, or to the user’s private AirMe account. All photos are auto-tagged with location, time, weather and any user customized information. According to iTunes rankings, AirMe is already one of the top five most popular iPhone photography applications.
“We are huge fans of iPhone and the way Apple has opened their platform to us,” said Mark Haverkate, AirMe CEO. “To be able to distribute the initial version of our mobile app around the world so easily and quickly is just incredible.”
The 1.0 release of AirMe, timed to match the launch of the new iPhone. AirMe is programmed and designed to also work on most other mobile devices, supporting shared video and photography. Upcoming AirMe releases will include photo and video versions for Sony Ericsson and Nokia phones, and auto links to Facebook, Twitter, and Picasa. More information is available at http://www.airme.com
Guitar Hero 3 on Its Way to Cell Phones
July 18, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Cell Phones
Hands On Mobile Corporation has announced the availability of Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass for mobile phones.
Players assume one of two character identities and try to achieve career goals including creating recordings, and signing record deals. The achievement of these goals allows players to earn both guitars that increase their performance strength and money that can be used to buy other guitars. Backstage Pass offers approximately 25 hours of game play.
“Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass offers Guitar Hero fanatics and casual gamers a way to play the gigs they love, but now there is an added element of working to get the gigs and seeing what it’s really like for an artist to work their way to the top,” said Niccolo de Masi, President of Hands-On Mobile. “The Guitar Hero franchise has been key to our success and Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass will continue this while raising the bar for mobile phone gaming with unparalleled community and connectivity.”
Through the Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass Web companion at http://www.guitarheromobile.com/backstage, players can register for full access to the Backstage Pass community. The online component allows players to message each other, check standings, download new guitars and music, and even join or create official Backstage Pass contests In the online contests, players have the opportunity to wager their in-game money and stats with each other against a variety of different scenarios.
“Hands-On has once again taken the Guitar Hero franchise to a new level in mobile phone gaming,” said Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing for Guitar Hero. “The Guitar Hero Mobile platform has proven to be a phenomenal success and a critical touch point for gamers to get introduced to the franchise.”
CNN FitNation Tour Calls Attention to Health Crisis
July 18, 2008 by Laura
Filed under Video Games
CNN is featuring a new fitness technology known as exergames to put the spotlight on the ever increasing issue of obesity. The exergaming equipment has been provided by XerGames Technology Inc., one of four National Participants featured in the Tour. The other National Participants are the American Diabetes Association, the Mayo Clinic, and Weight Watchers.
People in cities like Seattle and New Orleans and Dallas are participating the 8 player XerDance game at every Tour event, and Sportwall Group Training Stations at some locations.
“We are very pleased to be the first exergame company in the CNN Fit Nation Tour,” said Jim Teatum of XerGames and the former President of Nautilus. “Studies have demonstrated that the obesity problem is being driven by a dramatic increase of inactivity. We believe that most people are inactive because they are not very keen on counting reps or watching the time tick down on a treadmill; they would rather sit in front of a TV, computer or videogame. Our exergame products turn the problem into the solution by using computer technology to engage folks, involve them, and get them up and moving. Exergames are fun, and everyone - kids especially - love to play exergames. That makes a huge difference, in terms of the level of involvement and exercise adherence, which is a key focus of the CNN Fit Nation Tour.”
Sportwall promotes Xergames as:
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Fun and Social – Everyone loves to play |
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Can Be Used by Everyone – Regardless of age or ability |
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Delivers Quick Results – Cuts the learning curve for all levels of ability |
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Sustains Use Over Time – Instant feedback motivates play, supported by curriculum and score tracking |
For further information, see http://www.sportwall.com.