Adobe Flash Professional CS5
Company: Adobe
Price: New user $699, Upgrade $199
Note: This review is from the artist/animator point of view, which is what I use Flash for (when I use it). I am not a programmer and do not use Flash for web design and do not know programming used in flash and web design. I also do not do complex coding in Flash.
As an artist and teacher who occasionally needs to create a short animation I have always turned to Flash as my go to program. WIth all of the animation programs I have tested and reviewed for MyMac, it has always been one of the easiest to create an animation in, and it still is. Just opening the program presents you with a ton of templates to get you started on your project.
While most of the new features in CS5 are code and programming related (a full description of new features can be found here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/whatsnew/) there are a few features that are for the basic animator. Since I am not a programmer, I am going to focus on the features that more effect my use of Flash.
Photoshop CS5 Extended
Company: Adobe
Price: $999 upgrade $349 (education pricing also available)
It's here! It's here!
I first read about Adobe Photoshop CS5 last spring before it was released, and two things jumped right out at me (well, maybe three). They’re both real and make a difference, so I’ll cut to the chase: if you use Photoshop on an Intel Mac with Snow Leopard and at least a Core 2 Duo processor, you probably want this latest version. I did and still do.
When the official review copy showed up on my doorstep in a plain brown wrapper six months ago, I was ready to rock and roll. Unfortunately, life intervened, so here we are. By now every reviewer on the planet has copied and pasted from PR materials, tested and retested, and had his or her fifteen minutes of fame. For heaven’s sake, Donny Yankellow has a fabulous full review right here at MyMac! (see “Related Posts,” below.) All things considered, the “first look” video I contracted for would be silly at this point, never mind that I’ve produced three of them already using screen-casting software from hell (the one with the 68-page manual). My official reviewer status has gone the way of peace, love, and understanding, and the knee-breakers will soon be hunting me down for the DVD. I’m guilty as sin, with a target on my back! What then can I do for you, our faithful MyMac readers, and the Mac community at large?
Tell you what I really think, that’s what. So here goes:
Continue reading »
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Learn by Video
Presented by Kelly McCathran, Scott Citron, and Ted LoCascio
Produced by video2brain
Peachpit Press
ISBN: 9780321719805
$59.99 US, $71.99 CN
Like many Photoshop users I upgrade to the current version when the need for the newest features becomes too tempting to ignore. The latest version of Adobe Photoshop is CS5. A bevy of extraordinary new improvements such as Content-Aware Fill, Camera Raw 6, Brushes, Puppet Warp, Refine Edge Dialog, amongst others, make this application a creative and more efficient way to process workflow.
A four minute interview with our newest writer, in which Suzé discusses digital photography, Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, iPhonongraphy, book reviews, and video reviews. We hope you like our new audio content. Thanks for listening.
Click on the link below:
Host Tim Robertson has an hour long chat with technologist David Biedny. Honestly, there is really no way to easily write up a “what this episode is about” here, you just have to trust us and check the show out. We go into the Microsoft / Adobe merger rumor, history of technology, and so much more.
Listen to the show here, and subscribe in iTunes here.
Send feedback to tim@mymac.com or skype your audio comments to 1-801-938-5559
Download or listen to the show here, and subscribe in iTunes
Tim Robertson is joined by David Cohen and BeeJay Bhatt to look at the world of Technology. Up first, OWC Radio has continued post-Tim! BeeJay talks Android and his preference for that platform. FaceBook is discussed at length. How Tim is starting to use Social Media at MacSpecialist. And the big topic: the rumors of a Microsoft – Adobe merger!
Continue reading »
Photoshop CS5 Extended
Company: Adobe
Price: $999 upgrade $349 (education pricing also available)
Last week you read (or should have read) part one of my Photoshop CS5 review. This week you get part two which includes more new features discussed and my conclusion. Is it worth the price of upgrading? Read on to find out!
Guest review by Suzé Gilbert
Book Review: The Photoshop CS5 Pocket Guide
By Brie Glyncild
Peachpit Press
$14.99 US, $17.99 CN
I recently upgraded to Photoshop CS5 and came across Brie Glyncild’s new book, The Photoshop CS5 Pocket Guide. The book’s 5” x 7” size makes it convenient to keep near the computer. This volume contains black and white photos and illustrations, and its chapters are interspersed with the author’s quick tips.
Brie Glyncild states “…that this is a pocket guide to Photoshop, not a photography primer,” and her description is apt. She begins with a simplistic and brief explanation of the tools and workspace. Subsequent chapters discuss resolution, layers, masks, resizing, tonal corrections, editing in RAW, painting, effects, preparing images for the web, printing, working in Bridge, and actions. A lot of information is in a very small book.
CS5: Dreamweaver
Company: Adobe
PRICE:
- Dreamweaver CS5: Upgrade: $199, New: $399
- CS5 Web Premium (which includes Dreamweaver): Upgrade: $599, New: $1799
- CS5 Master Collection (which includes Dreamweaver) : Upgrade: from $899, New: $2599
Adobe continues to improve its entire CS suite of products with CS5, and I had the chance to have a quick first look of Dreamweaver CS5′s new features. This is not a simple product, and it was already packed with features. And now there is even more, with a few older features tossed out if they were replaced with even better ones. I will give a brief overview and comments on the new features here.
Upon launching, I have to say, the user interface has not changed drastically from my previous version,
Continue reading »
Photoshop Lightroom 3
Company: Adobe
Price: $299.00 
Product Page
Have you ever had one of those, “game changer moments” when you sat in front of something and just said out loud or to yourself, “Oh My God”? The first time I sat down in front of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 (LR3), was one of those moments for me. There are many ways in which LR3 changes the content management game for photographers of all kinds and skill levels. Read on and discover if the improvements to this third generation of Lightroom are all that, or not.
Continue reading »
Photoshop Elements 8
Company: Adobe
Price: $60 to $80 online
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/
Note: John Nemerovski contributed to this review.
It has been a while since I used Photoshop Elements, and I was anxious to check out the new features in Photoshop Elements 8. For those that don’t know, Photoshop Elements is the “lite” version of Photoshop, but in no way is this a “lite” program.
Continue reading »
Features I like and don’t about Adobe Illustrator CS4
Full version $599 – Upgrade:$199
www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/
Being a graphics professional, there was no question as to whether or not I’d be updating to CS4. No, it’s inevitable. Since I’ve been hearing a number of gripes about having to spend large amounts of money on CS4 when CS3 is only 18 months old, I thought I’d share my thoughts about the new features of Adobe Illustrator (AI) CS4 and let you decide if it is worth getting.
The first thing I have to say about all of the CS4 apps is I love the new tabbed interface. Even if you don’t use tabs in Safari or FireFox, you will quickly appreciate how this new interface cleans up your desktop and makes switching between open files a dream. Moreover, the new interface also provides better support for multiple monitors. In CS3, every time you launch an application you need to reset your custom workspace. No longer. Now all of the Adobe CS4 apps retain their settings. This is something Adobe clearly should have fixed in CS3 but failed to do until now.
Continue reading »
The Best Thing about Adobe’s New Photoshop.com is remarkable toll-free live person phone support
Web site: http://www.photoshop.com/
Cost: Free
Photoshop.com is Adobe’s new free Internet venue for uploading, editing, and sharing digital photos. Photoshop Elements 7 (Windows only) is being sold with aggressive promotion of Photoshop.com.
Continue reading »
We talked to some nearby exhibitors. They confirm the preliminary estimates made by the organizers of PhotoPlus Expo that there could be as nearly as much visitors on the show as last year (27,000). Nevertheless they also reported that sales were noticeable lower. Some blamed the slowing economy, some supposed the absence of Apple (that had a booth last year) had its impact.
Adobe Illustrator 13 (CS3)
Company: Adobe
Price: $599 ($199 upgrade)
www.adobe.com
I have been using Illustrator for almost a decade now, first coming aboard with version 8. I also did a review of the CS2 version, which I really liked using. To get up to speed on what Illustrator CS2 brought to the table, check out my review here:
The first major upgrade for Macintosh users is that, like all of CS3, Illustrator is a universal binary application, meaning it will run natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers. It was originally released while Mac OS 10.4 Tiger was all the rage in the Mac universe, but it works fine under Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. I found no problems or slowdowns with the application under Leopard. Good news for design firms that use Illustrator extensively and worry about upgrading to Leopard. At the time of this review, however, there are some workflow issues with Adobe Acrobat, so be sure to check out the Adobe website if CS3 is your production suite of choice. (As if you really had many other choices).
After my last review of Adobe Illustrator CS2, I received a few emails about stability problems users of the software were having. While at the time I had no problems prior to that review, I did start to see some stability issues crop up from time to time. Usually they involved the activation of fonts, or third-party plug-ins. As with that review, I’m presently not having any stability issues with Illustrator CS3, although I am using the base program with no plug-ins or odd house fonts.
Continue reading »
Regular readers of the MyMac website or listeners to the MyMac.com podcast will be familiar with the disappointment expressed by Tim Robertson and myself about the divergence in compatibility between Microsoft Office versions on the Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Unlike Microsoft, one of the other giants of the software industry that also straddles the Apple and PC divide recognizes the business benefits that truly embracing a cross-platform approach can offer – that company is Adobe.
Maybe it is because Adobe started in the font business (where the look of text needs to be consistent on different computers), and originally developed for the Macintosh alone, but their approach has always recognized that making it easier to share data benefits everyone. Take the development of their Portable Document Format (PDF) technology – using PDF means that any document can be distributed to any user, and that document will always appear and print exactly as the creator intended – whatever the computing platform being used, and whatever the print platform might be (be it a cheap inkjet or a high end professional print setting machine).
Continue reading »
Listen above, or download the MP3 here
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is delayed, and this weeks show looks into the news. Also, Robert reviews the TVMini HD from Miglia and David talks about Adobe, their contributions to cross-platform computing, and their current cross-platform approach in their software products.
Dreamweaver 8
Company: Adobe
Price: $399 full, $199 upgrade
Adobe Store
This is what happens when you procrastinate on a Mac article: the whole world changes before your eyes!
When I first got my review copy of Dreamweaver 8, it was fresh off the presses from Macromedia. I was happy to get it, and then it wasn’t Macromedia’s any more. Hearing that Adobe had taken over, I felt positively parental: “Be nice to my baby!” My younger brother may not have had the same reaction, though. Last October when I complained to him about Dreamweaver’s default action of asking for “alt” tags when inserting an image, he replied:
Continue reading »
The London show is not directly Apple sponsored, like those in Paris or San Francisco, but they do have a good record of attendance, and this year is no exception.
When I attended last year, the show was abuzz with the new iPod Nano and iPod with video, which had been launched a few weeks previously, and the then G4 Powerbooks had just received an incremental speed bump and screen update.
Continue reading »
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #403
Review
Review
Review