Adobe today announced the release of Creative Suite 6 and a new distribution and sharing mechanism called the Creative Cloud. In the new version, virtually all of the Creative Suite products receive significant enhancements, led by Photoshop CS6, which made its debut as a beta last month. Creative Cloud rolls access to the Adobe CS6 applications, app, magazine and catalog publishing services, collaboration and web-hosting into a fixed-price monthly subscription. Though applications are downloaded and run locally, product updates as well as additional features and services that will be served up regularly from Adobe though the life of the ...

Adobe Systems just announced the release of Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta, a preview of what’s to come in the next version of its popular digital imaging tool. It’s available as a free download from Adobe Labs. Customers can download the beta, try out the experience and provide feedback to the product team. Packed with new innovations, features and incredible performance enhancements, Photoshop CS6 beta is available for the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows platforms. The final release is expected in the first half of 2012. “Photoshop CS6 will be a milestone release that pushes the boundaries of imaging innovation with incredible speed and ...

A visit to Disney World more than 20 years ago sparked the inspiration. Working with Macs at college, and being a college student without much in the way of furniture, added to it. And Andrew Dusing was on his way to creating furniture out of, yes, Apple boxes. MacDirectory publisher Markin Abras recently spoke to him about his passion: Markin Abras > What inspired you to create furniture out of the Apple boxes? Andrew Dusing > I did not set out to make furniture or sculptures out of cardboard, let alone Apple boxes. The origins of inspiration may seem fair away from having anything to do with cardboard. November 1990 our family took a ...

Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced the immediate availability of the Adobe Photoshop Touch apps, Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav, or Apple iPad in the Apple App Store. These three apps from Adobe were developed using the Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) to demonstrate the potential for new interaction between Photoshop and tablet devices. Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop represent somewhat of a breakthrough for tablets, providing them with the ability to enhance the interface paradigms of desktop applications. These applications take advantage of the iPad�

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the program, Corel today released Painter 12, a significant update to its venerable digital art tool. The update sports a refined and highly customizable interface, substantial performance improvements and several new brushes and tools, many of which have no peer in either the physical or digital realms. With the introduction of Real Watercolor and Real Wet Oil, Mirror Painting, Painter 12 expands its natural painting abilities, giving artists greater control over wet media’s liquidity, viscosity, blending characteristics and texture. The new Kaleidascope and Mandala Painting feature transforms ...

Considerably sooner than the 30 days promised when it was announced in mid-April, Adobe Systems today announced that its Creative Suite 5.5 line is now shipping and available as a download. With this update, Adobe continues to expand on the suite’s ability to help users design and develop once and deploy on virtually any media. It features significantly enhanced digital and web publishing capabilities (including support for HTML5 and CSS3), improved video production and editing tools, upgraded Flash tools, and adds the first Mac version of Adobe Audition (see our exclusive close-up). According to David Wadhwani, head of Adobe’s ...

Adobe CS 5.5 is now out of the bag, with a host of new features including improved support for HTML5 and more app-development features. Also launching is the Pro Edition of the Digital Publishing Suite that's designed for publishers to create content and easily repurpose it across iOS, Android and BlackBerry's Tablet OS. As usual, Adobe has released Creative Suite 5.5 in a variety of packages, and a new subscription plan has been installed for users who don't want to purchase the software. Instead of paying a single fee, users can pay regular monthly fees for each program (Dreamweaver is $19/month, for example), or pay a higher rate ...

It has been discovered by OSXDaily that there are some really really big images in the resource files of Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2. One image was at a resolution of 3200x2000 pixels, which is an image much larger than any display Apple has ever produced has been able to support. This leads to hints that Apple may be planning on introducing their Retina displays to their desktop and notebook lines. This would be a dream come true for mobile professionals who currently can only max out at 1920x1200 resolution on the 17" MacBook Pro. [via: MacRumors]

Adobe Systems has just announced it’s first Creative Suite point-upgrade, which not only includes a variety of feature and performance enhancements, but a significant addition to its business model. Last week, MacDirectory had a chance to meet with several Adobe product managers to get an advance look at the upcoming changes. Suite for Rent The cost of entry for first time Creative Suite buyers (and long-time upgrade holdouts) has plummeted with Adobe’s new subscription plan. Photoshop CS5, for example, can be “rented” for as little as $19.95 per month. If your tastes run more towards the penthouse, Adobe will put you in the Master ...

Interested in checking out the new QuarkXPress 9? You can now download a free, 30-day test drive. With the evaluation software users can experience the new features of QuarkXPress 9 including tools for advanced design automation as well as the ability to create content that can be delivered directly to digital devices. The Test Drive version is fully functional for 30 days and includes the ability to print and save documents as well as open QuarkXPress documents as far back as version 3. During the Test Drive users can convert their test download into a full retail copy simply by purchasing QuarkXPress 9 and entering their validation code. ...

Apple released a new TV ad campaign to promote the new iPad 2. Here is a first look:

Quark Xpress 9 will ship in April 2011, with more new productivity features than any new release of any DTP software in over a decade. This release has been crafted to appeal to a broad range of users from beginner to guru. Publishing to the iPad Perhaps the best proof that Quark is healthily in synch with contemporary digital publishing demands is App Studio for QuarkXpress. App Studio is a dedicated design environment within QuarkXPress 9 for creating content for the iPad. It lets you create customized apps for the iPad, distribute them through the Apple App Store, and then create and publish content that your customers can purchase ...

Everyone knows what it’s like to try and organize pictures and graphics in this current digital age. From social networking to blog sites to cellphones to PowerPoint presentations, the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been more true than it is today. Then there is the issue that Mac users have. With its advanced capability and well-deserved reputation for being the creative person’s PC, presentations, graphics and web pages created on a Mac are expected to be impressive. Fortunately for all of us, particularly the graphically challenged, WonderShare Software Company Limited has created a brand new Web Gallery ...

In 2003, MKS Software and Show.kit Team joined arms and formed Eltima Software. At the beginning, the company was led by a group of students studying IT. One of them was Serge Sementsov who today is the CEO at Eltima. It was in 2001-02 when they started selling their first licenses for shareware products. In fact, their first client was won in 2001 by MKS Software. Their Virtual Serial Port solutions were successful back then, and are still mainstream technologies developed by the company today. Eltima provides a wide range of software solutions for both Mac and PC users and developers. Some of Eltima’s software solutions for Mac ...

Taking America into the 21st Century was a work of profound artistic commitment by Philip Johnson
Often the original all-in-one Mac computer is looked at as a design achievement, and even a work of art. But other than computers, it seems like the only aesthetic parallel the Apple design might have is in architecture. If there is any one artist on the grand scale who mirrors the artists’ lines that make up the Mac hardware line, it would have to be Philip Johnson. Seldom do disciplines as closely linked as architecture and computer design inhabit the same aesthetic space and yet are viewed as two completely disparate fields of ...

There have been several different companies that have been successful offering bundles of applications, and now there is another one on the market that is taking a slightly different approach. MacBundles is inviting its users to pick and choose whatever apps they want in their bundle at $5.95 a piece if you buy between 5 and 9 apps, or $4.95 if you by ten or more. The full bundle is available with all 12 for $50, but if you really don't need all the applications, this could be a great solution for you. Their current offerings are BookMacster, Clean Text, HoudahSpot, IconBox, iMedia Converter, MenuEverywhere, PrintMagic, RingTone Studio, ...

Autodesk announced today that AutoCAD for Mac 2011 is now available for sale. Of course, it isn't cheap as it rings in at $3,995, but for engineers, drafters, and designers who love their Macs, the price is worth it. It has been 18 years since AutoCAD was last released for the Mac, so this is very exciting. Having it able to take advantage of the Mac OS and hardware and still be cross-platform compatible is great, especially considering that there is now a free iPhone and iPad app integration. [via: TUAW]