It may have been slightly pre-empted by Amazon, but Adobe has finally formally announced Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended.

 

According to MacNN, the upcoming Photoshop CS3 is called a "major upgrade," coming with new innovations in editing power and productivity for designers and photographers. An entirely new version, Photoshop CS3 Extended, also has valuable tools for 3D, motion graphics, image measurement and analysis for professionals.

Consumers can get Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended as stand-alone applications or as part of the expanded Adobe Creative Suite 3. Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended will begin shipping in April to customers in the United States and Canada. The former carries an estimated street price of US$ 650, with upgrades going for US$ 200. The latter, meanwhile, will go for an estimated price of US$ 1000, with upgrades starting at US$ 350.

Amazon may have blown the cover off of Adobe's strategy by inadvertently leaking information on pricing and release dates days before the scheduled announcement of its high-end Master Collection suite and other applications.

According to Amazon, the Adobe software will be classified and labeled as "OS X" and "OS X Intel" compatible versions. While there will indeed be a dichotomy, the fact of the matter is that Power PC users will be able to run the products with ease and that's saying a lot.

The prices revealed by Amazon are a little stiff, though. The Contribute CS3 package sells for US$ 95, the Master Collection goes for US$ 2,969 while web artists will have to shell out US$ 1,186 for the CS3 Design and Production Premium bundle. All of these are reportedly shipping in April, but users who prefer Encore, Premiere and Soundbooth may have to wait until July to get their fill.

We'll keep you posted on how accurate the Amazon revelations are when the official announcements hit on Tuesday.

Adobe announced today that it will be offering not one, but TWO editions of Adobe Photoshop CS3. In addition to the normal Photoshop CS3 software, Adobe will also be offering Photoshop CS3 Extended.

This new edition will add a new set of capabilities for integration of 3-D and motion graphics, image measurement and analysis.

"We never imagined that Photoshop would someday help make major motion pictures, let alone save lives," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.

"Whether it's a video producer texture editing the backdrop of a movie or a researcher counting hundreds of cancer cells, diverse industries are already relying on the professional standard in digital imaging."

Both versions of Photoshop CS3 will make their formal debut on March 27 at Adobe's launch of Creative Suite 3. For more info on the Extended version, check out the product page on the official Adobe website.

Good news, Apple fanpeople. According to BusinessWeek.com, Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora upgraded computer and iPod maker Apple Inc. on Monday. This was due to predictions of an earlier-than-expected launch of both the company's new operating system and Adobe's Creative Suite 3.

Tortora expects Mac OS X Leopard and Creative Suite 3 to be released simultaneously at the end of March. This is about one or two months ahead of Wall Street expectations. While we've just posted a clarification regarding the launch of Adobe's CS3, an early appearance for Leopard will surely be a delight for Apple fans the world over.

Tortora also predicted that Apple will benefit from the launch of the iPhone. The device is slated for a June release in the U.S., followed by Europe in the fourth quarter and in Asia in early 2007. Tortora boosted the Cupertino-based company to "Overweight" from "Neutral Weight" and raised his price target to US$ 105 from US$ 100.

Consider this post an addendum to our earlier post regarding the launch of Adobe's Creative Suite 3.0. According to AppleInsider, the new bundles will indeed be announced at a special event later this month, but that doesn't mean they'll be shipping immediately.

"We are announcing Creative Suite 3 on March 27th," Cara Cassidy, a member of Adobe's Creative Solutions PR team, wrote in a blog posting this week. "However, the software will not ship until later in Spring 2007."

Cassidy confirmed in the same blog post that the launch will indeed be webcast live at 3:30 PM ET. "During the webcast, Adobe will reveal the features and suite configurations that make this the largest software release in Adobe's 25 year history," she wrote. Details on how to view the March 27 webcast will be made available on Adobe.com later this week.

Finally, all you graphically-inclined art buffs can rest easy (hey! that's me included!). The release date of not just Photoshop CS3, but the entire Creative Suite 3 has now been confirmed. A few weeks ago, it was mere speculation. Today though, AppleInsider fleshes out the details of the CS3 launch.

Adobe will have a global launch of their graphics package on March 27 at an event in New York, and it will be webcast live at 8:30 p.m., UK time. The software company has even mentioned that this special event will be "the largest software release in Adobe's 25-year history."

Upon release, Adobe will be offering a whole line of distinct bundles that will include various combinations of the specific software in their CS3 package. And, with Adobe's acquiring of Macromedia back in 2005, what we can expect in this third-gen CS is the replacement of GoLive and Image Ready by Dreamweaver CS3 and Fireworks CS3, respectively.

Think Secret's Secret Notes section reports that sources "familiar" with the development of Photoshop CS3 have revealed that Adobe has sped up the release of the development builds and that a ship date as early as the end of March could very well happen. Secret Notes also says that an unconfirmed report - based on "internal communications" - puts the release at a much more specific date: March 27.

The rumored March release neatly coincides with the release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, there has still been no word so far if Photoshop CS3 will be taking advantage of Leopard-dependent technologies. Speculators have also pointed towards cross-marketing opportunities between Apple and Adobe as a reason for the rumored March release of Photoshop CS3.

While a release on or near Leopard's is indeed likely (Adobe has always released Mac versions first, after all), we caution everyone, especially those waiting desperately for CS3, to take this with a grain of salt. I personally can't wait, actually. I haven't tried CS3 yet, but I've heard that it has some great improvements in speed over CS2.

Apple displays and redesigns for the Intel Mac Pro are just a couple of the hot Apple-related rumors on the Arpanet, uh, I mean internet today. Let's take a look at the Mac Pros first.

LoopRumors reports that the Cupertino-based company is planning to redesign the Intel Mac Pro - which suffered a slowdown since Adobe's Creative Suite 3 is not available as a universal binary - both internally and externally.

The new machine is said to be "smaller, and 'significantly faster' than the current offerings" and will feature a cooling system that will "direct hot air through vents at the top of the machine, much like Apple's Cube of yesteryear."

A lot of Apple fans have scoffed at this last feature though. If you may recall, a lot of people messed up their Cubes by putting stuff on top of them, causing the Cubes to overheat.

New Apple displays, which have been talked about for quite some time now, are also reportedly being prepped for production. Says LoopRumors, the new displays are expected to in sizes of up to 50 inches (!!!). The new displays are said be even thinner, with a "lighter design" and "more mobility." No idea how Apple's going to squeeze mobility out of a 50-incher, but we're very interested to see what happens.

For those who use a Mac, chances are, you're using it for digital art - desktop publishing, video creation and manipulation, website design, etc. Now, you can't talk about graphics design without ever touching on one of the industry's software giants Adobe. Their Creative Suite is one of the most used application packages out in the market.

Their latest: CS3. It's coming out this March, but the good news is, Adobe will be rolling out a beta edition of Photoshop CS3 for download this Friday on the Adobe Labs website. You guys can test it out and get your hands dirty with the next generation in photo editing software. The beta will include Adobe Bridge and Device Central components for both Mac and PC operating systems. While it has been confirmed that Photoshop CS3 will be a Universal Binary, they say that the beta will be the standard version only.

No problems with that. At least we get to test it out. Some of you not in the graphics design industry might also be excited to hear that Adobe is developing an "Advanced" version of Photoshop CS3 which will be geared more towards the video and science markets - those that require enhanced capabilities with specialized images.

As for the other applications in the CS3 package (e.g. InDesign, Illustrator, Go Live, etc.), Adobe still won't come out with specific details. Fair enough. At least a beta edition of Photoshop CS3 is here to tide over the wait.

Today marks the release of Adobe's beta version of Digital Edition. This program is somewhat like a glorified Adobe Reader and allows the user to organize, acquire, and most importantly read media content such as eBooks, digital publications, and so forth. It even incorporates Flash interactivity into the viewer window.

Currently, there isn't a public beta version for Mac OS X users, but in time, Adobe promises to release it later this year. As for now, only the Windows version is available for testing.

The said program can also natively support .pdf and XHTML-based reflow-centric publication formats. With .swf flash objects, Digital Edition promises to deliver new levels of interactivity with the dynamic content. It can likewise integrate with Adobe Acrobat 8 and Reader 8.

Now you can view your "Sandman" collection of eBooks with ease. You can catch up with the DC and Marvel universe, and read up on those classic tales from the Bronte sisters. And while you're at it, why not play a game or two of flOw?