Today, Adobe announced the public release for the beta versions of two of their much wanted programs, Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR):

Adobe AIR™ is a cross-operating system application runtime that allows developers to use HTML/CSS, Ajax, Adobe Flash® and Adobe Flex™ to extend rich Internet applications (RIAs) to the desktop. New features in the Adobe AIR beta include an embedded local database, PDF support, enhanced capabilities for JavaScript developers, and deeper integration with Adobe Flex. The beta version of Adobe AIR and the Adobe AIR Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) can be downloaded for free.

Full Press Release

and Adobe Flex:

Flex 3 gives developers the power to extend the reach of their RIAs beyond the browser to the desktop using the new Adobe® Integrated Runtime (AIR), formerly code-named Apollo (see separate press release, also available today). Using the new Flex Builder™ 3 and Adobe AIR™ software, now developers can create more engaging, higher-performing applications that run both in the browser and on the desktop.

Full Press Release

Currently, Adobe has downloadable betas available for Windows and Mac, and plans to update the programs several times in the upcoming weeks, so download these apps and help them fix their bugs and improve their products for the better.

Adobe AIR can be downloaded from here.
Adobe Flex 3 can be found here.

Adobe, the unrivaled leaders in the design and image editing field for 2-D graphics, are ready to begin incorporating 3-D image creation and editing into their robust collection of graphical programs. Today, Adobe announced that the next version of their powerful Creative Suite will come with two flavors of Photoshop: Photoshop CS3 and the brand new Photoshop CS3 Extended.

While the popular and successful 2-D Photoshop will return with some excellent new features and tools (check out the beta if you have CS2), Photoshop Extended will allow designers, architects, engineers, and those that work in medical and science fields to create and edit 3-D objects and motion graphics.

And, along with the powerful 2-D Photoshop tools that are compatible with the 3-D and motion based content comes the addition of full-fledged video editing. Texture editing, painting, cloning, and multiple frame renderings are now possible in Photoshop Extended. After editing images or adding finishing touches to video, users can export projects in formats such as Quicktime, MPEG-4, and Adobe Flash Video.

According to the press release, more features for both Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended will be formally announced on March 27, 2007. After Adobe releases more information about Creative Suite 3, they expect to ship it within the Spring 2007 quarter.

Mac owners still snickering over some enlightening information on Vista’s development can break into manaical laughter now, as financial analyst Jesse Tortora of the Prudential Equity Group has upgraded the outlook on Apple’s stock amid reports that the new Mac OS X Leopard will strike early. Tortora believes that the new operating system will hit at the end of this month to coincide with the release of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3. Creative Suite 3 is confirmed to drop on March 27, but Leopard was previously believed to be at least a month or two away.

The move to Leopard and the release of CS 3 will likely spur those creative types out there to upgrade their hardware to the new Intel inside Macs. Thus, the belief that some serious non-iPod loot is in Apple’s future. Of course, recent reports by appleinsider indicate that Leopard is a paper tiger right now, with far too many bugs to be that close to release. Grain of salt, Apple fans, grain of salt.

[Update: According to new report, although Adobe will detail the features of Creative Suite 3 on March 27, the product will not ship until sometime later in the Spring. If CS 3 is going to be released day and date with Leopard it won’t be until April or May, putting the new Mac OS right on time.]

[Via Business Week]

If it’s free it’s for me! In the next few months Adobe Photoshop will be moving online and will be free of charge. It will be a stripped down basic version but if you don’t own or don’t want to pirate a copy, this is a great alternative. It’ll also be a great way to try it out if you’re just getting into the whole photo manipulation thing. It follows in the footsteps of numerous companies moving to an online format, where I’m already able to do word processing and spreadsheets on Google and the like.
Said Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen:

“That is new (for Adobe). It’s something we are sensitive to because we are watching folks like Google do it in different categories, and we want to make sure that we are there before they are, in areas of our franchises.”

[Via DailyTech]