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Adobe announces Photoshop Elements 12 & Premiere Elements 12
Adobe has announced the next generation of its consumer photography and video-editing apps. The company took the wraps off of Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 and Adobe Premiere Elements 12 tonight. The apps have traditionally been aimed at the "hobbyist" market, and the latest version of each plays the increasing importance of mobile devices for those users, with the advent of mobile integration that makes it easy to wirelessly share your photos and videos between your iPhone and Adobe's desktop apps. TUAW will have reviews of both apps soon, but for now check out the full list of new features included in the latest versions below. NEW PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 12 FEATURES Mobile Connectivity -- With Elements Mobile Albums, consumers now have full mobile integration to view and share photos across their devices via Adobe® RevelTM, and publish and share to Private Web Albums. Content-Aware Move -- This exclusive Adobe technology lets customers easily move objects within a photo and automatically fills in resulting empty spaces. Straighten Tool -- Now fills in missing edges through the use of exclusive Content-Aware technology. Auto Smart Tone -- Exclusive intelligent software that learns customer preferences, resulting in one-click adjustments based on their choices. Quick Frames, Effects and Textures -- One-click photo frames, effects and textures, inspired by the most popular looks customers have been creating in Expert mode. Guided Edits -- Step-by-step instructions to create Zoom Burst and Photo Puzzle effects, as well as Restore Old Photo, which enables users to restore damaged or old photos. Pet Eye Correction -- Added in response to customer requests, Pet Eye provides an easy solution to the problem of flash reflection in animals' eyes, which is not addressed by Red Eye correction technology. 64-bit support for Mac -- Allows for more efficient use of built-in memory, maximizing performance and enabling larger image files and videos to be edited quickly. NEW PREMIERE ELEMENTS 12 FEATURES Mobile Connectivity -- With Elements Mobile Albums, consumers now have full mobile integration to view and share videos across their devices via Adobe® RevelTM, and publish and share to Private Web Albums. Auto Smart Tone -- The same exclusive technology found in Photoshop Elements 12. Scores -- More than 50 soundtracks that automatically regenerate to fit the duration of a clip, making it easy to create home movies with perfectly timed intros, outros and background music. Sound Effects -- More than 250 effects that add excitement and dimension to audio tracks. Guided Edits -- Step-by-step navigation on how to get started, trim frames, add scores, transitions, titles and narrations, as well as animating graphics and creating pictures within pictures. Film Looks -- Four new filters add stylized Hollywood flare to home movies including Comic, Trinity, Yesteryear and Cross Process.
iOS 5 features: Changes to Camera and Photos
With the release of iOS 5, iPhone and iPad photographers now have a few new settings and features. The Camera and Photos apps have both been updated in iOS 5, but how those updates appear depends on the device you're using. On the HDR-equipped iPhone 4 (and likely on the 4S as well), the Camera app now displays an Options button at the top of the screen between the flash and camera selection buttons. A tap on the button displays two switches -- Grid and HDR -- that are used to turn on or off a rule of thirds grid and the High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR) capabilities of the camera. On the iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS, neither of which have HDR capabilities, the grid switch is still available to assist in taking more aesthetically pleasing photos. %Gallery-136297% When you switch between the Camera and Photos apps, the Photos app now displays a bright blue camera icon so you can immediately jump back to the Camera to take another photo. The Photos sharing button now adds "Tweet" as a function in addition to emailing and messaging photos, assigning a photo to a contact card, using a photo as wallpaper, and printing. Probably the biggest addition to Photos in iOS 5 is the ability to edit photos within the app. When viewing an image in the photo library, tapping the new Edit button brings up an edit screen with four buttons: rotate, enhance, red-eye correction, and crop. Rotate spins the image 90 degrees counterclockwise with each tap, while Enhance works just like the same button in iPhoto. If you've taken a flash photo and are faced with a picture of a person who looks demonic, the red-eye tool works to "get the red out." Cropping is now possible, both free-form and constrained to different aspect ratios. Of course, there's also the ability to use Photo Stream to upload your new photos to iCloud and sync them to all of your other devices. That feature is so seamless that it really doesn't feel like a feature -- it just happens. I do find Photo Stream to be a great way of getting my photos back to the Mac. I take a photo when I'm out and about, and know that it's going to appear on the Mac by the time I return home. Photos works hand-in-hand with iPhoto, so any groupings by Faces or Places appear on your iOS device. That's fun, since you can quickly pull up all of the photos of a particular friend or family member, or view the pictures taken at a particular place. The changes to Photos make it a rough iOS version of iPhoto, making me wonder if the next version will gain even more features and be renamed to iPhoto. While the updates to Photos and Camera aren't earth-shattering, they definitely add functionality to these built-in apps that will be useful to those who don't want to buy third-party photography apps.
ThinkFlood's RedEye universal remote control becomes web compatible, leaves past woes in the dust
After going through some rough times with its RedEye mini dongle and doing right by replacing them, ThinkFlood appears to be running full beam ahead once more. Specifically, the company has announced that RedEye owners will soon have the ability to setup and control their remote systems straight from their PC or mobile browser. On the mobile front, apparently the web app will even work on Android and BlackBerry devices, despite being optimized for Safari on iOS -- hinting that non iPhone owners could possibly let their phones control more than their social lives soon. Setup wise, the web version also allows users to automatically align and move multiple buttons at once, plus assign commands to over 70+ keyboard shortcuts. Combined with the ability to make adjustments using a mouse on a computer's larger screen, tweaking custom RedEye remote layouts just got infinitely easier -- you hear that Harmony? The iOS app 2.0 update is also now available as a free 'Plus' download in the iTunes store, and finally supports the iPad's lovely screen in either orientation. In a sense, it's further substantiating the tablet's new career path as a jumbo-buttoned geezer remote of the future, but hey -- no gripes here.
Atree rolls out J2 Red Eye White Edition PMP
Atree's J2 "Red Eye" PMP has only floating around for a short while now, but it looks like the company is already busy filling out its offerings, and it's now kicked out a new white model for those not so keen on the previous candy-colored options. Apart from that change, however, the player looks to remain the same as before, with it sporting a 2.4-inch QVGA display, your choice of 4GB or 8GB capacities, a microSD card slot for expansion, support for most of the big audio / video formats, and that trademark HAL 9000-esque "Red Eye" button on the front. Still no word on an official release 'round here, as you might have guessed, but it starts at the local equivalent $92 if you're planning a Korean vacation anytime soon.[Via PMP Today]
WoW Moviewatch: Frontline Preview
Red Eye Lobine posted the preview for Frontline on YouTube. Smartersnipe of Bladefist dropped us a tip about the video, and I'm really glad he did. I'm usually a little nervous about previews and trailers, because they often don't see fruition. But after checking this out in both normal quailty and HD, I was totally convinced that I had to display it.Okay, so the basic story of the video so far is a trope. Two badarses beat up a bunch of people, pose impressively, and generally look heavy metal awesome. But, as I've said before, some tropes are tropes because they're awesome. And you don't fix what ain't broke, right? I loved the opening shot of an eagle soaring over the countryside. Again, granted, it's a bit of a cliche, but it's one that wonderfully sets the scene for upcoming action. After the eagle screeches, the camera zooms in on our badarse orc warriors. They proceed to lay some smackdown on people.If you're looking for deep, meaningful, pretty prose, this might not be your video. But, if you'd like an inspirational piece to fire your blood before Wintergrasp, especially if you're Horde, Frontline's going to be your pick. I look forward to Red Eye finishing it. His graphics are amazing, and I can't wait to see what he's got up his sleeve.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
FotoNation embeds red-eye reduction for that cellphone cam
Are you that avid cellphone cam user who snatches a dozen nocturnal photos a day to wirelessly upload to that Flickr or other photo blog account? If you use the measly flash found on most cellphone cams these days, dontcha' wish there was a way to have that nasty red-eye effect taken out before your precious photos ended up on the global net of photos? It's a pity when you have to download that sweet pic into PhotoShop, Picasa or some other app just to wipe that red-eye out. That concern will be a non-issue to many cellphone cam users shortly if FotoNation gets its way. The online imaging company has announced its "Red-Eye Correction Technology" (snazzy name, eh?) it hopes will be soon embedded into the firmware of most cellphones.
Wes Craven pondering games career
The man responsible for introducing us to Freddy Krueger may soon be following in the footsteps of the Wachowski brothers, Steven Spielberg, and other Hollywood heavyweights who are crossing over into the gaming biz. And unlike some people in the entertainment industry, writer-director Wes Craven feels that if video games contain "deep stories, characters, and narratives", they should be considered forms of art. Speaking with author and Mercury News blogger Dean Takahashi at the MI6 Game Marketing conference, Craven also confirmed he is "in talks" to make an original video game. However, if you're expecting a Resident Evil-style romp from the horror maven, you may be surprised with what he eventually produces. The former college professor feels there are not enough educational games on the market, and sees opportunities to simulate world politics and health problems. Whatever it is, Wes, don't let "you know who" make a movie out of it.In addition to Nightmare on Elm Street, the prolific Craven has also written and/or directed The Hills Have Eyes, Swamp Thing, Scream, and Red Eye.See also: WesCraven.com
Enable an advanced edit mode in iPhoto 6
Rob Griffiths at Macworld has stumbled upon an advanced edit mode in iPhoto 6 that offers some advanced functions when using the Retouch or Red-Eye tools. When using either of these tools, you can hit ctrl-caps lock-9 (yes, I said caps lock) to switch on these specialized cursors that allow you to fine-tune the affected areas and intensities that will be applied to your image.Check out the Macworld article for the full run-down on how these tools work and how you can customize them, as well as an example of their abilities.[via Daring Fireball, image via Macworld]
Kodak patent for age-detecting camera system
Even despite all those face lifts, tummy tucks, fake tans, dye-jobs, and botox injections, Kodak may soon be able to accurately gauge one's age when it comes snapshot time. They apparently filed a patent in 2004 for a system which, as the above images culled from their patent filing so plainly suggest, determines the age of a photographer's subject by putting that red-eye effect to good use and metering the size and distance between those two red dots the rest of us can't seem to reliably get rid of in our photos. Apparently pupil dilation reflex time increases with age (like most other reflexes), you'll be able to find out for sure whether Grandma really is as young as she says. Though frankly we're not really sure we want to know.[Via New Scientist]
