Alien Skin Software has announced its summer sale. All products in the company's online store are available at a 40% discount through July 24th. This includes the Advanced Layers Update for Exposure X2, Alien Skin's non-destructive raw photo editor, plus four additional software products - Blow Up, Snap Art, Eye Candy 7 and the Exposure X2 Bundle.

Datacolor are offering all display calibration owners the opportunity to upgrade to SypderELITE+ for a fraction of the price this summer. From July 17th to August 31st 2017, users can save £1301 on the Spyder5ELITE package, which will include a Spyder5ELITE+ software upgrade and a 90-day Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan membership. Photographers looking to upgrade their colour calibration device can take advantage of the promotion by submitting the serial number for their display calibration device at the website below.

CamFi have announced the release of CamFi Matrix Time, which makes it easier for photographers to build a bullet time effect by using CamFi. “The bullet time effect is known from its use in the Matrix movies,” said Mark Ma, CamFi CEO. “But it was not cheap to build such a shooting system. This release of CamFi Matrix Time significantly lowers the cost of the whole shooting system. It’s free for all CamFi users.” This Windows-based application allows the user to control multiple cameras simultaneously via WiFi or Ethernet. CamFi Matrix can be useful in a number of scenarios, such as 3D modelling, Virtual Reality, panoramic photography, event photography, wedding photography and more.

Macphun today launched the free public beta of its award-winning photo editor Luminar for Windows. The public beta is free of charge and already matches some of the most important features of Luminar. The public beta of Luminar for Windows will be updated regularly leading to a full cross-platform release late in 2017.

Independent developer Alexey Khutorschikov has announced Desqueeze 1.5, an important update to his iPhone app that lets users re-format, re-size and de-squeeze a batch of photos and videos using presets or custom size up to 8192x8192 pixels and 4K, respectively. This update brings a number of improvements including a more streamlined graphical user interface, the ability to create, edit and use Templates, as well as enhanced stability and sharing options. Desqueeze 1.5 is available free of charge through the App Store in the Photo and Video category. Certain features require an upgrade to the PRO version, which is available as in-app purchase for $2.99.

Akvis today released Refocus 8.0, an application designed to improve the sharpness of out of focus images and apply lens blur effects to your photos. This update adds the ability to save and load custom presets and improves on the Crop tool. Additionally, the Batch Processing feature is now available for all editing modes. The software runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; and on Mac OS X 10.7-10.11 and macOS 10.12, and is available as a standalone application and as a plugin to a photo editor. Prices start at $39.

Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $1.77 billion in its second quarter of fiscal year 2017. “Adobe continues to execute well, with another quarter of record revenue and operating profit in Q2," said Mark Garrett, executive vice president and CFO, Adobe. “We're excited about the strong business momentum we have as we enter the second half of fiscal 2017 and remain confident in our ability to drive strong revenue and earnings growth in the future.”

Macphun  today launched the update to its award-winning photo editor Luminar. The most significant innovation in Luminar Neptune is a new photo filter powered by the artificial intelligence technology developed in-house by Macphun’s Research and Development Lab. The new Accent AIFilter allows anyone to create stunning images with a single slider instead of using dozens of adjustments and controls. As a user moves the slider, the filter intelligently and automatically “understands” what each area on the photo is lacking and improves it. Moving the slider can also adjust the intensity of changes, making the picture look more natural or revealing a more dramatic look, depending on the desired effect. “Our mission to make complex photo editing tasks simple and fun led the team at our R&D Lab to explore Artificial Intelligence technology for image enhancement,” said Kevin La Rue, Vice-President at Macphun. “The Accent AI Filter emerged as a ground-breaking way to make perfect images instantly, incorporating the power of dozens of filters into one convenient tool. This is something other photo software is missing; and what’s more important, it’s something that all photographers will greatly benefit from.” The latest update of Luminar is available for Mac only. In July however, Macphun will be launching a “public beta” of Luminar for PC.

The third major update to Zoner Photo Studio X enables users to quickly and easily compare and edit several photos at once. THe Clarity tool has been perfected, and people who love printed photos will be glad that they can now order prints in a number of sizes straight from the program. Another has been perfected, and people who love printed photos will be glad that they can now order prints in a number of sizes straight from the program. Another new feature is the option to publish photos on several social networks at once, including delayed publication. The program also offers a new video trimming function in the Manager module. A 30-day trial version of Zoner Photo Studio X can be downloaded from the company's website. Users who haven’t yet purchased ZPS X and who have already exhausted their trial period get a fresh 10-day trial period for free, so that they can check out the new update.

Phase One today announced Capture One Styles Packs. Each Capture One Styles Pack contains up to 18 different Styles focused on a specific theme. This flexible offering builds on recent enhancements in Capture One Pro 10.1, such as an easier preview of large style collections and nested style collections. It is designed to deliver greater speed and efficiency when editing multiple images. Styles Packs released today include 'Cinematic,' Black-and-White, 'Matte,' 'Seasonal' and 'Essentials.' Each Styles Pack, containing 15-18 styles, for Windows and Mac operating systems is priced at €69/$69. Five Styles are available for download as a free sample package.

Serif has released an iPad version of Affinity Photo. Billed as the first fully-featured, truly professional photo editing tool to arrive on Apple’s tablet, Affinity Photo for iPad is tailored to harness the power of the iPad’s hardware and touch capabilities. The app offers a complete suite of retouching tools including dodge, burn, clone, blemish, patch and red eye tools; plus super accurate selections and a comprehensive range of non-destructive adjustments such as Levels, Curves, Black and White, White Balance, HSL, Shadows and Highlights. Compatible with iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch, Affinity Photo for iPad is priced at an introductory discount of more than 30% - £19.99 / $19.99 / €21,99 from the App Store.

Apparent Software has released a new edition of ImageFramer, a well-known image framing application for Mac OS X. Version 4.0 introduces dozens of improvements, including an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom plug-in, batch processing, integration with Apple Photos, and the capability to export and import frames and design templates. "With ImageFramer 4, we focused on improving the workflow for photographers," said Jacob Gorban, Apparent Software's Founder. "We developed an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom export plugin, Apple Photos editing extension, and a built-in Batch Processing module. Additionally, exporting and importing of custom designs eases collaboration between ImageFramer customers." ImageFramer is available in three pricing tiers: US$29.95 for ImageFramer Lite, $39.95 for ImageFramer Standard and $69.95 for ImageFramer Pro.

MacPhun have announced the upcoming launch of their Aurora HDR and Luminar applications for the Windows platform. "Our Windows engineering team was formed in late 2015 and it has been working on core architecture and other behind-the-scenes tech since then, alongside our Mac developers," says Kevin La Rue, Vice President at MacPhun Software. "[T]he public beta of Luminar for PC will be available in July -  we’d love for you to give Luminar a test drive and help us make it as outstanding as it can possibly be." Interested readers are encouraged to pay a visit to the company's website to learn more.

With the launch of Version 2.8, infltr has become the first smartphone app to allow editing of the four most popular types of visual media on iOS: photos, Live Photos, video & animated GIFs. Available in 22 languages and priced at £2.29, infltr boasts millions of filters. Users can change the filter throughout their recording, scroll through the finished video to find moments to filter, or play the video and change the filter at the same time. In the new infltr, 10 new adjustment & transform tools have been introduced to enhance all four types of media. Users can change the photo's saturation, brightness, contrast, filter intensity, crop, rotate, straighten, flip horizontally, flip vertically and change perspective horizontally and vertically. Users can combine these new adjustments with infltr’s original filters & vignette to create their own personal filters which are saved to their account on the cloud, and so accessible from any devices. These new editing capabilities have also been integrated in to infltr’s camera which allows users to capture filtered photographs and Live Photos The filter can be changed in camera mode in real time by touching the screen. Now saturation, brightness, contrast, vignette filter intensity can also be changed before shooting. Users can access and create their own personal filters directly from the camera.

CyberLink have released MakeupDirector 2, the latest version of their virtual makeup software. The software has hyper-accurate auto face detection, with more than 50 adjustable feature points for applying virtual makeup, making the tool invaluable for makeup professionals and photographers for retouching and allowing them to avoid the cost of trying every shade or brand out in real life. New features in Version 2 include custom colour palettes for foundation, eyeliner, blush and more; step-by-step makeup tutorials and a revamped contouring tool. Additionally, further integration has been made with Perfect Corp’s beauty community Beauty Circle. “Applying virtual makeup should not be limited to traditional photo retouching, but should provide a method for perfecting makeup designs in real life as well,” said Dr. Jau Huang, CEO of CyberLink. “With Makeup Director 2 we have made this concept a reality, by adding interactive tools that are granting makeup artists and photographers the flexibility to ensure the highest quality results, regardless of the challenges faced in their projects.” The program is available for $49.99.

DJI has announced the availability of its Smart TV App for smart TV platforms including the Samsung Tizen TV and Apple TV. The DJI Smart TV App will allow users to stream a variety of aerial content and 4K videos captured from around the world, all in the comfort of their living room. Once downloaded and installed, the DJI Smart TV App can then be activated without the need for registration. “We’ve made flying and capturing aerial footage easy with our drones, and now with the DJI Smart TV App, creators will have more ways to share their work with the world. This is really an opportunity for people to be inspired, intrigued, travel to places they would have never imagined and see the world in a whole new way,” said Paul Pan, Senior Product Manager.

Magix have released the latest version of their video editing software, Video Pro X. From 10-bit HEVC decoding/encoding and professional colour grading to 360° editing and precise audio mastering, this new edition offers powerful tools for broadcast-quality results. In addition, scalable proxy editing, preview rendering and hardware acceleration enable real-time video editing in HD, 4K and 360°. The software supports all formats from the professional and consumer sector such as ProRes, HEVC 10-Bit, AVC and MPEG-2. Thanks to new support for lookup tables in Video Pro X, it can sync flat recordings with LUTs from the camera manufacturer or upload cinematic effect LUTs to create unique film styles. Lookup tables save colour grading information and can easily be imported and applied, or custom created and saved. The latest version of Video Pro X is now available in stores and online for £349.00.

Phase One today released Capture One Pro 10.1. New features in this version include an enhanced Stules workflow, tokenised watermarking, a new master reset function, vectorscope orientation for colour wheels, and a number of Apple Script enhancements. This update adds support for raw files generated by the Pentax K-70 and KP, the Panasonic GH5, GX8, TZ85, TZ100 and FZ2000, the Nikon D5600 and D3400, the Fuji X-Pro2, X-T20 . X-A10 and XQ2 cameras, as well as 21 new lenses. Capture One Pro 10.1 for Mac and Windows is available now and free to current Capture One Pro 10 customers.

Alien Skin Software today announced its spring sale. All products in its store - including the Advanced Layers Update for Exposure X2, Blow Up, Snap Art and Eye Candy 7 - are 30% off through May 10th.

Akvis have released updates to all of their image editing applications. The new versions offer a redesigned graphical user interface with support for Ultra HD displays, full compatibility with Photoshop CC 2017, some bug fixes, and other improvements. The upgrade is free for recent buyers as well for those who bought 1 Year of Updates during the last 12 months. Users whose licenses are older and are not valid for the latest versions can update each program for $14.95 or update all of the products at once for $39.95.