Ulead Press Release

Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus Brings High-Quality Surround Sound to Home DVDs - Consumer video editing and DVD authoring software includes support for creating soundtracks in 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound.

Northampton, UK July 26th, 2006 – Ulead Systems Inc., a subsidiary of InterVideo Inc., is bringing fresh enjoyment to home video projects by allowing users to create soundtracks in high-quality 5.1-channel surround sound.  Ulead® VideoStudio® 10 Plus video editing software includes full 5.1-channel surround sound support with Dolby® Digital 5.1 Creator. “Surround sound adds enormously to the richness of the video experience,” said Eldon C. M. Liu, president of Ulead.  “With VideoStudio 10 Plus, one click adds high-quality surround sound in the same format used by professional studios.  The results are simply breathtaking.”

REALVIZ Press Release

Sophia Antipolis, France (July 25, 2006) – REALVIZ®, a leader in image processing software development, is pleased to announce the availability of 3 new versions of their acclaimed panorama creation software, Stitcher®. Targeting photographers of all levels from the amateur enthusiast to the professional, Stitcher is now available in 3 distinct versions:

• Stitcher Express 2 - for digital photography hobbyists
• Stitcher Pro 5.5 - for professional photographers & graphic artists
• Stitcher Unlimited 5.5 - for professional panorama creators

REALVIZ Press Release

Sophia Antipolis, France (July 27, 2006) - REALVIZ, a leader in image processing software development, is pleased to confirm that it is now possible for users of their acclaimed photo-based software applications to display their content in Google Earth.  Panoramas, 3D models, virtual tours and other photo-realistic material created with the REALVIZ software products, Stitcher, ImageModeler and VTour, can now be directly exported and published within Google Earth, pin-pointing exact geographical positioning, courtesy of the Google Earth 3D viewer.

Extensis Press Release

PORTLAND, Ore. — July 26, 2006 — Extensis, a division of Celartem Inc., today released a free update to Portfolio 8 –– the leading Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution for creative professionals. This update is a Universal Application, adding native support for Intel-based Macintosh systems. The free update supports Portfolio single-user, Portfolio Client, Portfolio Server, Portfolio NetPublish, Portfolio NetPublish for Server, Portfolio SQL-Connect and Portfolio Browser. This is a Macintosh only update.  Registered owners of Portfolio 8 are eligible to receive the free upgrade immediately through the Extensis website at http://www.extensis.com/portfolio

Digital Domain Press Release

Qimage v2007.100 (07/25/06): Digital Domain Inc. is making Qimage 2007 available early and is thrilled to announce the most significant change to it’s professional Windows photo printing software since its inception nearly ten years ago.  With a completely redesigned and “skinned” user interface, an unbelievably clear and super fast “Hybrid” interpolation algorithm, and features such as copyright/signature stamps and “hyper printing” dual core print processing geared toward studio professionals, this bold new release is packed with advances.  And there are three new editions to choose from, starting with the Lite Edition designed for the casual shooter through the Professional Edition aimed at the serious amateur/professional, all the way to our brand new Studio Edition for businesses such as photography studios.

Adobe Press Release

Digital Photography Workflow Solution Now Available for Windows® and Macintosh Platforms

London — July 19, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the public beta of Adobe® Lightroom™ software for the Windows platform, a digital imaging workflow solution for professional photographers. Now available for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms, Adobe Lightroom beta is the efficient new way for professional photographers to import, select, develop and showcase large volumes of digital images. Windows-based photographers now have the opportunity to assist with the development of Lightroom by testing this new beta download and submitting feedback to the Adobe Labs forums at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom.

Corel Corporation Press Release

Maidenhead, UK - 17 July 2006. Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL; TSX:CRE) and Sony Media Software today announces the availability of a new software bundle in the UK that will help users transform their digital photos and videos into keepsakes - Visual Creation Studio Pro™ - at a considerable saving over standalone products. During the summer holidays, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos and video that will sit in video and digital cameras or on computer hard drives. Available now directly from Amazon.co.uk and the Corel Store (www.corel.co.uk/store), the bundle features award-winning software from Sony and Corel that provides easy-to-use, affordable solutions for video production, photo editing and management and DVD creation all in one box.

Sharpcast Press Release

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire/—Sharpcast, Inc., a pioneer in personal media synchronization and management, today released Sharpcast Photos Beta, an all-in-one solution that delivers the absolute simplest way to share, sync, back up and access digital photos from anywhere. Sharpcast Photos keeps PCs, the web and mobile phones automatically in sync, so people can view and manage their photo collection from any time and anywhere they want, whether they are online or off. Sharpcast Photos Beta is available for free at www.sharpcast.com. Current Sharpcast Photos Alpha users can upgrade by simply launching Sharpcast Photos Alpha on their desktop to begin the quick auto-update.

PictureCode Press Release

Version 2.1.1 of the Noise Ninja standalone application and version 2.1.3 of the plug-in version have been officially released. The plug-in update fixes a bug in the Noise Brush that sometimes resulted in corruption of the brush mask. The standalone update introduces Linux x86 support and Mac Intel support. It also adds profile annotation auto-fill support for image quality and adds jpe as a valid jpeg extension on all platforms. Both the plug-in and the standalone have added support for reading ISO information from EXIF Makernotes of recent Canon point-and-shoots. The updates are available on the download page.

Morpheus Software Press Release

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Morpheus Software, a leading publisher of digital photo animation software, today announced that it’s launching three new software products, Morpheus Photo Warper for distorting photos, Morpheus Photo Mixer for blending two photos together and Morpheus Photo Animation Suite.  In addition, the company is releasing Morpheus Photo Morpher v3.00, the latest version of its popular photo morphing software. “Today’s digital camera users want to get more entertainment value and enjoyment from their digital photo collections,” said Dan Engel, CEO at Morpheus Software.  “Our new line of digital photo animation software titles meets that need for personal expression, fun and creativity through digital photography head-on.”

Some more Pixmantec / Adobe merger news for you today, courtesy of an email Newsletter from founders Kenneth Laerke and Michael Jonsson.

Dear RawShooter!

As you may have noticed, Adobe Systems Inc. recently acquired the technology assets of Pixmantec. Pixmantec’s technology and expertise will be incorporated into Adobe’s products. Specifically, some of Pixmantec’s raw processing technology will be incorporated into Adobe’s raw processing engine which is shared by Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom. We, the founders of Pixmantec, will join the Adobe team, integrating our expertise into their products, and continuing to be able to serve the photographic community.

As the founders of Pixmantec, we’d like to express how gratifying it has been to see the level of support and praise we have managed to gain through the introduction of the RawShooter product line to the market. We had a vision of making top-notch raw processing capabilities truly accessible to a wide audience of photographers, and the number of devoted users that developed tells us that we made significant progress towards that goal.

Adobe has released an FAQ which provides some more information about its recent acquisition of Pixmantec.

Q: Why has Adobe acquired Pixmantec?
A: One of the great advantages of working with raw images is that, as the technology for raw processing continues to improve, the quality you can bring out of even your older images continues to improve as well. It is for this reason that Adobe continues to invest in our own raw processing technology. The acquisition of Pixmantec will allow Adobe to accelerate our rate of improvement and sets us up to deliver the world’s best raw processing solutions. Combining the best of Adobe’s existing raw technology with the best of Pixmantec’s technology will deliver noticeable improvements to photographers. More importantly, the expertise of Pixmantec founders Kenneth Tang Laerke and Michael Jonsson—developed through their work creating the RawShooter products as well as through their work on Capture One software—will be a great complement to our own expertise and promises substantial technology advances in the future.

Q: What are the plans for the RawShooter line of products?
A: The RawShooter | Premium product has been discontinued and is no longer available for sale. The free RawShooter | Essentials product will remain available as a download from the Adobe Web site until shortly after Lightroom 1.0 is released as a shipping product. The RawShooter | Color Engine will be taken off the market as soon as existing obligations to partners are fulfilled.

LaserSoft Imaging Press Release

Heidelberg High-End Scanners Get Updated by SilverFast Ai Studio to Run Under the Latest Macintosh and Windows Operating Systems

KIEL, Germany, July 10 /PRNewswire/—LaserSoft Imaging once again, building on its advanced line of award winning scanning/imaging software, is releasing SilverFast with new support for the high-end Heidelberg Nexscan and Tango series. This is a breakthrough for those companies who originally purchased these legendary workhorses only to run into difficulties when Heidelberg dropped its interest in the scanning market and discontinued support. This professional level software breathes new life into these high quality scanners and provides a current workflow solution to the thousands of units still in operation today. With SilverFast Ai Studio, it is now possible to integrate these scanners with the new high powered Macs and PC’s running the most current software to date, such as OSX - Tiger.

Nikon have released Capture NX as a 30-day trial version. We first saw Capture NX demoed at PMA back in February and were suitably impressed, naming it as one of our picks of the show - you should definitely download the trial version and give it a whirl.

Nikon USA Press Release

Trial Version Offers 30 Days to Test Drive Capture NX - A Powerful and Intuitive New Software That Dramatically Simplifies Photo Editing for JPEG, TIFF and Nikon RAW (NEF) Format Images

MELVILLE, N.Y., July 7 /PRNewswire/—Nikon (http://www.nikondigital.com) today released a trial version of Capture NX(TM)—a new software that is designed specifically for photographers, providing a unique and easy to understand interface with tools that photographers need, but without the level of complexity and clutter of other image editing applications. The software can be used with JPEG and TIFF format images from any source, and its patented new U Point(TM) technology offers photographers a dramatically simplified way to edit their pictures by enabling them to enhance specific areas of a picture selectively, without the use of masks, selections, or layers. Capture NX also works with Nikon’s RAW (NEF) format images, and inherits Nikon’s robust RAW processing capabilities for the highest quality results from NEF files.

ACD Systems Press Release

ACD Systems Introduces ACDSee™ Photo Editor - the Groundbreaking Photo Editing Software that Redefines Digital Creativity

Victoria, British Columbia – July 6, 2006 – ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA), makers of ACDSee™ photo management software and Canvas™ technical illustration software, announced today the release of ACDSee Photo Editor – an innovative photo editing application that offers memory keepers and photo enthusiasts the tools and guidance needed to turn their digital photos into something truly special and unique. ACDSee Photo Editor helps photo enthusiasts of all levels turn their creative inspiration into photo perfection. From performing quick fixes such as lighting and red-eye correction to creating fun projects like scrapbook pages, CD covers, invitations, and more, Photo Editor walks you through the creative process, step-by-step, using interactive How-To lessons easy enough for even beginners to quickly master, yet powerful enough to handle the most creative details.

Nikon Europe have released a fully functional 30-day trial version of Camera Control Pro. This stand alone remote camera control software allows full control of all aspects of the camera prior to shooting, and the subsequent extraction of files afterwards. The remote control software is compatible with supported wired and wireless interfaces. Extremely useful in high production studio environments like packshot photography, thumbnail images can be viewed on screen during transfer.

Website: Nikon Camera Control Pro Trial Version (Windows)

Website: Nikon Camera Control Pro Trial Version (MAC)

Breeze Systems Press Release

BreezeBrowser Pro v1.5 introduces XMP support and picture frames

30th June, 2006: Breeze Systems announce the immediate availability of BreezeBrowser Pro v1.5, latest release of their image browsing and raw conversion software for Windows. Long known for its sophisticated IPTC data handling, Adobe XMP data can now be entered and displayed within BreezeBrowser Pro for maximum compatibility with Photoshop and other applications. Input and edit XMP data in JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG, PNG, JPEG 2000 and raw files for maximum compatibility with Photoshop and other applications.

Corel Press Release

New Platform Will Give Customers and Partners Greater Control and Flexibility In Customizing Their Software

Maidenhead, UK - 28 June 2006; (NASDAQ:CREL; TSX:CRE) Corel Corporation today announced plans to release a new modular digital imaging platform code-named “Alta”. Representing the first hybrid product offering from Corel, Alta combines the speed, power, and security of desktop software with the connectivity and rapid enhancement cycle of Web-based applications. The first release from this new platform will be a free download that will be available by autumn 2006. Once customers install the free version of Alta, they will have the tools they need to easily organise, enhance and share their digital photos and video clips. In addition, they will be able to add new functionality by upgrading additional components as they need them. This will provide customers and partners with unprecedented control and flexibility in customising their digital imaging and photo management software.

CameraTown have published a review of the Exposure plug-in from Alien Skin.

“Alien Skin’s Exposure, announced in January 2006, is a Photoshop compatible plug-in which allows you to give your digital photographs the look and feel of film. In the world of digital photography more and more of our photographs are looking almost too “perfect,” with good exposures, accurate colors, and low noise - at least at lower ISO sensitivities. It is for this reason that many film photographers hesitate on making the switch to digital, and even when they do they still use their film cameras when they want the look, grain, and dynamic range of film. You see, not everyone likes the high contrast, sharp, and clean look of digital still photographs. Many wedding and landscape photographers still shoot with film due to it’s grain, wider dynamic range, and broader range of color. Is a plug-in that retails for $199 worth the price? Read our review to find out.”

Website: CameraTown - Alien Skin Exposure Review

Bibble Labs have reacted quickly to the recent news that Adobe have bought Pixmantec, by offering a discount to RawShooter Premium users.

Bibble Labs Press Release

Pixmantec RawShooter Premium Customers Gain Bibble Power at a Discount - for a Limited Time

AUSTIN TX, (June 27, 2006) - Yesterday, Adobe announced the purchase of Pixmantec ApS technology assets, and noted that RawShooter Premium will be discontinued. As a result, Bibble Labs is announcing a discounted competitive upgrade path for current RawShooter Premium customers. “Adobe’s announcement validates the need for competition amongst RAW Workflow applications like Bibble Pro for photo professionals and enthusiasts alike” says Eric Hyman, president and CEO of Bibble Labs, Inc. “Since our inception in 2000, we’ve been committed to developing the best cross platform RAW Workflow application, and to bringing value to our customers - both current and new - through powerful tools and frequent upgrades and are happy to provide an upgrade path for Pixmantec’s existing customers.”