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Editor's Notes
Fred Showker,
Editor/Publisher, User Group Network News
_ * Adobe responds to Macromedia lawsuit
; _ * Adobe launches "Design Team" web site
; _ * Sophisticated Screen Captures for Mac...
; _ * Maps Of Afghanistan In Illustrator Format
; _ * Rain 3D into FLASH files
; _ * Ooooba Dooooba: 120 Gigabytes on my desktop
; _ * Free raw materials for FLASH geeks...
; _ * Easy online slide shows with PicMaster
; _ * iBook Peripherals and Software Utilities
; _ * Got advertising or sales questions?
; _ * Alert Microsoft Visual Studio users...
; _ * Tracking Revisions and Approval made Easy
Adobe responds to Macromedia lawsuit - I guess you've heard by now that Macromedia has filed a lawsuit against Adobe claiming that Adobe knowingly infringed on two of its "Draw-based Editor for Web Pages" and "Hierarchical Structure Editor for Web Sites" patents registered in 1998 and 1999. Of course Adobe claims no wrongdoing, and is prepared to defend that position to the death -- yet, in at statement last week, they say if it does, in fact, gain the nod of the courts, they'll either adapt the techniques or negotiate a license for the techniques. Just keep in mind they were sued earlier for similar infringements by NetObjects who then backed down in the face of Adobe's determination. Adobe's got very deep pockets, and can carry a very big stick. http://www.Adobe.com/ - Thanks to: Dave T. via The Designers CAFE for sending this in. File this one under: Who owns what in the software biz For more info go to: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0110/25.adobe.php
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Adobe launches "Design Team" web site - Leave it to Adobe to come up with new and innovative ways to get you to buy their products and click into their web site. They've launched a new "DesignTeam" collaboration service on the web. The DesignTeam service on the Adobe Studio(TM) Web site consists of two main areas to help designers develop more efficient Network Publishing workflows: Adobe DesignTeam, a subscription-based collaboration service, and a free community area offering a wealth of design-related content. Adobe is offering a one month free trial to users from time of subscription to the DesignTeam service. The Adobe DesignTeam service enables designers to be more efficient by using the Internet to collaborate with team members, clients and third-party service providers in one secure, online location. By using the DesignTeam service, Web and print professionals can securely share and manage visually rich files with version control, as well as organize and track team communication around key project milestones and assignments. The service also allows designers to review files and Web sites while automatically collecting, tracking and collating reviewers' comments without the need for original applications. Designers can use DesignTeam to securely deliver files to customers and service providers, while controlling and tracking the distribution. Expect to pay a monthly rate of $39.95 per user, and there's a one month free trial subscription, after which users will receive a 50 percent discount on the first three months of their subscription. - Thanks to: Stephanie Krueger for sending this in. File this one under: Business: Contacts, Scheduling For more info go to: http://studio.adobe.com/about/designteam.html
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Sophisticated Screen Captures for Mac... - Ambrosia Software has just released version 1.0.1 of Snapz Pro X for Mac OSX users. I can heartily recommend this program as the ultimate screen capture program. I use it all the time, and have paid the shareware fees twice over the years. Here's the cool part: Snapz Pro also makes a QuickTime movie of any actions taking place on your monitor! This is simply very cool even if you're not doing quicktime tutorials. Make a holiday greeting slide show or animation with simple GIF or JPG files, and create a QuickTime movie as you run the show. It works on OS 9x as well as Mac OS X. If you regularly capture screens using the famous Command/Shift/3 then you really need Snapz. (The upgrade is FREE for registered users!) - Thanks to: Mike Leigh, Ambrosia for sending this in. File this one under: Totally cool tools for Mac users For more info go to: http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/snapzprox/
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Maps Of Afghanistan In Illustrator Format - Map Resources has added nine new maps of Afghanistan and Southwest Asia to its online map collection for those of you who are dealing with the current US activities in the middle east. Maps include internal divisions, cities, roads, major airports, railroads, lakes, and rivers, plus full color terrain background. Maps are fully editable, Adobe Illustrator format files wilth separate feature layers -- they're royalty-free for newspapers and magazines -- and inexpensive to buy. Maps are available online for immediate access, and can be purchased as separate files, or as part of an online map subscription offered by Map Resources. - Thanks to: Barbara Fordyce, via Designers' CAFE for sending this in. File this one under: Graphics Resources for DTP: Publishing, printing, output For more info go to: http://www.mapresources.com/subscriptions/int_sub/subscriber_maps_new.html?subscription=int_sub
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Rain 3D into FLASH files - Electric Rain has released Swift 3D (2.0), a standalone application allowing users to design and render 3D scenes to the Macromedia(R) Flash (SWF) file format, as well as Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) (AI), EPS, and the latest XML-based SVG. The upgrade feature list of Swift 3D V2 is so long, this is more like discovering a brand new product than just offering a mere upgrade. You'll be blown away at how much modeling, animating and rendering power we were able to pack into such an easy-to-use interface. It's available immediately on the Windows and Macintosh platforms for just $159, US. http://www.swift3d.com Dave Klein of Electric Rain dklein@erain.com. - Thanks to: for sending this in. File this one under: Graphics For more info go to:
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Ooooba Dooooba: 120 Gigabytes on my desktop - Western Digital Corp. has rolled out the highest performance 120 GB EIDE hard drive on the market -- a 7,200 RPM, 40 GB/platter model. The new WD Caviar 120 GB hard drive provides storage for up to 2,000 digital photos, 5 hours of digital video, 45 hours of digital music, 22 games and 35 software programs and is ideal for users who take full advantage of massive personal storage for work or pleasure-related activities such as sophisticated business applications, digital video editing, music, movies and photography. - Thanks to: Elaine Marshall for sending this in. File this one under: Hardware related: killer hard drives. For more info go to: http://wdc.com
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Free raw materials for FLASH geeks... - Flash Kit was started because some Flash gurus wanted to create a resource site that all flash developers would find useful. They built it to create a one stop raw materials center for flash creations. The site owners have spent hours surfing for sounds, images and ideas, all free for you to use in your own Flash-based creations! - Thanks to: Roger at Flashkit.com for sending this in. File this one under: Graphics: FLASH, Multimedia: general, authoring For more info go to: http://www.flashkit.com
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Easy online slide shows with PicMaster - The all new PicMaster v2.50 brings a plethora of features to Windows users who like to do lots of things with graphics! It accepts Photoshop compatible Plugins, and does all sorts of image manipulation -- it will even make a Screen Saver from your Slide Show, and you can add background-music or sound-comments. Graphic designers might like it to create a Self Running Slide Show CD -- or a quick/easy Internet Slide Show with Thumnail Previews. Upload the slide show to the Internet and PicMaster creates the websites for you. Background-music and sound-comments will work, too. You can even create an overview of your pictures by generating a thumbnail table. Small previews of your pictures will be shown and you can get to the original picture by clicking on it. Even in the unregistered shareware version the Slide-Show-CD, Slide-Show-Website and Slide-Show-Website feature has no restrictions. The shareware version can freely appear in cd-magazines, on shareware sites, etc. Main features include: Image Editing, Filtering, WebCam, Slide Shows, 3D Images, Video Image Capturing, Scanning, Catalogs, Screenshots, Poster Printing and much more... For direct download go to: http://picmaster.virtualave.net/english/picmaster.exe for a virtual tour, click the link here. - Thanks to: Alexander Sabov for sending this in. File this one under: DTP: Graphics Multi media, Publishing, printing, output For more info go to: http://www.graphics-tools.com/tour/tour.html
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iBook Peripherals and Software Utilities - MacTreasures (specializing in Mac software and hardware not found on retail shelves ) has added an Auto Adapter, AC Adapter and Battery for i-Book models and utilities from Power On Software. The i-Book Auto Adapter and AC Adapter, from Battery Technology, are both 24v. The i-Book battery, also from Battery Technology is a Li-Ion, 14.8V Voltage battery. They carry a lot of other hard-to-find stuff too, like auto and airline adapters and batteries for Apples and Newtons -- clock batteries and PowerBook batteries. They also feature searches for software or hardware, and a wonderful Macintosh Computer Donation program to place donated Mac's into schools and non-profits. - Thanks to: Carole Holcomb for sending this in. File this one under: Computers, systems: utilities, interface, security, networking For more info go to: http://www.mactreasures.com
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Got advertising or sales questions? - AskASalesPro.com is a website that provides free email responses to anyone who submits a sales-related question. The site is staffed by a team of volunteers who each have a minimum of 15 years of professional sales experience in a wide variety of industries and markets. This experience ranges from inside sales to outside sales to sales manager to Vice President of Sales levels covering virtually all industries and markets. There is no catch - the service is free. (However, you are advised to use an expendable email address, because we suspect your address will show up on the spam lists!) - Thanks to: AskASalesPro.com for sending this in. File this one under: Business: Marketing, Sales, etc For more info go to: http://www.askasalespro.com
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Alert Microsoft Visual Studio users... - ActiveState, has releaseed Visual Perl and Visual Python for Microsoft Visual Studio users. Perl and Python programmers can now leverage the power of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and rapidly create, edit, debug and run programs with Visual Perl and Visual Python. Both these tools also have features that let programmers quickly build and consume XML Web services. Programmers can take advantage of the advanced features in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET IDE and develop Perl and Python for any platform. - Thanks to: Lori Pike for sending this in. File this one under: Programming Development and Web Design For more info go to: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/VisualPerl/
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Tracking Revisions and Approval made Easy - Raven Communications has launched PAARTS, Pre-Production Art Approval and Revision Tracking System, providing graphical production companies such as print shops, web designers, graphic artists. public relations, marketing and advertising companies with art departments, etc. a means of collaborating with clients and tracking client revisions to artwork and designes via the Internet. PAARTS scales anywhere from independent freelance designers to large production companies. The primary benefit of PAARTS is the reduction in production costs by combining content management, collaboration utilities, and work flow management across the enterprise and to the customer while at the same time providing additional value to the artist's or manufacturer's customer. Free trials are available for a limited time. - Thanks to: Roger at Raven Comm for sending this in. File this one under: Business: Contacts, Scheduling For more info go to: http://www.ipaarts.com)
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Fred Showker
Editor in Chief: The User Group Network News Service
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From Fred Showker, Editor/Publisher,
User Group Network News: December 15 User Group Network News Service at http://www.user-groups.net/news/index.html.
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