Apple has posted a dedicated web page for Adobe Creative Suite 3. Appears to be a nice resource.

From the Apple webpage:
“Adobe Creative Suite 3 is here. And the Intel-based Mac family is ready. Are you ready to bring your most visionary ideas to life in print, on the web, and on mobile devices?”

The topics on the page are as follows:

• Optimized for the Mac
• Integrated for efficiency
• Designed for creativity

The page lists options to order the Mac Pro, Cinema Display, MacBook Pro, iMac and Adobe Creative Suite 3. With Adobe being such a huge software market for Mac users having a dedicated page is surely warranted. See the Apple’s web site here.

As reported by NewTeeVee, Verizon is launching FiOS1 in the Washington, D.C. area. This will be the telco’s leap into the content business. Whatever you do, don’t call it a news channel! That was one message made clear, by Verizon spokesperson. While a lot of what is planned for FiOS1 is what been traditionally called news — weather, traffic, local happenings — FiOS1’s plans also call for local sports (college, high school and even Major League Baseball) as well as… wait for it… USER-GENERATED CONTENT, from “trained” citizen video journalists Verizon has drafted and will send out into the streets with videocams, ready to film… not news, we guess.

(It’s just a hunch, but Verizon is probably a bit sensitive about the “news” channel thing since it doesn’t want to sour relationships with real news providers that Verizon has signed up for FiOS programming. Just a hunch!)

Continue reading FiOS TV: Verizon Creates Own Local News Channel…

Dell has received more than 100,000 responses in its recent survey, and more than 70 percent of the respondents said they would want a Dell PC with Linux for both home and office use. The Dell announcement of plans to pre-install and support Linux could encourage more widespread use of Linux PCs by small businesses as well as consumers. I am sure this will not amuse Dell’s software partner in Redmond. We are now living in a new world, Dell is struggling for new customers, Macs are all over the place and despite Microsoft’s claims that Windows Vista is selling faster than XP did, Vista is not doing as well as it should have.

Dell says the people have spoken, and they want Linux on Dell hardware. So this week Dell will soon begin offering Linux on select desktop and laptop PCs. Although Dell already offers the Linux open-source operating system (OS) for servers and its Precision workstation line, Linux is not offered as an option for the majority of its PCs. Is this just another sign that Microsoft has lost some favor with one of its biggest customers, that consumers are more eager to try alternatives to Windows, or both?

Continue reading Dell To Offer Linux on Desktop and Laptop PCs…

Apple will offer Major League Baseball video highlights through the iTunes music and video store. Downloads of individual episodes of “Game of the Week” or “MLB.com Daily Rewind” will be priced at $1.99; a multi-pass for a month of shows will be priced at $7.99; or a season pass for every “Game of the Week” will be priced at $19.99.

In a pre-NAB announcement, Avid has made the worldwide availability of Media Composer 2.7 and Xpress Pro 5.7, new versions of its digital video editing systems, now with native support for Intel-based Macs. Both new versions sport myriad other enhancements as well. Media Composer costs $4,995; upgrades start at $195. Xpress Pro costs $1,695; upgrades start at $49.95.

Continue reading Avid For Mac Goes Intel Native…

Now Cingular is confirming that the release date for the Apple iPhone will be June 11.   That date is no coincidence as it is the first day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled to be held in San Francisco from June 11 through June 15.

The iPhone was all the buzz earlier this week at the TIA Wireless 2007 trade show in Orlando, Florida. The iPhone made a very brief appearance, even though Apple did not. When AT&T Inc. Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson pulled out the gadget during his speech, the audience snapped to attention and the room lit with camera flashes. Kevin Martin FCC Chairman did get his hands on it for a peek, and didn’t want to give it back. The iPhone was whisked away a guy in blue jeans. This very brief moment made news all over, even the AP did an entire article.

Continue reading Cingular Says June 11 is iPhone Day…

Apple has just released Boot Camp version 1.2, allowing support for the 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows Vista. Plenty of other driver updates and new features are included in this release as well, such as:

• Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera
• Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player)
• A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions
• Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian
• Improved Windows driver installation experience
• Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows
• Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista)

See the Boot Camp page to download the new version.

Apple has introduced a service on the iTunes Store called Complete My Album. The service allows users that have purchased individual songs on an album giving you a full $0.99 credit for every song you have already purchased from the album.

Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price. However, Apple is giving users a grace period — you have until June 27, 2007 to complete any album that was ever purchased from the iTunes Store.

Here is the Adobe webcast for the Adobe Creative Suite 3 launch.

Netflix founder Reed Hastings has joined the Microsoft board of directors, expanding their board to ten. This is an indication of new a cozy relationship between the two companies. So far, no actual business deals have been announced. But a partnership could benefit them both companies in the current marketplace that includes iPods and Apple TVs among other competitors. TiVo and Amazon have joined up a while ago with their on-demand service, Netflix needs help getting into people’s living rooms with a physical set-top box, since Apple is off on a tear. The content owners are the real deal makers in this market I think.

Speakeasy, one of the largest and most popular DSL/VoIP providers in the United States has been acquired by Best Buy, according to the two companies. The purchase price was reported as $97 million, which the companies put at 20% greater than Speakeasy’s 2006 revenues.
Best Buy bought Speakeasy for its business operations. The plan apparently is to promote Speakeasy Small Business DSL through the company’s lesser-known Best Buy for Business program (BBFB). This deal will not happen until the first quarter of 2008. Best Buy plans to run Speakeasy as an independent subsidiary of the retail chain. It’s unlikely, that Speakeasy customers will see any significant changes, at least in the short term.

NeoOffice 2.1, the Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite is available in Intel and PowerPC versions and adds the latest features from OpenOffice 2.1, open/edit/save of Microsoft Office 2007 (OpenXML) Word documents, execution of VBA macros in Excel documents, support for linear programming extensions for spreadsheets, an improved Mac-like look and feel, Spotlight support, and more. NeoOffice is free for Mac OS X 10.3.9 and up.

So the open source developers have trumped Microsoft as expected. Offering support for Microsoft Office 2007 (OpenXML) Word documents, execution of VBA macros. If you are in a situation where you are working with Windows early adopters, this may be just what the doctor ordered, go over a get your copy downloaded. If you never tried NeoOffice, you may be quite surprised that it can replace Microsoft Office at a “zero” price point for many users.

TechRestore have started offering Apple TV owners a service for upgrading their hard drives drives overnight. The upgrades ranges from 60GB -160GB, and pricing includes all parts and installation:

• 60GB Storage Upgrade: $99.99
• 80GB Storage Upgrade: $149.99
• 100GB Storage Upgrade: $169.99
• 120GB Storage Upgrade: $179.99
• 160GB Storage Upgrade: $219.99

Customers can choose to self-ship or use the overnight door-to-door pickup option. Once TechRestore receives the Apple TV, its technicians will install the storage upgrade within 24 hours and send the unit back overnight.

Keep in mind that, as with all hard drives, storage capacities are estimates and are typically lower after formatting. But even the 60GB option would be a big increase over the stock drive’s 32GB of space.

UPS has rolled out a new service called UPS Intercept, that allows you, to intercept packages while they’re in transit and re-redirect them.Through the UPS Intercept page you can request:

• return to sender
• deliver to another address
• reschedule delivery
• have the package held at a UPS location for pickup

Nice to see “brown” innovating. This has the potential of making all of our busy lives easier.

Ecamm Network has announced the availability Call Recorder for Skype 2.0, $14.95 US. Call Recorder for Skype is an application that allows users to save incoming and outgoing calls as QuickTime files. The new version adds support for Skype video chats, audio level meters, and the ability to make annotations while recording.