Adobe Releases New Labs Project: Kuler

Adobe Labs has released a new project on their “Labs” testing site.  Going by the name “Kuler,” the project “helps you explore, create and share color themes for your Web pages, design projects and other creative work.”

Based on Flash (requiring Flash Player 9,) the online application provides a way for designers to collaborate on various color themes.  You can view other users’ themes and download them (or your own) for use in the Creative Suite 2 applications.

Feedback is being taken via a forum which already has 55 users logged as I’m writing this.

There seems to be a new energy slowly creeping it’s way through the halls of Adobe since the Macromedia acquisition.  The company seems to be more open to beta testing new products and it appears as though they’ve become more receptive to using non-proprietary technology in some of their more recent online ventures.  It’s refreshing to say the least.

technorati tags:adobe, labs, kuler, Web, design, projects, creative, suite

Adobe to Release Acrobat 8 in November

According to Reuters India, Adobe will be releasing the latest version of Acrobat, version 8.0, sometime this November. This latest version features updated tools for making changes to and removing information from existing documents. (At long last, Standard and Professional users can now “Enable anyone using free Adobe® Reader® software (version 7.0 or 8.0) to participate in document reviews, fill and save electronic forms offline*, and digitally sign documents.”) An enhanced “Save as Word” option is also included, allowing a user to retain layout, fonts, formatting, tables, etc. when saving to the .doc format.

Along with the release, Adobe is also launching Acrobat Connect and Acrobat Connect Professional:

Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ software enables professionals to communicate and collaborate instantly with small teams, colleagues, and customers through easy-to-use, easy-to-access online personal meeting rooms. Acrobat Connect brings real-world functionality to ad-hoc one-on-one meetings and small team collaboration, for an affordable flat price.

This will be the software maker’s first release since they acquired Macromedia in December of 2005.

Adobe Begins Adobe/Macromedia Branding, Releases New Suites

Hop on over to Macromedia.com and the odds are pretty good that you’ll find something interesting…the Adobe logo in the upper left corner. The merger is complete and Adobe has already revealed new product Suites:

The Adobe Design Bundle including

• Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Adobe Illustrator CS2
• Adobe InDesign CS2
• Adobe GoLive CS2
• Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional
• Macromedia Flash Professional 8.0

The Adobe Web Bundle including

• Everything above and
• Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
• Fireworks 8
• Contribute 3
• FlashPaper 2

Everything you see here has already been released both in Adobe Creative Suite 2 back in May and Macromedia’s Studio 8 back in September. This is, however, the first official release from the Adobe/Macromedia merger. I’m still VERY anxious to see what new features will be applied to each and every one of these products for their next release.