CS

Two years ago, Adobe Systems thought the only big change coming with Photoshop CS5 would be the complete overhaul needed to build a 64-bit Mac version. With the unveiling of the software Monday, though, it's clear Adobe far exceeded that low expectation.

Photoshop CS5 brings a number of high-profile features for photographers, artists, and the broader designer market that uses the software. It's just one of numerous changes among the Creative Suite 5 packages Adobe is unveiling at a Monday event, but it's one of Adobe's highest-profile programs. So without further ado, here's what's … Read more

Apple's distaste for Adobe Systems' Flash went a step further Thursday with new iPhone programming terms that could shut down an Adobe tactic to slip its technology onto the iPhone through the back door.

Flash is a widely used foundation for applications and video-streaming sites on the Web. Apple doesn't like it and blocks it on the iPhone and iPad, though it's ubiquitous on PCs and laptops.

Adobe sidesteps this ban with its upcoming Flash Pro CS5--due to be formally announced next week--which can package Flash applications so they run as standalone programs on the iPhone. Last … Read more

After months of teasers, Adobe has finally announced its fifth Creative Suite, also known as CS5. While there's no hard and fast release date yet, Adobe generally makes new software available within 30 days of announcing its apps. We're expecting to see the whole CS5 caboodle arrive by May 12, though it's no secret that Photoshop is the one app in Adobe's portfolio we've got our eyes glued to. To show you what we mean, we'll start you out with a run-down of what's new and follow up with a list of gripes … Read more

I have to admit--I'm in complete awe at the capability of Adobe's PR machine to instigate and maintain a steady buzz about a product months before it's even official without ever having to lie, pretend to leak, or have a well-known evangelist equipped with a reality distortion field. For a product like Adobe's Creative Suite, home to popular applications like Photoshop and Flash, there's never a doubt that a new version will arrive,  and it's on a pretty regular timetable of every 18 to 24 months. That means Adobe can't rely on … Read more

The folks from iFrogz wanted to give away a set of its new $40 CS40 Earpollution Comfort Series headphones on Crave, but we told them that just wasn't quite good enough, especially since we couldn't decide which color we liked best. So we asked for all five colors, which means the winner gets five pairs of headphones to use or give away as you see fit.

While we haven't done a full review of the headphones, we did give them a quick whirl and thought they sounded pretty good for 40 bucks--and also were quite comfortable.

Normally, … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.

Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.

In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the … Read more

Face it: Most people listen to music on CD, LP, radio, or some form of downloaded file, and each and every one is a stereo format.

Even high-resolution formats like SACD have stereo mixes, so it's no surprise that Onkyo just introduced two new stereo components: An integrated stereo amplifier, the A-5VL, and a stereo SACD player, the C-S5VL.

The amp seems like a rational alternative to a feature-laden AV receiver, jam-packed with so much wizardry you need to read and comprehend a 100 page user manual to get it to do much of anything. Stereo is simple; no need to navigate multilayer menus to turn the bass up or down. No, with the stereo Onkyo amp, all you'll ever do is select the input--CD, aux, radio, etc.--and adjust the volume. Then sit back and enjoy the tunes. … Read more

Adobe Systems announced lower second-quarter earnings and sales on Tuesday.

Income dropped 41 percent to $126.1 million, or 24 cents per share, from $214.9 million, or 40 cents per share, a year ago. Sales fell 21 percent to $704.7 million from $886.9 million in 2008's second quarter.

Results were actually in line with or slightly above estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected even lower sales of $694.8 million. Excluding the cost of special items, second-quarter earnings hit 35 cents a share, meeting analysts' expectations.

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was upbeat about the quarterly … Read more

Editors' note, October 3, 2012: This is an update of a poll from May 16, 2009.

I recently visited EarsNova, a high-end store in NYC, and heard one of the best-sounding hi-fis in my experience. The store's big Rockport Technologies speakers, Constellation Audio amplifiers, and dCS Digital gear reached beyond merely reproducing music, and with my eyes closed, the music sounded as close to lifelike as I've heard. The sound floated free of the speakers; it was effortlessly clear. The illusion worked best with orchestral music, but a few purely acoustic singer-songwriter CDs were almost as palpably realistic. And that's the goal: blurring the line between hi-fi and real, live music; that's what great sound sounds like to me. Lifelike rock recordings are harder to pull off, mostly because they almost always are so heavily processed and compressed they can't sound realistic.

You don't need to be an audiophile to hear the difference between average-sounding and great-sounding recordings, but you do have to listen. Really listen.

First try this experiment and set a benchmark: Listen to someone playing an acoustic guitar, in your room. Then play a recording of an acoustic guitar. Notice any difference in the sound quality between the two? Yeah, it's not even close. If your real, live guitar player can sing, next compare the sound of that person's voice to the recording's vocal. The recording's singer will most likely sound small, tonally thin, like the voice is coming out of tiny boxes. It might be hard to tell the singer has a flesh-and-blood body connected to that voice. The live guitar sounds big and clear -- very clear -- without any edge or harshness. Few recordings of guitar sound like the real thing.

My point here is to first establish a standard of what good sound sounds like to me. I like recordings that sound realistic. After all, if the musician on the record is playing a Gretsch Synchromatic 400 Acoustic Archtop guitar, I'd like to hear its unique sound. But if the producer and engineer recorded the Gretsch through a pickup instead of a microphone, equalized its sound, compressed its dynamic range, added digital reverb, and processed it to death -- there won't be much left to the Gretsch's sound. Then it's just a generic guitar, which is why I would describe the sound of the recording as "bad." … Read more