flex

It seems that more and more automakers are jumping on this iPhone app bandwagon. First it was Audi, with its driving game. Then Mercedes-Benz launched an iPhone optimized Web site featuring video. Now, it's Ford's turn to throw its hat into the iPhone arena. Where the previous two examples were directly related to the cars and car culture, Ford has chosen to release a free photo editor. What?

The Ford Flex Photo Lab--try saying that five times fast--is essentially a collection of six photo filters that allow iPhone users to fix up or trick out their pictures. What … Read more

Astro is launched.

On Wednesday, Adobe Systems announced the release of a major update to its Flash technology to endow Web sites with better video, audio, and graphics. The new version 10 was code-named Astro, and it arrived just days after Microsoft released version 2.0 of its rival Silverlight software.

Flash Player 10, a free download also available for Windows and Mac users from Download.com, includes a number of new features:

• Easier-to-use 3D graphics effects.

• Better text handling for more sophisticated layouts combining words and graphics, more refined typography, and better multilingual applications.

• Better sound … Read more

In case you hadn't heard already, this morning Esquire officially unveiled the first "digital" E-Ink cover in paper magazine history at an event in a Borders store in Manhattan. The special cover, which helps promote/commemorate Esquire's 75th anniversary edition, is only incorporated into 100,000 copies, all of which are available only at newsstands for $5.99 a pop--that's $2 more than the usual price. Sorry, subscribers, you get a ho-hum nondigital version.

The whole venture is sponsored by Ford and its campaign for its new "crossover" vehicle, the Flex. The cover … Read more

Lotus Engineering, the automotive consultancy division of Lotus, is back in the news again, this time with a new engine concept called the Omnivore. Lotus announced that it would be collaborating with Queen's University Belfast and Jaguar Cars to develop the engine, which is said to maximize fuel efficiency when running on renewable fuels. Essentially, the Omnivore is an engine that can run on almost anything, from gasoline to alcohol.

This engine design is expected to significantly increase fuel efficiency for sustainable bio alcohol fuels (such as ethanol or methanol) by using a combination of direct injection and variable … Read more

Presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Monday proposed a $300 million prize to develop a car battery that will "leapfrog" today's plug-in hybrids.

In an energy policy speech at Fresno State University in California, McCain also called for an overhaul to existing policies that favor domestic ethanol production--one of the biggest differences he has with his expected opponent, Senator Barack Obama.

McCain said that, if elected, his administration would issue a Clean Car Challenge that would give give a $5,000 tax credit to people who purchase "zero-emissions cars."

There would be a sliding … Read more

Adobe Systems is updating and expanding its LiveCycle software for building business-oriented Web applications.

The company on Tuesday is expected to announce LiveCycle Enterprise Suite Update 1, which adds new content management features along with tools to more quickly build financial services and government applications.

LiveCycle is one of the primary products in Adobe's enterprise business. The product is designed for applications that involve document exchanges inside and outside of organizations, such as government Web sites that require people to fill out and process claims. It uses Adobe's PDF and Flex software to create paperless, Web-based applications.

The … Read more

Adobe Systems' beta release of the free Acrobat.com suite Monday should appeal to small-business users. In our early tests, the stand-outs are tools for Web conferencing and directly sharing text and PDF documents.

Acrobat.com includes a Web-based word processor, conferencing and remote access, PDF creation, and 5 gigabytes of file storage.

I like the services' uncomplicated, charcoal-background interfaces. Like other online word processors, Buzzword is no Microsoft Word killer, but speedy enough to serve as a go-anywhere text editor. Documents can be exported as Microsoft Word DOC or DOCX; PDF; rich text; HTML; or XML.

Inviting someone else … Read more

Adobe unveiled an online community Monday with a word processor; file storage and sharing; and deep tie-ins to a newly Flash-enabled Acrobat 9.

The online push for Acrobat is a bold move for a brand perhaps best associated with the free and nearly ubiquitous Acrobat Reader, which opens print-ready Portable Document Format, or PDF, files. Now, PDFs will play movies.

The announcement comes in advance of the release of Acrobat 9 document-creation software, which adds dynamic features such as integration of animation, dynamic maps, 256-bit encryption, and improved forms.

The free Acrobat.com beta includes the Buzzword word processor. Its … Read more

Adobe Systems is offering two-day trials of three beta applications from its next Creative Suite package.

The previews of Dreamweaver for Web design, Fireworks for image editing, and Soundbooth for audio editing became available Monday.

Trials expire after 48 hours for most people, but registered CS3 users get to keep using the CS4 betas until the final applications replace them.

Adobe hasn't publicly confirmed its planned shipping date or the name for the next Creative Suite, which we're nicknaming CS4. Adobe Creative Suite 3 was released in March 2007.

We took a quick test drive of the Dreamweaver … Read more