Last month Adobe released a third beta of Lightroom, and now a Windows version is available for download. It doesn't seem like any major new features or updates have been added, but Windows users can finally stop re-forwarding request emails to the Adobe Labs team and take Lightroom for a spin.

Being that Lightroom has seen three (beta) versions on the Mac, we'd like to hear your thoughts on how well the Windows versions performs and stacks up to its counterpart.

I know we're a little behind on this one, but I thought I'd give it a shot in the hopes that I'm not the only one: iStockphoto has re-released their screen saver for both Mac OS X and Windows in a 1.5 beta version. The screen saver displays previous Free Images of the Week, as well as the latest front page blog post.

The screen saver can be had from iStockphoto's downloads page, though on my Intel-based MacBook Pro I received an error from the Screen Saver Preference Pane stating that this screen saver couldn't be run - which leads me to wonder if it isn't Intel-ready yet.

Either way, it at least sounds like a handy screen saver to help quench your iStockphoto obsession; anyone have any thoughts on this new version?

Sites like digg.com and the new Netscape beta (from some of our own here at Weblogs Inc.) are doing great things for the world of social news and bookmarking, but if you're looking for something a little more in tune with the designer in you, point your clicks towards Pixel Groovy. This site brings the social bookmarking and voting (or: 'grooving') paradigm to the world of design, with categories for everything ranging from web developing languages, design applications like Photoshop and GIMP, and even 3D and video editing apps like Final Cut and 3D Studio Max. It looks like a fun addition to the design community that's just getting its foot in the door, so give it a look and start grooving for design sites and tutorials.

Automator World has posted a Photoshop Action Pack for Mac OS X 10.4's Automator, an app that allows you to automate many OS and application functions. The actions you can add to Automator workflows is fairly extensive:

• Add IPTC Captions to Photoshop Documents
• Apply Unsharp Mask to Photoshop Documents
• Apply Watermark to Photoshop Documents
• Assign Color Profile to Photoshop Documents
• Close Photoshop Documents
• Extract IPTC Captions from Photoshop Documents
• Flip Photoshop Documents
• New Photoshop Document
• Open Images in Photoshop
• Resize Photoshop Documents
• Rotate Photoshop Documents
• Save Photoshop Documents
• Trigger Photoshop Action
• Trim Photoshop Documents

The action pack is provided free and looks like a handy addition to any Mac + Photoshop user's workflow.

Adobe has released a third beta of Lightroom, their photo management and editing app specifically designed for professional photographers. Check out the release notes (PDF link, since HTML is so 1995) for the full details, but highlights include improvements to import and export options, live comparisons of image adjustments in Before and After previews, an additional straightening tool, as well as a new Web module (apparently heavily influenced by forum feedback - cool) with HTML and Flash export options.

This sounds like a slick new release, and I'll crack open the download sooner or later and give it a look. Unfortunately, there still isn't a version for Windows users, though they are offering a sign-up notification form if you'd like to be on the list.

[via MacNN]

The O'Reilly Network has taken the wraps off of Inside Adobe Lightroom, a new site featuring articles, a blog and a podcast covering Adobe's professional photo management app. Tips on color correction, adding music to slideshows, how to migrate images from iPhoto  and more are all on the menu, so swing by and find out how much you really didn't know about Lightroom.

[via Daring Fireball]

John Nack has written a very interesting analysis of what could be summarized as 'the state of large software suites'. In it, John presents some of the issues and arguments against large software suites that are designed for a wide variety of audiences (what some people now refer to as 'bloatware'), but also succinctly explains why this situation exists and describes what he calls a "Contract with the Customer"; a sort of public statement that they're making sure their software remains usable and understandable while at the same time adding layers of functionality that some users are demanding.

John brings up a lot of the issues that I've wanted to for some time now, especially in regards to this movement of minimalist software. It seems like these über-stripped down software and services, such as the popular Backpack (of which I am a user myself), are in direct response to consumer confusion and backlash of this aforementioned bloatware. What is interesting about these anorexic services is that, once you peruse their forums, you find that a significant body of users have their two cents on the one or two 'necessary' features that are missing. If a good number of these avenues are explored, software ends up right back where it started: as a larger suite, offering something for everyone. John's statement is that this isn't necessarily a bad thing; that as long as software and service providers simply think critically about how their software is structured and designed, everyone can enjoy their products without feeling put off, overloaded or knocked back down the learning curve ladder.

Kudos John, you hit it right on the head.

I came across another portfolio site that offers some before and after images exhibiting the power of Photoshop (mouse over the images to see the magic). What I like about this page is its author, Greg Apodaca, has presented a nice range of imagery, from model photography to product re-touching and image compositing. A few of his images include a clever re-creation of Photoshop's layers palette, and mousing over each layer will deconstruct the image to that particular element. Nice.

Adobe has released an update for Photoshop CS2 that John Nack humorously equates to "detention in high school"; or rather, "a kind of penalty box that keeps you away from what you really want to be doing".

Specifically, this update fixes a wide array of odd bugs and quirks, so here's the rundown from Mr. Nack's post:

• After editing an image in Photoshop CS2 via Acrobat Touchup, the image no longer gets re-positioned.
• Photoshop no longer hangs for several seconds when using painting tools with quick strokes.
• A program error that could appear when mousing over high res doc with Brush Tool has been fixed.
• Documents containing a large number of text layers now open more quickly.
• An error that could cause a crash on Mac when launching, or when opening or saving a file, has been addressed.
• Problems related to palettes on Windows (slow redraw, palettes go white, possible crash) have been addressed.
• TIFF files from certain scanners can now be opened correctly.
• XMP metadata from AI & PDF files is now retained in Photoshop.
• Slow performance when toggling layer visibility has been fixed.
• Info palette numbers now display and update when moving a curve point in Curves via the cursor keys.
• Problems opening certain TIFF and PSB files greater than 2GB in size have been resolved.
• The Merge to HDR command now functions properly when using high-ASCII characters in user login.

John also provides Mac and Win download links, though I would wager the software updater app that gets installed with CS2 would catch this as well. If you're on a Mac it's in your Applications/Utilities folder, though I'm not sure where it's at on Windows.

I know we're a little late on this one (finals just finished last week; I can now rejoin the world of the living), but a friend pointed out that Adobe has redesigned their site - and it looks like they hired Macromedia's site designers to do it. The new site looks a lot nicer and offers a more intuitive and navigable structure for the sheer volume of services and software that Adobe now offers.

Boy, these Adobe guys sure know how to bait: check out the inaugural post at Nonprofit @ Adobe. It sounds like the company has put together a Nonprofit Team that will be offering eSeminars, a nonprofit pricing program and the obligatory software tips and tricks.

That one post is all we get for now though. If you have anything to do with the worlds of nonprofit and design, I think Adobe just gave you something else to bookmark.

We're a little late on this one, but it appears that the Adobe Lightroom podcast has released its 4th episode (iTMS link). As John Nack summarizes on his blog, this one was recorded at the Greg Gorman digital photography workshop in CA. George and his guests (Martin Evening, Peter Carides and Bryan O'Neil Hughes) discuss digital photography workflows, fashion photography, Lightroom features and archiving strategies.

Check it out in the iTMS podcast directory or grab it at Adobe's RSS feed here.

It's rare, at least personally, to hear about software quirks on machines that have too much RAM, but apparently Photoshop CS2 can exhibit a pause while painting on Macs with more than 4 GB of RAM.

Adobe has posted this Disable VM Buffering plug-in to help remedy the problem, but check out the plug-in's details page for more information on whether you should install it.

[via John Nack]

Jennifer Apple over at The Photoshop Blog posted a great tip for getting that perfect selection when you're having a tough time with other methods, possibly due to backgrounds or surrounding elements that are stumping Photoshop and its various selection tools.

Jennifer's idea is to give your selection tool of choice a helping hand by using a Levels or Curves adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer) to increase the image's contrast. Using an adjustment layer (instead of applying the changes directly) will allow you to preserve the image the way you want it, make the selection you need and then throw out or turn off (for later use) the layer in order to go on about your business.

This method is both a great technique and a prime example of the power of adjustment layers that should be incorporated into nearly every Photoshop user's toolbelt as soon as possible.

This might seem like a basic tip to some, but I've been meeting more and more Photoshoppers from all walks of life who are so delighted to find out about this tip that I thought I'd post it.

Using the Measure Tool (oddly hidden under the Eyedropper Tool) in CS2 and CS, as well as 7 and I think 6 and earlier, you can draw a straight line and use it to orient your comp. For example: say you need to rotate an image ever so slightly so the side of a building is perfectly vertical or the edge of a table exactly horizontal. Simply draw a line with the Measure Tool along whatever object, edge or item you would like to straighten out with, then go up to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary. The Angle field will already be filled in with the value needed to straighten out the line you drew, in which case your canvas will rotate by that amount.

See? No more 'rotating and guessing.'