E-Commerce News: Creative Tools

Adobe Elements Buffs Up for Mac
October 26, 2009

Mac jocks miffed at Adobe for releasing Windows versions of its Photoshop Elements photo editing and organizing application before getting around to its OS X editions of the software should be pleased with the simultaneous release of the product's new version for both operating systems this month.

Air: Breezy Autopilot, Light on Interaction
September 24, 2009

The iPhone has an odd sort of potential as a musical instrument. From the moment the App Store opened, there have been applications that attempt to approximate real instruments, even giving you the ability to make multitrack recordings. I've yet to hear a real magnum opus composed on one, though I'm sure someone somewhere has tried.

Adobe-Omniture May Be a Surprisingly Smart Match
September 16, 2009

Adobe's planned acquisition of Web analytics firm Omniture took nearly everyone off guard when it was announced Tuesday. Now that the idea has had a chance to sink in, though, it seems to be growing in popularity. "I think it really does make sense," said Steve Ashley, an analyst for investment research firm R.W. Baird.

Logic Express 9 Gives Pro Chops to Amateur Music Makers
September 14, 2009

It used to be a rule of thumb in software that the power of a program was directly proportional to its complexity. The rule was the silicon version of "no pain, no gain." Then Apple came along and turned that rule on its head with applications that were as easy to use as they were powerful. What's more, they made the process of creation as much fun as the finished creation.

Gorilla Tames the Movie Production Beast
September 08, 2009

Apple computers' reputation as a favorite of "creatives" in filmmaking is well known, but they've also captured the hearts of those dealing with the more prosaic tasks of making a movie, thanks to programs like Gorilla from

Impression Arms iPhoto With a Watermark Weapon
August 31, 2009

Digital photography has made sharing photos easy -- sometimes too easy. Work posted to the Web by lens-slingers can be misappropriated with abandon by the naive as well as the nefarious. One way shutterbugs try to protect their images is by watermarking them. A watermark is a logo, legend or other sign superimposed on a photo to identify its origin.

New Eye-Fi Photo Storage Card Zooms In on Mac Crowd
August 10, 2009

Freeing digital cameras from the fetters of cables and card readers has been a lucrative business for the makers of Eye-Fi. Eye-Fi is a WiFi-enabled storage card that permits photos and videos to be transferred wirelessly to a computer or directly to image sharing sites on the Web. The most recent flavor of the product, the 2GB Eye-Fi Geo, is being exclusively aimed at the Apple market.

Retronyms: Specializing in Smartphone-Sized Sound Studios
July 27, 2009

Until recently, editing media like audio and video required significant computing muscle, but the iPhone has changed that. Apple has included video editing in its latest version of its snazzy smartphone. Meanwhile, a scrappy company named Retronyms is bringing audio recording and mixing to the gadget.

Calf Trail Geotags the Road Not Taken
July 20, 2009

In 1895, during the era of Horatio Alger, an obscure poet named Sam Walter Foss published "Calf-Path." It's about men following the road of least resistance and what we call today "thinking outside the box." "For men are prone to go it blind/Along the calf-paths of the mind," Foss wrote. "And work away from sun to sun/To do what other men have done."

Scrivener Takes Wordsmiths Beyond Mere Processing
July 13, 2009

When writers initially discovered word processing, they beamed with delight. Once the blush wore off the technology, though, that delight morphed into distress. While office workers were perfectly content "processing" words, scribblers writing words needed more from their software. Moreover, they found their needs increasingly ignored by big software houses who catered to the cubicle crowd.

Photo Mechanic Cuts Photogs' Greasy Grunt Work
July 07, 2009

While programs like Picasa and iPhoto can meet the image organizing needs of many digital photographers, professional and prosumer shooters demand more muscle from their wares. Over the years, they've sought that muscle from applications like Photo Mechanic. The robust image organizer, published by Camera Bits, recently celebrated two milestones.

Will Artists Still Love Macs Tomorrow?
March 26, 2009

Michael Gibbs, an illustrator based in Northern Virginia, describes working on a Mac Pro in terms that suggest a Zen-like trance: "I can't explain it well, but you are not even really aware you are using a computer program -- the design applications are that intuitive."

Creative Software Firm Heads Where the Wind Blows
February 23, 2009

If you're a novelist, screenwriter or blogger -- and you own a Mac -- then you've probably heard of Mariner Software. The Minneapolis company makes desktop software for what its president, Michael Wray, calls the "creativity market." Last year, sales at the 11-employee company grew by 60 percent, much of that driven by writers and other creative types who wanted an easy way to perfect their crafts.

Second Time's the Charm for a Company That Wouldn't Quit
February 16, 2009

In late 2001, All4DVD.com owner Adrian Ramseier was one of the first to market with what he thought was a pretty good product: an external DVD recorder for Macintosh systems. Then, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, wiping out demand for the tiny company's product. Just two years old at the time, All4DVD.com was forced to shift gears.

Dream Homes: Mac Apps for Architectural and Interior Design
December 22, 2008

A wall here, a door there. A sunroom stretching out from the back of the house, just so. Recessed lighting in the kitchen. A custom-designed fireplace in the living room. And outside, a deck, a curving walkway, and a strategic planting of a few yews and Japanese maples. If playing with such details of home, interior and landscape design sounds like a good time to you, you're not alone.

OpenOffice 3 Debuts to Server-Crashing Demand
October 14, 2008

The third full OpenOffice suite is out in the wild and attracting plenty of attention. OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released Monday -- and already, demand has been high enough to overwhelm the download servers and cause them to crash. The software suite, designed as an open source alternative to Microsoft Office, offers everything from word processing and spreadsheet creation to presentation and databasing tools.