goldenboy
03-28-2008, 05:01 PM
This may be too basic to be very useful for our purposes, not sure. But this is interesting news. Maybe someone will want to take it out for a test drive.
Adobe's new Photoshop Express sets new Webware standard
By MIKE WENDLAND • Free Press Technology Columnist • March 28, 2008
With the release this week of a free online version of the very expensive Adobe Photoshop photo editing program, the use of browser-run applications over the Internet took a giant leap forward this week that eventually may see them rival or replace traditional boxed software as we know it.
Adobe's new Internet version called Photoshop Express is available for free at Adobe Photoshop Express (http://www.photoshop.com/express). It's probably the most sophisticated Webware product we've yet to see, adding even more online power to applications like Google's suite of Web-based word processing, spreadsheet and photo sharing programs.
Google was first out with a Web-based photo sharing application called Picasa. But Adobe has significantly one-upped Picasa with Photoshop Express.
Photoshop Express has been under development for nearly two years and unlike its full featured box version (which sells for around $500), the online application is so simple that you really don't need to read the instructions.
To use it, you need to have the Version 9 of the Flash Player, a free download. But once you have Flash on your machine, no matter which Web browser you have -- Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari -- all you need to do to use the program is register online for a free account.
The program is so easy to use because it is pretty limited in what it can do, compared to the boxed software. As such, it's a beta version and Adobe has already said it plans to add lots of new features like a printing service, support for audio and video and better format recognition. Right now, it only handles .jpg photos.
It's aimed at amateur point and shoot digital photographers who will find it immensely usable for uploading photos to their online account. Adobe gives a pretty hefty 2 gigabytes of storage, so we're talking lots of pictures here. Once you've put those photos online you can rotate them, organize them into albums, create galleries, embed them into Web pages, e-mail links to specific pictures and share them with social networking and photo-sharing sites like Facebook.
The editing tools are basic, but powerful. There's red-eye reduction, auto correct and touch-up. The touch-up tool is particularly handy, letting you designate an area of a picture, say a blemish on a close-up of a face, and cover it up by replacing the spot with a color from a surrounding item.
There's also some silly features that distort photos or replace colors like Apple has in its Photo Booth application.
If there has been a more sophisticated use of Flash technology, I haven't seen it. Working with Photoshop Express is, except when uploading and downloading photos, as speedy as working with hard driven-loaded software. And the ability to be able to send flash slideshows as e-mail is going to take photo sharing to a whole new level.
You'll have fun with this.
Adobe's new Photoshop Express sets new Webware standard | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/BLOG01/80328011/1001/NEWS)
Adobe's new Photoshop Express sets new Webware standard
By MIKE WENDLAND • Free Press Technology Columnist • March 28, 2008
With the release this week of a free online version of the very expensive Adobe Photoshop photo editing program, the use of browser-run applications over the Internet took a giant leap forward this week that eventually may see them rival or replace traditional boxed software as we know it.
Adobe's new Internet version called Photoshop Express is available for free at Adobe Photoshop Express (http://www.photoshop.com/express). It's probably the most sophisticated Webware product we've yet to see, adding even more online power to applications like Google's suite of Web-based word processing, spreadsheet and photo sharing programs.
Google was first out with a Web-based photo sharing application called Picasa. But Adobe has significantly one-upped Picasa with Photoshop Express.
Photoshop Express has been under development for nearly two years and unlike its full featured box version (which sells for around $500), the online application is so simple that you really don't need to read the instructions.
To use it, you need to have the Version 9 of the Flash Player, a free download. But once you have Flash on your machine, no matter which Web browser you have -- Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari -- all you need to do to use the program is register online for a free account.
The program is so easy to use because it is pretty limited in what it can do, compared to the boxed software. As such, it's a beta version and Adobe has already said it plans to add lots of new features like a printing service, support for audio and video and better format recognition. Right now, it only handles .jpg photos.
It's aimed at amateur point and shoot digital photographers who will find it immensely usable for uploading photos to their online account. Adobe gives a pretty hefty 2 gigabytes of storage, so we're talking lots of pictures here. Once you've put those photos online you can rotate them, organize them into albums, create galleries, embed them into Web pages, e-mail links to specific pictures and share them with social networking and photo-sharing sites like Facebook.
The editing tools are basic, but powerful. There's red-eye reduction, auto correct and touch-up. The touch-up tool is particularly handy, letting you designate an area of a picture, say a blemish on a close-up of a face, and cover it up by replacing the spot with a color from a surrounding item.
There's also some silly features that distort photos or replace colors like Apple has in its Photo Booth application.
If there has been a more sophisticated use of Flash technology, I haven't seen it. Working with Photoshop Express is, except when uploading and downloading photos, as speedy as working with hard driven-loaded software. And the ability to be able to send flash slideshows as e-mail is going to take photo sharing to a whole new level.
You'll have fun with this.
Adobe's new Photoshop Express sets new Webware standard | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/BLOG01/80328011/1001/NEWS)