Perturbed by Adobe’s move to Creative Cloud? You’re not alone, and this week we have a rundown of the most significant concerns, along with suggestions for how Adobe could resolve them. Plus, Michael Cohen examines the question of whether or not it’s realistic to replace Photoshop with Pixelmator. Also this week, Agen Schmitz reveals the MiniPlayer-related changes in iTunes 11.0.3, Matt Neuburg takes a look at the TouchFire keyboard overlay for the iPad, Josh Centers returns with another installment of FunBITS featuring the addictive iPhone game Dots, and Adam Engst adds some much-needed context to several of the big number announcements from last week. Finally, if you’re a PDFpen user, check out Michael Cohen’s latest ebook, “Take Control of PDFpen 6.” Notable software releases this week include MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0, Skype 6.4.0.833, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 6.0.3, iMovie ’11 9.0.9, Sandvox 2.8, and BusyCal 2.0.5.
The release also tweaks the rendering of multi-disc albums for an improved display in Albums view, plus adds display of album artwork to the Songs view, provides AppleScript control of AirPlay speakers, and tweaks the interface for iOS app updates. (Free, 188 MB)
Our latest title, Michael E. Cohen’s “Take Control of PDFpen 6,” explains precisely what you can do with PDFpen 6 and its big brother, PDFpenPro 6, and with the mobile versions, PDFpen for iPad and PDFpen for iPhone.
How can you type on an iPad while on the go? You could muddle along on the virtual keyboard, of course, or you could carry a physical Bluetooth keyboard around with you. The TouchFire takes a middle course.
Dots is a simple, yet addicting connect-the-dots game for the iPhone.
After reading a couple of breathless announcements of the App Store’s 50 billionth download and Pixelmator 2.2’s 500,000 downloads, Adam Engst attempts to bring some context to these big numbers.
In the wake of Adobe’s decision to provide new versions of Photoshop only to Creative Cloud subscribers, we wonder if Pixelmator could be an acceptable Photoshop substitute. Spoiler: the answer is, “It depends on who you are.”
Creative Cloud may be the way Adobe sees the future, but lots of people don’t like it. Adam Engst and Josh Centers outline some of the problems with Creative Cloud, with suggestions on both how Adobe could solve them and how you can register your opinions.
Notable software releases this week include MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0, Skype 6.4.0.833, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 6.0.3, iMovie ’11 9.0.9, Sandvox 2.8, and BusyCal 2.0.5.
This week we have a grab bag of ExtraBITS for your reading pleasure, such as iOS 6 being approved for military use, an overview of announcements at the Google I/O developer conference, Bill Gates talking about the last days of Steve Jobs, Blackberry Messenger finally coming to iOS, and Matt Neuburg’s discussion of Apple’s future on the MacVoices.