On the heels of a Black Hack conference presentation where researcher Charlie Miller provided details of an exploitable vulnerability in Adobe’s PDF Reader software, the company plans to ship an out-of-band patch to ward off malicious hacker attacks.
Miller’s presentation did not include technical details of the flaw but attendees were able to piece together clues to determine that the flaw could lead to code execution attacks with rigged PDF files.
Adobe’s Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) was also able to confirm the issue and prepare an emergency patch that will be released for Adobe Reader and Acrobat during the week of August 16, 2010.
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WSJ - Adobe Systems Inc. agreed to buy software company Omniture Inc. for $1.8 billion, a deal designed to help customers track and make money from Web sites that were created with Adobe’s programs.
Adobe said it will pay $21.50 a share in cash for Omniture, a 24% premium to Tuesday’s
4 p.m. price. Omniture shares surged 25% in after-hours trading on the news, while Adobe shares declined 4.2%.
The announcement came as Adobe reported its profit fell 29% and revenue slid 21% in its latest quarter as the continuing downturn in media markets slows demand for its traditional software, such as …
Adobe Systems opened up Photoshop Express on Thursday, its long-anticipated Web-based image editor aimed at the millions of consumers that want a simple way to touch up, share, and store photos.
Photoshop Express, available for free with 2 gigabytes of storage at www.photoshop.com/express, is a significant departure from Adobe’s desktop software business and a big bet that it can make money offering Web services directly to consumers.
The application, which needs Flash Player 9 to run, pushes the limits of browser-based applications and will likely ratchet up the competition on the dozens of free and online photo-editing products available now (see our full review of Photoshop Express and gallery of screen shots of the application)…
The service will go live in beta test mode on Thursday. Mack said that the company intends to use the test period as a way garner feedback from customers.
Adobe intends to offer more features to consumers who pay a yearly fee. Some planned features include a printing service, more storage, support for audio and other media, and the ability to read additional image file types (the service works with .JPGs now.)
Adobe also plans to build an offline client using AIR (the Adobe Integrated Runtime) so that people can edit photos offline, executives said.
Adobe released beta versions a couple of new tools today to help in the ongoing war against terrorism. Ok, maybe not terrorism in the classic definition. Or not really terrorism in any logical definition. Ok, so the releases have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism, are you happy now? Terrorism sells, ok people, it’s one of those buzz words that make the public keep reading. It’s a cheap ploy, and it’ll never happen again. Can we just move on now? Forgive and forget? Ok good. Back to the news.
Both Adobe Integrated Runtime (formally known as Apollo) and Flex 3 had their Beta’s released today, and the company is confident they will have an impact on software universe. Jeffrey Hammond, Forrester analyst says that these two programs “will finally allow developers to marry the ubiquity and low maintenance costs of Web apps with the user engagement and productivity of client-server apps.” The AIR SDK and some other goodies can be downloaded here. And there’s also a contest they’re running, a nerd-off if you will, in which the best developed applications can win prizes. So get on it. Word on the street is that if you build an application that fights terrorism you’re a shoe-in to win.
Adobe Systems announced last night that they will be open sourcing their Adobe Flex framework so developers can access their source code to enhance its ability to create Rich Internet applications. The Flex SDK and docs will be available through the Mozilla Public License. Adobe Flex, initially released in 2004 by Macromedia, and available since 2006 as a free SDK from Adobe, is a set of technologies to support the development of RIAs, web apps with the features and functionality that mimic traditional desktop applications.
By open sourcing the technology, Adobe is realizing the potential of embracing the developer community. By providing open tools they are helping to foster a developer environment that can result in the creation of cool features and functionality and further developer the framework to suit developer needs. Other open source projects from Adobe include the contribution of source code for ActionScript Virtual Machine to the Mozilla Foundation and the open source WebKit engine in the Apollo project.
“The definition and evolution of Flex has been influenced by our incredibly talented developer community from day one,” said David Mendels, senior vice president, Enterprise and Developer Business Unit at Adobe in a press release. “The decision to open source Flex was a completely natural next step. I am incredibly excited to deeply collaborate with the developer community on Flex, and further fuel its momentum and innovation.” continue reading…
Microsoft has noticed that some of the coolest sites on the Web, YouTube and MySpace included, get much of their flash from Flash and other design programs sold by Adobe. But as Microsoft gets ready to ship its own line of tools for designers and Web developers, the company is finding it must also defend against Adobe on its home turf, the desktop. At the same time, the line between Internet and desktop programs is blurring, and both companies see an opportunity to capture new business.”
The article focuses on the competition and doesn’t even mention that Adobe’s CEO called Microsoft a $50 billion monopolist.
Since Adobe bought Macromedia nearly two years ago, rumors have flown about what mutant offspring might emerge from this marriage of software makers. Although a leak on a blog revealed bits of this closely guarded secret about a day early, Adobe has officially taken the wraps off the pricing and packaging of its Creative Suite 3–most of which will work on Intel-based or PowerPC Macs as well as Windows Vista and XP.
The six flavors of CS3 are built for different types of digital designers. So far, we’ve checked out beta editions of the CS3 Web and Design packages, which offer a blend of tools including the new Photoshop (read Lori Grunin’s first take), Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver. Web and Design will each be available in Standard and Premium editions. The rumor mill pegs April 20 as their final release, although Adobe hasn’t confirmed that with us.
As for the CS3 summer releases (on July 1?), there’s not much else on the market that will rival the scope of capabilities offered by Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, which handles videographers’ needs from shooting on-site all th way through postproduction. Cross-platform support might even turn the heads of some fans of FinalCut Pro. Starving artists may salivate at the Adobe CS3 Master Collection, a comprehensive toolkit that well-equipped corporate design departments will likely snap up for creating Web, mobile, interactive, video and print content. continue reading…
Adobe says you’ll have to upgrade to new versions of popular (and really expensive) software like Photoshop, InDesign and DreamWeaver if you want them to run well under Windows Vista.
Current versions of many Adobe products won’t run flawlessly under Windows Vista, this announcement only confirms that they never will. So, if you’re a creative professional (who hasn’t already jumped ship to OS X) start getting out the check book. Adobe’s CS3 creative suite will be out next week, and it ain’t gonna be cheap.
We probably should have realized something was up when Adobe’s own document on Vista compatibility (which we wrote about almost a month ago) dodged the question by stating that Adobe would release free patches for “some of Adobe’s currently available products.” To our credit, it would have been much easier to spot if they’d said, “some of Adobe’s currently available products, but not the ones anyone actually uses or cares about.”
Adobe Systems on Monday is expected to release an early version of Apollo, software that will let people run Web applications online and offline.
The first release is an “alpha” version, with a beta due sometime this summer. Version 1.0 is planned for the second half of this year.
The early version of Apollo is aimed primarily at Web designers and programmers. The free download will include a software development kit and the “runtime” software for running Apollo applications.
Apollo is designed to bridge the world of Web applications and desktop computers. Applications written for Apollo function like normal Web applications but act like locally installed software. For example, Apollo applications will have an icon that shows up on a computer desktop and will be able to automatically reconnect when a computer gets online. continue reading…