Royal Wedding

Wow what a beautiful day. Hope you enjoyed the Royal Wedding as much as us here at Okobe.co.uk...

Remember the Celebration offers continue all weekend at Okobe.co.uk!

White iPhone now available in the UK!

White iPhone 4 models are now available to purchase from Apple’s online store, at Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. “The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful”, said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right”.

Celebrate the Royal Wedding with up to 50% OFF Cameras only at Okobe.co.uk!

Celebrate the Royal Wedding with up to 50% OFF Cameras only at Okobe.co.uk!

Please Click Here to see the Cameras at Okobe.co.uk...

Okobe: Canon Powershot D10, Regents Canal, London

Okobe: Canon Powershot D10, Regents Canal, London, a set on Flickr.

Testing the Canon Powershot D10 Digital Camera along the Regents Canal, London.

Announced today in Tokyo not one, but two Sony® Tablets!

Months of rumor, speculation and excitement about a Sony tablet were topped in Tokyo just moments ago as – not one, but two new Sony tablets were unveiled to a group of journalists at a press event. The new tablets identified, for now, by the code names S1 and S2 will be powered by the latest Android 3.0 operating system and are WiFi and WAN® (3G/4G) compatible.

Take a look at this video that gives you a closer look at the unique shapes and sizes of the new devices.

Both devices are primed for easy and portable entertainment, web browsing, access to email, viewing videos, games, books and more. The tablets will also have access to networked content via Sony’s Qriocity™ Music and Video Services as well as PlayStation® Suite and the Sony Reader™ Store. Get more info from the official press statement here.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the two new devices:

With its off-center of gravity form factor, the 9.4-inch S1 offers stability and a sense of lightness, offering comfortable use for hours.

The dual screen S2 (pictured in featured image above) comes with two 5.5-inch displays which can be used together as one large screen to browse websites and more. They can also be used for different functions as users can watch a video on one screen and input commands on the other, or check email on one screen and use the other as a soft keyboard.

Stay tuned for updates… these tablets will be available globally this fall.

Coming soon to Okobe.co.uk...

Bank Holiday Monday

From everyone at Okobe.co.uk we hope you are having a relaxing Bank Holiday Monday.

Happy Easter 2011

Happy Easter 2011 to Everyone from Okobe.co.uk. We hope you are enjoying your day.

Still Chance to WIN an iPad 2 & Smart Cover at Okobe.co.uk!

What you need to do: It’s quite simple; all you have to do is “Like” our Okobe Facebook Page!*

The Prize: Win one of two 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G Apple iPad 2 and one Smart Cover!

How to Win: Everyone who 'Likes' the Okobe Facebook Page will be automatically added to a list on the 1st May 2011 and TWO Lucky Winners will be selected at random. Winners will be announced on the 2nd May 2011! Please note if you already 'Like' Okobe on Facebook you will automatically be entered into the competition.

If you have any questions please do email us through the Okobe.co.uk website and we will be happy to help.

*Terms and Conditions do apply

Terms & Conditions:

* Both winners will be notified via a Facebook message on the 2nd May 2011. They will have two weeks to respond before another person will be selected.
* Please note only one entry per person is aloud.
* If you already 'Like' Okobe on Facebook you will automatically be entered into the competition.
* Okobe.co.uk reserves the right to terminate this competition at any point.
* There is no cash alternative available.
* Okobe.co.uk employees are excluded from this competition.

Check out the Okobe Facebook Page Here...

Record March Quarter Drives 83 Per Cent Revenue Growth, 95 Per Cent Profit Growth

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 second quarter ended 26 March 2011. The Company posted record second quarter revenue of $24.67 billion and record second quarter net profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.4 per cent compared to 41.7 per cent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.76 million Macs during the quarter, a 28 per cent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 113 per cent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 17 per cent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 per cent and profit growth of 95 per cent, we’re firing on all cylinders”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year”.

“We are extremely pleased with our record March quarter revenue and earnings and cash flow from operations of over $6.2 billion”, said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.03”.

Seagate and Samsung Announce Broad Strategic Alignment

Seagate and Samsung announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which they will significantly expand and strengthen their strategic relationship by further aligning their respective ownership, investments and key technologies. Major elements of the agreement include:

* Samsung combining its hard disk drive (HDD) operations into Seagate
* Extending and enhancing the existing patent cross-license agreement between the companies
* A NAND flash memory supply agreement under which Samsung will provide Seagate with its market-leading semiconductor products for use in Seagate’s enterprise solid state drives (SSDs), solid state hybrid drives and other products
* A disk drive supply agreement under which Seagate will supply disk drives to Samsung for PCs, notebooks and consumer electronics
* Expanded cooperation between the companies to co-develop enterprise storage solutions
* Samsung receiving significant equity ownership in Seagate
* A shareholder agreement under which an executive of Samsung will be nominated to join Seagate’s Board of Directors

The combined value of these transactions and agreements is approximately $1.375 billion USD, which will be paid by Seagate to Samsung in the form of 50% stock and 50% cash.

These transactions and related strategic agreements will enable both companies to better align their current and future product development efforts and roadmaps, accelerate time-to-market for new products and position the companies to better address rapidly evolving opportunities in markets including, but not limited to, mobile computing, cloud computing and solid state storage.

Together, these transactions and agreements broaden a strategic relationship between Seagate and Samsung that began with a joint development agreement announced in August 2010.

Okobe.co.uk Easter Sale!

The Okobe.co.uk Easter Sale started on Friday. 

With many items with up to 50% OFF you can be sure to find a bargain.

www.okobe.co.uk

NETGEAR Introduces New Mobility and Converged Networking Solutions for Growing Businesses

NETGEAR ProSafe Wireless N Access Points Offer Performance without Complexity for Companies and Networks of All Sizes

NETGEAR a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced two new wireless access point platforms that meet exploding wireless demands in growing business networks. The NETGEAR ProSafe® Wireless N Access Point (WNAP320) and the NETGEAR ProSafe Dual Band Wireless N Access Point (WNDAP360) offer connectivity, performance and management for companies of all sizes, while avoiding the cost and complexity of traditional big IT wireless networking products.

These new ProSafe access points are ideal for first-time small company single installations or for widely scattered corporate network "edge" deployments. Reliability comes from both a lifetime warranty and sophisticated security features such as WPA and WPA2 encryption, multiple VLAN and VPN pass-through support, rogue access-point detection, and 802.1X authentication with RADIUS support. Both access points automatically integrate with NETGEAR's WC7500 series wireless controller hardware and WMS management software and systems, controlling management costs even when user and device counts increase. Power over Ethernet (IEEE 802.3afPOE), wireless bridging and repeating capabilities, and an "easy mount" frame with an unobtrusive smooth white cover make for simple setup on walls or ceilings.

"Small and midmarket companies are at the center of increasing WLAN momentum" said Tim Zimmerman, Principal Analyst at Gartner. "802.11n solutions are providing the increasing bandwidth and reliability for voice, video and data services at the edges of converged networks. These new expectations bring management and security challenges that can be daunting to IT generalists. Leading wireless vendors must address these dynamics through complete wireless solutions that fit the budget of this market segment without overloading on complexity." James Bricknell, a LAN designer for ATG-IT, an IT sales and solutions firm in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, United Kingdom, evaluated the NETGEAR ProSafe Wireless-N Access Point and reports: "The WNAP320 has a great signal. Even through concrete and other significant obstructions, speed is never an issue. I'm also really impressed with its reliability. Despite everything I threw at it, it held up. And people who aren't familiar with security wouldn't have a problem with configuration. It supports WPA and WPA2, up to eight SSIDs, and is particularly capable of supporting VLANs, so a business can segregate access permissions at the machine level, rather than just groups. With other brands, this capability is only available at a much higher price point."

"Mobile computing devices now outsell desktop PC platforms, and wireless networks are now mission-critical for businesses of all sizes. Delivering wireless video, voice and data solutions often bring hidden management costs" said Maggie Wu, product line manager for wireless networking at NETGEAR. "The NETGEAR ProSafe WNAP320 and dual band WNDAP360 are part of our continuing campaign to deliver 'smart IT, not big IT' solutions for growing companies demanding reliable, affordable and simple solutions."

Office 365: The cloud, your way

A few months ago, Microsoft first introduced a service that we think delivers the best of the cloud, working with the Office applications people already know and trust. It's called Office 365, and it brings together all of the familiar and powerful Microsoft productivity tools in a single cloud service. Today, we’re announcing a public beta of Office 365, enabling people in 38 markets to utilize Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync as a cloud service.

Cloud computing is gaining mindshare fast. Companies of all sizes are using the cloud to deliver the latest applications and services, and they're seeing how cloud services can give them a competitive advantage while minimizing routine maintenance like patching, updating, and upgrading, and the upfront costs of traditional on-premises infrastructure. Cloud services can combine that convenience and affordability with powerful functionality and ease of use.

What does Office 365 offer?
With Office 365, you get the familiar Office desktop experience integrated with the cloud-based versions of our next-generation communications and collaboration services. The on-demand infrastructure gives people freedom to work untethered from the corporate network, and saves IT departments a lot of time and money. With Office 365, businesses can cost-effectively experience Office applications at their best, with the power of our popular server products lighting them up. Office 365 graphic of ways to use it

Here’s what I think is awesome about Office 365:

* You can work with your favorite Office applications on your desktop, or from the Web using almost any device.
* You can access documents, e-mail, calendars and contacts from anywhere and on any connected device.
* You are always using our latest and greatest version of our products – Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync.
* You can pay as you go for just what you need and deploy in the cloud, and you can integrate Office 365 with your existing on-premises IT assets.

Of course, it doesn't really matter what I think. Fortunately, our customers are giving us great feedback. I love hearing stories about how Office 365 is helping customers of all sizes. Some of my favorite examples include how small companies are taking advantage of it to be more productive without needing the infrastructure of a big company. Instead of using an expensive video-conferencing system, physicians from Dallas Neurosurgical consult with colleagues in other states through Lync Online. I’d feel even more confident about the decisions my doctors were making if I knew they could share an opinion with other experts so easily.

We’re just scratching the surface of what organizations can do with Office 365. The new Office 365 Marketplace already has 100 apps and 400 services for Office 365. Could this be the future platform for running your business? Give it a try with our beta, to find out.

If you like what you see, we'd love to hear about it. As part of the “Office 365: Ready for Work Contest,” we’re inviting small businesses around the world to share their stories on our Facebook page. Winners will receive Office 365, $50,000 in advertising and business services, and a Microsoft executive working for them for a day. Who knows, maybe I’ll show up at your business soon.

If you see me, put me to work!--Takeshi Numoto, Corporate Vice President, Office

Toshiba Satellite P775: Software to make a big screen sing

Meet the Toshiba Satellite P775, a spacious 43.9cm (17.3") laptop designed to replace and outmode your desktop computer in one go - and with no wires. It's bursting with all the latest tech, including your choice of second generation Intel Core processor and USB 3.0 connectivity, but it's not just a heavyweight piece of hardware. It comes with the latest software preloaded to help you get more done and get more out of everything you do already: read on and we'll explain what to expect.

Resolution+
You might be more familiar with Resolution+ from Toshiba's REGZA TV line - it's a smart algorithm that works quietly in the background to upscale video to high definition, in real time. The upshot is that your DVDs get a new, crystal clear lease of life on the Satellite P775's lush LED backlit screen.

Toshiba Media Controller
While the Toshiba Satellite P775 comes with a huge 750GB hard drive, it's not the only place you need to keep your media on. With Toshiba's exclusive Media Controller software, you can stream files from any other computer on your network, or even send them to a net connected TV too.

Toshiba LifeSpace
If your online life is a scattered mess across your desktop, you can tidy it up quickly and easily with Toshiba's custom LifeSpace software, which lets you keep track of favourite files, jot down notes and keep an eye on the system's health at a glance. Naturally, it comes pre-installed on the Satellite P775.

Dolby Advanced Audio
You'll find super sonic Harman Kardon speakers built into the Toshiba Satellite P775, and to complement them, you also get Dolby Advanced Audio software, which analyses sounds in realtime, and tweaks them perfectly to the acoustics of the laptop's chassis - you can read more about how it works here in our guide.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
You don't just get the entry level version of Microsoft's newest operating system on the Toshiba Satellite P775 - you get the 64-bit version designed specifically for use in the home, so you get much better memory management, as well as incredible services such as Windows Media Centre.

Coming soon to Okobe.co.uk...

Toshiba netbook: Which model is for you?

If you're after a way to Get Things Done on the go, or just a portable option for gaming and watching video on your commute, you need a netbook in your life. These ultra portable (25.7cm/10.1") laptops are still stuffed with power, but looks can be deceiving: there's a whole range of them designed with different people in mind. Read on, and we'll dissect every model on offer, and find you the right one.

Toshiba NB250
If you're after the easiest way to browse the web on the go - and for as long as possible - look no further than the Toshiba NB250. This little black number runs for up to nine hours on the trot away from the mains, and you can eke out extra life thanks to an energy efficient power saving mode.

Toshiba NB500
Form is every bit as important as function these days - there's no need to have one or the other, rather than both. If you don't mind having all eyes on your netbook, the Toshiba NB500 is the model to plump for: it's finished in an easy on the eye, easier on the wrist rubber coating, and comes in a bevy of beautiful shades, including black, blue, brown and lime green.

Toshiba NB305
Worried about losing your precious data? It's an inevitable threat with an ultra portable device, but the Toshiba NB305 has you covered - as well as keeping anything you're typing safe with an epic 11 hour run time, it boasts added hard drive protection, so should you drop it, all your files will be safe as houses still.

Toshiba NB520
For the more multimedia oriented, the NB520 is best likely to suit - that's down to both its impressive combo of Harman Kardon speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio sound, as well as the dual core Atom processor, which is capable of handling heavier loads and multitasking on the fly, so you can stream music or video, chat and type away without fear of slowdown.

Toshiba NB550D
You're not just limited to a 25.7cm screen with a netbook, especially not the NB550D. It comes with an HDMI connection, so you can quickly hook it up to any new TV or monitor and use them instead. That's ideal if you want to plug in at your desk and work on a bigger screen, but the powerful AMD C50 processor inside also means that it's perfectly suited for playing video. You could even use it as a set top box underneath your telly.

Adobe Win - Appy Award

Adobe are excited that Adobe Photoshop Express won an Appy Award in the photography category.

Adobe Photoshop Express lets you quickly edit and share photos from your mobile device. It puts your photo and video library in your hand without wasting valuable storage space. Choose from a variety of one-touch effects, or simply drag your finger across the screen for various effects such as crop, straighten, colour adjustment, borders or to add artistic filters.

Judges' Comments: Easy and useful to perfect your images from your phone Carrie Longton
Very basic version of Adobe’s industry standard photographic software. But it’s ideal for simple editing of phone snaps, allowing you to crop and rotate pics, as well as add effects, including black and white and sketch mode. Also optimises pictures for emailing or uploading to blogs. Amazingly, it’s free. Trevor Davies

This App is currently Free! To download it visit the following link: http://appys.com/award/photography

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Sony introduces powerful, compact HVL-F43AM external flash for α cameras with Quick Shift Bounce

HVL-F43AM external flash with GN43, Quick Shift Bounce adjustment, wireless ratio control and dust/moisture resistant design

More new a system accessories: VCT-55LH bracket, LCS-AMB soft carrying case and ALC-SH111 lens hood

HVL-F43AM external flash
With a powerful output of GN43 (105mm ISO100 m), the compact yet versatile HVL-F43AM flash from Sony is optimised for superb results with all A-mount cameras.

As featured on the HVL-F58AM, the innovative Quick Shift Bounce system allows flash head position to be adjusted instantly when switching between horizontal and vertical compositions. This maintains consistent shadow positions regardless of camera orientation, allowing easy creation of natural-looking ‘bounce’ effects.

Smart flash functions open up even broader creative lightning possibilities. Wireless Ratio Control makes it easy to select light emission ratios for up to three separate flash units*. This allows quick creation of sophisticated multi-point lighting effects without the need for complex professional equipment.

Ideal for everyday shooting and more serious applications, its dust- and moisture-resistant design makes the HVL-F43AM ideal for demanding assignments, indoors or outside.

Flash power levels are switchable in 22 increments, from 1/1 through to 1/128 level in 1/3 steps. High output power is complemented by a quick 2.9 second (approx.) recycling time. Despite the flash’s extensive functions, operation is refreshingly clear and simple via the high-quality LCD screen and direction buttons.

VCT-55LH bracket
The VCT-55LH is a versatile mounting bracket that offers space for mounting additional ISO cold shoe accessories. A useful add-on for all A-mount cameras by Sony, the bracket can also be used with E-mount cameras such as the NEX-5, NEX-3 and the Handycam® NEX-VG10E HD camcorder.

Other accessories – like a shotgun microphone – can be securely mounted while the camera’s main shoe is occupied. The VCT-55LH is ideal for use with the CLM-V55 clip-on LCD monitor that offers a clear, high-resolution view of images during video and still shooting.

Soft Carrying Case LCS-AMB
The LCS-AMB carry case protects your A-mount camera and attached standard zoom lens while you’re travelling. A special suspended partition cradles the camera securely while allowing quick access. Finished in durable black polyester material, the case can be slung over a shoulder using the supplied strap, carried by the grab handle or attached to a belt. It also features handy pockets with space for up to two extra batteries, spare memory card and lens cap. (NB: Not compatible with DSLR-A900/A850).

Lens Hood ALC-SH111
Compatible with DT 35mm F1.8 SAM and 85mm F2.8 SAM lenses, this round-profile hood shades from direct sunlight to prevent glare and lens flare.

Okobe.co.uk is a Sony Registered Partner.

 

Gadget Show Live at Birmingham NEC Starts Today...

The Gadget Show Live is the UK's ultimate consumer electronics event and returns for its third year at the NEC, Birmingham this April this week.

There is so much going on at this year’s show it would be impossible to list it all here so visit the features section of our website to find out more about what’s on offer.

The program in our HUB Theatre has now been announced with daily free to attend sessions. It is the place to go to the very best new tech so be sure to plan it into your visit.

If photography is your thing then be sure to take a trip to the Photographic Workshop Theatre in Hall 12. Here there will be regular presentations covering everything from simple tips to improve your photographs to workshops on your video and photo editing skills on Adobe Photoshop.

Starts today and runs until this Sunday..

Okobe.co.uk Camera of the Day: Canon IXUS 115 HS, 12.1 Megapixel, Compact Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom, 3"LCD in Pink

Okobe.co.uk Camera of the Day:  

Canon IXUS 115 HS, 12.1 Megapixel, Compact Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom, 3"LCD- Pink 

Check out the Okobe.co.uk Camera of the Day: The Canon ISUS 115HS in Pink at Okobe.co.uk Here... 

With HS System for great shots in low light, Smart Auto and Full HD movies, the stylish metal bodied IXUS 115 HS lets you simply enjoy the fun.

- HS System (12.1 MP).
- 28mm, 4x zoom. Optical IS.
- Slim metal body.
- 7.6 cm (3.0") PureColor II G LCD.
- Full HD. Dynamic IS. HDMI.
- Smart Auto (32 scenes).
- High-speed Burst & Super Slow Motion Movie.
- Movie Digest.
- Creative shooting modes.
- Optional Waterproof Cases.

HS System (12.1 MP)
HS System excels in low light allowing you to capture the real atmosphere of the moment without flash or tripod. A high performance DIGIC 4 processor and high sensitivity image sensor give superior image quality in all situations.

28mm, 4x zoom. Optical IS
A quality 28mm wide-angle Canon lens brings you greater shooting possibilities, from big groups to indoor party shots. The 4x zoom with optical Image Stabilizer makes it easy to zoom in on details without camera shake.

Slim metal body
A metal body gives the camera a solid feel and stylish finish while the slim design makes it easy to carry with you everywhere

7.6 cm (3.0") PureColor II G LCD
The large screen with a tempered glass outer layer adds strength and gives high visibility in a variety of conditions with stunning contrast and colour. A wide viewing angle allows you to easily share your images and movies with friends.

Full HD Movies and Dynamic IS plus HDMI
High quality movies can now be recorded in Full HD 1080p format at 24fps. Dynamic IS makes sure your footage stays steady while filming and an HDMI connection ensures no loss of quality when playing back on an HDTV.

Smart Auto
Smart Auto is truly automatic - detecting up to 32 different shooting scenes so you can take great pictures in complete confidence, knowing that the camera will take care of everything.

High-speed Burst & Super Slow Motion Movie
Capture fast-paced action using the High-speed Burst mode or slow down movement using
Super Slow Motion Movie mode. Both modes provide dramatic and spectacular ways of recording fast-moving subjects.

Movie Digest
Movie Digest captures up to 4-seconds of the action before a shot is taken, joining all the clips together from the same day into a single VGA movie to add to your collection of photos.

Creative shooting modes
Creative shooting modes give you the opportunity to experiment. Fish-eye Effect re-creates the distortion of a fish-eye lens while Miniature Effect transforms landscapes into miniature scale models. For the look and feel of a picture taken with an older style camera try Toy Camera Effect.

Optional Waterproof Cases
Explore a world of underwater photography with either the more compact, lightweight and affordable WP-DC310L which allows shooting down to depths of 3m or the WP-DC39 down to 40m.

 

 Check out the Okobe.co.uk Camera of the Day: The Canon ISUS 115HS in Pink at Okobe.co.uk Here... 

Milan Design Week Starts Today! - The ASUS design team will be the style gurus behind its own showcase!

Milan Design Week: April 12th to 17th 2011

The ASUS’ design team will be the style gurus behind its own showcase during Milan Design Week, one of the most important design events of the year.

Milan Design Week (or Salone Internazionale del Mobile) is one of the most important design events of the year, especially for lifestyle design industries. Traditionally MDW is considered to be mostly about furniture, accessories, fashion and style, however in recent years as more tech-oriented companies lean towards a softer and more human approach to their products, Milan Design Week has become an important event for almost all design industries.

ASUS’ design team will be the style gurus behind its own showcase during Milan Design Week. In a bid to understand more about what has gone on behind the scenes, Tech in Style contacted the Design Center to see how it goes beyond just making fancy products.

Senses Remixed
The team opened by stating, “With our “Inspiring Innovation Persistent Perfection” global statement in mind, we start by proposing a theme for each consecutive year to further express this to the world. This year our theme is called “Senses Remixed”. It’s a return to the basics of being human – senses. We realized that important memories are encoded by senses, so when one smells a particular smell – be it a brand of shampoo, home cooking or the humidity in the air – something important is triggered in memory, and the emotions attached to this revive. It’s the same thing with sound too; often when we hear a tune or sound – maybe it was the song playing at the prom, or the crickets chirping outside the window when we were little – things we thought we’d forgotten are suddenly remembered”.

Milan Design Week
The design team explained it had three rooms to work on, which centered around this core idea:

* The first room is an interactive installation with ASUS products and content specifically focusing on significant memories and moments in life. They hope to reconnect visitors to their own memories, which have been encoded by their senses.
* The second room will showcase a brief history of “the making of ASUS’ sound”, where the team displays the design process and technology behind NX90.
* The third room will demo the new Eee Pads, where visitors can use the four Eee Pad models ASUS launched at CES, in order to get a hands on experience.

The team explained that it was important to highlight that ASUS has evolved from beyond just a computer manufacturer into a company that wants to be ‘the builder of human connections, with a means to savor the important moments’. Its products are often ‘exquisitely designed and crafted not just as an evolution of technology, but as an expression of our artistic and interactive aims’ - they explained that all this motive helped create the senses remixed idea.

Sony Europe’s ‘best-in-class’ environmental programme clinches International Charter award

Sony Europe has won the International Charter’s ‘Committed to the Environment Award’ for the company’s long term strategy on reducing environmental impact and use of resources.

Road to Zero, Sony’s global environmental plan focussed on achieving a zero environmental footprint by 2050, was singled out by the International Charter review team as a ‘best-in-class long term environmental strategy’ while Open Planet Ideas – a crowdsourcing scheme for using technology to meet sustainability challenges – was described as a good model for engagement on environmental issues.

The International Charter promotes best practice and policy in a range of areas for businesses worldwide. Its ‘Committed to the Environment Award’ recognises companies that have a clear commitment to understanding their environmental impact and realistic strategies for reducing it.

Delivering the award to Sony Europe, International Charter director Steve Fortes said: ‘We are delighted to recognise the company as being committed to the environment and to grant this award. I’d also like to relay how impressed the review team was with the transparency of the information available and the strategic thinking that’s in place at Sony Europe.’

The company was also commended for its use of renewable energy, which accounts for 100% of the electricity used at sites with more than 100 employees, and for the redesign of its packaging and products to further reduce materials and energy consumption.

Commenting on this recognition by the International Charter, Serge Foucher, Executive Vice President, Sony Europe said: ‘Environmental sustainability is a crucial part of our ethos and activities, so naturally we are delighted to have received this prestigious award. At the same time we recognise that there is still much to do to meet our own objective of a zero environmental footprint by 2050.’

Okobe.co.uk is a Sony Registered Partner.

WIN an iPad 2 & Smart Cover at Okobe.co.uk!

WIN an iPad 2 and Smart Cover at Okobe.co.uk!

What you need to do: It’s quite simple; all you have to do is “Like” our Okobe Facebook Page!*

The Prize: Win one of two 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G Apple iPad 2 and one Smart Cover!

How to Win: Everyone who 'Likes' the Okobe Facebook Page will be automatically added to a list on the 1st May 2011 and TWO Lucky Winners will be selected at random. Winners will be announced on the 2nd May 2011! Please note if you already 'Like' Okobe on Facebook you will automatically be entered into the competition.

If you have any questions please do email us through the Okobe.co.uk website and we will be happy to help.

*Terms and Conditions do apply

Terms & Conditions:
Both winners will be notified via a Facebook message on the 2nd May 2011. They will have two weeks to respond before another person will be selected.

Please note only one entry per person is aloud.

If you already 'Like' Okobe on Facebook you will automatically be entered into the competition.

Okobe.co.uk reserves the right to terminate this competition at any point. 

There is no cash alternative available.

Okobe.co.uk employees are excluded from this competition.

Check out the Okobe Facebook Page Here...

Adobe and Zend Introduce Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP

New Offering Accelerates Mobile App Development for PHP Across Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS.

Adobe Systems Incorporated and Zend Technologies, the PHP company, today announced Adobe® Flash® Builder™ 4.5 for PHP software, a new integrated product helping PHP developers create rich Internet applications (RIAs) for mobile, Web and desktop. For the first time, developers now have the benefit of an integrated development environment (IDE), combining the capabilities of Flash Builder and Zend Studio for rapidly creating Flex and PHP applications. Now, with a single code base developers can deliver applications for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS while sharing code from Web applications, dramatically reducing the time and cost of application creation and maintenance.

Today’s announcement complements the release of Flash Builder 4.5, Flex 4.5 and the Adobe Creative Suite® 5.5 family, further demonstrating the strategic alliance between Adobe and Zend and underscoring the companies’ strong commitment to the developer and designer community.

Accelerate Development and Differentiate Enterprise PHP Applications with Superior User Experiences

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP is an Eclipse™ based tool for rapidly building expressive mobile, Web and desktop applications using PHP, ActionScript®, and the open source Flex Framework. Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP includes an integrated copy of Zend Studio 8, enabling developers to code and debug efficiently within a single environment, for the delivery of scalable, high-performance and secure PHP-based mobile applications on Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS. Using these newly integrated tools, developers will find it easier to differentiate their PHP applications by providing superior user experiences.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 Accelerate Mobile App Development for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS

Latest Tooling Advancements Deliver Breakthrough Development Platform for Creating Mobile, Web and Desktop Applications

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced significant advancements in mobile application development as part of the Adobe Creative Suite® 5.5 release (see separate press releases). These innovations include all new tooling and framework support in Flash® Builder™ 4.5 software for developing, testing and deploying mobile applications on Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS platforms. Flex 4.5, an open source framework, includes new support for building mobile applications for Android, and support for BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS platforms is expected in June 2011. This new approach in mobile development enables developers to leverage a single tool chain, programming language and code base to easily create highly expressive applications across leading mobile platforms, greatly improving performance while reducing development time and cost of delivery.

“Building a native application for each of these devices would not have been financially feasible.”

Flash Builder 4.5 accelerates the development of Flex and ActionScript® projects, including new round-trip workflows with Adobe Flash Catalyst® CS 5.5 software that allow designers and developers to work in parallel throughout application development. Flash Builder 4.5 also includes new capabilities to enable faster and more productive coding as well as performance enhancements. The addition of Flash Builder 4.5 Premium to Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium software provides a major update to the award-winning suite of software for Web designers and developers.

“With these releases, developers for the first time have a single development platform for building highly expressive Web, mobile, and desktop applications, marking a leap forward for mobile app development,” said Ed Rowe, vice president of development tooling, Adobe. “With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, enterprises now need to ensure that their applications work seamlessly across many different types of devices. Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 will now allow companies to standardize on a common platform capable of delivering rich and consistent application experiences that perform great across Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS devices.”

One Common Code Base, Reduce Time to Market

In June, Adobe plans to release updates to the Flex framework that will enable developers to reuse most or all of their code across applications that target multiple platforms, including Web, desktop, Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS. Moving an application across different mobile platforms is often as simple as a recompile. New components expand the Spark skinning and component architecture introduced in Flex 4, while enhancements in Flash Builder 4.5 accelerate coding for Flex and ActionScript projects with best practice code templates, code completion and code generation features.

The new mobile development features in Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 are targeted at creating standalone installed applications using Adobe AIR for mobile devices. In addition to Android Market, BlackBerry AppWorld and Apple’s iTunes AppStore, mobile apps can now be deployed to the Amazon Appstore for Android providing companies with additional monetization options through the largest online shopping destination. With advanced tooling and new features, such as soon to be deployed native code extensions, AIR is the most powerful way to deliver applications across multiple screens and platforms such as Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, iOS and desktop operating systems.

Recognizing the need for a better mobile experience, Standard Chartered utilized Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 to create a fully transactional banking application that offers a rich, engaging consumer experience across desktop computers, tablets, and smartphone devices.

“For the tablet and smartphone-based app, we cut time to market by 40 percent and investment by two-thirds by leveraging Adobe tools and our existing code for the Web-based application,” said Aman Narain, group head of remote banking, Standard Chartered. “Building a native application for each of these devices would not have been financially feasible.”

Improved Designer-Developer Workflow Speeds Development

Also announced today, Flash Catalyst CS5.5 features a new round-trip workflow with Flash Builder 4.5 allowing designers and developers to work in parallel. Now designers can open, make changes and save Flex projects that were created or previously edited in Flash Builder, leading to faster delivery of applications. Additionally, designers can rapidly prototype user interfaces for resizable Flex based websites and applications with new components, craft more precise and expressive transitions and effects, and efficiently design developer-built custom components. Flash Catalyst CS5.5 is also available in the Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium and Master Collection editions of Creative Suite 5.5.

“We use the Flex skinning architecture and Adobe Flash Catalyst to automatically generate graphics, which has cut our development cycle by 20 percent,” said Aaron Pedersen, founding partner and Web application architect, DevelopmentArc. “This workflow has helped the process of skinning and stylizing the look of Flex applications to meet the designer’s needs.”

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Integrates Tablets into Creative Workflows

New Touch SDK Kick-Starts the Development of Interactive Tablet Apps that Communicate Directly with Photoshop CS5

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Photoshop® Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) inviting developers worldwide to create mobile and tablet applications that interact with Adobe® Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended software, uniting the fun and interactive experience of touch devices with the power and precision of Photoshop. The Photoshop Touch SDK and a new scripting engine in Photoshop CS5 now opens the door for Android™, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS apps to drive and interact with Photoshop on the desktop. Adobe today also launched Creative Suite® 5.5, a significant mid-cycle release to the industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow across print, video, mobile and online media.

Using the Touch SDK, Adobe has developed three initial Photoshop CS5 companion apps for Apple iPad: Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop. The apps are designed to enable users to create custom color swatches, paint and drive popular Photoshop tools from tablet devices.

“Our research shows that creatives are adopting tablets faster than any other group and we heard loud and clear that they want to use their devices to interact with Photoshop, the tool they depend on most of all,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media Solutions, Adobe. “The apps that we announced today show some of the creative ways tablets can work with Photoshop and over the next few months Photoshop’s vibrant developer community is going to dazzle us with innovative apps that further integrate tablet devices into creative workflows.”

Photoshop SDK Encourages Creative Development
Adobe has developed three initial Photoshop Touch apps: Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav. Adobe Color Lava, allows creative professionals to use their fingertips to mix colors on the iPad, creating custom color swatches and themes to transfer back into Photoshop. Adobe Eazel, which takes advantage of cutting-edge painting technology, lets digital artists create rich realistic paintings with their fingertips and introduces a new kind of interaction between “wet” and “dry” paints. These paintings can then be sent directly to Photoshop CS5 for compositing or for taking the artwork further. Lastly, Adobe Nav increases workflow efficiency by letting users select and control Photoshop tools using the iPad as the input surface, customize the toolbar, browse and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop files or easily create new files. All three applications take advantage of the iPad tablet’s touch screen for a truly immersive, tactile, on-the-go experience. While the first applications available are for the Apple iPad and the iOS, the Photoshop Touch SDK makes development possible on other devices, including Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.

Utilizing the Touch SDK, developers will have wide access to Photoshop functionality with the freedom to innovate and create new apps or add capabilities to existing ones. Adobe has already engaged with a number of developers across the industry to incorporate tablets and other devices into creative workflows that empower Photoshop users in new and groundbreaking ways.

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Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium

Sweeping Productivity Enhancements and New Creative Innovations Boost End-to-End Workflows for Audio and Video Professionals

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 Production Premium, the complete software solution for video and post-production that helps deliver content to virtually any screen. Breakthrough performance, workflow improvements, creative innovations, and powerful new audio editing capabilities build upon the huge customer momentum Production Premium is experiencing with broadcasters, filmmakers and video professionals worldwide. New versions receiving major updates include Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5.5, Adobe After Effects® CS5.5, Adobe Flash® Professional CS5.5, Adobe Flash Catalyst® CS5.5, Adobe Story, Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5, and Adobe Device Central CS5.5. New to Creative Suite 5.5 is Adobe Audition® CS5.5, bringing its audio-for-video multitrack editing environment to both Mac OS and Windows® for the first time.

Today also sees Adobe debut an affordable and flexible subscription-based pricing plan, attractive to customers that want to get current and stay current on Creative Suite products, have project-based needs, or try the software for the first time. New Subscription Editions ensure customers with active subscriptions are always working with the most up-to-date versions of the software, without the upfront cost of full pricing. Now customers can use Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 for as little as US$85 per month.

“Over the past year, we’ve received a phenomenal response to Adobe Creative Suite CS5 Production Premium for its performance, new features and expanded integration with hardware and camera manufacturers that makes metadata, collaboration and distribution a seamless workflow for video professionals,” said Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager for Professional Video, Adobe. “CS5.5 turbo-charges a product that has already taken the industry by storm and gives story-tellers new tools and features to continue to astonish audiences around the world.”

Even Greater Productivity
Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium delivers massive productivity enhancements that enable video and audio professionals to dramatically accelerate their workflows. The powerful Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, introduced in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, broadens its graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware support to include laptops and more supported cards, and allows users to open projects faster, get real-time feedback for more GPU-accelerated features, and work more smoothly at 4k and higher resolutions.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 boosts performance by providing a smoother editing workflow, enabled by new trimming and editing tools that provide more precision and control. Dual-system sound support from the new Merge Clips command in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 lets users quickly sync video with high-quality audio recorded on separate devices like location recorders, ideal for DSLR or RED workflows. Leveraging an integrated workflow with Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere Pro users can save time by sending individual clips or sequences, including reference videos, directly to Adobe Audition for audio editing and restoration. Adobe’s lead in file-based workflows widens in CS5.5 with enhanced support for RED and other tapeless cameras, including improved RED Source Settings dialog in Premiere Pro and After Effects CS5.5 and native support for up to 5k media from RED Epic cameras via an extension available on Adobe Labs. Providing a truly native editing solution, CS5.5 saves users time and eliminates the need to transcode or rewrap footage.

Building on Creative Suite Production Premium’s industry-leading multiscreen capabilities, the new 64-bit Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5 has been completely redesigned to deliver Adobe Premiere Pro video sequences, After Effects compositions, and Adobe Encore® projects to multiple screen formats quickly, while doing the encoding in the background. Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5 also introduces new format support such as AVC-Intra and DPX, and watch folders so users can encode a single clip to multiple destinations with a simple drag and drop.

“When you watch a film, it’s the larger experience that sticks with you, the combination of elements, not the individual details,” said Gareth Edwards, award winning filmmaker and the creative driving force behind the much-heralded 2010 independent film, Monsters. “That’s what I love about Adobe Creative Suite – all of the individual tools interlink seamlessly and blur the line between each part of the process so the focus is creating a cohesive work, not a bunch of different pieces. This interconnectivity coupled with the incredible speed of the Mercury Playback Engine makes for a powerful combination – if we had CS5.5 when we made Monsters, I know we would have finished two months earlier.”

Game-Changing Innovations
New innovations across the suite continue to help audio and video professionals push the boundaries of their creativity. After Effects CS5.5 introduces new features such as the Warp Stabilizer, Camera Lens Blur and Light Falloff to enable users to enhance footage in post-production. The breakthrough Warp Stabilizer eliminates unwanted camera movement by steadying shaky footage, making handheld footage appear as smooth as a camera mounted on a mechanical stabilizer. The Camera Lens Blur effect mimics the properties of physical lenses offering more realistic depth of field blurs. The Light Falloff effect enables users to simulate natural illumination falloff to mimic how light behaves in a 3D scene and can be used to create other light intensity effects.

Already well-adopted in the audio industry, video professionals can now harness the power of Adobe Audition in CS5.5 Production Premium – for both Mac and Windows platforms. The completely re-written audio engine in Audition offers a robust toolset to record, edit, mix, master, and sweeten audio. With its professional editing and multitrack mixing tools, powerful noise-reduction and effects options, audio and video professionals on both platforms can now benefit from Adobe Audition CS5.5 for handling a wide range of tasks quickly and efficiently.

Improved Collaboration
Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium continues to drive innovation by enhancing how users collaborate with existing workflows, even if they use a variety of tools. Enhanced project exchange support for Final Cut Pro users provides maximum flexibility for video editors, while new or enhanced OMF support in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition makes it possible to export high-quality audio projects to Avid Pro Tools, facilitating more efficient collaboration between audio editors, remixers and sound designers.

Access to the new version of Adobe Story, an Adobe CS Live online service, improves collaboration between users with email notifications of new script edits and a faster method of tracking changes through script elements and filters. The ability to import Adobe Story script data directly into Adobe Premiere Pro further strengthens XML-based metadata support found throughout the Production Premium suite, which is critical for everything from file-based workflows to media asset management. This industry leadership around metadata-driven workflows, plus the ease and flexibility of communicating with Adobe applications with critical third party solutions from news management systems to playback servers, is the catalyst behind many broadcasters and other organizations around the world switching to Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium.

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Adobe Launches Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium

Landmark Advances in HTML5 and Flash Tooling Accelerate Delivery of Mobile Apps and Content Experiences

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 Web Premium, a significant update to the award-winning suite of software for Web designers and developers. New in the suite are updated versions of Adobe Dreamweaver®, Adobe Flash® Professional, Adobe Flash Catalyst®, Adobe Flash Builder™, the all-new Flex framework for mobile devices, Adobe Device Central and Adobe Acrobat® X Pro. Key innovations include substantive HTML5 advancements in Dreamweaver, new tablet and smartphone application development capabilities in Flash Professional CS5.5 and Flash Builder Premium 4.5, and enhanced cross-browser testing as well as mobile emulation and on-device debugging. The new CS5.5 features give Web professionals the ability to bring high-impact content experiences and mobile apps to the latest form factors across Android™, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS platforms.

Today also sees Adobe launch an affordable and flexible subscription-based pricing plan, attractive to customers that want to get current and stay current on Creative Suite products, have project-based needs, or try the software for the first time. New Subscription Editions ensure customers with active subscriptions are always working with the most up-to-date versions of the software, without the upfront cost of full pricing.

“The explosion of smartphones and tablets is drastically changing how content is distributed and consumed, and Web Premium CS5.5 ensures that designers and developers can target mobile platforms first, helping them secure the widest possible reach of their interactive content and applications on devices,” said Lea Hickman, vice president of Creative Suite Design and Web product management, Adobe. “Thanks to advances in HTML5 and Flash tooling, the delivery of browser content and new rich interactive apps has never been easier across Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS.”

Far-Reaching Advances in HTML5 and Flash Tooling
Web Premium CS5.5 advances HTML5 authoring tools, continuing Adobe’s commitment to offer the best solutions for Web designers and developers to create browser-based content that gives end-users a seamless and immersive experience across virtually any screen. New HTML5 support in Dreamweaver CS5.5 includes jQuery mobile framework integration for browser-based content and PhoneGap integration for native and mobile application design and development. Enhancements to the multiscreen preview panel in Dreamweaver have also been made, supporting the latest in media queries, WebKit engine updates, and CSS3 attributes, enabling side-by-side renderings of what a single design looks like on different form factors.

“With Adobe the jQuery project has spent a significant amount of time researching and developing user interfaces for mobile browsers, the final result being the creation of the jQuery Mobile framework,” said John Resig, founder of the jQuery Project. “We’re excited about having jQuery Mobile integrated into Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium as it will allow Web designers and developers to create refined Web applications that work across both mobile and desktop platforms.”

“At FX Networks we’re constantly exploring ways to engage viewers and enhance the traditional television viewing experience,” said Jason Phipps, vice president of digital media marketing, FX Networks. “With Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 we have the ability to rapidly leverage our content across multiple platforms creating immersive applications for Web including for any mobile device.”

New additions in Flash Professional CS5.5 include content scaling so users can easily scale their content on stage to adapt to different screen sizes, which is a huge timesaver. Flash Professional CS5.5 also includes a new shared assets feature for more streamlined publishing, as well as more than 20 new code snippets for creating mobile and Adobe AIR® applications for accelerometer, multitouch gestures, and save/load data.

Enhanced Application Development for Mobile Devices
Adobe CS5.5 Web Premium includes new mobile application development support to deliver rich interactive applications to the latest Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS devices. In the updated Flash Builder 4.5 users have new mobile support for ActionScript and mobile Flex projects, as well as improved designer-developer collaboration throughout application development with a new bi-directional workflow with Flash Catalyst CS5.5 and Flash Professional CS5.5.

New capabilities in Adobe Flash Builder 4.5, Flash Professional CS5.5 and the introduction of the Flex 4.5 framework for mobile devices, let designers and developers build mobile applications that run on iPhone, iPad, Android devices and BlackBerry PlayBook. The apps can be easily deployed through the application markets such as Apple's iTunes App Store*, Android Market and BlackBerry App World.

Enhanced Browser Compatibility Testing
To keep Web developers and designers ahead of rapidly changing technology, Web Premium CS5.5 includes new HTML5 emulation and support for the latest mobile devices in Adobe Device Central, software that simplifies the production of innovative and compelling content for mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. Adobe BrowserLab, a key component of Adobe CS Live online services**†, has also been updated for cross-browser compatibility testing for the newest browsers to help ensure Web projects are accurately previewed across a spectrum of browsers.

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Adobe Introduces Creative Suite 5.5 Product Line

Significant Mid-Cycle Product Release Delivers Essential Innovation Across Flash, HTML5, Video, Mobile App and Digital Publishing Tools; Company Introduces New Subscription Payment Plan and Brings Tablets into Creative Workflows

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the new Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 product line (see separate releases), enabling designers and developers to target popular and emerging smartphone and tablet platforms, as the revolution in mobile communications fundamentally changes the way content is distributed and consumed. Substantive advances to HTML5, Flash authoring, digital publishing and video tools as well as new capabilities that kick-start the integration of tablets into creative workflows, anchor the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 product family.

This launch marks a major change to Adobe’s product release strategy for Creative Suite, the industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow across print, video, mobile and online media. Adobe now plans to have milestone Creative Suite product introductions at 24-month intervals and – starting with Creative Suite 5.5 – significant mid-cycle releases designed to keep the worldwide creative community ahead of the latest advances in content authoring.

Today also sees Adobe debut an affordable and flexible subscription-based pricing plan, attractive to customers that want to get current and stay current on Creative Suite products, have project-based needs, or try the software for the first time. New Subscription Editions ensure customers are always working with the most up-to-date versions of the software, without the upfront cost of full pricing. With subscription pricing customers can use flagship products, such as Adobe Photoshop® for as little as US$35 per month, Adobe Design Premium CS5.5 for US$95 per month, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection for US$129 per month.

“Creative Suite 5.5 will drive the development of new digital experiences across devices, including all major smartphones and tablets,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer, Adobe. “As publishers, media companies, advertisers and enterprises transform the way they develop and distribute their content, Adobe will be there to support them with technology innovations in content creation, management, measurement and distribution.”

Mobile Development for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS
The new Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium Suite (see separate release) is packed with innovations in HTML5 and Adobe Flash authoring tools, empowering customers to create, deliver and monetize rich content and applications for virtually any screen. This release helps enable designers and developers to deliver mobile applications on Android™, BlackBerry® Tablet OS, iOS and other platforms; create rich browser-based content across screens using HTML5; and leverage Flash Player to deliver premium video content, casual games and rich Internet applications. Creative Suite 5.5 comes at a time when mobile devices are exploding in terms of sales and capabilities; radically altering the way content and applications are developed and consumed. With the launch of Adobe Flash® Builder™ 4.5 Premium (available in Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium) and the Flex® 4.5 framework, developers can easily develop and deploy mobile applications to more than 200 million smartphones and tablets by the end of 2011.

Flash Enabled Devices on the Rise
With more than 131 million smartphones expected to have Flash Player installed by the end of the year, Adobe Flash makes it possible to bring rich content to desktops and devices inside the browser. Flash Player is supported on Android, HP webOS and Google TV today. BlackBerry Tablet OS, upcoming versions of Windows Phone, Samsung SmartTVs and others are expected to support Flash Player in the near future. For more information about the Adobe Flash Platform, visit: www.adobe.com/flashplatform.

Access Latest Advances in Digital Publishing
Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium Suite (see separate release) builds upon Adobe’s recent product innovations in digital publishing, already deployed by some of the world’s leading magazine and business publishers to create stunning digital editions for tablet devices. Using Adobe InDesign® CS5.5, in combination with the integrated Folio Producer toolset, designers can add new levels of interactivity to their page layouts targeted to tablet devices. Documents can include video, audio, panoramic views, 360-degree object rotation, pan and zoom of images, integration of HTML and HTML5 content and other interactive overlays, leading to a much more robust and engaging reading experience. Creative Suite 5.5 complements Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to support publication, sale and analysis of content on an array of tablet devices.

Integrating Tablet Devices into Creative Workflows
With today’s announcements, Adobe is extending the creative process beyond the desktop by helping integrate tablet devices into creative workflows. The new Adobe Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) enables developers to build tablet applications that interact with Photoshop from Android, BlackBerry PlayBook and iOS devices. Adobe also announced three new iPad applications that demonstrate the creative possibilities of using tablets to drive common Photoshop workflows – Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop (see separate press release).

Powerful New Video Capabilities
For video and audio professionals, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium Suite (see separate release) delivers breakthrough performance, workflow improvements, creative innovations and powerful new audio editing capabilities that build upon the huge customer momentum Production Premium is experiencing with broadcasters, filmmakers and video professionals worldwide. In just one of the innovations, the powerful Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, introduced in Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5, broadens its graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware support to include laptops and more supported cards, allowing users to open projects faster, get real-time feedback and work more smoothly at higher resolutions.

Accelerate and Optimize Creative Workflows
Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 products integrate with Adobe CS Live*†, a set of online services that accelerate key aspects of the creative workflow and enable designers to focus on creating their best work. CS Live online services include: Adobe BrowserLab; Adobe CS Review; Acrobat.com; Adobe Story; and Adobe SiteCatalyst® NetAverages™.

The new Creative Suite product lineup is headlined by Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection, which includes, in a single package, all of Adobe’s industry-defining creative tools, such as Photoshop, Illustrator®, InDesign, Acrobat®, Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst®, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver®, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects®. These products are available separately or as components of one or more of the five Creative Suite editions. The complete Creative Suite 5 lineup includes Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection, Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium, Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium, Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium and Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard.

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Adobe Announces Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium and Design Standard

Key Design Suite Enhancements Support Explosion in Content on Mobile Devices and Tablets

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 Design Premium, the industry standard software that lets designers produce high-impact materials faster and deliver immersive, visually rich experiences to screens of all shapes and sizes. Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium comprises powerful new versions of Adobe InDesign®, Adobe Dreamweaver®, Adobe Flash® Professional and Adobe Flash® Catalyst™, as well as Adobe Acrobat® X Pro, Adobe Illustrator® CS5, Adobe Photoshop® CS5 Extended and Adobe Fireworks® CS5. A new version of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard will also be available.

Today also sees Adobe debut an affordable and flexible subscription-based pricing plan, attractive to customers that want to get current and stay current on Creative Suite products, have project-based needs, or try the software for the first time. New Subscription Editions ensure customers with active subscriptions are always working with the most up-to-date versions of the software, without the upfront cost of full pricing.

"Our design suites have helped publishers set the standard for what readers and advertisers should expect from publications, in print and now, in interactive form on tablet devices," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Creative and Interactive Solutions, Adobe. “Our content authoring tools have been embraced by industry leaders like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and National Geographic, who are relying on Adobe software to reinvent iconic titles for the digital age."

Deliver Amazing Designs to Tablets and Smartphones
With Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium, designers can create immersive digital magazines, elegant e-books with accompanying video and audio, world-class websites based on HTML5 and CSS3 standards, and interactive mobile applications built with familiar Flash tools that display consistently across Android™, BlackBerry Playbook and iOS devices. Updates to Dreamweaver CS5.5 (including the Live View mode, CSS panel and Multiscreen Preview panel) streamline the design of websites that need to be optimized for viewing on multiple devices, and let designers preview desktop, tablet and smartphone browsers side-by-side.

With the new Folio Producer tools in InDesign, which work in conjunction with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, creative professionals can design interactive, rich media digital magazines, newspapers, corporate publications and advertising for reading on tablet devices such as Apple iPad, BlackBerry PlayBook and a wide variety of Android tablets. Using InDesign CS5.5 in combination with the integrated Folio Producer toolset, designers can add new levels of interactivity to their page layouts. Documents targeted to tablet devices can include video, audio, panoramic views, 360-degree rotation of objects, pan and zoom of images, integration of HTML5 content and other interactive overlays. Designers can also easily test how their content will look and feel on a broad array of tablet device directly from within InDesign. Once content authoring is completed in InDesign, tight integration with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite allows users with a Digital Publishing Suite account (available separately) to efficiently produce, distribute, optimize and monetize content for tablet devices. A number of features in InDesign have also been enhanced to improve reading experiences on e-book devices, such as Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader and Apple iPad. Designers can now add refined typography, images that resize automatically to fit virtually any screen, and video and audio for e-book reader applications that support HTML5 video and audio tags*.

New capabilities in Flash Professional CS5.5 let designers and developers build mobile applications that run on iPhone, iPad, Android devices and BlackBerry Playbook. The apps can be easily deployed through the application markets such as Apple's iTunes App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry AppWorld.

Efficiency Beyond the Desktop
Adobe is continuing to extend productivity with cloud services and new tablet apps. Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium works with new tablet applications for Photoshop (available separately) that enhance the creative workflow and extend the design experience beyond the desktop. A new scripting engine in Adobe Photoshop and an enhanced Photoshop Software Development Kit (SDK) enable developers to build tablet applications that interact with Photoshop from Android, BlackBerry and iOS devices. Adobe used the new SDK to deliver three iPad applications that demonstrate the creative possibilities of using tablets to drive common Photoshop workflows – Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop (see separate press release). Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium also integrates with CS Live, a set of hosted services that accelerate key project workflows such as shared reviews.

Express Creative Ideas Rapidly Without Sacrificing Quality or Control
New features in Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium bolster the hundreds of timesaving features that were introduced in Creative Suite 5 to improve efficiency of everyday tasks. Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop CS5 Extended removes details or objects from images and fills in the space left behind, so it looks as if the removed content never existed. Illustrator CS5 includes several powerful features, including variable-width strokes, precise arrowheads, dashed-line controls, stretch controls for brushes, and brushes with corner controls. And introduced in InDesign CS5, simplified object selection and editing speed up the page layout process. Whether users are designing a document that will be printed, viewed onscreen or both, everything from aligning and distributing space between objects to adjusting corner effects is faster and easier in InDesign. Also, the addition of Acrobat X Pro provides custom PDF Portfolios, Guided Actions and a revamped user interface that makes preparing, protecting and delivering professional PDF documents more efficient than ever.

“We’ve been a pioneer in independent print magazine publishing, delivering the industry’s first clear cover and first ever magnetic paper, as well as building a breakthrough website and entirely customized experience for mobile device users,” said Emin Kadi, founder and creative director of Clear Magazine. “Now we’re leveraging the latest tools in Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium to stay at the forefront of technology and design, by creating exciting experiences on tablets like the iPad with 360-degree product views, slide shows, integrated videos, pop-up text and more – almost like a TV channel.”

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Better medicine through Apple iPad.

In the mid-1950s, a Minneapolis-based electrical engineer named Earl Bakken developed a wearable, battery-powered pacemaker — a device that would soon transform countless lives. Since then Bakken’s company, Medtronic, has become a world leader in medical equipment and therapies for cardiovascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal disorders, chronic health conditions, and surgical procedures. And today another revolutionary device — iPad — is helping Medtronic deliver its state-of-the-art medical technology to physicians and patients worldwide.

“Our mission is to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life,” says Linnea Burman, Director of Marketing, Drug Delivery Systems in Medtronic’s Neuromodulation division. “We’re working every day to help more patients have access to our therapies. iPad helps us communicate with clinicians; it helps our stories come to life. The sales representative can pull up information quickly and use graphics to tell a story in a very memorable way.”

Putting iPad in the hands of thousands of employees gives Medtronic the ideal platform to present and explain its visionary medical technologies to health care professionals, individual patients, and patient advocacy groups.

“iPad lets us get information to our customers much quicker than we could before,” says Michael Hedges, Medtronic’s Chief Information Officer. “On iPad, the information is delivered in a way that encourages people to use it.”
Building business with in-house apps

Medtronic has created more than a dozen in-house iPad apps to access proprietary information, improve efficiency, and enhance customer engagement. The apps are distributed through the Medtronic App Store, a password-protected website that lets the company control access to qualified staff and easily provide app updates.

Internal apps include mStar, a field productivity tool for sales reps that integrates with back-end systems for product ordering and registration. “The mStar application automates manual processes and makes them available 24/7 for the reps,” explains Jeff Bipes, IT Manager, Field Services.

Another essential in-house app is mCMS, a content management application that helps sales staff and managers organize, present, and distribute product information by audience or topic. The app works within FDA regulations to make sure Medtronic employees retain control of sensitive data and share it appropriately.

“The content management app for iPad has allowed us to integrate into our back-end systems to manage content, control it, and revoke it if necessary,” Bipes says. “We can trace who’s using it how frequently, and where that content ultimately ends up.”
Security meets mobility

In the office and on the road, iPad simplifies everyday workflows at Medtronic. With Microsoft Exchange support on iPad, employees can stay up to date on email, contacts, and calendars wherever they are.

“If I travel, I take my iPad,” Hedges says. “I don’t have to take it out of my bag when I go through security. I can do everything I want with my iPad when I’m traveling: email, presentations. It’s absolutely perfect.”

To deploy and manage iPad, Medtronic uses a mobile device management (MDM) system that helps the company maintain and update user profiles. “This device management tool allows us to very easily provision users for email, Wi-Fi, and VPN connectivity on their iPads,” says Bipes.

The MDM system also enhances existing iPad security features. Medtronic can monitor how often each iPad connects with internal systems, and automatically remote-wipe proprietary data if an iPad hasn’t “checked in” within a designated timeframe.
Streamlining sales

With built-in features such as instant-on access and 10-hour battery life, iPad has quickly become indispensable for Medtronic’s sales staff. Before iPad, sales reps routinely lugged 25 pounds of printed product literature. Now they can quickly call up the latest information — including dynamic videos, presentations, and PDF files — all on a device that weighs less than two pounds.

“For field-based employees, iPad is an essential device,” Burman says. “The battery lasts throughout the day, and the Multi-Touch screen gives us a better way to organize information. Whether they’re presenting clinical articles or patient videos, the screen size on iPad is fantastic for our sales partners.”

iPad simplifies follow-up as well, Burman adds: “At the end of the sales call, they’re able to email the appropriate material as they walk out the door, rather than wait until the end of the day.”
Right information, right time

With iPad, it’s easier than ever for Medtronic to deliver its message of medical innovation to physicians and patients everywhere. “iPad has given us a whole new sales and marketing interface,” Burman says. “It’s changed the way we think about getting information out to the public. With iPad, our sales organization has the right information, at the right time, for the right customer, every day.”

For Medtronic’s IT team, iPad has been an unqualified success story. “iPad helps people think differently and act differently,” says Hedges. “The IT people love it because the business people love it. iPad is a game-changer in health care.”