It seems this is the month of shutting down file sharing sites. Microsoft and Adobe have filed to take down ex.ua, a file sharing service in the Ukraine. The site has been shut down after a six month investigation into claims of piracy.

Ex.ua is a very popular site in the Ukraine and even accounted for as much as 25% of Internet traffic in the country. Companies take piracy very seriously as they rely greatly off of software sales. Even though the concept of file sharing isn’t illegal, companies manage to find a way around it due to copyright infringement.

If thousands and thousands of people download say a $300 piece of software, well, it adds up in the long run. With the file sharing service being shut down, there’s a lot of data at stake too.

Via TheNextWeb:

“Ukranian news site Watcher reports that the Ministry of Internal Affiars states “the police closed ex.ua under criminal investigation under part 2 of article 176 of the criminal proceedings”. The article in question covers violation of copyright and related rights.”

“In all it’s being reported that 200 servers were confiscated, carrying among them 6,000 terabytes of data. At present, 16 people are facing charges in the investigation, which could lead to a maximum prison sentence of 5 years.”

To give you an idea of how much data that is, 1 terabyte is 1000 gigabytes. The average computer has 250 gigabytes of hard drive space so you do the math. Either way, it’s not good for the Ukranian file sharing service. With piracy and copyright infringement lawsuits heating up, these takedowns aren’t going to end anytime soon.

Do you believe Microsoft and Adobe had the right to get the service shut down?

Microsoft And Adobe Take Down File Sharing Service In Ukraine is a post from: The Inquisitr

Judging by all of the news as of late, things over at Adobe headquarters must be pretty tense at the moment. First there was news that upwards of 750 workers are about to be laid off, and then there was news that the Adobe Flash Player on mobile devices is now dead and gone.

So what caused Adobe’s Flash Player to get the axe on mobile devices? According to lead Adobe lead project manager Mike Chambers, Apple is at least partly to blame. One of the main problems was that Adobe realized that Flash Player on mobile devices would never reach the same ubiquity on mobile devices as it did on computers, and Apple’s exclusion of Flash Player result on iOS devices wasn’t helping the cause.

“This one should be pretty apparent, but given the fragmentation of the mobile market, and the fact that one of the leading mobile platforms (Apple’s iOS) was not going to allow the Flash Player in the browser, the Flash Player was not on track to reach anywhere near the ubiquity of the Flash Player on desktops,” Chambers wrote on his personal blog.

“Just to be very clear on this. No matter what we did, the Flash Player was not going to be available on Apple’s iOS anytime in the foreseeable future.”

Chambers goes on to provide much more details on Adobe’s decision in his blog post, so head over to this link if you’d like to know more.

[Image and story via Engadget]

Adobe product manager says Apple to blame for death of Flash Player for mobile is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adobe, Inc. will lay off 750 full-time employees in the coming months and shift their focus towards digital media and marketing.

In a press release on Tuesday company officials say their restructuring will result in pre-tax charges in the vicinity of $87 million and $94 million. Among those charges are $17-$19 million related to consolidating leased facilities and $70 million to $75 million related to employee severance packages.

The 750 layoffs will be spread across all business units and geographies, units which at the end of Q3, 2011 covered 10,041 workers.

Known best for their flash player and Creative Suite applications the company said in a second press release that it plans to continue building the Creative Suite program while expanding “tablet-based touch apps” and cloud-based software.

Adobe officials also plan to develop more technology around HTML5 which will be integrated into their tools including Dreamweaver.

Even with layoffs and restructuring plans company executives still plan to meet previously projected Q4 numbers of $1.075 billion and $1.125 billion which was announced before restructuring plans were revealed.

During extended trading Adobe shares slid from $30.42 to $27.62 on the Nasdaq.

Further information will be released by Adobe officials during a conference on Wednesday. Are you surprised by the company’s decision to cut out 750-workers from their base?

Adobe To Layoff 750 Workers, Will Shift Focus Digital Media and Marketing is a post from: The Inquisitr

At Adobe’s annual Adobe Max conference today, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney took to the stage to announce that Unreal Engine 3 is supported in Adobe’s latest iteration of Flash, Flash 11.

Why is this important, you ask? Well, this could be a huge step forward for browser-based social games like what’s on offer over on Facebook and Google+. Not only could our social games start looking much better, but we could see whole new genres emerge in the social gaming space. Who knows, we might even be able to eventually play ports of existing Unreal Engine 3 games straight through our browser.

In the two videos embedded below, we get to see what Unreal Engine 3 looks like running in a web browser. It may not be quite as good looking as it would be running on a PC with the settings cranked to max, but it’s still quite impressive when you consider it’s running in a browser.

Source: Epic

Unreal Engine 3 support announced for Flash 11 is a post from: The Inquisitr

ViewSonic this weekend has chosen to add a Flash Player to their GTab Android Slate.

The company has pushed out the new addition via OTA update to their 10-inch tablet, making it available to all users. If you haven’t received the update at this time you should be receiving it shortly.

The new OTA update also provides USB keyboard and mouse support, while several new languages have been added and a lock screen support option for energy-saving is also included. Users will also find support for an external docking station.

You should see the update option in your top bar when you power on the device.

ViewSonic GTab Slate With Android Gets Flash Player is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple may have denied Adobe Flash on their iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, but it’s Adobe with the last laugh, announcing that they have just had their first ever quarter of a billion dollar quarter.

The company today released their financial statements which show $268.9 million in profit.

While that number is very impressive, especially in a down economy, Adobe provides no granular data to explain where their biggest profits are coming from. Essentially, profits for Flash are lumped in with the companies “Creative Solutions Group” which includes various other non-flash based applications.

One big win for Adobe over the last year? Google Android. Numbers should also remain steady into 2010 with the Air-based BlackBerry Playbook shipping in early 2011 and Android expected to pick up even more steam on Smartphones and various Tablet and other portable devices.

Is Flash a battery hog? Sure. Does it use consumer tracking that’s under investigation? Yep. But one thing is for certain, despite Steve Jobs’ best efforts, Adobe is chugging along nicely.

Apple May Hate Adobe, But Profits Don’t In Latest Quarter is a post from: The Inquisitr

FTC Talking To Adobe About Flash Cookie Installation is a post from: The Inquisitr

There has always been rumors of an agreement between some of the biggest tech companies that they wouldn’t go around trying to hire top talent away from each other. Well it turns out that this wasn’t just a rumor as the Department of Justice in the U.S. filed suit the afternoon of September 24 against six high profile tech companies.

The DoJ state that Google, Intel, Apple, Adobe, Inuit and Pixar made agreements with each other not to poach competitor employees. This in the eyes of the government restrained competition between them for highly skilled employees. The DoJ also states that starting as early as 2005 the companies agreed to create do not call lists of each other’s employees as well as lists of companies that were off limits.

A couple of the examples given in the DoJ statement are

Beginning no later than 2006, Apple and Google executives agreed not to cold call each other’s employees.   Apple placed Google on its internal “Do Not Call List,” which instructed employees not to directly solicit employees from the listed companies.  Similarly, Google listed Apple among the companies that had special agreements with Google and were part of the “Do Not Cold Call” list;

[....]

Beginning no later than September 2007, Google and Intel executives agreed not to cold call each other’s employees.   In its hiring policies and protocol manual, Google listed Intel among the companies that have special agreements with Google and are part of the “Do Not Cold Call” list.   Similarly, Intel instructed its human resources staff about the existence of the agreement; and

Now at the same time that the civil antitrust complaint was being filed a five-year settlement was also filed that would in effect end the suit.

The proposed settlement, which if accepted by the court will be in effect for five years, prohibits the companies from engaging in anticompetitive no solicitation agreements.   Although the complaint alleges only that the companies agreed to ban cold calling, the proposed settlement more broadly prohibits the companies from entering, maintaining or enforcing any agreement that in any way prevents any person from soliciting, cold calling, recruiting, or otherwise competing for employees.   The companies will also implement compliance measures tailored to these practices.

It’s so nice to see everyone getting along so well together eh.

Google, Apple, Adobe sued by the Feds, and then settled is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s bad enough that I already have to install a bloated piece of crap like Flash in order to be able to use all of the Web but to hang yet another piece of crap like McAfee’s around my neck as well .. I don’t think so. Sure I can uncheck it but how many people these days are just used to clicking through without looking when it comes time to install an update for Flash?

Not many.

But the horror didn’t end there because all of a sudden I had to download and install some sort of Adobe Download Manager in order to download and install 10 megs of Flash files (10 megs? for a plugin … geezz c’mon Adobe this is plain stupid).

I don’t know about anyone else but this kind of crap is enough to make one refuse to use Flash or update it anymore. It’s a freaking plugin for crying out loud. This is just over the top Adobe and tie that in with the sneak install of McAfee  …  well that is just way too much.

Hey Adobe, what’s with this freaking crap? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adobe has released its first video demonstrating a feature in the forthcoming Photoshop CS5, and it’s a feature that will blow the mind of people who work with photographs.

Content Aware is a feature that allows you to cut objects from images, with Photoshop then taking in the context around the cut item to automatically fill it.

For example, using Content Aware to cut a tree or lens flare results in Photoshop accurately filling the cut area to match the background, in one easy step.

It can even fill white spaces around a stitched image; in the demo (see image above) large amounts of white space are filled by the feature. The bigger the area, the more touching up it might require using Content Aware, but that said, it’s light years ahead of every version of Photoshop before it.

Demo as follows, and although I’m not normally one to go and buy the next version of something like this, I’m betting I won’t be alone in wanting it shortly after its release.

The Content Aware Filter In Photoshop CS5 Is Just Amazing is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s been a long time coming, now Adobe has officially launched their Photoshop Mobile app for the iPhone. The app offers quick and simply on device photo editing for both iPhone and iPod touch users.  The program allows photos to be cropped, rotated and flipped and even saturated and tinted.

Additional features include exposure and vibrancy tweaking along with other effects and filters typically found on the full PC version of Adobe.

The filters are actually rather impressive, including converting images to black and white and even adding in “Vignette, Pop and Warm Vintage”  abilities.  The program according to SlashGear also includes a sketch tool which takes your photos and makes them look hand drawn, along with soft focus abilities.

Adobe is also throwing in 2GB of free Photoshop.com storage which can be accessed and upload and downloaded to directly from your iPhone.

The program is free to download from the App Store. Sorry but only U.S. and Canada Customers at this time.

Here’s the full Adobe Press Release:

Adobe Unveils Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone

New Adobe application brings must-have photo tools and eye-catching effects to iPhone users

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 9, 2009 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today introduced Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone™ application, delivering Adobe® industry-leading digital-imaging technology to users on the go. Photoshop.com Mobile provides consumers a convenient way to edit photos, apply effects and share images instantly with friends — all with the flick of a finger. Seamless integration with users’ free Photoshop.com accounts enables photo sharing and data back-up, saving them valuable space on their iPhones. The application is available free of charge at Apple’s App Store.

“As the digital imaging leader, Adobe is excited to bring Photoshop.com Mobile to iPhone users,” said Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe. “Now, with access to powerful editing and sharing tools, iPhone users are armed with the resources to document all of life’s unexpected moments, make them look their best and then re-live those memories with friends and family.”

Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone provides a fun, seamless experience to view photos with full-screen previews and edit images with gesture-based editing. Consumers can transform their photos with essential edits like crop, rotate and flip. Users can correct and play with color by adjusting the saturation and tint, enhancing the exposure and vibrancy and converting images to black and white.

Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone also offers eye-catching special effects. The Sketch tool helps photos look like drawings, and Soft Focus can give photos a subtle blur for artistic effect. With just one click, users can also apply dramatic changes to the look and feel of their photos with effects such as Warm Vintage, Vignette and Pop. Edits or changes can be undone or redone so users can experiment without the worry of losing the original photo.

After making personalized edits, users can upload photos from their iPhone to their Photoshop.com account to view and retrieve their images at a later time from any Internet-connected computer. In addition, Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone provides the ultimate digital photo wallet, giving users access to their entire Photoshop.com library directly from their iPhone. Photoshop.com offers 2GB of free online photo storage, which equates to over 1,500 photos.

More information on Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone can be found at: mobile.photoshop.com/iphone.

Adobe Photoshop Family
Adobe Photoshop® CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family, joined by solutions for users at every level who want to bring out the best in their digital images. Photoshop Lightroom® addresses the workflow needs of professional and serious amateur photographers. Photoshop Elements provides exciting tools and sharing options for photo enthusiasts. Lastly, snap shooters can access Photoshop.com for free online photo editing to simply fix and enhance photos and quickly share those images on social-networking sites or through Photoshop.com online galleries.

Pricing and Availability
The Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone application is available as a free download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch, or at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=331975235&mt=8. The application is available in the U.S. and Canada only.

Adobe PhotoShop iPhone App Finally Available, Well Worth The Wait is a post from: The Inquisitr

MySpace and Silverlight

In unveiling its new deal, MySpace showed off a handful of new Silverlight-powered applications already available, including an animated friend list utility that can be added onto any profile.

“Silverlight empowers MySpace developers with more freedom and flexibility to design OpenSocial applications that provide streaming video, graphics and audio to a variety of platforms and devices,” the announcement says.

“Silverlight and the MySpace Open Platform will enable developers to rapidly create and deliver sophisticated MySpace applications with a custom look and feel through the flexible skinning of controls and data.”

Facebook and Flash

Facebook, on the other hand, is working with Adobe to broaden its support for Flash-based applications. While Flash was already available for Facebook developers, the site is now adding “official support” for the full ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform.

“With this client library, developers building rich Flash experiences will be able to easily access the social features of Facebook Platform from external websites using Facebook Connect, from applications on Facebook, or from desktop applications,” the announcement says.

“New ideas may include the next generation of social games, seeing friends sharing and commenting on video or music streamed through Flash, or manipulating photos of yourself and your friends.”

Weighing the Two

Despite some people’s strong feelings for Silverlight, the fact remains that the majority of Web users have no idea what it is — and, when prompted to download it to run any MySpace Silverlight application, may or may not even understand the request. Flash, on the other hand, is close to a standard as there is (even without the iPhone on-board). Most computer users already have it installed — about 99 percent, according to some recent stats published in The New York Times.

Despite Microsoft’s attempt to use last year’s Olympics as a launching ground for Silverlight, the platform is still dwarfed by the ubiquity of Flash. Combine that with the ongoing trend of Facebook gaining ground and MySpace losing market share, and it seems the Facebook-Flash pairing is the clear winner all around.

MySpace Gets Silverlight, Facebook Gets Flash. Winner: Facebook. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just now Adobe announced lots of mobile phone news. More on that in a second. But what wasn’t announced?
No iPhone support for Flash yet.

What else was announced? FlashPlayer 10 will ship on the Palm Pre. I was briefed on the rest of this stuff last week and they were holding out on this news.

Now THAT is the way to poke Steve Jobs and crew in the eye. Apple has famously not put Flash on the iPhone, which keeps a lot of Web experiences from working.

Flash Player 10 for Smartphones
• Browser plug-in for smartphone-class devices with full desktop web compatibility and access to rich applications, interactive content and web videos.
• First operating systems expected to be supported: Android, Windows Mobile, and Nokia S60/Symbian.

Continue Reading >>>

Did Adobe snub Apple with Flash 10, Palm Pre, and Dev Fund announcements? is a post from: The Inquisitr

The company’s new Flash indexing algorithm will let the engine find any kind of SWF content and grab textual content out of it. The system, Google’s software engineers explain, actually “sees” the files the same way a user would — by automatically clicking through the buttons and entering input. It uses a new Searchable SWF library provided by Adobe.

Interestingly, the library was also given to Yahoo — which, fittingly enough, has yet to finish and launch its own version of the Flash index function. Hey, give ‘em a few weeks. It’s not like Yahoo has anything to prove right now.

Google Learns to Index Flash is a post from: The Inquisitr

The service offers word processor, PDF converter, conferencing and file storage. The wordprocessor is gorgeous visually, and the PDF converter handy, but it’s Adobe’s ConnectNow service that could be the biggest market disrupter here.

To quote Eric Rice on Scoble: “I just went to Acrobat.com and played with Adobe’s online office suite. Holy crap. That ConnectNow is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Adobe ConnectNow is a cross platform web conferencing solution that is easy to access and simple to use. Built (I presume) using Adobe’s AIR platform, it’s functional, good looking, and has a kick-ass range of features including support for webcams/ video conferencing, chat, VOIP + landline support (you get a call-in number if you want one), all this on top of the desktop sharing. Best of all is the price: free with support for a max of 3 meeting participants. There is also a paid Pro version that supports up to 1500 people.

I had a quick play with it and the most impressive thing: it just worked on my Mac, unlike a good portion of WebEx’s offering which only works on a PC (and I’ve been caught not being able to get on conferences before because of this). Given AIR runs on Linux I’d presume that ConnectNow will work on Linux boxes as well.

WebEx has established markets and customers, but Adobe isn’t a foreign brand name in the corporate space, giving the service an immediate leg up in awareness and trust.

The full Adobe.com guide below using the embed feature from the share part of the service (it can be opened to full screen via the arrow top right…they won’t be taking business from Scribd in this space).

Adobe ConnectNow a WebEx Killer? is a post from: The Inquisitr