Adobe Systems is revamping its Photoshop Elements and
Premiere Elements software this fall with two major upgrades, in addition to
the introduction of the new Photoshop.com membership, which inspires users to
be more creative and always stay connected. Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and
Adobe Premiere Elements 7 will be available either as stand alone products, or
as a single retail bundle package.
Photoshop Elements 7 comes with a new Smart Brush that helps
users get incredible effects exactly how they want it, with one single stroke. In
addition to that, the Scene Cleaner, which is based on Adobe’s Photomerge technology,
allows users to modify a photo as they please, by removing unwanted objects
from that photo.
Adobe Premiere Elements 7 promises to offer users
time-saving options for high-quality, Hollywood-style movies. The software will
support the AVCHD format, and will automatically analyze video clips as they
are imported, as well as apply smart tags to identify video quality, number of
faces, and much more. The Instant Movie feature will allow videos to be dragged
and dropped into feature-packed themes, while the Videomerge option
automatically places a person into any scene “to impress audiences.”
Photoshop.com was intended as a way of delivering fresh
ideas and inspiration, as well as a way of keeping a dynamic and current experience,
while at the same time expanding the capabilities of Photoshop Elements 7 and
Premiere Elements 7, Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Consumer
and Hosted Solutions at Adobe, explained. “Our customers are spending more time
online and we want to help them stay connected with their favorite people and
memories.”
Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7 customers are
given the possibility to sign-up for one year of membership on Photoshop.com.
The new online service will offer useful templates and tutorials, as well as
automatic online backup and storage of photos and videos, access to photos and
videos, and interactive options to share photos.
“The introduction of Photoshop.com membership means photos
and videos are accessible from virtually anywhere and we’re no longer limited
to what we can fit into ‘the box’," Mack explained. The membership comes in two
levels, Basic1 and Plus2. The Plus membership offers 20GB of storage, which
should be enough for roughly 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality videos.
The Basic membership comes with 5GB of storage, access to photos and video
virtually anywhere, and easy online sharing.
In addition to all that, members will be able to upload
photos directly from their mobile phone with the help of Photoshop.com Mobile Beta.
Photoshop.com Mobile will run as a background application, allowing consumers
to take photos, send messages or run other applications while uploading photos
to their Photoshop.com account, Adobe explained.
Regarding the pricing and availability, Adobe Photoshop
Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 will be available for US$99.99 each, or US$149.99
as a bundle. They can be pre-ordered at www.adobe.com,
www.amazon.com and www.bestbuy.com, before they become available
in local retail outlets such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco (Photoshop
Elements 7 only), Office Depot, Office Max and Staples in October 2008.