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Adobe's primary tool for tweaking and organizing photos was always destined to be part of the Creative Cloud offering, but for whatever reason it didn't make it in time for launch. As of today though, Lightroom 4 is available to download on PC or 64-bit Mac (or both, since you're allowed multiple installations) as part of a CS6 monthly license.

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Computerworld - Microsoft's free previews of Windows 8 will expire next month, giving users about three weeks to upgrade to a paid copy or face hourly restarts.

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Believing there is a future for optical discs, Sony and Panasonic have said they will jointly develop a new next-generation standard capable of storing a minimum of 300GB on a single piece of media.

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In CS6 we introduced a license-to-machine relationship that breaks many traditional imagining methods whereas a master image is serialized and then cloned.

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I swung by a national discount department store the other day, and while walking through their electronics department strolled down an entire aisle of cordless phones on display. Interestingly enough I notice this enormous sign above the aisle that read "900 MHz Good - 2.4 GHz Better - 5.8 GHz Best".

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised by blatant lies in marketing messages anymore, but this one got to me for some reason. So I thought I'd poke around on the Web to see what the manufacturers themselves were saying, and to my surprise found that they're probably the source of this marketing ploy.

There's finally some content out using the latest and greatest HD standard, but I certainly won't be running to the store to replace my 1080i HDTV anytime soon. If you're a video "geek" like myself or have just been following the evolution of HDTV, you know that the PS3, Blu-ray, and 2nd generation HD-DVD will support 1080p. If you haven't been following this evolution, after reading this (and the CNET article linked below) you'll be able to tell the sales guy at your local electronics store to go annoy someone else while you browse for your next HDTV.

Picture quality is determined by a multitude of factors and believe it or not resolution isn't necessarily the most important factor when we talk about 720p, 1080i or 1080p capable HDTVs. Sure, it ranks right up there, but contrast ratio, color saturation, and color accuracy do as well. For more detailed information on the HDTV standards and resolution, check out this excellent CNET article from David Katzmaier. The fact of the matter is that difference in picture quality between 1080i and 1080p will not be noticeable to the average viewer.

Headed out to Cincinnati, OH today for the IAI's 101st Forensic Educational Conference. If you're attending, stop by the Ocean Systems booth (#513) and say hello! Safe travels my friends. - LC

A few months ago, my wife got up on a Sunday morning at 3:30am and stood in line at Toys-R-Us to pick up a Nintendo Wii for our son.  Neither her or I have every done anything like that before and trust me when I tell you she's not a morning person, so I was absolutely amazed that she not only got up that early, but even more so that she stood in line in the freezing cold for hours just to get the darn thing. 😮

This afternoon my son and I were playing Guitar Hero III on the Xbox 360 and out of the blue decided to finally configure the Wii for Internet connectivity.  As you probably know, Wii has a Wi-Fi adapter built in, but I just never took the time to configure our router and the settings on the Wii.  Well, within a few minutes of our decision we were online surfing the Web on our Toshiba 46" HD TV.

The first devices that take advantage of the new standard's 10Gbps data-transfer speed should arrive in 2014. Too bad for Thunderbolt.

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Forensic Video Solutions (FVS) is sorry to announce that Larry Compton will be leaving the company as a full-time employee effective October 1/13. The good news is that he is staying close by and will remain an important part of FVS as a consultant on many of our special projects!

Xbox 360 vs. PS3. There's no question that the real battle in the HD home theater space will be decided predominately by these two gaming platforms. With the PS3 launch just a week away, very few movies available in either format and the sticker price of the stand-alone players in either format, it all boils down to this. Microsoft and Sony have known it for a few years now, which is why they've each bet the bank and called in “solids” from all their homies.

Personally, I think HD-DVD and Xbox 360 have the advantage, even though their HD-DVD drive was just released. While many in the industry gripe about the fact that Microsoft didn't embed the HD-DVD capability in their console, I think it was a wise move. The consoles were out on the market at an affordable price a year ahead of the competition, and the $200 price tag for an HD-DVD player is a steal compared to either format's stand-alone players.

What do 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz really mean for the picture quality of your new HDTV?

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Headlines bemoaning the possible delay and dismemberment of Apple's Final Cut Studio are becoming a mainstay of the Mac press. Which would be fine, if there was any substance to the story.

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