X-Rite, Incorporated–the world leader in color management and measurement technologies X-Rite announces ColorChecker Passport, an all-new solution for digital photographers working in a Raw workflow to quickly and easily capture accurate color, instantly enhance portraits and landscapes, and maintain color control from capture to edit.

For more info: www.cjcstrategists.com/resources/xrite/X-Rite_Passport_Press_Brief.pdf

“We developed Passport for photographers in a digital workflow, those working in Raw but also JPEG shooters as an all-in-one ‘capture to edit’ solution for color control and creativity. It’s a powerful solution that becomes even more powerful when combined with Adobe Imaging Solutions, for DNG profile creation and also to ensure accurate color, image to image and camera to camera, and a new easy level of creativity with one-click enhancement capabilities,” states X-Rite Senior VP of Sales and Marketing Iris Mangelschots.

ColorChecker Passport includes
(http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1257&tab=videos):
White Balance Target–a newly formulated neutral reference point to eliminate color casts, and improve camera display previews for more reliable histograms as well as speed up post-production editing.
Classic Target–provides the industry standard in color referencing for specific color evaluation, plus DNG profile creation for predictable and repeatable results from image to image and camera to camera.
Creative Enhancement Target–offers fast, one-click creative enhancements and a visual reference for judging, controlling and editing images for shadow details, highlight clipping or color shifts.
Camera Calibration Software–offers quick and easy custom DNG profiles for Adobe Imaging solutions.
Protective Case that is rugged, fits a camera bag or pocket, and self-stands in multiple positions; included lanyard for additional scene placement convenience.
“With ColorChecker Passport, you can expect much faster image processing time, improved quality control, all in a cool little package that you can take anywhere,” Mangelschots confirms.

To download a video of ColorChecker Passport hosted by Seth Resnick, visit www.xritephoto.com.

About X-Rite
(NASDAQ: XRIT) X-Rite is the global leader in color science and technology. The company, which includes color industry leader PANTONE Inc., develops, manufactures, markets and supports innovative color solutions through measurement systems, software, color standards and services.

Though every image by default is copyrighted for use, until now images have not always been visibly credited when viewed online. Equipped with a free PicScout Image Exchange(TM) add-on, image buyers surfing, searching, stumbling or visiting a particular site are able to identify images indexed by the Image IRC. Seeing a universally used “i” information icon, a user clicking on the icon exposes metadata that identifies the image’s owner or licensor and the connecting links to buy/use the image directly from the licensor.

“We believe that most people are prepared to do the right thing, especially when the right thing is quick and easy to do, as we’ve made possible with ImageExchange. Users of the ImageExchange Firefox add-on will see icons associated with images anywhere online. Thus, PicScout makes sure that every image gets its credit, and makes buying and tracking images simple,” said PicScout CEO Offir Gutelzon. “If people can find the image they want, see how much it costs, and how to buy it, most people will proceed gladly to connect with buyers and transact with speed and efficiency. PicScout has realized the way for everyone involved, from the creative professional, to the stock agency and photographer, to achieve full satisfaction. We are very excited to introduce our plans to the industry, the internet, and the world and to continue innovating on behalf of our clients.”

While the consensus is that the photo license industry is a $2 billion market, most also agree this estimate represents only a part of the true market size when factoring in all image uses, both legitimate and non-legitimate. By giving credit to every online image and facilitating immediate use and/or purchase, PicScout engenders a much larger and more apparent marketplace.

With today’s announcement unveiling the industry’s opportunity to have every licensable image appear with licensor information, PicScout moves to a Services Platform designed to utilize the company’s proprietary image fingerprinting recognition technology to inform, equip, and deliver a suite of products- the first new product being ImageExchange, which facilitates connections between image owners and image buyers. With the news, PicScout complements a previously established reactive model for non-legitimate usage with a proactive one that enables immediate recognition of licensable images.

According to September 2009 reporting by the LA Times http://tinyurl.com/p9wg9s, Getty Images reports 42,000 examples of copyright infringement per year, and Corbis claims to uncover 70,000 violations annually. PicScout, through its proven and highly scalable fingerprinting image recognition technology, has established that 85 percent of rights-managed images detected on commercial websites are non-legitimate uses. Yet, in 2008 an online survey from KRC Research, undertaken for iStockphoto, revealed that 33 percent of Americans use downloaded digital content, but nearly 30 percent are unaware that permission is required for its use.

Both users and owners of images are often frustrated by an inability to connect online for legitimate use. While most individual images for web use can be bought for $49 or less, according to Daryl Lang of PDNPulse.com, infringement can be costly for unwitting innocents, with fees accruing over time escalating to $1000 or more. While policing the internet for infringement has been necessary to attempt to maintain legitimacy for the industry, it’s not an optimal scenario and begs the PicScout ImageExchange.

In a separate announcement made today-October 7, “PicScout Unveils Services Platform and Suite of Products to Enable Online Image Transactions for Users and Licensors”-the company reveals the technology, platform and products that support the PicScout Online Image Marketplace and new model for online image transactions.

About PicScout

Founded in 2002, PicScout(TM) http://www.picscout.com , is the worldwide leader in image tracking and enabler of client image monetization services. Through its proprietary and highly scalable image recognition technology, PicScout created the image copyright protection marketplace through its widely used ImageTracker(TM) product and is now leading the way for image commerce to become a legitimate Internet economy. A financially independent, privately held company, PicScout has offices in the Silicon Valley, Chicago and Hertzelia, Israel. The company’s products ImageTracker(TM) and ImageExchange(TM) utilize the company’s Image IRC(TM) service platform which is based on its proprietary image recognition technology for its index, metadata registry and API connection to provide a wide variety of solutions involving image protection, ownership, identification, commerce, as well as business intelligence. PicScout is a member of PACA http://www.pacaoffice.org , CEPIC http://www.cepic.org , and BAPLA http://www.bapla.org.uk

Powered by RelayWare™ relationship management software by Foundation Network Ltd., Corel Partners is a centralised information service that enables Corel to effectively communicate with its diverse range of partners, including distribution, retail, retail, corporate, academic, and reseller partners across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Partners who register and receive accreditation on www.corelpartners.co.uk will not only have 24 hour access to all the latest company and product information but will also receive the latest news, promotions and current offers via their mailbox, ensuring they are always connected and able to work collaboratively with Corel to maximise sales activities and grow their business.

“This new service will provide an invaluable tool to help Partners understand and market our products in the best way possible. It is designed to strengthen the great relationship we have built over many years with existing partners as well as build up a network of new partners, who will now have the opportunity to work in a much more proactive way with Corel”, said Brett Denly, Senior Director EMEA Sales, Corel.

Registering
Corel Partners is currently available in English and German languages. If you would like to register as a partner with Corel and learn more about its latest products and incentives, then please visit www.corelpartners.co.uk. In addition, if you are one of the first partners to sign up for this new service, you will qualify for a free, not-for-resale, version of the newly released Corel® Digital Studio™ 2010.

Paul earned his BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated from The School of Design & Visual Arts. He began his career at ABC Broadcasting and then moved to a design agency that created innovative promotions and campaigns that first put ESPN on the map. As an art director at NFL Properties, Paul lended his talents to significantly upgrade the image of that dynamic professional sports league. He created new graphic approaches for Super Bowl and Pro Bowl logos, team identities, national advertising, exhibits, and licensed products, including an innovative trading card concept that helped launch a new industry.

Paul orchestrated and directed many photo shoots while traveling around the nation—from the deserts of Arizona to the lagoons of Hawaii. More recently, Paul was creative director at The McGraw-Hill Companies where he successfully contributed in transforming the corporation into one of the world’s preeminent information providers. He spearheaded projects for its businesses and leading brands including Standard & Poor’s, Platts Energy, J.D. Power, Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, Aviation Week and McGraw-Hill Education.

Paul can be reached at pbiederm@optonline.net

For the most part it’s not a huge difference, but it could be. There are certain colors that don’t reproduce well when converted from RGB color to CMYK.  Most people who design in RGB are either Web designers, using Pantone colors or novices.  Novices tend to design in RGB to get the brighter colors then use their software to convert to CMYK.  It’s not a crime to design your piece in RGB then convert to CMYK, but consider this; printing is all about expectations.  You have something you need printed you expect it to look a certain way.  Either you or your designer setup the file, you previewed it on your computer, sent it to your printer and he sent you a pdf proof.  Everything looks great, you approve it and a few days later it shows up at your doorstep.

OH MY GOD… it doesn’t look like what I expected!  How can this be?  Good question.

Ever go to Best Buy or Walmart and see the huge display wall of LCD & plasma TV’s?  When you look at all the TV’s you’ll see that they are usually grouped by price then brand.  The other thing you’ll see is that they are all playing the same show.  Now you’ll notice that the white car on one screen looks bluer than the others & on another screen it’s redder.  Some are brighter and some are darker.  Some have high contrast some have low contrast.  So if these thousand dollar TV’s display color that is all over the place, then how can you expect your monitor to show the same colors as your designer or printer.

The short answer you can’t.  PDF proofs are more for layout and spell checking than for color.

So where does that leave you?  Take care in how you prepare you files.  Understand the process and adjust your expectations accordingly.  And most importantly, speak to you PRINTER!

Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture furthers its mission to revolutionize the way the world engages with ideas and information. By combining Adobe’s content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture’s Web analytics, measurement and optimization technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content platforms and devices.

The combination of the two companies will increase the value Adobe delivers to customers. For designers, developers and online marketers, an integrated workflow — with optimization capabilities embedded in the creation tools — will streamline the creation and delivery of relevant content and applications. This optimization will enable advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers and e-tailers to achieve greater ROI from their digital media investments and improve their end users’ experiences.

“Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer of Adobe. “This is a game changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets.”

“Omniture’s mission has been to enable our customers to optimize every digital interaction,” said Josh James, CEO of Omniture. “By joining forces with Adobe, we will accelerate our ability to deliver on that vision and together bring new innovation to the market that improves content engagement, advertising effectiveness and the overall user experience, which will drive more advertising dollars online.”

Expanded Opportunities for Adobe and Omniture
This acquisition will significantly expand Adobe’s addressable market and growth potential, broadening solutions Adobe provides to the rapidly growing Internet advertising, e-commerce and digital media markets.

The combination will also expand Adobe’s offering of mission-critical solutions to the enterprise customer. Adding the capabilities of Omniture will further enhance Adobe’s offerings and ability to appeal to online marketers, including chief marketing officers.

The acquisition of Omniture will further diversify Adobe’s business, adding a scalable SaaS platform that captures over a trillion transactions per quarter, an expansive partner ecosystem, and a recurring revenue model.

For Omniture, joining Adobe will provide global operational scale and the ability to more quickly penetrate new geographies and markets, thereby accelerating its go-to-market strategy and growth potential.

Integration and Closing Details
As part of the expected integration of the two companies, Omniture will become a new business unit within Adobe. Omniture’s CEO, Josh James, will join Adobe as senior vice president of the new business unit, reporting to Adobe’s president and CEO, Shantanu Narayen.

The completion of the transaction, which is subject to customary government approvals and the satisfaction of other customary conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2009 fiscal year.

The proposed offer represents a premium of 45 percent over Omniture’s average closing price for the last 30 trading days through yesterday’s close.

Adobe believes the acquisition will be accretive to Adobe’s non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2010.

The companies will make information, including an FAQ and other details about the acquisition, available at http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/adobeandomniture.html.

“We developed Passport for photographers in a digital workflow, those working in Raw but also JPEG shooters as an all-in-one  capture to edit solution for color control and creativity. It’s a powerful solution that becomes even more powerful when combined with Adobe Imaging Solutions, for DNG profile creation and also to ensure accurate color, image to image and camera to camera, and a new easy level of creativity with one-click enhancement capabilities,” states X-Rite Senior VP of Sales and Marketing Iris Mangelschots.

ColorChecker Passport includes:

* White Balance Target a newly formulated neutral reference point to eliminate color casts, and improve camera display previews for more reliable histograms as well as speed up post-production editing.
* Classic Target provides the industry standard in color referencing for specific color evaluation, plus DNG profile creation for predictable and repeatable results from image to image and camera to camera.
* Creative Enhancement Target offers fast, one-click creative enhancements and a visual reference for judging, controlling and editing images for shadow details, highlight clipping or color shifts.
* Camera Calibration Software offers quick and easy custom DNG profiles for Adobe Imaging solutions.
* Protective Case that is rugged, fits a camera bag or pocket, and self-stands in multiple positions; included lanyard for additional scene placement convenience.

“With ColorChecker Passport, you can expect much faster image processing time, improved quality control, all in a cool little package that you can take anywhere,” Mangelschots confirms.

To download a video of ColorChecker Passport hosted by Seth Resnick, visit www.xritephoto.com.

About X-Rite

(NASDAQ: XRIT) X-Rite is the global leader in color science and technology. The company, which includes color industry leader Pantone Inc., develops, manufactures, markets and supports innovative color solutions through measurement systems, software, color standards and services. (www.xrite.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–X-Rite (NASDAQ: XRIT), Incorporated, the world leader in color management and measurement technologies, launches a Show Us Your Munki contest, featuring its award-winning ColorMunki, (www.xritephoto.com) a product designed to deliver color perfection in digital imaging.

“X-Rite invites anyone to create a ColorMunki video, make us laugh, and submit it on our YouTube channel. The grand prize is 2,500USD, so the funnier, the better,” says X-Rite Sr. VP of Sales and Marketing Iris Mangelschots.

The Show Us Your Munki contest (www.ShowUsYourMunki.com ), which runs October 1, 2009–March 31, 2010, is simple. Make a side-splitting video with ColorMunki as a prominent “character”, and submit it on the X-Rite YouTube channel. Then the real fun begins.

Every month, prizes will be awarded to videos with the most views: 50USD (to buy your Munki a drink or two,) 150USD (to take your favorite Munki to dinner;) and 500USD (to take your Munki away for the weekend.) All monthly winners are eligible for the grand prize of 2,500USD, awarded at the end of the contest in March.

Don’t have a Munki? No worries; the contest even includes tools and ideas for developing your own hilarious video. To enter or for more on Show Us Your Munki contest details visit: www.ShowUsYourMunki.com

“ColorMunki was designed to appeal to the most creative people on the planet – those who want to obtain accurate color from screen to print in the easiest way possible. We are looking forward to seeing a wide variety of funny Munki videos that showcase a product developed to delight and engage them in the first place,” Mangelschots says.

To see what top professionals in the industry say about ColorMunki, visit www.xritephoto.com.

About X-Rite

X-Rite is the global leader in color science and technology. The company, which includes color industry leader PANTONE Inc., develops, manufactures, markets and supports innovative color solutions through measurement systems, software, color standards and services, www.xrite.com.

PORTLAND, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of time-saving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced a new version of Photo Essentials 3 for Adobe Photoshop Elements. onOne Photo Essentials 3 is a collection of five tools that painlessly correct color, remove unwanted backgrounds, add photographic effects and enlarge photos. These easy-to-use tools help photography enthusiasts get the job done quickly and easily in Adobe® Photoshop® Elements.

Supporting the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, onOne’s Photo Essentials 3.0 offers these capabilities:

* New Photo Essentials Palette – The Palette provides quick access to all five modules from a single location right inside Photoshop Elements.

* Make It Cool – New in Essentials 3, this offers a library with dozens of professional effects that can be added to images in one click.

* Make It Better – Turn your snapshots into professional images. Automatically fix brightness, contrast, color and sharpness with no need to understand cryptic sliders.

* Cut It Out – Easily remove an unwanted background while maintaining fine detail such as hair, clouds and glass.

* Frame It – Choose from hundreds of easy to add edge and border effects to give pictures the perfect finishing touch.

* Enlarge It – Get sharp, poster sized prints out of your photos, even from camera phones.

“Our mission is to provide tools that help make digital photography easier, faster and better. onOne Photo Essentials 3 delivers on this by helping amateur photographers spend less time in front of their computer correcting their digital images and more time behind the camera taking pictures,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “And with this new version of Photo Essentials 3 comes a completely new module, Make It Cool, based on our award-winning PhotoTools 2 plug-in, a new dynamic range optimization algorithm in Make It Better and a new version of the Photo Essentials Palette.”

Availability

onOne Software’s Photo Essentials 3 will be available in October 2009 for $69.99. Customers who purchase Photo Essentials 2 on or after September 24, 2009 will receive a complimentary upgrade to Photo Essentials 3 as an electronic download for free. For more information on Photo Essentials, please visit www.ononesoftware.com/essentials.

About onOne Software

onOne Software, Inc. a leading developer of innovative software tools for photographers, develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture and Apple iPhoto as well as photography apps for the Apple iPhone. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit www.ononesoftware.com or call 1-888-968-1468.

© 2009 onOne Software. All rights reserved. onOne Software and the onOne Software logo are registered trademarks in the United States, and all are the property of onOne Software. Adobe, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

The combined solution will characterize critical documents and then assign access controls to them, both based on policies. Both will serve as new tools to prevent confidential documents from being emailed outside the company.

The goal is to eliminate data breaches and their catastrophic costs. The Ponemon Institute estimates that in 2008, there was approximately $3.15 billion of latent demand by businesses in the United States for technology and software to protect unstructured data, a term which Ponemon uses for random files stored on a variety of media.

McAfee has also made a free diagnostic tool, McAfee Security Scan, available as an optional download to customers when installing Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player software from Adobe.com. At completion, the user will be offered special discounts on McAfee security software.

Representatives from both companies will speak at McAfee’s Security conference, FOCUS 09, held Oct. 6-9 in Las Vegas.

Adobe also announced a software bundle for K-12 educators and students. The bundle includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and Adobe Premiere Elements 8, plus Adobe Contribute CS4, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro and Adobe Soundbooth CS4, all for a volume discount of $149. Further information is available at Adobe’s education Web site, the company said.