Adobe has just announced a number of new apps as well as updates to existing software to give its products a better fit in the growing mobile market of smartphones and tablets. The announcements were made at this week’s Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles.

For the new apps, there were three that made a debut at the event. First, there was the Brush CC mobile app that constructs brushes from photos you took using your phone’s camera. Then there are the Shape CC and Color CC apps that function the same way as the Brush CC app but this time extracts shapes and colors from the photo in your smartphone.

For video editors, there’s the Adobe Premiere Clip that works with videos taken on an iPhone or iPad. The app allows users to do some editing on the go before finishing it off on the Adobe Premiere Pro CC for the desktop.

For existing apps including Photoshop Sketch, Photoshop Mix, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator Line and Illustrator Draw will get fresh updates to improve their productivity for designers on the go.

And to make things even better and more convenient, Adobe has made the apps fully integrated with the Creative Cloud making all digital assets including the brushes, palettes, fonts, etc. fully accessible from different devices.

At the moment, the new mobile apps are an iOS exclusive and there’s no word yet on when they’ll reach Android devices. The good thing though is that the updates will be free for subscribers. Those with a Creative Cloud account can already check if the update is available for download.

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Remember the prototype drawing tools that Adobe showed last year at the MAX conference in Los Angeles? Well, the company’s Project Mighty and Napoleon have come out of development and into mainstream market as the Adobe Ink and Slide.

Generally, the form factor has remained almost the same although the Ink and the slide has more a minimalist look compared to its predecessors. The Slide for instance no longer has the LEDs of the Napoleon while the Ink’s LED indicator has been moved to the top of the stylus.

Both devices sport hydro-formed aluminium shells that give the Ink and the Slide a premium look as well as a comfortable feel. The Ink uses Adonit’s Pixel point technology giving the stylus pressure sensitivity up to 2048 levels allowing users to control the thickness of the lines drawn based on how hard they push the stylus against the screen. There’s also an LED indicator at the top of the Ink that shows which colour is to be generated when a user slides the stylus on the tablet’s screen.

The Ink also comes with a special case that doubles as a charger. The case (which connects to the Ink using magnets) charges the stylus using a micro USB cable for about an hour.

Meanwhile, the Slide is a straight edge for the iPad. When used with the Ink, the Slide allows the users to draw straight lines and other shapes easily. The buttons on the devices provide users with shortcut actions including selection of different shapes for the Slide or the pen tip menu for the ink.

Adobe is also making the SDK for the Ink and Slide available for developers. Moreover, both devices require a Creative Cloud membership for Cloud-connected capabilities including the Pen Tip menu, access to Kuler themes, Cloud clipboard and sharing to Behance.

The Ink and Slide works with Adobe’s new apps – Line and Sketch and connects to the iPad via Bluetooth v4.0 LE. Both devices work with the 4^th Generation iPad, the iPad Air and the two iPad Minis.

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The iPad has gotten a lot of attention these past few weeks especially when Microsoft announced the iPad version of its popular productivity suite – Microsoft Office two weeks ago. This week, another favourite productivity app that’s very popular with graphic artists and designers – Adobe Lightroom.

The app supports both landscape and portrait orientation and provides users with a number of touch-friendly functions. Moreover, the app utilizes the advantages of cloud technology which should make the process of updating edited images a breeze especially for designers on the go.

Apple has also made the app light on the tablet’s resources. Adobe Lightroom Mobile uses Smart Previews to push compressed raw images to the iPad and scales down images to more manageable sizes that are roughly 1-2MB in size. Lr Mobile will also have minor editing capabilities such as colour temperature, exposure, highlights and contrast adjustments.

The app is now available on the Apple App store for free, but users who want to maximize the use of the app will need to have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription with Lightroom.

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3D printers are something that’s really “in” right now and there are actually a number of manufacturers that have built smaller and more affordable printer models for the ordinary consumer.

And as the technology becomes more accessible to the general public, tech companies that create complimentary software for these printers also need to go with the trend and improve their products.

Adobe is one of the first companies to provide support for 3D printers with its Photoshop creative cloud photo editing software. Today, an update to Photoshop CC that helps simplify the process of printing in 3D.

The update comes with new tools that allow users to refine, preview, prep and of course print three-dimensional designs. The update also supports most popular brands of 3D printers such as MakerBot and provides users who don’t have their own 3D printers to have their designs printed via shapeways.com.

Furthermore, Photoshop CC will automatically correct water tightness issues and makes a support structure for your designs in order to prevent the material from collapsing during printing. There are also additional tools for regular photo editing including Perspective Wrap for changing object’s viewpoint and Linked Smart Objects for improving collaborating efforts with automatic updating.

Users with Creative Cloud subscription can now use Photoshop with these new features as a free update.

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One of the worst things that can happen to a person online is to have his personal account information stolen by hackers and identity thieves. So it goes to show that social networking sites and major online service providers and product sellers are major targets for cyber-attacks as it is a gold mine for user information.

Today, Adobe becomes the latest victim in a series of cyber-attacks on major tech companies. On Adobe’s official blog, the company’s Chief Security Officer Brad Arkin announced that his team discovered a number of sophisticated attacks on the company’s network, which involved the illegal access of customer information as well as the source code for a number of Adobe products.

The company’s internal investigation revealed that the attackers accessed Adobe Customer IDs and encrypted passwords on the system, as well as removed certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates and other information related to customer orders.

According to Adobe, they are already working internally as well as with external partners and law enforcement to address the issue and have taken the necessary steps to mitigate the concern. Specifically, they are already resetting relevant customer passwords to help prevent unauthorized access to Adobe ID accounts, and notifying customers as well as the banks processing customer payments for Adobe. 

Customers whose credit or debit card information was involved will be offered the option of enrolling in a one-year complimentary credit monitoring membership where available.

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Adobe is truly making an effort to become the go-to place for those working in the creative field. To help boost is presence and reach, Adobe recently acquired Thumb Labs, a New York-based mobile app design agency to develop apps for Behance and Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Thumb Labs was co-founded by Rich Kern and Jared Verdi sometime in 2010 and has since then created a number of mobile apps for various clients which includes a roster of start-ups including Bondsy, CanDoBaby and ReadyForZero to name a few. In addition, the firm was also responsible for the development of the current Behance app for iOS which is probably one of the reasons why Adobe decided to acquire Thumb Labs.

 According to Jarred Verdi, the company will just see out existing contracts with its other clients but beginning May 31 will start focusing its talents on a unified mission to empower the creative world. Thumb Labs will be tasked to maintain Behance’s existing apps as well as develop new ones which will include a tablet optimized app.

Thumb Labs is also expected to provide more emphasis in the development of other Creative Cloud initiatives which would mean that its team will have a huge probability of working with other teams at Adobe especially those involved in the development of the Creative Cloud.

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It seems that Adobe is now venturing into the production of Hardware as it announced today two peripherals to work hand in hand with its creative suite and cloud service – the Project Mighty stylus and Napoleon ruler.

The announcement was made today at the company’s MAX conference in Los Angeles, California. Obviously, both devices were meant to be used together with the company’s existing creative suite and creative cloud by graphic artists and illustrators.

Having said this, both the Stylus and the ruler and closely integrated with Adobe’s software. The Project Mighty stylus connects to an iPad or iPhone via Bluetooth and is pressure sensitive. It also takes advantage of non-stylus touch which makes it possible for the iPad or iPhone to recognize finger input allowing users to erase any drawings with their finger.

The same technology allows users to give commands using a simple tap on the screen. The stylus also features a LED on the back that displays different colors depending on the current function of the stylus. There’s also a button on the Mighty which brings up tools and other resources saved on a user’s creative cloud.

Meanwhile, the Napoleon is a digital ruler that projects a digital line when the stylus draws a line along the edges of the ruler. The Napoleon looks very similar to a fingerboard and features two feet on its underside to give the tablet its orientation. The ruler can also be used similar to a protractor to draw curves on the screen.

Both the stylus and the ruler are still in the early R&D Phase but seeing that the company has already integrated its cloud service and software into the devices is a good indication that Adobe will bring the Napoleon and the Mighty into the market in the near future.

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