Anybody interested in some free copies of new Adobe Lightroom 4?

We’ve got them. Adobe says the 4th release of this very popular photography solution is due to ship fairly soon – however if you want to try it out and get your feet wet before then, you can just download and run the free LR4 beta version, though this shouldn’t be used for production or permanent work.

In the meantime, did you know that Adobe just extended an unprecedented deal on the current full version – Lightroom 3 – for half off the regular price of US$300, save 50% worldwide? Yes, it’s true, and never been done before – but you can take advantage of that here.  And you’d still be eligible and welcome for the free giveaway of version 4 by entering below.

So, we’ve got two brand new boxed copies of the final official Lightroom 4 product all lined up and would love to give them away to our faithful readers…  It’s easy to sign up.  The contest is open to residents of North America, U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa – and all you need to do for a chance to win is one (or both) of the following:

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[UPDATE – Also see our new Lightroom 4 Giveaway!]

Welcome 2012!  Last year we gave away a lot of software, so to kick off the new year right, we’re going to be giving away a brand new boxed copy of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium suite. This is one of the top-selling CS editions and the second largest prize we’ve ever done…

Creative Suite 5.5 was officially released in May, and contains a large number of new product features and improvements over CS5.  But this giveaway is not an upgrade or an education version – it is the shrinkwrapped, full commercial English version of CS 5.5.

CS5.5 Web Premium sells for $1,799 / €1,999 / £1,429 and includes the popular applications Photoshop Extended, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Acrobat X Pro, Flash Pro/Catalyst, Fireworks, among others… (see the complete list of products it contains)  If you want to try it out first and install it on your computer, that’s easy as the free trial is available for download for both Windows and Mac OS.

Owning Creative Suite 5.5 would also make you eligible to upgrade to CS6 when that product line eventually releases.

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[UPDATE – Also see our new Lightroom 4 Giveaway!]

We’ve given away a lot of products over the past couple years, but haven’t yet offered Adobe Lightroom…  So here, now, we’re giving away Adobe Lightroom 3 (value US$300) with a new camera bag!  Second prize is the Photoshop & Premiere Elements 10 Bundle (US$150), and for third place we have an Adobe-branded prize pack with T-shirt, pen, lanyard, and other surprises.

Actually, all three winners will receive one of those prize packs, so much the better. The free copy of Lightroom is graciously sponsored by Adobe, and should do nicely until Lightroom 4 is released. Photoshop and Premiere Elements 10 are brand new, out five weeks ago.

The goal of the contest is to learn from our readers worldwide:
What would you like to see in the next release of your favorite Adobe product?

It could be any one – CS6 (any application), Lightroom 4, Acrobat 11, Photoshop Elements 11, and the rest.  What do you hope for, want Adobe to add/do/change, what’s on your wishlist?
Just share it in a comment below and/or on Facebook, and you’re entered.  Please be sure to include the name of the future product you’re talking about (for example, “In CS6 I’d like …”).

To double your power and effectiveness, then copy and paste the same comment into Adobe’s Official Feature Request form to let them know directly.  Here’s your chance to make your voice heard, and win some nice products doing it.

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Just back from Adobe MAX 2011 and it was sensational… The keynote presentations were larger than life and filled with news and demos of new Adobe software and initiatives. The hundreds of diverse product sessions were incredibly educational. The show floor was a buzzing activity of experts, partners, and vendors… And the renowned “MAX Bash” party did not disappoint.

But perhaps the best part for those who weren’t there is the majority of the sessions were captured on video and are now offered online for free… In other words, pick your favorite Adobe product(s) and you can learn the latest tips, tricks, and techniques from the top instructors in the field from the comfort of your desktop. There are three major tracks below (Design, Develop, and Envision) with scores of different topics; most sessions are about an hour long and the collection runs to over 160 hours of video in total.

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Summer is officially over and everybody’s gotten back to school… And with that, did you know that Adobe offers free full-year curriculums on print, web, and video design? The three yearlong, project-based programs are downloadable to anyone for developing career and communica­tion skills using Adobe’s industry-leading tools. The courses include presentations, instructor project guidelines, reproducible student materials and select media assets, and each project builds on lessons learned previously.

Adobe collaborated with a community of educators across the US and UK to develop the appropriate depth and breadth of each project. Additionally, Adobe co-developed the classes with the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) to create standards-aligned, career-track, course materials that focus on the major fields below. They are recommended for use when preparing for Adobe certification (Adobe Certified Associate, or ACA).

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Continuing our history of providing the direct download links for major Adobe products such as Creative Suite 5.5, Lightroom 3, and Captivate 5, below you’ll find the direct free trial links from Adobe’s servers for the brand new releases of Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10, for both Windows and the Mac OS.

The links given below go to the authentic and secure files residing on Adobe’s servers, are guaranteed genuine and will not change. They are especially useful when you are unable to download Adobe’s free trials via other means – often due to difficulties with the Akamai Download Manager (the Adobe DLM). With the links provided below, you can use your own browser’s download capability, or another download manager of your choice.

For setting up Elements on Windows (both PSE 10 and PRE 10), each program consists of two downloaded files: an .exe and a 7-Zip file (.7z). The .exe file will only work (and install) once the .7z file is fully downloaded and resides in the same location. For the Mac, it’s just a single .dmg file for each program.

[ Find out more with our Elements 10 Release Overview... or see what's new in 10 vs. 9. ]

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[UPDATE – Also see our new Lightroom 4 Giveaway!]

September’s here!  Labor Day, back to school, fall begins…  September also usually means the next release of Photoshop Elements – now version 10 – should be coming out soon…

Now, we can’t say yet what new features will be in PSE 10, but – true to form – we can start giving it away…

So as soon as it’s available, we’ll be shipping out five shiny new boxes for free – and one could easily be yours through the three ways to enter below.

Photoshop Elements is already the #1-selling consumer photo-editing software* out there, and this 10th edition is likely to inherit even more functionality from its big brother, Photoshop CS5 – which itself is slated to get a major upgrade to Photoshop CS6 next year.

If Adobe follows the same model of Elements 9, then PSE 10 would be available on both Windows and Mac (multi-platform) with the same capabilities – and work alongside any older release(s) of Elements you may have, with the ability to automatically import and convert your existing catalog.

This new giveaway is open to residents of North America, Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa – and all you need to do for a chance to win is the following three steps:

Read more…

[UPDATE – Also see our new Lightroom 4 Giveaway!]

MAX 2011 – the big yearly conference for all-things-Adobe – is coming up in just two months in Los Angeles, California… And continuing our long tradition of free Adobe giveaways, we’ve got one free and full conference pass (worth $1,495) to give away, plus one $400-off ticket discount, both courtesy of our friends at Adobe Systems.

Adobe MAX 2011 will be chock full of expert keynotes and presentations, technical ses­sions and talks, surprise announcements and sneak-peeks, evening events and get-togethers, and possibly some freebies.

In fact, most of the over 200 training and tutorial sessions from MAX 2010 were recorded and are still available on-demand for free viewing, covering all Adobe tools.

Anyway, back to the ticket giveaway: We’re awarding one full and free conference pass as a grand prize, and one $400 ticket discount to the runner-up. Any travel and lodging arrange­ments are the responsibility of the winners. The contest is open to residents of North America, U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa – and all you need to do for a chance to win is one (or both) of the following:

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Adobe has just put out an excellent resource updated for CS5 / CS5.5 – a free printing guide in the form of a 140-page downloadable e-book. Earlier versions of this have been out for previous releases (see the older CS4 and CS3 links below), but now this is fully refreshed and upgraded for the latest versions of the products.

This very handy tome will tell you everything you ever need or wanted to know about getting great print results with your projects in Photoshop CS5 (including Extended), Illustrator CS5, InDesign CS5/CS5.5, and Acrobat X Pro. All the different tools, setups, settings, options, functions, and formats – what they mean and how to best use them to achieve your goals.

Adobe describes it as, “learn the best ways of handling and preparing CS5 and CS5.5 files for print with this in-depth technical reference, designed especially for printers and production artists” – but anybody who would like a tutorial on how to print and generate the most optimal output from their designs can gain something here…

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You know all the usual reasons software makers give to register your software – to receive tech support, news, updates, offers, bug fixes, and so on.  Adobe adds another reason – to get free gifts. They’re called “complimentary benefits,” and they’re offered worldwide…

For example, if you register your Creative Suite 5 product, depending on what you own you could choose from one of these bonuses:

• a free copy of onOne Software’s PhotoTools 2.5 Standard plug-in for Photoshop,
• a complimentary copy of Red Giant Software’s Magic Bullet Quick Looks plug-in for video,
• 30 days of free training at Lynda.com with more than 1,500 hours of Adobe training,
• a free download of the new and versatile text typeface font family Adobe Text, or
• a 30-day trial of the Creative Edge online library with thousands of books and videos.

Doing the same for Adobe Acrobat X gets you some similar choices – or a 10% discount coupon for anything at the Adobe Store, or four special edition Acrobat X PDF Portfolio themes, or discounts plus free access to Safari Books Online, Total Training, or Peachpit. Registering Acrobat also enables you to use services at Acrobat.com.

Users of older versions like CS4 and Acrobat 9 or 8 can qualify for exclusive benefits as well. Registering Photoshop Elements enables you to use Photoshop.com.

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