With the surprise news out from Apple that removes all previous restrictions on the development tools that can be used to create iOS apps, the doors open for standalone Flash-built apps to finally be migrated to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Adobe at first released a simple statement, “We are encouraged to see Apple lifting its restrictions on its licensing terms, giving developers the freedom to choose what tools they use to develop applications for Apple devices.”

Later, Adobe issued a more complete response that confirms these apps are already being accepted into the App Store:

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While we’re waiting for the release of Adobe Acrobat 10, you can save countless hours in minutes by getting more out of Acrobat 9… Increase your productivity with a free download of 21 Key Ways to Save Time with Acrobat 9, featuring simple, step-by-step tutorials designed for both basic and advanced users. Easily get up to speed in no time with this resource guide featuring one-page, printable “cheat sheets” on creating PDF documents, assembling PDF Portfo­lios, working with forms, Acrobat collaboration, keeping files secure, and more. The easy-to-use instructions introduce you to new ways to save time and simplify complex projects.

The eBook has five categories with step-by-step instructions for performing common tasks effi­ciently. Keep a copy of this PDF portfolio on your computer as a quick resource for learning new techniques. Here’s what the collection includes to help you unlock the power of Adobe Acrobat:

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We’ve previously covered 17 hours of free video tutorials for Creative Suite 5, plus three hours for Lightroom 3 – so here’s a chance for Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements… Below the experts share how to get started, the basics of the programs, new features, plus their favorite tips and techniques. Most of the lessons will work for either version 8 or 7. All together there is five hours of free content, spanning over 50 chapters.

The majority of the videos were produced by Lynda.com, which is another excellent source of online tutorials (some free, some paid), and just released a new app for software training on the iPhone.

If you need a copy of either Elements product for your work, just download a free trial.

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Over the next six weeks Adobe is launching a new series of in-depth online seminars to learn the best and get the most out of some top CS5 products, including InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and Flash Professional…

The presentations are 90-minute live “deep dives” with Adobe product experts where you can get firsthand detailed information on the new features of these releases, see demonstrations, and get direct answers to your questions. All sessions are from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM ET on upcoming Tuesdays, and will be presented in English:

Deep Dive: Adobe Illustrator CS5
Tuesday, July 13, 11:30am – 1:00pm US/Eastern
Complimentary Registration

Deep Dive: Adobe InDesign CS5
Tuesday, July 27, 11:30am – 1:00pm US/Eastern
Complimentary Registration

Deep Dive: Adobe Flash Professional CS5
Tuesday, August 10, 11:30am – 1:00pm US/Eastern
Complimentary Registration

Deep Dive: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
Tuesday, August 24, 11:30am – 1:00pm US/Eastern
Complimentary Registration

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As we reported last month, Adobe is working on a Lightroom-related app for Apple’s iPad – but since it may be a while before we see it being released, in the meantime here are some handy presets to export/publish your photos to the iPad for use as a presentation device or display portfolio…

On the iPad, images will look better if they are saved, sent, and displayed at the size of the iPad’s screen rather than having iPhoto or the iPad resize them down. Also the iPad won’t automatically fill the entire screen with an image if its aspect ratio is different from the iPad’s screen size – instead you’ll get black bars at the edges (similar to a letterboxing effect).

So the two free presets linked here take these factors into account, and it’s your choice which of them to use… The first preset will preserve all photos at original size and aspect ratio (and the iPad will automatically add black bars to adjust at the edges), and the second preset will fit the photos to the full iPad screen (by automatically doing a center-based crop in Light­room when it exports).

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Adobe Lightroom 3 is only days old, yet it’s quickly getting rave reviews across the net… Expert Reviews gave it five stars, writing: “The best just got better. Whether you’re a profes­sional photographer or enthusiast, Adobe Lightroom has quickly become the must-have managing and pre-processing software. With version 3 just released, there’s even more reason to rush out and buy it. The powerful lens correction profiles and amazing noise reduction, combined with excellent management make this a tool that all photographers should have.”

And there is already a wealth of free learning resources available… Here are some good ones:

• Lightroom 3 New Features
• System Requirements for Adobe Lightroom
• Direct Download Links for Lightroom 3 Trial
• Lightroom 3 Installation and Setup
• The Lightroom 3 Workflow
• Adobe Lightroom 3 Keyboard Shortcuts (PDF)
• Digital Camera Raw Support for Lightroom 3
• New Video Support in Lightroom 3
• New Lens Profile Support in Lightroom 3
• New Tethered Camera Support in Lightroom 3
• Lightroom 3 Online Help and Documentation
• Adobe Lightroom 3 General FAQ

Also out is an excellent in-depth series of free online Lightroom 3 video tutorials, approaching three hours in running time and produced by Adobe Lightroom expert Julieanne Kost. There are ten chapters with a range of topics and techniques covered:

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Puppet Warp is one of the coolest new features in Creative Suite 5. Think about taking an element of your image, setting some control points, and then “physically” manipulating it in any way that you want. Obviously this works well with figures – you could swing a raised arm to a person’s side in a photo, or make a family shot a little bit tighter on the grouping… But how about other applications, like stretching or winding text or handwriting or a plant or a musical score to create new effects? Or maybe just something simpler like easily adjusting the relative alignment of the different elements in your composition. It could be any­thing really – a lot of new possibilities out there with this feature for superior manipulation of still images.

To get your ideas flowing, we’ve got two new video tutorials below with fundamental and advanced techniques for Photoshop’s Puppet Warp, courtesy of Adobe’s Russell Brown. In the second video, Content-Aware Fill even makes an appearance, working in synergy with Puppet Warp to combine their power. The tips shared below will help you get the most out of these new capabilities, and if you like you can get started with a free trial download today.

For full-screen viewing, click the expand icon and then 480p after pressing play on each thumbnail:

How are you going to be using Puppet Warp? Share your creativity in the comments below…

See reviews of Puppet Warp and other aspects of Photoshop CS5… Or for more great videos on what’s new in Creative Suite 5, check out www.cs5.tv

Adobe has just put out a couple of very helpful resources if you’re running into any issues downloading or installing CS5 products… If you’ve hit a snag, these are some of the first places you might look (after confirming your system meets the minimum Creative Suite 5 requirements for Windows or Mac):

Fix download issues with the Download Manager

CS5 software packages are quite large (the full Master Collection suite is ~5 GB), so Adobe uses the Akamai Download Manager to facilitate their download. If you’re having any trouble installing or running the Download Manager, see the FAQ for this topic. If nothing happens when you click the product’s trial download link, or a blank win­dow or coffee cup icon appears, or a “File not found,” “server not found,” “Windows cannot open this file,” or “add-on disabled” message appears, then see this page to solve your problem. There’s also more general download help.

[UPDATE (5/3/2011) – If you need to, you can bypass the Akamai Download Manager and Adobe Download Assistant entirely by downloading it using the new CS5.5 Direct Download Links.]

If it’s easier or if you prefer, you can order a trial DVD set for any of the CS5 suite editions: Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium, or Master Collection, and it will be delivered to your home or business… A DVD set can serve as your backup media if you choose to purchase at the end of 30 days, or you can have a full product box delivered to you when you purchase and simply use that serial number to convert the trial you already installed.

Fix installation issues with Creative Suite products

There are several good resources for solutions. The Adobe Support Advisor (ASA) can analyze your install logs and identify errors generated during unsuccessful Adobe Creative Suite 5, Creative Suite 4, or Creative Suite 3 product installations. The ASA provides information about documentation for these installation known issues, and it expedites the troubleshooting process by generating files that you can upload, if necessary, to an Adobe technical support agent.

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There are hundreds of new features and functions in Adobe’s Creative Suite 5, but perhaps the most talked-about is Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill – which allows you to move or delete content and Photoshop will automatically and intelligently fill in the space left behind. We’ve written about it before here with the quote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” [Arthur C. Clarke]

But does the real feature live up to its advance billing?

While it’s not perfect and doesn’t always do what you hope or imagine (after all, it’s still just a computer), generally in practice it still does amazingly well – and often unbelievably so. And we have a handful of new videos here to illustrate, thanks to Terry White and Russell Brown. The tips and techniques shared below will help you get the most out of this capability.

The first video covers the best new features in Photoshop CS5 generally, including three great examples of Content-Aware Fill in action… The second, to the right, introduces the concept of Content-Aware Rotation – magically filling in the missing parts to the background of a rotated image with Content-Aware Fill. The third one develops the technique of Wire Removal with Content-Aware Healing – easily removing unwanted lines and wires from your images. And the last video shows how to create Content-Aware Patterns – discovering creative ways to accurately control, and create, patterns with Content-Aware Fill.

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We’ve covered AdobeTV before, but it just keeps getting bigger and better… They’ve just issued a large series of free new video tutorials for every CS5 point product. You can learn the basics with Getting Started overviews and New Features re­views by product experts, over 17 hours in all. And if you want to get started today, you can go ahead and down­load a 30-day free trial for any CS5 product and begin getting trained…

Here’s how it breaks out:

The extensive how-to series of tips, tricks, and techniques was produced by the well-regarded Lynda.com in partnership with Adobe.