Adobe is dropping some hints about new and future creative tools coming on tablet devices and for HTML5 content creation. On a publicly-available conference call earlier this week, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen shared some guidance on the company’s upcoming product roadmap and what to expect…

With a shifting landscape that favors HTML5-based content and application delivery, we are doubling down in our investment in this area. CS5.5 delivered enhanced HTML5 capabilities. We recently previewed Adobe Edge, a new HTML5 web motion and interaction design tool, which allows web designers to create cutting-edge animations for their websites. Interest in this tool far exceeded our expectations.

We also just introduced the beta release of a new product code-named Muse, which allows designers to create and publish HTML-based websites without writing complex HTML code. And we are contributing new innovations to WebKit to allow for a more expressive Web. These initiatives show our commitment to help drive the evolution of browsers and be the leading tools provider for HTML5, and this is only the beginning.

So what does this mean in terms of the next release of Creative Suite? Will we see Adobe Muse and Edge – or other new HTML5 tools – as part of CS6?

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[UPDATE (March 6th) – The Lightroom 4 final release is now shipping!]

With Photoshop Elements 10 having just arrived, and Creative Suite 6 on the distant horizon, one question remains: when will Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 be released?

Adobe hasn’t said, and has not given advance notice in the past. But as shown in the chart below, Lightroom has run an average of 20 months between releases. So if history is any measure, then moving forward twenty months from when version 3.0 came out would put Lightroom 4 shipping in April 2012…

But there’s more to the story. Every previous release of Lightroom has had at least one public beta period – and a beta release is generally expected for Lightroom 4 as well. These beta periods have lasted 3-4 months each. Adobe has not yet announced a Lightroom 4 beta, so it’s reasonable to assume that we should be seeing one on Adobe Labs well before the official release of the product. In other words, don’t expect (the final) Lightroom 4 for at least three months from now – or from the time the beta comes out.

[UPDATE (January 10th) – The Lightroom 4 beta is here! So we maintain our outlook below…]

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[UPDATE – See all of Adobe’s current deals & discounts!]

New coupon deals out from Adobe: Take $100 off Photoshop Lightroom 3 with offer code, for a limited time – plus get free shipping. You don’t have to buy anything else to get the discount and will receive Lightroom version 3.4, which was released on April 26th.

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Adobe Lightroom 3.4 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.4 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (27 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 30 new lens profiles and 13 new cameras, including the Nikon D5100, Canon EOS 600D, and Olympus XZ-1:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.4.1 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.4.1 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.4.1 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.4.1 for Windows

Read more details about the update including the 36 fixes that were made as well as the new cameras supported, or take a look at the complete list of all Lightroom-supported cameras.

Lightroom 3.4 is a recommended update and is available in 12 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).   If you don’t yet own Lightroom 3, Adobe’s free trial download has also now been moved up to version 3.4.

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Final Versions of Adobe Lightroom 3.3 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.3

Adobe Lightroom 3.3 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (37 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 69 new lens profiles and 15 new cameras, including the Canon PowerShot S95, Nikon D7000, Olympus E-5:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.3 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.3 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 for Windows

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Adobe Lightroom 3.2 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements, new camera and lens profile support, and new features for Lightroom:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.2 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3.0)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.2 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 for Windows

While it may seem Adobe skipped a version with no Lightroom 3.1, this was done just to align the point release number with Camera Raw (ACR 6.2), which shares the camera-related features. Since the initial “Release Candidate” for LR 3.2 was posted earlier this month, Adobe has fixed more bugs (including an issue with the new Facebook-publish feature), supported more cameras, plus added direct publishing to SmugMug.

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Following a major site upgrade in June, this week Adobe’s Photoshop.com expands further by rolling out new versions of their free web-based tools for photo manipulation and manage­ment. The renamed and redesigned Photoshop Express toolset is a collection of integrated online apps for editing, organizing, syncing, and sharing photos. These new and improved tools are faster and more intuitive to use for uploading and organizing images for easy access anywhere, applying quick fixes and cool effects, and sharing albums and slideshows online with family, friends, and colleagues. As before, membership is free with up to 2 GB of online storage included.

Adobe is billing Photoshop.com as the online complement to their family of Photoshop soft­ware. Millions of people so far have signed on for an account and benefited from powerful Photoshop technology for those on-the-go. In launching the site’s latest features, Adobe incorporated feedback from thousands of users who wanted a central destination hub for Photoshop interests that brings better and higher performance tools, plus tutorials, inspiration, community, product information, access to trials & purchase, news, and more.

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[UPDATE (August 31st) – The final release of Lightroom 3.2 is now out, a free update for all Lightroom 3 owners, and free 30-day trial for everyone else. For now, the initial Lightroom 3.2 ‘Release Candidate’ described below also remains available for free use for all, if desired.]

Adobe has just made available for free download its Release Candidate for the first update to Lightroom 3, which will be called Lightroom 3.2… This new release has dozens of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and one new feature – and thus far looks like a winner and a welcomed update by the Lightroom community. But you don’t even need to own any version of Lightroom to get or use it.

The download is in the form of a ZIP file for both Windows and Mac and is not just an update nor a trial – but a full version that will work until it expires for all users. These Release Candidates are more like betas in that Adobe is looking to see how a poten­tial new version performs in the field (and welcomes your input, feedback, and bug reports on it) – but Lightroom 3.2 shouldn’t be confused with Lightroom 3 beta 2 (which was the last available beta version of Lightroom 3.0 before its final release). And although Release Candidates are fully-working free versions that don’t require serial numbers, typically they have an expiration date to stop functioning within two calendar months of issue – meaning Lightroom 3.2 RC will probably expire by October 31, 2010.

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It’s been over a month now since Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 completed its beta program and the final version was released, so it’s time to see what most of the reviews are saying out there…

In our earlier article on LR3 tutorials and other resources, we covered what Expert Reviews said: “The new lens correction and noise reduction tools make Lightroom 3 a must-have upgrade from previous versions (just $99 for the upgrade edition), while its powerful management tools remain as good as ever. For many people Lightroom 3 will be the only bit of photo-editing software they need, but even those that have to turn to Photoshop for more-advanced image effects will find Lightroom 3 an invaluable management and pre-processing tool.”

Bright Hub gives the software a perfect 5 out of 5 overall rating and concludes, “It is easy to end this Lightroom 3 review with full marks for Adobe. This product stands head and shoulders above the competition in an increasingly crowded sector. It is a great choice for professionals and advanced amateurs who are looking to for the best way to improve their digital workflow, and it has an appropriate learning curve for those who are new to this series of editors. In short, it may be all you ever need.”

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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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