I admire that Adobe offers fuction-driven packages of their ever-growing stable of software, but with 6 versions, it can be a little hard to figure out which version of CS3 you need to buy.

After making my own little check-list diagram and eliminating packages out one by one, I determined I need CS3 Design Premium. Design Standard doesn’t have any web stuff, and Web doesn’t include InDesign.

An easier way is to use Mark Eagleton’s Adobe CS3 Configurator. You just put in what programs you want, and it give you ALL the options for obtaining them, including buying more expansive suites, supplementing lower-end suite packages and buying all the program individually.

Great work, Mark. It’s much more straight forward than Adobe’s Tool. I don’t have my copy yet, but I hear that Flash and Photoshop play nice like childhood friends.

Here’s hoping.

Technorati Tags:
design, computers, tools, software, adobe, cs3

[With My NetFlix account] I also get 17 hours of viewing time… This morning I was watching a film about comedy and I wanted to share it… wanted to embed it on the blog like I might a YouTube clip…

Idea: allow embeddable video on a PPV basis. It gets content closer to it’s audience via an open, organic distribution mechanism. It maintains copyright. And it increases revenue.

From the Rassak GetCloser Blog

This would basically employs a hybrid of the Amazon/NetFlix Affiliate programs (referral-commission) and the Revver.com model (ppv-advertising) to video content.

Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with this model, and it logically extends current affiliate programs. Currently, Amazon Affilates can receive 10% commission on referrals to Unbox video downloads, and NetFlix Affiliates receive $9 for every person they sign up. Revver pays a share of the advertising revenue they collect based on how many times your video is viewed.

When NetFlix’s online video service is out of its testing phase, I see online PPV referrals to be the logical next step in their revenue strategy, but it adds something fundamentally different to the NetFlix arsenal–online rentals. They add a one-off, no commitment customer option with ostensibly higher margins.

It’s BlockBuster without the trip to the store, NetFlix without the mail. It’s instant online delivery with no inventory restrictions. If they go forward with it, expect to see NetFlix GiftCards in the grocery store, because you won’t need a subscription anymore.

From a technological standpoint, there are a few ways to implement something like this. With a 5 -minute teaser to see if you want to watch, they could use an embeddable flash player with account authentication to let you watch it, add to your “watch online later” list, or add to your NetFlix queue. It could then keep playing, or, more likely, they’ll pass the actual viewing experience off your website and onto a desktop player. This seems to be the modus-operadi for digitally-delivered video. (Netflix, Amazon Unbox, ABC’s new HD player, iTunes, etc).

What we’re really talking about here is the promise of EBOOKS for VIDEO.

This is the next must-have peripheral for creative folks.

What is a storage robot? Basically it means to you never running out of disk-space, never losing data, and never have to configure anything. You don’t even need to turn it off to replace smaller drives (or failed ones) with bigger ones.

Why didn’t anyone think of this before?

I know alot about storage, and I’ve never seen anything like this, and it’s cheaper than “dumber,” less friendly, less robust solutions.

Watch the demo, it’s amazing.

http://www.drobo.com/products_demo.aspx

Technorati Tags:
computers, tools, drobo, backup, storage, hdd, RAID

Tonight I pushed live a client site, a complete redesign of www.mistermojito.com. More details to follow, and there are a few housekeeping issues, but let me know what you think.

Have a good weekend, open season on marshmallow Peeps is almost upon us.

=)