OMG! Apple is having a media event next week! But don’t get too excited… the invitation essentially spills the beans on this education-centric event, so we’ll be surprised if CEO Tim Cook shows up with an iPad 3 under his arm. But hey, it’s an Apple event, so we’re excited to see what they have to say, even if some of us are way too old to be concerned about going to school. While you ponder what Cupertino has in store for next week, have a quick read of the rest of the tech stuff that’s making news for this Wednesday, January 11, 2012.
Adobe touched a nerve with customers still using Creative Suite 3 and 4 products at the end of last year by announcing there would be no upgrade path for them to the forthcoming CS6 (CS5 and CS5.5 users can upgrade as usual). Needless to say, that was an unpopular decision, and today Adobe backpedaled with a special upgrade offer for CS3 and CS4 customers to get Creative Suite 6 and the new Adobe Creative Cloud, which are expected “in the first half of 2012.” The company hasn’t released any actual pricing quite yet, but the “special introductory upgrade pricing” will be in effect from the CS6 release through December 31, 2012, which should give those old-school users time to take advantage of it.
The Loop was among the first to report on a new Apple event announced today, which will take place on January 19 at the Guggenheim Museum. As widely predicted in recent weeks, the media event will be focused on education. Rather than a cryptic tease, Apple has sent the invitation shown above to the press which reads, “Join us for an education announcement in the Big Apple.” So, that makes it pretty clear that we shouldn’t be expecting an iPad 3 or an Apple-branded HDTV. The event kicks off at 10am EST, so check back next Thursday to find out what’s new.
The folks at Shazam Entertainment have introduced a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch called Shazam Player. Rather than listening to and recognizing music around you, Shazam Player is essentially a replacement for Apple’s Music (formerly iPod) app, with a twist. With Shazam Player, users will get streaming lyrics in real time for the music they play through the app, with the ability to share what they’re listening to on Facebook or Twitter. Watch YouTube videos and concert clips without leaving the app, and you can manage your music — including creating new playlists from your iOS music library. Needless to say, if you should happen to hear a tune you like while jamming away with Shazam Player, you can switch over to the Shazam app instantly. The free app is available now from the App Store and requires iOS 4.3 or later.
If you’re attending the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, you may have bumped into an Apple employee and not even realized it. Don’t worry: You didn’t miss some invisible Apple booth! According to AppleInsider, “over 250 of Apple’s employees are registered for this week’s show,” says the usual “person familiar with Apple’s plans.” On Tuesday, a reporter for paidContent was the first to spot Apple vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak lurking near Sony’s booth, with his show badge “strategically arranged” to cover his name and company. Reporter Tom Krazit explains: “Joswiak said he was interested in how other companies present their products at events such as CES, from things like booth layout and aesthetics to which products are highlighted within a company’s booth.” Apple, of course, is not a CES exhibitor and even famously backed out of the Macworld Expo back in 2009 in favor of focusing on their own events.
As we briefly reported on Tuesday, Adobe has decided to rebrand their Carousel consumer subscription photo service as Adobe Revel. And sure enough, late last night, a new version of the universal iOS app and Mac App Store version were pushed out to new and existing users. Today, the company made it official with a blog post on Photoshop.com that explains the decision and offers some insight as to what’s new. The biggest change is “the ability to automatically import photos from the Camera Roll on your iPhone and iPad” as well as photo sharing via Flickr, which certainly is a good first step toward addressing some of users’ early concerns. Despite the name change, Adobe Revel is still a .99 per month or .99 per year subscription service, which is processed as an in-app purchase through the iOS app.
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