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Adobe banking on its cool factor

BOSTON--Adobe Systems sees the so-called YouTube generation as its next big customer base.

At the JPMorgan Technology Conference here on Tuesday, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen explained how his company sees the market for its line of Creative Suite 3 software packages.

While Adobe has traditionally considered its base to comprise about 3 million professionals who return for each new software edition and continue to buy other Adobe products, that base is skewing toward nonprofessionals.

Chizen said his company estimates that there are about 38 million "aspiring professionals or amateur users" who want to be able to say they … Read more

Photos: Imaginations on display

Wacky inventors, wild do-it-yourselfers and whimsical artists put their imaginations on display over the weekend at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif.

Viewing their creations convinces me that there are two items a person must possess to exhibit at the Maker Faire: incredible creativity and vast amounts of free time.

Among the off-the-wall darlings was a rat costume for the Roomba vacuum cleaner. On the destructive creativity side of things, Survival Research Labs demonstrated robot fire power. And, honestly, who wouldn't want a robot-drawn chariot?

While I'd love to own the chariot, what I really crave is … Read more

Photos: Creative Zen Stone

It's small. It's simple. It...looks like a pebble. But that name was already taken. Yes, I'm talking about the Creative Zen Stone, and I bet you have been imagining it photographed in a variety of compromising positions. Come on, now--don't be shy. We all like viewing the latest gadgets from every angle. After all, what good is Crave without some healthy imagery. Click the photo for a full slide show of the Creative Zen Stone.

Zen Stone TV ad: The music's just not trippy enough

I guess maybe the marketing folks behind Creative's Zen Stone music player, the company's answer to the iPod Shuffle, are consciously avoiding corny references to the word "stoned." But in this new TV ad for the little guys (via TechFresh), I definitely think the corporate-training-video soundtrack ought to have been replaced with some Pink Floyd. I mean, come on, they're music players, not elevator music players:

The whole thing kind of bears a slight resemblance to that "bouncy ball" Sony TV ad, which certainly set off a wave of imitators eager to make … Read more

Colorful Creative Zen Stone available in U.S.

As an update to an earlier Crave posting courtesy of our sister site Crave UK, I wanted to be sure to mention that the Zen Stone will be available in the U.S. as well. In fact, the player--with its extremely competitive $39.99 price tag--is on sale through Creative's Web site right now, with a visit to the shopping cart confirming that it is "In Stock (Available for Shipment)." Only the black is available at this very moment, though, so you'll have to wait about a week or so if you want one of the … Read more

Creative Zen Stone: Tiny screenless MP3 player

In breaking news, Creative has announced a teeny tiny little screenless MP3 player that looks rather similar to the iPod Shuffle, only slightly larger and considerably glossier. Called the Zen Stone, this 1GB flash player sports a 10-hour battery life, a 0.0mm (0-inch) non-existent screen, support for WMA- and MP3-format music and it comes in six colors.

These specs may not sound immediately stimulating, but wait--this little chap is going to go on sale for 27.99 pounds (about $56). Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a price not even the homeless would balk at--it's half the cost … Read more

Adobe unwraps Creative Suite 3

Now's the time for early adopters who can afford Adobe Creative Suite 3 to break out their credit cards. The professional interactive design software is officially for sale online. If you can't plunk down upwards of $1,000 for a suite (more in Europe--or buy a plane ticket from there to the States if you want to spend less), then check out some freebie Web-based and downloadable alternatives.

Thanks to Adobe's work to incorporate its staple software with its Macromedia acquisitions from 2005, integration throughout the applications is the biggest news to report with this upgrade. There … Read more

Creative Zen Vision now slimmer--pockets rejoice

In an effort to address your asymmetrical puffy pocket syndrome, Creative has slimmed down its popular, yet inordinately thick, 60GB Zen Vision W and Zen Vision M players to match the thickness of their skinnier 30GB players. Presumably this is a result of slimmer hard drive technology, although the specific hard drive used is unknown. Other newsworthy specs on the player seem unchanged at first glance. Screen size, battery life, storage capacity, and operating system features are all untouched, but the thickness of the Zen Vision W drops from 26.4mm to 22mm and the Zen Vision M shrinks from … Read more