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» Thursday Morning News

It’s a semi-early Thursday morning here and I’m yawning my way through work before it’s time to get up. Here are the news:

• A couple of days ago a very cool application called Fring was released in the App Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch. What makes it remarkable is that it’s the first one to allow Skype calls (while on WiFi). It doesn’t only work as a normal skype ID client, but it works with skype out and skype in numbers alike! Get it in the App Store, for free!
   
• Microsoft has decided to extend its support for Windows XP through July 31, 2009 which is a full six months more than they originally planned! Good news for all still on XP who don’t want to move over to Vista.
   
• If you’re looking for a good provider of online training classes (and I mean 1+ hour ones) then go and check out the Kelby Training website where they offer some really great classes for only 19.95 a month. Also if you like seminars then go over to the Adobe seminar page where you can sign up for city tour events but more interestingly for eSeminars. If you don’t have the time to be available for an eSeminar, take a look at their long list of OnDemand Seminars that you can just load up and watch!
   
• CS4 is coming closer to being released by every day. Just a reminder, if you recently purchased a version of any of their programs that will update in CS4, contact them and check your eligibility for a post-announce upgrade (free upgrade) to CS4!

» Wednesday Design News

There will be an interview coming today as well but here are the news:

• Antonio Lupetti has posted a blog post about ten handwritten fonts that he really likes and uses a lot. The post is complete with a little idea how you can use it, a preview of each font and where to get it. Give it a read!
   
• Microsoft is putting out a new bug fix for Office for Mac. The two updates are supposed to increase stability and performance when using the applications in the office suite. As usual it’s the safest to get the updates from the Microsoft Office site.
   
• WordPress.com has launched a brand new, cleaner design. It really does look nice and kinda combines their old look with their new in a much nicer laid out way. Kudos to the designers!
   
• The great folks over at Smashing Magazine are always releasing cool free stuff. This time around they have a great looking set of 74 grunge photoshop brushes that are available for a free download. 

» Late Tuesday Things

It’s busy times right now preparing the shop windows and all for the summer and sales and I’m a bit of the in-house web designer and design/tech guy so I actually get to do a lot of it.

• Microsoft has released a critical update to Office for Mac 2008 bringing it up to 12.1.1. It should fix several things mainly stability and performance issues. The update is available through the Auto Updater which you can get to by going into either Office application and choose "Check for Updates".
   
• Here’s a little tip for you, something I always do. If you are trying to design something, start with a piece of paper and a pencil (having an eraser nearby would be pretty nifty as well). This way you can lay up a lot of things and write comments to yourself before working and finalising it on the computer. Also very easy to show to other people near you for quick-feedback.
   
• If you are looking for an advanced text editor also for the Mac that greatly supports coding, then you should look no further than Smultron. It’s a really good editor that supports all major code languages you want to code in mainly for the web but also for more trivial tasks like doing a to-do list. Check it out!
   
• I’m in the market for a new lens, mainly a macro lens (can’t be too expensive so the Nikon 105 VR is out unfortunately) and if any of you have any experience with one, post a comment and tell me because I’d love to hear it! Needs to be good for macro and portraits. I have a pretty good idea on what to check out but any input and hands-on experience wouldn’t hurt.

» Easy Going Tuesday

 For me at least today is a really easy going Tuesday with loads of free time to work on so here is a Tuesday news post, filled with some cool goodies!

• Rumors were apparently true yesterday! Today marks the official release of Windows Vista SP1 and it should be available in the Windows Updater for you all using Vista.
   
• Justin Seeley had a pretty cool blog post today about the Social Network Wars that are going on right now, where they are definately in war for us visitors. It’s a very interesting read. PS: I should also mention that Justin is back on blogging now so check is totally revamped blog out, it’s pretty cool.
   
• Apple has today released a new version of Safari bringing it up to version 3.1. They promise it to be even faster now, and I’d say it runs smoothly, so no reason not to upgrade.
   
• I just gotto rave on a bit about B&H Photo! I’m on the lookout for some new lighting gear to add (mainly things that Scott Kelby suggested in his first lighting week day, things that do suit my budget) to my set-up, and the thing is I need some extension cable and with the whole world of cables out there, I had no idea what to get. So I go to the B&H Photo site and fire up the live chat. Immidiately I get a person assigned and get a great answer and product numbers for what I need, from the cables to the adapters. Really great service!
   
• I also want to finally pass on a congratulations to a friend of mine, Elizabeth Gast on the NAPP Forums (or there known as Firgs), who have got herself a job as a Photoshop teacher! Congrats!!

 

» Entering Banner Contest!

I decided to enter a swedish banner contest sponsored by Microsoft to promote the Office:mac 2008. If you want to go and vote for me, click here and then rate the banner you see from 1-5 where 5 is the highest The two highest rated each get an iPhone and so does the two Microsoft’s pick and the site editors two picks! So in total there is a full 6 iPhones in the run!