News from the IT and publishing industries

Adobe Creative Suite 5.

Adobe will most likely announce Creative Suite 5 next month – Every previous Creative Suite launch was 18 months apart.
If you are looking at new machines, or needing to upgrade from CS2 or CS3, I recommend holding off till the Adobe announcement.
The reasoning is that previously, when a new suite is announced – it does not actually ship for 30-60 days.
So if you order an upgrade from CS3 straight after the announcement, you get CS4 with a free upgrade to CS5 when it ships.
Considering CS5 will not work on any machines older than 3 years, this allows you to get CS4 which will work on your old mac as well as a free upgrade which will work on any new mac you buy.

iMac Update.

The 27″ iMacs that Apple introduced last year have been under constraint due to a combination of issues including LCD problems, massive orders as well as Australia not getting as many iMacs as the USA.
Most orders for the iMac i5 and i7 should have now been delivered.
These new iMacs are the first consumer macs that are a good replacement for the big G5’s still out there in production.
With the switch to Intel, most designers/advertisers/photographers are now forgoing the MacPro which they would have previously used for 5 years and replacing it with a cheap iMac that will be used in production for 3 years.
Of course, if you work with video production, the MacPro is still THE option, paired with lots of RAM, RAID storage and Final Cut Studio.
Contact us for a quote.

Optimising Performance.

Purchasing more RAM is an easy, cheap way to boost performance of a workstation.
The analogy for RAM is that it is like a desk – the larger the desk, the more things you can have on it at once – programs and documents open.
To see how mach RAM you currently have, go to the Apple Menu, then About this Mac.
Click the More Info… button to open System profiler which will list all your machine specs.
To see how much RAM (and what type) your mac can takes, take a look at MacTracker – http://mactracker.dreamhosters.com/
Please note: RAM only helps when you do not have enough – cramming 16GB into new iMac will NOT make it run faster.
If you need any help, or would like a quote – contact us!

JOB AD FROM CLIENT… Freelance Mac Op/Finished artist for publishing based design studio

Our publishing based Crows Nest design studio, that requires a talented Mac Op/Finished Artist for a freelance position.

The successful applicant will be working with a small and friendly team on a variety of publications and have the ability to see out a job from beginning to end. Have accurate spelling and grammar qualities with a high attention to detail and be able to work with in our small team and also work autonomously.

The successful applicant must have:

• Minimum 5 years experience and qualifications
• Very strong technical skills
• Ability to produce quality work within brand guidelines
• Pre-press knowledge and experience
• The ability to work under tight deadlines is essential
• Communicative and friendly
You will have previous publishing experience and a great working knowledge of Indesign, Quarkxpress, Photoshop and Illustrator.

When applying please supply a brief selection of your work (5 pieces) in PDF format (file supplied under 5MB) that displays, technical skills, resume and written references if available.
[email protected]

Client Poll.

Trading conditions are still very tough, although there is optimism, industries like print/advertising and photography are still struggling.
In light of this, we are conducting a poll on technology in use and work expectations for the next 6 months.
The information gathered will be released in the next newsletter and should be a good gauge comparing you with your peers in terms of technology used and expectations for growth.
The poll is completely confidential and NO personal details are requested.
Fill out the poll at our website – http://www.drevolution.com.au/poll/