Flow - What Adobe Version Cue should have been?

GridIron Software Announces "Flow" - A revolutionary approach to content management: "Flow is a revolutionary approach to digital content management that dramatically simplifies the design process for creative professionals working on graphic design, web and video projects. Flow automatically tracks your work from idea to end result and manages your assets and applications for your most complex projects- all without changing the way you work."

Flow was included in the Macworld Best of Show winners list. The information about the forthcoming product on their site shows a lot of promise. Now that Leopard has incorporated Coverflow into the finder, and Adobe Version Cue + Bridge has lacked traction, the timing could be good for a desktop-based asset management tool that moves beyond tracking files and adds some intelligence regarding process, versioning, and (ahem) "flow".

Features that seem like standouts include: Workflow Maps; Workflow Calendar; Visual Versions; Project Packages; Project Reports.

There's a difference between ALL of the files that someone generates for a project, versus the smaller subset of files that they may want to actually share with a workgroup or client. While some Web 2.0 DAM solutions like fluxiom or box are great for the latter, flow might be an intelligent bridge between what you have and what you need to share.

They are accepting Beta program requests. I'll be keeping an eye on this software.

New Apple Products at Macworld 2008

Well there was certainly a lot of buzz around Apple's new product announcements at Macworld 2008. The stock took a hit and there have been some complaints about whether or not the Macbook Air compromises too much. Anyway, more to come on this stuff.

Apple Introduces the new Mac Pro

"he fastest Mac ever, the new Mac Pro has eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor.* It combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage, offering the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799."

With announcements like this a week BEFORE MacWorld, everyone is buzzing about what Steve will present...