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.

Finally! - Email Standards Project

Email Standards Project: "The Email Standards Project works with email client developers and the design community to improve web standards support and accessibility in email."

I'm very happy to see an organized attempt to address the issue of poor and inconsistent industry-wide support for rich email (html email). The Email Standards Project looks like the bandwagon to jump on. The site has a great chart right on the homepage showing popular email clients (desktop and web-based) and their rating in terms of standards support. The project has come up with an "acid test", much like the Web Standards Project, that is used to fairly and consistently test the ability of a given email client.

Check out the site, join the email list or spread the word.

FlickrShop plug-in uploads Photoshop images to Flickr

PixelNovel: "FlickrShop is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that allows you to upload images to Flickr photo sharing website directly from Adobe Photoshop. No need to save your image to a temporary file, no more switching between applications - just open your image, tweak it in Photoshop and share it with the world via Flickr!"

This is a handy addition to your arsenal of Flickr tools.

Linotype FontExplorer X Now Supports CS3

Linotype FontExplorer X for Mac has been updated to include some nice features: Added information “Import date”; Adobe InDesign/Illustrator CS3 Plug-Ins; New detailed preview in the information window; Option to search fonts by vendor; Sorting by label; and more.

Of course most importantly is CS3 support. This is a great font management app, and it's free.

Adobe CS3 Official Launch

Here's a round-up of some other interesting coverage and details:

• AppleBlog coverage
• digg.com coverage
• Apple.com special feature
• creativepro.com: What's New in Adobe Creative Suite 3
• CNET coverage

Adobe to announce CS3 products March 27

CNET News.com: "Adobe likely will announce its Creative Suite 3 (CS3) products
on or about March 27,' Merrill Lynch analyst Jay Vleeschhouwer predicted last week, with the products themselves to ship 'several weeks thereafter...'"

Get your dock ready for a bunch of Two letter application icons.

How To Name Your Company

thinkvitamin.com: "Successful entrepreneur Michael McDerment advocates following a rigorous process for determining that all important company name. Here are his tips for making the right decision"

Short sweet article.

Veer Releases "Top 10 Type Stories of 2006"

Veer has posted it's list of 'most memorable' faces of 2006. I'm not sure if it's purely linked to sales or their idea of an overall trend for the year, but it's a good marketing concept nonetheless.