Adobe today released several updates to its software applications for professionals, including After Effects, InDesign, and InCopy. The Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional software 8.0.2 update provides Panasonic P2 format support, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard compatibility fixes, Mac OpenGL support for supported video cards under Mac OS X v10.4.10 and v10.5, and other important fixes. The update for its professional video editing solution is 106.3MB and is available online. Adobe also noted that the Adobe InCopy CS3 5.02 update, for its provides key fixes in the areas of character alignment, undo and redo, text and fonts, dictionaries, import/export graphics, and others; the installer includes fixes from all previously released InCopy CS3 5.0.x updates (and previous InCopy CS3 5.0.x updates are no longer available separately.

One America Committee blog.oneamericacommittee.com/videoblog

The One America Committee says it is "dedicated to helping elect Democratic candidates across the country." The most important Democrat seems to be Senator John Edwards. Remember him? Eight months after the 2004 Presidential election, Senator Edwards launched a video blog. While it is hard to imagine the Senator fiddling around with his computer late at night editing video (he has some professional help on this), it does maintain a grassroots, homemade feeling. Citizens (right now mostly video bloggers) can video tape a question and send it in. Then Sen. Edwards answers the question, also on video. The end result is a time-delayed conversation, or a really long town hall meeting. It is a great application of the vlog concept. And a good indicator that the Internet will continue to be a key tool in politics.

CES: LaCie unveils new hard drives, LCD display

LaCie on Monday introduced five new products including desktop and portable hard drives and a new LCD display aimed at professionals. Some products are available today; others are coming later this month and in February.

The Little Big Disk Quadra is a quad-interface drive designed for portability. It's fast enough to handle video editing and digital content creation on the road, but sports an aluminum heat-sink design that cools without needing a fan.

Moyea PPT to DVD Burner 2.4

Moyea PPT to DVD Burner is a professional and powerful tool to convert powerpoint to DVD. This converter not only retain the original PPT file, but also can be customized as you like. With its user-friendly interface instructions, you are no more editing,but creating a gizmo by only a few clicks without professional knowlegde.You can operate the presentation of the slides with a remote control instead of watching only before the screen. Version 2.4 changed output video format MPEG2 to standard MPEG2, solved the problem that image stops when playing back converted MPG video file; enabled users the ability to modify permission in registry, in order to avoid the error 'Could not show presentation in Internet Explorer_Server' from occuring, solved the problem that the focus of menu bottons in non-standard resolution DVD display incorrectly.

2008 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellows announced

Two noted New Zealand authors have been announced joint winners of this year's Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship. Brigid Lowry and Paula Morris will each spend 5 months in the Sargeson Centre in Auckland, with Brigid taking up tenure in February, and Paula in August. Each fellow will also receive a $20,000 grant, allowing them to focus full time on their writing.

Brigid will use her time to complete a collection of poetry and to begin a novel for adults, while Paula plans to work on her fourth novel, Rangatira, inspired by the life of her ancestor, Paratene Te Manu. This year is the 21st anniversary of the award and the 11th year of Buddle Findlay's sponsorship of the fellowship. Buddle Findlay National Chairman, Peter Chemis, says the Sargeson Fellowship is about giving New Zealand writers the freedom to craft their stories.