COLE'S NEWSWIRE, Sept. 2, 1998

Sept. 2, 1998
Vol. 4, No. 35

The NEWSWIRE is a weekly distribution of information about the sales and installations of publishing technology and the latest news on new products developed by suppliers to the industry.

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ADOBE SYSTEMS INC.
Adobe, a desktop publishing software supplier based in San Jose, has released upgrades to two products, the graphic design program Illustrator and the web authoring application PageMill for Macintosh.

Illustrator 8.0 features four new types of live brushes, new ways to blend colors for painter-like effects and a new pencil tool. Planned for release in September, current users may get the upgrade for $129. New copies will cost $375.

PageMill 3.0 will feature a limited edition of Adobe Photoshop, improved ease-of-use for novices, drag-and-drop tools for updating a site's content and more layout features. Due out in October, PageMill will sell for $99, with an upgrade costing $49.

Free previews are available at http://www.adobe.com/.

ADOUT
AdOut, a supplier of advertising production applications based in Van Nuys, Calif., has announced that its newest division, AdOut Advanced Productivity Solutions, has introduced two products, Text Tailor and Monster Commands.

Text Tailor, which may be purchased and downloaded from http://www.adout.com/, is a tool for more easily importing and styling text for an ad. Monster Commands, which may be ordered through the AdOut web site, is a computer game that teaches keyboard shortcuts for using widely popular desktop publishing applications such as Multi-Ad Creator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Quark XPress.

BITSTREAM INC.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Bitstream has announced it has sold its MediaBank and InterSep units to Inso Corp. of Boston for $12 million. Bitstream, which kept $1.5 million in accounts receivable but will yet pay $1.1 million in expenses and payments, had operated MediaBank and InterSep under its Archetype Applications Division.

An Inso subsidiary, Inso Providence Corp., will license from Bitstream its upcoming PageFlex publishing solution. Inso is on the Web at http://www.inso.com/.

Inso also announced that its DynaBase web site management solution has been licensed by Hearst New Media & Technology of New York to build and manage its HomeArts Network at http://www.homearts.com/ and other sites.

CASCADE SYSTEMS INC.
Cascade, a supplier of workflow management solutions based in Andover, Mass., has announced that its MediaSphere and PhotoTrak archive products have been licensed for use by the TORONTO STAR (454k, all day) of Canada. The STAR will install the two on Sun Enterprise servers running the Solaris operating system.

Cascade is on the Web at http://www.cascadenet.com/.

LANTANA RESEARCH SOFTWARE CORP.
Lantana, a Fremont, Calif.-based supplier of software for Portable Document Format (PDF) workflows, has introduced several plug-ins for Adobe Acrobat Exchange 3.0.

The plug-ins are OPI Doctor, for managing PDF file content in an Open Pre-press Interface (OPI) server; PDF Librarian, which can store many file types; PDF Bellhop and PDF Valet for encapsulating and extracting digital files, and PDF PowerPack, for initiating a PDF workflow with a bundle of graphic arts tools.

Lantana, which is on the Web at http://www.lantanarips.com/, also announced that its Mac-based Crackerjack and Crackerjack Pilot products now are available in Japan through Chemical Research Inc. of Yokohama. Chemical Research is at http://www.copstalk.co.jp.

MARKZWARE SOFTWARE INC.
Markzware, a supplier of output verification software based in Santa Ana., Calif., has introduced MarkzScout, a preflight solution that can examine job elements in native documents from applications such as Quark XPress, Adobe PageMaker, Macromedia FreeHand and Multi-Ad Creator, as well as industry-standard formats such as EPS, JPEG and TIF.

User-definable rules can be added to more than 300 rules included with MarkzScout for checking for RGB colors, missing fonts and wrong image resolutions. Files with errors are shipped to a folder outside the production stream for correction.

Markzware is on the Web at http://www.markzware.com/.

MULTI-AD SERVICES INC.
Multi-Ad, an advertising solutions supplier based in Peoria, Ill., has begun beta testing Creator2 version 1.5, the Mac-based display ad makeup program. The major upgrade to Creator2 features support for ColorSync 2.5, the color fidelity software from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

Other enhancements include editing of elements and groups within text, scaling of text within groups, recognition of new fonts introduced while the application is running, and compatibility with MacOS 8.5.

Multi-Ad is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.creator2.com/.

NEWSINC.
Quark's bid for Adobe may have a hidden toll for newspapers, writes David M. Cole, the editor and publisher of NEWSINC., in the Aug. 31 issue. Cole explains that Quark likely would do away with the next generation of Adobe's page layout software to preserve Quark XPress. The result, Cole contends, would be detrimental to newspapers.

Inside, Correspondent Julius Duscha explores the whys and wherefores of philanthropies that have the weight and resources of newspaper companies behind them. Also, Senior Editor Pete Wetmore examines why four media companies announced share repurchasing developments in August, reports on the Newspaper Association of America's plan to create an easier way for advertisers to buy newspaper insertions, and talks with circulation managers about the impact of too few workers.

For more about the Aug. 31 issue of NEWSINC., visit The Cole Group on the Web at http://colegroup.com/.

QUARK INC.
Denver-based Quark has announced a joint marketing agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., through which the companies will jointly promote the Quark Digital Media System and Quark Publishing System on-line and print publishing solutions, and Sun hardware and the Solaris operating system.

In addition, Quark and Sun will collaborate to provide technical training and support. Quark is on the Web at http://www.quark.com/. Sun is at http://www.sun.com/.

TRENDWATCH
TrendWatch, a monitor of trends in the graphic arts industry based in Harrisville, R.I., reports that its survey of the industry finds that Apple Computer products will be in more demand this year than last by publishers, commercial photographers and advertising agencies.

Respondents in all three segments said they plan to buy more PowerMacs or G3s this year than in 1997, with publishers expecting to spend 58.9 percent more, photographers 47.2 percent more and ad agencies 23.7 percent more.

Respondents in three other market segments say they plan to spend less on Apple wares than they did last year, with graphic designers down by 8.1 percent, catalog publishers off by 24.2 percent and corporate designers down by 29.5 percent.

TrendWatch is on the Web at http://www.trend-watch.com/.

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is compiled by Pete Wetmore and distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS and NEWSINC., and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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