Adobe’s new versions of Elements set for release
This week, Adobe is releasing overhauled Windows versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, the photo- and video-editing programs aimed at home users. While they cost $99 each or $149 for the pair, they are surprisingly similar to Photoshop CS3, the $649 image editor, and Premiere Pro CS3, a serious $799 video-editing program. With Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows, images can be spruced up using a guided step-by-step process. Tools from the high-priced version have been converted into simple improvement modes. A new tool lets you swap faces or whole bodies between group pictures, even those shot from different angles, for personnel substitutions in the style of the Cold War Kremlin. The finished work can be plain old pictures, slide shows, online galleries or a photo book printed by Kodak.
Go for the gold with arcade
Remember the good old days, when a video game was the size of a washing machine? Today, an entire arcade can fit on one chip, allowing designers to re-create the look and feel of several of these giant-sized arcade games on a single hand-held controller. Arcade Gold Featuring Pac-Man, just out from Jakks Pacific ($20, ), contains eight Namco games from the ’80s, including Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Super Pac-Man, Galaxian, Bosconian, Dig Dug and New Rally-X. This edition has some subtle but important improvements over previous Jakks game machines.
Versatile headset for phone, music
The Voyager 855 from Plantronics, which works as both a hands-free headset for the phone and a stereo headset for the music player, may be the Swiss Army Knife for the plugged-in set. Extending the 855’s boom microphone pauses the music played on a phone and answers a call. Ending the call restarts the music. Both earbuds are activated for listening to music in stereo by plugging a detachable cable to the main unit. But the 855, available next month at most electronics and office supply stores for about $150, works only with phones that are A2DP compliant. You can check whether a particular phone supports this standard for playing stereo through a Bluetooth wireless connection by going to Plantronics’ website, . Now, if only it came with a screwdriver and a can opener.
Kodak camera links to HDTV
For adherents of high-definition technology, everything must be full of crisp detail. PCs, DVRs and TVs can now reproduce images so sharp as to be unflattering. But what if you want to see the latest photos from your digital camera on your big HDTV screen? For that you will need something like Kodak’s V1253, a 12-megapixel camera that can connect to HD televisions (with an optional $100 dock) and produces video at 720p quality, a bit less than full HD. This $299.95 camera, available through and retailers, has image stabilization and face detection built in. It stores images and video in 32 megabytes of internal memory or on an SD card.
