Adobe Systems is revamping its Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software this fall with two major upgrades, in addition to the introduction of the new Photoshop.com membership, which inspires users to be more creative and always stay connected. Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 will be available either as stand alone products, or as a single retail bundle package.

Photoshop Elements 7 comes with a new Smart Brush that helps users get incredible effects exactly how they want it, with one single stroke. In addition to that, the Scene Cleaner, which is based on Adobe’s Photomerge technology, allows users to modify a photo as they please, by removing unwanted objects from that photo.

Adobe Premiere Elements 7 promises to offer users time-saving options for high-quality, Hollywood-style movies. The software will support the AVCHD format, and will automatically analyze video clips as they are imported, as well as apply smart tags to identify video quality, number of faces, and much more. The Instant Movie feature will allow videos to be dragged and dropped into feature-packed themes, while the Videomerge option automatically places a person into any scene “to impress audiences.”

Photoshop.com was intended as a way of delivering fresh ideas and inspiration, as well as a way of keeping a dynamic and current experience, while at the same time expanding the capabilities of Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7, Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe, explained. “Our customers are spending more time online and we want to help them stay connected with their favorite people and memories.”

Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7 customers are given the possibility to sign-up for one year of membership on Photoshop.com. The new online service will offer useful templates and tutorials, as well as automatic online backup and storage of photos and videos, access to photos and videos, and interactive options to share photos.

“The introduction of Photoshop.com membership means photos and videos are accessible from virtually anywhere and we’re no longer limited to what we can fit into ‘the box’," Mack explained. The membership comes in two levels, Basic1 and Plus2. The Plus membership offers 20GB of storage, which should be enough for roughly 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality videos. The Basic membership comes with 5GB of storage, access to photos and video virtually anywhere, and easy online sharing.

In addition to all that, members will be able to upload photos directly from their mobile phone with the help of Photoshop.com Mobile Beta. Photoshop.com Mobile will run as a background application, allowing consumers to take photos, send messages or run other applications while uploading photos to their Photoshop.com account, Adobe explained.

Regarding the pricing and availability, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 will be available for US$99.99 each, or US$149.99 as a bundle. They can be pre-ordered at www.adobe.com, www.amazon.com and www.bestbuy.com, before they become available in local retail outlets such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco (Photoshop Elements 7 only), Office Depot, Office Max and Staples in October 2008.

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