As a long time Photoshop user, I'm always intrigued about what can be accomplished with its younger sibling: Photoshop Elements. Truth is, a lot. That's good news, because Photoshop Extended, with all of its 3D charm and extra features, retails for $999 while the standard version of Photoshop is a svelte $699. So what do you get for the austere sum of $99? A lot of the technology from the big Photoshop, but designed for the user who wants to just "get it done." What you do not get is the depth and degree of control that big Photoshop can provide. But for many people, the power you will get is very likely more than you will use. Simply, I'd take Photoshop Elements over iPhoto any day.

It's fun to watch programs grow and develop. Some of the new features of Adobe Illustrator CS4 have been begged for by users for years and years (that'd be Pages) while other snuck up on us seemingly out of the blue (that'd be Blob Brush). Yet, other features continue to sit idle with no change or update in sight (that'd be 3D effects). So, let's take a trip to see some of the highlights in Illustrator CS4, a worthy upgrade.

In my review of Adobe InDesign CS3, I lamented how Adobe still had a lot of work to do to fill in the shoes of the missing FrameMaker for Mac. They did it! Well, mostly. There still are some corners to sand and polish, but, for the most part, one can finally, really, truly do long format documents again on the Mac. Now, InDesign CS4 has Conditional Text and Cross References, not to mention Smart Guides, GREP nested styles within paragraph styles, and a whole lot more. If you use InDesign, this is one of the best upgrades in many years.

As I said in my review of Photoshop CS3, "Photoshop remains the kingpin of the Suite programs. It is the heavyweight contender that tells the 800 pound gorilla where to sit. Each iteration of Photoshop not only has to be better than the last, but has to be significantly better than the last." However, Photoshop continues to move from its primary base as an application solely focused on photographic images to include (as of CS3) movies and animation, to now, in CS4, image manipulation in 3D of 3D objects. In either, you are still manipulating pixels in images, but Photoshop is expanding to move far beyond what could even be considered just a few years ago. The good news is that even if you never go near animation or 3D, there is still a lot to like in this new release.

Bridge has gone through some extensive and subtle changes since CS3, and the vast majority of them are fantastic. For viewing images and being sort of a central command point for most of the Adobe Suite, Bridge continues to keep me happy, productive, and on track with my work. It's one program that is always running on my computer. Sadly, not all is a happy road...

Stitcher has long been known as one of the leading panorama stitching applications on the market. For the vast majority of its existence, it was run by a company called Realviz. Then, about a year ago, with little fanfare, Realviz was purchased by Autodesk (the company known for AutoCAD and many other image related applications). Stitcher v5.7 was released soon after that. But now the latest release has a new icon, has dropped PowerPC support, and provides some disappointing HDR support. On the other hand, there is improved Preview interaction (albeit somewhat broken) and has added Sunex Fisheye lens support. One of the best things about this new version of Stitcher is that the price has finally been placed at a point where more people might be willing to try it. Stitcher is a great program, but this is a disappointing update.

For an application that exists as a plug-in only, ACR is pretty amazing. Adobe Camera Raw has been around for sufficiently enough time that it is now a full, in-depth application; feature rich, with a complete range of power. For those who are already "shooting raw," ACR is already part of their main bag of tools. For those who are not shooting raw, it's time you stepped up to the plate. Either way, not bad for an application that you can't find if you look for it amongst your CS applications; that's because it's a plug-in.

PhotoFrame is a Photoshop plugin that helps you create digital frames for your digital images. When you think back to most any museum trip you've taken, the vast majority of the paintings are presented in a beautiful frame (which sometimes looks better than the image contained therein). Digital images presented on a computer or the web should be no different. With this new release, PhotoFrame has significantly advanced its usability and ease of finding "just the right frame." That's not to say it wasn't easy before; it was. But with each integration of newer versions, OnOne Software has done an even better job of removing the guessing about how each different frame might look with your image and making the final decision based on what you could see. Well, mostly. In this latest release, there are some wonderful improvements along with some strange glitches, all leading to a mostly great new release.

Funtastic Photos really is fun to use, and its capabilities are genuinely impressive in an application that costs only 35 bucks. Notwithstanding its user-friendliness, Funtastic Photos leverages powerful built-in OS X graphics technologies like the Quartz 2D graphics engine, Spotlight, and ImageIO Kit, and comes jam-packed with advanced photo editing features, such as non-destructive photo editing, which allows non-permanent adjustments that can then be altered or removed at any time

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is best by categorized as a Digital Processor. That is, from bringing images to your computer, cataloging them for later retrieval (and, if you want, backing them up to insure protection against accidental loss), enhancing and fine tuning your images, all the way to printing and/or digital distribution—one can do it all from Lightroom. However, one of the strongest reasons to use Lightroom is the opportunity for playing with images with no concern about how many versions and variations of the image you create without screwing up your original image. Despite a complex learning curve, there is much to like in Lightroom 2.

This version of the declared Photoshop challenger is vastly more polished and somewhat more capable than the Version 1.0 I reviewed here a year ago, and with some new features too, but still has a way to go to match the king of the hill, or even Photoshop Elements

At first glance, there's not much difference between Acrobat 9 and its predecessor, Acrobat 8. The program maintains its DGI format, meaning each document carries all of Acrobat's controls—independently. I protested this actively after the last release, but I apparently was a voice in the wilderness, and all my angst was for naught. I must move on. Fortunately, Acrobat 9 Pro has a lot to offer.