namesuppressed has updated their Softener plugin for Adobe Photoshop and compatible image programs. Softener gives digital photos the dreamy look of glamour photos by adding soft focus effects to any image.

Practical applications include smoothing skin in imperfect photos, and adding soft focus effects to digital wedding photos. Softener reduces the need to use special lenses when taking photos - the same soft focus effects can be recreated digitally.

Softener includes a range of preset effects, from subtle glows and romantic soft focus effects, through to strong blurs and glossy magazine effects. Presets can be used as the basis for an effect and tweaked to get the desired result, or new settings can be created from scratch. User created presets can be saved for later use.

Softener is used by all kinds of digital photographers, for everything from weddings, baby photos & portraits, through to glamour photography and corporate photos.

The latest update corrects issues with the preview display, and is a free upgrade for all registered Softener customers.

Softener 1.23 is available now for a retail price of $14.95. Softener may be purchased directly from the namesuppressed website at http://www.namesuppressed.com/

Adobe has released the long awaited update to their flagship Photoshop package. Photoshop CS 2 includes a host of new features, including improved healing brush and red-eye removal. The Vanishing Point tool allows you to edit objects in a image without altering their perspective.

More details are available from Adobe's website at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html

Webscriber (our mailing list subscriptions manager for EZMLM) has been updated to fix some reported issues. This is an important update for all users of WebScriber versions 1.10 and newer. The fixes include:

• An updated WebScriber Mailform, compatible with WebScriber versions 1.10 and newer
• Fixes to mailing list subscriptions from non-WebScriber online forms
• Improved support for other PHP scripts accessing WebScriber directly to trigger subscriptions

This is a free update for registered WebScriber users. We recommend that all WebScriber users update to this version. You can download a copy of the update from Webscriber website.

• Redfield Plugins released Sketch Master, a fantastic plugin for creating realistic hand drawings and sketches.
• Little Ink Pot's Sketcher plugin has introduced 3 new styles: Cellular Crosshatch, Granular, and Pen And Ink.
• Fred Miranda's latest plugin is Velvia Vision, a tool for improving the colors and tones within digital photos. It sells for $24.90 (US Dollars).
• Flaming Pear updated their goodies package with 3 new freebie plugins: Rule 30, Veins and Pixel Trash.
• PTLens is a free photoshop plugin for correcting barrelling and vignetting in digital photos. It works by selecting the make, model and lens of your camera, then it does the hard work for you.
• mehdi has updated his free kaleidoscope plugin to version 2.1.
• Mok3 has released an incredible photoshop plugin called the Perspective Clone Brush. Instead of just cloning areas in 2D, the perspective clone brush takes into account the 3D environment within the photo - so you can clone one wall of a building and apply it to another side of the building, and make it look completely realistic. It's rather pricey at $129.99, but if you need a tool like this, this is the one to get.
• Frischluft has updated their Lenscare plugin to version 1.2, improving support for After Effects and adding multiple CPU support. The Frischluft website also includes screenshots of the filter in action, in video clips for George Michael and Digital Diva, as well as the movie I, Robot.
• McFilters from PixelRibs is a brand new collection of plugins that uses the selection mask to modify the effect. It focuses on effects like depth of field and motion blur. McFilters sells for 55.75 Euros (about $73 US Dollars).
• Noise Ninja by Picturecode has been getting rave reviews as an exceptional tool for reducing noise in digital photos and images. it sells for $34.95 - $79.95, depending on whether you buy the home standalone version or the professional plugin edition.
• AV Bros have just released Page Curl Pro 2.0, adding textured pages and the ability to curve and fold pages. Page Curl Pro 2.0 sells for $49.95.

Sometimes when we get support emails from customers, it can take longer to solve the issue if we don't have the same meaning for some computer words. There are thousands of computer words and acronyms now, it's nearly impossible to learn them all. If you'd like to expand your tech vocabulary, here are some words that are often confused or used incorrectly:

Upload

To copy a file from your computer to the internet. If you have your own webpage, you would need to "upload" the graphics files to your website.

Download

To copy a file from the internet to your computer. If you want to get the latest namesuppressed plugin, you would need to "download" it from the internet.

Confused about the difference between uploading and downloading? Then think of the internet as a "big place in the sky". If you wanted to put something on the internet, you would have to reach "up" to put it up there. If you wanted to take something from the internet, you would bring it "down" to where you are.

Installer

A program that you run to "install" some software onto your computer, and have it setup for you automatically. Usually you download an installer program from the internet, and it will have a filename that ends in .exe. Then you would double click the "exe" file to run the installer program.

Install

To setup software to work on your computer. Think of a car engine, you must have an engine "installed" in your car before it can work properly.

Installing is not the same as downloading. Downloading is just copying a file from the internet. Installing means running a program on your computer to have some software setup for you.

If you found those explanations to be helpful, you might like to browse the glossary at e-consultancy. It's one of the world's best resources for learning new computer words.

Softener (our soft focus Photoshop Plugin for Windows) has been updated with some minor bugfixes:

• Small fixes to the uninstaller improves workings on Windows XP
• Slight change to the interface to reduce some confusion customers experienced.
• Tweaks to the preview counter (for all those who noticed it getting excessively high!)

Softener is perfect for adding soft focus to portrait and wedding photos, so download the free trial of Softener now, and start designing some great photos.

In case you missed the announcement from October last year, Corel Corporation has bought Jasc Software, the makers of Paint Shop Pro. Corel already has their own line of graphics software, including Painter and Photo-Paint. Corel has promised to continue development of PSP, and most of the Jasc team are still working at Corel, so hopefully it will remain business as usual.

The new version of Plaid Lite is out today - it's an exciting release with lots of cool features and fixes:

• Now over 40% faster than previous Plaid Lite versions.
• Smooth redraws reduce screen flicker on Windows XP systems.
• Improved color controls create sharper plaids.
• Fixed the hanging issue with zoom < 100.
• New installer feature automatically detects your preferred plugin directory.

So what are you waiting for? Download the free demo of Plaid Lite now, and start creating some funky plaids for your website backgrounds, photo borders, greeting cards and whatever takes your fancy.