Text and Fonts
Text Layout Framework text engine The new TLF text engine provides significantly improved control over text properties and flow. For more information, see Working with Text Layout Framework (TLF) text, and this TLF video tutorial.
Font Embedding Dialog Font embedding is now FLA file based instead of text object based. The new Font Embedding dialog box provides quick access to all font embedding functions. For more information, see Embed fonts for consistent text appearance.

Video
FLVPlayback live preview on Stage The ActionScript 3.0 versions of the FLVPlayback components now allow you to preview the entire linked video file on the Stage.
Video cue points usability Video cue points are now much easier to add to videos in Flash. For more information, see Working with video cue points, and this Cue
Points video tutorial.
New skins for FLVPlayback component New skins have been provided for the FLVPlayback components to enable a wider variety of design styles in your Flash projects.

Art and animation
Edit with Photoshop CS5 You can now perform round-trip editing of bitmap graphics in Photoshop CS5. For more information, see Edit a bitmap in an external editor.
New Decorative Drawing tool effects Several new effects have been added to the Decorative Drawing tool. For more information, see Drawing patterns with the Decorative drawing tool.
Spring properties for IK bones New properties have been added to IK bones that enable realistic physics effects in bone animation. For more information, see Add Springiness to bones.

ActionScript and JavaScript
Code Snippets panel The Code Snippets panel allows non-programmers to apply ActionScript
3.0 code for common interactions without learning ActionScript. For more information, see Add interactivity with code snippets.
Code hinting for custom classes Code completion, or code hinting, is now enabled for custom ActionScript 3.0 classes in addition to the built-in classes. For more information, see
Code hinting for custom classes.
Auto close-bracket insertion Now when you type an open bracket { in the Actions panel or Script window, Flash automatically adds the corresponding close bracket }. This saves time writing code and debugging.
Enhanced Flash Pro – Flash Builder workflows New workflows between Flash Professionsal CS5 and Flash Builder 4 have been enabled to allow the 2 products to be used together more easily. For more information, see Editing and debugging ActionScript with Flash Professional and Flash Builder, and this video tutorial.
Motion Object JSAPIs Several new JavaScript APIs have been added for manipulating motion tweens in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring environment. For more information, see Extending Flash Professional CS5.

Working with files
XFL file format Flash FLA files now contain a new internal format called XFL. This new format is based on XML. For most users this change is invisible. However, the new format enables better exchange of
data with other Adobe applications, and allows you to optionally work in uncompressed XFL format, described below.
Uncompressed XFL file format The uncompressed XFL file format allows you to see each of the separate parts, or sub-files, that make up a Flash file. This enables working in team environments with source control systems. For more information,
see Working with uncompressed XFL files.
FXG file format The FXG file format allows Flash to exchange graphics with other Adobe applications with full fidelity. For more information, see Importing FXG files and FXG graphic interchange format.
SWF Size History The Document Property inspector now displays the size of all SWF files generated during Test Movie, Publish, and Debug Movie operations.
New templates Flash Professional CS5 includes a range of new templates that make it easier to create common types of projects in Flash. The templates appear in the Welcome screen and the New Document dialog box.

Other improvements
AIR for iOS support Flash Professional CS5 includes support for AIR for iOS.This allows Flash files to be deployed as iOS applications that run on the Apple iPhone or iPad. For more information, see Packaging applications for AIR for iOS.
Reorganized AIR Publish Settings UI The AIR Application & Installer Settings dialog box has been reorganized for simpler, easier access to the many settings required when publishing for Adobe AIR. For more information, see Publishing for Adobe AIR.
Community Help Community Help is an integrated environment on adobe.com that gives you access to community-generated content moderated by Adobe and industry experts. Comments and ratings from users help guide you to an answer. Search Community Help to find the best content on the web about Adobe products and technologies. For more information, see Using Community Help or Help
and Support.
CS Live services In Flash Professional CS5, you can connect to CS Live services from within the Flash authoring environment. CS Live includes web services such as Acrobat.com, BrowserLab, Live Review, and more. For detailed information about CS Live services, see About CS Live.

Deprecated Features
The following features have been removed:
Screens Screen-based Flash documents can no longer be opened or created in Flash Professional CS5. All JavaScript API’s related to screens have been removed. To work with Screen-based documents, use a previous version of Flash.
Version Cue To work with a common set of files in a collaborative environment, please use a 3rd party source control solution.
Data Binding components The ActionScript 2.0 Data components have been removed from the Components panel.
Outdated file formats Flash Professional CS5 can no longer import FreeHand, PICT,
PNTG, SGI, and TGA files. Flash no longer exports EMF files, WMF files, WFM image sequences, BMP sequences, or TGA sequences.
Save and Compact Because the new default FLA file format contains XFL formatted data, the Save and Compact command is unnecessary.

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Lightroom presets enhance or simplify your develop time with your photographs. Here are a few websites for Lightroom presets that (mostly) offer free presets to be used in Lightroom. If you know of any other sites that I have not listed please comment below and I will add the sites you suggest.

Presetsheaven
Pretty Presets for Lightroom
onOne Software
Lightroom Killer Tips
Ultimate Collection of The Best Adobe Lightroom Presets
Presetpond
Adobe Exchange
Inside Lightroom
Wonderlandpresets
get totally rad
speckyboy
Presetopia
Rule of Thirds Photography
Flickr Discussing Presets
Kubota Image Tools
Camera Dojo
Prophotoshow
Mcg Studios
Rebecca Lily
Gantico

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Simple security: In last year’s roundup of best free stuff, the beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials 2 impressed us. Since then, Microsoft has officially released the utility to the public, and our admiration has only grown. With its combined antivirus, antispyware, and firewall protection, Security Essentials provides a solid layer of protection against the most common threats without hobbling your PC or nagging you with annoying update reminders.

File killer: When you delete files from your PC via the Windows Recycle Bin, Windows marks them as erased and hides them from view; eventually it fills the drive space they occupied with newly created or downloaded content. To get rid of data right away, use Eraser, a free file-deletion utility that works with DoD-grade algorithms to overwrite deleted data repeatedly until it’s practically unrecoverable.

Facebook defense: Facebook is fun, but it’s also rife with malicious links that can damage your PC and compromise your private data. Defensio for Facebook intercepts those threats and alerts you before they can do any harm.

Software updater: Now that almost every PC application can access the Internet, dozens of potential security holes lie scattered across our systems. Secunia Personal Software Inspector helps mitigate the risk by searching for important security patches for every program on your PC. When I ran it, PSI found seven outdated programs on my machine, and pointed me straight to the download links for the updates I needed. Suddenly I feel much more secure.

USB protection: How much do you trust the USB drive that your friend wants to plug into your PC? If you use Panda USB Vaccine, you don’t have to take anything on faith. This simple utility automatically neutralizes common flash-drive threats to keep malware from making the jump to your hard drive.

Password keeper: You want to get to the Websites you use without stopping to recall a dozen unique passwords every day, but using the same password at multiple sites is a good way to compromise your data. Password Safe gives you the best of both worlds by storing all your logins and dropping them into the sites you visit as needed. As a result, you can maintain as many different, complex passwords as you need while having to remember only one master password to rule them all.

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Secure phones: Smartphones are notoriously vulnerable to data-security and privacy breaches. Lookout Mobile Security locks down your Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile phone to keep malware and other threats from invading.

Game addict: Kongregate Arcade supplies you with more than 300 addictive Android games, as well as a gaming community to share them with.

Free books: The mobile version of Google Book Search (at books.google.com/m) lets you read every book in the Google Books library without downloading anything or creating a special account. Just surf and read.

Android sync: DoubleTwist Player makes loading music and videos onto your Android phone easy. And it manages the media on your device in an interface whose simplicity rivals iTunes’. DoubleTwist even lets you sync your playlists via USB cable.

Super shopper: For Android, BlackBerry, iOS, or Windows Mobile, OurGroceries is the best supermarket companion we’ve found. It syncs lists between multiple devices, works across platforms, and lets you update your list from any browser.

Tech news: We know you love keeping up with the latest tech news. And we love the TechDygest iPhone app for its streamlined presentation of hot tech stories from all over the Web.

Magic sharing: Want to share photos, recommend a song, or suggest an app to a friend? Bump is a cool freebie that uses geolocation and your phone’s accelerometer to let you fist-bump two phones together to transfer data between them.

RSS reader: For RSS news feeds and podcasts in Android, Google Reader is a top option. It now includes widgets, so you can embed your feeds on the desktop.

Coverage comparisons: Nationwide coverage maps don’t reveal which mobile carrier works best in your hometown. For that data, visit OpenSignalMaps, which uses crowd-sourced reports to compare local coverage from major carriers.

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Touch apps for Photoshop 12.0.4 or later
Mix color swatches, select and manage Photoshop tools, and paint watercolor images using three iPad apps. See Using Adobe Color Lava, Using Adobe Nav, and Using Adobe Eazel.

Easier interface management with live workspaces
Automatically store task-specific workspaces that reflect your workflow, and quickly switch between them. See Save and switch workspaces.

Intelligent selection technology
Extract subjects from backgrounds more quickly and accurately, creating realistic composites. See Refine selection edges.

Content-aware filling and healing
Easily remove image elements and replace them with content that seamlessly integrates into its surroundings. See Content-aware, pattern, or history fills and Retouch with the Spot Healing Brush tool.

HDR Pro
Apply greater tone-mapping power, creating high dynamic range images that range from photorealistic to surreal. Or apply an HDR look to standard images with the HDR
Toning adjustment. See Merge images to HDR and Adjust HDR toning.

Extraordinary painting effects
Take advantage of realistic painting effects, mixing colors on the canvas and simulating bristles to produce results that rival traditional painting media. See Paint with the Mixer Brush and Bristle tip shape options.

Puppet Warp
Radically transform specific image areas, while anchoring others in place. See Puppet Warp.

Automated lens correction
Quickly fix distortion using installed profiles of popular lenses, or custom profiles of additional models. See Correct lens distortion and adjust perspective.

Easy extrusions with 3D repoussé
Convert 2D text and artwork into 3D objects, and then extrude and inflate their surfaces. See Create 3D repoussé (Photoshop Extended).

Enhanced 3D performance, workflow, and materials
Quickly optimize performance with dedicated 3D preferences. Get faster previews and rendering with the improved Adobe Ray Tracer engine. Apply materials interactively with Material Load and Drop tools. See 3D panel overview (Photoshop Extended) and 3D Materials settings (Photoshop Extended).

Streamlined creative reviews
Collaborate with colleagues and quickly get client feedback with CS Review, an online service that accelerates the review process. See CS Review.

Integrated media management
Take advantage of improved watermarking, web galleries, and batch processing in Adobe Bridge CS5. Access assets directly in Photoshop using the Mini Bridge panel. See Adobe Bridge and Mini Bridge.

State of the art Camera Raw processing
Remove noise in high ISO images while preserving color and detail. Add creative effects like film grain and post-crop vignettes. Or precisely sharpen images with minimal artifacts. See Correcting lens distortions in Camera Raw, Sharpening and noise reduction in Camera Raw, and Vignette and grain effects in Camera Raw.

Dozens of customer-inspired productivity enhancements
Boost your efficiency with countless workflow improvements. Selected highlights let you:

• Create layers by dragging files from Windows or Mac OS. See Create a layer from an existing file.
• Straighten images with the Ruler tool. See Straighten an image.
• Protect detail with the Sharpen tool. See Sharpen image areas.
• Apply a graduated neutral density filter. See Apply a gradient fill.
• Reverse the direction of a clone source. See Retouch with the Clone Stamp tool.
• Customize defaults for layer styles. See Change style defaults to custom values.
• Paste in the same relative location, or into or outside selections.
  See Understanding the copy and paste commands.
• Store image-specific print settings. See Print images.

New GPU-accelerated features
Harness increased hardware power with features like brush previews, a color sampler ring for the Eyedropper tool, and a Rule Of Thirds grid for the Crop tool. See Choose a color while painting and Crop an image using the Crop tool.

Faster performance with cross-platform 64-bit support
Complete day-to-day imaging tasks at least 10% faster on 64-bit versions of Mac OS and Windows. See Memory and performance.

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Simpler Web viewing: Remember when the Web was add less and clutter-free? A browser add-on called Readability takes you back to those times by stripping any page down to its main article. No ads. Minimal navigation menus. Almost no clutter. It’s great for creating printer-friendly pages, and for distraction-free reading.

Isolation booth: For distraction-free writing in Windows, I love WriteMonkey. While you write, this minimalist writing app hides all of the formatting menus and just about everything else by expanding to full-screen mode and filling your screen with the soothing background color of your choice.

Intelligent notepad: At your PC or on your tablet or phone, Evernote lets you capture Web clippings, text notes, audio notes, and pictures. It then syncs them across all your devices, and indexes them so they’re easy to find later.

Mind mapper: When you want to capture complex ideas, few methods are as effective as a mind map for visualizing the many related parts of a project. Xmind gives you simple, powerful mind-mapping tools that rival those of the most expensive apps around.

Office alternative: Want a powerful productivity suite without the expense of Microsoft Office? Oracle’s free OpenOffice.org has a robust word processor, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations with support for Microsoft Office file formats.

Screen sharing: Whether you’re the unofficial tech support person for your company or the go-to techie for your family and friends, LogMe­In Free simplifies the process of sharing your screen with a remote user or of taking control of that person’s screen in real time.

Search simplifier: An alternative to the ubiquitous Google, newcomer Blekko takes a hand-curated approach, relying on slash tags that allow you to refine your searches and get more-relevant results. To see re­­sults for “Windows tips” sorted by date, for instance, type Windows tips /date.

List manager: To-do lists don’t have to be complicated. For simple, effective lists that you can share with friends and access from any mobile browser, try 37Signals’ Ta-da List.

Easy presentations: Need to whip up a snazzy presentation fast? Log on to SlideRocket via your Google account, and use its slick templates to embed images, Flash objects, videos, and audio. Then export your presentation as a PowerPoint slideshow or PDF.

E-mail postponer: When you get an e-mail message that you need to act on but don’t have to deal with quite yet, NudgeMail serves as a smart snooze button. Forward the message to, say, tomorrow@nudgemail.com or June2@nudgemail.com, and the e-mail will reappear in your inbox when you do need to see it.

File converter: Want to convert a MOV video file to WMV format, or a Word document into an ePub book for your e-reader? Online Convert transforms a wide selection of formats, and it doesn’t require you to download or install any new software.

Streamlined PDF viewer: Adobe’s Acrobat Reader has evolved dramatically over the years, and it has grown a little bloated along the way. For quicker PDF viewing that won’t hog your system’s resources, give the free Sumatra PDF a try.

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Instant organization: Instead of clicking around in Windows Ex­­plorer to find where Windows hid your newly downloaded MP3 file, try DropIt. This open-source utility lets you set up folder associations for specific file types. Just drop files on the big target icon on your desktop, and DropIt will automatically whisk them away to their appropriate (and easy-to-find) destinations.

Cleaner desktop: Stardock’s Fences lets you create separate areas on your desktop to organize unruly desktop icons into a manageable system. Keep programs in one fence and Word documents in another, for instance, or group them any way you like.

Complete removal: No list of great free tools would be complete without Revo Uninstaller. Windows’ built-in Programs control panel simply isn’t as good at removing the bits and pieces of programs that you want to banish from your hard drive.

Smart dock: The Windows 7 taskbar isn’t bad, but Stardock’s ObjectDock replicates the slick Mac OS X dock interface, complete with snazzy magnification animations, for Windows users.

Virtual machine: Oracle’s VirtualBox lets you run multiple virtual machines on your PC, so you can have multiple instances of Windows, Linux, or any other OS installed. It keeps a working image of a machine as a backup. Then, if things go horribly awry, you can delete the damaged image in favor of the backup.

All-in-one uncompressor: If you’ve ever asked “What’s a .rar file?” you need 7-Zip. It supports all of the essential file compression formats-and more than a few obscure ones, too-so it can unpack anything you download. The utility adds file management tools to Windows’ context menus, too, enabling you to zip files, unzip files, and convert file formats on the fly.

FTP essential: People who transfer lots of files still rely on the old File Transfer Protocol to move their bits around. FileZilla re­­mains one of the best FTP clients on the market, and it’s still free.

Display manager: DisplayFusion gives you multiple-monitor management powers that Windows doesn’t, such as the ability to display different background images on each screen or to span an image across two monitors. It also packs hotkey combos for automatically ar­­ranging your desktop, and it lets you set custom behaviors for your apps.

Easy-launch Web apps: If you spend most of your working life in Web-based apps such as Google Docs and Gmail, Mozilla’s Prism browser plug-in for Firefox can restore your sanity. By turning your favorite Web apps into separate applications that launch from Windows’ Start menu, the utility enables you to cut down on the number of mouse clicks required to get to the tools you need, while at the same time eliminating browser-tab clutter.

One keyboard, many PCs: I have three computers on my desk, running any of three operating systems: Windows, OS X, and Linux. But the free Synergy utility lets me use a single keyboard and mouse to control all three PCs, regardless of their OS. When my mouse pointer reaches the edge of a screen, Synergy uses the Wi-Fi network to take over the next machine. It’s the closest thing to magic that your PC is likely to encounter.

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These four free downloadable applications are designed to make handling your photos and videos easier and more effective.

Photo viewer: Whether you want to view TIFF pictures, MOV videos, or Flash animations, IrfanView is an indispensable freebie. Bonus: It includes a healthy array of photo-editing tools, too.

Image organizer: If your hard drive is littered with photos scattered across various locations, Fotobounce will round them up, organize them, and give you an easy way to share them with your friends.

Power editor: For most nonprofessionals, Adobe Photoshop is expensive overkill. Paint.net is jam-packed with powerful photo-editing features, and it’s free.

Magic eraser: Who’s the weirdo standing behind Aunt Marge in that Disneyland photo? (No, it’s not Uncle Fred.) Get rid of the interloper with PhotoWipe, a tool that lets you mark any object in a picture and automatically erase it without a trace.

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Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 Master Collection software enables you to design and develop amazing work, collaborate effectively, and deliver virtually anywhere. Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 Master Collection software delivers a comprehensive toolset for designing across media. Explore exciting enhancements that include new ways to create interactive content, breakthrough performance, and integration with new Adobe CS Live online services to boost productivity.

What’s new in CS5 Master Collection
Interactive design without writing code
Design sophisticated interactive content and create functional interfaces in new Adobe Flash® Catalyst™ CS5 without writing code. Transform your unique vision into compelling online experiences and deliver perfect project files to developers.

Innovative vector drawing and painting
Quickly and accurately represent depth and distance using new perspective tools in Adobe Illustrator® CS5. Precisely control stroke width, arrowheads, and dashes. And use the new Bristle Brush to draw with the expressive quality of watercolors, oils, and pastels, but with the scalability of vectors.

Interactive documents and presentations
Create memorable documents and presentations complete with interactivity, motion, sound, and video in Adobe InDesign® CS5. Enhance page layouts with rich media using new motion presets for easy animation creation. Take advantage of support for FLV and MP3 audio file import to engage and excite your audiences.

Extraordinary image editing
Use the Mixer Brush and Bristle Tips in Adobe Photoshop® CS5 Extended to explore lifelike, naturally textured painting. Add dimension to your imagery with 3D extrusions using Adobe Repoussé technology, and make precise image selections more quickly and easily with new Truer Edge selection technology.

Comprehensive reach of the Flash Platform
Realize your vision online with the capabilities of the Adobe Flash Platform. Use Flash Catalyst CS5 to design interactive content without writing code, Adobe Flash Professional CS5 to create free-form, expressive content, and Adobe Flash Builder™ 4 to develop rich Internet applications.

Tapeless workflows in video production
Work natively with pristine tapeless footage in Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5 and Adobe After Effects® CS5. Edit tapeless media formats using industry-leading tapeless workflows to keep from wasting valuable production time transcoding or rewrapping.

Industry-leading performance enhancements
Work up to ten times faster with very large images in Adobe Photoshop® CS5 Extended and more fluidly on HD projects in Adobe After Effects® CS5 and Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5 thanks to native 64-bit support. New GPU-acceleration quickens work in Photoshop, the new Adobe Mercury Playback Engine speeds up effects processing and rendering in Adobe Premiere Pro, and Dynamic Link is now dramatically faster.

Expressive motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects
Rotoscope in a fraction of the time with the revolutionary new Roto Brush in Adobe After Effects CS5. Isolating moving foreground elements from their backgrounds with automatic transparency is now dramatically faster.

Crisp graphics for web, interactive, and mobile delivery
Create clean, sharp artwork that aligns accurately — and automatically — on the pixel grid in Adobe Illustrator® CS5, eliminating fuzzy graphics for the web or mobile devices.

Online feedback with Adobe CS Review
Streamline your creative reviews from within Adobe Photoshop® CS5 Extended, Illustrator® CS5, and InDesign® CS5 using Adobe CS Review, part of CS Live online services. CS Review provides easy-to-use annotation tools and commenting viewed in the context of your design.

Adobe Story integration for script collaboration
Accelerate media creation with Adobe Story, part of CS Live online services. Streamline the flow of script data into pre-production, production, and post-production to create more engaging experiences.

Adobe BrowserLab integration for web testing
Preview websites on multiple browsers and operating systems directly from Adobe Dreamweaver® CS5 using new BrowserLab, part of CS Live online services. Avoid buying costly test hardware and maintaining testing labs.

Acrobat.com integration
Enhance communication around the globe using Acrobat.com, part of CS Live online services. Convert files to PDF, store and share files, create documents and presentations online, collaborate, host meetings, and more.

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The Photoshop scratch disk is your hard drive. Photoshop uses your hard drive as temporary “swap” space, or virtual memory, when your system does not have enough RAM to perform an operation. If you only have one hard drive or partition in your computer, then the scratch disk will be the drive where your operating system is installed (the C drive on a Windows system).

Setting Up Scratch Disks
You can change the scratch disk location and add multiple scratch disks from Photoshop Preferences. Many power users like to create a dedicated hard drive partition for the Photoshop scratch disk. Although Photoshop will function with a single scratch disk on the system partition, you can improve performance by setting the scratch disk to be the fastest drive in your system. Other useful guidelines for setting scratch disks are to avoid using the same drive where your operating system is installed, avoid using a drive where the files you edit are stored, and don’t use network or removable drives for a scratch disk.

Delete Photoshop Temp Files
If Photoshop is shut down improperly or crashes in the middle of an editing session, this can leave fairly large temporary files behind on your scratch disk. Photoshop’s temp files are typically named ~PST####.tmp on Windows and Temp#### on Macintosh, where #### is a series of numbers. These are safe to delete.

Clear Disk Space
If you’re getting an error message that the scratch disk is full, it usually means you need to clear some space on whatever drive is defined as the scratch disk in Photoshop Preferences, or add additional drives for Photoshop to use as scratch space.

Defragment Your Hard Disk
It is also possible to get the “scratch disk is full” error, even if the scratch disk drive has free space. This is because Photoshop requires contiguous, unfragmented free space on the scratch disk drive. If you are getting the “scratch disk is full” error message and your scratch disk drive does show a good amount of free space, you may need to run a disk defragmentation utility.

Scratch Disk Errors When Cropping
If you are getting a “scratch disk full” error when attempting to crop an image, it’s likely that you inadvertently have size and resolution values entered in the options bar for the crop tool, or you entered values in the wrong units. For instance, entering dimensions of 1200 x 1600 when your units are set to inches instead of pixels is going to create a huge file that could trigger the scratch disk full message. The solution is to press clear in the options bar after selecting the crop tool but before dragging a crop selection.

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