The New Look of QuarkXPress 8

QuarkXPress 8 will closely follow the release of Quark 7 in 2006, which delivered OpenType, PDF/X, and Unicode features all pioneered by InDesign. Back in 2002, Adobe caught Quark napping and beat it to market in releasing the first desktop publishing tool native to Mac OS X. Adobe subsequently began eating into Quark's business by bundling the relatively new InDesign with its popular Photoshop and Illustrator in the Creative Suite package. It has since added Flash to the mix, which it acquired when buying Macromedia in 2006.

Quark was a year behind in offering a native version for Mac OS X, but has since scrambled to catch up. It beat Adobe in delivering native support for Intel Macs with a Universal Binary distribution of QuarkXPRess 7.01 that arrived eight months ahead of Adobe's universal version of InDesign CS3 (5.0).

Over the last year, Quark has also delivered official support for Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard via point updates. The latest version of InDesign 5.0.2, released in January 2008, still does not properly support Leopard. Adobe reports in its update notes that the application may unexpectedly quit under Leopard and offers no workarounds for the issue. Quark is now aiming to maintain its lead with the new 8.0 release poised to take on Adobe's popular Creative Suite.

According to people familiar with Quark's plans, the next version of QuarkXPress will deliver more intuitive layout tools and an updated interface designed to allow users to do more with fewer clicks. The new version will also use more standard keyboard shortcuts intended to be more familiar to users who work between several applications, and should add resizable thumbnail page navigation.



In addition, the update is expected to expand native support for Illustrator and Photoshop files, which is currently a strong feature advantage for InDesign. QuarkXPress 8 should even see the addition of new standardized Bézier pen tools (below) expressly designed to "reduce reliance upon Illustrator," according to those people familiar with Quark's planned marketing push.



The existing version similarly added picture effects intended to minimize the need to use Photoshop. In version 8, the Picture Content Tool (below) will allow users to crop, scale, and rotate graphics within a picture box using standard controls, obviating the need to do basic graphics tasks in an external editor.



Quark is further including authoring tools for Adobe's Flash to help develop interactive web layouts in SWF directly within QuarkXPress (below). Adobe's Open Screen Project should make further support for creating Flash content easier for third parties, but Adobe faces some hurdles along the way, as noted in AppleInsider's recent Flash exposé.



QuarkXPress 8.0 will also add improved international publishing features that include support for typographical layouts in 39 languages, including expanded support for East Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean and Chinese (below). It should likewise leverage a universal file format, making it easy to exchange documents between regions.



Version 8 moreover brings flexible and easy to use tools for creating shadows and transparency effects, PDF/X Plus export via pre-loaded Quark Job Jackets, and "what you see is what you get" font selection menus.



Another new addition is user modifiable Design Grids (below) for applying custom baseline settings for text in individual boxes to adjust the look of hanging characters. Settings can be saved as a Grid Style, and linked to a Style Sheet for easy updating throughout a project.



Item Styles (below top) similarly make it easy to develop document wide consistency with item attribute search and replace features (below bottom).




QuarkXPress 8 是 2006 年发布的 QuarkXPress 7 的后续版本，它在排版领域首次采用了开放界面、PDF/X 和 Unicode 特色。

追溯到 2002 年，Adobe 抓住 Quark 松懈的时机，推出了基于 Mac OS X 的第一个桌面排版设计工具，从而将 Quark 击败。紧接着，Adobe 通过把排版设计软件和它流行的 Photoshop、Illustrator 和 Flash 设计套装进行捆绑销售，从而来不断蚕食 Quark 的市场份额。 Quark 足足晚了一年才推出适用于 Mac OS X 的软件，但现在它已经咬紧牙关追了上来，Quark 比 Adobe 早八个月推出支持 Intel Mac 的 QuarkXPress 7.01。

去年，Quark 通过升级使软件支持 Windows Vista 和 Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard。而 InDesign 5.0.2 的最新版本于 2008 年 1 月份推出，它仍不能完全支持 Leopard。Adobe 在升级报告中指出，这个应用程序很有可能从 Leopard 撤离出去。目前 Quark 打算通过它的 QuarkXPress 8 与 Adobe 的流行 Creative Suite 套装进行抗衡。

据知情人士透露， QuarkXPress 的下一版本采用了新的布局和界面、更多功能的快捷图标、可缩放的导航页面等。新版本使用的标准键盘快捷方式主要是为了使用户在多个应用程序之间更能熟悉地、有效率地工作。

此外，这个升级版本支持 Illustrator 和 Photoshop文件，提供更多的图片处理功能。Quark 增加了 Flash 的创作工具可制作交互式网页。Adobe 的 Open Screen Project 可以进一步支持创建Flash内容，但是 Adobe 需要面对很多需解决的问题。

QuarkXPress 8.0 也添加了改进之后的国际出版特征，支持39种印刷技术输出语言，支持东亚语言，如日语、韩语以及中文。它同样也可以影响通用的文件格式，使两个领域内的文件可以更容易地进行交换。

此外， QuarkXPress 8.0 在制作阴影和特效方面更为灵活，通过 Quark Job Jackets 可以输出 PDF/X Plus，所见即所得的字体菜单。此外，用户还可以编辑 Design Grids（设计网格）和 Grid Style（网格样式）。

Adobe CS4 for Mac 将会延迟发布

Adobe 近日宣布，Mac OS X 适用版本的 Adobe CS4 产品将会比 Windows 兼容版本稍迟一些推出。其主要原因是，Adobe 期望挖掘出 64 位系统应有的潜力。由于 CS 套件产品中的许多软件都是在 Carbon 环境下所开发，现在要全部改写成纯 Cocoa 的环境以面对 64 位系统，预计将比 Windows 版本要花费更多的时间，因此 Adobe 决定先推出 Windows 版本的 Adobe CS4，而 Mac OS X 版本则要稍后。

比起 32 位系统， 64 位系统将可处理多达 4GB 或更多的内存，这将会让 Photoshop、Lightroom 等需要耗费大量内存以便于进行运算的软件来说，能大幅改进效率，并缩短作业时间。

由于目前 Adobe Lightroom 2.0 Beta 已经是Cocoa规格，即便还是测试版，但可以肯定的是Lightroom应该会是首先完成Cocoa化的CS4家族成员。

MacWorld 苹果2008大会新东西

Mac电脑专用无线存储设备

　　在2008年度MacWorld大会上，苹果CEO史蒂夫·乔布斯上展示了一款Mac电脑专用无线存储设备以及第一版微软OfficeMac软件。

　　该无线存储设备名为“Time Capsule”，配合苹果新一代操作系统美洲豹“Leopard”中的Time Machine同时使用，可以进行无线数据备份，共有500GB和1TB两个版本，售价分别为299美元和499美元，预计2月份投放市场，所有Mac电 脑均可使用。

　　乔布斯同时展示的还有Mac电脑用第一版微软OfficeMac软件，该Mac电脑采用Intel的芯片制成。

　　苹果公司宣布推出世界最薄笔记本“Macbook Air”，厚度约为19.3毫米，重量约为1.36千克。

　　该款Macbook Air拥有13.3英寸显示屏，分辨率1280x800，内置iSight摄像头，配备80GB、1.8英寸4200rpm PATA硬盘(64GB固态硬盘可选)，搭载1.6 GHz(标配)或者1.8GHz(可选)英特尔专门为其定制的酷睿2双核处理器，尺寸比普通版本减小60%，芯片组内置X3100显卡，无内置光驱，外置 USB接口DVD刻录机售价99美元。

　　苹果Macbook Air目前在苹果官方网站已经开始预订工作，售价为1799美元，两周后正式推出。

Adobe和Macromedia整合产品将亮相

　　此前根据国外媒体报道，Adobe的创新套件Adobe Creative Suite 3计划最快本月底发布，这套软件包括将包括Photoshop CS3、Illustrator CS3、InDesign CS3、Acrobat 8等新版Adobe设计软件，涵盖互联网、视频和移动设备内容，这将是其25年以来最大的一次软件升级行动。

Adobe: No Plans to Make Current Products Vista Compatible

According to a statement posted on Adobe's Web site, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver won’t be getting updates to run on Windows Vista, users will have to shell out the cash for new versions (slated for shipping this spring) that support Microsoft’s new operating system. Current versions of most of Adobe's major products won't work properly on the new operating system (note: I’m running Photoshop CS2 just fine, but others may have issues such as having to register the software every time it is launched). Dreamweaver 8, Adobe warns, will crash on some Vista computers when users browse for files. InDesign customers, meanwhile, may get a false error message indicating they do not have enough available disk space to run the product. Adobe lists a number of other known Windows Vista compatibility problems for those and other products. Additionally, Adobe Acrobat 8 encounters errors when run atop the new Windows OS, but the company says it plans to issue a free patch in the first half of 2007 to resolve those issues.

东南亚国家与美国的高速海底电缆将连通

　　亚洲的7个国家和地区近日建立了一个电缆方面的俱乐部，该俱乐部的任务是为日益增长的东南亚国家和美国之间的互联网通信提供直达电缆连接。
　　这家由马来西亚电信公司主推的俱乐部即将建成总长度为2万公里、名为“亚洲美国通道”的海底电缆系统。“亚洲美国通道”将把马来西亚、菲律宾、新加坡、泰国、文莱、越南、中国香港与美国西海岸连接起来，关岛和夏威夷负责中转。马来西亚 电信已经在2006年6月初与PLDT(菲律宾)、新加坡星和、CAT(泰国)、AiTi(文莱)、VNPT(越南)、香港恒通(REACH)签署了谅解 备忘录(MOU)，各方将成立联盟，共同致力于海底电缆的建造。马来西亚电信预计“亚洲美国通道”将在2008年初竣工，但是并没有透露具体的投资数据。
　　据悉，“亚洲美国通道”的最小设计容量为1.28Tbit/s。马来西亚电信的COOBaharumSalleh表示，建设该系统的目的是满足未来东南亚国家与美国之间VoIP和视频通信等宽带业务不断增长的需要。Salleh 说：“我们希望拥有更高的电缆容量，因为随着宽带业务的升级，亚太光缆网络二号(APCN-2)的容量即将被消耗殆尽。例如，马来西亚的宽带通信每年至少 增长20%，按照这样的速度，到2008年，马来西亚和美国之间的通信容量就会比较紧张。”
　　东南亚国家的运营商可以选择其他路由，例如最近完工的SEA-ME- WE-4电缆系统，但是这意味着流量首先向西传送，然后再绕回美国，这无疑增加了时延。Salleh解释：“企业用户对QoS要求比较高，我们必须尽力缩 短时延。与美国建立直达电路之后，马来西亚和美国之间的通信流量将不再需要通过中国和日本中转。”

Intel Quad-Core 64-bit Mac Pro Desktops & OSX 10.5 Loapard

The spec as follow, CPU only:

• Two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors
• 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered ECC memory expandable up to 16GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB of GDDR2 SDRAM
• 250GB Serial ATA (3Gb/s) hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• Four PCI Express slots: one double-wide graphics slot and three full-length expansion slots
• Ships with Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

Mac OSX 10.5 Loapard

• Full native 64-bit support that allows applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers.
• Enhancements to Boot Camp, Apple's innovative technology that was previewed as a public beta in April 2006, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs. .....

Microsoft:

Microsoft said it has decided not to move forward with a Universal version of Virtual PC at this time. However, it will continue to provide support to existing Virtual PC customers.

"Developing a high-quality virtualization solution, such as Virtual PC, for the Intel-based Mac is similar to creating a version 1.0 release due to how closely the product integrates with Mac hardware." Microsoft said.

Also, Microsoft said it will be discontinuing support of Visual Basic scripting in the next version of Office for Mac.

中国已建成世界最大规模4G实验网

与现有的移动通信技术相比，4G的传输速度可提高1000倍，因此在未来，手机不再是传统功能上打电话的工具，而是变成掌上的小电脑，可以实现无线高速上网、看电视等各种多媒体服务。这种功能将直接应用在第四代手机上,将来用第四代手机下载一部DVD电影,只需要10秒钟时间。

中国已经在国内外申请移动通信技术发明专利100余项，在试验网络中采用了分布式无线网络等原创技术，中国已着手开发目前世界上规模最大的第四代移动通信(4G)网络。中国已在第四代移动通信技术上已经处于世界前沿。

10几年的时间里，中国不仅完成了自主的第二代移动通信技术研发，而且提出了被世界认同的第三代移动通信国际标准，到今天中国的第四代移动通信技术也已经与世界同步。

Easy Proof Verification Application - proofSIGN

Be sure your proofs are colour accurate and match ISO or your own standards. Measure and evaluate your proofs quickly and easily with proofSIGN.



Print out the supplied control strip or use a FOGRA media wedge with your job and measure it with the GretagMacbeth Eye-One spectrophotometer. Evaluate the results on screen.

Print out a label and attach it to the proof. Send the proof with the pass to your client and the pressroom with confidence that the proof is absolutely correct. Keep a detailed pdf about the proof for your records or email it for remote proofing purposes.proofSIGN gives you a choice of ISO standard targets:
• ISO Coated - ISO 12647-2 paper types 1/2
• ISO Uncoated - ISO 12647 -2 paper type 4
• ISO Web coated - ISO 12647-2 paper type 3
• ISO Newspaper ISO 12647-3



The proofSIGN screen evaluation and printed label show the deltaE tolerances and the measured results for the paper colour, the primaries and an average for the secondary colours. The pdf gives you a detailed report for each colour on the control strip as well as the paper colour.

详细资料请看: proofSIGN

Mac OS X和Windows XP将相对争夺市场

　　美国电脑杂志《Maximum PC》最新一期公布了最新版Mac OS X和Windows XP对比评测结果。对比评测在Intel Mac上进行，采用苹果Bootcomp来安装XP。测试结果显示，在苹果硬件上，Windows XP的性能比Mac OS X更高。

　　另外，《Maximum PC》在同期杂志上还披露，苹果电脑将抢在微软明年1月份发布消费版Windows Vista之前，向市场推出PC版OS X，消费者可以将其安装在非Intel Macs的x86 PC上。消费者也可能在2007年年初，购买到安装有OS X操作系统的Dell、HP或者Alienware PC产品。

　　当然，现在黑客已经可以破解x86 Intel Mac专用的Mac OS X，将其安装到任意x86 PC上，但是这种行为是非法的。另外，OS X在非苹果硬件上运行也不是日常计算的最佳选择，我们都在等待苹果官方版本发布。

消息来源: Mydrivers