Informatix has announced the launch of the Mac version of Piranesi 5 and with it a 5.02 update for Windows that fixes a few bugs and adds a couple of tweaks (most useful for improved Google SketchUp support).

Full information at http://www.informatix.co.uk/piranesi/downloads/windows/upgrades_and_fixe...

Adobe is clearly determined to match Microsoft Silverlight all the way and has made a number of announcements regarding new versions of its Flash player.

To begin with Adobe have now released the Flash Player 9 update 3 which adds support for H.264 standard video as seen in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. With new hardware acceleration and multi-processor support, and new associated Media Server options, this promises to lift the ceiling for web video quality and to match Microsoft's Silverlight 1.0's handling.

Microsoft has finally officially released its free HD Photo plug-ins for Photoshop CS2 and CS3.

I wrote about HD Photo a while back when it was first announced and after my initial doubts - why on earth would we want a JPEG replacement? - I was won round by the flexibility of the specification...

If you were held back from buying a new camera because its RAW output wasn't supported in Lightroom or Photoshop CS3 then the latest free updates from Adobe might help.

14 new cameras are now supported namely the Canon EOS 40D; Fuji FinePix IS-1; Leaf Aptus 17, 54s and 75s; Olympus EVOLT E-510; Panasonic DMC-FZ18; Pentax K100D Super; Phase One P 20+, P 21+, P 25+, P 30+ and P 45+; and Sony A700.