Next week kicks off the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, the largest broadcast tradeshow in the US.  Adobe is heading to the show with a lot to talk about.  Today, we announced a sneak peak at the next generation of Adobe’s flagship video tools including Adobe® Premiere® Pro, Adobe After Effects® SpeedGrade™, Adobe Audition®, Adobe Prelude™, Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Story before their official release.

The next version of Adobe video tools has been developed with features created in direct response to the needs of filmmakers, broadcasters and video professionals. In fact, the multiple Academy Award winning Coen brothers have been working directly with the Adobe Premiere Pro product team and are switching to Adobe Premiere Pro for their next feature film slated for late 2013. More on that here.

In addition to our tools, we announced Adobe Anywhere for video – a modern, collaborative workflow platform that empowers teams using Adobe professional video tools, to work together accessing and managing centralized media and assets across virtually any network. Adobe Anywhere was revealed as a technology preview in 2012, and will be showcased at NAB this year, and is expected to be available in May 2013.

At NAB, we are discussing the fusion of new media and filmmaking. On Sunday, April 7, at 10:30 a.m. in room N250, Adobe will lead the Post|Production World keynote titled, “From Concept to Delivery: The Fusion of New Media and Storytelling.” The panel will feature Adam Pertofsky, editor and partner at Rock Paper Scissors, Bayan Joonam of Soul Pancake, Rainn Wilson’s production and media company, and Patrick F. X. Murphy, Visual Effects  Supervisor and Animation Director for “Annoying Orange” on Cartoon Network, who will join moderator Mark Randall, chief strategist for Adobe, to discuss how creativity and technology work together. Watch the panel next week here.

In anticipation of the marquee Adobe event for designers, MAX, The Creativity Conference, May 4-8 in Los Angeles, Adobe shared a few project updates today that have been in the works for the last several months.

Adobe released a second preview of the responsive web design tool, Edge Reflow, that is now available to Creative Cloud members. The new features add more styling and layout capabilities and are user-driven, based on initial feedback to the first preview. Edge Reflow Preview 2 is the most recent example of how Adobe is using an open development model to create the next generation of innovative web design tools to support today’s new workflows. Learn more in this blog post.

The Dreamweaver team revealed an exciting sneak peek into the new CSS Designer feature that provides a visual interface to let users quickly and intuitively work with CSS properties like gradients, box shadows, and media queries. It gives users the ability to visually apply and set different media queries for web content to be presented in different sized media. This feature will be available later this year and you can find out more information in this blog post.

Make sure you check out MAX to learn what’s coming next for Adobe’s creative tools.

I just passed my one-month mark after rejoining Adobe to head up corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions.  It’s a unique perspective, having spent 14 years helping build Adobe’s creative business and then going off to lead teams in consumer internet, social and mobile companies before returning here.  Adobe is the great company that I remember:  incredible innovation, talented people, and the coolest customers anywhere.  But it’s a company that has changed in many ways. As I come back in with fresh eyes, I thought I would share some of my observations.

It’s a whole new world when it comes to the creative professional and their work.  Back in “the day” in our creative business, we spent most of our energy building kick-ass applications that helped creative professionals move from traditional to digital workflows while navigating the complexities of the desktop Mac and Windows platforms. Our customers were primarily focused on delivering great print or web content.  Now with the explosion of mobile, creatives need to make sure their experiences scale to hundreds of smartphones and tablets, not to mention TVs, car dashboards and in-store kiosks.  The challenge is staggering, both for creatives and Adobe, but there has never been more demand for compelling content.  (That’s a good thing!)  And with the advent of powerful mobile platforms, EVERYONE wants to be creative as they capture, enhance and share their daily experiences.

Enter the cloud.  With cloud computing, customers are quickly learning (and expecting) to engage with us 24/7 and need our product offerings to go further in addressing a broader range of challenges, well beyond content creation.  As a former product manager, I remember the team’s frustration when they were forced to hold back features to fit our 18-month Creative Suite product cycle.  It was very difficult to deliver new innovations “off-cycle” due to our delivery and accounting model. (Every desktop software company struggles with this same challenge.)  Nothing is more satisfying to one of our talented engineers than getting a new product feature into the hands of customers quickly, and now we can.

But Creative Cloud is so much more than a mechanism for getting new product features in the hands of customers faster.  It will be the hub for creativity worldwide and enable you to work when and where you want.  It will be where creative communities gather to be inspired by each other’s work and collaborate on projects.  Our recent acquisition of Behance, the leading online social media platform for creatives, accelerates Adobe’s strategy to bring great community features to Creative Cloud.  You’ll see us begin to integrate Behance with our creative tools in the next few months and in the meantime Behance will continue to be a key showcase for creativity.   Check out their awesome blog highlighting some of the coolest creative work out there.

Some customers have given us their perspective on Creative Cloud in the video below and we promise that we’ve only just started.   Indeed, all the innovation that we have planned for Creative Cloud will make Adobe MAX, the Creativity Conference, a must-attend event.   It’s in Los Angeles May 4-8.  We hope you can join us.

Finally, it’s been exhilarating to get involved with a whole new set of customers with Adobe Marketing Cloud.  We have long focused on content creation for the world’s leading marketing departments.  Now we’re extending that value to helping marketers manage and optimize consumer experiences across every touchpoint, from their websites to the social realm. Last week I attended our Summit conference and spoke to dozens of digital marketing customers about the possibilities as our Creative Cloud and Marketing Cloud come together for better collaboration across teams and agencies.  This is really where the creative rubber hits the road, from my perspective – showing the business return from all the amazing content created with our tools.

With my little “walkabout” behind me, I can honestly say that I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle at Adobe and am particularly excited to engage with our new customers and see how many familiar ones are still with us on this journey!

College students, get ready to battle! Today we are inviting you to show off your creative talent and stand out on campus by participating in the Adobe Creative Cloud Battle for the Band contest. Make a t-shirt, poster, backstage pass, video, or any other designs produced with Adobe tools for a chance to win an exclusive on campus concert, produced by Live Nation® and pop punk band – All Time Low.

To help you get a winning edge, download a free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud or take advantage of Adobe’s special price of $19.99 for a student membership. But you have to hurry! The contest ends on April 7.

Submissions will be judged between April 8 and April 11 and winners, selected by All Time Low, will be announced by mid-April. While the grand prize winner will receive an exclusive, on-campus performance by All Time Low, the second place winner will receive $1,000USD and all entrants will receive $20USD in Live Nation® Concert Cash© to be used for any concert tickets or merchandise.

Not ready to show off your creative skills? You can also enter the Rock Flight Sweepstakes for a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip for two to any Live Nation concert in the U.S. or Canada. In addition to reviewing submission guidelines and deadline information, contestants can gauge the competition, submit designs and vote for their favorite artwork on Adobe’s Battle for the Band Facebook page.

So what are you waiting for, go out there and show off your creative skills before it’s too late!

SXSW attendees: let’s talk about the intersection of creativity with data at this year’s festival. Starting March 4^th through March 12^th, we’ll hold the conversation on Twitter and Instagram with questions such as “Is data killing creativity?” or “Are you a data geek, creative pro, or both?”

Follow us @Adobe for the questions to answer and reply using #AdobeSXSW. Also, take pictures of images that inspire your creativity at SXSW and post to Instagram using #AdobeSXSW. For every mention of #AdobeSXSW on Twitter and Instagram, we will donate $1 up to $10,000 (!) to STEM to STEAM, an initiative focused on integrating art and science into education curricula to prepare the next generation for success.

Will you join our conversation for a cause? Let us know in the comments.

In addition, we will be hosting two days of SXSW sessions focused on the Adobe Creative Cloud, Edge tools and services, and myths about digital marketing. Get a full summary of what we’ll be up to here and mark your calendars with our Eventbrite invitations:

• Day 1: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5636246164
• Day 2: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5647650274

See you there!

Ever wondered what it would feel like to make art history? Well now’s your chance to find out! Today we’re announcing an exciting new collective art project with Red Bull that will give creative talent from across the globe – including everyone from designers and artists, to photographers and publicists – the chance to take part in creating the biggest and most original piece of artwork the world has ever seen. The only ask is that contributors share a common interest – to create something and share it with the world!

Together with Red Bull, we’re inviting budding artists from 85 countries to take part in Red Bull Collective Art, which brings ‘Cadavre Exquís’ into the digital age by layering multiple pieces of art created by different people to make one collective piece. Each contributor has one hour to put their artistic stamp on the final piece of artwork, which will be exhibited in art galleries across the world from May.

To get the creative process started, Red Bull and Adobe have invited dozens of artists from around the world, who have created the first images for the piece of collective art. Among them are some real superstars, including creatives Alberto Seveso, designer and illustrator Brian Yap, adventure illustrator Michael Startzman, art director Ryan Boyle and Adobe’s very own Russell Preston Brown. You can see each of their contributions, as well as those from other participating artists, here.

To take part, anyone interested in contributing can register online from today and will be asked to choose a one-hour timeslot to make their contribution between 11th and 24th March. Anyone who registers can also get a free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud, so they can create their piece of art using the very best industry-standard digital tools and give it a professional edge. They then simply download the template and use any style from photo imagery, to painting, to graphic art, to work on the image. Once complete, this is then uploaded and added to the entire artwork, with exhibitions of the final collective artwork taking place in cities across the globe from 13th May.

So what are you waiting for? Become part of art history today by registering here. You can also follow the social journey using #CreateNow and #RedBullCollectiveArt.

Last week we launched the first Edge Reflow Preview and several other key releases of our Edge Tools into the Creative Cloud. We are showcasing Reflow at SXSW Interactive at our Creative Camp on Sunday, March 10^th. Come and join Product Manager Jacob Surber to share insights on how we created Edge Reflow here. There will be even more sessions and panels and you can see the Adobe Creative Cloud in action with the latest tools and services that let you create content for the modern web – go and check out the entire line up of the Camp Day here.

We look forward to seeing you there! Follow us @Adobe and @Reflow leading up to and during the Interactive festival, and join the conversation with #AdobeSXSW.

Last year, we unveiled Adobe Creative Cloud, which we believe is the future of creative software from Adobe and the place where innovation will be delivered first. And we’ve had a deep commitment to education, providing our highest levels of discounts to this critical group of customers.

Starting today, we are offering a new promotion for Adobe Creative Cloud membership to students, teachers, faculty, and education staff at $19.99/month for the annual membership. This is a 60% discount off the commercial price in North America.  

For students and teachers who want to stay current with the latest creative software, Adobe Creative Cloud is the easiest and most affordable way forward. In North America, the promotion runs through March 11^th. Pricing for the traditional perpetual products will continue to have a significant discount relative to the commercial products.

We are living in fascinating times. Our current education system is being questioned as never before, and many wonder how institutions will evolve to accommodate the changing world of technology. New tools, data systems and communication vehicles have already converged to change how we play, work, learn and interact with one another. Dr. Clayton Christensen (2010) claims that by 2020, over half of the students in the U.S. will be learning online, and schools will reach a tipping point when tax payers will ask, do we still need classrooms? If schools and classrooms are to survive, then how do they need to be transformed to respond to the rapidly changing needs of today’s students?

To adapt to the overwhelming amounts of information, and continual interaction with visual media and game playing, researchers, Carter, R. (2009), Feinstein, S. (2004), Goldstein, (2007), Kandel, E. (2006), and Small, G., & Vorgon, G. (2008), tell us that the newest generation of K-12 students have neurologically changed their brains to try to keep pace. Kids today literally see and learn differently than their parents and grandparents, in that they see and remember visual images in place of text. The television is being replaced by computer screens, mobile devices and game consoles are primary sources of information and entertainment (Prensky, M, 2006). Today’s paper textbooks are about to be replaced by intelligent, colorful, multimedia response programs that fit on mobile devices such as iPads, Kindles, smart phones and other digital gadgets that students are bringing to school. Meanwhile, our schools, our classrooms and our curriculum have remained relatively the same.

Given real world tools like those found in the Adobe Creative Cloud, students can learn to work together seamlessly with both real and virtual partners to create and share novel digital solutions to complex problems. The combined factors of widespread access to technology, increasingly sophisticated tools, online resources such as Adobe Educational Exchange, and advances in understanding of how individuals learn, provide a stunning opportunity to transform classrooms and education worldwide. As we start 2013, this is a challenging opportunity that I, as a 21^st century educator, am looking forward to.

How do you think education should evolve to better prepare students for success? Join the conversation here or let me know what you think via my Twitter account.

2012 was quite the year, and we owe all of it to our customers and community members like you. As we head into the holidays, we wanted to take a look back at all the great memories from this year. Here is our top 12 of 2012 moments as we countdown into the New Year.

From all of us here at Adobe, we wish you a very happy holiday.

No. 12 – Create Now Event

One of our most recent events, Create Now introduced a number of new features to the Creative Cloud. Jeff Veen sat down with our creative evangelists and customers to talk about new releases to Photoshop, including Smart Object support for Blur Gallery and Liquid Layout, the introduction of Creative Cloud training, Muse for mobile websites and more. The most pivotal memory for us during the event: Terry White’s conversation with student filmmakers, who were awe inspiring.

No. 11 – We’re 30 Years Young

This year marked a milestone anniversary for our company – we turned 30! Shantanu recently shared a few words in his ‘Happy Anniversary, Adobe!’ tribute. This closed out a weeklong celebration of the milestone with our 10,000 strong employee base. Catch a glimpse of our festivities in our Facebook album, Adobe Turns 30.

No. 10 – Solve the New Semaphore Code Challenge

We launched a new code in our public art display atop one of our buildings at headquarters – the San Jose Semaphore, and we’re challenging you to try decoding the secret message in our new transmission. While we’re still waiting for the first winner, our little warm up back in November (below) was QUICKLY deciphered! Here’s wishing all you puzzle solvers out there luck on decoding the San Jose Semaphore transmission. The lucky winner will receive a one-year Creative Cloud membership.

No. 9 – Adobe Stories

Our customers create amazing work, and we wanted to provide a forum for them to show and tell via Adobe Stories. The end result was a wonderful series of heartfelt stories.

No. 8 – Metrics Not Myths

We all have our thoughts on marketing, and many are misperceptions. A recent study by The Fournaise Marketing Group, uncovered how devalued marketers are, and our ‘Metrics Not Myths’ campaign is set to correct the course. Our CMO, Ann Lewnes, kicked off our campaign with her blog post, “In Defense of Marketing,” and we’re developing the ultimate case study to debunk common marketing myths.  

No. 7 – Adobe Social Launch

Social is growing up, and we’re right there with you through the growing pains with our end-to-end solution, Adobe Social. SVP and General Manager, Brad Rencher, introduced Adobe Social in his blog post, “From Braces to its First Business Suit: Social Grows Up.”

No. 6 – Creative Cloud Introduction

Kevin Lynch first talked about Creative Cloud during his Adobe MAX 2011 keynote, and we followed that up this year with the release of Creative Cloud, including Creative Suite 6. This, coupled with our use of Adobe Social, turned out to be our most socially active launch to date. Our scavenger hunt in San Francisco offered up $10,000 plus a lifetime Creative Cloud membership.