X-Ray Magazine Online

K4 conquers important Asian market

K4 conquers important Asian market: New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad are producing with SoftCare K4
Malaysian Sales Partner Papyrus Media to Exhibit at Publish Asia in Macao together with SoftCare and CoreMedia

Malaysia’s largest newspaper publishing house, New Straits Times Press Berhad, will publish three daily magazine sections of its newspapers using the SoftCare K4 Publishing System. The publishing house announced that the layout production of its popular tabloids, “News Straits Times” and “Harian Metro”, as well as the “Berita Harian” newspaper has almost been fully converted to Adobe InDesign and SoftCare K4. Altogether those publications reach more than 2,6 million enthusiastic Malaysian readers per day. Papyrus Media, SoftCare‘s official K4 integrator for Malaysia, is in charge of implementing the software. In April, Papyrus Media and SoftCare will present the K4 Publishing System to the Asian publishing industry at the Publish Asia tradeshow in Macao, China at Booth 10a. Also on board: CoreMedia, SoftCare’s technology partner for cross-media publishing. CoreMedia’s CMS and K4 offer an integrated solution for multi channel publishing that has already gained a lot of interest at the CeBIT in Germany earlier this spring.

SoftCare K4 is increasingly gaining ground in global markets: “Papyrus Media is a competent and reliable local contact partner for Asian publishers who are interested in a professional publishing solution,” says Birgit Rosenthal, Director of Business Development at SoftCare. The recent purchase of New Straits Times Press Berhad supports this statement: The traditional Malaysian publishing house bought 70 K4 seats. K4 won out over competitive products, because it was especially easy to integrate into the publisher‘s existing IT infrastructure. For example, they are using K4 Drop Folders to automatize check-in to the system for their existing customized text and picture files and an ad planning system. Another reason was that relatively few training sessions were required to prepare the employees for the new system.

“As the number of Adobe InDesign users at New Straits Times Press grows, organizing the users’ work has proved to be an arduous task,” said Abdul Rahman Hashim, Head of IT at New Straits Time Press. “We found K4 most convincing, since it allows us to manage all InDesign documents in a central database. At the same time, the documents are available to editors without access to InDesign and can be proof-read by freelancers outside New Straits Times Press via the K4 Web Editor. The K4 XML Exporter makes it especially easy to export layouts and repurpose them for the internet or for the magazines’ archives,” adds Abdul Rahman. Papyrus Media supports the publisher during the entire conversion process: The Malaysian integrator company has fed all existing InDesign documents into the system, assisted with the setup of a logical workflow for all publications, and has trained the staff on the new system. As the first publication of New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad the lifestyle magazine “Harian Metro” is expecting to have entirely switched to K4 by the end of March.

Read more about SoftCare K4 at Publish Asia.
About SoftCare

SoftCare focuses on developing professional editorial solutions for cross-media publishing, based on Adobe Creative Suite. SoftCare K4 is a powerful, integrated publishing solution that combines efficient ways of working with proven time and cost advantages for its users. The SoftCare K2 workgroup system provides an excellent base product for people entering the world of professional publishing. Founded in 1990, SoftCare works with a team of qualified global integrators in order to guarantee high-quality system support at a local level. More than 230 systems are already successfully in use, with installations ranging from ten to more than 1,000 users. Publications using SoftCare include Focus, Capital, ADACmotorwelt, Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, BusinessWeek, New York Magazine, Playboy and Le Point, while corporate publishers include BASF, Siemens, KircherBurkhardt und Publicis. Find out more at www.softcare.de.
About Papyrus Media Sdn Bhd.

A group of experienced IT experts, providing Information Technology solutions, services, outsourcing and support to clients throughout the Asia Pacific & Middle Eastern Region. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Papyrus Media services include hardware and software development, installation and customization, digital publishing solutions, imaging & archiving solutions, digital signage and narrowcasting, web, new media development, design services and printing. Papyrus Media has an excellent support team combining extensive publishing and new media technology expertise. Papyrus Media is an authorized system integrator for SoftCare K4 and SoftCare K2 in Asia. More information can be found at www.papyrus-media.com.
About CoreMedia

CoreMedia is an international provider of people-centric™ content management software – software that focuses on the people who use it. CoreMedia CMS forms the flexible basis for strategic content platforms that power corporate websites, intranets and high-traffic media portals. By strongly integrating its intelligent Social Software and innovative Web TV services into an already-comprehensive product portfolio, CoreMedia enables staff, partners and customers to interact rapidly, creatively and productively. The company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, has successfully positioned itself in the highly-dynamic global market for Internet technology and is represented in every industry. Founded in 1996, CoreMedia employs over 150 staff worldwide and maintains a global network of implementation partners that includes 500 professional consultants.

Your Press Contact:

Frauke Kasting
Public Relations
SoftCare Software-Service GmbH
Kieler Straße 103-107
25474 Bönningstedt
PHONE +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-25
FAX +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-50
EMAIL press@softcare.de
WEB www.softcare.de

Register Court: Amtsgericht Pinneberg, HRB 4086
Managing Directors: Marion Schrader, Andreas Schrader

© 2008 SoftCare GmbH. All rights reserved.

Labels: k4 publishing system, plug-ins

¶ 8:28 PM

Gannett Pacific Publishing Purchases SoftCare K4 Publishing System

Gannett Pacific Publishing Purchases SoftCare K4 Publishing System

85 daily newspapers, 900 non-daily publications, 23 television stations: Gannett is THE media company of the USA - and now also a K4 customer. Arizona-based Gannett subsidiary Gannett Pacific Publishing (GPP) purchased SoftCare K4, the popular editorial system for Adobe InDesign and InCopy. K4 distributor Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) recently announced this latest K4 deal to the U.S. press.

“In choosing K4, Gannett Pacific Publishing is paving the way for the next era of publishing,” says Steven Haught, vice president of sales for MEI. “The company is seizing the opportunity to boost an alternative revenue stream by installing state-of-the-art tools. There is clear recognition that now is the time to take the already strong Gannett brand and build it through ancillary publishing”, says Haught. With K4, GPP has found a robust system that can easily serve its different media channels, such as Web and Print. Gannett Pacific Publishing comprises seven unique print and online products covering several national and international markets. Along with MustDo magazines, GPP manages Hawaii.com, 101Things to Do magazines, 101ThingstoDo.com, MustDoTravel.com, Your Health Monthly, Community magazines and TV y Mas.

“Publishers want an innovative yet robust software that is not too pricey, either,” says Andreas Schrader, CEO for SoftCare. “That is why SoftCare K4 is so successful on international markets. We provide newspapers and magazines with solutions that can improve the efficiency of their workflow and strengthen their bottom line.” K4, based on Adobe InDesign and InCopy, is a professional design and editorial workflow system that manages the work of graphic designers, writers and editors into a streamlined production process. The system features multi-level security controls, open SQL architecture and robust customization options that can scale from individual workgroups to entire publishing enterprises. K4 can also manage online content, and it even features an optional module that lets users write, edit and copyfit articles from any computer with a Web browser and an Internet connection.
About SoftCare

SoftCare focuses on developing professional editorial solutions for cross-media publishing, based on Adobe Creative Suite. SoftCare K4 is a powerful, integrated publishing solution that combines efficient ways of working with proven time and cost advantages for its users. The SoftCare K2 workgroup system provides an excellent base product for people entering the world of professional publishing. Founded in 1990, SoftCare works with a team of qualified global integrators in order to guarantee high-quality system support at a local level. More than 230 systems are already successfully in use, with installations ranging from ten to more than 1,000 users. Publications using SoftCare include Focus, Capital, ADACmotorwelt, Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, BusinessWeek, New York Magazine, Playboy and Le Point, while corporate publishers include BASF, Siemens, KircherBurkhardt und Publicis. Find out more at www.softcare.de.
About MEI

Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) is SoftCare’s exclusive sales partner for North, Central and South America. Since it was founded in 1990, MEI has carried out more than 120 K4 installations for American publishing houses and editorial offices. An Adobe premier development partner, MEI currently supports more than 8,500 K4 users. In addition, MEI is a leading developer of high-end software solutions for the publishing industry and was named a laureate of the Computerworld Smithsonian Collections in 1999 and 2000. For more information, please go to www.maned.com.

Your Press Contact:

Frauke Kasting
Public Relations
SoftCare Software-Service GmbH
Kieler Straße 103-107
25474 Bönningstedt
PHONE +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-25
FAX +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-50
EMAIL press@softcare.de
WEB www.softcare.de

Register Court: Amtsgericht Pinneberg, HRB 4086
Managing Directors: Marion Schrader, Andreas Schrader

© 2008 SoftCare GmbH. All rights reserved.

Labels: plug-ins

¶ 8:00 PM

INposition 7 now supports QuarkXPress 7 and InDesign CS3

Dynagram announces the release of INposition 7.3, the professional QuarkXPress 7 XTensions module for imposition. INposition 7.3 is now compatible with the new CS3 and runs natively on both Intel® and PowerPC-based Mac processors (Universal Binary). With this new compatibility, you benefit from increased performance, without using the Rosetta emulator.

INposition 7.3 is now compatible with these latest systems and applications:

Mac OS® X.5 (Leopard)
Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0
Adobe® InDesign® CS3
QuarkXPress 7

Pricing to Upgrade your INposition to the latest version:

If Your Current Version is INposition 7.0, Upgrade for 595$ US
If Your Current Version is INposition 6.x, Upgrade for 795$ US
If Your Current Version is INposition 5.x and lower 995$ US

Labels: imposition, plug-ins, xtensions

¶ 11:01 AM

INposition 7 now supports QuarkXPress 7 and InDesign CS3

Labels: imposition, plug-ins, xtensions

¶ 11:01 AM

BarcodeMaker CS3 Gets New Features

BarcodeMaker, the popular and easy-to-use Teacup Software plug-in, now lets you print your barcodes in CMYK process and spot colors! Now users who are printing an entire book cover using a single CMYK spot color can use BarcodeMaker for their book designs.

Additionally, we've added five new barcodes to BarcodeMaker, bringing the total number we support up to 27. The US Postal Service is moving to a new barcode format, called OneCode or Intelligent Mail, which we're now supporting. We've also added support for Australia's postal barcode, AusPost, and support for GS1 DataBar and GS1 DataBar Limited (formerly known as RSS-14 and RSS Limited). Finally, we're also supporting a barcode used by the pharmaceutical industry called PharmaCode.

And if that's not enough, the new version of BarcodeMaker now offers new text placement and justification features. Want your text to appear above your barcode, right justified? Before, you'd have to make your own text frame and place it manually. Now, with just a few clicks on the palette, your text is right where you want it to be.

And how much do all these new features cost? If you're already using BarcodeMaker, they don't cost a thing. Just download and install the latest version from our website and you're ready to go. Existing CS and CS2 users will need to upgrade to the CS3 version to get these new features. You can upgrade on our website here http://www.teacupsoftware.com/index.html.

BarcodeMaker supports 27 barcode patterns (AusPost, Code 2 of 5, 11, 39, 93, 128 and UCC-EAN-128, EAN-2, EAN-5, EAN-8, EAN-13, FIM, GS1 DataBar, GS1 DataBar Limited, ISBN (10 and 13), ISSN, Interleaved 2 of 5 and ITF-14, KIX, MSI, USPS OneCode, PharmaCode, Plessey, USPS Postnet, Rationalized Codabar, RoyalMail, UPC-A, and UPC-E) and still retains all of its original features, such as adding numbers, changing fonts and font size, controlling barcode heights, and including or excluding checksum digits. Check out this powerful plug-in at Teacup Software!

New Automation Scripts for BarcodeMaker
Teacup has new scripts available to show you how you can automate BarcodeMaker. The first is a simple starter script that demonstrates changing one barcode setting for every barcode in a document. If you want all your barcodes to have a new ink spread, you can use this script to quickly and easily make that change, regardless of how many barcodes you have in your document.

The second script shows you how to make barcodes from a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file. The script demonstrates reading in a barcode number and then applying the barcode based on values found in the CSV file. The script can be easily customized to meet your needs.

Working with these scripts does require at least a minimal amount of scripting experience working with JavaScript. You can download them from our website.

Check us out in the Miami
Teacup Software will be participating in the InDesign Conference in Miami Beach from February 26 - March 1, 2008. Come stop by our booth, we will be happy to demonstrate any of our plug-ins, answer your questions and hear your ideas! We look forward to seeing you at this always exciting and informative event!

As part of our participation, we're offering our newlsetter subscribers a 50% off coupon. Just use the code CPIDM08 for the discount.

The InDesign Conference online at http://www.mogo-media.com/events/

About Teacup
Teacup Software, founded in 2002, is focused on creating simple, elegant solutions exclusively for Adobe InDesign. In addition to its ready-made plug-in products, Teacup also offers consulting services for custom plug-in development for Adobe InDesign. In both its consulting and development work, Teacup creates products that are transparent and easy-to-use. Teacup is always looking for ways to simplify, simplify, simplify. For more information about Teacup Software, please visit www.teacupsoftware.com.

Labels: barcode, indesign, plug-ins

¶ 6:46 AM

Avenza Announces MAPublisher 7.6 for Adobe Illustrator

Powerful mapmaking software for Adobe Illustrator now includes live GPS capabilities

Toronto, ON, January 22, 2008 - Avenza Systems Inc., producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Geographic Imager spatial tools for Adobe Photoshop is pleased to announce the release of MAPublisher 7.6 for Adobe Illustrator. MAPublisher 7.6 is the latest version of this powerful mapmaking software used to produce high quality maps from GIS data.

MAPublisher 7.6 for Adobe Illustrator is a full product update that is free of charge to all current MAPublisher Maintenance Program subscribers and replaces the current shipping version of MAPublisher, version 7.5, for all new customers using Adobe Illustrator CS2 or CS3.

"Once again, we have responded to the requests of our users by quickly improving on the previous version 7.5 release and including many new functions and feature enhancements,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza, “The inclusion of live GPS data collection and drawing is a tremendous new built-in feature that we know many users will enjoy and find to be extremely useful.” he added.

MAPublisher 7.6 includes all the significant functionality introduced in earlier releases of MAPublisher 7.x including a new intelligent labeling engine, new grid, graticules and scalebar generators, a new and improved MAP attributes engine with expression builder, advanced selection filters and enhanced map index creation and image registration, as well as the following new features and enhancements.

New Features of MAPublisher 7.6 for Adobe Illustrator

- GPS data can be automatically drawn, joined, attributed and styled (or symbolized) on any projected plane in Adobe Illustrator in real-time while connected to a USB or Bluetooth GPS receiver
- Improved MAP Selection Filters functionality
- Improved Join Lines functionality
- Improved Map Location tool
- Highlighting map features when selected in the MAP Attributes window
- Zoom-To-Art functionality directly from the MAP Attributes window
- UTM Grid labeling functionality
- Various other user interface improvements and performance enhancements to improve usability including additional support for Unicode characters

More about MAPublisher 7.6 for Illustrator

MAPublisher 7.6 for Illustrator is powerful map production software for creating cartographic-quality maps from GIS data. Developed as a suite of plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator, MAPublisher leverages the superior graphics capabilities of this graphics design software. Avenza also offers MAPublisher 5.0 for FreeHand – a suite of Xtras that adds mapmaking functionality to Macromedia Freehand.

MAPublisher 7.6 for Illustrator is available free of charge to all MAPublisher for Illustrator customers with a valid maintenance subscription and as an upgrade for non-maintenance members at US$549. New licenses are US$1249. Prices include 1 year of maintenance. Full details are available at www.avenza.com .

More about Avenza Systems Inc.

Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools for making better maps. In addition to software offerings for Mac and Windows users, Avenza offers value-added data sets, product training and consulting services. Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information contact:
Tel: 416-487-5116 Email: info@avenza.com Web: www.avenza.com

Labels: gps, Illustrator, plug-ins

¶ 6:12 AM

SoftCare K4 5.9: New Release Simplifies Publishing Processes with “Layout-in-Layout” Functionality

Press Release

Hamburg, January 15, 2008

Incorporating Adobe InDesign documents as complete layouts within other InDesign documents was one of the great product innovations of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 last year. Now, this new feature is also supported by SoftCare K4: With its new “Layout-in-Layout” functionality, update 5.9 of the popular K4 publishing system sets a new standard in the publishing industry right at the beginning of the year. Designers are now able to place InDesign documents from K4 in other InDesign documents as often as they like. This innovation will benefit newspapers in particular, as they can use this new feature to produce regional and complete editions at the same time. SoftCare is probably the first provider who fully supports this Adobe CS3 function. Release 5.9 is available worldwide via SoftCare system integrators.

“Layout-in-Layout from K4 5.9 synchronises self-contained and hence mutually independent production processes before the copy deadline,” explains Christian H. Hollstein, Product Manager for SoftCare. Thus, the regional and overall editorial board of a newspaper can produce their pages in Adobe InDesign at the same time and even continue to edit them with K4 after the layouts have been merged. This function is also especially useful for the production and placement of advertisements: Once the ad layout is complete, they can be placed in several positions in the paper using K4.

K4 5.9 also comes with a new InDesign plug-in: SoftCare Content Activator. This new feature reactivates the contents of locked frames for further processing — for example, by freelancers or external printing service providers. SoftCare Content Activator is also available as a free download.

“To make K4 even more user-friendly, we incorporated a lot of suggestions for improvement from our users in version 5.9,” Hollstein continues. Several items, such as pictures, Word files or Excel spreadsheets can now be checked in and out at the same time using K4 File Manager. In addition to the issue-based mode, K4 Admin now enables users to export items, such as layouts, articles or pictures based on a query. A particularly interesting feature for new users: the K4 Client’s help commands offer direct access to the K4 Quick Reference Cards, making it easy for K4 users to call up the symbol overview at any time.

Read more about K4 5.9’s new features.
About SoftCare

SoftCare focuses on developing professional editorial solutions for cross-media publishing, based on Adobe Creative Suite. SoftCare K4 is a powerful, integrated publishing solution that combines efficient ways of working with proven time and cost advantages for its users. The SoftCare K2 workgroup system provides an excellent base product for people entering the world of professional publishing.

Founded in 1990, SoftCare works with a team of qualified global integrators in order to guarantee high-quality system support at a local level. More than 230 systems are already successfully in use, with installations ranging from ten to more than 1,000 users. Publications using SoftCare include Focus, Capital, ADACmotorwelt, Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, BusinessWeek, New York Magazine, Playboy and Le Point, while corporate publishers include BASF, Siemens, KircherBurkhardt und Publicis. Find out more at www.softcare.de.

Your Press Contact:

Frauke Kasting
Public Relations
SoftCare Software-Service GmbH
Kieler Straße 103-107
25474 Bönningstedt
PHONE +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-25
FAX +49 (0) 40 55 69 50-50
EMAIL press@softcare.de
WEB www.softcare.de

Register Court: Amtsgericht Pinneberg, HRB 4086
Managing Directors: Marion Schrader, Andreas Schrader

© 2007 SoftCare GmbH. All rights reserved.

Labels: Adobe, indesign, plug-ins

¶ 9:52 AM

Express Newspapers, one of the UK’s largest newspaper companies, selects WoodWing

ZAANDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (December 18, 2007) — WoodWing Software has been selected by the UK publisher Express Newspapers to supply Smart Connection Enterprise as the editorial platform for the Daily Express, the Daily Star, Ok! Magazine and several other publications.

With an average daily sale approaching two million copies, Express Newspapers is one of the largest newspaper publishing companies in the UK. After carefully evaluating the main suppliers of editorial solutions, the company decided to replace its existing QPS system with WoodWing’s Smart Connection Enterprise. At 700 seats, this is one of the larger members of the WoodWing family.

Smart Connection Enterprise fit the company's needs for an editorial system that is flexible and scalable. Also, for the Express one of the main selection criteria was Web and multi-media support. WoodWing’s blended media approach offered the required multi-channel publishing capabilities. Altogether, Smart Connection Enterprise was best suited to meet the ever-changing demands of the modern publisher.

“We are convinced the WoodWing system will give us the kind of performance we are looking for,” said Steve Draper, IT Director at the Express. “It is a young, forward-looking company which will work with us and our integrator Media Systems to deliver a system tailored to our needs. The flexible and open nature of the system was a key factor in the decision.”

“This is one of the largest and most successful publishing companies in the UK,” said Jeroen Sonnemans, WoodWing Europe’s Managing Director. “Their decision-making process was very thorough. The scale of the operation in terms of user numbers and multiplicity of sites dictated the need for an open, highly configurable yet robust solution; they knew precisely what they needed. Smart Connection Enterprise proves to be unbeatable in such cases.”

Media Systems Limited secured the contract, which combines Smart Connection Enterprise with Net Publish Enterprise, a content archiving solution from dutchsoftware.com, and a wire copy management system from FingerPost.

About WoodWing
Based on many years of experience in the publishing industry, WoodWing knows where the challenges lie. WoodWing has been addressing those challenges effectively, using standard and proven technologies, open source components, and open architecture, to create the most progressive solutions available on the market for the production of print and online publications. Rapid growth worldwide and success across the full spectrum of small to large publishers demonstrate that WoodWing makes the best tools for the best price.

WoodWing Software is located in Zaandam, The Netherlands, and has regional sales companies for Europe, the USA, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Customers are served through select partners. For more information, visit www.woodwing.com.

Contact
Gerard van den Akker
pr@woodwing.com
Tel. +31 75 614 3400

Labels: indesign, plug-ins

¶ 2:22 PM

Convert Any Scan into a TrueType or Type1 Font

ScanFont has long been the best tool for turning scans into fonts. Anything you could fit into a scanner you could quickly turn into a TrueType or Type1 font. Now with the new version 5 you can do even more even easier and faster!

This new version of ScanFont acts as a plugin for any of our font editors - TypeTool, Asiafont Studio, and FontLab Studio (and soon Fontographer, too). SF5 is optimized for scanning glyphs for autotracing into fonts, but it also gives you complete control over the scanning and autotrace process. You can adjust trace tolerance, curve fit and linearity to suit your subject, thus assuring the cleanest and most accurate scan possible so that the final font character requires little or no editing.

With its new, improved GUI, new filters, and new tools (like smart background removal) ScanFont is perfect for making handwriting fonts, symbol fonts, clipart fonts, signature fonts, or any other font from print or bitmap source material.

Your Price: US$99
Upgrade Price: US$29.95

For Windows users ScanFont is now unbundled from TypeTool. But we're offering a special TypeTool 3 upgrade bundle if you want to upgrade both Typetool and ScanFont at one time.

Labels: custom, font, plug-ins, transtype

¶ 7:12 PM