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creativebitsorg: Really funny — Apple Scotland - iPhone commercial for Siri http://t.co/b9Vk7FN5

Apple has issued a reminder to developers that it will not tolerate use of third party services to manipulate app rankings in the App Store. "When you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts," the reminder states. "Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."

This reminder could very well be in response to a well-trafficked post in Touch Arcade where an iOS developer revealed that an ad network guaranteed his app placement in the top 25 apps in exchange for $5000. This third-party service allegedly employs bots to automatically download the targeted app multiple times, automatically increasing the app's ranking and granting the app greater exposure to potential human downloaders.

8 of the top 25 apps were allegedly developed by clients of this bot service. If true, this represents a serious problem to the legitimacy of App Store rankings, and it's therefore no wonder that Apple is reminding developers of its aggressive stance on the issue.

Apple warns of crackdown on App Store rankings manipulation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here is today's free set of Photoshop brushes from Janita: Fancy Flower Flower Brushes Set name: Out Of The Blue (brushes in set: 14) All images were scanned off wrapping paper and have been additionally illustrated with plain copic pens. First illustrated then scanned. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

For one day only, February 6, you can save 25% off Adobe CS5.5 Design Premium Full, a savings of $474 on the regular version, and $112 off the Student and Teacher edition. No coupon code necessary, valid in the North America Commercial store and Education Store only. Deliver eye-catching designs for print, the web, and devices using Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium software. Create striking images and graphics, design print and digital publications, construct standards-based HTML5/CSS3 websites, and craft interactive content that is displayed consistently across screens of all sizes. CS5.5 Design Premium combines the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Flash Catalyst, Fireworks, and Acrobat Pro, as well as a complimentary subscription to Adobe CS Live online services. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here is today's set of free Photoshop brushes from Janita: Distressed Flower Brushes. Set name: Mine All Mine (brushes in set: 21) All the illustrations in this set were made using some handmade potatoe stamps. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here are today's free Photoshop brushes from Janita: Bubbly Doodle Brushes - Set name: Glimmer (brushes in set: 22) All the illustrations in these brushes were drawn by me while I was endlessly bored on a rainy university morning. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here is today's free brush set from Janita: Fluffy Feather Brushes. All the feathers in these were scanned from images I found in scrapbooking stores. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Neon signs are bright; that is part of their charm and part of their usefulness. The brightness also makes it more difficult to shoot the sign than it would seem. You do have choices: You can expose for the whole scene, which will most likely overexpose the neon; you can expose for the sign, which can underexpose the rest of the scene; or you can combine different exposures into a single frame to get the exposure right for both the scene and the neon sign. The aperture that you use will also affect the way the light bleeds on a neon sign. This bleeding of the light is called halation and it relates to how the light can spread beyond the proper boundaries in a photographic image. As you change the aperture, the spread of the light changes; there are no right or wrong apertures, and knowing this means you can change the look of the light and the image by using different apertures. To get the neon sign to stand out against the background, just follow these steps to underexpose the image slightly. The first step is to find a sign that is relatively isolated so that the composition will allow the sign to stand by itself. Read full article... (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here are today's free brushes: Butterfly Brushes. Set name: Glitterflies (brushes in set: 20) All images were handmade. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here's another Photoshop CS6 preview video: Here's an early look at a popular Facebook fan request — the ability to do a background save on a large file that would NOT make Photoshop slow down, and a new, very powerful liquify tool that allows large brush sizes and is very snappy. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

This week Deke shows you how to use a secret Asian-language text setting to create authentic-looking movie credits in Illustrator. The trick is exploiting the Warichu feature which is designed for stacking characters within a single line of type. In this technique, Deke reveals how the feature allows you to gracefully stack two words one on top of another, adjust the size, create a character style that saves those settings, and then apply your character-style down the line to all the people who helped make your imaginary movie possible. Any designer or budding movie promoter who’s obsessed with typesetting (and doesn’t that include most of you?) knows that the standard movie credits in a promotional poster stack the two-word job title before the linear presentation of each contributor’s name. So text that initially looks like this... ... ends up looking like this: If you were inspired by Deke’s Designing an Indiana Jones-style logo technique from December 2011, then this technique will allow you to create some credits at the bottom of your poster that will convince your audience that you know how to properly hype your latest entirely theoretical but professionally promoted cinematic endeavor. And if you’d like specific instruction on putting the two techniques together, check out the Two ways to place a pixel-based image movie from the Illustrator and Photoshop chapter (chapter 21) of Deke’s Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced course. You can get a free 7-day trial to the lynda.com Online Training Library. A credit card is required to ensure uninterrupted access to lynda.com, if you choose to remain a member after your free trial ends. There is no long-term commitment required, and you can cancel any time. After signing up for the free 7-day trial to the lynda.com Online Training Library you'll gain access to over 60,000 video tutorials instantly. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

We'll be releasing a free set of Photoshop brushes every day for the next twelve days. These are exclusive sets from us that were designed by the talented Janita from Seishido. Janita's brushes are tinged with an air of whimsy, often featuring delicate feathers, gossamer wings and dreamy clouds. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

You can save 50% off the standard price of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 in the Adobe North America Store. No coupon code is necessary. The discount will be applied when products are added to the shopping cart. Offer starts February 1, 2012 and ends March 5. The following Euro stores are also offering the same 50% off special: UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is an intuitive digital darkroom and efficient assistant designed for serious amateur and professional photographers. Easily manage, edit, and showcase all your images. Lightroom integrates tightly with Adobe Photoshop software and supports more than 275 camera raw file formats, as well as JPEG, TIFF, and PSD images. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here's a Photoshop tutorial from Photoshop Daily, by Simon Skellon. There are many ways to alter the contrast and mood of an image in Photoshop. Try this one using Apply Image. Apply Image can produce variations of contrast that other adjustments just aren’t able to offer. This particular method may not be the most commonly practised one, but shouldn’t be dismissed. Read more... (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Have a look at the amazing photos of magnified grains of sand at the Uk Daily Mail site. "Viewed at a magnification of over 250 times real life, tiny grains of sand are shown to be delicate, colourful structures as unique as snowflakes. When seen well beyond the limits of human eyesight, the miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock." Read the full article. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 8 from Night and Low-Light Photography Photo Workshop, excerpted with permission from John Wiley and Sons, Inc. The book is available in stores and through online retailers nationwide. Here’s a link to a multi-retailer sales page. Author Alen Hess is a professional event and concert photographer whose subjects have included The Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, John Legend, Robin Williams, and many more. The basics of photographing light trails are simple: Use a shutter speed long enough that the lights in question turn from points of light into trails as they move through the frame. There are three different types of captures in this section: the first is where the camera is stationary and the subject is moving, the second is where the camera moves along with the subject creating a background that seems to be made up of streaks of light, and the third is to use the zoom on a lens to create trails from a stationary light source. Read more... (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Another nice set of free Photoshop brushes from Bittbox: The source for these was a microscopic piece of pollen. Up close the strands looked like barbed wire. After photographic it, I brought the images into Illustrator and Live Traced each one, so the edges are very defined. Each brush is 2500×1800, hope you enjoy. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Topaz Labs has released Topaz Star Effects, a Photoshop Plug-in that manipulates and enhances light sources to create radiant lighting and star effects. Using a leading-edge technology that automatically recognizes light sources, Topaz Star Effects provides a fast and effective way to creatively embellish points of light in an image. Topaz Star Effects retails for $29.99, and will be discounted to $19.99 until 2/15/12. Simply enter coupon code TopazStars. Topaz Star Effects is the most customizable and inclusive star filter out there right now. With adjustments like star type, glow, ring flare and color controls, the program allows for users to create effects from realistic sun flares and glowing water to more obvious, artistic additions," said Nichole Paschal, Senior Marketing Specialist for Topaz Labs. "Plus the ability to selectively add and remove these effects, in a single click, is easy to understand and an important aspect to Star Effects." "With an advanced detection algorithm powering Star Effects, we have developed a simple and intuitive way to recognize hundreds of light sources at once, along with the choice to selectively amplify sources. Star Effects has the most comprehensive tool set available, allowing for users to create both natural, accurate renditions or more dramatic, graphic effects," said Dr. He Yang, Senior Software Designer at Topaz Labs. The comprehensive and customizable tool set in Topaz Star Effects offers a simple and intuitive workflow that results in quick enhancements to your light sources. It is a plug-in that works with a variety of host programs including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Aperture, iPhoto and Lightroom. Topaz Star Effects retails for $29.99, and will be discounted to $19.99 until 2/15/12. Simply enter coupon code TopazStars. You could spend hours in Photoshop selecting multiple light sources and fiddling around with multiple settings, layer styles and blending modes. Or you can enjoy a more simplistic and user-friendly process using Star Effects, which automatically detects light sources allows you to quickly select how many or how few of those light sources to enhance. Star Effects also includes a highly comprehensive toolset, offering the most flexibility and control for customizing your effects. Using the adjustment sliders, you can instantly change the appearance and characteristics of your selected light sources. Key user benefits include: Topaz Automatic light source detection - seeks out the light sources in your image. Added flexibility via the selective brush used to individually select or de-select light sources. Star type selection with options like traditional, starburst, cross star, hollywood star and more! Star Stack-a-bility via the Apply button which allows you to stack multiple effects. Added adjustment controls for color, temperature, secondary spikes, glow and ring flares - for a customizable workflow. And much more... (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 8 from Night and Low-Light Photography Photo Workshop, excerpted with permission from John Wiley and Sons, Inc. The book is available in stores and through online retailers nationwide. Here’s a link to a multi-retailer sales page. Author Alen Hess is a professional event and concert photographer whose subjects have included The Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, John Legend, Robin Williams, and many more. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

This video from Senior Product Manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes, reveals an early look at some of the things the Photoshop team is working on for Camera Raw and Photoshop CS6, including a much darker interface. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)