The series of six special reports begins with a definition of DAM, with subsequent reports addressing technology, workflow, marketing, team building and profitability issues related to DAM.

The DAM series is available free of charge to members of the Edina, Minn. organization in a bound volume or by download from the IPA Web site at . Non-IPA members may purchase the six-report series by calling the IPA at (800) 255-8141.

PDF ImageWorks is designed to meet user need for control over image selection, integration, appearance and usability. Its capabilities include different aspects of PDF images from the various PDF image types, to color spaces, to different image output formats, such as TIFF, EPS and JPEG. Users can edit image content, perform operations on entire images, and even update OPI-related information.

The U.S. suggested retail price for PDF ImageWorks is $395. Registered users of OPI Doctor may purchase upgrades to PDF ImageWorks from Lantana for $99 until June 30.

The company also said that it has begun shipments of Crackerjack 3.1 for both the Macintosh & Windows (95/98/NT) platforms. Crackerjack enables color production workflows using PDF. Crackerjack is the link between the natural preflighting environment of Adobe Acrobat and production printing equipment, such as, imagesetters, digital proofers and color printer-copiers.

Crackerjack 3.1 includes new capabilities including tiled output with user-definable overlap, all text to black, and printing and separation support for PDF-based MrSID images.

The Crackerjack 3.1 plug-in is compatible with either Acrobat 3.0 or Acrobat 4.0. When used in conjunction with Acrobat 4.0, Crackerjack 3.1 supports larger and smaller page sizes, smooth shading, PostScript 3, duotones/tritones/quadtones, spot color gradients, and Asian language output.

The U.S. suggested retail price for Crackerjack 3.1 is $495. Upgrades to Crackerjack 3.1 are free to registered users of Crackerjack 3.0. Crackerjack is also available in the PDF Essentials and PDF PowerPack bundles of leading production plug-ins.

Lantana is on the Web site at http://www.lantanarips.com/.

Ad Layout System (ALS) for Macintosh and Windows sales and installations include: California's MODESTO BEE (83K morning); the RAPID CITY (S.D.) JOURNAL (31K morning); the TIMES REPORTER (24k morning), of New Philadelphia, Ohio; The Windsor Press (24k weekly) of Hamburg, Pa. and LEEK POST AND TIMES of Leek, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

ClassForce sales and installations include: The Windsor Press; the BRATTLEBORO (Vt.) REFORMER (11K morning); The BENNINGTON (Vt.) BANNER (8K morning) and LEEK POST AND TIMES.

Managing Editor Inc. is on the Web at http://www.maned.com/.

The Iowa City, Iowa company said that installer software may be downloaded from the its Web site at http://www.meta-comm.com/odbcpatch/.

The company also said that its Virtual Ticket 2.2 and Job Manager 2.2 were now available.

Virtual Ticket 2.2 is an electronic job ticketing and digital asset management software package. The software is designed for organizations who work by job or project and who need to efficiently manage job information and digital assets.

Job Manager 2.2 is a job tracking, costing and billing system that enables organizations to track jobs, capture alterations and obtain costing and billing information. Integration with Virtual Ticket provides users a complete solution from start to finish.

Cole argues that in an increasingly complex media world, companies have to decide what are their core competencies and to focus on those. In Thomson's case, despite the company's longtime background in newspapers, it has decided that it will become a business-to-business electronic information company.

Senior Editor Pete Wetmore discusses the sale of the 20 distinct Thomson properties that represent 55 daily newspapers and 75 non-dailies with Thomson executives as well as a newspaper broker. Elsewhere, Correspondent Christopher J. Feola looks at the Thomson sale from the new media perspective in his New(s) Media column.

Correspondent Julius Duscha examines the move of Reuters from information wholesaler to information retailer.

NEWSINC. is published by The Cole Group, purveyors of this very newswire as well as THE COLE PAPERS and COLE'S NOTES. For more information, visit the Web site at http://colegroup.com/.

In addition to automatically publishing news and photos, Publicus allows publishers to add the features to their Web sites that include Web-based e-mail and newsgroups; on-line chat; interactive community calendars, and on-line classified and display advertising.

Publicus is designed to be installed at the customer's location, or at a Web server facility being built by SAXoTECH. The system can be integrated into the SAXoPRESS Content Management System (a complete editorial front-end and pagination system), or it can be integrated into the major legacy front-end publishing systems.

SAXoTECH is on the Web at http://www.saxotech.com/.

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based subsidiary of Autologic Information International Inc. said that all these interfaces are available on its Navigator NT RIP based on the Harlequin core RIP and is adds to the list of more than 100 recorders the Xitron Navigator RIP can drive.

The RIP offers PDF support, error handling, reporting and recovery and optional in-RIP trapping.

The company also announced an original equipment manufacturer's (OEM) partnership with Escher-Grad Technologies. This agreement allows Xitron to package Cobalt 8, a violet laser diode (VLD) platesetter, with a Xitron RIP. The package is called the Xitron Cobalt CTP System.

The Cobalt 8 images at 400 scan lines per second, producing a full 30-by-40 inch image in 3.3 minutes at 2540 dpi. The plate material is 8 to 12 mil. high-speed metal providing up to 300,000 impressions with no pre-heat or special treatment required.

Xitron is on the Web site at http://www.xitron.com/.

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS, COLE'S NOTES and NEWSINC., and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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