Scotte promises to give us the facts, or most of them:
 
"Q. As a photographer what is the most compelling reason to consider an upgrade from CS4 to CS5?
A. That’s a tough one, because it will be different for different photographers. I think a lot of folks will naturally want it to create HDR images, but I

Photographers painting? What has this world come to?
 
"I’ve wanted to paint for years, but have never had the talent with a physical paint brush. I’ve tried various software solutions to paint digitally and never have they done what I want. Usually painting effects in digital imaging software come out more as cheesy filters, routinely and uniformly

There's a rain of cs5 previews and such falling upon us, this is the most "hands on" so far:
 
"Although the result is not perfect, it's remarkably close. In fact I was originally convinced that this picture would be a perfect example of how content ware fill would fail miserably. How wrong I was in this case."

From a photographers (and not only) standpoint, this release is simply epic, both for the good guys ANd the bad ones :)
 
Adobe Press Release
Adobe Launches Photo shop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended

And here are the terms and caveats: Offer is valid with the purchase of a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet or  Cintiq interactive pen display.Offer only available for intuos products bundled with Adobe photoshop Elements. Only one order per person.  And of course (this is our favourite), offer is only available in the U.S, because buyers from other places are...suckers?
 

The "insider" photoshopnews.com has a very interesting blurb about the next Adobe Photoshop version. Keep in mind that these people work for/with Adobe, so the following is anyhing but speculation:
"Adobe Systems wants to transform its flagship Photoshop software with an interface customized to the task at hand, a potentially radical revamp for software whose power today is hidden behind hundreds of menu options.
A new user interface will help Photoshop become “everything you need, nothing you don’t,” said Photoshop product manager John Nack, describing aspirations for the Photoshop overhaul on his blog Monday.
“We must make Photoshop dramatically more configurable,” Nack said. “Presenting the same user experience to a photographer as we do to a radiologist, as to a Web designer, as to a prepress guy, is kind of absurd…With the power of customizability, we can present solutions via task-oriented workspaces,” Nack said.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom offers a very task-specific interface, with editing modules changing according to broad categories of work.
In comparison, Photoshop today is unwelcoming and unhelpful. “Today, if a user walks up to Photoshop and says, ‘What do I do?’ the app kind of shrugs, stubs out a cigarette, and says, ‘I dunno–you tell me.’ That’s not real cool, and we can do better,” Nack said."
Link

Another year, another version of Adobe's pretty popular entrly level of photoshop. This year the heat from Corel's Paintshop pro Photo X II is probably being felt stronger than ever, and the "what's new" list is pretty impressive.
Press release:

New Photoshop Elements Packs Powerful Editing Punch
No. 1 Selling Consumer Photo Software Offers Fun, Unique Ways to Capture Stories
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sept. 24, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6 software, a major upgrade to the No. 1 selling consumer photo-editing software*. Available for Windows®, Photoshop Elements combines power and simplicity for consumers to find, view and easily infuse creativity and personality into their photos. This landmark release helps consumers at all experience levels achieve outstanding results and provides interactive options for sharing unique creations via print and Web.
In addition, Adobe today announced Adobe Premiere® Elements 4 software, a complete home video-editing solution (see separate press release). Available separately or together in a single retail package, Photoshop Elements & Adobe Premiere Elements give photo and video enthusiasts more creative ways to organize, edit, create and share digital photos and home movies.
“Photoshop Elements is the one-stop-shop for consumers to go faster and farther with their photos,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “We’re helping people flex their editing muscle, without breaking a sweat. We’ve redesigned the user experience to more prominently showcase photos, direct consumers to features that help turn photos from good to great in just seconds and inject a dynamic element into their creations.”
Make Photos Look Their Best
Photoshop Elements software helps enthusiasts achieve desired results quickly and easily. New Photomerge® technology helps address the challenge of capturing the perfect group photo by combining the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single cohesive group shot. The new Quick Selection Tool reduces a once time-consuming select-and-adjust task to a single click. Photographers at all grades – beginner to expert – can choose from one of three edit modes, each geared toward a different experience level. A new Guided Edit mode helps walk users through the steps of improving a photo. Photoshop Elements 6 streamlines editing with clean, uncluttered screens that draw focus to where it belongs, with new tabs providing simple access to the many capabilities of the program. Tight integration with Adobe Premiere Elements and a shared Organizer, with a common database
New Photoshop Elements Packs Powerful Editing Punch
accessible from either application, allow users to do more with their photos and videos with speedy performance and easy import, tagging and retrieval tasks. Additional enhancements include an improved conversion tool that dramatically converts color images into elegant, nuanced black-and-whites.
Share Photos In Fun, Unique Ways
Photoshop Elements 6 offers users more creative sharing possibilities, including online galleries based on Adobe Flash® which provide an interactive experience for friends and family to enjoy. With a variety of settings and themes, these galleries can be easily accessed via the Web and help bring moments and memories to life. Animated slideshows, e-mail and printed creations available in Photoshop Elements such as photo books, scrapbook pages, cards and CD/DVD labels deliver high-impact sharing options, and also require no previous experience.
Pricing and Availability
Adobe’s digital imaging and digital video products are available immediately at www.adobe.com and online retailers including, Amazon.com. The products will also be available at Best Buy, Staples, Costco, Fry’s, Circuit City, Office Max, Office Depot, Microcenter, J&R, Buy.com and NewEgg.com. Photoshop Elements 6 and Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows are available separately for an estimated street price of US$99.99 each. Photoshop Elements for the Macintosh platform is expected in early 2008. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows is available as a bundle at an estimated street price of US$149.99. Information about the other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade and support policies for other countries is available on www.adobe.com/go/pse6. For more information, customers can call 1-800-492-3623.
*Source: The NPD Group (April 2002 to March 2007) based on units sold.

This is the second time thinksecret.com has revealed details about Adobe's upcoming photo-editing suite.  This brings a lot of excitement among the photoshop fans given the almost 100% hit rate of predictions the site has gotten before. CS III is expected to hit the market during the 2nd quarter of 2007. Among the highlights:
"Photoshop CS3's interface is said to closely resemble the look and feel of Adobe After Effects 7, with easy palette organization and brightness adjustment for the overall interface itself. Palettes can be moved, minimized, customized or collapsed down to a single icon with ease; even that familiar two-column toolbar can be converted into a narrower single column bar, if desired.
 
Another new feature substantially improving both workflow and raw performance is Live Filters, which effectively brings the dynamic editing features of Layer Styles to Filters. The pixel radius of a Gaussian Blur, for example, can be adjusted long after it has been applied with just a single mouse click. Sources report substantial performance improvements to the filters themselves, as well, and have speculated that Photoshop may now be tapping the GPU of the video card to help the CPU crunch filters.
With regard to non-destructive editing improvements, sources report that layers can now be saved as smart objects that the new editable filters can now be applied to."
Read the rest here
 

A long time overdue update to Photoshop CS has finally been released. Also updated are camera raw (ver. 3.4) and DNG converter.  Among the most  important photoshop fixes:
Photoshop no longer hangs for several seconds when using painting tools with quick strokes; A runtime error that could appear when mousing over a high-res document with the Brush tool has been fixed; Documents containing a large number of text layers now open more quickly;
Problems related to palettes (slow redraw, palettes go white, possible crash) have been addressed; TIFF files from certain scanners can now be opened correctly;After editing an image in Photoshop CS2 via the TouchUp tool in Adobe Acrobat software, the image no longer gets repositioned;
Adobe's new downloads page is here
 

Forbes is mainly a financial institute, but in an interview with Adobe's CEO, Bruce Chizen, along the economic stuff some interesting news saw the light of the day:
"There are three pieces of the mobile strategy. The first thing: We want to get Flash, and in certain cases Adobe Reader, onto as many devices as possible. For example, Sony announced that they're going to incorporate Flash into the PlayStation 3 and [PlayStation Portable]. In January, Kodak announced a camera with Flash on it."
"Today, with Acrobat, we are focused on the architecture, construction and engineering market. And we are already working with manufacturers with Acrobat 3D [launched in January]. But we haven't made any specific announcement about what we could potentially do with Photoshop. We've had a lot of customers coming to us and saying, "We really love Photoshop for medical imaging, but it would be really cool if we could read the images coming out of the scanning system," or, "It would be really great if you had a measuring tool so I can measure with more exactness than I can today." Or, or, or? You can imagine us having a more sophisticated version of Photoshop that appeals to those unique industries. But other than that, we haven't said exactly what we're doing. "
 
Check out the rest at http://www.forbes.com/, to see when Adobe's CS III suite will be released!
 
 

This one about ex-acrylic from zdnet. But its still slated for a late 2006 release:
"Microsoft has temporarily halted development work on some aspects of its upcoming professional graphics application as it tries to bring companion tools and its next-generation Windows Vista operating system to market.
The application--called Expression Graphic Designer--was first released in test form in June last year, and is based on Expression, the tool Microsoft acquired with its 2003 purchase of Hong Kong company Creature House. But despite being widely seen as a rival for Adobe Systems' Photoshop and Illustrator products, Microsoft does not see the product as a standalone offering.
 
"At the moment, there's no great reason for us to release it as a standalone product," Wayne Smith, the company's senior product manager for Europe, the Middle East and African professional designer markets, said last week.
In an interview with ZDNet Australia, Smith explained that Microsoft was taking so long to bring Graphic Designer to market because the company had put "a lot" of the development work for the application "on pause" until sibling products and Vista could be finalized.
"It's not been that someone's been beavering for all these months and getting nowhere," he said. Smith said that Microsoft sees Graphic Designer solely as a companion product for other products in the Expression range--namely Interactive Designer and Web Designer.
Interactive Designer is for building the user interface and layout of interactive Web or Windows applications, while Web Designer is purely aimed at Web site construction.
Accessory tools firstThe Expression range is meant to ease coordination between software developers who write code and graphic artists who create visual elements, using the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) which Microsoft developed.
"So if the other two tools haven't been released, there's no great reason to have this released yet. It absolutely exists to support both Web Designer and Interactive Designer," said Smith. The executive said Graphic Designer would probably be released at the same time as Web Designer, with both likely to make it to market before Interactive Designer and Vista.
"We can maybe even possibly put them in the same box as a mini studio of some kind," he said.
"Web Designer, because it's a traditional design tool on current-based standards, will be the first release. I don't know when, but towards the back end of 2006," Smith said. "Maybe around October or November.
"Graphic Designer will probably sit alongside it, because it makes sense from a synergistic point of view to have the two tools together."
Smith said Interactive Designer depended on Microsoft's WinFX programming model being introduced with Vista, itself due to ship in late 2006.
"Interactive Designer's going to be after Vista, because it's built on the WinFX architecture," he said. "We need to wait for WinFX to ship in its final release, and then to do a couple of months of stabilization work."
Microsoft has already released test versions--called community technology previews (CTPs)--of Graphic and Interactive Designer.
"There will be those CTPs all through the process. So we will keep on banging CTPs out. Even up until the last few months before it's released, people will be able to use the tool," Smith said of Interactive Designer.
 

Digital Outback Photo has a new workflow technique online, this time it's "Tonality and Colors in Photoshop and Raw Converters", as always a well written essay:
 
"We recommend in cases like this ( low contrast images) not to perform any tonality control inside the RAW converter. Save the file as 16 bit TIFF and finally tune the image in Photoshop. Of course if you like what you see in your RAW converter all is fine."
Link to the article here, and here's another one to DOP's latest ebook,
"The art of fine art printing"
 

Adobe press Release 
Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Macintosh Delivers Editing Magic to Digital Photo Enthusiasts - New version of No. 1 selling consumer photo-editing software* provides innovative tools to creatively enhance and share photos
London ? Feb. 27, 2006 ? Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) today announced Adobe? Photoshop? Elements 4.0 for Macintosh, an all-in-one photo editing and creation solution for Macintosh users. Consistently ranked as the No. 1 selling consumer photo-editing software, Photoshop Elements 4.0 maintains its popularity by merging powerful digital photo editing capabilities with easy-to-use tools, allowing photo enthusiasts to quickly and creatively enhance their photos for sharing. ?Photoshop Elements for Mac delivers the features photo enthusiasts need to make their pictures stand out from the crowd,? said Deborah Whitman, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. ?The Magic Extractor is an example of the power consumers have to seamlessly extract one image out of a photo and easily drag and drop it into another photo, so it looks like it has always been there.  Adobe?s continued investment in imaging innovation ensures our customers get the most out of today?s powerful digital SLRs and point-and-shoot cameras.?
 
Expert Adjustments in Less Time New tools such as Magic Selection Brush, Skin Tone Adjustment, Magic Extractor and Auto Red Eye Removal easily correct common photography problems and continue the Adobe tradition of innovation in Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac.
The new Magic Selection Brush quickly selects specific parts of a photo for easy colour, lighting, and contrast adjustments; Skin Tone Adjustment allows consumers to get more realistic skin colours in just moments; and the Magic Extractor easily removes subjects from photos and offers advanced edge de-fringing, for scrapbooking and fun composites like adding the pet dog to a family vacation photo. Improved Red Eye Removal instantly corrects red eye in any photo with one click.
For consumers who want more power, Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac offers a sampling of the more advanced editing options found in the professional level Adobe Photoshop CS2, such as expanded 16-bit editing and basic Camera Raw support for non-destructive photo editing. Photoshop Elements 4.0 ensures users will be able to open their precious memories for years to come without worrying about proprietary camera formats by supporting the universal Digital Negative format (.DNG).
Photos at Your Fingertips The File Browser has been updated to the new Adobe Bridge for Elements to make photo browsing quicker and easier. Its Folder View simplifies adding, deleting or moving images in hard drive folders. Full-screen mode, which doubles as a slideshow, enables consumers to easily compare and choose favourite photos from a hard drive or other media.
Adobe Bridge for Elements also supports metadata searches for all photos taken with a flash, with a certain shutter speed or f-stop, or by the camera make and model.  Smart search filters can also be created for commonly searched files or stored as reusable Collections.
Share and Enjoy Your Images New to Photoshop Elements 4.0, integrated Adobe Photoshop Services make it simpler than ever to order professional-quality Kodak prints and beautiful hardbound photo books. A variety of printing options allow users to create contact sheets and customise picture package layouts for creative sharing.
Photoshop Elements 4.0 is part of a complete family of Photoshop products that meet the needs of a diverse spectrum of digital photographers: the free Photoshop Album Starter Edition for the novice digital camera user; Photoshop Elements for the digital photography enthusiast; and Photoshop CS2 for the professional or the most demanding amateur and professional photographers. Each product offers customers more growth and creative control, giving them access to award-winning technology and options for more sophisticated editing, organisation and sharing options for their digital photos.
Pricing and Availability Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac (Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4) is available for pre-order at http://www.adobe.com/ and will be available in early March 2006 at other major electronics retailers, including Amazon.com, Apple Stores, Circuit City, CompUSA, CompuSmart, Fry?s and J&R, for an estimated street price of $79 For Windows? users, Adobe offers Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Windows for an estimated street price of $99.
 

And as always, amazon.com and other sites are already have the corresponding books on (pre)sale. Also there are several print magazines that advertize reviews of PSE 4 coming with teir next issues, so it can't be that far in the future.
 

To be announced on April the 4th, the upcoming release of photoshop. Read the full press-release:
 
New Vanishing Point Feature, Dramatic Camera Raw Workflow Enhancements, Customizable Menus and Smart Objects Headline Milestone Photoshop Upgrade
SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 4, 2005 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe? Photoshop? CS2, a major upgrade to the professional industry standard for digital image editing and creation. Available as a stand-alone software application or as a key component of Adobe Creative Suite? 2, also announced today (see separate press release), Photoshop CS2 software brings a new level of power, precision and control to the digital photography experience and to the overall creative process.
"Photoshop CS2 pushes the envelope with powerful features and simplified workflows that provide photographers and creative professionals the freedom to deliver stunning images," said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging and Digital Video Products at Adobe. "In light of the four million digital SLRs expected to ship this year, more photographers than ever will be making Photoshop CS2 their digital darkroom of choice."

Advanced Tools for Digital Photographers, Graphics and Video Professionals
Photoshop CS2 integrates a new set of intuitive tools, including an enhanced Spot Healing Brush, for handling common photographic problems such as blemishes, red-eye, noise, blurring and lens distortion. Smart Objects allow users to scale and transform images and vector illustrations without losing image quality — as well as create linked duplicates of embedded graphics — so that a single edit updates across multiple iterations.

Responding to requests from film, broadcast and video professionals, Photoshop CS2 now allows non-destructive editing and the creation and editing of 32-Bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, ideal for 3D rendering and advanced compositing. FireWire Previews can also be viewed on a television monitor through a new direct export feature.
Photoshop CS2 users will test the limits of creativity with new tools like Vanishing Point and Image Warping. Vanishing Point cuts tedious graphic and photo retouching tasks by allowing users to clone, paint and transform image objects while retaining visual perspective. Reinventing workflows such as product packaging development, Image Warping makes it easy to fold, stretch, pull, twist and wrap an image into shape by selecting an on-demand preset or dragging custom control points.

Adobe Bridge and New Camera Raw Features Speed Imaging Workflows
With Photoshop CS2 software, finding and working with digital photos and images has never been easier. The popular File Browser has been upgraded to Adobe Bridge, which functions as a hub for productivity, imagery and creativity, providing multi-view file browsing and smooth cross-product integration across Adobe Creative Suite 2 software. Adobe Bridge also provides access to Adobe Stock Photos, a new stock photography service that offers users one-stop shopping — across five elite stock image providers — to deliver high-quality, royalty-free images for layout and design (see separate press release).

The new Camera Raw 3.0 workflow allows settings for multiple raw files to be simultaneously modified. In addition batch processing of raw files, to JPEG, TIFF, DNG or PSD formats, can now be done in the background without launching the main Photoshop executable. Integrated, non-destructive cropping and straightening controls allow raw files to be easily prepared for final output.
Simplifying Photoshop's rich interface, task-based menu presets make it easier to find the features needed for specific work. Users can create their own custom presets, highlighting favorite items and now have the ability to define event-based scripts and time-saving operations that execute automatically when triggered by actions, such as saving or printing a file. Multiple Layer Controls speeds editing, enabling the simultaneous selection and manipulation of numerous layers within a file.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Mac OS X version 10.2.8 through 10.3.8, Microsoft? Windows? 2000 with Service Pack 4 or Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2, will begin shipping in May to customers in the United States and Canada, and will be available through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store . International versions are expected to begin shipping in late May and early June. Adobe Photoshop CS2 will be available for an estimated street price of US$599 and licensed users of any previous version of Photoshop can upgrade for US$149. For more detailed information about new features, upgrade policies and pricing, please visit: www.adobe.com/photoshop . Adobe Photoshop CS2 is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 2.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is the world's leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .