Monthly Archives: December 2011
Extensis partners with Christmas Family Adoption Foundation
December 30th, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
Guest Post by Carli Edvalson, Extensis HR Generalist
As many people are still struggling to make ends meet and stay afloat, for families in need, the Holidays only magnify these struggles. Again this year, we had the opportunity to leverage the spirit of the season and bring some joy to those that otherwise have very little to be joyous about.
Extensis once again partnered with the Christmas Family Adoption Foundation (http://www.christmasfamilyadoption.com/) to help make this Christmas a merry one for two families in need. Thanks to the generosity of our employees, both families had all of their wishes fulfilled. It’s an honor to work amongst such giving people, and a privilege to play Santa every year to appreciative families.
See the future of the web at WebVisions NYC and save 40% on registration from Extensis
December 29th, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
WebVisions is a great conference that explores the future of technology, the web, and a little entertainment thrown in for good measure.
For a limited time, you can save 40% on conference passes to WebVisions NYC and receive a FREE Web Typography Best Practices Workshop pass ($250 value) to “Half the Web Sucks, How Do We Fix it?” when you register by January 15.
In addition, the first 25 who register will also get a 60-day FREE, unlimited WebINK account. Use as many fonts on as many websites as you like!
WebVisions NYC Highlights:
- Jan 19th 1:30-5:00 PM: Thomas Phinney Web Typography Best Practices Workshop—Half the Web Sucks, How Do We Fix it?
- Jan 19th 8:45 AM: Nathan Shedroff Keynote Address—Make it So: UX lessons from Science Fiction
- Jan 20th 10:30 AM: Thomas Phinney CSS3 OpenType Features—The New Web Typography Frontier
- Jan 20th 1:15 PM: Panel Discussion with Fred Arminsen, Carrie Brownstein, Blake Callaway, Claire Evans and Vince Porter—Portlandia: The Story Behind the Series
- Jan 20th 4:30 PM: Luke Williams Keynote Address—Disrupt! Sparking Business Transformation withDisruptive Thinking
We hope to see you there!
Extensis US Celebrates the Holidays
December 20th, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
Every year we gather as a company to celebrate the holidays and the end of the year. This year we gathered at the local Portland restaurant Paragon where we were treated with festive food, drink and the chance to spend some time out of the office with our hard-working team.
Thanks to all of our customers, partners and fellow employees who make it so much fun to work at Extensis!
Extensis Europe “Blown Away” by Christmas Party!
December 16th, 2011 by Alexandra Barltrop
The Extensis Europe Team were blown away by their Christmas activity this year – literally!
As the weather was a bit chilly, it was decided that we would go indoor skydiving… Despite being chronically nervous about anything I’m not completely in control of (seriously, I didn’t learn to drive until I was 28), I went along to give it a go on Wednesday. I can honestly say that a good time was had by all and I really, really enjoyed myself!
After being given an introduction to skydiving, including body positions and the hand signals instructors use to help you, the team changed into our jumpsuits and donned goggles and helmets and headed to the wind tunnel….
Taking turns, we spent one and a half minutes each in the tunnel with the instructor, which doesn’t seem long but when you’re inside that tunnel it seems forever! The experts make it look so easy but in fact just holding the flying pose was quite a challenge for us first timers. Some people were naturals (Nigel!), some not so much (myself and JP!) Plus, I experienced a “wardrobe malfunction” as my helmet flew off the first time I entered the wind tunnel – whoops!
After about thirty seconds of getting used to it, indoor skydiving really is awesome – as long as you keep the right body position, relax and have fun. Once my first turn had ended I was itching to get back in for another go.
Having completed two sessions each, we were all a tad windswept, so we got changed out of our flightsuits and headed to a nearby restaurant for a festive feast and some general hilarity with some stand-up comedians.
Luckily there were not too many fuzzy heads in the morning!
Merry Christmas to all from the Extensis UK team!
Portfolio Server 10.1 update now available
December 15th, 2011 by Edward Smith
Today we released a free v10.1 update for Portfolio Server 10 users that includes:
- Support for OS X Lion
- Support for Apple ProRes video codec
- Improved login and folder navigation performance in the Web Client
- Support for preview clips in the Desktop Client
- Option to open original video files in external players using the Desktop Client “Switch to Original” command
- Several NetPublish template fixes
- Additional bug fixes and performance improvements
The 10.1 update is available for all components including the Server and Desktop Client, as well as the NetPublish and NetMediaMAX solution packs.
Download the v10.1 update and release notes
If you’re not already using Portfolio Server as your digital asset management system you can download a free 30 day trial of Portfolio Server 10.1.
FREE FontGenius ($40 value) with purchase of Suitcase Fusion 3 Mac
December 9th, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
If you’ve been looking for a tool that will help you identify the fonts that you see out in the wild, look no further.
For a limited time, when you purchase or upgrade Suitcase Fusion 3 for Mac, you will get FontGenius from FontGear for FREE.
Check out this font software bundle here. It’s a great way to upgrade your entire font arsenal.
Get the best font management solution, Suitcase Fusion 3 paired with a powerful font identification tool, FontGenius.
FontGenius helps you:
- Identify fonts used in any picture graphic
- Preview matched fonts, even uninstalled fonts
- Search, download, and purchase matched fonts
Webcast: Managing 20k video files with Digital Asset Management by 50 Kaliber Films
December 7th, 2011 by Edward Smith
Join us for a webcast about Australian video production agency 50 Kaliber Films who is using Portfolio Server to manage media assets for Ford, BHP Billiton, Oakley, and Beijing Olympic Games.
Chief Technology Officer at 50 Kaliber Films, Evan Butson, will present on how he helped his company and clients save time by migrating to an open and scalable digital asset management system.
Learn how Evan used DAM to:
- Implement a searchable catalog of 20,000 video assets
- Migrate from Final Cut Server to a platform-independent system
- Track rights management and consent information
- Scale beyond video file management with images, PDFs and other file types
Following the presentation, Evan will be available for a live Q&A session. Join us to see how Portfolio Server can help you save time and money.
North America
December 13, 2011
1:00 PM (Pacific) / 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Duration: 1 hour, including Q & A
REGISTER
Europe
December 14, 2011
9:00 AM (GMT)
Duration: 1 hour, including Q & A
REGISTER
(A recorded webcast will be emailed to you if you register but can’t attend.)
Leading Magazine Publishers Select Universal Type Server 3 to Safeguard Against Costly Lawsuits
December 5th, 2011 by Edward Smith
We’d like to bring your attention to three leading magazine publishers that are using Universal Type Server to manage and distribute fonts to their publishing groups across the globe to secure font compliance across their organizations. Washingtonian Magazine, MetroCorp and Future Publishing have selected Universal Type Server to ensure font compliance and avoid multi-million dollar font lawsuits as recently experienced by NBC
As you may know, font license agreements are just as strict as other software license agreements and come with substantial legal implications for misuse. NBC was recently served with a lawsuit for $2 Million by the Font Bureau Inc., a typographic design firm, which alleges that the network infringed the firm’s fonts in marketing material used to promote its shows.
Companies across the world rely on Universal Type Server to ensure font compliance and avoid these costly oversights.
Washingtonian Magazine, MetroCorp (publisher of Philadelphia Magazine and Boston Magazine) and Future Publishing have all recognized the benefits of a server-based solution over decentralized font management solutions in ensuring font compliance.
Ed Haynes, IT Customer Services Manager at Future Publishing states, “We publish over one hundred titles and Universal Type Server gives us consistency across all of them and provides us with font usage reporting, which is essential for us to monitor our compliance.”
As font use is a key element in the day-to-day running of these publishers, a system that ensures consistency and efficiency without inhibiting creativity is vital.
Colin McSherry, Associate Art Director/ Mac Tech Support at Philadelphia Magazine agrees, “Universal Type Server allows us to delegate a large portion of font management responsibilities to a server that monitors font compliance.”
According to Paul Chernoff, Director of Information Technology at Washingtonian Magazine “Universal Type Server makes it easy for The Washingtonian to distribute fonts used only for a specific article. Recording the font license directly in the server ensures that we don’t accidentally exceed the font’s license.”
Chernoff added, “Before we had Universal Type Server, we always bought licenses for our entire staff; Type Server has made it possible to buy fewer licenses by making font management easier.”
To learn how to keep your creative workflows safe and legal with effective font management, join Thomas Phinney (@thomasphinney), Extensis Senior Product Manager for Fonts and Typography, for this webcast recording that takes an insightful look into the world of font licensing.
Font Lawsuits and Keeping Your Group in Compliance
December 1st, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
While you may not immediately think of them as such, fonts are software. Licensed just like any other piece of software on your computer, you need to be sure that you’ve purchased the appropriate licenses for the fonts and types of uses that you expect.
Over the past few years a number of organizations have run into problems by not appropriately licensing their font collection. Here are just a few of the public lawsuits.
NBC Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter sued for $1.5 million
Through no feat of magic, NBC Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter was sued for the misuse of fonts when creating gift shop items. The lawsuit alleged that no one involved in the production of certain products purchased licenses for the fonts in use.
Rick Santorum’s design agency sued for $2 million
While not the best coverage for a presidential campaign, Rick Santorum’s website was allegedly caught using a font inappropriately. The blame didn’t fall on the candidate himself, but on that of his design agency. Proving that no matter how small your design group may be, you can come on the radar. In situations like these, your client definitely wouldn’t be happy with the attention, and I’m sure that event the largest agency wouldn’t like to have a $2 million lawsuit bearing down on them.
NBC sued for $2 million
Back in October 2009, the Font Bureau also sued NBC for the misuse and disregard of font licenses for typefaces that were used on their television programs.
Keeping your team safe
It is possible to do the right thing and keep your team safe from lawsuits. The best thing that you can do is fully understand how many licenses you need, and then purchase the appropriate number of licenses. A font server such as Universal Type Server can help you on both counts.
With a server-based font manager, you can understand which users need fonts in your collection, automatically distribute purchased fonts to users, and then assess your changing needs through periodic reporting.
If you’d like to to talk through your font compliance strategy further, please contact one of our representatives today.
