September was crazy month for new software. Whether this was the rush to get new products on-sale before the Windows 8 launch or the traditional Q3 pre-Christmas release schedule, or a combination of both, you may have missed one of these important releases.

Creating PDF files used to be an incredibly expensive operation but this is no longer the case. Nitro Pro 8 is an advanced PDF creation and editing tool which is available at a 20-percent discount -- just $95.99. For a limited period of time, you can get the previous Nitro Pro 7 for only $59.99, saving 50 percent from MSRP. There are also multi-user versions of Nitro Pro 8, so you can buy for your business and save further.

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History is often overlooked and rarely highlighted in technology, of lesser importance if you will. Google decided to put history in the foreground with the introduction of the Google Cultural Institute by using technology as a foundation.

Seventeen partners, including cultural foundations and museums, contribute to the project through their archives of letters, first-hand video testimonials and manuscripts, as well as other resources. The Google Cultural Institute offers 42 new historical exhibitions that are available for online viewing and includes stories detailing significant events of the 20th century. The Holocaust, D-Day and the Apartheid are all major turning points in human history, and highlighted in a digital form by the Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation.

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MegaCloud is a new, free-to-use cloud storage and backup service (compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Mobile) that lets you store, sync and share all your documents, photos, music, videos and more across all of your devices. Unlike some similar services, having a free account doesn’t mean being restricted in any way -- all free users get 16GB of space, divided into 8GB for storage and 8GB for backups.

Well, that’s how much ordinary, everyday free users get. But obviously, as a BetaNews reader you deserve a little extra, so MegaCloud has kindly upped the free storage on offer to 21GB (13GB for storage, plus 8GB for backups) exclusively for us, and all you need to do is click on the link below and sign up for a free account. And if that’s still not enough free space for you, you can get yet more gratis storage simply by installing a mobile app or referring friends to the service.

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If the colors of your latest digital photos are less than accurate, then most photo editors will allow you to try and resolve this manually. Tweak RGB here, maybe HSV there, and with a little work there’s a good chance you can improve the situation. If that sounds too much like hard work, though, you might prefer a tool like CastCor, which aims to correct color problems almost entirely automatically.

There’s nothing too special about this, of course -- most photo editors include at least some automated correction tools -- but CastCor delivers more than most: “White Point Auto”, “Grey Point Auto”, “Contrast Auto”, “Auto Color Enhance”, “Highlight-Shadow Enhance”, “Adaptive Equalisation”, “Luminance Correction”, and more.

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DivX has revealed the first public beta of its DivX Plus 9 Software, which as previously includes the Codec Pack, Player, Web Player and Converter.

And while DivX releases aren’t the big deal they used to be, there are some major steps forward here.

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This week one of my colleagues posted to group chat: "The CD player turns 30". To which I asked: "What's a CD?" And someone else took the question seriously: "Compact Disc". Duh, I know that. But does anyone younger than 10? It's a serious question given a prediction Nielsen makes.

The analyst firm expects record-breaking digital music tracks sales in 2012 -- that means in excess of last year's 1.3 billion. The number already exceeds 1 billion, and Nielsen forecasts digital album sales will grow 15 percent year over year. My, how times have changed.

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Finding videos online is easy. Finding videos in a format you can play is sometimes more difficult, though, which is why you might need a tool like Convertilla to convert movies from one file type to another.

The program’s big advantage is its simplicity. There’s no talk of codecs or bit rates here; conversion can be as easy as dragging and dropping your file onto Convertilla, choosing the output format and clicking Convert.

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Adobe has unveiled Lightroom 4.2, a welcome maintenance release that extends the program in a number of areas.

In particular, the new build adds extra camera raw and lens profile support, makes tethered capturing (the ability to take shots directly from your computer, once it’s connect to the camera) available for more devices and provides a number of bug fixes.

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Welcome to weird news Friday! We went from Apple CEO Tim Cook's iOS 6 maps apology to a Steve Jobs sculpture made from his trash. Now this: AMC launches a bizarre retaliatory campaign against DISH Network. Following a contract disagreement, DISH killed AMC on its service. Now AMC uses hit TV show "The Walking Dead" to kill DISH. Who are the real zombies here?

The only living beings may be AMC marketers, who cleverly disguise payback as promotion. Starting today, DISH customers can sign up to stream the first new zombie episode when it airs October 14. Prominently displayed: "This is a one-time only event for DISH customers. Switch TV providers now to see the rest of Season 3 of The Walking Dead".

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You might have a great video camera, and be very skilled at using it, but it won’t make any difference: your raw footage will generally still be rubbish. That’s just the way it is.

Having a good video editor to hand, though, can give you the power to solve most problems. And CyberLink’s PowerDirector 11 Ultimate is the latest candidate for your attention, being packed with high-end features -- a 100-track timeline, fine keyframe control, advanced video effects, disc authoring and online video sharing -- yet also simple enough for beginners to use.

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Modern cameras come with all sorts of useful features to help ensure you get the best shots. They can identify faces, detect smiles and even blinks. OMG’s new Autographer camera goes a step further by actually doing away with the need for a human photographer, deciding for itself when to start snapping.

Described as the world’s first intelligent, wearable camera, that enables users to "see the unseen", the Autographer employs five in-built sensors (light, color, motion, direction and temperature) and Microsoft ‘SenseCam’ technology to choose the best moments to take a picture. All you have to do is wear the camera and make sure the wide-angle lens is facing forward at all times.

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Let's be honest, the news that Myspace is being revamped probably doesn’t have you jumping for joy and punching the air. In fact, I expect your response is probably similar to mine -- a little bit of interest mixed with a lot of "so what?" Myspace was the number one social network in the days before Facebook and Twitter, but now it’s a faded and largely forgotten web presence used by people who should have let go and moved on a long time ago.

But before you dismiss the revamp entirely, as I nearly did, it’s at least worth watching the teaser video Myspace just released because, as it turns out, the completely rebuilt service is beautiful, glossy and -- rather surprisingly -- it might just have you wanting to try it out. I know. Using Myspace! What's next, lobbying Yahoo to bring back GeoCities?

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Adobe has announced the availability of Photoshop Elements 11and Premiere Elements 11 -- major overhaul for both packages. A completely revamped interface based on the Photoshop engine greets you on launch, for instance, with a choice of Quick or Expert editing modes, an action bar, one-click options, bold icons and more: it’s all very crisp and clear.

New effects include Premiere Elements 11′s FilmLooks, Hollywood-style color treatments that can give your movie the look of an old news reel (for instance) with a quick drag-and-drop. The Time Remapping tool provides some quality and easy-to-control fast and slow motion effects (from 8x down to 1/8x).

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I'm not locked in to any one company's ecosystem right now. I have a Windows 7 Ultrabook, a desktop I built myself running Mint Linux, an iPad, and my trusty Galaxy Nexus. Each appliance serves the purpose I purchased it for very well, and I feel no need to switch away from any of them for the moment. When I perform basic daily tasks, things run smoothly. I use Dropbox and Google Drive for sharing much of my content back and forth, and it's a great experience.

When it comes to purchasing digital content like music, movies, or books, it feels like I am punished for not being locked in to any one content system.

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PhotoDirector 4 is CyberLink’s answer to the digital darkroom question. In this age where people regularly snap dozens of photos in a single sitting, digital photography tools have to offer more than just editing features. PhotoDirector follows in the footsteps of Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom in offering organzation, adjustment, editing and sharing tools in a single package. In fact, with its editing tools, PhotoDirector goes beyond Photoshop Lightroom to venture into Photoshop Elements territory.

Version 1 debuted less than two years ago, yet thanks to its rapid pace of development, here we are with version 4. Not only does it debut some major new tools, including a stunning content aware removal tool and body shaper, but PhotoDirector 4 marks the app’s debut on the Mac platform too. With so many new features to check out, we took this brand new version for a test drive to see if it lives up to its new “Ultra” moniker.

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