An impressive sky can make all the difference in a photo, especially a golden hour sunset. If anyone knows this, it’s Adobe. Today, Adobe showed off a new Sensei-powered AI Sky Replacement tool that will arrive in Photoshop soon. The tool makes it easy to replace drab skies with more dramatic backgrounds.

In the Sky Replacement window, you’ll see a menu of pre-loaded options to choose from, or you can add your own files. You’ll be able to expand the thumbnail previews and see file names and dimensions.

As of summer 2021, Microsoft will remove the Flash-related developer frameworks, group policies and user interfaces from legacy Edge and IE11 through cumulative updates across multiple Windows versions, including Windows 10 and 8.1.

Corporate customers that need Flash will still have options. Edge will let Flash run as a plugin through the Internet Explorer mode. You’ll switch away from the Microsoft-supplied Flash code, though, and you won’t get Microsoft’s support as a result.

Microsoft doesn’t have much choice about the primary end-of-2020 cutoff. Google is removing Flash support from Chromium, the underlying engine for the current version of Edge, around the same time. Adobe has added that it will tell people to uninstall Flash well before that change happens. It’s nonetheless good to know just when Microsoft will drop the web technology — and you probably won’t miss it given its obsolescence and security issues.

Adobe rep Rikk Flohr responded to the thread, saying Adobe is aware of the bug and that a new update, 5.4.1, corrected the issue. However, he didn’t have good news for customers who had already lost photos and presets. “We know that some customers have photos and presets that are not recoverable,” Flohr wrote. “We sincerely apologize to any customers who have been affected by this issue.” It’s unclear exactly how many users were affected. Flohr did note that the Lightroom cloud, and Lightroom mobile on Android, Lightroom desktop on macOS and Windows, as well as Lightroom Classic weren’t affected. This makes it sound like only pictures that weren’t backed up to Adobe’s Cloud were deleted, though that’s no comfort to people who lost their photos.

Needless to say, users who had just lost photos and presets were not happy. “Rikk, we understand the announcement, however this doesn’t solve the problem,” wrote Ewelina Wojtyczka. “People lost months/years of their work. Apologies will not bring it back.”

Adobe hasn’t further commented on the bug outside Flohr’s post. Some users noted that they had fortunately backed up their photos or stored them elsewhere — not a bad idea, considering another big company, Canon, also lost images following a ransomware attack. While Adobe shouldn’t be let off the hook for this error, perhaps the importance of multiple backups is the hard lesson we can learn from this.

Update, 4:55PM ET: Adobe has posted a few more details on a support page for Lightroom for mobile 5.4.0 for iPadOS and iOS. It reiterates that the bug “affected customers using Lightroom mobile without a subscription to the Adobe cloud. It also affected Lightroom cloud customers with photos and presets that had not yet synced to the Adobe cloud.” It also recommends users check their iPad or iPhone system backups to see if they can return to a state before the update that might have saved the missing photos.

Adobe has updated its Fresco drawing app with a bunch more features. There’s a clipping masks tool that will allow you to capture certain parts of your drawing and move them to another layer or layer group. That way, you can continue to work on your piece without worrying about messing up the work you’ve already done.

There’s a new brush management tool as well. You’ll be able to pick which Pixel brushes to display or hide and make a custom set of brushes with the ones you use the most often. Fresco now has a preview tool for Photoshop, Pixel and Eraser brushes, which shows you the size and shape of the brush when you touch the screen. You can activate that though the Brushes menu, which is under the Input options in App Settings.

Like most conferences, Adobe Max will be virtual this year. It will also be completely free. The three-day event kicks off on October 20th, and registration is now open.

The full lineup includes content demos, feature previews, musical performances and celebrity appearances. Attendees will hear from Ava DuVerney, Keanu Reeves, Anne Leibovitz and Tyler, the Creator. By signing up early, you’ll get a chance to win a t-shirt, be able to build your schedule early, gain access to instructor files and more. 

As Wired points out, the initiative could one day help social media networks like Twitter and Facebook bolster the automated systems they already use to flag misleading images. Say a tragedy happens and people start sharing photos from the scene, the technology could assist those systems in preventing images that someone claims are from the same event from spreading.   

However, the system will only be as effective as the number of companies and organizations that adopt it. To make a dent against all the misleading images shared online, camera manufacturers, software developers, social media networks and media outlets will need to adopt the standard. At the moment, it’s hard to say whether that will be the case.  

Limiting Photoshop’s ability to spread misinformation is something Adobe has been thinking about for a while. In 2019, the company worked with researchers from UC Berkeley to train a machine learning-powered algorithm to spot images made with the software’s Face Away Liquify feature, a tool you can use to change and exaggerate a person’s facial features. The difference here is that publishers could use the company’s tagging system to spot a variety of fake images, not just ones created using one tool. 

“Every day we hear from customers about how they enjoy editing images with Photoshop on iPad to get ‘closer to the pixels.’ Because precise pixel selection is fundamental to achieving realistic results, we’ve placed extra attention on bringing this feature to life on the iPad to make it sing with pencil and touch.”

The Head of iPad Engineering for Adobe told Clark that “[t]ons of real-time calculations occur behind the scenes to isolate and select the right pixels” and that the team worked hard to make it as “performant as possible.” They’re already working on improving Refine Edge further, though, and will roll out enhancements with the next release.

The company first announced that it was bringing Refine Edge to the iPad late last year when it revealed how it plans to improve Photoshop for the platform. Users haven’t been happy with the iPad version’s limited features and have been asking for the tools they’re used to on desktop. Since then, Adobe has brought Select Subject, Object Selection, type settings and other desktop-quality tools to the iPad.

In addition to Refine Edge, Adobe has also introduced a two-finger rotation gesture that lets you rotate the canvas and zoom in at the same time. The rotation can snap at 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees, but you can switch off both snapping and rotation itself in settings.

After leaving Google in March, Marc Levoy, the imaging expert who helped create some of the Pixel lineup’s most important computational photography features, has landed at Adobe. In an email, the Photoshop-maker said Levoy will “spearhead company-wide technology initiatives focused on computational photography and emerging products, centered on the concept of a universal camera app.”

Precisely what that universal camera app will entail Adobe hasn’t said yet. However, the company notes Levoy will work with its Photoshop Camera, Adobe Research, Sensei and Digital Imaging teams. As The Verge notes, Adobe’s Photoshop Camera and Lightroom apps already include camera functionality. It’s possible a universal camera app could be something that’s available on both Android and iOS devices.  

Shopping

Amazon Prime

Amazon

If you’re not piggy-backing off of your parents’ Amazon Prime account, you can have the subscription for less while you’re in school. College students can get Prime Student for $6.50 per month or $60 per year, and it includes the same perks as a standard Prime membership including free two-day shipping, free same-day delivery in select areas, and access to the entire Prime Video library. Amazon also currently offers a six-month free trial, so you’ll pay even less during your first year.

Buy Prime Student at Amazon – $60/year

Shipt

Shipt is similar to DoorDash but for groceries and household essentials: Pay an annual fee and you can get same-day delivery from numerous stores including Target, Costco and CVS. Shipt’s student plan costs $50 for the year — a 50-percent discount from the normal price — and you get the first two weeks free. Just double check that Shipt has stores available in your area before you subscribe.

Buy Shipt – $50/year

Apple

Apple offers some deals to students and educators. This year in particular, Apple is throwing in a free pair of AirPods when you buy select Macs or iPads for college. You’ll get AirPods with the regular wired charging case free, or you can upgrade to AirPods with the wireless charging case for $40 more. Alternatively, you can get the AirPods Pro for $90 more. Apple knows how popular AirPods are and it clearly wants to sweeten the deal for students who have been thinking about getting a new computer before heading off to college.

The AirPods promotion also includes Apple education pricing on Macs and iPads. There isn’t a flat percentage rate across all products; the discounts are device dependent. For example, right now students can get a new MacBook Air starting at $899, which is $100 less than the normal starting price. The 13-inch MacBook Pro also starts off $100 cheaper and the new iPad Pros start at $749, or $50 cheaper than normal. These are decent savings if you must have a brand new Apple product, but those with tighter budgets should also consider Apple’s refurbishment program.

Shop Apple’s back-to-school promos

Samsung

Samsung offers up to 10 percent off most of its products to students and educators. The Galaxy manufacturer also has some decent offers like a free pair of Galaxy Buds when you buy a Samsung Chromebook. We’d recommend stretching that 10 percent discount as much as possible by using it on big-ticket items like a Samsung laptop or a Galaxy smartphone if you need one. Otherwise, Samsung has solid accessories like the T5 portable SSD and the Galaxy Watch Active 2.

Shop Samsung’s back-to-school promos

Microsoft

Microsoft also provides students and educators with up to 10 percent off its gadgets, including the already affordable Surface Go 2 and the new Surface Headphones 2. And Microsoft’s online store doesn’t only sell Surface devices — you can also find Windows PCs from Lenovo, HP, Acer and others there at discounted prices.

Shop Microsoft’s back-to-school promos

Streaming

Spotify

Will Lipman Photography / Spotify

Spotify Premium’s student plan gives you a lot for only $5 per month. Besides access to millions of songs, it also includes Hulu’s ad-supported plan and Showtime’s ad-free service. You’d spend roughly $27 per month if you paid for all three separately at their full prices, making this student offer one of the best you can get.

Buy Spotify Premium Student – $5/month

Pandora

Pandora also offers students its Premium membership for $5 per month. Pandora’s offering doesn’t include any additional services, but you do get an ad-free experience, personalized music, unlimited skips and unlimited offline play. 

Buy Pandora Premium Student- $5/month

Apple Music

Apple also slashes 50 percent off its Apple Music subscription for students, bringing it down to $5 per month. The offer is available for up to 48 months so you can enjoy the rate for the entirety of your college experience. What’s more, the company bundles Apple TV+ in this student offer, so you can watch Apple originals like The Morning Show and See. 

Buy Apple Music Student membership – $5/month

Tidal

Tidal provides student discounts on both of its streaming services: Premium and Hi-Fi. Premium drops to $5 per month, down from $10, while Hi-Fi costs $10 per month, down from $20. Tidal is still often overshadowed by Spotify and Apple Music, but these discounts are a good way to give it a try without spending too much money.

Buy Tidal Student starting at $10/month

YouTube

If you’re already spending a lot of time watching YouTube, you may have a better experience with YouTube Premium. The Student plan knocks nearly 50 percent off the price so you’ll pay $7 per month for ad-free video viewing, background play, video downloads and access to YouTube Premium Music. The latter is YouTube’s attempt at a Spotify/Apple Music competitor, but it has a long way to go before it can really hold a candle to those services. However, if you listen to most of your music via YouTube already, Premium could be your one-stop-shop for music and video streaming.

Buy YouTube Premium Student – $7/month

Audible

Audible can be a good way to supplement your Libby audiobook borrowing habit, especially when the student discount costs only $10 per month. That’s $5 less than a regular membership and you get all the perks: one credit per month for you to use on any title in Audible’s library plus two Audible Originals for free. The company also has daily deals and book sales regularly that are only available to members, so you can often snag two titles for the price of one or for as low as $2.

Buy Audible Student – $10/month

Headspace

Being a student is stressful even in the best of times, but now it’s even more difficult to concentrate and find peace. Headspace is just one of many meditation and mindfulness apps available that can help with that, but it stands apart with a great student discount: $10 for the entire year, or $60 less than a normal annual membership. In addition to a large library of meditation lessons and routines to follow, Headspace recently added SleepCasts, a collection of soothing voices reading bedtime stories to help you fall asleep, as well as “mindful” workout routines.

Buy Headspace Student plan – $10/year

Tools

Adobe Creative Cloud 

Adobe

You’re probably using Adobe products if you’re studying anything to do with digital art or design. Adobe CC is the industry standard in this space but the entire suite of programs is quite expensive at $53 per month. Thankfully, Adobe has education pricing for students that drops the entire creative suite to $20 per month for the first year. That includes the big programs like Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC along with Lightroom CC, Premiere Pro CC, Adobe XD and more.

After your first year, the monthly cost increases to $30 per month. While not ideal, it’s still more affordable for students than it is for industry professionals. If you’re not tied to Adobe programs, you can also consider Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher apps from Serif ($50 each for the Mac or Windows versions), which compete with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Buy Adobe CC for students – $20/month

Microsoft 365

Many students have to use Microsoft 365 tools on a regular basis. If your college or university doesn’t provide you with an account, you can still get Microsoft 365 for free by taking advantage of the company’s student and educator discount. This gives you access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and even Microsoft Teams free of charge, which is a great deal considering an annual subscription costs $100.

Get Microsoft 365

Ulysses

Spending all day and night writing papers is even more frustrating when you don’t have all your writing organized in one place. Ulysses is a popular writing app for mac/iOS that can be used for note taking as well as thesis writing, with features like auto-save and auto-backup, word-count writing goals, markup, plain text support and DropBox integration. Normally, Ulysses costs $40 per year but students can get it for only $11 every six months, or $22 per year. There isn’t a direct alternative for Windows users, but you do have options including Scrivener (a one-time student price of $41.65), IA Writer (a $20 one-time price) and FocusWriter (free and open-source).

Buy Ulysses – $22/year

LastPass Premium

Keep all of your school passwords and login information safe (and easily accessible) with a password manager like LastPass Premium. While the password manager doesn’t technically have a student discount, it does offer students six months of Premium for free. Premium, which costs $36 annually, adds 1GB of encrypted file storage on top of the features included in LastPass’ free tier — those include password storage and accessibility on all devices, password generator, multi-factor authentication and more. We suggest snagging the free six-month offer and deciding later if you want to continue with Premium or opt for the free tier.

Get LastPass

Squarespace Student plan

Whether you’re itching to get a jump-start on your portfolio or just want an online space for to show off your work, Squarespace is a good option as it gives students a 50 percent discount on any of its annual plans. The most affordable option will cost $72 for the year, which is half the normal yearly price of $144. Squarespace is one of many website builders out there, but it’s particularly popular with creative professionals. Its customizable templates make it easy to build a website and make it look exactly how you want it. Plus, you can upgrade down the line to add things like website analytics, custom JavaScript and CSS and e-commerce.

Buy Squarespace starting at $72/year

News

Will Lipman Photography / The Atlantic

It’s always been important to keep up with the news, but it’s never been more important than it is now. Yes, it’s daunting sometimes and we don’t expect (or encourage) you to inhale every breaking-news headline as it’s published. However, it’s crucial to know what’s going on in the country and the world as a whole. Here are some reputable news organizations that offer student discounts on their monthly or annual subscription plans.

The Atlantic: Starts at $25 per year for digital-only access.

The New York Times: $4 every four weeks for a base subscription.

The Washington Post: $5 every four weeks for digital-only access.

The Wall Street Journal: Starting at $1 per month for the Student Digital Pack.

It’s no secret that Adobe will end support for Flash when 2020 is over, but now it’s evident just how aggressive that cutoff will be. ZDNet reports that Adobe will prompt you to uninstall Flash “later this year” — if you don’t already know it’s time to leave the plugin behind, you will soon. And while it won’t surprise you to hear that Adobe will stop offering downloads, the company has also warned that it will block Flash content from running in the player starting in 2021.

It’s not completely shocking that Adobe would be so firm. Flash is known to be a security nightmare, and allowing users to keep running it without support would invite attackers to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. Still, it’s rare to see any developer drop support so thoroughly that it won’t let you use the software and actively discourages use months in advance.