Modula4 Partner WoodWing has added new abilities to the Content Station Basic user interface. Beginning with the recently released 9.2.0 Build 51 basic users are allowed to manage content to Publication Channels. Previously this functionality was only available in Content Station Pro.

Basic users are now allowed to:

• Add and remove Publication Channels for files
• Add and remove Publication Channels for Dossiers
• Assign files to print or dps channels in the Dossier interface

The change to the Content Station basic license only applies to Content Station 9.2.0 or higher.

To learn more about WoodWing Enterprise visit here.

Recently a severe vulnerability in OpenSSL known as the Heartbleed bug was announced. Modula4 has assessed the risk to the systems it has deployed of being effected by  the Heartbleed bug. We have determined the risk is extremely low. The vast majority of the systems deployed by Modula4 don’t use the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol and only a subset of those using SSL are at risk. For those whose systems do use SSL, please contact your server administrator or Modula4 to see if your system is vulnerable or any action is required.

Modula4 has just released the S3 Connector for Cumulus, a new product that integrates Cumulus with the Amazon S3 cloud. Now images, graphics, videos and documents managed by Cumulus can be downloaded quickly by users anywhere in the world. Put assets close to the people who need them. Reduce download times and the bandwidth costs that can result from storing the assets inside your own facility.

With the S3 Connector for Cumulus you can choose to have some assets stored locally and others stored in the Amazon cloud. When used with multiple instances of Amazon S3, users will be able to download assets from the Amazon data center closest to them.

The S3 Connector for Cumulus comes in Single and Multi editions. The Single edition is used with just one Amazon S3 location. This is ideal for getting the assets outside your own facility in order to cut down on bandwidth costs and bottlenecks when delivering assets to external users. The Multi edition has all the benefits of the Single edition but also lets you store the assets at an unlimited number of Amazon S3 location. This provide fast downloads to users no matter where they are located. You can even upload different assets to each S3 location, so only assets relevant to the region are available from that location.

To learn more about the S3 Connector for Cumulus visit here.

Modula4 partner Picturepark has published a new eBook that provides useful information for those planning and deploying a digital asset management system. Titled “DAM Prep in 7 Steps” the book is part of Pictureparks #learndam initiative which provides digital asset management educational materials that are neither sales-focused nor specific to any particular DAM solution.

“DAM Prep in 7 Steps” topics include:

• Making sure DAM is really what’s needed
• Finding trusted guidance to help users throughout their initiatives
• Managing expectations so that everyone is happier with the DAM
• Basic taxonomy and metadata design practices and ideas
• Preparing for the DAM configuration project
• Launching and supporting the DAM
• Recommended further reading

The 35-page book is available at in PDF, Kindle and ePub formats at no cost by filling out the form below.

To learn more about Picturepark visit here. 

As part of our continuing effort to improve our technical support and professional services offerings, Modula4 has launched a new customer survey program.  After each support issue is resolved and after each professional services engagement is completed, we are requesting that our customers complete a short survey. For support issues the survey is just 3 questions, for professional services it’s only 5 questions. Both surveys include a comment area where customers can provide additional feedback.

We understand how busy our customers are and we greatly value their time. The surveys are designed to take just a minute or two to complete. But the feedback these provide will ensure that our technical support and professional services maintain their high quality and perhaps even find room for improvement.

If you don’t currently have a support ticket open or are not currently engaged with our professional services team but would like to provide feedback, please contact us here. 

WoodWing Software released version 9.2 of its multi-channel publishing system Enterprise. Via a new connector, this release enables the centralized publication of content to WordPress sites. Additional new features ensure even smoother and faster processes in multi-channel publishing environments.

The new WordPress connector for Enterprise enables publishers and brands to transparently integrate WordPress as a new channel in their publishing and communication processes. In Content Station, the editorial management application of Enterprise, publishing to a WordPress site follows the same easy three-step process as for any other digital channel: Creation of a dossier, authoring of text and images, and the immediate publication of the article.

With Enterprise 9.2, WoodWing also further simplifies repurposing of content. Article components and other content published to WordPress sites can easily be reused in social media, mobile, other CMS systems, in print and on tablets – and vice versa.

The latest version of Content Station now also eases the editing of the properties of any number of files at one time, a significant time saver when facing production deadlines. For example, users can quickly update properties of multiple assets such as their status, next assigned worker in line, copyright information, and other metadata.

In print production and tablet publishing, Enterprise Server enables users of InDesign and InCopy to access all content through WoodWing´s Smart Connection panel directly from within both applications. They can conveniently search and browse, open layouts, place images, save versions, and route documents to others according to the pre-defined workflows. The Smart Connection plug-in now allows the replacing of an image in the layout with a file in a different format – all while the version control features of Enterprise help keep track of the changes.

With Enterprise 9.2, WoodWing also officially released the support for Adobe InDesign CC and InCopy CC, which successfully passed an intensive public testing.

To learn more about WoodWing Enterprise, visit here.

Modula4 welcomes two new staff members this month. Jesus Ibàñez has joined as Senior Developer in Modula4’s Berlin office and Mandy Clark is the new Office Administrator of Modula4’s San Francisco Bay Area office.

Jesus, a dual-citizen of Spain and Uruguay, has a background as a software engineer, IT consultant and researcher in machine translation. At Modula4 his responsibilities include hands-on software development as well as coordinating the work of other engineers and acting as a liaison between clients, engineers and other Modula4 technical staff.

Mandy brings several years of administrative experience in the accounting and mortgage industries. In addition to ensuring that office operations runs smoothly, her responsibilities include managing software maintenance renewals, producing quotes and invoices and providing administrative support to other staff members.

Modula4 partner Picturepark has released an update to its DAM system that features faster searches, the ability to rank results and other enhancements. To improve search speed, Picturepark 8.6 now features a “NoSQL” indexing layer on top of the underlying SQL database. This approach offers the advantages of extremely responsive searches coupled with the stability and scalability of an enterprise-class database.

In addition, search results are now ranked by relevance. Picturepark administrators can “weigh” the importance of each metadata field so that each customer can choose field matches that are most relevant to them. The complete contents of PDF, Word and other document formats are now searched with no perceivable impact on performance.

Picturepark 8.6 also delivers improved video playback. Users can jump to any position in a video for immediate playback. This allows users to add video cue points that work like bookmarks. Each cue point includes its own metadata, enabling users to find specific video locations in addition to complete videos. Users can click any cue point to instantly move to that section of the video and begin playback.

Additional improvement enhance asset sharing and permissions management as well as various backed improvements, including support for Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS 2.0).

Contact Modula4 to learn more about Picturepark 8.6.

The DAM Guru Program, an educational service started by Modula4 partner Picturepark, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with new services and operational improvements.

During its first year, DAM Guru Program has connected hundreds of digital asset management users from around the world, helped members find work through a virtual job fair and showcased a selection of “gurus” via weekly profiles posted to its website.

Renewing its commitment to support and grow the program, Picturepark has announced operational changes and new member services that it expects to provide additional value to members and increase membership. Among what’s new, DAM Guru Program members can now host educational webinars about Digital Asset Management and related topics.

The program is designed to be educational and is not vendor-specific. Gurus bring a variety of backgrounds and offer help to those using a wide variety of systems.

You can learn more about the DAM Guru Program here.

As part of their new rapid release cycle, Modula4 partner Canto has released Cumulus 9.0.3 less than a month after the release of Cumulus 9.0.2. The latest release contains enhancements to the new Web Client and the web server console. Also new is a Linux installer for the workflow automation tool Roboflow.

Enhancement to the Web Client include the ability to display table fields, add an administrative message, create a custom footer and add some branding elements. Also new is a “comment” feature that allows user to create, reply to and update comments. Annotations made with the native client can be viewed in the Web Client.

Contact us to learn more about Cumulus 9.0.3.