TechCrunch reports that Digg users will have full profile pages that allow them to connect to friends and share stories in a manner similar to Facebook and MySpace. Digg users will also have access to Facebook Wall-like features.
Apple has formally announced the release date for the Apple iPhone in Germany. Consumers there will have to shell out the equivalent of about US$557 after signing a 2-year contract. I continue to be dismayed that so many people are prepared to pay such an outrageous price for this device.
TechCrunch has the story here.
In 2006 most of us were shocked at the Konica Minolta announcement that it was withdrawing from the camera and photo business and would be transferring assets related to their camera business to Sony. Today we read a Reuters story that Fujifilm’s digital camera business is really struggling, even after a major overhaul of its photographic film operations last year in which it cut 5,000 jobs.
In this latest restructuring to boost efficiency, Fujifilm is set to transfer its remaining digital camera production to China, where it has already transferred 80 percent of its in-house production in a bid to lower costs. It also has plans to outsource aspects of its CCD development and processing business and to dissolve Fujifilm Photonix Co, a wholly owned subsidiary. Fujifilm sold 6.6 million digital cameras in its past business year.
According to Reuters, “The digital camera business has remained a weak spot, and it only broke even on an operating basis in the past business year ended in March as it struggled to keep up with price competition from larger rivals such as Canon Inc.”
Fujifilm—the world’s seventh-largest digital camera maker in 2006—has struggled because it does not have the economies of scale of the larger players such as Canon and Nikon. Moreover, Fujifilm has not captured a major position in high-end digital SLR market segment, which is also the high-margin segment.
TechCrunch reports that IBM has announced the launch of a free Microsoft Office competitor, Lotus Symphony, which like Sun Star Office is based on the Open Office code base.
The new IBM Lotus Symphony is expected to include word processing, spreadsheets and presentations and will be available for download from this IBM Website.
Lotus Symphony is the same name the old (pre-IBM-ownership) Lotus Corp. used for its 1980’s Lotus suite product that never really took off—better luck this time around, IBM.
Mozilla Corp., the open-source developer that produces the excellent Firefox WWW browser, has decided to set up a new for-profit venture to work on its Thunderbird e-mail client.
According to Computerworld, “David Ascher, the former chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at ActiveState Software Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based development tool maker, will lead the new company.”
Mozilla announced that it will seed the yet to be named company with $3 million in start-up money.
Wacom Co., Ltd. has introduced it’s latest pen tablets: Bamboo and Bamboo Fun. These new products are set to replace Wacom’s Graphire series and are targeted at the hobbyist who wants the power of a pen tablet, but doesn’t want to spend a lot for it.
For working in Photoshop, a pen tablet is way more effective than using a mouse. And when you’re preparing a slide presentation or working on your favorite photos, you can:
And these new devices look way cooler than a mouse pad.
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post (Lightroom 1.2 and Camera Raw 4.2 are now available), Stephen Shankland has an interesting article over at CNET News.com giving more details about the Adobe updates.
I’m hearing rumors about Nikon will be releasing a new really high-end DSLR early in 2008. Rumors are coming from sources that are usually reliable, so it’ll be interesting to see what Nikon has to say in first quarter 2008.
Not that most of us will ever be able to afford a truly high-end pro camera, but there is always a trickle-down effect after new technology has been around for a while. For now I’ll keep dreaming about the D300 (sigh).
Lightroom 1.2 and Camera Raw 4.2 are now available. Lightroom customers will receive an update notification through Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 users will be able to download the Camera Raw 4.2 update through the Adobe Update Manager. This update also includes the DNG Converter 4.2.
These updates include support for new cameras and apparently address several “bug fixes.” However, don’t look for the grand upgrades we got when we went from version 1.0 to 1.1
Details can be found at Lightroom Journal.
According to Derrick Story at The Digital Story Web site, rich internet applications (RIA) got a major boost when Adobe announced its latest entrant into that space at the recent Photoshop World in Las Vegas.
This is an interesting development as the Web-based application is expected to be available free, at least, at first — I think we can expect a pay-as-you-go premium edition in the future.
CNet News.com reports that a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates rates Nikon as the leader in customer satisfaction among digital SLR customers in the United States. Sony came in second and Canon a distant third.
Go to CNet for the full story.
Sony is the latest of the major digital SLR makers to announce a flashy new model of their high-end consumer camera.
According to Imaging Resource:
The new Sony A700 is a beefy SLR with a 12.2 megapixel CMOS sensor designed for the photo enthusiast. The sensor was made by Sony specifically for this camera, according to the company. The Sony A700’s sensor has a 1.5x crop factor, the same as most other digital SLR cameras on the market.
Its Sony A700 body is a combination of magnesium alloy in the front and top, and polycarbonate on the back and other panels, which probably helps make it lighter than the previous Maxxum 7D by 2.3 ounces (65.5g).
For more information, visit the Imaging Resource Web site.
Anyone who is serious about digital photography will learn quickly that electronic processing can significantly improve the quality of their images. Use of computer tools such as Photoshop has brought the production of lab-quality images within the reach of most amateurs.
Many amateurs, however, overlook the importance of colour calibration. Every modern monitor — new, old, LCD, CRT — will benefit from calibration. Let their be no doubt of that. And calibration with a hardware device will produce a better result than will calibration with software. Those of you who are not yet convinced should know that lack of colour calibration is the number one cause of colours in your prints not closely matching what you see on your display.
A colour calibration tool will cost between US$100 and US$300 — pro versions are much more expensive, but most amateurs won’t need to go above US$250. Some local camera stores rent the device for about $35/day. And some local camera clubs may do the same.
Dry Creek Photo has done tests on a wide range of devices and is a good place to start.
Assuming you already have a calibrated monitor, you may then want to consider using Apple’s Safari, the only one of the mainstream Web browsers to be “colour aware.” Current versions of the Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers are not colour aware and will not render Web images as faithfully as will Safari.
I have read that the upcoming Version 3 of Firefox will be colour aware, but am not sure what Microsoft has planned for IE.
Safari has been available for several years on the Mac and, earlier this year, became available for Windows. The Windows version is a beta so you can expect some minor issues. It is an Apple product, however, so you won’t go too far wrong with it.
I’m a Firefox/Windows XP user and won’t change to Safari in the short term. But when I’m browsing photography Web sites and viewing high-quality images, I switch to Safari for that session.
For more information, Google “monitor calibration.” Their are lots of sites with expert-level information available.
Over at Inside Digital Photo, Scott Sheppard interviews Vincent Versace, who gives a first-hand look at Nikon’s newest digital SLR, the full-frame Nikon D3.
The Nikon D3 can handle exposures of ISO 100 to an incredible 25600 enabling image capture in almost complete darkness. And it “sees” both full-frame and DX lenses, knows the difference and automatically adjusts to either lens setting.
Great stuff! Go here to listen to Scott Sheppard’s podcast.
See here for my previous post on the Nikon D3.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 gets the nod as Imaging Software of the Year from Popular Photography magazine. As an avid user of Lightroom, I see this as well-deserved. For serious digital photographers who take large numbers of shots, this software is worth a serious look. At US$300 it’s pricey though, so many amateurs will pass on it for something like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI.
It’s worth noting too that Lightroom 1.1 is now available and has some excellent improvements over version 1.0.
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