Latest iOS Photo Apps To Hit The App Store

Apple has been busy today, not least preparing for the iPad 2 launch tomorrow but also with approving apps, judging by the list of incredible photo apps, just take a look at these...

ALPA eFinder

Whether you are photographer, cinematographer or even painter, one oft the fundamental elements when composing a picture or artwork is to visualize and frame. With the ALPA camera the photographer performs this task via the optical viewfinder and masks per focal length/format, via the ground glass, an external viewfinder or other means. The ALPA eFinder app emulates this in an extremely flexible, powerful and easy to operate app on the iPhone/iPod touch. In addition ALPA developed a dedicated iPhone holder for their cameras. Together they build a full-fledge viewfinder.

Use the ALPA eFinder for composing your later image quick, convenient and easy. Or use the ALPA eFinder for comparing and emulating several lenses together in one picture before you even mount a single lens. With a tap you save the image including all the GPS coordinates (in written in the picture plus in the EXIF). Location scouting, preparing your shooting or retrieve your location has never been easier.

$9.99/Download

8-Bit Pocket Camera

Retro charm hits the iPhone with nostaglic filter, live viewfinder, special effects and montages to boot.

$0.99/Download

Portraitist A Camera App With Selftimer

Portraitist is a camera app with self timer.
You can take your whole body portrait.Also you can take any photos without person who presses the shutter of a camera.

- You can set the timer (3~15sec)

- And if you use iPhone4 or iPod Touch 4th , you can use front-camera and flash.

- Portraitist will let you know the time till taking photo with beep(every second)

 

Dream Cam

Add dreamy colors to your picture for an extreme makeover! Simply load or take a picture, choose from 22 different fancy themes and adjust tones/colors with easy sliders. You can create your own artistic photo in a second! Unique. Lovely. Save and email to your friends and family to let them know what an creative artist you are. Also included are demo pictures for an immediate spin.

$1.99/Download

InfiniFX

Discover the infinite possibilities to filter your photos and videos!

Quickly and easily select the effects you like and fine-tune them as you prefer to match your ideas. And if you like the result, you can save the filters together as a new one to easily apply them later on other pictures. (or videos).

21 base effects, all of them with many adjustable parameters:

artistic contours, bloom, blur, channel mixer, color change, color overlay, color replace, edges, glowing edges, intensity, invert, median, monochrome, pencil, pixelate, photocopier, posterize, sharpen, splash, solarize, two-color ... or combine any of these together to create your own, unique effect.

$1.99/Download

PAI Creator

PAI (Photo Anagram™ Image) Creator generates stunning image patterns from user photographs. Any photo and subject can be used to create your patterns. Save the patterns to the photo library, or email to family and friends. Study pattern formation from everyday photographs to create your own unique and fascinating designs for screen savers, note cards, postcards and other purposes.

$0.99/Download

CollageMaker Pro - Stunning Photo Collages

Create stunning collages and digital scrapbooks with ease using CollageMaker Pro!

An app that lets you make collages *your way*. Add photos from your album or take a snapshot, include customizable text, even draw doodles! PLUS: Apply photo filter effects, crop, zoom, rotate, change transparency, reorder, rearrange, borders, drop shadows.

$1.99/Download

Leica M9 concise review

This review has been moved to our new site at https://digitaljournalofphotography.com/from-the-past-leica-m9-review/

Sales


Buy the outstanding Leica M9 at Adorama:

Adorama (US)
Black body $6,995
Steel Gray body $6,995

Leica M9-P black $7,995.00
Leica M9-P Silver Chrome $7,995.00

Amazon UK
Black body £4,875.00 inc VAT
Steel Grey £4,875.00 inc VAT

Related Posts


Read our review of the Leica X1 here.

Read our review of the earlier Leica M8.2 here.

Related posts: Leica outs surprise M9-P

Lastolite announce Hotrod Strip Softbox

Press release:

Lastolite Limited, the world’s leading manufacturer of backgrounds and lighting control systems for the photo, video and cinema industry, has announced the launch of the new Hotrod Strip Softbox.
    
The new Hotrod Strip Softbox is for use with battery operated flashguns. The Strip Softbox is available in two different sizes and features an adapter plate with rods which supports the weight of the softbox and an inner diffusion panel. The flashgun simply slides into a shoe mount attached to the adapter plate.

Main Features and Benefits:

1.    Strip box for full length lighting
2.    Simple assembly
3.    Slide on shoe mount for flashgun

Pricing and Availability:

Available in two sizes, 30cm x 120cm and 40cm x 120cm at SRP £120 and £132 inc.

For stockist information, please click here.

Panasonic announce SDHC UHS-I cards

Panasonic Introduce New SDHC UHS-I Memory Cards with 80MB/s*1 Write Speed

Panasonic is pleased to introduce new SDHC UHS-I Memory Cards with read and write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 80MB/s.  The new Gold cards, compliant with the SD Memory Card Specification Ver.3.01 (UHS104), are the ideal media for digital SLR cameras which requires high-speed write performance. The new cards will be globally introduced in April, 2011 with 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB capacities.

With the highest-level writing speed of up to 80MB/s, the new cards are perfect for high-speed consecutive shooting in HD quality with digital SLR cameras.  When the new SDHC UHS-I Memory Cards are used with UHS-I supported digital still cameras, the number of consecutive shots will be increased to be twice of that of the current Gold models*3. The cards also allow for quick data transfer to a PC and can transfer data approx. 4 times*4 faster than the current Gold SDW series.

The new cards are also highly reliable and durable. Super Intelligent Controller (SICS) provides Power Failure Protection to protect data from sudden power failure, Refresh Function to extend the archival life over 10 times, and Smart Data Writing to minimize defect risk caused by intensive writing.  They are also equipped with “Proof 5” feature (water-, shock-, magnet-, X-ray-, temperature-proof) to withstand severe conditions.

The new 8 GB (RP-SDA08G), 16 GB (RP-SDA16G) and 32 GB (RP-SDA32G) will be available in April 2011.
-End-
*1 Under UHS-I bus interface(SDR104 speed mode).
*2 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes.  Usable capacity will be less.
*3 The number of shots depends on the performance of DSC.
*4 Theoretical figure. Actual speed depends on devices and conditions.


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NEC announce Display Solutions Showcase at Battersea Power Station

Press release:

NEC Display Solutions to host third Display Solutions Showcase at London’s Battersea Power Station
 
Compelling opportunities at the industry forum for Display technology
 
London, 4 March 2011 - NEC Display Solutions announce the third annual Solutions Showcase to take place on Wednesday 6th April. NEC Display Solutions, in conjunction with their Solutions Partners, will showcase the latest developments to impact on the Displays industry at the most unique and compelling Display Solutions event of the year to be held within the backdrop of London‘s iconic Battersea Power Station.
 
The NEC Solutions Showcase enjoys an established reputation as a unique forum to exchange ideas and to experience a vast range of innovative technology solutions. The event focuses on application rather than product for a truly beneficial experience for anyone buying, installing or specifying within a Displays related environment.
 
The event will feature a number of interactive zones enabling visitors to experience real-life demonstrations within the key areas of Education, Digital out of Home, Control Rooms, Professional Office and Meeting Rooms, 3D and Green Display Technology. This is not just another exhibition but a unique chance to get hands-on with the latest technology from some of the industry‘s pioneering leaders. New for 2011, the Showcase will be augmented by two free of charge seminars hosted by ‘The Screen Forum’ covering “Education – maximising your budget” and “Wayfinding” from research undertaken at Westfield Shopping Centre. The Screen Forum UK is an independent group dedicated to the ongoing development of the digital signage industry. Its members include representatives from all aspects of this rapidly growing medium, and its events aim to promote best practice across the industry through the sharing of expertise and thought-leadership.
 
Demonstrating within the zones at the show will be some of NEC’s Display Solutions Partners including SMART, Instore Media, Scala, Nexus, Pixel Inspiration, AMX, OneLan, U-touch, CBS, TeamMate, Extron, Dexon, Lifesize, DAS Business Furniture, Ergonomic Solutions, Matrox, Crestron, NexNix, VBrick, Saturn Visual, Whitespace, 3D International and Amazing Interactive and many more.
 
‘The NEC Solutions Showcase is the manifestation of what NEC Display Solutions represents as the leading provider of commercial display solutions.’ said Simon Jackson, VP NEC Display Solutions. ‘I am delighted by the response to our annual Showcase both in terms of the quality, quantity and mix of attendees but also by the genuine cooperation between our Solutions Partners and I am confident of even greater rewards for all participants in 2011’.
 
Open to anyone buying, installing or specifying within the displays industry, visitors are invited to attend the event free of charge in order to meet with the NEC team and explore possible opportunities whilst earning a chance to win an iPod! The event will take place on Wednesday 6th April with the Education seminar in the morning and the Wayfinding seminar in the afternoon. Located at Battersea Power Station, Gate 1, Cringle Street, London SW8 5BN there are opportunities to tour the original 1930s control room before it is completely refurbished in 2012.
 
Shuttle buses are every 10 mins from Victoria and Vauxhall Station. Nearest tube: Victoria, Sloane Square 10 min walk. Nearest train: Battersea Park, Victoria and Waterloo. Free unlimited car parking on site.
 
For further details and to register your interest, please click here

Canon enter European production photo market

Press release:

Canon enters production photo printing market

• New DreamLabo 5000 marks Canon’s entry into production photo printing, a new area of business for Canon
• High quality prints and productivity of the production printer make it ideal for production photo printing and premium small batch print-on-demand
• DreamLabo 5000 offers a viable alternative to silver halide technology and sets a new Canon quality standard
 
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 3rd March 2011 — Canon, world-leader in imaging solutions today announces the company’s European entry into the production photo printing market, with the launch of the DreamLabo 5000 production inkjet printer.  In line with the company’s stated growth strategy of expanding business operations through diversification, the DreamLabo 5000 marks Canon’s first entry in the production photo printing market.

Delivering a new standard of combined photo and text quality together with high productivity, the device offers the production photo printing market a viable alternative to silver halide technology that will revitalise the photo printing market.

In addition, through opportunities possible from premium quality, it offers both the production photo and the small batch premium print-on-demand (POD) markets substantial new revenue opportunities.

Canon’s entry into the production photo printing market completes its strategy to become the leader of digital photography. With the company’s 70 year photo heritage and 30 year printing heritage, Canon is the only company that covers the full photo imaging spectrum from input to output and the print spectrum from small volume printing at home to industrial production printing.  

Ryoichi Bamba, President and CEO, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa, comments: “This launch signifies a new business direction for Canon as we are proud to announce not just a new machine, but the technology that can revitalise the entire industry and open up substantial new business opportunities.  With the DreamLabo 5000, Canon is setting a new standard for the production printing of high quality photos and high definition text.”

Leveraging and extending Canon’s existing inkjet technology, which it has successfully deployed through its PIXMA desktop printers and imagePROGRAF wide format range, the DreamLabo 5000 features a newly developed high-density print head, enabling 305 mm wide printing output.  Incorporating Canon’s FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology, the print head enables the printing of high-quality photos and detailed text to support a variety of high-value-added output, from premium photo albums, photo books, photo calendars, photo collages and other merchandise to high-quality POD items, such as bespoke brochures.

The wide print head delivers high-speed One-Pass Printing, requiring only a single pass of the printing paper while the print head remains in a fixed position. When used in combination with the automatic Double-sided Printing function, the DreamLabo 5000 is capable of printing the contents of a 20-page A4-size photo album in just 72 seconds* and the printing of 40 photo prints (102 x 152mm) in one minute. The system also realises high productivity by enabling paper and ink tank replacement during printing, supporting the extended operation times required for production printers.

DreamLabo 5000 uses a seven-colour dye-based ink system that delivers smooth gradation.  Employing image processing technology that makes use of the full range of Canon’s unique inkjet printing colour gamut, the new printer enables the output of photo images with a level of colour representation superior to that of conventional silver halide photographs.

The DreamLabo 5000 will be available from Canon across Europe from early 2012.

*This product is intended for print-use only. For photo album and POD production, a book binding process requiring other equipment would be necessary.

More information can be found here.

Corel to showcase products at Focus

Press release:

Corel Showcases Award-Winning Products at Focus on Imaging 2011
Corel Provides Great Offers on Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro X3, Corel® Painter™ 11 and CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5 to coincide with Focus on Imaging 2011.
 
Maidenhead, UK – 3 March 2011 – Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics and digital media software, is pleased to announce its participation at the Focus on Imaging 2011 show.

The Corel team will be hosting a range of photo and video editing demonstrations and workshops at regular intervals throughout each day and invites attendees to meet the team of experts at its interactive Digital Darkroom stand E9, 6-9 March at Birmingham’s NEC.

Stop by the stand to learn more about multiple-award-winning image editing and creativity products, such as, Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro, Corel® Painter™ and Corel® VideoStudio® Pro along with other Corel products and see them demonstrated by the team of experts.

Be one of the first to see Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 in action. The new version of Corel’s powerful video editing software is ideal for photographers who are getting into video and want a fun and creative environment in which to learn a new craft. VideoStudio Pro X4 allows you to pull in photos and HD video, create quick cuts and build your movie or slideshow with pro-looking effects and transitions. Use new tools like Stop Motion and Time-Lapse to create and share professional-quality videos. With outstanding speed and easy ways to bring great-looking movies to the screen, VideoStudio Pro X4 combines power and simplicity to break down the barriers to video editing.

Corel is also delighted to present some great offers which customers can take advantage of during the show or online.

·         Save 25% on Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro X3: Buy for just £59.99 (inc VAT)
·         Save 25% on Corel® Painter™ 11: Buy for just £206.10 (inc VAT)
·         FREE Western Digital® 2 TB external hard drive* with the full version of CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5 (* Terms and conditions apply.)

For further information, visit the Corel Digital Darkroom at Stand E9 or click here.

“Corel is thrilled to be exhibiting at Europe's biggest annual imaging show as Focus on Imaging is a great environment for us to showcase our multiple-award-winning image editing and creativity products. Our Digital Darkroom stand is better than ever, so we look forward to meeting our users and hearing all about the great ways they use our software.” said Brett Denly, Senior Director, Channel Sales.

National Portrait Gallery announce Only Connect

Press release

ONLY CONNECT
From 16 April to 27 November 2011
Room 33
Admission free
 
Only Connect is an unconventional new display at the National Portrait Gallery presenting a web of portraits connecting sitters across three centuries. Comprising paintings, sculpture, photographs, engravings, drawings, miniatures and works in other media from the National Portrait Gallery’s holdings, the display uses musical connections to explore new ways of looking at the Collection.
 
The display proposes a network of threads connecting singers, composers, artists, doctors, sculptors, poets, engineers, ambassadors and many others. As a result, everyone in the display is linked in one way or another. The connections range from the profound and the personal to the accidental and the incidental. Some were friends and some were lovers, several wrote about each other or had similar ideas, others were enemies or simply met on the street. For example, composer Benjamin Britten and violinist and conductor, Yehudi Menuhin performed at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after liberation in 1945. Yehudi Menuhin gave ground-breaking performances of composer Michael Tippett’s Corelli Fantasia. The sets and costumes for Tippett’s opera Midsummer Marriage were designed by sculptor Barbara Hepworth. An alternative route is formed by writer George Bernard Shaw who corresponded with the pianist Harriet Cohen. She premiered Elgar’s Piano Quintet and Elgar made his most famous recording of his Violin Concerto with the teenaged Yehudi Menuhin. Such links evoke an invisible layer of human interconnectedness, a ‘six degrees of separation’ through the Collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
 
The choice of pictures reflects a ‘reading’ of the National Portrait Gallery Collection in the light of interaction and connectedness. Any sense of hierarchy, whether between creative or interpretative artists, musicians or great engineers has been avoided. This is reflected in the choice of works in the display, which purposefully presents mass-produced material such as engravings alongside masterworks. The title of the display, Only Connect, is taken from E M Forster’s novel, Howard’s End, which is concerned with the difficulties, troubles and benefits of relationships between members of different social classes. The display, Only Connect, presents one possible reading: it is open to the viewer to make other connections.
 
The display has been devised by Peter Sheppard Skærved in collaboration with Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery. Peter Sheppard Skærved is the dedicatee of over 200 works for solo violin, and has appeared as soloist in over thirty countries. One of very few people to perform on Paganini’s violin, il Cannone, Peter regularly performs in, and works with, museums worldwide.
 
Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator says: ‘People rarely exist in isolation but are connected with each other. Only Connect offers a new way of looking at portraits by focusing on the connections – in this case musical connections – that link all the individuals featured in the display. It may look unusual at first, but we hope our visitors will enjoy this alternative way of thinking about portraiture.’
 
EVENTS
 
There will be a series of musical performances in response to the display:
 
•         13 May 2011 The Kreutzer Quartet respond to connections between Beethoven, Tippett and T.S. Eliot
•         3 June 2011 Peter Sheppard Skærved (Violin) and Julian Perkins (Harpsichord) perform works by Maria Cosway, Tartini, Corelli and Judith Bingham
•         1 July 2011 Peter Sheppard Skærved (Violin) and Aaron Shorr (Piano) play works by Bartok, Stravinsky, and Haflidi Hallgrimsson
•         9 September 2011 Peter Sheppard Skærved (Violin), performing pieces by Paganini, Joachim, and Michael Alec Ros
•         30 September 2011 Peter Sheppard Skærved (Violin) with students from the Royal Academy of Music, London, perform pieces by Mendelssohn, Britten and David Gorton
 
There will be two free tours of the display with Peter Sheppard Skærved in Room 33 on Tuesday 3 May 2011 at 15.00 and Thursday 19 May 2011 at 19.30. Further events will be announced shortly.
 
For further information on these events please click here.

Eizo out 27-inch ColorEdge CG275W display

High-end monitor manufacturer Eizo has announced the self-calibrating ColorEdge CG275W, a 27-inch wide gamut display for imaging professionals. Uniquely, the CG275W has a built-in spectrophotometer located in the lower left of the bezel which pops up automatically when calibration is initiated using the supplied ColorNavigator software. The monitor will be available in April, but there's no word as yet on the price.

UPDATE 19 December 2011, the CG275W retails at $3,389.

Press release

EIZO’s new self-calibrating, eco-friendly 27”

EIZO has announced the launch of its new ColorEdge CG275W, a 27” monitor for professionals in prepress, digital photography, graphic design, video editing, post production, and other graphics fields.

EIZO UK is exclusively unveiling the ColorEdge CG275W 27” self calibrating monitor at this year’s “Focus on Imaging” show. Exhibiting on stand C3 at the NEC from the 6th – 9th March 2011, the new CG275W will take centre stage amongst the rest of the EIZO ColorEdge and FlexScan monitors at the renowned photographic show.

The ColorEdge CG275W features a built-in calibration sensor for self-calibration. It becomes the second monitor in the graphics industry with this capability, following EIZO’s ColorEdge CG245W which was released last year.

Self-calibration eliminates the need for a third-party external calibration device and improves work efficiency since the monitor can be scheduled to self-calibrate outside of work hours when the computer is turned off. The computer itself is not necessary so a self-calibrated ColorEdge CG275W can be used with any operating system.

The ColorEdge CG275W uses an IPS (in-plane switching) LCD panel with a native resolution of 2560 x 1440 (16:9 aspect ratio). This is more pixels than produced by two 19-inch monitors with a 1280 x 1024 native resolution so the monitor has ample space for displaying graphics applications and tool palettes. It has a maximum brightness of 270 cd/m2, contrast ratio of 850:1, 6 ms grey-to-grey response time, and 178° viewing angles.

DVI-D, DisplayPort, and Mini DisplayPort inputs are included. All three ports offer up to 10-bit display which allows the monitor to show 1.07 billion colours simultaneously from a 16-bit look-up table (LUT).1

Several features are included for accurate colour display.
•    Gamma curve is calibrated on the factory line.
•    Wide colour gamut reproduces 97% of the Adobe RGB colour space.
•    3D LUT improves the panel’s additive colour mixture (combination of red, green, and blue) for more accurate colour and greyscale tones.
•    Digital Uniformity Equaliser (DUE) compensates for fluctuations in brightness and chroma uniformity that are characteristic of LCD panels.
•    EIZO-patented technology stabilizes the brightness after start up or coming out of sleep mode.

The ColorEdge CG275W uses hardware calibration so the monitor itself is calibrated rather than the computer’s graphics card. This ensures no tones are lost in the calibration process for more predictable on-screen colour. EIZO’s bundled ColorNavigator calibration software2 is used for setting the target values for brightness, white point, and gamma and generating an ICC profile.

ColorNavigator includes a “Correlation Utility” that matches the measurement results of the ColorEdge CG275W’s built-in calibration sensor to those of an external calibration device. This may be necessary in a work environment where the ColorEdge CG275W is used with other monitors and all measurement results need to be standardised.

The ColorEdge CG275W comes with six preset colour modes that reproduce common colour spaces used in pre-press, digital photography, broadcasting and digital cinema: Adobe RGB, sRGB, Rec709, EBU, SMPTE-C, and DCI.

Additional Features
•    Includes a shading hood that can be used in portrait mode as well as landscape mode.
•    FlexStand 2 with 90° portrait display, 151.5 mm height adjustment, 25° tilt, and 344° swivel.
•    Energy-saving presence sensor that detects when the user is absent and prompts the monitor to enter sleep mode. When the user returns, normal operation automatically resumes.
•    USB 2.0 hub with one upstream and two downstream ports.
•    Consumes less than one watt in power save mode and no power when turned off.
•    Simulation of two types of red-green (protanopia and deuteranopia) and one type of blue-yellow (tritanopia) color blindness.3 This helps designers to verify their colour schemes can be recognized by people with all types of colour vision.

And as usual with all EIZO ColorEdge displays, the ColorEdge CG275W has the leading industry 5 years onsite warranty.

 

Contact

More information can be found at the Eizo website here.

Sales

To buy from Adorama in NYC, please follow the link here.

NEC announces 30-inch widescreen PA301W-BK-SV / SpectraView Reference 301

NEC Display Solutions has announced the latest flagship SpectraView Reference monitor, the 30-inch SpectraView Reference 301, also known as the MultiSync PA301W-BK-SV display in North America. Apart from the price, the main difference between the SpectraView models and MultiSync PA301W (or PA301W-BK in the US), is that the latter is not hardware calibratable: the SpectraView software writes data instructions directly to the chassis electronics during calibration with a colorimeter. This is a more reliable and consistent method of achieving accurate color reproduction. Most monitors require adjustment by eye and colourimeter using the OSD with the subsequent re-writing of software LUTs on the video-adaptor, which in turn is corrected by the color profile.

Read our concise review of the smaller but otherwise similar 27-inch SpectraView Reference 271 / MultiSync PA271W-BK-SV.

Please follow the links to buy from our affiliate retailers, Warehouse Express, Amazon UK, Amazon US or B&H Photo

Thank you for buying through this site's links.

Press release:

NEC Display Solutions launches flagship 30-inch widescreen LCD monitor in its SpectraView® Reference Series
Colour plays the leading role

London, 1 March 2011 – With its SpectraView® Reference 301, NEC Display Solutions is launching its flagship 30-inch model to complete its award-winning display range for colour-critical applications. The monitor, which can be hardware-calibrated, features a true 10-bit P-IPS panel that reproduces 1.07 billion colours and 107 percent of the Adobe RGB colour space. Thanks to its impressive size, high resolution and excellent uniformity, the monitor is ideal for the most demanding prepress and soft-proofing applications, as well as for professional colour-critical image and video editing.

The SpectraView® Profiler calibration software makes full use of the programmable 14-bit LUT to give outstanding 42-bit colour control and unparalleled colour precision. Professional users will also appreciate the precise colour space reproduction thanks to a 3D LUT, Digital Uniformity Control (ColorComp) and Backlight Ageing Correction, which work to ensure the best possible colour stability and brightness uniformity. The monitor offers a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels in 16:10 format, providing creative professionals with brilliant images over the generous desktop area.

Besides the 30-inch screen area, the display’s ergonomic properties facilitate intensive work in front of the monitor. The SpectraView® Reference 301 is height-adjustable up to 150 mm and can be viewed in landscape or portrait mode.
The monitor’s connectivity options also guarantee maximum flexibility. With its two DisplayPorts and two DVI-D interfaces the display provides advanced connectivity. Additionally the Picture by Picture feature and programmable USB hub (DisplaySync Pro) allows two images sources from different PC platforms to be easily assigned and controlled with a single mouse and keyboard.

“We are very proud to launch this display, which brings together the wealth and experience of the NEC engineering talent into a remarkable product. The professional pre-press market will be particularly interested in this monitor, and we fully expect that the SpectraView® Reference 301 will quickly become the industry benchmark,” explains Christopher Parker, Product Line Manager for Professional Displays at NEC Display Solutions Europe.
 
Availability, price and warranty
The NEC SpectraView® Reference 301 is now available in black, at a price of £2,915.00 (excl. VAT). The package includes NEC’s SpectraView® Profiler software on CD, light protection hood, an individual SpectraView® certification report, providing proof of the individual performance of each screen, a power cable, DisplayPort and DVI-D cable, comprehensive manual for the monitor and software, and CD containing the installation software and drivers. NEC Display Solutions Europe offers a three-year warranty including backlights (as well as a 5 years optional warranty) and a 6 months warranty against pixel failure from the date of purchase.

Further information can be found online here.

Earth Periodical - New Digital iPad Magazine Launched Today - It's Free - For A Limited Time

Written by a team of professional journalists and photographers passionate about both still and video photography, EP is must-download for any photographer needing a fix of beautiful shots to inspire them to get out with their camera.

 

Nature kit reviews

Every issue features a round-up of the types of kit that photographers love: in the first issue we check out handheld GPS units for finding your way in the wilderness. In issue two we’ll be checking out some of the best lenses to use - at budgets from practically nothing to the price of a sports car - to capture the ideal shot.

Get shooting!

Earth Periodical wants to tap the enthusiasm and dedication of the thousands of dedicated amateur wildlife photographers in the British isles, not only by showcasing the best in wildlife photography in its pages, but by encouraging photographers to send in their images - the best of which will be covered in the pages of EP.

Earth Periodical is available now from the Apple App Store, and will be free for a limited period.

Download

The World's Most Complex Architecture In Cardboard

This is incredible, Michael Hansmeyer uses algorithms invented by Pixar and painstaking handicraft to generate colums with dizzying detail. The columns in these images are made from cardboard stand nine feet tall, weigh about 2000 pounds, and are made out of 2700 1mm-thin slices of cardboard stacked on top of wooden cores. Containing somewhere between 8 and 16 million polygonal faces -- too complex for even a 3D printer to handle, according to coDesign.com.

"Every 3D printing facility we spoke to turned us down,"Hansmeyer tells Co.Design. "Typically those machines can't process more than 500,000 faces -- the computer memory required to process the data grows nonlinearly, and it also gets tripped up on the self-intersecting faces of the column."

  Subdivided Columns - A New Order (2010)

An abstracted doric column is used as an input form to the subdivision processes. Unlike the minimal input of the Platonic Solids project, the abstracted column conveys a significant topographical and topological information about the form to be generated. The input form contains data about the proportions of the the column's shaft, capital, and supplemental base. It also contains information about its fluting and entasis.

The input form is tagged to allow the subdivision process to distinguish between individual components. This allows a heterogeneous application of the process, with distinct local parameters settings. In addition to distinguishing among tagged components, the process parameters can be set to vary according to the input form's topography as well as its topology. Finally, an environmental specification of parameters is possible to allow regional phenomena to occur.

The result is a series of columns that exhibit both highly specific local conditions as well as an overall coherency and continuity. The ornament is in a continuous flow, yet it consists of very distinct local formations. The complexity of column contrasts with the simplicity of its generative process.

 

Subdivided Columns - Fabrication

 A full-scale, 2.7-meter high variant of the columns is fabricated as a layered model using 1mm sheet. Each sheet is individually cut using a mill or laser. Sheets are stacked and held together by poles that run through a common core.
The calculation of the cutting path for each sheet takes place in several steps. First, the six million faces of the 3D model are intersected with a plane representing the sheet. This step generates a series of individual line segments that are tested for self-intersection and subsequently combined to form polygons. Next, a polygon-in-polygon test deletes interior polygons. A series of filters then ensures that convex polygons with peninsulas maintain a mininimum isthmus width. In a final step, an interior offset is calculated with the aim of hollowing out the slice to reduce weight.
While the mean diameter of the column is 50cm, the circumference as measured by the cutting path can reach up to 8 meters due to jaggedness and frequent reversals of curvature. The initial prototype uses 1mm grey board. Tests using ABS, wood, as well as metal are under way.

Michael Hansmeyer is an architect and programmer who explores the use of algorithms and computation to generate architectural form. He is currently based in the CAAD group at ETH's architecture department in Zurich. He holds an MBA degree from Insead Fontainebleau as well as a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. He previously worked with McKinsey & Company, J.P. Morgan, and at Herzog & de Meuron architects.

To see more of these incredible images go to Michael-Hansmeyer.com

Top 10 Photography iPad Apps Of February 2011

There have been some sensational photography apps approved this month in the App Store. We have selected the top 10 most popular most downloaded, most useful and innovative apps to help you select the best apps for your magical device. Take a look at these...

HelloPhoto

HelloPhoto is here to resurrect photos taken on slides and negatives, reviving an art form that's slowly being overlooked in this digital era.

Using the various functions of HelloPhoto, you can simply do the following:
• Use the light table function to view, sort, and photograph your slides and negatives.
• Use the light table's adjustments to enhance your slides and negatives before photographing them.
• Use the camera to take photos of your slides and negatives, thus freeing them from obscurity and allowing you to share and post them.

$0.99/Download

PhotoSync - wirelessly transfers your photos and videos

PhotoSync will transform your photo handling forever.

Simple transfer
Just select, choose target and you’re done. No need to be in front of your computer or entering IP-Addresses! Sending will continue in the background – even if you receive phone calls or are playing your favorite games.

No limitations
One or thousands of photos/videos from your last trip – you can transfer them all at once.

Smart
PhotoSync keeps track of your actions and notes which photos/videos have already been transferred from your camera roll. Transfer new photos/videos with just one touch!

$1.99/Download

Artify

Artify turns your photos into works of art - instantly.
- Take or import photos and transform them with a single touch of the "Artify!" button into impressionistic artwork
- Reveal faces or other detail with a stroke of your finger, for a gorgeous mix of soft and sharp that will delight your friends and family
- Customize and create your own unique version of a favorite pic by turning your fingertip into a small, medium or large brush.
- Hit "Clear" to start again from a clean copy of the original photo
- Nothing to "learn" - Artify is instant and intuitive. One touch and your favorite photo is a masterpiece
- Share your artified pics in email, or post to Facebook or Twitter right from the app
- New photos and artified works are autosaved to camera roll for you to keep
- Create unlimited Artified versions of your pics. Each time you "Artify!" you create a unique interpretation of the image

$0.99/Download

George Lange Studio

This app was developed for the ipad from the ground up to show the way the images all relate to each other - from personal work to commercial images and everything in between. This app offers a unique opportunity to explore photography based on concepts rather than events. The experience of viewing these on an ipad brings the images straight to your fingertips, making a connection between you and the images with the tablet’s visual clarity.

Free/Download

DSLR Camera Remote HD

DSLR Camera Remote HD is the next-generation cable release for your Canon or Nikon DSLR camera. Just connect your camera to a WiFi enabled computer and you can instantly adjust its settings, fire the shutter, review images, get a live viewfinder preview, even start video recording using your iPad. DSLR Camera Remote HD is a must-have for remote shooting applications like high or low angles, self-portraits and studio photography. With its advanced bracketing and intervalometers, makes shooting for animation and HDR incredibly simple. All you need is your Canon EOS or Nikon DSLR and a WiFi enabled computer to start shooting now.

$49.99/Download

Wall Pics for Facebook - Millions of Fun Photos, Emoticons and Videos to Share

Update your Facebook status, as well as post to you and your friend's Facebook walls, using MILLIONS of fun:

★ Animations*
★ Emoticons
★ Clip Art
★ Photos
★ Wallpapers
★ Videos
★ Symbols
★ Your own photos and images

$0.99/Download

PhotoRocket

PhotoRocket's not just a mobile solution but part of a family of photo sharing apps for many devices: PhotoRocket for Windows is available now and PhotoRocket for Mac is coming soon.

Features for photo sharing fanatics

• Share multiple photos at the same time
• Share to sites and people simultaneously
• Eliminates typical email sharing problems
• Full res copies backed up automatically
• Great stand-alone app
• Also available as an app for PC or Mac

Free/Download

Geo Album

Browse your photos on standard map or satellite map without drift issue!

★ Browser photos on maps. (support standard map and satellite map).
★ Photos taken in China can be displayed correctly on China map.
★ View GPS EXIF information.
★ Locate photo in the map.
★ Common current location drift issue in China region also can be fixed using Geo Album.

$0.99/Download

Grungetastic HD

Grungetastic for the Photographer that loves everything grungy. Simple, fast, and the output is something very much less than elegant.

Grungetastic is the very best at creating grunge, distorted, and distressed images. If you are looking for a clean elegant photo then you are in the wrong place!

With a few taps of your finger Grungetastic will transform your photo into a grungy work of art.

You control everything from colors, to multiple overlays, to borders. The possibilities are truly endless. Don't settle for a simple app that gives you a few chosen styles when you can choose from infinite combinations.

$1.99/Download

Best Album for iPad

Best Album is one the best photo organizer apps on the app store.
1. Best Album access iPad photo database and create links for photos/videos, instead of duplicate copies. With those links, you are able to reorganize photos/videos into album and sub-album.
2. Good looking user interface, even you can change theme to make it better for you.
3. Drag and drop to sort Albums and photos
4. You're able to view the detail information of photos: exif/tiff tags and geo tag.

$3.99/Download

We have free codes of this app to giveaway, if you would like one just reply to this post telling us what you love most about TheAppWhisperer.com.

MacBook Pro 480GB SSD Upgrade

MyService has announced a new 512GB (480GB usable) Solid State Drive upgrade for the MacBook and MacBook Pro. These new drives by OWC are the largest laptop SSD drives available. MyService has these drives and the complete line of OWC Mercury Pro SSD drives ranging from 120GB to 480GB in stock.

Made from flash memory chips similar to those in digital cameras, iPods and the iPhone, Solid State Drives (also known as SSDs) have a number of advantages. With no moving parts, they are extremely reliable. Compared to mechanical hard drives they are quieter, lighter, use less power and generate less heat, all positives for any laptop.

All significant, but the real advantage is performance. Solid State Drives can read data at speeds many times faster than traditional hard drives because there are no spinning parts. Any data, stored anywhere on the drive, can be accessed at any time. Programs start up faster, videos and images load faster, and overall, the Mac will feel remarkably faster.

MyService makes the upgrade process fast and easy. No phone trees, no appointments, just awesome service. MyService takes care of all the shipping and delivers a custom laptop shipping container straight to your door. Once your Mac arrives at MyService, an Apple Certified technician will install the new drive and transfer the data over from your old drive. If your old hard drive is failing, a new operating system is installed. All drives feature a 3 year warranty.

Since MyService is an Apple Authorized Service Provider, the 480GB SSD upgrade will not void your Apple warranty. After the service is completed, your laptop is cleaned, tested and sent back to you, along with your old drive. All services are completed within 24 hours of arrival.

MyService

DPOTY Awards 2010 winners announced

The winners of Digital Photographer magazine's DPOTY Awards 2010 have been announced today with the overall Digital Photographer of the Year award going to Emma Goulder. Six further category winners and the runners up feature in a special supplement, free with the current issue (106) of the magazine. For more information please see the press release below.

Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2010 winners announced
Leading prosumer photography magazine celebrates the culmination of its popular annual photographic competition
The winners of the Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2010 have been announced in Issue 106 of Digital Photographer, on sale today. All the winners and runners up feature in a beautiful glossy supplement, free with this issue of the magazine.
The DPOTY Awards 2010, launched in July last year and has received an unprecedented response, with more than triple the amount of entries than the previous year’s competition.
The category winners for 2010 are:
Overall Digital Photographer of the Year – Emma Goulder
Landscape Digital Photographer of the Year – Glyn Fletcher
Portrait Digital Photographer of the Year – Mo Ayyad
Wildlife Digital Photographer of the Year – Peter Denness
Travel Digital Photographer of the Year –  David Burden
Action Digital Photographer of the Year – Adrian Gunawan
Creative Digital Photographer of the Year – Branko Stojanovic
Editor Rosie Tanner said, “It’s been a fantastic contest, with thousands and thousands of quality entries submitted. The portrait category was of a particularly high standard, making it very difficult to judge.”
The competition judges also included Editor in Chief, Debbi Allen, The Guardian Newspaper picture editor, Eamonn McCabe, Photography expert, Will Cheung and General Manager of Marketing
Digital Imaging Division at Samsung, Steve Mitchell.
Steve Mitchell, said, “Judging the DP Awards was challenging due to the high standard of the entries in all categories. It was inspiring to see both the creative choice of subjects and compositions, as well as the strong technical abilities of the readers. Well done to everybody who entered, not just the winners, and I hope I have the opportunity again to be involved in judging future awards.”
Advertising Manager, Jennifer Farrell said, “The Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2010 has been a resounding success. The Samsung sponsorship has provided fantastic prizes and support, which has made the 2010 awards our best yet. Every year our awards have grown in popularity and we are looking forward to seeing DPOTY 2011 build on this great success.”
Each category winner wins a Samsung EX1 camera and Samsung 4GB SDHC Plus card and the overall winner scoops a fantastic Samsung NX10 camera with three lenses, a flash gun and memory card.
Digital Photographer Issue 106 is now on sale. Get your copy and your free awards supplement with the magazine or online at www.imagineshop.co.uk

Focus accuracy with AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 G

We've had a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G in from Nikon for a while and Datacolor recently sent a SpyderLENSCAL for review, so with the controversy over the AF performance of some copies, we thought we would post some sample shots taken at f/1.4 using the camera's phase-detection (viewfinder) AF mode.

The SpyderLENSCAL is a test target for calibrating lens/camera focus accuracy. You simply photograph the target and read-off the point of actual focus from the fixed ruler to the left.

This is a close up of the image above, which was a crop at 1:1 taken from a distance of about 3 or 4 feet. You can see some longitudinal chromatic aberration, but the AF accuracy is spot on. The lens was manually set to the minimum focus distance, and then the shutter button was pressed to initiate AF and capture the picture, as you would take a shot hand-held (the D700 was actually on a tripod).

The same procedure was repeated with the lens set to to infinity this time (and repeated several times over - I might add).

This is the close up of the crop above - with a similar result to the first. I would say this combination was working well, I can see no reason to adjust it. Note the slight axial (longitudinal) chromatic aberration, though.

 

Nik software starts shipping Silver Efex Pro 2

Nik Software Releases Silver Efex Pro™ 2

Powerful new features build on Silver Efex Pro’s legacy of offering the best tool for creating stunning black and white images

 

Hamburg – February 24th, 2011 – Nik Software today begins shipping Silver Efex Pro 2, a major upgrade to its award-winning Silver Efex Pro software. Many photographers regard Silver Efex Pro as the leading solution for creating black-and-white images, delivering new features, better performance, and an improved workflow. Silver Efex Pro 2 offers a unique darkroom-inspired workflow and the ability to fine-tune images with precise selective adjustments powered by U Point technology. To learn why Silver Efex Pro is the leading black-and-white imaging software, users can watch training videos, download a free trial, download visual preset styles, and join live online training sessions here.

“Nearly every pro I know already uses Silver Efex Pro to create their B&W conversions, but I can tell you this: they'll all be upgrading to version 2 the minute it comes out. It's that good!” said Scott Kelby, President, National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). “Nik Software really gets the whole user experience for photographers, and you can see that attention to detail throughout Silver Efex Pro 2. When it comes to creating fine art black and white conversions, this changes everything,” Kelby concluded.

Silver Efex Pro 2 introduces new features that offer even more control over image detail, contrast, and tonality, making it easier to go beyond the limits of the traditional darkroom. The software’s new features include the History Browser for endless experimentation, revolutionary algorithms such as Dynamic Brightness, Amplify Blacks and Whites, Soft Contrast, and Fine Structure, plus finishing touches like Image Borders and selective colorization.

Nik Software’s proprietary U Point® technology provides revolutionary selective editing by enabling photographers to make the precise detail, contrast, and tonality enhancements necessary for amazing black-and-white images, without the need for complicated selections or layer masks. The selective enhancements applied through U Point technology are automatically blended throughout an image for natural results.

 

Key Features
    •    NEW History Browser facilitates intuitive comparison of previous edits and different looks
    •    NEW Dynamic Brightness enables adaptive brightening adjustments for different areas in the image
    •    NEW Amplify Blacks and Amplify Whites increases the presence of highlights and shadows adaptively throughout the image, creating a unique contrast effect
    •    NEW Visual Presets categorized by photographic style provide great, single-click starting points, which can be customized and shared with others. Photographers who wish to download and contribute their own presets can view submit them here.
    •    NEW Soft Contrast applies contrast intelligently based on image details, creating a less harsh contrast and bringing a stylized mood and depth to images
    •    NEW Fine Structure brings out even the smallest details and textures resulting in more visible image detail without creating an over-sharpened look
    •    NEW Image Borders use organic image elements to create unique and completely random borders, giving classic darkroom-style edges a modern look with infinite possibilities
    •    NEW Selective colorization easily adds color elements back into images utilizing U Point technology to precisely select objects
    •    NEW GPU Processing takes full advantage of the processors found on advanced display adapters providing even faster performance

Pricing and Availability

Silver Efex Pro 2 is available directly from Nik Software and through specialty resellers. A list of Nik Software resellers may be found here.

The suggested retail price of Silver Efex Pro 2 is 199.95 €. Upgrades from the first version are 99.95 € (all prices incl. VAT). Customers who purchased Silver Efex Pro or a Nik Software Complete Collection after January 17th, 2011 are eligible for a free upgrade.

Silver Efex Pro 2 installs as a 32-bit and 64-bit plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 or later, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 2.6 or later (Windows® and Macintosh®) or Apple® Aperture™ 2.1.4 or later (Macintosh). For more information about Silver Efex Pro 2, including video tutorials, live online training, and a free 15-day fully functional trial version, please visit here.

Apple shows preview of Mac OS X Lion

Apple Releases Developer Preview of Mac OS X Lion

CUPERTINO, California—February 24, 2011—Apple today released a developer preview of Mac OS X Lion, which takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac for the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Lion features Mission Control, an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your Mac apps; full screen apps that use the entire Mac display; and new Multi-Touch gestures. Lion also includes the Mac App Store, the best place to discover, install and automatically update Mac apps. The Lion preview is available to Mac Developer Program members through the Mac App Store today, and the final version of Lion will ship to customers this summer.

“The iPad has inspired a new generation of innovative features in Lion,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Developers are going to love Mission Control and Launchpad, and can now start adding great new Lion features like full screen, gestures, Versions and Auto Save to their own apps.”

Mission Control is a powerful, entirely new feature that unifies Exposé, Dashboard, Spaces, and full screen apps to give you a bird’s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps as well as your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a click.

Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. With a single click, Launchpad displays all your Mac apps in a stunning full screen layout where you can launch, re-order or organise apps into folders. You can also arrange apps into multiple pages and swipe between them.

Lion brings the full screen experience that iPad users love to the Mac. With one click, your application window goes full screen, taking advantage of your Mac’s brilliant display. You can swipe from one full screen window to another and even back to your Desktop or Dashboard.

New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations give you a natural and intuitive way to interact with your Mac. New gestures include pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps and swiping up to enter Mission Control.

Lion also includes the Mac App Store, where you can find great new apps, buy them with your iTunes account, and download and install them in just one step. Apps purchased from the Mac App Store are installed directly into Launchpad. 

Additional features in Lion include:

· a new version of Mail, with an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010;
· AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;
· Versions, which automatically saves successive versions of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, edit and even revert to previous versions; 
· Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app; 
· Auto Save, which automatically saves your documents as you work;
· the all new FileVault, that provides high performance full disk encryption for local and external drives, and the ability to wipe data from your Mac instantaneously; and 
· Mac OS X Lion Server, which makes setting up a server easier than ever and adds support for managing Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. 

Apple updates MacBook Pro

Apple Updates MacBook Pro with Next Generation Processors, Graphics & Thunderbolt I/O Technology

CUPERTINO, California—February 24, 2011—Apple today updated the industry-leading MacBook Pro family with next generation processors and graphics, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Featuring the very latest dual-core and quad-core Intel Core processors, the entire MacBook Pro line is up to twice as fast as the previous generation.* 

“The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.”

Starting at £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT) the new 13-inch MacBook Pro offers amazing value and performance in a compact design. The highly portable 13-inch MacBook Pro features Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.7 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 3000. The powerful 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz and AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory for high performance gaming, pro video editing and graphics intensive applications.

MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to include the groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on a notebook computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

The MacBook Pro now includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera with triple the resolution of the previous generation for crisp, widescreen video calls. With Apple’s innovative FaceTime video calling software, the new camera allows high definition video calls between all new MacBook Pro models and supports standard resolution calls with other Intel-based Macs, iPhone 4 and the current generation iPod touch. FaceTime is included with all new MacBook Pro models and is available for other Intel-based Macs from the Mac App Store for £0.59. The MacBook Pro lineup continues to feature its gorgeous aluminium unibody enclosure, glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and 7-hour battery.**

As the industry’s greenest notebook lineup, every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting the standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed with recyclable materials.

Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Pricing & Availability 
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/uk), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two configurations: one with a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 320GB hard drive starting at £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT); and one with a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 500GB hard drive starting at £1299.00 inc VAT (£1082.50 ex VAT). The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6490M and 500GB hard drive starting at £1549.00 inc VAT (£1290.83 ex VAT) and one with a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive starting at £1849.00 inc VAT (£1540.83 ex VAT). The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive and is priced at £2099.00 inc VAT (£1749.17 ex VAT). 

Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.3 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 750GB, solid state storage up to 512GB, more memory up to 8GB DDR3, antiglare and high-resolution display options and AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro.

I'm told B&H in New York sells more Macs than Apple, you can see the prices here.

Canon pulls out of Focus on Imaging show

UK magazines AP and BJP have both reported today that Canon has pulled out of this year's Focus on Imaging show, the largest UK photography show and the second most important show in Europe after Photokina. This is not the first time Canon has pulled out from Focus, which takes place over the 6-9th March at the NEC Birmingham, the camera giant missed the show in 2008.

Source AP, BJP