The XS-Drive Centre 6900 is a new portable storage device, offering a 3.5 inch LCD screen with support for up to 16.7 million colours and 60GB to 160GB of hard drive capacity. The price for the basic XS-Drive Centre 6900 (60GB model) is €349 incl. VAT ($380 net ), and for the 6900R version with recording function €389 incl.VAT ($430 net).

Panasonic are developing a new a robust MOS image sensor for use under harsh sunlight for more than 20 years. “We can make a significant contribution to our customers by creating new applications with this new sensor. We can also propose various market solutions like automobile and outdoor usages by making the most of its outstanding robustness,” said Taku Gobara, Director of Corporate Application Specific Standard Products Division. The new Panasonic sensor allows a uniform sensitivity to be achieved across the image area in any camera module in use.

The Samsung Digital Roadshow 2007 showcases their latest digital cameras, including the hugely popular i7 and L74, in various shopping centres across the UK. Anyone that purchases a Samsung digital camera before 31 August 2007 can claim a free Virgin Holiday voucher worth £150. Shoppers will also be entered into a special larger prize draw, with ten vouchers worth £2,500 and 50 vouchers worth £1,500 up for grabs.

The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro “Quad Interface” 1.0TB is the first and only single drive-based, compact 1TB external hard drive. With a wide selection of connectivity options for FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports, the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro comes complete with utility and backup software. The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro “Quad Interface” 1.0TB drive is available now for for $599 SRP.

Pentax USA have announced a series of rebates for the company’s DSLR and compact camera products. DSLR products include the K10D (pictured), K100D, AF-360FGZ/AF-540FGZ flash units, BG2 Battery Grip and an array of Pentax lenses. On the compact side you can save money on the Optio A30, Optio T30 or the Optio E30. The rebate offers are valid from May 1, 2007 to July 31, 2007.

Website: Pentax Picture Perfect Rebates

Xerox are working on a new “Color Language” that will allow users to adjust colours in a document simply by describing it. Users can type “make the sky a deeper blue” or give a voice command “make the background carnation pink” and the software does the work. “You shouldn’t have to be a color expert to make the sky a deeper blue or add a bit of yellow to a sunset.” said Geoffrey Woolfe, principal scientist in the Xerox Innovation Group. Wolfe found that common words used to distinguish different shades and colors could be mapped to the technical language of color created by engineers.

The new Sony Memory Stick PRO-HG is an extended version of the Memory Stick PRO format, offering up to 30MB/s Read/Write speeds. Memory Stick PRO-HG is fully backwards compatible with Memory Stick PRO devices and will be available in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities. Sony are also launching a Memory Stick Duo ExpressCard adaptor (MSAC-EX1).

To help celebrate the 20th Anniversary of EOS, Canon Europe are offering up to €1995 / £1308 cashback on their range of EOS Photo and lens kits. There are a wide range of money-off vouchers covering camera bodies, lenses, and various kits. The Canon cashback offer is only available between 01.04.07 and 30.06.07, with all European countries included.

A recent study by Understanding & Solutions looks at the removable storage market, including flash memory. “One impediment to the future roadmap of Flash memory cards is the 32GB milestone,” says Bill Foster, “which will require another change to the file format for cards using the FAT32 file system. What this new file format will be has yet to be decided, but the NT File System is believed to be under consideration. Once a new file format is agreed upon and the technology is in mass production, this will serve to significantly extend the Flash lifecycle.” The report also considers future technologies like Holographic Data Storage, with capacities of 1 terabyte the target.

The Toshiba 200GB 2.5 inch external hard drive can store up to 57,000 digital photos. The 200GB portable external hard drive provides the highest capacity of any backup solution in the compact 2.5-inch hard drive class. Toshiba’s new hard drive series is available in 200GB, 160GB, 120GB and 100GB capacities, costing from $129.99 to $229.99.

The Xs-Drive 2 Smart 2300 is a new portable storage device with increased memory card support and an OLED display. Transfer speed is improved, with a 1GB memory card copying in less than 4 minutes onto the hard disk of the Xs-Drive 2 Smart. The price for the basic version of the XS-Drive 2 Smart 2300 60GB is £99 / €149.

Jobo have released a new firmware update, v2.0.4, for the Jobo GIGA Vu PRO evolution. The update includes JD Loupe, incremental back-up and increased RAW format compatibility. JD Loupe is a magnified rectangular loupe which appears on the LCD screen so photographers can closely examine important details of their pictures.

The Transcend 8GB SDHC Class 6 memory card features high data transfer speed and best price-to-performance value. It supports Error Correcting Code (ECC) to detect and correct errors and has a mechanical write protection switch to prevent accidental deletion of data. Pricing and availability to be confirmed.

The new SxS memory card format offers high capacity and high-speed data transfer for professional camcorders. The target transfer speed of SxS memory cards is 800 megabits per second. Compliant to the high-speed ExpressCard industry standard, SxS will be jointly developed by SanDisk and Sony, with the latter adopting the new format in its “XDCAM EX“ series of professional camcorders. SxS memory cards from SanDisk and Sony are expected to be available later in 2007.

Colour Confidence now offer total colour accuracy with the new Studio XR2 and Colour Confidence Profiler packages. The Studio XR2 includes X-Rite’s best-selling Eye-One Display 2 monitor calibrator, plus the Kodak Colour Management Check-Up Kit and the Total Balance grey card. The Colour Confidence Profiler is a complete monitor and printer profiling solution, built around the industry standard Eye-One Pro. The Studio XR2 (£149/€219 ex. VAT) and the Colour Confidence Profiler (£499/€749 ex. VAT) will be available from www.colourconfidence.com from May 1st.

The LaCie 526 is a 26 inch wide-screen LCD monitor which 95% of the AdobeRGB colour space. Each LaCie 526 Monitor is individually measured and corrected at the factory to achieve panel uniformity, whilst the included LaCie blue eye pro software allows for hardware calibration in a single click. “Its wide gamut and uniform and stabilized panel ensures that what you see is what you get. If you edit projects with a calibrated LaCie 526 Monitor, you can trust that the end result will be accurate.” said Daniel Mayer, LaCie Color Business Unit Manager. The LaCie 526 Monitor will be available end of April for $1,999 MSRP.

A new firmware download, version 1.102, is now available for the Leica M8 camera. The following technical optimizations have been incorporated into Firmware version 1.102:

- Automatic compensation of color shifts at the edge of images resulting from the use of LEICA UV/IR filters on Leica M lenses with focal lengths of between 16 and 35mm.
- Improvement of internal process steps

Website: Leica M8 v1.102 Firmware Update

Kingston and MyMemory Limited today unveiled the industry’s first Flash memory vending machine at the North Terminal, Gatwick Airport. MyMemory vending machines dedicated to exclusively selling Flash memory products using chip and pin will be placed in all major airports, mainline stations and underground stations. “They want instant access to SD cards and USB drives as they need them 24/7, so vending machines in public spaces was the most obvious solution.” commented Ann Keefe, Director of Sales UK & Ireland at Kingston Technology.

Samsung have developed a 24 inch LCD monitor backlit by LEDs which is claimed to rival the color saturation levels of LCD TVs. Samsung’s proprietary LED backlight ensures that the 24 Inch LED backlit monitor has a color saturation level of 111% (of NTSC standard), which compares to 72% for conventional LCD panels. Good news for the target audience, namely digital photographers and graphic designers. Samsung’s new monitor also has a viewing angle of 180 degrees and support for WUXGA resolution (1,920x1,200 pixels).

The OWC Mercury On-The-Go is the highest capacity, fastest portable storage drive solution available today. Offering 160Gb capacity and 7200RPM speed, the Mercury On-The-Go drive is small enough to fit inside your shirt pocket. Priced at $279.99, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go works with all FireWire or USB gadgets, including digital cameras and camcorders.