The Canon Digital Learning Centre Blog now features regularly updated educational information, tips for imaging enthusiasts and news on Canon products. Recent topics include field reports from Canon Live Learning events, protecting camera gear from summer elements, dissecting an EOS C500 Steadicam rig, and a little-known LP-E6 battery management trick.

Posterista is a new UK service that allows users to make poster-sized prints from images stored on their social media accounts. Poster sizes vary from 30x40cm to 70x100cm, with each poster showing 55-160 indvidual images arranged in a grid pattern. Pricing starts at £15 for a simple poster and £62 for a framed one. Until the end of the month, you can receive a 15% discount by entering the promotional code EARLYBIRD at the checkout.

Website: Posterista

RotaryView has launched the first free online marketplace for 360° images today. The database contains thousands of commercial 360° shots, along with RotaryView's 360° mobile app and prosumer technologies – giving small-to-medium sized businesses a set of free and low-cost tools to achieve the professional look for online product sales. “We’ve been in the commercial 360° image space for over fifteen years and decided the whole system needed a reboot to catch on with the masses,” said RotaryView CEO and co-founder Gev Rotem.  “With RotaryView, you don’t need professional equipment; we make it simple and affordable.  We’ve even built up a community of 360° images populated by photographers, retailers, resellers and big name brands – all around the idea of sharing 360° photography to help everyone sell more products.”

Triggertrap has launched a new website where users can view, upload and share timelapse videos shot all around the world. The new platform, called Primelapse, was born from the first annual Triggertrap Hackathon held in May 2013. “For our inaugural Triggertrap Hackathon, we envisioned a day where we put aside our day-to-day routines and concentrate on individual Triggertrap-themed projects that would stretch our imaginations and maybe germinate into the next generation of Triggertrap awesomeness,” said CEO Haje Jan Kamps. “We had lots of cool things happen, but the first one we’re ready to launch to the world is Primelapse.com."

SmugMug unveiled a completely new version of its service today. What the company envisioned was a site with a fresh, modern look and feel.  A site that offers gorgeous designs, right out of the box, with an easy way for all users to create their own unique style. Every SmugMug site includes responsive design, so it adapts to any viewing screen from smartphones to large monitors. In addition, the all-new site Organizer makes it easy to manage thousands of files by dragging images into galleries, galleries into folders, and folders into folders, up to five levels deep. Membership starts at $5/month, with a a free 14-day trial period available to every new customer.

Sigma Poland has launched a teaser campaign. The tagline is Obal system razem z Sigma - nadchodzi wyzwolenie, which translates loosely as "Turn the system on its head with Sigma - liberation is coming." The URL of the campaign website is also telling: rewolucja.sigma-foto.pl - evidently Sigma is preparing for something big and possibly revolutionary. We shall see in 2 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes...

Update: The wait is over.

Scoopshot is taking on the multi billion-dollar photo industry with a new service for crowdsourcing on-demand photography in minutes, backed by top-selling stock photographer Yuri Arcurs. The company will use the funding to accelerate its international growth with a focus on the UK, US and German markets. “Buyers are tired of wading through page after page of stale and over-used photography, before having to compromise," says Scoopshot CEO, Niko Ruokosuo. "For the first time, they can request exactly what they want and receive it within minutes and without spending a fortune. The birth of on-demand photography will be as much of a game changer for the photo industry as iTunes for the Music industry." To set a task, visit the website below.

PhotoShelter has recently launched Beam, an API-based platform delivering portfolio websites engineered to let photographers showcase their images at their best on nearly any device. Released in public beta, Beam portfolio websites integrate with PhotoShelter’s online business tools, and connect seamlessly with third-party platforms including Instagram, Vimeo, and WordPress and Tumblr blogs. The sites are created using HTML5 and CSS3, which allow images to scale according to screen size. Beam portfolio websites and connected secure cloud storage, e-commerce capabilities, SEO, image delivery and client proofing tools, are available to PhotoShelter’s existing members with Standard and Pro accounts. Those new to PhotoShelter can sign up for a free 14-day trial at the website below.

Diddipix, a children-focussed website recently launched by photographer Kirsten Harvey, has announced a range of new competitions. Children can upload their photos onto their own gallery pages with the possibility of winning awards and prizes including Nikon cameras and the opportunity to have their photos published in a Diddipix yearbook. "Children are very receptive to new ideas, particularly if it is about being creative," Kirsten says. "They don’t have the same inhibitions as adults and tend to explore their world organically, with no pre-conceived views and opinions."

Nikon has just launched My Nikon World, a Facebook application that awards users for taking and uploading photos. User participation will be rewarded with community points and digital badges for uploading photos and participating in the community. With a strong focus on social sharing and engagement, participants will also have the option to include links to their personal social profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks so they can interact with fellow photographers. To visit the site and become a fan of Nikon, visit the official Nikon Facebook page.

The Photographic Museum of Humanity (PMH) has announced the newest of its online exhibitions, entitled "Our Nature." Featuring the works of prestigious photographers like Espen Rasmussen, Freya Najade, Hajime Kimura, Gustavo Jononovich and Nicolas Janowski, the exhibition aims to explore the diversity, beauty and danger of nature and warn society about the consequences of doing nothing to take care of it. You can view the exhibition online at the website blow.

Polagram is a new service enabling you to print your photos directly from your smartphone. Offering prints in different formats such as Classic (10x10), Polaroid Style (Keep the vintage spirit with this style), Regular (10x13), Large Prints (20x20 or 20x27), Polagram has a smartphone app for both Android and iOS devices, allowing you to specify the pictures you want to print, enter your shipping address and order your prints. The service is available throughout Europe.

Calumet UK has launched a brand new website completely dedicated to its rental customers. Simon Browitt, head of Calumet Rental in London said: “Now, it’s never been easier to rent equipment from us. We have an extensive inventory of photographic equipment; cameras; digital equipment; lighting and studio products. It could be a Canon 600 mm lens – which costs upwards of £10,500 to buy – but we’ll rent it for £90 a day plus damage waiver insurance. Or, at the other end of the scale, we could hire out a remote timer from about £10 a day.”

Yahoo! has announced a major update to Flickr. "We’re releasing a Flickr that’s more spectacular, much bigger, and one you can take anywhere," the company said in a statement. Not only does Flickr sport a brand new look and redesigned user interface - it now offers up to 1TB of free storage to every user, allowing you to "share your photos in full resolution."  There’s also a new slideshow mode with elegant transitions, an Activity Feed that combines users' recent uploads with those of their contacts, and an option to choose a customisable cover photo and a high-resolution profile picture. These features are granted to every user but if you are bothered by advertisements, you can opt for an AdFree account at $49.99 per year. And if 1TB just isn't enough for your needs, a Doublr account will provide you with 2TB for an annual fee of $499.99.

The free Flickr smartphone app has also been updated, and is now available from the Google Play Store (requires Android 2.3.3 or higher).

Website: Flickr

Corbis Images have launched Corbis CRAVE, a premium photo viewing iPad app and accompanying website. Basically, Corbis CRAVE is a digital boutique featuring expertly curated imagery from industry-leading commercial and editorial photographers. “Corbis CRAVE provides creative directors and art buyers a search and ideation experience tailored to their unique and specific needs whether they’re accessing the collection on their iPad or through the website,” said Edie Tobias, senior vice president of commercial products at Corbis. The CRAVE app is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Swann Galleries have launched a social media project that reaches out to the global photography community of collectors, curators, dealers, critics, photographers and enthusiasts. The new blog, called Photophilia, is hosted on tumblr and offers a fully interactive platform for sharing your favourite photos along with a few lines of text explaining why you love them. More than 25 users have posted their beloved images so far, with works by well-known photographers such as Herb Ritts, Alfred Stieglitz, and Irving Penn. For those unfamiliar with web publishing tools, Swann offers a more old-fashioned way to take part in the project. They have produced a limited-edition series of postcards (pictured) with sample images that come in sets of five and are accompanied by a response card with room for a description of a favourite photograph.

GigaPan's high-resolution images are now viewable on mobile devices, including iOS and Android. This includes all gigapan.com and embedded external website images, including GigaTag. “As the number of images on our website continues to grow into the hundreds of thousands, and GigaPan membership increases, it is imperative that our collection of amazing images are ubiquitous to access,” said Josh Friedman, CEO of GigaPan. “Our updated viewer presents an opportunity to provide mobile access to these unique images, increasing and enhancing image views for a larger audience.”

Image Centric Media has launched a new business model that promises to increase the revenue of photographers. Key features of the business model include: unplugging middlemen to redirect revenue to the photographers; revenue sharing that extends to advertising, services, and content licensing; and a marketing machine that aligns and multiplies the influence of member photographers. The company operates multiple branded websites and a stock agency where members set the price and get 60% of the revenue. Click through for the details.

Camera Jungle allows photographers to buy, sell and part-exchange their used digital cameras and lenses. The new website features a unique instant quote system allowing users to quickly realise the value of their digital photography equipment.  All used items carry a six month guarantee as standard.

iStockphoto founder Bruce Livingstone has launched a new digital licensing cooperative called Stocksy. Under its brand new business model / compensation plan, photographers will receive a 50% royalty on each transaction and 100% on extended licenses; what’s more, 90% of all pro?ts will be divided among members at year’s end. Photographers who are accepted into the cooperative also receive equity and have a real say in how the business is operated. “We wanted to create a marketplace for photographers that was not only democratic, but fair and sustainable,” Livingstone says. “There’s no reason these artists shouldn’t be able to earn a living from what they produce.”