Blue Pixel Digital Experts Press Release

Award-Winning Educational Organization Broadens Digital Photography Workflow Seminars with Events Designed for Art Directors and Nature Photography Enthusiasts

October 17, 2005 – Blue Pixel Digital Experts, leading photographers and consultants committed to teaching digital photography from an unbiased, real-world perspective, announced plans today to build on the success of the popular Just Show Me How seminar series in 2006.  Next year’s professional seminar series, entitled “Blue Pixel Presents”, is designed to educate and improve the day-to-day digital imaging experience of art directors, nature photographers, and professional commercial and portrait photographers.

Lexar Press Release

Event Designed To Foster Inspiration and Motivation as Famed Photojournalists Share From An Array of Experiences

FREMONT, Ca., October 14, 2005 – Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies, today announced its sponsorship of this year’s VII Photography Seminar, an intense photography session where presentations by the renowned VII photographers and informative sessions will offer insight and techniques to the photojournalists of tomorrow.

Held October 15 and 16 at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, the two-day event will feature presentations by the VII photographers, panel discussions, practical breakout sessions, plus portfolio reviews. VII photographers, some of the foremost experienced photojournalists, will share their unique experiences as they have witnessed and recorded some of the most important and poignant events of our time.

Adobe Press Release

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 13, 2005 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) and Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced they have received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Macromedia. The closing of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approval in a few European jurisdictions. The companies continue to anticipate the transaction will close sometime this Fall.

On April 18, 2005, Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia in an all-stock transaction. Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, holders of Macromedia common stock will receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock for each share of Macromedia common stock they own at the closing of the acquisition. In August, the stockholders of each company voted in favor of the transaction.

Canon UK Press Release

Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, is helping World Press Photo to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organisation that is renowned for organising the world’s most prestigious photojournalism competition on an annual basis. On the occasion of the foundation’s 50th birthday, Canon is holding a special dinner in celebration of over a decade of involvement as a corporate sponsor. All recipients of the World Press Photo of the Year Award will be invited to attend the dinner that will be hosted by Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging Europe.

Epson UK Press Release

Epson announces sponsorship of school newspaper competition: TES Newsday 2006

•    New category: Student Photojournalist of the Year

05 October 2005 – Epson, provider of printers and projectors to the education market, is to sponsor Newsday 2006, the Schools Newspaper of the Year competition. Now in its 14th year, the competition typically attracts around 700 entries ranging from primary schools to sixth form colleges across the world, who are given a day to create a newspaper or news portal for their school. Winners are selected by a panel of teachers and journalists and will receive prizes that have a variety of uses within schools. This year entrants have the opportunity to win an Epson AcuLaser colour laser printer, Epson projector or Epson photo-printer.

Canon UK Press Release

Mexican photographer Claudia Guadarrama has become the fifth woman to win the Canon Female Photojournalist Award, for her project on illegal migrants at the South Mexican border. The award, which includes a Canon grant of €8000, was given by the French Association of Women Journalists (AFJ) at the 17th International Festival of Photojournalism Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, in September 2005.

The Canon Female Photojournalist Award was initiated in 2001 by the AFJ and Guy Bourreau, Marketing Director of Canon Communication & Image in France. It aims to support and highlight the work of female photographers around the world. “With women making up only 11% of the world’s photojournalists, the original objective of the award was to address the under-representation of women in this field,” explained Bourreau. “Now in its fifth year, the award has also proven to be a valuable way to discover new talent.” In winning the award, Claudia Guadarrama’s work has been presented publicly for the first time.

AvantGo Press Release

DUBLIN, Calif., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/—Electronics of all shapes and sizes are topping the list of “hot” holiday gifts this holiday season.  So what battery-powered goodies are tech-savvy “gifters” and “giftees” looking for this year?

Digital cameras top the list of “most wanted” electronic devices, according to two AvantGo(R) consumer electronics surveys with a total of 2,100 respondents.  DVD players, DVD recorders, global positioning (GPS) devices and high-definition televisions (HDTV) were also high on the wish lists of the tech-savvy, PDA and smartphone-carrying survey respondents.

With so many different “bells and whistles” to choose from, walking in to the electronics store or searching online for the perfect digital camera can be a daunting task.  Do you pick the camera with the higher megapixels, the better optical zoom or longer battery life?  And, with so many features to choose from, which ones are “must have” versus “nice to have”?

Epson UK Press Release

Epson and Discovery Real Time team up to show how everybody can be a great photographer - New series to show how easy it is to create professional photos

Epson announces today that it has teamed with Discovery Real Time to produce a brand new fast paced show on digital photography.  Hot Shots, a 10 part series, will be aired on Discovery Real Time from 24th October 2005.

Each episode in this new series will give three contributors, of varying levels of ability, the opportunity to learn from artistic experts of various genres. The participants will first be given a masterclass in that particular genre, where they will be encouraged to take lots of photos and print them out on a portable printer, with the expert on-hand to provide critique. They will then be set a challenge, where they have time to experiment with the techniques they have learnt and produce and print further photos - highlighting how easy it is to create photos at home.

Manfrotto Press Release

All Roads Festival tours L.A. and Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles, CA and Washington, D.C.  (26 September 2005) – Manfrotto, the world’s leading manufacturer of support products for pro video and photography, will be a sponsor of the 2005 All Roads Photographers Program.  In connection with National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project, this program recognizes and supports talented photographic storytellers from around the world who are documenting their changing cultures and communities through photography.

Sony Press Release

Sony Group Mid-Term Corporate Strategy FY2005-FY2007 - Strengthening Group Performance through Revitalization of Electronics

Tokyo, Japan, September 22, 2005 – Sony today announced significant moves to strengthen its competitiveness by focusing on its three core sectors: electronics, games and entertainment. In particular, the company is concentrating on the revitalization of its electronics business through further structural reforms and promotion of a well-defined growth strategy. Our target is for the Sony Group to achieve consolidated sales of over 8 trillion yen and an operating profit margin of 5% (electronics 4%) by the end of fiscal year 2007. (*1)

Sony has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs, roughly 7% of its global workforce, by 2008, with 11 manufacturing plants shutting their doors. Setbacks in the digital music and flat screen TV markets are to blame, as new CEO Sir Howard Stringer attempts to turn the fortunes of the ailing company around.

“In its announcement, which came after the close of trading on the Tokyo stock market, Sony said it expected a group net loss of 10bn yen ($90 million) in the current fiscal year. Over the past five years, Sony shares have lost two thirds of their value. In Thursday’s trading, its share price fell 2.2%.”

Website: BBC News - Sony to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide

Sony Press Release

Tokyo, Japan and Berlin, Germany, 20th September 2005 - Sony Corporation today announced that Chris Deering, President of Sony Europe has decided to retire from Sony, in order to pursue personal opportunities in the U.S., where his family now resides. Effective November 1, 2005, Mr. Deering will be succeeded by Fujio Nishida, who currently serves as EVP, Corporate Executive, in charge of Electronics Marketing at Sony Corporation in Tokyo. During the coming weeks Messrs. Deering and Nishida will work closely together to facilitate a smooth transition of responsibilities, after which Mr. Deering will continue to work with the company in a consulting capacity.

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Press Release

(Weymouth, MA) September, 20 2005… Digital camera unit sales reached 22.5 million units in Western Europe in 2004 and the market is expected to grow by 32% in 2005, reaching 29.8 million units by year end. Although average selling prices for digital cameras declined in 2004, revenues increased by a staggering 42%. Revenues are expected to continue to increase by 29% in 2005 to total just over €10 billion. This makes Western Europe the largest digital camera market worldwide in terms of units sold and revenue.

Lexar Media Press Release

FREMONT, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 19, 2005—Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq:LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today responded to litigation initiated by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. and Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc.

Fuji filed a lawsuit against Lexar, alleging that certain of Lexar’s flash cards infringe Fuji’s U.S. Patent No.‘s 5,303,198; 5,386,539; and 5,390,148. Fuji seeks damages and injunctive relief in this litigation, which was filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 16, 2005.

“We believe that Fuji’s litigation is a tactical move in response to the ongoing patent infringement case that Lexar brought against Fuji over three years ago, in July 2002,” said Eric Whitaker, executive vice president and general counsel, Lexar. “In that case, we intend to prove that Fuji’s sale of digital cameras and flash memory products infringe multiple Lexar patents. We expect discovery to be complete in that case in the next five months and anticipate a trial next year. It appears that Fuji recognizes its potential exposure in that litigation and is now trying to deflect attention from it by filing this new action. Based on our initial review of the patents asserted by Fuji, we do not believe that they apply to our flash cards, and this litigation will not deter us from protecting Lexar’s intellectual property from Fuji’s infringement.”

The first ever Europe Photobloggers Meetup is taking place later this coming weekend (September 23rd-25th) in London. As I’ve just moved back to the English capital (which is noticeably colder than Paris), I’m planning to attend at least one of the planned events, which include a photographic meetup, photo display and of course some drinking. So if you’re not doing anything this weekend, get yourself to central London for some photography-related, ermm, frolics?!

Website: Europe Photobloggers

Canon USA Press Release

CANON U.S.A. UNVEILS NEW CORPORATE SLOGAN FOR THE AMERICAS

New Canon imageANYWARE Slogan Showcases Canon’s Advanced Digital Imaging Solutions for Business and Consumers

NEW YORK—September 14, 2005—Canon U.S.A, Inc., today introduced a new corporate slogan that underscores the company’s commitment to being the leader in total networked, digital imaging solutions for business and consumers. The new Canon corporate slogan is expressed in a simple, yet powerful, tagline—Canon imageANYWARE.

Canon imageANYWARE, which was introduced here at Canon’s technology showcase Canon EXPO 2005 in New York, represents the company’s ability to create a borderless environment of people, devices, images, and information that lets people live and work the way they want, virtually anytime, anywhere.

Canon USA Press Release

Companies to Integrate Components of Adobe(r) LiveCycle(tm) for Paper-to-Digital, Security and Print Solutions based on Adobe PDF with imageRUNNER Product Line

London - Sept. 14, 2005 - Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) today announced they are working together to develop paper-to-digital scanning, security and print solutions based on Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The combination of Adobe LiveCycle and Adobe PDF technologies with Canon’s imageRUNNER multi-function product (MFP) line and imageWARE software products will make it easier for information workers to integrate paper processes into more secure digital workflows. Organisations will be able to bridge the gap between the familiarity and prevalence of paper and the digital world of electronic business processes.

A couple of Canadian websites are reporting that Konica Minolta has decided to close its Canadian arm. “Stiff competition” is apparently to blame for the closure. Konica Minolta products will continue to be sold in Canada through distributors.

Website: Digital Home Canada - Konica closes Canadian Camera unit

Website: Graphic Exchange News - Konica shuts down Canadian digital camera operation

Nikon USA Press Release

Nikon Kicks off the ‘D50 Digital Experience’ Multi-City Road Tour, Proving To Consumers That Incredible Photos are Incredibly Simple to Take with a D50

MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/—This fall consumers in major cities across America will have the chance to see for themselves what the buzz surrounding digital SLR cameras is all about, as Nikon today embarks on a national multi-city road tour to put its newest, lightest and easiest-to-use digital SLR camera - the D50 - directly into the hands of curious consumers. Nikon’s “D50 Digital Experience” tour kicks off today at the St. Louis County Fair and Air Show in St. Louis, Missouri, and will continue on to stops in 11 major cities across the country, helping people experience firsthand how easy taking incredible photos can be using the D50.

Professional Photography Industry Establishes Relief Fund to Aid Colleagues Devastated by Hurricane Katrina

DEERFIELD, ILLINOIS – In response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, members of the professional photography trade have established a relief effort to help industry colleagues get back on their feet.  The P.H.O.T.O. Foundation (Photographic Industry Helping Others To Overcome) aims to rally industry support in the form of financial contributions, loaned equipment, extended billing and payment arrangements, and in-kind services to help photographers rebuild their businesses.  Donations may be mailed to: P.H.O.TO. Foundation, PO Box 611, Deerfield, IL 60015.

Creation of the foundation was inspired by the story of Neil Hurd, owner of Neil Hurd Photography in Metairie, Louisiana. On August 31, Hurd called his friends at Zookbinders Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois, to let them know he was safe.  Karyn Newman, the album company’s key customer representative, learned that Hurd and his wife had evacuated, but lost everything in the storm – all of his photography equipment, files and portraits.  Hurd estimates it will take more than a year to rebuild his 27-year-old business.