Canon USA has launched its "Canon See Impossible" campaign, a branding effort aimed to inspire customers to see impossible with Canon products. As part of the companywide marketing initiative, the Japanese brand has rolled out a new logo accompanied by a 3-D visual of an expanding box (pictured), symbolising Canon’s desire to "break the boundaries of what is possible." Additionally, the company has set up a new microsite housing consumer, professional, and commercial stories of inspiration, imagination, and innovative end-user applications of Canon imaging technology. “As a technology-based brand, Canon is constantly challenged to empower its customers in today’s high-tech and fast-paced world in which new apps and innovations are launching every single day,” said Joe Adachi, Chairman and CEO, Canon USA. “With imagination and customer focus at the core of the Canon business model, ‘Canon See Impossible’ will highlight the combined technological innovation and human ingenuity that makes the impossible possible. Our new rallying cry will extract creative thinking from a place of isolation, encourage exploration of the unknown, and showcase our creativity as it impacts the real world with limitless possibilities.”

 Alpine Labs and Vivo Labs have formally merged to "better support the time-lapse photography community." The move will bring the smartphone-programmable Michron (pictured) and Radian time-lapse photography products together and combine the capabilities and staff members of the two organisations. “Everyone at Alpine Labs is very excited by the possibilities this merger will give us to better serve photographers interested in time-lapse photography,” said Greg Horváth, President of Alpine Labs. “Both Alpine Labs and Vivo Labs share a common mission to make time-lapse photography easy and accessible to photographers of all experience levels. The marketing and product development teams of both companies already know each other well, and this merger will enable us to unlock the full potential of those relationships.”

Adobe has acquired Aviary, a developer of mobile SDKs for the delivery of creative apps. “Aviary has an exceptional team and technology platform, as well as expertise serving a robust developer ecosystem. We're thrilled to leverage Aviary's technology to make our Creative SDK even more powerful for app developers,” said Scott Belsky, vice president of Creative Cloud Ecosystem & Behance at Adobe. “This is great news for developers because thousands of mobile apps will have the opportunity to become compatible with industry-defining desktop tools like Photoshop CC, as well as new Creative Cloud services."

Panasonic and Leica Camera have extended their partnership agreement and agreed to expand and strengthen their technological cooperation in the digital camera field. "Based on this agreement, Panasonic will be able to commercialise digital camera products with Leica lenses over the next five years, from October 2014 to September 2019 while Leica will be able through the expansion and strengthening of technological cooperation to utilise Panasonic's digital technology in its own product development," the companies said in a joint statement. "The agreement will allow both companies to boost product competitiveness by combining Leica's optical technology and Panasonic's digital technology."

Professional photographers in Europe can benefit from valuable help and extra peace of mind with the launch of Sony Imaging PRO Support. There’s no membership fee for the service, which is offered to professional photographers who own qualifying Sony α camera bodies and lenses.

Canon and Microsoft have signed a broad patent cross-licensing agreement. Covering a broad range of products and services, this contract allows both companies to gain licences to each other’s patent portfolios. “This collaborative approach with Canon allows us to deliver inventive technologies that benefit consumers around the world,” said Nick Psyhogeos, general manager, associate general counsel, IP Licensing of the Innovation and Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “Microsoft believes cooperative licensing is an effective way to accelerate innovation while reducing patent disputes.”

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the brand and assets of Tamrac to Gura Gear. Tamrac, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2014 will continue to operate normally until the acquisition is finalised later this month. Once the transaction is complete, Gura Gear will relocate Tamrac's assets and expand its Ogden, Utah facilities.

SWPP & WPPI have entered into a partnership to offer members joint membership of both photographic organisations. SWPP members are now able to access previously exclusive WPPI competitions, be enrolled as a WPPI member and gain discounted rates to WPPI’s annual Las Vegas Convention. Phil Jones, CEO of The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers said, “This is a terrific opportunity for our members to share in the benefits of another world leading organisation and have the opportunity to attend a Las Vegas Convention’.

C&A Marketing, the Polaroid Licensee for instant digital camera, sports video camera, IP home security cameras and photo accessories. has acquired most of Calumet Photo’s USA-based assets. The 75-year-old, Chicago-based chain abruptly closed its US stores and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in March 2014. C&A Marketing is currently evaluating which, if any, stores to re-open but will be reactivating all of Calumet’s on-line properties in the next few weeks, as well as reopening its rental business.

Samsung is calling for ideas on where to send its user-controlled camera-bot, the NX Rover, next. Inspired by Mars exploration rovers, the space-like NX Rover has so far travelled over 10,000 miles and taken over 3,000 pictures, all with ordinary people behind the lens, controlling it online. Up to now, people have had the chance to control the photos the robot takes - now they also have the chance to choose where it goes using hashtag #NXRover. To see where the NX Rover camera bot has travelled so far, check out the movie below.

The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) member magazines recently convened for their General Assembly to vote for the best photo and imaging products launched by the industry in the last 12 months. The voting took place on the 5th during the General Assembly that was held from the 3rd to the 5th April 2014 in Vancouver, Canada. The award-winning products for 2014 will be announced on Wednesday, 23rd April.

JVC Kenwood has joined the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) standard. In a jointly issued statement, Olympus and Panasonic welcomed the move and added that JVC Kenwood would "soon be introducing an exciting new line of advanced new Micro Four Thirds products." In fact, the company already has two prototype video cameras on display at the NAB show in Los Angeles; the JVC GY-LSX2 and GW-SPLS1, each of which features an MFT lens mount and, perhaps surprisingly, a Super35 sized sensor (which is wider than most Four Thirds imagers but not really wider than the oversized multi-aspect sensor of Panasonic's GH series CSCs).

Panasonic and Sony have jointly announced a new standard for professional-use optical discs. The announcement follows the signing of an agreement between the two electronics giants in July 2013. Named Archival Disc, the new storage medium will be capable of storing a minimum of 300 gigabytes per disc. In addition, both companies plan to leverage their respective technologies to further expand the recording capacity per disc to 500GB and 1TB. Availability of the 300GB discs is slated for summer 2015.

In a joint announcement, Bowens, PocketWizard and Sekonic have teamed up to create a complete wireless triggering solution for electronic flashes that will be first introduced in the US market. Most Bowens Gemini monolights will accept an optional PocketWizard module, which enables photographers to wirelessly trigger their flash with PocketWizard radios and Sekonic light meters. Compatible components within the system include Bowens Gemini 500R, 500Pro, 750Pro, 1000Pro & 1500Pro series of monolights with PocketWizard module, all existing PocketWizard radios and the Sekonic L-478DR and L-758DR exposure meters. In addition, other (earlier) Sekonic meters can be used with an optional PocketWizard transmitter. To commemorate the alliance, PocketWizard is introducing a new Plus III Transceiver in the "Bowens' signature yellow" colour.

This Saturday marks the one year anniversary of A Day Without News?, a campaign launched by Getty Images’ Aidan Sullivan and agroup within the media and photojournalism communities to raise awareness of the risks faced by journalists and photojournalists in war zones. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has estimated that in the last year alone 70 journalists and media professionals were killed doing their job, with Syria being the most dangerous country to operate from, accounting for 28 deaths. "“In just one year, we have played an important part in raising awareness, and having the UN pass a resolution will further strengthen the security of our colleagues," Sullivan said in a statement. "Currently, we are working towards a collaboration with a leading US University to initiate a ‘clinic’, designed to uncover evidence of targeted attacks against journalists in conflict zones.  We hope this information will build a case that can be taken to the international and national tribunals or courts to prosecute those responsible for targeting journalists.”

Samsung and Getty Images have announced a new partnership. The partnership will bring together the unique capabilities and expertise of Samsung and Getty Images to drive forward connected photography. "Partnering with an iconic brand like Getty Images is an ideal endeavour for Samsung. Getty Images is the perfect partner to allow our customers to share their individual stories from across the world, faster and through better quality images than ever before," said Stephen Taylor, Vice President Brand and Retail, Samsung Electronics Europe. “Through this partnership, we hope to empower a generation of aspiring photographers to take their ambition to new heights.”  As part of this agenda, the agreement will see a commitment to the creation of bespoke content, starting with the launch of the “Samsung Collection” now available on gettyimages.com.

Lexar will become an official supplier for the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014. This agreement will see Lexar provide a range of memory solutions to the championship promoter and its audio-visual production team to enable broadcast of the rallies to a global audience of 600 million viewers.  High-speed Lexar CompactFlash and microSD cards will capture on-board video from each World Rally car, whilst Lexar USB drives will be used to transfer stored data and video between locations.

The Sony Global Imaging Ambassadors programme is a new initiative celebrating the beauty of photography. Through this programme, Sony will work closely with a range of photographers with diverse styles from across the globe. Inaugural participants include William Klein and photographers from the leading international photo agency, Panos Pictures. Yoshiyuki Nogami, Senior General Manager, Marketing Division, DI Business Group, Sony commented: “The Global Ambassadors Programme is an extremely exciting project that allows Sony to lend its technical expertise to some of the world’s leading photographers to enable them to bring their creative visions to life. From Sony’s perspective, we are able to gather valuable feedback about what photographers want from their equipment which will shape our new product development and help us move towards our goal of providing the best digital imaging products available in the market.”

LightRocket and Getty Images have today announced a partnership that sees Getty Images become a key distribution partner for LightRocket. The represented content spans a wide variety of global subject matter, from Tibetan Festivals through to everyday life in London. LightRocket also brings the latest images from regional news events, such as the plight of Rohingya Refugees in Burma and the recent Anti-government Protests in Thailand to build on Getty Images' extensive portfolio of editorial assets, which is currently growing by 10,000 to 15,000 images each day. The partnership provides LightRocket's premium annual members with a unique opportunity to apply to become Getty Images contributors direct from LightRocket's dedicated Getty Images page. Utilising a feed from LightRocket's online portal, members can upload and distribute images worldwide via Getty Images' global platform.

Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH announced that the company is again facing liquidity issues and is no longer able to honour its full financial obligations. The Managemant Team is working closely with the Swiss state and the appropriate authorities in order to minimise the negative impact on all parties involved. Do note that Ilford Imaging, which develops and manufactures consumables for inkjet printing and other coated products, is not to be confused with Ilford Photo, a UK-based company that produces black-and-white photographic film, papers and chemicals.