The Federation of European Professional Photographers (FEP) has announced the "World Photographic Cup" competition. Photographic associations are invited to send a team entry from their nation to represent their highest standard of photographic excellence and style for the inaugural World Photographic Cup. The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2013.

Diana Bird and Anthony Epes have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the publication of two new photography books, London at Dawn (revised edition) and Paris at Dawn. "We have paid for half the printing costs and are now looking to raise the other half," the authors say. "If the campaign is successful we will then be exhibiting the project and launching the books at St Pancras Station in October." If you are interested in making a contribution, visit the website below.

Serif has just launched PhotoStack, an all-in-one photo organiser, editor and library. Designed with speed and simplicity in mind, PhotoStack will help budding photographers quickly and easily enhance, sort and share their entire photo collection, the company promises. Users can import thousands of photos from their camera, smartphone or tablet straight into PhotoStack and organise them in seconds. Once uploaded, photos can be tagged, rated or grouped into photo stacks – a feature which makes it easier for users to find their favourite version of any photo. With just a few simple clicks, users can take care of imperfections, such as red-eye, spots and blemishes, and even erase unwanted background objects. There are also dedicated tools to recolour and sharpen images, plus features for cropping, cloning and straightening pictures. Once editing is complete, users can see their entire collection in the library and use simple drag and drop tools to quickly create bespoke photo albums. PhotoStack is compatible with Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and is optimised for 64-bit operating systems. It retails at £49.99 and is available directly from Serif.

MindShift Gear have released a new Lens Switch Case, a lightweight and versatile unpadded modular lens/accessory pouch that can be carried on the belt of MindShift Gear’s rotation180° Professional backpack. “The Lens Switch Case solves one of the biggest problems nature and outdoor photographers face,” said MindShift Gear’s Product Manager Jerry Dodrill.  “By mounting it on the rotation180° pro backpack’s belt, photographers can quickly access their telephoto lenses, filters, and other equipment on the fly.” The Lens Switch Case is available for $42.50.

Limelite has appointed MAC Group as its exclusive distributor in the US. Under the new agreement MAC Group will become a shareholder in the UK-based lighting company. Jan Lederman, President of MAC Group, has been appointed President of Limelite USA. He said: “Limelite is a new and exciting challenge for us. With new and innovative products in the continuous lighting field, Limelite represents the future of the lighting business whether it is for filmmakers or photographers. Our goal will be to establish it as a leader in the advanced LED, fluorescent and tungsten lighting business.”

During its keynote at the Photoshop World conference in Las Vegas, Adobe has announced its new Photoshop Photography Programme, which gives users who own Photoshop CS3 or higher the opportunity to use both Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 for $9.99 per month. The offer additionally includes 20 gigabytes of online storage, access to Creative Cloud Learn's training resources, Behance ProSite, and ongoing upgrades and updates. Note that the $9.99 offer is valid in America, Asia (with the exception of Japan), Africa and European countries outside the EU. Japanese users pay ¥1,000, Australians AU$9.99, UK citizens £7.14 and the rest of the EU €9.99 per month. Also note that while these are not introductory prices, you do need to sign up before the end of this year to take advantage of this special offer, which will be available at the same time as Lightroom 5.2 - i.e. within a couple of weeks.

Corel has released Paint Shop Pro X6 Ultimate with 64-bit support, a refined user interface, new quick-selection tools and improved workflows. Performance gains include faster operation, accelerated file opening and saving, and enhanced support for 64-bit Photoshop plug-ins. For the first time ever, Athentech's Perfectly Clear plug-in is included in PaintShop Pro X6 Ultimatem along with FaceFilter3 Standard, a versatile photo retouching and beautifying toolkit by Reallusion.

Wacom has introduced a new line-up of Intuos and Intuos Pro pen tablets. The products have been re-designed in terms of ergonomic and technical features. In addition there is a slimmer design and improved multi-touch functions and wireless capabilities. The Intuos Pro comes in four Pen & Touch sizes– small (£199.99), medium (£299.99) and large (£429.99), as well as the silver framed Intuos Pro Special Edition (medium size), priced at  £319.99. There are four Intuos models available including the Intuos Pen (£59.99), Intuos Pen & Touch Manga (£84.99) Intuos Pen & Touch S (£84.99) and Intuos Pen & Touch M (£169.99). The optional Wireless Accessory Kit for Intuos tablets is priced at £34.99.

Version 8.3.1 of DxO Optics Pro adds support for the Panasonic Lumix GF6 (pictured) and G6, Olympus PEN E-P5, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100, and Pentax K-50 II cameras. The program also benefits from many new DxO Optics Modules. 490 new camera/lens combinations have been added to the library, which now counts more than 14,000 modules. This upgrade is free for all owners of DxO Optics Pro 8, as well as for all photographers who acquired a DxO Optics Pro 7 licence on or after 1 September 2012.

WD today launched its My Passport Slim line of portable hard drives, the first thin drives to offer up to 2 TB capacity, a metal enclosure, and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, the My Passport Slim measures 4.33"x3.14"x0.48" and incorporate USB 3.0 connectivity for quick transfer of high resolution digital files. The WD My Passport Slim 1 TB has an MSRP of $99.99 USD, and the My Passport Slim 2 TB2 is available for $149.99.

CyberLink today unveiled the latest version of its video creation software, PowerDirector 12, New features include a motion blur effect, a new theme designer and multicam designer, and TrueVelocity 4 editing engine. Available now, the PowerDirector 12 Ultimate Suite retails for ₤199.99, PowerDirector 12 Ultimate sells for ₤99.99, PowerDirector 12 Ultra costs ₤79.99, while PowerDirector 12 Deluxe can be yours for ₤59.99.

CyberLink today launched PhotoDirector 5, the newest version of its photography application designed to provide all the features photographers need to manage large batches of photos, adjust images, and showcase work in their own style, in a single package. Key highlights in Version 5 include 64-bit support, HDR exposure blending, auto lens correction, 4K Ultra HD output option for shlideshows and a new companion app for Windows 8 tablets. PhotoDirector 5 Ultra is available for ₤79.99, PhotoDirector 5 Suite sells for ₤114.99.

Cokin has unified all its existing creative products (A Series, P Series, Z-Pro Series and X-Pro Series square filters) under the new range name "Creative Filter System." Additionally, the company has devised new size markings borrowed from the clothing industry, new pictograms, packaging and colour coding for the products. Their new SlidePack is billed as "a revolutionary and environment-friendly" packaging solution that is approximately 55% smaller and 60% lighter than the previous one. Moreover, the design of SlidePack prevents the filter from dropping out unexpectedly. The first product line-up to adopt the new packaging is the P Series (now called the M size range).

PNY has revealed its new StorEDGE flash memory expansion module designed exclusively for use in MacBook computers to quickly and easily increase available storage capacity while keeping you mobile. Engineered as a semi-permanent storage solution, StorEDGE plugs directly into your MacBook to radically upgrade your flash storage without compromising your notebook’s sleek design. Available in 64GB (£89) and 128GB (£169) capacities, StorEDGE allows users to store even more images and videos without compromising system speed or performance. without compromising system speed or performance. The PNY StorEDGE is compatible with the 13-inch MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Pro with Retina display, and comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

The Lexar JumpDrive V20 is a storage solution designed for users who need to know at a glance what's on each drive. Available in packs of two, three, or four, each drive comes with write-on labels, and features a protective, clear cover so users can slide in and swap out labels as needed in order to keep stored files organised. Each drive also sports an LED activity light that blinks during data transfer. The JumpDrive V20 USB multipacks are available now with MSRPs of £15.99 (two-pack), £23.99 (three-pack), and £31.99 (four-pack), and include a two-year limited warranty.

Lexar has announced a new 64GB microSDXC UHS-I memory card with read transfer speeds up to 600x (90MB per second). This Class 10 microSDXC UHS-I card allows users to capture, store, play back, and transfer up to eight hours of 1080p full-HD video (recorded at 24fps, 5Mbps) and thousands of photos. Priced at £84.99/$99.99, the Lexar High-Performance microSDXC UHS-I card comes with a USB 3.0 reader to enable high-speed file transfer rates from card to a computer. The reader is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports and comes with a one-year limited warranty.

The new Lexar JumpDrive M10 secure USB 3.0 flash drive offers EncryptStick Lite software, 256-bit AES encryption, automatic data encryption and a File Shredder feature that permanently deletes files from the device so they cannot be restored. Offering read speeds up to 100MB/s on all capacities, the JumpDrive M10 Secure is available now with MSRPs of £27.99 (16GB), £45.99 (32GB), £77.99 (64GB), and £149.99 (128GB), and includes a three-year limited warranty.