Following the success of the British Journal of Photography’s award-winning iPad edition, the team behind the app is now launching 125 Magazine for iPad. 125 magazine is one of the world’s leading fashion photography magazines – a visual compendium of new ideas in photography, fashion, art and culture. The iPad edition is a new version of the magazine, which showcases previously unseen content, moving image and animation. The first issue is free, and out now on the iTunes App Store. Individual paid-for issues and a subscription option will be available from January.

Adobe today announced that it has acquired Behance, an online social media platform that enables creatives to showcase and share their work.  In the last 30 days, portfolios on Behance-powered sites have received over 90 million views and today there are over 3 million projects hosted on the Behance platform. “Behance will play a key role in Adobe’s efforts to serve the creative world in the years to come and will accelerate our efforts to enable a more open and collaborative creative community,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Adobe.

The 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition will open for entries on 7 January 2013. Photographers can submit images for 18 categories, with three categories specifically for those aged 17 and under. The submission deadline is 25 February 2013. To enter the 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, head to the website below.

Polaroid has confirmed plans to release an Android-powered mirrorless system camera. Rumours of the upcoming launch started circulating on the Internet four days ago when the picture reprinted above popped up on a Russian social network site. Since then Scott Hardy, President and CEO of Polaroid has confirmed that the product was real and that “additional information and specs will be released” at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Interestingly, the new model exhibits a surprising degree of similarity with the Nikon 1 J1 and J2 cameras and one of their lenses - although the lens release button is in a different location.

Via PR | Imaging-Resource

Dane-Elec has announced a range of UHS-I Class 10 SDHC and SDXC memory cards. “Dane-Elec’s UHS-1 memory cards are a game-changer for professional photographers and serious digital photography enthusiasts,” stated Sherry Chapman, Dane-Elec director of marketing. “Built for capture, storage and rapid transfer of high quality photos, these cards have only one mission: Picture-perfect performance at lightning-fast speeds. Photographers will never again miss a shot because of their equipment.” Dane-Elec SDHC Class 10 cards are available in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities. They deliver read speeds up to 95MB/s and write speeds up to 90MB/s. The Class 10 cards are available in 64GB and promise read speeds up to 95MB/s and write speeds up to 60MB/s. Dane-Elec products will be on display at 2013 CES, in Hospitality Suite 7-121 of the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

Nero has released a free Android app called NeroKwik. The program connects all the photos users have spread across their mobile devices, PCs, and social networks. Rather than upload, sync or move photos to a centralised cloud platform, NeroKwik simply connects mobile devices and services through the cloud. “NeroKwik addresses the three biggest hurdles people have when it comes to sharing photos with mobile devices,” said Nero Chief Product Officer, Martin Stein. “Sometimes it is hard to find specific images just when you need them. By having access to all your photos, even if they are on your PC, Facebook or another mobile device will mean you can find the ones you want, and fast. Additionally, the joy of sharing photos is seeing the feedback from your friends and family. NeroKwik makes this a better experience.” If you own a device running Android 4.0 or higher, you can download the app from the Google Play Store.

The Photographic Museum of Humanity has announced its 2013 Grant, an international photographic contest that aims to discover new talents. Photographers are invited to submit a series of maximum 15 photos before 18 February 2013. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize guarantees respectively $2,000, $1,000 and $500 in cash. There will also be a New Generation Prize of $500 dedicated to photographers under 25 and a Public Favourite Prize (also $500). In addition, the winners will be granted an exhibition in the photographic museum of Humanity. The contest has no entry fee.

Custom SLR has announced the general availability of its latest product, the Custom SLR ProDot.  A textured, press-on dot, the ProDot easily adheres to a range of surfaces to provide more finite control and vibration dampening. “While initially designed to be placed on top of a camera shutter button to offer photographers a more seamless shutter-release, free of residual vibrations, the ProDot is a remarkably-simple and convenient accessory for virtually any push-button experience,” the company says. “The emphatic response from the Kickstarter community, has not only enabled us to bring the product to market, but has proven that there is a demand for such a dynamic little accessory.” Available in low-profile black, high-visibility red, and clear colorface the ProDot is sold in packages of two for $9.95.

CyberLink recently unveiled a new video contest entitled “Create Video Challenge” that will encourage PowerDirector users to hone and improve their video editing skills. Consisting of a series of engaging and interactive video editing contests that will run for a period of nine months until 5 September 2013. CyberLink will provide a sample video with an accompanying demo that describes how it was made while encouraging participants to use the same techniques when creating their own videos.This month’s challenge involves the creation of a “tilt-shift” video. For detailed information about CyberLink’s “Create Video Challenge,” visit the event page at the website below.

Sony’s ?PlayMemories Studio application has been updated to include the ability to output images on Sony’s 4K TVs. This enables users to enjoy high resolution photos taken with their digital camera on Sony’s 4K-enabled Bravia KD-84X9005. Available from today, version 2.00 of PlayMemories Studio also offers improved editing functions, a choice of 10 new background music tracks and 29 extra sound effects. In addition, photo and video files which have been stored on PlayMemories Online can now be accessed via PlayMemories Studio. PlayMemories Studio is priced at €15, with a 30-day trial available free of charge.

Lowepro has announced some new colour-ways to the range of camera bags available as well as a new version of one of its most popular sling bags. The new Lowepro Passport Sling II (£50, pictured) is available in two new colour combinations – Black & Red and Mica & Green.  The Passport Sling II is an updated design, based on the popular Passport Sling bag – and now features 30% more storage space using a flexible camera storage box inside – which can be adjusted to fit your kit. And just in time for Christmas, there’s a new ‘little black number’ in the Lowepro range: the Lowepro Event Messenger series (priced from £37) is now available in black as well as the original Mica design.

Canon USA has launched a television campaign that “shows how images can magnify the subtle feelings in everyday life.” Designed to popularise the company’s PowerShot line of digital compact cameras, the campaign also involves the launch of a unique Facebook application that identifies the emotions of a user’s photo collection. The application scans a chosen photo album for a variety of emotions – including passion, love and nostalgia –then creates a unique visual summary of the specific feelings that reside in the image collection. Users can then share this visual summary with their Facebook friends and discuss the emotion they’ve captured through their own photography. The application, and more information on the Power of a Shot campaign, can be accessed at the website below.

BeFunky has launched a new campaign called “My Photos Are Mine,” promising a free premium BeFunky account to all Instagram users who do not agree with the latter’s new terms-of-service update. “BeFunky believes that photo-editing and sharing should be fun, which is why their users have full control over their photos,” the company said in a statement. “People are not required to register when using the service, and where they share the photos is completely up to them and easy to do… Now BeFunky is offering free access to even more features by giving away the premium account to anyone who has cancelled their Instagram account.”

Boinx Software has released iStopMotion for iPad 2.0, with new audio options that make use of the iPad’s capabilities. “In the 10 years since we launched iStopMotion for the Mac, we have crossed boundaries and pushed ourselves and the available technology to the limit,” said Oliver Breidenbach, CEO, Boinx Software. “The launch of iStopMotion for iPad 2.0 is the next step in our success story, adding the second most important moviemaking feature to the app - sound.” To celebrate the 10-year annniversary of the iStopMotion product family, for a limited time only, iStopMotion for iPad 2 is available from the iTunes App Store for $4.99 USD (regularly $9.99) or as a free upgrade for existing users. Its companion app, iStopMotion Remote Camera, is also available now from iTunes for free.

DxO Labs have launched a new measure of lens sharpness, dubbed “Perceptual Megapixel,” on their DxOMark website. Designed by DxOMark experts, Perceptual Megapixel attempts to quantify the sharpness “perceived” by the photographer while taking into account all the characteristics and defects of the lens and the camera. “This new unit of measure replaces the MTF scores that we have been publishing up until now. Perceptual Mpix weights MTF measurements with the sensitivity to detail of the human visual system, thus providing a score for the sharpness perceived by our eyes. We think this new measurement will be more understandable and practical for photographers who use our website,” explained Frédéric Guichard, Chief Scientific Officer for DxO Labs. The company also points out that the perceived resolution for a camera can be significantly different from the native resolution depending on the lenses with which it is coupled.

Kodak has sold its digital imaging patent portfolio for approximately 525 million dollars. The price will be paid partly by 12 intellectual property licensees organised by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, with each licensee receiving rights with respect to the digital imaging patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents; partly by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses. “This monetization of patents is another major milestone toward successful emergence,” Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said. “Our progress has accelerated over the past several weeks as we prepare to emerge as a strong, sustainable company. This proposed transaction enables Kodak to repay a substantial amount of our initial DIP loan, satisfy a key condition for our new financing facility, and position our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success.”

LPA Design today released a new update to its ControlTL firmware for Canon versions of the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 PocketWizard radios.  Available now, firmware version 6.200 for Canon adds compatibility with the Canon 5D Mark III digital SLR camera.  Any current owner of the ControlTL system can install this version via USB connection and update for free using the PocketWizard Utility (version 1.54 or later). For more information on how to update PocketWizard products via USB connection, visit the website below.

Olympus has issued a firmware update for the Olympus Stylus XZ-2 premium compact camera. Version 1.1 improves image processing while shooting with the ISO bracketing function enabled. To install the firmware update connect your camera to your computer via USB and launch the Digital Camera Updater software.

Nikon has posted a firmware update for the Nikon Coolpix S800c digital compact camera. According to the company, Version 1,2 incorporates the following improvements:

The position information the GPS function attached to images was sometimes incorrect. This issue has been resolved.

If images were captured before the playback mode icon is displayed, the date and time recorded was incorrect. This issue has been resolved.

Website: Nikon Coolpix S800c Firmware Update 1.2