Google will begin phasing out their Google+ Photos mobile app and Web service on 1 August 2015. Encouraging users to switch to the new standalone Photos app, Google says it will start shutting down Google+ Photos initially on Android, and soon thereafter on the Web and iOS. Your files currently stored in Google+ Photos will remain accessible, but the app will stop working. Photos and videos can be exported to Google Drive or downloaded to your computer using Google Takeout.

Serif's professional image editing app for the Mac, Affinity Photo, is now available on the Mac App Store at a special introductory price of $39.99 / €39.99 / £29.99. Originally launched as a public beta in February, Affinity Photo (read review) offers raw image processing, PSD import and export, 16-bit-per-channel editing, colour management,camera lens and exposure corrections, accurate adjustments, live filter layers, high-end controls for channels and masks, advanced layer handling, and built-in frequency separation editing. “The performance of the product is what we are most proud of,” said Tony Brightman, head of Affinity development. “We take full advantage of all the latest... technologies like OpenGL, Grand Central Dispatch and Core Graphics. What this means to the user is whether it’s a 100 megapixel image or a complex composition with 1000s of layers, you can still pan and zoom at 60fps and see live views of all adjustments, brushes, blend modes and filters with no compromise." Do note that after 23 July 2015, the price will be raised to $49.99 / €49.99 / £39.99.

DxO have released DxO OpticsPro 10.4.2, DxO FilmPack v5.1.4, and DxO ViewPoint 2.5.6 for Mac and Windows. These updates add support for the Canon EOS 5DS and 5DS R. Additionally, DxO OpticsPro 10.4.2 also adds 789 new camera/lens combinations to its DxO Optics Modules library, whilst DxO FilmPack 5.1.4 and DxO ViewPoint 2.5.6 gain full compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.

Eyefi today announced that their Eyefi Mobi app is now available for the Windows Phone operating system. This means Windows Phone users can now take pictures with both their digital cameras and mobile phones, with all pictures being automatically organised and available to share instantly. The app leverages unique features that are part of the Windows Phone platform including Live Tiles. You can download the Eyefi Mobi app for free, but in order to add photos from your digital camera(s), you will also need to purchase an Eyefi Mobi memory card (pictured).

InfoParrot have released a new bundle of 10 free "HDR" presets for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Do note that in order to download the bundle, you first need to "like" or share the InfoParrot page on Facebook / Twitter.

Xara have released the latest new version of their creative design and photo editing software, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer. Version 11 adds new Art Brush technology to the Brush Tool, a range of high quality realistic textured brush effects, and the ability to sync files via Dropbox and Google Drive. In the Transparency Tool 5 new W3C standard, web-safe and PDF-safe blend modes have been added - Overlay, Hard Light, Soft Light, Luminosity & Colour. Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 11 costs £49.99/$69.99, and includes two valuable free additions – the Premium version of MAGIX Online Photo Album to share photos with friends and Photolooks 2, a powerful and flexible plug-in (previously sold by Red Giant for $199) that can change the colour and light effects in a photo.

Adobe have reset all 30-day free trial offers for their Creative Cloud applications, including Lightroom and Photoshop CC, to everyone who had already taken advantage of them before the release of Creative Cloud 2015. This enables you to try out all the new features of Lightroom CC 2015 and Photoshop 2015 such as Dehaze, which eliminates fog and haze from photos. To try the new versions you need to download the Creative Cloud utility (if it's not yet installed on your computer), log on to your Adobe account, and click the Try button next to the name of the application(s) you are interested in.

CloudSlice is a new app that aims to protect each photo stored on an iPhone or iPad by not only encrypting the photos but “slicing” them among multiple cloud storage accounts. "Stories abound of instances in which photos are stolen and used without permission, with the most threatening being cases of 'digital kidnapping' in which photos of children are republished for either marketing purposes or by those who publish them on their own blogs or social media as pictures of their own children," the developers say. "Potentially more common is the farming of photos and their metadata for marketing purpose – enabling marketers to target consumers based on information gleaned from their photos." CloudSlice uses the security of multiple cloud storage services and slices each photo so that it can be divided into as many as five different cloud storage accounts in order to protect it from hackers. The app is easy to use: to slice and upload photos, users simply tap the + button on the main screen and select which images they wish to protect. To retrieve a stored photo, they just tap on its thumbnail. The photo slices will be instantly fetched and displayed in CloudSlice. The app is available for $4.99 on the App Store.

X-Rite is giving away a free copy of Macphun Intensify Pro, worth £45/€55, with special bundles of ColorMunki Display. “Making sure you’ve got a colour accurate screen to be working on in the first place is absolutely essential,” commented Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director, X-Rite Photo Europe. “The ColorMunki Display gives you the control; Macphun Intensify Pro gives you creative freedom. It’s the perfect combination.” Available across Europe, the offer is available until stocks last.

BitTorrent have released a new app, which allows users to move a big batch of photos or a large video directly from one mobile device to another, without going through the cloud. As the BitTorrent Shoot app is available for different operating systems including Android, iOS and Windows Phone; it enables cross-platform image transfers. "If you’ve ever experienced a situation where you’re on iOS and a friend next to you has an Android phone, sending something like a big batch of photos or a long video is a challenge," says Erik Pounds is Vice President of Product Management for BitTorrent Sync. "The Shoot app was developed to make this easy." With Shoot, your first three sends are free, and a $1.99 in-app purchase enables unlimited sending. Using BitTorrent Shoot is entirely free for the receiver.

Intelligent Imaging Solutions have released an update to their piccure+ software, billed as "a revolution in computational photography." Version 2.5 brings a 30–70% decrease in processing time thanks to the new imaging kernel “Kestrel.” Furthermore it is now possible to use the software as a plug-in to DxO Optics Pro and Capture One (Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom were already supported the previous version). “It is our goal to seamlessly integrate piccure+ into the workflow of any professional photographer,” says Prof. Dr. Hanns Ruder, CEO. “It was thus extremely important to speed up piccure+ and to make it directly accessible through a wide variety of image editing programs. The update is free of charge for all users and re-emphasises the team’s commitment to its customer base and the technology.”

Cascable is an iOS-based remote control app that works with a number of Wi-FI capable Canon digital SLR cameras. "Whether you’re on iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, your primary exposure adjustments and focus/shutter release are front and centre," Cascable says. "Advanced autofocus, timer and drive controls are just a tap away. " Unlike other apps, Cascable supports downloading and exporting full resolutions photos — including raw files — from your camera, and with second screen support via AirPlay or HDMI you can view your photos on the big screen. Other innovations include an Apple Watch app that puts your camera’s shutter right on your wrist and a set of calculators to help with the tricky exposure calculations needed for astrophotography and neutral density filters. Cascade is currently available on the iTunes App Store for the promotional launch price of $19.99.

HDRsoft have released the plugin edition of Photomatix Essentials. Providing all the power and simplicity of the standalone edition, the new plugin is tightly integrated with Adobe Photoshop Elements. Adding the ability to process photos that have already been opened in Photoshop Elements, the Photomatix Essentials Plugin is designed for photographers who want an easy-to-use introduction to HDR imaging. The plugin is available for Photoshop Elements version 10 and above on both Windows ( XP / Vista / 7 / 8) and Mac OS X (Mac OS 10.7 or later).

Macphun today announced a major update to their black and white photo editing software, Tonality. The application, which uses a proprietary 16-bit raw processing engine, advanced imaging algorithms and a comprehensive set of unique digital darkroom features, now sports a new Luminosity Mask control for creating even more dramatic photos, and brings support for Photos for Mac, the latest version of Lightroom CC and a number of new raw image file formats. As with the original version, Tonality is offered in a standard version sold exclusively from the Mac App Store (SRP: £13.49; introductory price: £9.99) and a “Pro” version (SRP: £49.99; introductory price: £39.99) sold on the company’s website. The Pro version offers advanced features and the ability to run as either a standalone or as a plug-in to host applications such as Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop. Photographers who originally purchased the standard version of Tonality should launch the Mac App Store and choose “Updates” to automatically get the new software. Users of the Pro version should launch the standalone Pro app and choose the menu item Tonality Pro > Check for Updates to automatically get the new software.

Lasersoft has announced a new, paid upgrade for its SilverFast software, which incorporates a printer calibration tool. The ICC printer calibration utilises a flatbed scanner, whose colours are first adjusted with SilverFast’s patented auto IT8 calibration method, as a measuring device for profiling the printer. Users simply print a test chart using their printer and scan this chart with their IT8 calibrated scanner. SilverFast then calculates an ICC profile for their printer and the paper and ink combination. Those who already have SilverFast 8.5 for their scanner can purchase the upgrade for $99.

Adobe today launched Adobe Stock, which is billed as "the industry’s first stock content service to be integrated directly into the content creation process and the tools creatives use every day." Available through Adobe Creative Cloud, this new service is a curated collection of 40 million images, which is deeply integrated into the latest releases of Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC. Designers can launch Adobe Stock directly within CC desktop software, add watermarked images to their Creative Cloud Libraries, and then access and work with images across multiple desktop tools. When they are ready to license the image for finished work, they can do it directly within the desktop software they are working in. Thanks to Creative Cloud’s CreativeSync technology, all edits made on a watermarked image are automatically applied to the newly licensed image, saving hours of potential rework. Pricing for Creative Cloud individual and team customers is £7.19 incl VAT for a single image; £23.99 per month for 10 images monthly (with rollover of unused images); and £143.99 incl VAT per month for 750 images monthly. Separate pricing is available for Adobe Stock customers who are not Creative Cloud members. Adobe also announced it will offer industry-leading rates, to photographers and designers contributing content to Adobe Stock.

Triggertrap have released a new version of their Triggertrap Mobile app, enabling users to trigger their dSLR camera from an Apple Watch. The update applies to the recently introduced 'Wearables' mode, which originally offered support for Pebble smartwatches only; and allows photographers to trigger the cable release modes, long exposure modes, and timelapse modes from their wrist. The Apple Watch app also features a customisable trigger delay of up to 10 seconds. The company has also rolled out a new version of Triggertrap Timelapse Pro. This update brings Apple Watch triggering to the modular timelapse app. Both updates are available to download on the iTunes App Store.

Movavi have launched Photo Studio for Windows, a new photo retouching and management suite that combines a photo editor, a slideshow creator and a batch image processor. Movavi Photo Batch offers basic editing functions such as rotation, renaming, image conversion, and automatic adjustment that can be applied to as many pictures as you want. Renaming offers multiple options: Add index, Add date, Add free text, and more – all very useful for organizing photo albums and folders on your hard drive or in the cloud. Adjustment options include MagicEnhance, Auto Contrast, and Auto White Balance. Image conversion enables you to transcode images between JPEG (with customisable image quality levels), BMP, PNG, and TIFF. The main module – Movavi Photo Editor 3 – now includes a number of ready-to-use effects and textures ranging from subtle colour scheme changes (Nostalgic, Sepia, Vignette, and more) to complete image transformation (Oil Painting, Pen Outlines, and more). The third app in the package, Movavi Slideshow Creator, offers an easy way to turn edited photos into a slideshow. The apps in Photo Studio can be downloaded and activated separately - click through / read on for pricing details.

Version 3 of Camera MX is now available in the Google Play Store. This update adds a new Shoot the Past mode, which grants users the ability to go back in time up to three seconds before the shutter release was pressed to select and save missed shots. The new version additionally features a completely redesigned user interface and a wider range of photo editing options. The app is available for free.

The new Manfrotto Digital Director is billed as the only Apple Certified interface to help users intuitively manage their photo and video workflow. Consisting of hardware, software and firmware – all of which have gone through the Mfi (Made for iPad) certification, this novel product is designed to make shooting photos and videos much smarter. By simply plugging the USB cable into the camera and turning on the app, photographers and videographers can be sure of a reliable, high performance connection between their Canon or Nikon DSLR and their iPad Air. The dedicated CPU embedded into the Digital Director provides an interface between the two devices allowing the camera protocols to be fully understood and controlled by the iPad Air, and the use of Digital Director enables the user to place the camera in the most awkward or difficult to reach positions by controlling it remotely. The dynamic histogram and audio level display allows greater control, whilst focus control is guaranteed thanks to the Interactive Focus, which can be used to select the focus point anywhere on the screen. Additionally, Digital Director allows users to immediately share their images via FTP, by email on social networks. Digital Director is available to pre order now for £399.95, and will be available from 15th June.