GoPro has announced an agreement to acquire Kolor, a leader in virtual reality and spherical media solutions. All Kolor employees will join GoPro and will maintain operations at their headquarters in Savoie. “We are excited to welcome Kolor to GoPro,” said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro’s founder and CEO. “GoPro’s capture devices and Kolor’s software will combine to deliver exciting and highly accessible solutions for capturing, creating and sharing spherical content.” Spherical media enables a range of immersive viewing experiences and is an essential building block of virtual reality technologies. “Kolor’s mission is to enable the ultimate visual experience - to transport an audience to another time and space. Joining GoPro makes this possible,” said Alexandre Jenny, CEO of Kolor. “When the best spherical media software is combined with the world’s most versatile capture devices, our imagination become our only limitation. We’re excited to see what the world captures and shares with GoPro and Kolor.”

Canon Europe today announced that it is acquiring London-based digital start-up Lifecake, the company behind the Lifecake photo-sharing app for families, which allows parents to store, organise, share and relive key moments of their children’s lives.  With the app, parents can create photo and video timelines that the whole family can experience on smartphones, tablets, computers and in printed photobooks. Lifecake is currently available in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.

ReaConverter 7 Lite is a free version of ReaConverter, ReaSoft's batch image conversion and editing program for Windows. The Lite edition supports 5 most popular formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF both for reading and for writing, and all editing options of the full version including colour and position alteration, watermarks, retouching and other features. The full version supports over 400 image file formats and offers a range of automated functions not found in ReaConverter 7 Lite.

Adobe today announced a major update to its Creative Cloud Photography plan with the release of an all-new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC. This is a subscription-based desktop application that boasts a number of new features including HDR Merge, Panorama Merge, Face Recognition, advanced video slideshows and various performance/GPU enhancements. Automatically synced with Lightroom CC on the desktop, Lightroom on mobile devices lets users access and edit their catalogue of photos across a full range of iOS and Android devices. This release includes a major enhancement for Android with DNG raw file support on compatible Lollipop-enabled devices. The Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan (£8.57/$9.99 per month) includes Lightroom CC across desktop, Web and mobile, Photoshop CC and Photoshop Mix (for iPhone and iPad). All products are also available as part of Creative Cloud complete plan.

Totally Rad! announced today the launch of Replichrome III: Archive, a new collection of presets for Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw. While Replichrome I and II concentrated on modern and semi-available films, Replichrome III: Archive introduces photographers to 22 different films and 183 different presets, based on rare, expired, discontinued and eclectic films from across the world. “With Replichrome III, we wanted to give photographers a palette of choices that they wouldn’t have access to anywhere else,” said Doug Boutwell, CEO of Totally Rad! Inc. “We tracked down these expired and outdated films for years, and recreated the vintage looks with Replichrome III: Archive. Offering more unique choices than ever, if photographers are looking for timeworn, perfectly weird and rare, dramatic looking film, then Replichrome III is for them. We’re excited to offer emulations of this kind, which can’t be found on the market today.” Replichrome I and II are available now for $99 each. For a limited time, Replichrome III: Archive will be available at a discounted price of $69.

Macphun today launched their latest application, Noiseless. Using newly developed imaging technology; Noiseless provides a one-click solution for eliminating the noise generated by every camera when shooting in low-light situations. Advanced users can use the “Adjust Panel” of Noiseless for even greater control, including unique detail preservation and selective reduction tools. The program is available in two versions, a standard version, sold exclusively through the Mac App Store; and a Pro variantsold on Macphun’s website.

CheeringTech has released Version 2.0 of its CASE Remote iOS app. Designed to work with CASE Remote hardware, the smartphone app enables you to wirelessly control DSLR camera from your mobile devices. "CASE Remote is the best solution for tethered photography with live view function,." the company says "It does not only add WiFi function to your camera, but also introduce more advanced photography functions, making your photography much easier!" New in Version 2.0 adds focus peaking and video recording capabilities, and delivers an improved user experience. You can download the free app from iTunes.

DxO have released DxO OpticsPro 10.4, DxO FilmPack 5.1.2 and DxO ViewPoint 2.5.4 for Mac and Windows. These new versions add support for the Nikon D7200 and the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II (pictured). To further improve workflow, the DxO OpticsPro interface now offers a new “Reset” button that lets users cancel in just one click all of the manual corrections made to an image and to return to the default preset corrections, and includes support for several DxO optics modules offering support for Konica Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, and Zeiss lenses for many Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony cameras.

Google have released Version 2.0 of Snapseed for Android and iOS. The free app promises to give you the precision and control of professional photo editing software on your phone or tablet. New tools in Version 2.0 include Lens Blur, Tonal Contrast, intelligent Perspective Transform, and Spot Healing. Non-destructive editing via Stacks allows you to re-edit or undo any change, and you can now selectively apply filters and effects to parts of the image using the Brush tool.

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. Among the winners are the Canon EOS 7D Mark II (Best Digital SLR Expert), the Fujifilm X100T (Best Premium Camera), the Fujifilm X30 (Best Expert Compact Camera), the Leica T (Best Design), the Lytro Illum (Best Imaging Innovation), the Nikon Coolpix P610 (Best Superzoom Camera), the Nikon D5500 (Best Digital SLR Entry Level), the Nikon D810 (Best Digital SLR Professional), the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark ll (Best CSC Expert), the Panasonic LX100 (Best Photo/Video Camera Expert), the Panasonic FT6 (Best Rugged Camera), the Panasonic GM5 (Best CSC Advanced), the Pentax 645Z (Best Medium Format Camera), the Pentax K-2 (Best Digital SLR Advanced), the Ricoh WG-M1 (Best ActionCam, pictured), the Samsung NX1 (Best CSC Professional), the Sony A5100 (Best CSC Entry Level) and the Sony A7S (Best Photo/Video Camera Professional).

Video Pro X7 is the latest version of Magix's video editing program, offering numerous new features. The user interface has been completely redesigned in response to customer feedback, and the software now supports both hardware-accelerated encoding and H.264 video decoding. Video Pro X7 also offers 20 new effect transitions and individually configurable transition templates. Other enhancements include improved object tracking, XAVC and XAVC S support andloudness normalisation in accordance with the EBU R128 international guideline. Video ProX7 is available for £349.

Ohanaware have launched their latest photo enhancing application, Magic for OS X. The company's 7th generation real time effects engine is at the heart of the program, providing direct feedback to the user as options are adjusted and tweaked. Features include sixteen 1-click adjustments, a Yosemite inspired interface, and support for Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Apple Mail, Messages, AirDrop, iPhoto, Aperture and Apple's new Photos application.Magic is available today from the Ohanaware website for $19.99.

Iridient Digital has released Iridient Developer 3.0.1. This version adds support for the Canon 5DS and 5DS R, the Nikon D7200, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II and SH-2, the Panasonic TZ71 and Samsung NX500. Additionally, it includes improvements to the new v3 noise reduction methods for Luminance and Luminance Grain Smoothness, particularly for images with high levels of speckle type noise in the deep shadows. The v3 Colour noise reduction methods are now both applicable to monochrome conversions and are now applied prior to monochrome conversion. New presets for Fujifilm X-Trans cameras with APS-C based sensors are also available. This update is free for everyone who purchased a new or upgraded license after 14 April 2013.

BeFunky has launched its next-generation online photo editing suite. The newest version processes images twice as fast as the previous iteration, and features a sleeker and intuitive layout. The company has also added new effects to its large library of current tools, many of which are exclusive to BeFunky. The editing suite is free to use, and for $4.95 a month, users can upgrade to BeFunky Plus, which offers access to hundreds of additional features.

TeoreX has released Version 6.2 of Inpaint, an easy-to-use program for effortless retouching of photos and images. Inpaint 6.2 improves texture generation for better results and offers new usability options. The new algorithm delivers surprisingly seamless retouching, even though it takes only a few seconds to apply. TeoreX Inpaint 6.2 sells for $19.99.

PicsArt has released an update to the free PicsArt Photo Studio app. The new version gives users the ability to work with significantly higher resolution images, share .GIF files, and save drafts of edited images on PicsArt.com. "Creative inspiration can come from anywhere, that's why PicsArt focuses on giving creatives the tools they need wherever they find inspiration," says Hovhannes Avoyan, founder of PicsArt. The app is available on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Store.

Triggertrap Timelapse Pro is an advanced companion app to Triggertrap Mobile, offering flexible and powerful modular timelapse creation to iOS users. The app enables users to create timelapse sequences composed of so-called ‘Intervalometer’ and ‘Delay’ modules. These modules can be configured, mixed and matched. Several modules can be added to each timelapse sequence. Users can reorder and delete modules as they please, adding even more flexibility to their sequence. Photographers can also create and save as many timelapse sequences as they like. Timelapse Pro is available to buy in the iTunes App Store for £3.99/$4.99.

Light Blue, business management software designed specifically for photographers, has launched a new online contract signing service. The new release is an addition to Light Blue Software’s online services. Every subscriber will be able to send contracts to clients, and receive an electronically signed copy back from them. “As a photographer, it’s important you have a proper contract with your clients, but when a client tells you that they want to confirm a booking you want to make the process as quick and painless as possible,” Light Blue founder Tom Catchesides says. “We’ve designed the online contract signing services in Light Blue to be powerful, but really simple to use, so once you’ve got a template set up you send your contract out to them in just a few clicks. It’s all part of our commitment to building really useful software that’ll help streamline business admin and let photographers spend more time out taking pictures.”

Akvis has announced a new software which turns images into pointillistic paintings. This painting technique is characterised by the application of paint in small dots and brush strokes. The new Akvis Points program includes ready-to-use presets for the pointillism effect, and it is also possible to add a signature, an inscription or a copyright watermark to the picture. The software runs on Windows XP/Vista/Win7/Win 8 and on Mac OS X 10.6-10.10. A home license of the program is available for $49.

TeoreX, the company famed for its BatchInpaint, FolderIco, Inpaint, iResizer and PhotoSticher applications, has released PhotoScissors 2.0.Targeting users who don’t want to learn secrets of retouching, PhotoScissors makes background removal easy: the user marks foreground and background zones in the image and immediately sees the results, which can then be fine-tuned with a few mouse gestures. Version 2.0 provides a number of improvements to further enhance results and reduce time required to obtain them. In particular, the improved edge feathering algorithm plus the "Offset Boundary" option allow for much neater and more precise contours of the cut out object. The "Shadow" option quickly applies a transparent shadow to the picture, and the new interactive processing mode optionally allows applying all changes to the image in real time. The price for a single license of PhotoScissors is $19.99. PhotoScissors is available both for Windows and Mac OS.