Bideo.com is a new online media exchange where creators of breaking news video and still images can manually protect and sell their content directly to publications in an auction setting. The Bideo message to creators is simple: stop giving away newsworthy videos and photos, and start selling them. For buyers, Bideo serves as a central, organized source for newsworthy user-generated content that is otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain. Founder and CEO, Pike Barkerding, sees demand for a service like Bideo.com rapidly increasing. ‘Everyday more and more breaking images are published by citizen journalists who are not properly recognized or compensated for their work,’ says Barkerding. ‘Bideo seeks to empower this growing army of “right-place-right-time” creators by giving them a simple, secure and profitable way to promote their content to interested buyers.’ Bideo will officially launch next week.

Website: Bideo

Zenfolio has recently debuted the next generation of its offerings to create a singular destination for photographers seeking to affordably and professionally manage all aspects of their photography business. With the new release, Zenfolio users can create portfolio sites, take full control over the visual design using the Zenfolio Theme Designer, and increase online exposure with enhanced search engine optimization positioning of all user web pages. At no additional cost, these improvements are available to all Zenfolio photographers including Basic, Unlimited and Premium users.

Website: Zenfolio

Nik Software has announced a free daily webinar series set on introducing the company’s digital photographic tools to current customers as well as those who have not yet purchased any Nik Software products. Every daily webinar is hosted by Nik Software experts and provides attendees with introductory information and tips for specific Nik Software products including Dfine 2.0, Viveza 2.0, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro, and Sharpener Pro 3.0 software. Webinars cover basic installation, usage tips and other information to help photographers achieve maximum success with the Nik Software product line. Available now, these daily webinars are held three times a day, Monday through Friday. Pre-registration for the webinars can be found at the website below.

Website: Nik Software Webinars

BeFunky.com, a technology company specialising in consumer-level digital media tools, has announced an enhanced service for users looking to do more with their digital artwork. The new service, called BeFunky Plus, gives members expanded rights usage, higher resolution capabilities for all digital artwork and access to a larger collection of digital photo effects. “BeFunky is an easy-to-use web application that allows anyone to create amazingly rich, professional-quality artwork from digital photos with a single click and without the need for expensive and hard-to-use graphic design software,” said Tekin Tatar, CEO & Co-Founder of BeFunky. “Our new BeFunky Plus service makes it easy for individuals and businesses to benefit from high-end, professional looking photo creativity with minimal impact on their bottom line. Anyone can create great-looking artwork from photos simply by uploading images, selecting a desired photo effect and letting BeFunky Plus take care of the rest.” BeFunky Plus costs $49.99 per year.

Website: BeFunky

ForestWander Nature Photography has partnered with hundreds of affiliates to offer thousands of extreme nature photography adventure gear products. This grand opening of the ForestWander Extreme Nature Photography Adventure Gear Store is seeking to help nature explorers and adventurers be prepared to not only survive their expedition, but to document it in high resolution digital detail, the company says.

Website: ForestWander Store

Photo Gallery at photo-gallery-website.co.uk now features improved search optimisation, faster loading and smooth transition between images. Designed for anyone who wants photographs, products or graphics to be the main focus of their website (as opposed to text and navigation), Photo Gallery is eCommerce enabled allowing publishers to sell photographs or products. Developed by website design agency Rubber Dragon, Photo Gallery includes a content management system allowing publishers to easily update their website.

Website: Photo Gallery

Pentax have opened an online store in the UK with a wider range of cameras and accessories. “The online store will ensure that a broader portfolio of products, particularly accessories, is available than our partners have the capacity to carry. This in turn will make PENTAX cameras a more attractive proposition to customers and should drive increased sales through traditional retail channels.” commented general manager Jonathan Martin.  All Pentax cameras and accessories will be sold through the site at retail prices.

Crashpadder.com is a peer-to-peer accommodation network which has recently added interest groups to the offering which enables people to meet and stay with strangers who share an interest or passion - such as photography. This means that happy snappers can meet and stay with other photography aficionados next time they’re on a trip and benefit from the personal knowledge of a local photography fan, the company says. Hosts and guests can look at one another’s profiles, check feedback from other users and send each other messages via the website ahead of making a booking in order to make sure they are both comfortable with the booking. Finally the guest pays via the website on credit or debit card which verifies their identity and home address.

Website: Crashpadder

ABC Imaging, a Washington DC-based printing and document management firm has announced the addition of a consumer photo services division. “The new MyPhotoPlus.com online photo service is an exciting addition to ABC Imaging,” said James Dempsey, division manager at ABC Imaging. “We have put a lot of research into photo gift services over the past two years and launched what we think is the best photo book engine on the web in terms of functionality and usability to provide our customers hundreds of sizes and styles to scrappers to the professional, creating photo books and unique photo gifts on their own”

Website: MyPhotoPlus

Swiss Data Group has announced the launch of SnapHaven, an online photo storage site that guarantees the safety and security of members’ photographs for life. Users can import photos quickly through the SnapHaven Easy Photo Uploader desktop application, access them online at any time, and easily share them with family and friends. SnapHaven has no minimum purchase requirements and no recurring subscription fees. It costs three cents per picture for lifetime storage, and the first 100 photos uploaded are free. For more information on SnapHaven, visit the website below.

Website: SnapHaven

Fotolia has announced that it now offers over eight million images for download. As the first microstock to offer extended licenses, Fotolia provides instant access to a diverse image library of royalty?free photos, vectors and videos starting at $1. Over 1.4 million professionals look to Fotolia for affordable, high-resolution images, the company claims. Founded in New York City in 2004, Fotolia spans the globe with websites in 10 languages and offices in 12 countries.

Website: Fotolia

The launch of new photography website FocalPop brings photographers and photo buyers a new way to buy and sell photography. FocalPoint works on the principle of crowdsourcing: image seekers create a request describing the photo they need, photographers upload shots that meet the request, and then the seeker selects a winning photo. Photographers can sign up for notifications of new requests and participate in those with the style, price, and licensing that best works for them. They also stand to earn high revenues with a minimum of 70% commissions on photo sales and the price of photos starting at a minimum of $50. Buyers will be happy to finally get the exact photos they need without having to spend hours digging for the right photo, the company predicts.

Website: FocalPop

Anyone who purchases 200GB or more of extra Google storage will receive a free Eye-Fi wireless memory card, which lets users send photos and videos directly from their camera to the Web. The combined power of Google’s Picasa Web Albums and Eye-Fi’s automatic geotagging service also lets users easily view their photos plotted on a map where the image was taken, and search or organise photos by location. Google’s storage solutions featuring the Eye-Fi card start at 200GB per year for $50 and are available for customers in the United States and Canada via the website below.

Website: Picasa Web Albums

Pictory is a new website founded by Laura Brunow Miner, former editor-in-chief of JPG Magazine, which aims to be “a new model for online magazines” and showcase the best work of photographers all over the world. Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. “I want to help a diverse group of people put together collaborative photo essays,” says Miner. “Pictory is about true, personal stories, and documentation of our lives and cultures. Pictory members don’t have to be professional photographers or writers, but they do have to look, observe, photograph, and consider. A pictory = a picture + story = a captioned image = a photo story.” The first photo story, entitled, Overseas & Overwhelmed is already on display. Current themes waiting for your submissions include Portrait of a Place: San Francisco, My Most Meaningful Image and The House I Grew Up In.

Website: Pictory

GelaSkins.com is offering a new way to show off your best photo and make your laptop, iPhone, Kindle or Blackberry unique and personal. The new GelaSkins Do-It-Yourself Service allows you to upload personal photos, designs and artwork to decorate your mobile devices. To create a DIY GelaSkins design, visit GelaSkins.com, choose the device, upload the image from your collection,
choose a layout and preview your work of art. All GelaSkins vinyl protective covers are removable using patented 3M adhesive, which prevents air bubbles from forming and allows for easy application.

Website: GelaSkins

Online photo printer FotoInsight has announced the start of its Danish and Swedish services FotoInsight Nordic. The Cambridge company, which was established in 2003, started a German operation in June 2005, Italian in October 2005 and Spanish in February 2006 and French in April 2007, apart from its original English language services. Each of the international web-services is covered by a web- and customer service team with native speakers. Quality and a speedy delivery all over Europe are achieved by the use of six strategically located production sites, the company says. FotoInsight caters for all major operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS and Windows as well as Firefox and Chrome browser users with special upload facilities with no need for additional software.

Website: FotoInsight

Photo Productions - a London-based company that designs and produces premium photobooks for photographers - have opened up their service to the wider public. They claim that their Premium Photobooks are a world away from the low quality, mass-produced, design-it yourself products that have become increasingly common. Photo Productions have developed an innovative and user-friendly website. Customers upload photos, and through a simple order process can choose from twelve photobook sizes, three graphic design styles, and various personalisation preferences. There’s even the option to drag photos into a specific order or choose which are to be most prominent. Once the order has been placed it’s sent to Photo Productions’ in-house graphic designers, who get to work creating a bespoke storybook narrative.  Each premium photobook arrives in its own presentation box, free courier delivery is included within the UK, and they also offer 10% off subsequent Photobooks ordered at the same time.

Website: Photo Productions

‘YuuWaa’, an innovative solution for the back-up, storing and sharing of all types of digital content, combining USB flash drive memory, online data storage and services today announces that is has doubled the storage capacity of both ‘YuuWaa’ products at no additional cost to customers, as part of a special end of the year offer. ‘YuuWaa Go’ will now provide 24GB of combined storage (previously 12GB) with a 4GB USB flash drive and 20GB online capacity for £19.99. ‘YuuWaa Plus’ will now provide 58GB of combined storage (previously 24GB) with an 8GB flash drive and 50GB online capacity for £29.99.

Website: YuuWaa

Online digital accessory specialist, Picstop, has relaunched its website, which it claims “sets new benchmarks for online trading in the sector”. A new ‘product finder’ option enables customers to browse tens of thousands of items including cameras, phones, PDAs and camcorders – and instantly provides information about all compatible products such as memory cards, batteries, chargers and cables. And within weeks the new-look site will also allow customers to make instant price comparisons with competitors and access totally independent reviews of its trading efficiency.

Website: Picstop

Greetings card company, Fluppet.com, is offering photographers, artists, cartoonists and illustrators the opportunity to earn a regular income though royalty payments. There is no cost to submit images and if the pictures are considered suitable, the originator stands to earn 5p each time it is chosen by a Fluppet.com customer.  Professional artists and photographers are also able to licence their work through Fluppet.com.