Wacom has just announced Bamboo Loop, its second app for the Android platform. Bamboo Loop marries creative photo-sharing with messaging, meaning that photographs taken on a smartphone can be illustrated and personalised with drawings, scribbles, cartoons and words and forwarded to a friend, family member or colleague. Available for free download from Google Play, Bamboo Loop also offers a gallery of photo filters and shapes that can be extended by purchasing additional style packs at the price of £ 0.69. Available style packs include seasonal themes (e.g summer), art paper, candy, pattern, fun, and vintage. The app offers support for the Bamboo Stylus, a pen which can write comfortably on tablet displays.

PhotoFast's i-FlashDrive HD, a two-way storage device between iOS and Mac/PC, is now available in the United Kingdom. The drive’s free corresponding application delivers the ability to upload, organise, edit and manage files across multiple devices, including PC, iPad, iPhone and more. The 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models of the compact and portable i-FlashDrive are offered as a combo kit, which include both the Lightning adapter and 30-pin connector for increased compatibility with Apple mobile devices as well as USB devices. Additionally, i-FlashDrive offers backwards compatibility, working seamlessly when plugged in on the standard USB side with multiple operating systems including iOS 6, Windows XP/7/8, OSX and Linux. PhotoFast's i-FlashDrive HD is available online in 8, 16, 32 or 64 GB capacities, ranging in price from £60 to £210.

Sony and Panasonic have signed an agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs. Intended for long-term digital data storage, these archival discs should offer a recording capacity of at least 300GB and be available by the end of 2015. Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve.

SmugMug unveiled a completely new version of its service today. What the company envisioned was a site with a fresh, modern look and feel.  A site that offers gorgeous designs, right out of the box, with an easy way for all users to create their own unique style. Every SmugMug site includes responsive design, so it adapts to any viewing screen from smartphones to large monitors. In addition, the all-new site Organizer makes it easy to manage thousands of files by dragging images into galleries, galleries into folders, and folders into folders, up to five levels deep. Membership starts at $5/month, with a a free 14-day trial period available to every new customer.

Canon has released firmware updates for its EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1D Mark IV (pictured) and EOS-1Ds Mark III digital SLR cameras. Each of these firmware upgrades incorporates the following improvements and fixes:

1. Resolves the following phenomenon: when the camera is not attached to a lens, power consumption may be higher than usual, causing premature battery drain.
2. Resolves a phenomenon in which an error message may be displayed when the shutter is released without a lens attached.

Website: Canon EOS-1D Mark III Firmware Version 1.3.2
Website: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Firmware Version 1.1.4
Website: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III Firmware Version 1.2.3

Entries are now open for Marwell's Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 awards. This year, the competition has four categories and judges will assess entries for photographic excellence, high quality and composition. The categories are Native Wildlife, Cute and Funny, Marwell Wildlife Residents and Marwell Wildlife Endangered. The top prize is a trip to Sweden with professional photographer Nick Garbutt, courtesy of which is worth over £1,395. Other prizes include a special day at the zoo incorporating a Junior Keeper Experience and a half day safari with Nick Garbutt worth £475, Annual Memberships to Marwell Zoo, behind the scenes animal encounters, camera equipment and lots more. Entry to the competition costs £5 for adults and is free for juniors. The deadline for entries is 14 September 2013.

In additiont to the four online seminars announced earlier today, Datacolor has unveiled three more upcomig colour management webinars. The first session, Optimising Images in a Professional Way for Web Purposes, taking place tomorrow from 11am GMT, will demonstrate to participants just how easy it is to manage colour with Spyder4. Oliver Mews, leader of this session, will explain how to improve the appearance and accuracy of the colour for web purposes. In the second webinar, The essentials of print-image matching, scheduled for 7pm on Thursday 1st August, colour consultant Jonathan Briggs takes participants through the skills required to attain  aconsistent workflow all the way from capture to print. Finally, on 13th August, Richard West and Bob Campbell will deliver a lecture entitled Professional Images for Print from Datacolor and onOne software, which focuses on how to get the most professional print look for images from Datacolor’s Spyder4ELITE and onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 4 products.

Panasonic has issued a firmware update for its Lumix LF1 premium compact camera. Version 1.1 improves the connectivity with Macintosh computers. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: Panasonic Japan Support

Panasonic has posted a firmware update for the Panasonic Lumix FT5 / TS5 all-weather compact camera. Version 1.3 improves the functionality of the time-lapse feature. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: Panasonic Support

Brooklyn Museum is offering the last chance to see the critically acclaimed exhibition. WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. Featuring approximately 400 objects, including photographic prints, books, magazines, albums, and camera equipment, this exhibition explores the experience of war and brings together both iconic and unknown images taken by members of the military, commercial portraitists, journalists, amateurs, artists, and numerous Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers. WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath will be on view from 8 November 2013 through 2 February 2014.

Datacolor has announced its summer 2013 line-up of free colour management webinars. The first one-hour session. Safari Photography – Gear and Workflow will be held today from 2pm EDT. Other topics include Advanced Photographic Composition, Postproduction and Selective Colour Editing, with the dates being August 7, August 22 and September 10, respectively. You can register for these webinars at the website below.

Samsung has unveiled the suggested retail price of the Samsung Galaxy NX 3G/4G LTE capable, Android powered compact system camera. Available to pre-order from Warehouse Express, the 20-megapixel Samsung Galaxy NX can be yours for £1299 complete with a 18-55mm lens.

Following the success of its iOS, MacOS and Android compatible versions, CamRanger has now added support for Windows 7 and 8 Pro. CamRanger is a stand-alone device that connects to select Canon or Nikon DLSR cameras with a provided USB cable to create an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network that your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch can then log on to. Together with the associated apps, CamRanger allows users to control their cameras and remotely see the live view feed when their camera is placed in remote locations. Currently in beta, the Windows app can be downloaded from the CamRanger website.

Akvis has announced Akvis ArtSuite 10 and the new Summer Frame Pack. The software helps to decorate pictures with frames and effects. The brand new Summer Pack, with 50 hand painted colorful designs, can be installed to the program to increase its functionality. Akvis ArtSuite Standalone sells for $69, the Plugin version sells for $49. The new Summer Pack is available for $12.

Sigma Poland has launched a teaser campaign. The tagline is Obal system razem z Sigma - nadchodzi wyzwolenie, which translates loosely as "Turn the system on its head with Sigma - liberation is coming." The URL of the campaign website is also telling: rewolucja.sigma-foto.pl - evidently Sigma is preparing for something big and possibly revolutionary. We shall see in 2 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes...

Update: The wait is over.

Frei Brothers Reserve have announced a photography competition. The contest encourages fans to submit pictures of outdoor places significant to them that they wish to see preserved. To enter, simply take a photo of a special place, add a brief description of why it's important to you, and submit both the picture and the description via Frei Brothers Reserve’s Facebook fan page. The contest offers monthly prize pack through November, and the grand prize of a VIP tour of Frei Ranch and a stay at Yosemite National Park. In addition, monthly winning photos will be published by National Geographic online.

This autumn, Daniel Blau's London gallery will be hosting an exhibition of works by renowned American photojournalist John H. White. The exhibition John H. White: Chicago, which concentrates on photographs depicting life for families living in Chicago housing projects in the 1980s, opens on September 6th and runs until October 5th, 2013. The gallery is located at 51 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6PB.