The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series is now available for purchase. Featuring a pair of 2.5” drives in a Mac OS RAID configuration, the Little Big Disk delivers read speeds of more than 480MB/s in SSD and up to 190MB/s in HDD. Users can daisy chain several Little Big Disks to maximize the interface’s capabilities and reach transfer rates around 800MB/s in a portable solution.The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series HDD models are available through Apple retail stores worldwide and Apple.com. The SSD model will be shipping this October.

Corbis Images have announced a new online Portfolio that highlights the extensive inventory of its nine signature collections. The Corbis Portfolio collections feature a broad range of commercial, editorial and historical images; including studio portraits of celebrities, realistic and expressive images capturing today’s youth and their everyday experiences, conceptual photography, authentic shots showcasing people in everyday business and lifestyle situations, stock compositions in contemporary, casual and elegant settings,  wildlife images, photographs showing nature’s great wonders, microscopic images and a historical photo album with more than 11 million irreplaceable images of key world events. The new online Portfolio is available at the website below.

PhotoShelter’s Lauren Margolis has posted a fascinating article about the 14 most dangerous locations for photojournalists. Available on the PhotoShelter blog, the article includes a number of short interviews with PhotoShelter members who have worked in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Nepal, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, India and the Philippines. Among the interviewees is American photojournalist Jack Kurtz, who took the above photograph in Nogales, Mexico in 2005. For more great images and insights, head to the PhotoShelter blog where you can read the article in its entirety.

Elgato Video Capture, a popular solution for transferring analogue home video to a computer, is now available for Windows as well as MacOS. The software guides you through every step, from connecting an analogue video source to capturing video as a high quality H.264 file. With just one click, you can add your video to iTunes or to your Windows Media Player library; play back the video on your computer or sync it with your iPad or iPhone; upload your video directly to YouTube; and edit it right away in Windows Live Movie Maker. Elgato Video Capture is available immediately at a price of $99.95.

World Photography Organisation (WPO), an acclaimed London-based initiative that provides a global platform for photography, is coming to New York to engage the city’s vibrant photography community with exhibitions, workshops, and talks led by world renowned practitioners in the photographic field. WPO has partnered with the Chelsea Art Museum who will serve as the host venue for all activities from October 13 through November 12, 2011. The New York events will kick off with an opening night on Thursday, October 13 at 6:00 p.m. featuring the 2011 Sony World Photography Awards Winners’ Exhibition curated by Elisabeth Biondi, former Visuals Editor of the New Yorker and a chair of the Honorary Judging committee of the 2011 awards. Click through / read on for further information on the programme.

WD has just introduced its newest generation of My Passport portable hard drives specifically designed for use with Mac computers and Apple Time Machine. Boasting an all-metal design and offering up to 1TB capacity, the My Passport Studio also provides multiple connectivity options with two FireWire 800 ports and a USB 2.0 interface. The My Passport for Mac, also available in capacities up to 1TB, is designed for Mac users who need high capacity storage in an ultra-compact and lightweight design. WD’s My Passport Studio and My Passport for Mac are available on the WD store at the website below.

Lensbaby’s new Movie Maker’s Kit consists of a Lensbaby Composer Pro in PL and Canon EF mount, and a whole range of optics and accessories. “Filmmakers can achieve a wide range of effects in-camera with the Movie Maker’s Kit,” the company says.  “The Sweet 35, Double Glass, Plastic, and Single Glass optics can be used to create different quality selective focus effects, where one area of the image at a given depth of field is in focus, and other areas at the same depth of field fall away into a beautiful blur. The Fisheye, Soft Focus, and Pinhole/Zone plate Optics allow further in-camera creativity.” The Lensbaby Movie Maker’s Kit is available now for $2900.

Three Getty Images photographers, contributors and freelancers have picked up prestigious awards at the 2011 Picture Editors’ Guild Awards, held last night in London Dan Kitwood scooped the Fotolia Photo Essay category, with Dave Benett and Matthew Lloyd winning the Celebrity Photographer of the Year and Newscast Young Photographer of the Year categories, respectively. The overall winner of the SABMiller Photographer of the Year 2011 award is Matt Dunham from The Associated Press. To view these award-winning portfolios and a full list of winners, visit the website below.

Guildford-based photographer Richard Booth has been selected as one of ten artists to tell the story of the London 2012 Olympics through the BT Art of Sport initiative. The BT Art of Sport programme is a key element of BT’s sponsorship activities for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Participating artists have been granted access to work close to top Olympians and Paralympians, and draw on them for inspiration in their work. The project will provide a legacy to the Olympic Games and the sale of works will support a range of sporting charities including Paralympics GB.

Texas-based MJH Apps has launched Watch Me Change, an iPhone app that allows people to capture facial changes over an extended period of time. “Watch Me Change Face is an entertaining app to chart the way a person’s face changes over several weeks, months or a year. From growing a beard or aging with grace – may we all be forever young, or at least feel youthful – Watch Me Change Face is a fun video memory for cataloguing our lives,” said Mike Hall, Founder and CEO of MJH Apps. “For parents, this app is a perfect means of archiving a child’s progress from newborn to infant and beyond.” Watch Me Change is available for $0.99 on iTunes.

The Italian coffee brand Lavazza has recently started a worldwide initiative aimed at discovering up-and-coming photographic talent. Themes such as Travel and Seduction have been proposed by Lavazza with the creative direction of Italian designer Fabio Novembre in order to inspire participants to unleash their creativity. Photographers may upload a maximum of 20 photos in JPEG format through the website below, or using the “Lavazza 20Calendars” app, available as a free download from the iTunes App Store. The deadline for entries is Sunday, 25 September 2011. The resolution of the photos submitted must be 1200x1200 pixels. As always, we suggest that you read the Terms and Conditions before entering your work.

Bowens has launched a new website dedicated to American photographers. The site contains latest information on over two hundred Bowens products complete with brochures, operating instructions and exclusive ‘how to’ videos developed by some of the world’s top photo-lighting experts. Also, American customers can buy directly from the website and have their goods shipped rapidly by UPS delivery from the company’s dedicated Chicago warehouse.

Nikon were showcasing prototypes of future lenses and accessories for their brand new Nikon 1 compact camera system.

In addition to the V1, J1, four lenses and various accessories, there were seven more lenses on display, including macro, super telephoto, portrait, high-power travel zoom and standard prime lenses.

Also being shown were no less than 16 different colour variants of the J1 camera, a macro light, a system light, a movie unit including an external LCD finder, microphone and battery pack, and a range of silicon camera covers.

Want to see what the new Nikon 1 V1 looks like in the flesh?

Here’s a gallery of hands-on images showing off the new Nikon 1 V1 compact system camera from every angle.

We’ve also included a side-by-side comparison with the Olympus PEN Mini and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 to give you an idea of how big the Nikon V1 actually is.

Want to see what the new Nikon 1 J1 looks like in the flesh?

Here’s a gallery of hands-on images showing off the new Nikon 1 J1 compact system camera from every angle.

We’ve also included a side-by-side comparison with the Olympus PEN Mini and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 to give you an idea of how big the Nikon J1 actually is.

Want to see what the new Nikon 1 lenses and accessories look like in the flesh?

Here’s a gallery of hands-on images showing off the four new Nikon 1 lenses and various accessories from every angle.

Want to see what the new Nikon 1 J1 and Nikon 1 V1 look like in the flesh? Here’s a gallery of hands-on images showing off the new Nikon 1 V1 and J1 compact system cameras - as well as some of the new Nikon lenses - from every angle.

The Nikon 1 V1 is a new compact system camera with a 10-megapixel CMOS sensor and a high-resolution integrated electronic viewfinder. Featuring a 13,2x8,8mm imager with a “crop factor” of approximately 2.7, the Nikon 1 V1 weighs in at 383 grams including battery and memory card. The new Nikon 1 V1 also boasts an ultra-fast AF system as well as pre- and post-capture modes that help you avoid missed moments. The Nikon 1 V1 will be available in a kit with the new 10-30mm zoom for $899.95 / £829.99 / €962.00, starting mid-October.

The Nikon 1 J1 is an even smaller camera with a built-in flash, but no electronic viewfinder or Multi-Accessory Port. Both the Nikon 1 J1 and its lenses come in a variety of matching stylish colors, including white, pink, red, silver and black. The Nikon J1 offers the same core features as the more expensive V1 at a more affordable $649.95 / £549.99 / €638.00 with the 10-30mm zoom lens.

Along with the new cameras comes a new range of lenses and accessories, designed specifically for the Nikon 1 system. The lenses include a 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6, 30-110mm f/3.8 -5.6, 10mm f/2.8 and 10-100mm f4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM, with future 1 NIKKOR lenses already in development. The Nikon 1 range of optional system accessories includes a SB-N5 Speedlight flash, GP-N100 GPS unit, and FT-1 mount adapter for attaching any NIKKOR DSLR lens (all AF-S and AF-I NIKKOR lenses are compatible with the Nikon 1 autofocus system).