According to Apple, the iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK on Friday, 28 May. Customers can pre-order all iPad models from Apple’s online store in all nine countries beginning on Monday, 10 May. The UK prices are £429 for 16GB, £499 for 32GB, £599 for 64GB (Wi-Fi models) and £529 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB and £699 for 64GB (Wi-Fi + 3G models).

WD today announced that the WD TV Live HD media player, featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution, is the first network media player compatible with Windows 7. Using the Windows 7 Play To feature, users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the WD TV Live HD media player from any Windows 7-based PC on their network. Any compatible media file accessible from the PC – located either on the PC or the network – can be played to the WD TV Live by right clicking on the file name in the folder or directly from within Windows Media Player 12 and choosing the WD TV Live HD media player as the playback device. Current users will need to update their WD TV Live HD media player to the latest firmware in order to use the Windows 7 Play To feature. Instructions for updating the WD TV Live HD media player can be found at the website below.

Website: WD TV Live HD Firmware Update

Robert Doisneau might be best known for his black-and-white street photographs - but a new book, containing 100 archival, never-before-seen pictures proves that he was very much at home in colour photography too. In 1960, Doisneau was invited by Fortune magazine to cover Palm Springs, the hottest travel destination of the day. There, Doisneau took hundreds of photographs, twenty-three of which were published in the magazine. The rest have been rediscovered in his archives, and one hundred are featured in the book, Robert Doisneau: Palm Springs 1960, for the first time. The 156-page hardback will go on sale in September, priced at $34.95 USD / $39.95 CDN.

Impossible GmbH, the company behind The Impossible Project, has stated its stance on the recent announcement of the Polaroid 300 camera. In October 2009, The Impossible Project and the new licensee of the Polaroid brand – The Summit Global Group – announced the relaunch of some of the most famous Polaroid instant cameras; for which Impossible was supposed to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid branded instant films. In January 2010, Polaroid unveiled their plans of producing a new, classic instant camera, the PIC 1000. Then, at the end of April, they launched a completely different model, the Polaroid 300, essentially a rebranded Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S, which uses Fujifilm’s Instax Mini instant film and its Polaroid branded version. Marlene Kelnreiter, Communications and PR manager of Impossible, has told PhotographyBLOG that the “management of The Impossible Project finds this confusing and clearly wants to state that the Polaroid 300 is not the camera that has been announced in Polaroid’s Press Release from January 7, 2010, which would be compatible with Instant Film produced by Impossible.” Click through / read on to read the full statement.

The Ricoh P10 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VC is a new lens-sensor module for the Ricoh GXR system. This unit has a 1/2.3-inch back-illuminated CMOS sensor and features raw image capture at 5fps. The VC designation indicates that this module has Ricoh’s Vibration Correction function on board to help combat image blur resulting from shaky hands. Also included are a 1280×720-pixel HD movie function, Ricoh’s dynamic range double shot mode feature and a macro shooting at a close-focus point of 1cm. The Ricoh P10 will be available at SRP £249.99. This price does not include the Ricoh GXR body, which may be purchased separately or in a kit with the P10 unit.

Photo gallery software “Lightbox Photo” has been re-branded to Stockbox Photo. The developers of Lightbox Photo felt there was over use of the term ‘lightbox’ in the photographic industry and less understanding of it in a wider audience.  Adrian Ellis co-founder of Stockbox Photo commented, “It became apparent that our name Lightbox Photo no longer distinguished our products and services in the marketplace as effectively as it did when we launched several years ago. Therefore, we have chosen to re-brand our software and services with the new name Stockbox Photo to better differentiate ourselves.” Stockbox Photo is available as a Standard, Professional or Enterprise Version priced from $399.

Outdoor Digital Photography Handbook: How to Shoot Like a Pro by Boyd Norton is a new title from Voyageur Press. From the basics of how digital imaging works through practical field techniques, from creative use of lenses to the details of image storage, filing, processing and manipulation, this comprehensive guide is filled with helpful tips and tricks and 299 of the author’s own images. This 208-page book is available now priced at $24.99.

The Rollei Sportsline 50 is a highly affordable waterproof digital compact camera. Robust and waterproof down to a depth of 3 metres, the Rollei Sportsline 50 is otherwise a pretty basic snapper featuring a 5-megapixel sensor, a fixed-focal-length lens and a standard-definition VGA movie mode. Powered by a pair of AA batteries and compatible with SD memory cards, the Rollei Sportsline 50 can be yours for €49.95. Availability is slated for the end of May.

Leaf Imaging has announced that on 10 May 2010, it will assume full responsibility for service and technical support of all Leaf digital camera backs, including legacy Leaf products and Leaf AFi camera systems. Leaf Imaging has signed an agreement with Eastman Kodak Company, according to which all technical service and support responsibilities are being transferred from Kodak to Leaf Imaging. This agreement covers service and support both for systems that are under warranty and for those that are out of warranty worldwide. As a result, Leaf Imaging will become a single resource for service and support to the entire Leaf customer base.

Manfrotto has announced two new promotions. One of them is a £20 cashback offer on the newly redesigned Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod, which is available now for £139.95. The other offer is a free Manfrotto 234 or 234RC Monopod Tilt Head, worth £16.95 and £31.95 respectively, with purchases of selected Manfrotto monopods. Click through / read on for the full list of eligible models.

The new Epson Stylus NX420 is billed as the “industry’s first wireless All-in-One under $100”. Featuring individual ink cartridges and fade-, smudge- and water-resistant DURABrite Ultra ink, the Epson Stylus NX420 offers fast printing speeds, one-click red-eye removal, 2400dpi scanning and manual, two-sided printing. The Epson Stylus NX420 is currently available through major computer, office and electronic superstores, a variety of retail stores across the U.S.A., mail order, PC manufacturers, the Internet, and Epson’s own retail site. The estimated retail price is $99.99.

Website: Epson Store

Renowned photographer Denis O’Regan will be giving a rare presentation on shooting the legendary band KISS ahead of their upcoming Wembley shows. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, 11 May in the Apple Store (235 Regent Street, London, W1B 2EL). O’Regan will also be discussing how he works on the road and using Aperture as the hub of his workflow.

Pictures of the Year International (POYi), the oldest photojournalism programme in the world, has announced the “POYi Emerging Vision Incentive” for aspiring documentary photographers. The incentive will fund and showcase documentary work on social issues or political trends, and the Emerging Vision Incentive recipient will receive up to $10,000 to assist in developing a photo story that reflects daily life, social issues, cultural trends or news events. The POYi Emerging Vision Incentive programme is made possible through financial support from the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the Annenberg Foundation. For more information about the programme or to enter, visit the website below.

Website: POYi

Ovation TV has brought back its week-long on-air programming event that is all about photography—Framed. This time around, Framed premieres The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn, a show featuring an encompassing mission during the early-1900s in which Albert Kahn commissioned photographers near and far to document the four corners of the world in colour using autochrome plates. Kahn believed that he could use the new autochrome process—the world’s first practical system of taking colour photographs—to promote cross-cultural understanding.  Kahn’s vast and legendary collection of autochromes remained relatively unheard of until a century after he launched his project. Today’s episodes of the show track the travels of Kahn’s team of photographers into Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine as well as Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan and India. Tied to the airing of the show is a competition entitled, Framed Art Race 2010. This photography contest calls for photographers of all genres to document their world using a cell phone camera. The submission deadline is 8 May 2010. Winners will be showcased on TV in a My Art spot on Ovation.

Adobe has made available a prerelease version of its Lens Profile Creator utility for Windows and Mac OS. Adobe Lens Profile Creator generates custom lens profiles for use with the Lens Correction tool in Photoshop CS5. As Adobe puts it, “a lens profile describes the types of optical aberrations that exist in a particular lens and prescribes how to correct the lens distortions in an image captured from the same lens”. These optical aberrations include geometric distortions, corner shading and chromatic aberrations. You first need to capture a set of chequerboard images with your camera (provided as part of the application package), which you can then feed into the Lens Profile Creator utility. For more information, visit the website below.

Website: Adobe Lens Profile Creator

The new ‘On the Edge - Extreme Landscapes’ photography course from Photo Iconic takes participants off dry land and out to sea in a high-speed rigid inflatable boat. The adventure starts at the port of Felixstowe in Suffolk and travels out to the off-shore gas rigs in the North Sea. The course also takes in the Suffolk Heritage Coast, the beautiful landscape of Orford Ness with its impressive lighthouse and deserted Ministry of Defence building, the prehistoric Benacre Lake, the seaside towns of Southwold and Lowestoft and the huge and impressive windfarm near Great Yarmouth, presenting the opportunity to photograph the giant turbines from close up. Limited to just five participants, the course costs £520 for two days - 3-4 July - including personal insurance and dinner, but excluding accommodation.

Website: Photo Iconic

Topaz Labs has unveiled “IntelliNoise,” a new proprietary noise reduction technology that specializes in removing image noise while recovering detail. “Removing noise is easy. The real challenge is to also recover details obscured by the noise,” explains Dr. Albert Yang, the primary innovator of IntelliNoise. “IntelliNoise analyzes patterns in the entire image to discover underlying detail and to recover it in the final result.” The new IntelliNoise technology makes its product debut in the newly upgraded Topaz DeNoise 4 plug-in, which works with a variety of host programs including Photoshop, Aperture, and Lightroom for Mac and Windows. Topaz DeNoise 4 with IntelliNoise is a free upgrade for existing DeNoise customers and retails for $79.99.

Website: Topaz DeNoise

The L-bracket is Aeca-Swiss’ newest product, which makes switching from landscape to portrait shooting easier for photographers who regularly use a tripod. The Arca-Swiss L-bracket is a universal solution, so it can be used with most any camera system. The recommended retail price of the Arca-Swiss L-bracket is €190+VAT.

Lensbaby is asking photographers to photographers can submit two of their best images taken with a Lensbaby lens and a homemade aperture disk for a chance to win a spot on the new Creative Aperture Kit product packaging. Lensbaby Creative Aperture Disks allow users to custom cut shapes onto blank aperture disks in order to add unique one-of-a-kind effects to their photos. These disks allow specular highlights in the out of focus area of a photo to take on the shape of the hole on the aperture disk. The aperture disks are compatible with the Muse, Composer, Control Freak, Lensbaby 2.0 and Lensbaby 3G lenses and with the Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic and Soft Focus Optics. In addition to submitting two photos, make sure to send Lensbaby a clear illustration of the aperture itself too.

Website: Lensbaby Creative Aperture Kit Contest