Zipix Lite is a new iPhone app that allows consumers to instantly and automatically enhance their photos. Available exclusively from the iPhone Application Store, the new edition of Zipix Lite provides a variety of features that make it easy to improve photo quality on-the-go. Some of these include the automatic correction of over- or underexposure, contrast adjustments, cropping and comparison of the enhanced photo with the original so that you can decide which one you would like to keep. Zipix Lite is available free for a limited time only. The program can be found under the Photography category in the Free Applications section of the iPhone App Store. Zipix Lite is compatible with the original iPhone 3G and the new iPhone 3GS.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies today unveiled the SimpleTOUGH portable USB drive, the stylish and colourful SimpleDRIVE Mini portable USB drive; and the SimpleNET network storage adapter. The SimpleTOUGH is billed as the “industry’s only water-resistant and shock-resistant external hard drive from a global hard drive manufacturer”. The MSRP is $99.99 for 250GB, $119.99 for 320GB, and $149.99 for 500GB. The SimpleDRIVE Mini comes in a choice of three colours and is priced at $89.99 for 250GB, $109.99 for 320GB and $139.99 for 500GB. The Hitachi SimpleNET is a small network adapter that allows you to share and access existing USB hard drive content over a home or small business network. The price of this adapter is $79.

The Royal Photographic Society and International Garden Photographer of the Year are joining forces to create a new award for the International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) competition 2010. The award for the Best Portfolio will be known as the Royal Photographic Society award for Best Garden Portfolio. The winner will receive a Gold Medal. Runners up will receive silver and bronze medals. Winners will also receive £2,000 in cash and free RPS membership. The 2010 competition is now open at www.igpoty.com. There are seven categories, plus awards for single images as well as portfolios. The 2009 exhibition is currently on show at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew until September 13th 2009. After this date it will be at Kew’s country garden, Wakehurst Place, Sussex.

The submission deadline for the UK’s ‘Take-a-view’ landscape photography contest is 15 July. Unlike many other photographic competitions, ‘Take a view’ celebrates the United Kingdom only, offering photographers worldwide the opportunity to showcase their images of this richly diverse country. The idea of renowned landscape photographer, Charlie Waite, ‘Take a view’ offers a total prize fund of £20,000, including £10,000 for the overall winner. All entries must be uploaded via the competition website. Entry fees apply. You are advised to read the terms and conditions before entering.

Website: Take-A-View

Canon U.S.A. has announced a rebate programme on select Canon imagePROGRAF large format printers. By participating, you can receive up to $1,800 cash back by mail or up to a $2,000 value with a one-year CarePAK extended service plan. The offer is valid with the purchase or lease of one of the following Canon imagePROGRAF large format printers: iPF5100, iPF6100, iPF6200, iPF8000S, iPF8100, iPF9000S, iPF9100; and is valid through 30 September. Refurbished, rented, recycled, used, returned or reconditioned machines are not eligible.

Website: Download Coupon

Sony has launched the largest-ever capacity Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, crowning the range with a massive 32GB model. Camcorder users can shoot in Full HD mode (1920 x 1080) for 225 minutes using a single 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX. Alternatively, anyone with a Sony digital camera who simply never wants to worry about filling up the memory now has the ideal solution, Sony claims. The Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX range also includes 4GB, 8GB and 16GB models, and all versions are supplied with a free USB adaptor. Pricing is to be announced.

Photographer Francois Nicaise travelled the world to capture all 340 breeds of dog in the world for a photographic study published by Eukanuba. The book consists of two volumes, Dogs A-G and Dogs H-Z. “These books celebrate each of the recognised breeds in all of their beauty, diversity, physical prowess and intelligence,” Eukanuba claims.

A shortlist of twelve outstanding international photographers, from which one will be selected later this year to receive the Prix Pictet, the world’s photography prize for environmental sustainability, was announced today. The Prix Pictet is “an annual search for photographs that communicate powerful messages of global environmental significance under a broad theme”.  This year the theme is ‘Earth’. A Mexican garbage dump where people forage to sustain a pitiful existence; the changing landscape and displaced communities of China’s Yangtze River; the devastating impact of oil production in the Niger Delta; and the annual pilgrimage to the desert fronts of the Iran-Iraq war are among the subjects that feature in the work of this year’s shortlisted artists. ‘Earth’, a book published by teNeues, cataloguing the work of the Prix Pictet nominees will accompany this year’s prize and launched on 6 October at Purdy Hicks Gallery, London. The winner will be announced by Kofi Annan, honorary president of the Prix Pictet and a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, on 22 October 2009 at the Passage de Retz gallery, Paris. Click through / read on for the names of the 12 shortlisted photographers.

Marketing Essentials International (MEI) is reminding interested professional photographers that Skip’s Summer School ‘09 is only five weeks away. Taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, August 16-19, 2009, the Summer School photography workshop features a series of programmes designed to help professional photographers realise the full potential of their business. Throughout the event, photographers will attend 13 workshops in a classroom style setting. The cost to attend Skip’s Summer School is $279 and it also includes free full registration to WPPI 2010 (March 4-11, 2010) for each attendee.

The Metropolitan Police have issued a photography advice to police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), to provide a summary of the Metropolitan Police Service’s guidance around photography in public places. The document acknowledges that “members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel”, and that the “Terrorism Act 2000 does not prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place”. Furthermore, it adds that “it should ordinarily be considered inappropriate to use Section 58a to arrest people photographing police officers in the course of normal policing activities, including protests, as without more, there is no link to terrorism”. However, the advice also makes it clear that officers have the power to view digital images contained in cell phones or cameras carried by a person searched under S43 or S44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, if the officers aim to determine whether the photos are of a kind that could be used in connection with terrorism.

Website: Met Photography Advice

Artist Reece Ward has designed “an iconic T-shirt for every notable photographer”. The ‘flasher’ T-shirt is available from redbubble.com for approximately $24.

Website: Flasher T-Shirt

Light & Land is hosting an exclusive photography workshop with the National Trust – with access to the otherwise private areas of the Kingston Lacy Estate. Hosted by Charlie Waite on 8th August 2009, the workshop will begin with a talk from Charlie, covering the finer aspects of landscape photography before heading out to shoot ancient woodlands, farms, rivers, and an estate favourite, the White Mill Bridge. Places are strictly limited and cost £149.

The production of Fujicolor Pro 800Z will cease as of September 2009. Fujifilm’s Product Manager for Professional Film, Russ Gunn, explained the decision: “We have decided to remove all formats of Pro 800Z from our range due to low sales volume. By streamlining our selection of Professional film we can ensure our strong selling lines are protected.”

Topaz Labs have released Aperture-friendly Topaz Fusion Express for Mac, which allows Topaz Photoshop plug-ins to be imported into Aperture, allegedly providing Aperture users with the same image-editing capabilities and features that Photoshop users currently enjoy.“ Previously, Aperture users have not been able to use Topaz plug-ins, or have had to go through the process of exporting images into Photoshop to edit them, then import them back into Aperture,” says Eric Yang, Marketing Manager of Topaz Labs. “With Fusion Express, Aperture users can now run their Topaz plug-ins in Aperture without interrupting their workflow.”

Website: Topaz Labs

Fotoglif today launched a new service that makes it easy for bloggers, social media fans and other Web publishers to add royalty-free images to their written content. The beta version of the Fotoglif image-sharing community and licensing platform is available now at www.Fotoglif.com. The site features more than 3 million images, with thousands of new ones from professional photographers and respected news agencies added each day from global breaking news, entertainment and sports stories. Traditional stock photos and images of everyday life will be added over time. In addition to providing professional images for Web authors, Fotoglif offers photographers a revenue-generating outlet for use of their photos online. Payments to publishers are made through PayPal.

Image Mechanics, a digital capture studio in Santa Monica known for its educational outreach, has announced the first conference to focus on DSLR hybrid photography and cinematography. Image Mechanics, Redrock Micro and the LA Film School will present the two-day conference spotlighting the “collision” - or should we say convergence - of still photography and cinematography. This conference is intended for professional photographers and filmmakers interested in working with DSLRs to create moving and still imagery. The conference will be held at the Los Angeles Film School, located at 6363 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, CA on Saturday and Sunday August 29th and 30th, 2009.  Conference passes are available immediately from http://www.ImageMechanicsExpo.com for $200 per day or $350 for a two day pass.

The Plugin Site (thepluginsite.com) has jsut released version 2 of Plugin Galaxy for MacOS X. Plugin Galaxy 2 is a plugin for creating special effects and enhancing images with the help of more than 160 basic effects. It works in various graphics applications including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Fireworks, Photoline, GraphicConverter and Illustrator. It is now available as an universal binary that works natively on Intel-Macs. It offers all effects in a new resizable dialog and renders more than two times faster. The new Layers and Blend features lets you apply multiple effects to the image in one session and create sophisticated effect combinations that were not possible before. The new batch processing option applies the same effect to hundreds of images with a few clicks. Plugin Galaxy 2 sells at $69.95 (Regular License) or $39.95 (Academic/Educational License).

Website: Plugin Galaxy

PhotographyBB has released their latest Photoshop Action package, the Pro-Sharpening Action Pack - and if you buy it today, 10 July 2009, until midnight EST, you get 30% off with a special discount code. Pro-Sharpening Actions from PhotographyBB perform advanced sharpening enhancements to digital photos using complex built in functionality within Photoshop. Pro-Sharpening will work with Photoshop versions CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4 on both PC and Mac platforms. First day buyers enjoy a 30% discount on this action pack (and all existing action packs) by using the COUPON CODE: 30SHARP at the website below.

Website: PhotographyBB Actions