January 2012

Kodak files for bankruptcy
Very sad. Kodak, the company that for generations represented photography, filed for bankruptcy, citing debts of almost US$7 billion. While Kodak did much of the original groundwork in digital imaging, the company simply did not manage to make the transition from almost exclusively relying on film sales to a successful business model in the digital era. In truth, few thought the digital revolution would happen so quickly and so thoroughly. Even a decade ago, expert insisted that digital would never replace film. It did. Kodak also slept through the opportunity to establish itself as an early photo sharing network, passing on opportunities until it was too late. -- Posted Thursday, January 19, 2012 by chb

The GoPro phenomenon: how much better is the new GoPro Hero2?
No sooner did we publish a big feature on GoPro and its tiny Hero high definition camera that's taken the world by storm than GoPro released the Hero2. Is the new Hero really twice as fast and twice as sharp, as GoPro claims? And have some of the issues we had with the original Hero been fixed? We gave the tough little Hero2 a full workout. [Read The GoPro phenomenon: how much better is the new GoPro Hero2?] -- Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by chb

Canon releases the G1 X
They finally did it. Canon introduced the long-awaited next version in their "G" line of PowerShot high-end compact cameras. Rather than calling it the G13, the new model is the G1 X. It carries on the look of older G models, but has vastly improved technology with a large size 14.3 megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS imager that has an ISO range of up to 12800. The G1 X has a 3-inch 920k pixel vari-angle CD and an EOS-like feature set that includes 14-bit RAW+JPG shooting, high-speed burst, and full 1080p video. At US$799, the price, though, is much higher than that of the G12, and also higher than several of Canon's lower end dSLRs. [See Canon G1 X product page] -- Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 by chb

Ambarella announces wireless streaming technology for HD cameras
Those crafty folks at Ambarella, the company that brought the world the video compression technology that makes inexpensive high-definition cameras possible, now introduced the Ambarella Wireless Camera Developer's Kit. The kit, in essence, makes it possible to stream video, via Atheros WiFi technology, from one of those tiny cameras (which sometimes don't have their own displays) to a smartphone. The smartphone can then also act as a remote control device for the camera, and it can be used to upload video to YouTube and similar video sharing sites. The kit will work with Ambarella's recently introduced A7 solution that can capture 1080p video at 60 frames per second (see A7 PDF). What all this means is that high definition cameras will take a big step closer to becoming fully internet-integrated devices. [See Ambarella press release] -- Posted Thursday, January 5, 2012 by chb