For over 50 years Communication Arts has been publishing the best in visual communications from across the globe. To date it is the largest creative magazine in the world in highlighting graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design. Entries after the March 26th deadline will be accepted for an additional fee, with the final cutoff to be April 9th. Each year Communication Arts has six competitions that include all aspects of visual communications.

At PMA2010, Sony promoed an ultra-compact DSLR camera concept that featured an interchangeable lens.  The still-unnamed camera promotion did not give away much, but promised to be ultra-compact and feature the power of a digital SLR.  Now Sony has gone beyond their video teaser by leaking screenshots of the concept to GeekyGadgets.com. 

Though they won't disclose any details, Sony has revealed that they are developing a camera that will allow users to create their own 3D content.  Sony is hoping that the 3D camera, along with a family of 3D products, will get consumers interested in 3D technology.   

We've already mentioned Panasonic's announcement of the new LUMIX G2, but Panasonic announced another "world recordholder" yesterday, the LUMIX G10.  The G10 is said to be the world's lightest digital interchangeable lens system camera with a viewfinder.  The G10 is compact and portable, with advanced features that are easy-to-use for beginners.  David Briganti, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic said of the G10 "We continue to expand this award-winning LUMIX G Series, and with its easy-to-use features and compact size, we expect the G10 to attract a lot of new users who want to step-up from their point-and-shoots."

Panasonic announced yesterday the launch of the world's first digital interchangeable lens system with a movable LCD touch control screen, the LUMIX DMC-G2.  The successor to the G1, the world's first Micro Four Thirds digital camera, can use any Four Thirds standard interchangeable lens with the use of an adapter.  The 3 inch LCD touch screen is useful for shooting, playback, and photo viewing. 

Adobe Systems, Inc announced on Friday that they are making Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 editor available to third-party application developers.  In addition, users of Google Mobile will  have the capabilities of quick and easy photo-editing and sharing.  The editor can be used for new editing effects on your camera phone. 

In order to repay creditors, Polaroid has been ordered to sell part of the Polaroid Collection  at Sotheby's in New York that shows insight into Polaroid's technology and history.  The collection includes over 1200 Polaroid and non-Polaroid pictures taken by many leading photographers.  The inventor and founder of Polaroid, Edwin Land, requested that Ansel Adams, with whom he worked closely, start the collection.  Adams has over 400 photographs in the collection, as do Peter Beard, Chuck Close, Robert Frank, and many others.

We’ve been closely following the much anticipated results of The Impossible Project, a group determined to reinvent the instant film used in the classic Polaroid camera.  Last month it was announced that the project unveiling would be delayed due to some unforeseen issues and that the future of The Impossible Project was uncertain.  We received this week the new press release announcing that the group will reveal the status of the project this month in New York City.  

The announcement comes less than a month after Picnik claimed its one billionth edited photo. The Web based software allows users to edit photos from a variety of places where users store images online. The list includes your usual internet photo sharing sites such as Webshots and Photobucket, but it also includes social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. Picnik photo editing software has gained much familiarity and exposure in the online photo community because of the editing services it provides Flikr users.

Casio announced last week the release of two new additions to their EXILIM line, the EX-S7 and EX-Z35.  The cameras are supposed to provide enhanced image processing capabilities and features and allow for quality image sharing over Facebook or YouTube.  The latest EXILIM Engine, version 5.0 is in each camera, which provides higher quality and lower energy consumption.  Both cameras offer 12.1 megapixel resolution and 3x optical zoom.  The improvements and capabilities are done through BEST SHOT, Easy-mode, and Face Detection and are both available in a range of “dazzling” colors.

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myPhotopipe.com, an online photo sharing and photo project website announced the addition of TruePhoto to their line of photo books.  The company already has a successful line of photo books, shared with a partnership with blurb.com, a book making software site.  The president of myPhotopipe.com, Pete Casabonne said of the addition, "Our new TruePhoto brand of photo books offers customers dozens of combinations of sizes, styles, and page counts -- all with that high-end look and feel that people associate with our Company."

20 years ago, Thomas and John Knoll licensed their pixel-imaging program that was originally called Display, with Adobe to create Photoshop.  The original software only displayed grayscale images on a black-and-white monitor and was given processing capabilities.    The original Photoshop 1.0 was for the Mac, and there were few key features, such as curves, levels, and a clone tool.  On February 19, 1990 the first version of Photoshop was shipped to customers.

As we mentioned previously, Apple has released their next generation photo management software called Aperture 3.  Almost immediately, there were complaints that there were bugs with the software where the software was crashing computer systems by taking all of its memory, and the facial recognition feature did not work as Apple claimed.  Apple has now released version 3.0.1 which is supposed to have worked out those problems, as well as many others. 

Pentax, a leading supplier of innovative high-technology optical products, announced strangely 24 hours after the end of PMA the launch of the Pentax Optio W90.  The camera is said to be water, shock, and cold proof; and more importantly, it has two flashes.  There is one traditional flash above the camera lens, but then a second flash that is a ring around the lens.  Pentax announced the camera after PMA, even though they showcased their products at the event.  A strange marketing move by the company, though they are still getting attention from the announcement.   

Noritsu has officially launched the D1005 Duplex Minilab, which is said to be the most versatile dry minilab yet.  The D1005 is being demonstrated at the PMA 2010 show in Anaheim this week and has already won the Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA) Innovation Product Award for launching a distinct or "first-of-its-kind" product that uses a new, innovative technology.