Today, Panasonic USA revealed a new line of compact Lumix cameras - DMC-FX66, DMC-FT2, DMC-ZS5, DMC-ZS7 and DMC-ZR3. The DMC-FT2 is called the TS2 in North America. These new cameras feature the new Venus Engine VI and Venus Engine HD II. The Venus Engines supposedly perform quicker and allow for greater noise reduction.

Yes, we finally have Facebook Connect on our site. And it's good news for us and for you because now our readers can also use their Facebook login to comment on our blog. Don't worry if you don't have a Facebook account.
You can still comment using our simple comments box at the end of the posts. We have simplified our commenting system by removing the need to enter an email address and registering with the site. Now in order to comment you will only need to add a Username, fill out the Captcha text and Agree to the terms and conditions.

Yanko Design displays the work of Designer Felix Schmidberger who has designed a sustainable prototype for the Personal Computer of the Future.  This Computer is called Compenion and is based on the current needs of a tech savvy market. The product is sustainable and is created using OLED technology. It comprises of different touch screens put together. 

We have all heard the expression that "a photograph is worth a thousand words". But have you ever wondered when exactly is a photograph worth a thousand words? Is it when you take a photo of a kid and a mother cherishes it for life? Is it when you photograph a wedding and give someone beautiful memories? Is it when a journalist photographs dying people in a war? Or is it something that gets printed in National Geographic? In my mind the answer to this is that it's any photograph that touches your soul and speaks out to you - a photograph that is meaningful and you can form a connection with. YPI KIDS or Young Photographers Initiative is a therapeutic photography program that enables children who are at "at-risk" or suffering from cancer live their dreams through the magic of photography.

The BBC revealed an error made by the FBI. We all know about the FBI's obsession with Osama bin Laden, recently the FBI revealed a picture of what Osama bin Laden might look like now. What's amusing is that the picture is a very sharp resemblance to the Spanish politician Gaspar Llamazares.

Earlier today we informed you that one Amvona customer Jan Christian likes modifying and designing cool stuff with Amvona equipment. He has designed a Dual Speedlite Bracket that fits into an Amvona Softbox. You can create this cool Dual Speedlite bracket too, just follow Jan's instructions below.

Have you ever been to a photo shoot and had to struggle with the lighting? Or had the wrong balance of light on your models face? Or ended up with a sun glare in your pictures? In situations like those most of us (photographers) struggle with the equipment or give up in frustration. But then there are those who find a solution and come up with amazing ideas of making things work in their favor. Jan Christian is one of those people who can easily modify equipment and make it work in their favor.

Lego has joined the race for Social Media Platforms. Facebook started as a social networking platform for students in various schools and gradually became one of the world's largest networking platforms, Linkedin was specifically designed for professionals looking to connect and explore relationships with other professionals, Match.com was created to find dates online. Okay you get the picture every Social network has had a purpose and a target audience in mind. Like every other network Lego's Lego Click is a community of creative intellectuals - people who come together to explore ideas and innovate.

According to Conference Chair, Terrence Masson (See video below), the theme of this year's SIGGRAPH is "the people behind the pixels." This is an exciting idea that opens many platforms for animators. It provides them with the opportunity to present a part of themselves and their personalities through their digital art work. 

We have been bringing to you the latest updates on the Bing 'Home Sweet Home' photo contest. Today, Justin's photograph of the Seattle skyline went live on the Bing Homepage.  Earlier this week I interviewed Justin to highlight his experience of winning the photo competition, his skills in photography, his favorite photographs and to get details of the techniques he adopts to shoot such classic photos. 

When asked about the potential for his contest to morally corrupt youths, Craver says "I don’t see why: all I’m doing is inviting  people to write malicious software in exchange for money." Actually, a gift certificate doesn't count as money, though the winner of the first contest was to be given a case of beer. Craver says he later realized this was "a huge mistake," because all the entries came from outside The United States.

Last year's winner of the Underhanded C Contest was John Meacham, who used a 55-line entry to create a malfunctioning redaction program. He managed to write a program that subtly obscured the redacted data without eliminating it. The blocked-out areas of any images could thus be recovered.The goal of this year's contest is to create a luggage sorting program for the fictitious UCK Airlines. The code must organize the luggage by date and time, ID number, flight number, departing airport code, destination airport code, and also be able to receive comments or additional instructions by the airline employees.

Dr. Scott Craver wants you to create a surreptitiously misbehaving computer program. Craver, a Professor of Engineering at the University of Binghamton in New York, says the goal of his Underhanded C Contest is to "write innocent-looking C code implementing malicious behavior. In this contest you must write C code that is as readable, clear, innocent and straightforward as possible, and yet it must fail to perform at its apparent function. To be more specific, it should do something subtly evil." In short, programmers must create a form of malware that passes visual inspection by other programmers. The contest opened on Dec 29, and entries will be accepted until March 1. The winner will receive a gift certificate to ThinkGeek.com

We just heard from one of our users, Rikki D. Dy-Liacco. Rikki got two of his photographs put up on the Kodak Billboard in Times Square. Rikki shared the photos with us and we are very proud of him.  Thank you for sharing your photos with us Rikki and we look forward to seeing more.

To date researchers have produced 90,000 leaf images using LeafView. In the past museums archived plant species by keeping catalogs and files of specimens. LeafView makes it easier to document and study specimens of plants. Smithsonian researchers have created an application for Iphone and Sony Vaio and are using it to add more specimens to the US National Herbarium.