Cameras

Flickr’s recent transition to a “spectacular” new design and account structure has been anything but “spectacular” thus far. While some photographers have come out in support of the new design, reaction from the photographic community seems to be more negative than positive. The new design was accused of being tailored towards the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter crowd and not photographers, Marissa Mayer made the statement that because of the prevalence of cameras there’s not such thing as a professional photographer anymore, and it looked like certain Flickr Pro users would be “screwed” out of their Pro accounts … We’re guessing it’s been a rough few days at the Yahoo! offices. Fortunately, it looks like Flickr is backtracking on at least one of those counts. No, the Yahoo! CEO hasn’t come out and apologized to the professional photographer community (yet); the Flickr Pro stipulations have changed to allow all current Flickr Pro users the chance to renew and keep their Pro benefits as long as they would like. According to Flickr’s new FAQ page, eligible Pro users have three options: recurring users can continue renewing at the current price, non-recurring users can transition to a recurring Pro membership, and both recurring and non-recurring members have the chance to transition to the company’s new Free account and receive a prorated refund for the months they have left on their membership: Don’t let that “eligible” word scare you either. It’s no longer the case that you need to have had a recurring membership in January of 2013; as long as you were a Pro member at midnight GMT on May 20, 2013, you’re considered eligible to transition to a recurring membership and keep all your benefits. It’s a small consolation to the photographers who aren’t thrilled with the new layout changes, but those who had no issues with the redesign and simply wanted the chance to keep their unlimited storage and $25.00 per year bill (e.g. Thomas Hawk) can breathe a sigh of relief. To find out more about the new system and decide on the best option for you, check out Flickr’s FAQ page for more info, or head over to your account order page to renew or get your refund before your Pro account expires. (via Engadget)

Verbatim have launched a new range of V3 Max USB drives offering faster connection and data transfer.

Avid gamers pay attention: MSI's newly announced GX70 gaming laptop packs a pair of potentially powerful firsts from AMD. The notebook sports AMD's fresh new "Richland" A10-5750M accelerated processing unit, along with the recently unveiled flagship Radeon HD 8970M mobile GPU. The MSI GX70 3BE is the first notebook to offer either of those, and that combination gives it the most potent possible GPU/APU combination for AMD's next generation of notebooks. Of course, you pay for that power, though not as much as you would for Intel-based gaming laptops. The MSI GX70 starts at a competitively priced $1,400. It has a 17.3-inch screen at full 1920-by-1080 resolution, and it’s also a bit chunky  2.17-inch thick and 8.6 pounds. That heft, however, hides a lot of power under the GX70's hood. AMDAMD's Richland APU. The GX70 ships with AMD's Richland A10-5750M, a quad-core chip that starts clocked at 2.5GHz but is capable to hitting 3.5GHz under load thanks to AMD's Turbo technology. The chip includes several other handy-dandy software features, which you can read about in PCWorld's Richland APU overview. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If you were going to sum up Windows 8 in a single sentence, “It’s all about the apps” would do the trick. And that’s why a new study from Soluto, a company that offers a remote troubleshooting tool for Windows PCs, suggests a somewhat stark reality for Microsoft's new-look operating system. Windows 8 was rebuilt from the ground up to revolve around finger-friendly Windows apps. The modern UI Start screen is chock-full of Live Tiles generated from those apps, virtually all of Microsoft’s default programs sport that oh-so-modern (a.k.a. the interface formerly known as Metro) luster, and users don’t even get the option of booting straight to the desktop. You have to stare the Start screen’s shiny, shifty app collection in the face every time you boot up your PC. With that heavy a focus, Windows 8’s very future hinges on the success of its apps. Soluto’s report digs into how often people really use those apps on a daily basis. The news isn’t wonderful. Of the 10,848 Windows 8 devices studied by Soluto, the majority of traditional desktop and laptop users—even ones using a device with a touchscreen—fail to open a modern-style app daily. (Note that this study refers only to modern apps, not to traditional desktop programs.) Even on tablets, the devices best suited for Windows 8’s modern UI, just 56 percent of all users launch a Windows 8 app day in and day out. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

05/22/2013 123 new lens / camera combinations have been added to the DxO Optics Modules library, providing support for Carl Zeiss, Pentax, Sony, Sigma and Tamron lenses for Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Pentax, Samsung and Sony cameras. To see supported and planned combinations, click on the link below then select the second tab. Supported or planned combinations New DxO Optics Modules: Canon | Fujifilm | Nikon | Pentax | Samsung | Sony B&H carries DxO Optics Pro.

The usual color block noise and ISO 12233 resolution chart image quality samples have been added to the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 / 100D Review page (scan down below the first chart on the page). Compare the tiny SL1's noise results with the T4i (=T5i), 60D and 5D Mark III (which is of course in a different class). Compare resolution with a large number of other Canon DSLR cameras.

The British Institute of Professional Photography have announced the Open Awards 2013.

Salesforce.com is hoping to set the standard for how government bodies deliver online services to citizens using mobile devices.The cloud-based software vendor on Wednesday announced Rapid Response 311, a mobile application that citizens can use to log and track requests for service; Mobile Communities for Government; Government Social Command Center and Mobile Platform Services for Government.The offerings are based on existing Salesforce.com products, such as the Service Cloud customer-service application and Radian6 social media monitoring technology. Government bodies would work with Salesforce.com partners to customize the products to fit their particular audience, said Daniel Burton, senior vice president for government transformation, in an interview.Salesforce.com has been pushing the idea that companies can and should build closer relationships with their customers using its technology. And government entities have plenty of customers in the form of the citizens they serve.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Canon Store has the Refurbished Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Camera in stock and available for $2,799.21 with free shipping. Compare at $3,499.00 new. If you haven't noticed, the price of a new 5D Mark III is now $3,499.00 - making the price of a refurbished unit more attactive than ever (even after taxes).

The latest rumors suggest that we could see the Canon 70D officially announced and replacing the 2.5 year old 60D in July 2013. The 70D is supposedly in the final stages of testing and units are in the hands of some of Canon’s Explorers of Light. Additionally, Canon is rumored to be in the process of shooting commercials and ad campaigns for the 70D at various locations. If you see one in the wild, send some photos our way. Previously rumored specs point to an 18MP sensor and more robust build than the 60D. Canon 70D Rumored Specs 18mp Sensor (Same as SL1) 6.5fps SD Card Wifi GPS 3.2? Touchscreen LCD (No mention of swivel) Magnesium Alloy Construction Weathersealed Slightly larger than the EOS 60D $1199 USD Body Only [via CR] Copyright/DMCA Notice: The RSS entry was originally published on Photography Bay and is protected by copyright laws. It is unlawful to (a) edit, modify, alter, or create derivative works of the text, content or links supplied by Photography Bay, (b) use any robot, spider, scraper, other device or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Photography Bay RSS feed, (c) sell, retransmit or commercially exploit the Photography Bay RSS feed, headlines or content in any manner except as expressly permitted in writing by authorized representatives of Photography Bay, (d) incorporate advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the Photography Bay RSS feed or (e) use the Photography Bay RSS feed for any unlawful purpose or in violation of the rights of others. RSSID#794326 Related posts: Smaller Canon Rebel DSLR Coming Soon? Canon Patent Shows Off DSLR Touchscreen & Built-in WiFi Canon Rebel T4i/650D Rumored Specs