Volume 6, Number 1 – January 2009

Welcome to the I3A “Eye on Imaging” newsletter, which is issued every other month. We will keep you informed and up-to-date on key I3A and industry activities and breaking news, as well as highlight the accomplishments of the individuals whose efforts keep our organization humming. If you have comments or questions, please send a message to Editor@I3A.org.

The President’s Focus

Lisa Walker

"It was do-or-die time for Palm, and they did."

Interesting Times – Survive or Thrive?

By Lisa Walker, I3A President

In trying economic times, many companies take the hunker-down approach: conserving cash, cutting expenses, offering huge discounts to stimulate any possible business. Those are all appropriate responses to the current conditions and unknowns ahead. On the other hand, for the truly bold and innovative, generally lighter-on-their-feet entrepreneurial types, economic downturns present an opportunity to shine. While their competitors become quiet, retrench from tradeshows and cut investments, a gap opens up for those bold enough to take the leap.

According to figures published by the Consumer Electronics Association, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year attracted 110,000 visitors. Compared to last year’s 140,000 that is a significant drop, but is still quite a respectable turn out in today’s environment. According to Tara Dunion, CEA director of Communications, “The show was smaller but it was more business oriented.”

At CES, there were a few shining moments. “Palm is back” was heard throughout the halls, and back they are with a bold new Web OS. I for one am ecstatic to have them back; I’ve been waiting years for them to do something worthy of their history. It was do-or-die time for Palm, and they did. They did so well, CNET named the Palm Pre their “Best of CES 2009” winner.

Other cool innovations announced at CES include the new Motorola Surf A3100 smartphone (it was actually announced a couple of days prior to the show to get a jump on the competition). The Surf is a sleek, sexy, high-tech smartphone with an ample 2.8 inch touch screen. Users have several options for interacting with the Surf, from finger to stylus to trackball. The GSM quad-band Surf comes with WiFi and 3G support built in, and a three-megapixel camera with auto focus. The camera specs obviously signal the priority Moto is putting on quality when it comes to camera phones. In addition to the 3 mp camera, the phone includes a separate VGA camera for video calls. The Surf also made the nomination list for the “Best of CES 2009” award.

In the Green department, Motorola also introduced the Renew W233, the first phone made from recycled plastic bottles, and according to Motorola, it boasts a carbon-neutral footprint. Manufacturing cost is 20% lower, and Motorola is making investments in renewable energy to offset the by-products of manufacturing and shipping the device.

And in the never-give-up category, Polaroid launched their “PoGo” Instant Digital Camera – the digital remake of the original Polaroid instant camera. The PoGo, while a bit large by today’s point-and-shoot standards at 4.7” x 3” x 1.3, is much smaller and lighter than the original Polaroid camera. It sports a three- inch LCD screen, a seven-megapixel sensor, and an SD card slot. The camera is missing optical zoom, and picture quality is merely OK, but the product is firmly anchored in the Polaroid brand, and may just be easy and fun enough to use that it finds market success.

One of the most interesting digital camera announcements came from Sony, with the Cybershot DSC-G3. It sports 10.1 megapixel capture, 4x optical zoom, 4GB internal flash memory – all the standard stuff you’d expect. What’s innovative about it, though it’s not the first, is the onboard support for 802.11g WiFi, augmented by one-click direct upload to four partner sites: Shutterfly, YouTube, Dailymotion and Picasa. Missing obviously are Facebook, Photobucket and Flickr. Sony says they’re open to adding more one-click partnerships. Other sites can be accessed with the built-in browser.

Many other innovations were announced at CES, including new digital photo frames from Kodak, and some pretty cool home communication stations from iRiver and Touch Revolution. It’s encouraging to see that in spite of the depressed economy, there are still plenty of innovative risk takers out there looking to thrive!

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I3A Camera Phone Image Quality News

One of the key outputs of the Camera Phone Image Quality (CPIQ) Initiative of I3A is the development of a repeatable subjective testing methodology and the correlation of subjective evaluations of varying quality images with their associated objective metrics. In these evaluations, the proposed objective method for measuring and quantifying image quality performance has been correlated with the observer response from consumer-based subjective testing. The correlation between the objective measurements and their corresponding subjective quality levels is used to determine the magnitude of observed quality degradation that will be experienced at any measured level of performance.

Papers focused on the subjective methodology developed by members of the I3A CPIQ Initiative were presented at the Electronic Imaging Conference in San Jose January 18-22. The overarching session titled “Image Quality Standards for Capture and Display” began with a focus on “Softcopy Quality Ruler Method: Implementation and Validation” presented by CPIQ members Elaine Jin, Brian Keelan and Junqing Chen from Aptina Imaging; Jonathan Phillips, Eastman Kodak and Ying Chen, Vista Point Technologies. The next paper, on “Correlating Objective and Subjective Evaluation of Texture Appearance with Applications to Camera Phone Imaging,” was presented by Ms. Jin, Mr. Phillips, Ying Chen and Jim Clark, Vista Point. In addition, a session on Imaging Performance Taxonomy was presented by I3A members Don Williams, Vista Point, Peter Burns, Carestream Health and Larry Scarff, Vista Point. Finally, Dirk Hertel of Sensata Technologies examined extending the use of ISO 15739 for incremental signal-to-noise ratios as reliability criterion for multiple-slope wide dynamic range image capture.

The papers will be available from I3A soon after the conference. If any of these topics sound interesting to you, get in touch with I3A at i3astds@i3a.org to receive the papers or for more information on how to participate in CPIQ.

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I3A Advocacy

Proposed Regulations to Implement Chapter 190 of the Massachusetts Mercury Management Act and 310 CMR 75.00 – Collection and Recycling of Mercury-Added Products

Massachusetts is proposing regulations that would prohibit the sale or distribution of most mercury-added products, regardless of the concentration of mercury, unless the manufacturer of that product has filed a collection and recycling plan with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Agency.

In response to the proposed regulations changes Derek Guest, Chair of the I3A Environment and Health Committee and Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment at the Eastman Kodak Company, submitted a recommendation letter to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Agency requesting an exemption for photographic film and paper from the labeling, collection and recycling requirements of the Massachusetts Mercury Management Act.

I3A members may view the entire letter by logging in to the members-only Web site.

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I3A Marketing News

Jean Barda to Speak at IS&T's Second International Symposium on Technologies for Digital Fulfillment

I3A's European Coordinator Jean Barda will present "Metadata for Consumers" at IS&T's Second International Symposium on Technologies for Digital Fulfillment to be held February 28-March 1, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In his talk, Barda will review the main issues that should be considered as the industry begins to develop metadata policy, such as input, storage format and downstream usage. He’ll present a number of typical use cases that relate to consumers, photography professionals and commercial imaging companies.

The Symposium program and registration details can be found online at http://www.imaging.org/conferences/tdpf2009/.

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I3A Spotlight Reception & Leadership Award

12th Annual Spotlight Reception and Leadership Award Presentation

Wednesday, March 4th
Las Vegas Hilton
6:00 to 8:00 pm

Don’t miss this entertaining evening filled with great food, drink, and networking! Be sure to be on hand to find out who will be honored as the recipient of the prestigious I3A Leadership Award.

RSVP Online Now!

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I3A Member Spotlight – Alinari 24 Ore Spa

Name: Alinari 24 Ore Spa
Headquarters: Florence, Italy
Web site: http://www.alinari.com

Fratelli Alinari Archives merged in the year 2007 with the Il Sole 24 Ore and created a new company called Alinari 24 ORE. It is the oldest foundation in the world still active in the field of photography, and more generally in the sphere of the image and communication; it was founded in Florence in 1852.

In 1985 the Fratelli Alinari Museum of the History of Photography, with the Library of the History of Photography, joined the original “historical” institutions, i.e., the Archives, the Art Printworks, the Publishing House and the Photographic Collection, and in 1996 their ranks were swelled by the addition of the Photographic Restoration Laboratory, set up in collaboration with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.

Today Alinari is the guardian of a photographic corpus which has few equals (with a patrimony of its own of over 5,500,000 pictures, historical and contemporary, ranging from vintage prints and glass plate negatives to film and slides), and which is responsible for the management of an ongoing program of exhibitions and publishing.

Since 2007, two Museums of Multimedia and History of Photography have been open to the public in Florence (the renovated National Museum of Photography-MNAF: http://www.mnaf.it) and Trieste (Alinari Image Museum-AIM).

Printing techniques
In the Fratelli Alinari Archives specialized workers still use the old nineteenth-century artisan techniques in printing from the historical glass plate negatives. The prints, also tinted in sepia and in various monochromes (color before the invention of color), are contact printed using bromographs, creating faithful copies on high quality photographic paper, manually and one by one.

The Photographic Library
The Alinari Photographic Library is one of the most important centers in the world for iconographic and photographic documentation. It is used by an international public of scholars, students and professional figures in the various disciplines.

Alinari On-line and the Restoration Laboratory
In order to make the images available to a greater number of people, Alinari has established an on-line search system of its photographic archives, employing a system of iconographic classification produced in collaboration with the University of Florence, with over 450,000 Alinari images on-line at http://edu.alinari.it and http://business.alinari.it.

Collaboration with Leica microsystems
Alinari and Leica set up a cooperative project in the field of photographic analysis for conservation and restoration purposes based on the Leica M205C microscope and the Bilz stabilized air-pressure controlled table.

European Projects
In 1994 the firm began numerous initiatives for collaboration in technological and cultural projects in Europe. Among the most important are Aquarelle, Artline, Victor, Imprimatur, aceMedia, Euridice, 2Kan, Orpheus, Ermione, RegNet, TNT, Migrator 2000, eCHASE, and today MultiMatch, MILE, Eurogene, Fotomemoria, CITER and TRIPOD.

The Archive is today very active in Italy and Europe in several research, education research and marketing validation projects, providing valuable contributions mainly in the following domains: watermarking, digital rights management, content providing, 3D applications, image enhancement, intelligent content retrieval, Web semantics and ontologies, distance learning, preservation and image restoration, validation, testing, exploitation and multimedia content supply.

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Industry Briefs

Even Still, Kodak Clings to Film
The Ektar 100 comes in a little yellow box, like generations of Eastman Kodak Co. camera film before it. A fine-grain film aimed particularly at nature and travel photographers, Ektar 100 was launched in October, and batches of it are churned out regularly from Building 38 at Eastman Business Park – Kodak’s sprawling manufacturing site straddling Rochester and Greece.

Polaroid in Bankruptcy for a Second Time
Polaroid Corp., a company founded more than seven decades ago by a native son of Norwich, declared bankruptcy as the leader of its parent company fights allegations of fraud. This is the second time Polaroid, founded by Harvard dropout and Norwich Free Academy graduate Edwin H. Land, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Professor Swaps Photography Classroom for Top White House Post
The Assistant Professor of Visual Communication at Ohio University, Pete Souza, has accepted the job of official White House photographer for President-elect Barack Obama, the Obama transition team announced Monday.

H-P Offers Cash Rebates for E-Waste
Taking out the trash is becoming a heated contest. Hewlett-Packard has unfurled a program under which consumers receive money for turning in old PCs, servers, phones, printers and other consumer electronics. The cash rebate varies by the product. If the product has no resale value, consumers can turn it in and have it recycled for free. HP accepts all brands.

Sony Ericsson CEO predicts challenges in 2009
Sony Ericsson said it expects a tougher climate in 2009 as it focuses on higher-end phones that will bring the company bigger margins in a weakened economic climate.

Verizon Wireless, Microsoft and search: Who is paying who?
Microsoft has elbowed out the much larger competition to become the default search engine on Verizon Wireless handsets, ending a drawn-out battle to mine advertising revenue from what is expected to be the largest U.S. cellular subscriber base.

TRENDnet Launches the First-To-Market 7” Wireless Internet Camera Monitor Kit
TRENDnet announces the launch of the first-to-market 7” Wireless Internet Camera Monitor Kit, model TV-M7110WK. This comprehensive video security surveillance starter kit includes one 7” Wireless Internet Camera and Photo Monitor, model TV-M7, which displays streaming IP Camera video in real time, and one Wireless Internet Camera Server, model TV-IP110W.

Chip Maker Rambus Loses Patent Case to Micron
Rambus, a designer of high-speed memory chips, may not use 12 of its patents to demand royalties from Micron Technology, a federal judge ruled. Judge Sue L. Robinson of United States District Court in Wilmington, Del., said the patents were unenforceable because Rambus destroyed documents, and called Rambus’s conduct “obstructive at best, misleading at worst.” Rambus said it would appeal. The decision could affect Rambus’s ability to use the patents against other companies to obtain royalties, and might delay a trial set to begin Jan. 19, in which chip makers including Micron and Samsung Electronics are challenging 10 Rambus patents. Rambus fell $7.26, or 39 percent, to $11.24, its largest plunge since going public in 1997.

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Digital Photography Trends

Shutterfly, Adobe Collaborate to Bring Digital Images to Life
Shutterfly’s services are now integrated into Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & 7(r), Photoshop Album Starter(r) Edition and Photoshop.com making it easy for Adobe users to create quality photo books, cards, calendars and prints in just a few clicks.

Moms More Likely Than Other Consumer Segments to Order Photo Prints Online
The digital photography market has evolved considerably over the past several years, and InfoTrends has observed that mothers with children living at home tend to differ in their habits. This section explores whether moms have ordered photo prints online. It must be remembered that although many people choose to upload or view photos online, this does not necessarily mean that they will order prints online. That said, those who don’t print online may be printing by other means.

Sony Unveils World’s First WI-FI Digital Camera With Web Browser
With a focus on making photo sharing easier and more convenient, Sony today introduced the world’s first Wi-Fi® enabled digital camera that uploads photos and videos to Web sites through any public hotspot due to its built-in Web browser.

Kodak Introduces Pocket-sized HD Video Camera and Ultra Zoom Digital Camera at CES
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today introduced new products and services that make it easier than ever for consumers to make the most of life’s moments, from go-anywhere High Definition video recording to simple, automatic capture of brilliant images.

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Mobile and Camera Phone Trends

Motorola could halve handset workforce and product range
Motorola may be gearing up for drastic action in its handset division, with some sources indicating it could slash the unit’s workforce in half this week, ahead of its results announcement at the end of the month.

RIM bullish on demand for new devices
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has surprised investors with a better-than-expected sales forecast for its current fiscal quarter, pointing to strong demand for its new handsets. According to MarketWatch, RIM projected a revenue growth rate in the range of 75-85 percent for its fourth quarter ending 28 February 2009, compared to Wall Street expectations of around 60 percent. "We have enjoyed our best ever start to the holiday buying season over the past few weeks," said RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie in a statement. The firm released a number of new devices in its fiscal third quarter ended 29 November, including the BlackBerry Storm, its first touchscreen, and its first 3G device, the BlackBerry Bold. "These new products are being adopted at an even faster pace than we expected," Balsillie added.

Motorola unveils eco-phone and new 3G devices
Motorola announced two new mobile devices that will make social responsibility and social connectivity even more accessible to people everywhere. MOTO™ W233 Renew is the world’s first mobile phone made using plastics comprised of recycled water bottles, and MOTOSURF™ A3100 – a high-speed touch tablet with a fully customizable home screen.

Sprint’s Hesse: call centers may close, but panic will not reign
Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said the carrier may close up to 20 call centers this year in an effort to cut costs, and while there may be more job cuts in store for the beleaguered operator, the company will not panic and enter into a price war with its competitors.

By the numbers: Top 10 most popular U.S. handsets in November
The following lists ranks the 10 most popular handsets in the United States for the month of November. Rankings were provided by AvianResearch L.L.C.

Nokia shelves WiMAX tablet; handset hose turned on at CES
Nokia Corp. said it would stop producing its mobile Internet tablet designed for a U.S.-based WiMAX network, raising questions on the phone maker’s view of that nascent market.

Palm’s new Pre smartphone gets lots of good buzz
Is Palm up or Palm down? The answer depends on how well consumers receive the slick new Palm Pre smartphone the company introduced Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The early buzz has to cheer the company. Palm’s stock closed at $4.45 on the news, up nearly 35%. "This keeps Palm in the game," says Creative Strategies President Tim Bajarin, an industry analyst.

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I3A Community

Online Networking Opportunities

Make the most of your I3A membership with these virtual networking opportunities:

• Submit a Member Spotlight: If you have just joined or your company is doing something new and exciting, let the I3A community know. Member Spotlights are featured in this newsletter and on www.I3A.org. Submit a Member Spotlight.
• Write a Hot Topics Opinion Piece: The world of international standards development and imaging technology is alive with dynamic and strongly held opinions, vital discussion, and advocates of diverse approaches. Do you have thoughts about a controversial issue? Contributions appear in this newsletter and are considered for publication on www.I3A.org. Submit a Hot Topics Opinion Piece.
• Share Your Best Shots: I3A members can display your photos on the I3A public home page. Photos of I3A events are especially welcome. Send a photo.
• Join I3A's LinkedIn Group: I3A's LinkedIn community helps you connect with other members and industry professionals, get to know them better, and put faces to names. Join at: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/748407.

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Boost Your Hits: Link Your Web Site to I3A.org

Use this "Proud Member" I3A member logo to link your company Web site to www.I3A.org.

I3A is asking members to link to http://www.i3a.org.

Reciprocal links give Web sites a big boost in the search engines. When calculating a Web site's page rank, link popularity is one thing that is considered by search engines.

Announce your membership and help promote I3A with the search engines. Download the I3A "Proud Member" logo.

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Member Resources

I3A Job Board

As the leading global imaging industry association, I3A is a focal point for the entire industry, drawing the active participation of members and interested parties from around the world and across all segments of the photographic and information imaging markets. That's what makes the I3A Job Board the best place in the world for employers to find the most qualified people – and for job applicants to pursue their career goals, no matter what their interest or specialty.

Posting a job is easy. Simply click here and follow the instructions. I3A will review your submission and, if accepted, it will be posted on the Job Board for 30 days.

Nominations Open for Marketing Committee Chair

The I3A Marketing Committee Chairperson (MCC) is a key, influential volunteer position within I3A. It requires someone with energy and ideas on how to best foster growth in the imaging industry, plus the marketing and collaboration skills to get things done. Nominations are now being accepting for this position.

If you or another member of your organization would like to be considered for this position, please contact Donna Cohn or Lisa Walker.

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I3A Meetings and Events

To arrange to attend any of these meetings, please register on the members'
Web site or contact the Standards Department at i3astds@i3a.org.

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Industry Events

As a service to its members, I3A provides a listing
of events affecting the imaging industry.

January 26-28, 2009	2009 Lyra Imaging Symposium Rancho Mirage, CA
February 2-3, 2009	Role of Ink Jet in Emerging Technologies & The Ink Jet Academy: Theory of Ink Jet Technology Foster City, CA
February 4-6, 2009	18th Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference Foster City, CA
February 16-19, 2009	Mobile World Congress Barcelona, Spain
February 28 – March 1, 2009	IS&T's Second International Symposium on Technologies for Digital Fulfillment Jean Barda to Speak on Consumer Metadata Las Vegas, NV
March 3-5, 2009	PMA Spring Las Vegas, NV
March 3-8, 2009	CeBIT 2009 Hannover, Germany
March 4, 2009	I3A Spotlight Reception & Leadership Award Las Vegas, NV
March 18-20, 2009	2nd Digital Printing Presses – The Next Era Conference Chandler, AZ
March 24-26, 2009	Image Sensors Europe 2009 London, United Kingdom
April 1-3, 2009	CTIA Wireless 2009 Las Vegas, NV
May 4-7, 2009	Archiving 2009 Arlington, VA
May 11-13, 2009	19th Annual Thermal Printing Conference Kissimmee, FL
May 12-14, 2009	FESPA Digital Europe Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 2-3, 2009	Ink Jet Technology Showcase 2009 Zurich, Switzerland
September 4-9, 2009	IFA 2009 Berlin, Germany
November 10-12, 2009	6Sight Future of Imaging Conference Monterey, CA
September 28 – October 3, 2010	Photokina 2010 Cologne, Germany
May 3-16, 2012	DRUPA 2012 Duesseldorf, Germany

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We distribute our newsletter around the 15th day of each month with a content deadline the week before. Please send your news for consideration in our newsletter. To share your comments about this newsletter or to submit information, send a message to Editor@I3A.org.

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