Eye on Imaging Volume 3, No. 4 • July 2006

The President’s Focus
Annual Conference Highlights
Camera Phone Image Quality Workshop Report
2006 I3A Achievement Award
6Sight Conference and 2006 Mobile Imaging Summit

Industry Briefs
Member Spotlight on Mark Mizen
Member Spotlight on Avago Technologies
I3A Meeting Schedule
Industry Events

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

FALL AHEAD, OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

July 1 is the start of I3A’s fiscal year, a good time to review our accomplishments and plan for the future.

Lisa Walker

It’s been an exciting year! We’ve welcomed eight new members including Creative Memories, ACMEworks Digital Film, Avago Technologies, Foveon, GE Inspection Technologies, Harman Technology, PhoTags and Webshots. We’ve also added four new Standards committee participants including Caron Products, Epson, Lexmark and Media Street. These companies see significant value in I3A’s Standards and Initiatives — from the Consumer Photo Preservation initiative to the Image Permanence work underway in Image Technology Committee 9 (IT9).

We accomplished a great deal in just one year. We completed version 2 of CPXe (Common Picture eXchange Environment), adding support for image storage services and transaction logging; and we published PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) as an international standard.

One of the most exciting projects, however, is one we’ve just kicked off in one of the hottest areas in the industry, Camera Phone Image Quality. Our open working meeting at the Annual Conference last month drew 45 representatives from leading mobile imaging vendor companies.

One of the most critical services I3A provides is the Secretariat for the ISO/Technical Committee 42, a responsibility that some may take for granted. As TC42 Secretariat, we administer hundreds of international standards for the photography industry. Membership dues enable us to fulfill this crucial role. I want to personally thank each and every member for their support in making I3A the premier international imaging standards organization.

We held several fun and informative events this past year. Our Annual Conference was our most successful ever. We co-hosted the acclaimed Mobile Imaging Summit, entertained and networked with 200+ industry leaders at the Annual Spotlight Reception at PMA and, for the first time, held a member reception during CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. On the technical side, we held a Tech Forum on raw file formats at PMA, and another one during the 2005 Annual Conference.

On the advocacy side, we worked with the EPA, European Council, and U.N. on exemptions for use of perfluorinated materials by the photo industry, and worked with IMDG to develop the U.S. proposal regarding a relaxation of requirements for shipping Dangerous Goods. We also published several market research studies on Imports and Exports and market share studies for the medical Xray, film and paper industries.

So how do we top a year like that? It won’t be easy, but we’re off to a great start.

We intend to do so by being an early catalyst for market growth, particularly in our areas of expertise: image capture, process, storage, sharing, and output standards. Standards and initiatives are the key tools of our strategy – no individual company can develop standards alone. The standards we create and initiatives we launch support our members’ business models and facilitate competition among members. The discussions around these standards foster and drive collaboration among the market leaders. Our focus on standards for consumer imaging, along with our role as ISO/TC42 Secretariat, puts us in a unique position to influence our industry and help develop the infrastructure standards that fuel emerging markets.

We will continue to re-invent ourselves by engaging with market leaders and emerging companies in both current and new industry segments. We’ve already staked a position in the Mobile Imaging market by meeting with market leaders and offering them our imaging expertise to help measure, test, communicate and improve camera phone image quality. The Camera Phone Image Quality (CPIQ) standards and testing program will also drive new memberships from the mobile sector.

We will make even more effective use of our resources. We have engaged a membership development professional to help us build our organization. A broader member base will let us share costs across a greater number of companies, and so build the critical mass needed to ensure the success of our standards.

To reduce our dependency on membership dues, we will continue to develop our sources of non-dues revenues through the I3A Annual Conference and Technical Forums. We’ve refocused our I3A Annual Conference around our core competency of technical programs, moved to a less crowded time of year in late spring, and relocated to a more easily accessible (non-resort) location. In addition, we plan to implement an online store through which we will sell our technical publications, standards and tool sets.

One of I3A’s key functions is to facilitate collaboration and information exchange in order to identify and formulate solutions for industry-wide issues. We continue to fulfill this role through our events, meetings, members-only collaborative website, and newsletters.

A great deal of our success is dependent upon meeting the ever-changing needs of the industry and our members. If you have an idea for a new project, or just a new way of doing something, please let us know. We love hearing from you!

Have a great summer!

Lisa Walker

I3A President

I3A Annual Conference, ImageTech

Changing Technology Driving Future of Imaging

Discussion of the future growth and capabilities of camera phones, outside-the-box new sharing services and changes in printing use and technology dominated the first day of the I3A Annual Conference.

Keynote Jeff Hayes expects more than 900M camera phones sold worldwide by 2010

“We are expecting to see more than 900 million camera phones sold worldwide by 2010, with more than half of those having resolutions of 3.0 megapixels or better,” commented InfoTrends Group Leader Jeff Hayes in his keynote presentation. "As camera phones continue to proliferate, and the digital still camera market
continues to grow, there will continue to be more and more opportunities to help consumers with sharing and printing their photos.”

Hayes’ presentation included an analysis of the entire imaging market, survey data on the use of camera phones, growth in use of online services, the emergence of the digital living room, the social and lifestyle aspects of images in daily life, and key factors for success for companies in the industry.

The future of printing was the topic in the afternoon, when Steve Hoffenberg of Lyra Research provided an overview of the changes to the print marketplace, covering a wide range of market trends, including the surprising growth of silver halide prints from digital.

I3A Annual Conference AfterClick Panelists

AfterClick Panel:
Jamie Bardin, EZ Prints; Andy Parsons, Digital Railroad;
Tony Stieber, Hewlett-Packard; Kyle Mashima, FilmLoop

and moderator Jeff Hayes, InfoTrends

Paul Worthington of Future Image led a spirited discussion with panelists from Microsoft, Sharpcast, Simple Star, Sprint and Webshots. Jeff Hayes of InfoTrends launched a dialog on opportunities beyond image capture with participants from Digital Railroad, EZ Prints, FilmLoop, and Hewlett-Packard.

Featured photographer Jim Mastro held the audience transfixed with his stories of a year spent photographing the frozen world of Antarctica. Mastro’s tales of overcoming the challenges of the elements provided an inspiring end to the day’s presentations.

Camera phone image quality was the hot topic on the second day of the conference. Attendees included mobile network carriers, and major handset manufacturers, chip manufacturers and component suppliers as well as members of I3A’s standards committees. The lengthy discussions focused on the current landscape for image quality metrics for camera phones.

I3A Annual Conference Next-Generation Sharing Panelists

Next-Generation Sharing Panel:
Tim Grey, Microsoft; Sang Hung, Sprint; James Park, Webshots; David McKie, Simple Star; Gibu Thomas, Sharpcast and moderator Paul Worthington, Future Image

Attendees were very pleased with the event overall, and with the June timeframe, so we plan to schedule our next Annual Conference for spring 2007. One attendee was heard to say "This is one of the best conferences I’ve ever been to." Thanks to all who participated in the many lively and informative discussions, presentations and working sessions.

See you again next spring!

I3A thanks Platinum sponsor:

and Silver sponsors:

Open Meeting on Camera Phone Image Quality Standards and Testing

I3A Going Mobile: Improving Camera Phone Image Quality

Companies Attending Camera
Phone Image Quality Meeting:

Adobe Systems Incorporated
Avago Technologies
Cypress Semiconductor
DigitalBenchmarks.com
Eastman Kodak Company
Electronic Imaging Consulting
FLEXTRONICS
Foveon, Inc.
Fuji Photo Film Canada, Inc.

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc.
Hewlett-Packard Company
Imatest

inSilica
MagnaChip Semiconductor Inc.
Micron Technology, Inc.
Motorola
MtekVision America, Inc.
Nokia
Ojos, Inc.
Palm, Inc.

Percept Technology Labs
QUALCOMM Incorporated
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Sony Electronics Inc
Sony Ericsson
SozoTek, Inc.

Sprint
Stanford University
Texas Instruments Incorporated
Verizon Wireless

I3A officially kicked off its new Initiative on Camera Phone Image Quality, CPIQ, by holding an open working session at the I3A Annual Conference in Chicago on June 9.

The packed meeting room held 45 representatives from the mobile imaging and digital still camera industry leaders. The session focused on issues relating to camera phone image quality measurement methods. The working session followed a rousing luncheon panel discussion where it was agreed that the single most important issue in promoting the use and enjoyment of camera-enabled phones is image quality.

Issues:

While there are many standards for measuring image quality for digital still cameras, they have not been applied to camera phones, nor have any additional standardization requirements for camera phones been met.

Camera phone component and handset manufacturers all have internal quality measurements and test methods utilized during product development.

The real problem stems from the fact that there is no set of standardized measures being used in a consistent manner across all vendors. Carriers are therefore unable to accurately specify requirements, compare products and communicate camera quality level to consumers.

The carriers who must make constant capture device purchasing decisions on hundreds of models continue to struggle, due to the lack of available metrics for testing and comparing those devices.

The working session participants insisted that the industry needs to create an effective, simple means of communicating image quality to its customers. Of particular concern to the workshop attendees was the implementation of test methods to develop a quality rating.

Misuse of a rating system could lead to further customer confusion with these choices. The challenge for the CPIQ Initiative Group will be to identify image quality metrics and associated test methods and develop a quality rating system based on both objective and subjective data. To do this, the CPIQ Initiative Group will first review existing image standards to determine what additions or adaptations are required to develop a standard test method for image quality.

Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative Tasks:

This Initiative will have the following primary goals:

Investigate existing standards that can be leveraged into the testing system
Identify gaps in existing image quality standards and if necessary propose new standards to cover those gaps
Develop testing metrics and methodology that are repeatable by all users
Implement and deliver a complete testing system that includes methods and tools (software plug-ins, targets, etc.). If needed, identify and endorse third party test labs

Next steps:

The I3A Management Committee approved the CPIQ Idea Document on June 2, 2006. The Initiative now goes into the Investigative Phase. I3A is inviting all members of the mobile imaging industry to take part in this exciting project. We plan on having initial teleconference meetings beginning soon, so if you would like to take part, please contact the I3A Standards Department.

Save the Date

CPIQ Technical Forum
December 7, 2006
Stanford University
Center for
Image Systems

Engineering,

Palo Alto, CA

This workshop was generously sponsored by:

I3A Presents Annual Achievement & Safety Awards

David Pasquini, Konica Minolta, is 2006 Achievement Award Honoree

Nine Companies Recognized for Safety Excellence

Wednesday’s opening reception provided the venue for the presentation of the 2006 I3A Achievement Award to David Pasquini, Vice President, Health, Safety & Environmental Management for Konica Minolta. “David is a true champion of the cause of safety among I3A member companies. The impact of his leadership is felt throughout our industry,” said I3A President Lisa Walker.

Lisa Walker, I3A, presents I3A 2006 Achievement Award to David Pasquini

Lisa Walker and David Pasquini, Konica Minolta Headquarters N.A., Inc. 2006 I3A Achievement Award Winner

One of Mr. Pasquini’s most visible contributions to I3A was the creation of the I3A Safety Excellence Award Program. As chair of the safety committee, David both founded and oversees the program. This year, the Safety Excellence Award Program honored Agfa Corporation, Eastman Kodak Company, Enovation Graphic Systems, Inc., Fuji Photo Film USA, Inc., Fuji Hunt Photographic Chemicals, Inc., Fujicolor Processing, Inc., Fujifilm Imaging Colorants, Inc., Kodak Polychrome Graphics, and Sony Electronics.

Best in Class winners were Eastman Kodak Company’s Kodak China Manufacturing Sites, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Kodak Polychrome Graphics UK and Konica Minolta Business Solutions.

I3A 2006 Safety Award Winners:
(from left to right) Mike Matsumoto, Konica Minolta Headquarters N.A., Inc.;
Kozo Mitani, Fuji Photo Film, U.S.A., Inc.; Lisa Walker, I3A; Ted McNeff, Eastman Kodak;
Steve Poorman, Fujifilm Imaging Colorants, Inc.; Jean Baronas, Sony Electronics Inc.;
David Pasquini of Konica Minolta Headquarters N.A., Inc.

2006 Mobile Imaging Summit and 6Sight Conference

Future Image and I3A Co-Host October 24 - 25, Monterey, CA, Events

The 6th edition of the Mobile Imaging Summit executive conference will take place on October 24, in conjunction with the 6Sight meeting. Beyond the Camera-Phone Ecosystem is the theme of this year’s Summit.

Mobile Imaging Summit October 24, Monterey, CA Beyond The Camera-Phone Ecosystem

The Summit is a limited attendance event open to senior executives that brings together leaders of the imaging, information processing and telecommunications industries to foster revenue growth in the camera-phone ecosystem.

Topics to be covered in this year’s event include a financial roundtable on monetizing user-generated content and discussions on who controls the network, social imaging, and visual communications. New lens, camera-phone and visual communications technologies will be showcased.

6Sight Conference October 25, Monterey CAConnected Imaging Revolution

Connected Imaging Revolution is the theme for the inaugural 6Sight conference, scheduled for October 25 in Monterey, CA. The event will bring together technologists, marketers, futurists, artists, educators, high-volume users and members of the media
for a program emphasizing innovative use cases, breakthrough technologies, and creativity.

Connected Imaging is among the key trends to emerge in recent years at the intersection of technology development and social evolution, as reported in the ground-breaking book Going Visual co-authored by Future Image founder, Alexis Gerard, and AVA Mobile founder, Bob Goldstein.

Alexis Gerard, Founder and President, Future Image

"Industry conferences are typically all about features, specifications, and market statistics. Instead, 6Sight focuses primarily on impact to people’s everyday lives," said Gerard.

Monterey, CA inspires visionary thinking

According to Gerard, "The term Connected Imaging communicates value to users. It’s about the myriad ways we can be enriched by imaging tools that help people connect more effectively with each other – whether for work, personal, or community purposes. And the 6Sight conference is also about first looks at exciting new imaging technologies that will expand our horizons."

Industry Briefs

Agfa Reorganizes into Three Independent Businesses

Agfa-Gevaert has decided to split the group into three independent businesses: Graphics, HealthCare, and Materials. The new business called Materials will group all of the film manufacturing activities with the niche products of Specialty Products and will be positioned as an independent supplier of film and related products. This structure will give each business the maximum flexibility to implement its growth strategy and to further reduce costs in line with the rapidly changing market circumstances. Agfa-Gevaert intends to achieve annual cost savings of an estimated €250 million by 2008, primarily in general services and in traditional products across all business groups and regions.

Adobe Acquires Technology Assets of Pixmantec ApS

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced it has acquired the technology assets of Pixmantec ApS, makers of digital imaging software that provides advanced workflow management and processing capabilities for digital camera raw files. The acquisition strengthens Adobe’s leadership position in raw processing. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Pixmantec is a privately held company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and currently ships the RawShooter® line of digital photography software products. Adobe plans to integrate Pixmantec raw processing technologies into Lightroom™ and wherever customers will be working with raw files.

Batteries Continue to Evolve

Alkaline batteries—while ideal for many purposes—can’t offer the power duration of some of the newer formats of batteries, such as NiCd, NiMH, lithium, and lithium ion. Panasonic recently introduced its latest battery breakthrough—the Oxyride battery, which uses the newly developed oxy-nickel-hydroxide chemistry. According to Panasonic, Oxyride batteries offer longer-lasting energy in digital still cameras versus alkaline-plus batteries.

CE companies target women

Women, a growing force in consumer electronics, have a message for gadget makers–and it’s not all about pink. Women are buying more CE technology and now account for 46% of the $107.2 billion spent on CE gadgets in 2005. Major companies such as Apple Computer, Motorola and Sony are taking note by adding color and graceful lines to products, as well as featuring women prominently in ads.

Canon Scales Back Film Camera Business

Following a growing succession of marquee camera brands, Canon announced that it will cease development in its film camera line to focus on its booming digital business. According to published reports, Canon plans to continue to market and sell its existing film cameras and will track the market to determine whether to alter its strategy. Canon’s rival Nikon announced last year that it was ceasing production of film cameras. Another 35mm stalwart, Konica Minolta, left the photography business altogether, effective the end of March.

China accuses IEEE of wireless standards conspiracy

The agency promoting China’s homegrown wireless encryption standard has accused a US group of conspiracy and behaving unethically. The actions of the IEEE, or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., led to a global
standards body rejecting China’s native technology, alleged the Chinese officials in a report by the country’s official news outlet. The Standardization Administration of China made its allegations in an appeal to the Geneva-based International Standards Organization, which rejected its wireless encryption technology as a new global standard in March. China and the IEEE both applied to the ISO last October for a new international wireless standard, but so far only China’s
has been rejected. The Chinese authorities, which previously eluded in local media to the IEEE’s alleged "dirty tricks," now claims the IEEE violated ISO rules and misled national agencies during the fast-track ballot last March.

Harman Technology has Been Successfully Paving its Route to the Stars

Now into its second year of trading, Harman technology Limited can look back over a period of unprecedented growth and success. Following the acquisition in February 2005 of the Ilford black-and-white photographic business, premises and name from the receivers of the old Ilford Imaging group, Harman, named after the founder of the Ilford business, Alfred Harman, has grown exponentially to its present position among the major companies of the global photographic and imaging arena.

HP Expands Recycling

Hewlett-Packard announced an expansion of its computer recycling program that includes a seven-state swing where collection events will accept a range of products from any manufacturer. The summer’s recycling events in Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oregon were characterized by HP as a way to "raise awareness and increase the rate of electronics recycling," according to a statement the Palo Alto, Calif. company released Tuesday. At the events, consumers will be able to drop off a range of products from any manufacturer at no charge. The recycled gear will then be taken to one of HP’s approved facilities in the U.S.

HP Initiates EH&S Program for Supplier Factories in China

Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a year-long training program aimed at providing the management staff of its suppliers in China with the knowledge to improve social and environmental responsibility practices in their factories. The Focused Improvement Supplier Initiative (FISI) provides clear and measurable benefits for supplier factories, including increased productivity and quality and reduced worker turnover, injuries and illnesses. Over the year, suppliers will work to minimize factory risks, share best practices, access social and environmental responsibility content experts in China, improve the skill sets of key factory managers, and demonstrate progress toward conformance to the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct.

HP to buy Silverwire

Hewlett-Packard has signed an agreement to buy Silverwire Holding, a software company that specializes in digital imaging systems. The company, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, is expected to improve HP’s position in retail photo and printing services, HP said in a statement on Tuesday. Silverwire offers software for commercial photo kiosks, mini-labs, mobile imaging, personal photo management, and automated Internet ordering and printing systems. The company’s lab software is compatible with Agfa, Gretag, Fuji, Noritsu and Kodak mini-labs, among others. In May, HP announced that it would be focusing on the consumer digital imaging market, releasing more than 100 new products by the end of the year. Last March, HP purchased Snapfish.com, the digital online photo service, which it now includes with its digital camera software.

target="_blank">IEEE 802.20 working group declares ’cooling off’ period

The importance of the fight for the wireless broadband market was revealed last week when IEEE temporarily halted the standards process for the 802.20 wireless broadband standard. The move came after Intel and Motorola threatened to file formal complaints about the way the working group’s chairman, Jerry Upton, allegedly handled draft proposals in favor of Qualcomm and Kyocera.

Motorola buoyed by handset business

Motorola’s handset business seems to be flourishing, but the company’s broadband and wireless network gear divisions need a boost, according to this analysis.

Shutterfly Pursues Sale or IPO

Closely held online photography site Shutterfly Inc. is pursuing a sale or possible initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that could be worth $400 million to $500 million. The online photo industry has heated up over the past few years, as new Web sites such as Photobucket.com and Riya.com have entered the market. Most of these sites offer consumers a way to upload, share and print their photos online; some of the newer sites have added technology for social networking and for applying descriptive tags to photos to make the experience more interactive.

Sony Enters the D-SLR Camera Market with Innovative Technologies

Sony is jumping into the digital single lens reflex (D- SLR ) camera market with it’s introduction of the alpha DSLR-A100 system. The system combines advanced SLR features with other Sony digital imaging innovations. With its 10.2-megapixel
APS CCD image sensor, the DSLR-A100 camera is expected to have the highest resolution available in its class. It will be introduced with 19 high-quality Sony lenses, and will be compatible with most of the former Konica-Minolta Maxxum® mount
lenses. The system will include a wide range of accessories as well.

Texas Instruments is back and not afraid to say it

The technology company that created the first commercial silicon transistor and the integrated circuit struggled amid stiff competition in the mid ’80s and early ’90s. Partnering with Nokia and Samsung, TI has been able to surpass chip-industry giant Intel and move into the digital camera, MP3 and other hand-held markets.

Tripods And Camera Supports

You might think that there is not much scope for innovation in camera tripods. Tripods, however, are getting both bigger and smaller, monopods are growing feet and carbon fiber is becoming more and more common. There is also increasing provision of some form of insulation to stop your hand from freezing to a cold tripod.

World Cup may be tipping point for mobile TV content

Mobile sports fans around the globe are experiencing the first major international sporting event being broadcast live to mobile phones worldwide, from Europe to South Africa to North America, in the palms of their hands. Today there are approximately 16 countries with DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) mobile TV networks in place. DVB-H is an open standard developed by the DVB Project with broad industry support among hundreds of companies worldwide.

Digital Photography Trends

34% of USA digital camera owners are repeat buyers

According to consumer survey research conducted by InfoTrends, 34% of U.S. digital camera owners are repeat buyers, representing an increase of 10% over the previous year. In addition, 20% of digital camera owners surveyed were planning to purchase another digital camera within the next year. Today, digital camera owners who have more than one digital camera tend to be more technology-savvy. In many cases, they have replaced or supplemented their original digital camera, so their behaviors are more reflective of the early adopters. A significantly higher percentage of these consumers own CE devices like portable music players, Plasma televisions and DVD burners.

Digital imaging beats the broader market

Thanks to the ubiquity of digital cameras, flat-panel televisions and videogames with ever-more sophisticated graphics, Forbes.com’s Infoimaging Index has outpaced the S&P 500 by 9 percentage points since its December 2002 inception. The index tracks the industry that’s taking shape as digital imaging and information technology converge. Included are companies such as Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Eastman Kodak, Adobe Systems, and graphics chipmaker NVIDIA. All together, the index is a market-cap-weighted group of 58 companies that had market values of at least $50 million, sales greater than $100 million and share prices of $1 or more at the time the index was generated in July 2003. The index is updated weekly and appears at the site every Monday.

dotPhoto Next Generation Photo Sharing Site

dotPhoto has announced www.dotPhoto.com, a comprehensive multimedia and photo-sharing site, which is said to automatically build communities for consumer photographers by providing a forum where they share life’s stories through their images. The new dotPhoto.com has a redesigned ‘unified interface’ that makes it easy to access its features, such as My dotPhoto, My Albums, My Shows, My Projects, and My Web Site. Other options include community photo sharing with Top Picks, and merchandising opportunities with unique, theme-based products. There are also in-depth, easy-to-use editing tools work on both Macs and PCs.

Kodak technology will know what you are looking for in hunt for old pictures

Kodak and others in the industry believe that in the future, you won’t have to waste time trying to recall details of an old photograph. Your computer will tell you where and when the photo was taken, who was in it, even how old they were at the time.

Samsung Unveils New NV Series: NV3, NV7 OPS and NV10

Samsung Camera introduced their new NV Series of digital cameras featuring sleek, stylish designs combined with new high tech features. The three new models in the NV Series are the NV3, NV7 OPS and the NV10. All of these models feature unique, ultra-slim designs with sleek bodies in brushed black, stainless steel and a trademark Samsung blue ring located around the lens.

Scrapbooking goes digital and women follow

As the art of putting together scrapbooks shifts from paper to pixels, technology companies are jumping at the chance to market their products to the largely female audience. "This is one of the few times that women, who traditionally have not been big buyers of electronics, are very interested in the latest and the best," said April Anderton, editor of Digital Scrapbooking magazine.

Scrapblog debuts latest version of Online Scrapbooking service

Scrapblog has released the latest version of its Web application that offers a more interactive way to preserve, personalize and share memories online. The application allows users to import favorite photographs from Flickr and enhance them with rich-media blogging tools such as stickers, backgrounds, themes and balloon comments.

Camera Phone Trends

Handsets look to eclipse cameras

Camera phones could replace digital cameras as the main gadgets people use to take pictures, a study suggests. It found that 44% of people already use their handset as their main camera. The days of the MP3 player also look to be numbered, as 67% of those questioned said they expected their phone to replace their portable music player. The survey, commissioned by handset maker Nokia, comes as the number of mobile phones in use around the world approaches 2.5 billion.

Fancy features don’t sell phones in U.S.;
Price and design, not features, are what move mobile phones off shelves in
the U.S.

Price and design are the biggest reasons consumers give for buying particular handsets, said Kirk Parsons, an analyst at the Westlake Village, California, company. Few respondents said they chose their current phone because it had a particular feature. The company surveyed 18,740 users in two waves, one last October and one in February. They were allowed to give multiple reasons for the purchase, Parsons said. U.S. consumers have been slower than those in many European and Asian countries to embrace advanced mobile services and the feature-rich phones that support them. The J.D. Power results suggest the stereotypical voice-centric, free-phone-using U.S. consumer still exists even as the country’s major mobile operators build faster networks and applications such as text messaging and image-sharing gradually grow in use.

Susteen’s "DataPilot" bypasses carrier fees

Susteen, Inc. has launched "DataPilot Images" service on its "myDataPilot" website allowing users to bookmark images from anywhere on the Web and transfer those images to their mobile phones. The "myDataPilot" site is a destination where cell phone and PC users can easily back up and restore their cellular phonebook information anytime, anywhere and download a wide variety of ringtones and wallpapers to personalize their handsets. Susteen recently launched DataPilot Pix ’n Tunes, a tool designed to assist in the free transfer of ringtones and pictures between the user’s PC and more than 200 of the most popular cell phone models in the market, bypassing any carrier fees or restrictions. Pix ’n Tunes also allows users to back up their cell phone pictures to alleviate the lasting pain of relieving the pictures trapped in their camera phones, the company claims.

Personal Spotlight — Mark Mizen, Ph.D.

Dr. Mark Mizen established and currently heads Creative Memories in-house Technology Center, which rigorously tests and examines the products in The Creative Memories Collection. He is responsible for ensuring that products meet or exceed international standards for photo storage. His publications and presentations link the emotional aspects of memory preservation to photo-safety for the 90,000 consultants who sell Creative Memories products around the world.

Mark Mizen, Ph.D., Director of Technology Creative Memories

Mark coordinates Creative Memories participation in I3A and in the Consumer Photo Preservation initiative. He is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) WG5 Technical Committee on Image Permanence and is Chair of Task Group 2 on Print Stability. Mark is a member of the Rochester Image Permanence Institute Advisory Board and has been with Creative Memories seven years. He has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from MIT and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois.

Member Spotlight — Avago Technologies

Avago Technologies

Avago Technologies is the world’s largest privately held semiconductor company, with approximately 6,500 employees worldwide. Avago provides an
extensive range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components and subsystems to more than 40,000 customers. Avago’s heritage of technical innovation dates back 40 years to its Agilent/Hewlett-Packard roots.

Avago Mobile Imaging

Avago is a leading supplier of CMOS image sensors with a broad portfolio of CMOS image sensors spanning CIF, VGA and multi-megapixel resolutions, optimized for compact cameras and engineered to enhance the end user’s imaging experience.

Avago’s patented Enhanced Performance (EP) pixel and sensor array architecture and proven Image-Pipe (I-Pipe) technology provide the best possible image quality in the most flexible format delivering industry leading cost, power and size advantages. With over 20 years of imaging design expertise, Avago provides imaging application designers with the adaptability, speed, and resolution required by the camera phone, computing, medical and industrial markets.

The company leverages its extensive knowledge in CMOS image sensor technology to deliver innovative products with high value-add features, such as autofocus, Xenon and LED flash support. It offers an optional eighth-generation JPEG engine that simplifies handset design, minimizes the camera module footprint and reduces production costs as well as time to market for industry leading compact camera solutions.

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.

July 2006
Mon 25	ITIP Conference Call
August 2006
Tue 8	CPP Conference Call
Tue 8 - Wed 9	IT10 Electronic Still Picture Imaging - Rochester, NY
Thu 10	Management Committee
Tue 22	CPP Conference Call
September 2006
Tue 5	CPP Conference Call
Thu 7	Management Committee
Tue 19	CPP Conference Call
Thu 21	EH Committee
October 2006
Mon 2	TC42/JWG20/22/23 – Cologne, Germany
Tue 3	TC42/WG18 – Cologne, Germany
Wed 4	TC42/WG18 (cont’d) – Cologne, Germany
Thu 5	Management Committee
Mon 16	International HSE – Antwerp, Belgium
Tue 17	International HSE (cont’d) – Antwerp, Belgium
November 2006
Mon 6	TC42/JWG21, JWG24 and TC130/JWG8 – Scotsdale, AZ
Mon 13	USA/TAG/ISO/TC42 – Scotsdale, AZ
Tue 14	Standards Management Board – Scotsdale, AZ
Thu 30	Annual X–Ray Meeting – RSNA Chicago
December 2006
Thu 7	Camera Phone Image Quality Technical Forum and Workshop — Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
June 2007
Mon 25 - Fri 29	CISO/TC42 20th Plenary Meeting — Lausanne, Switzerland

Industry Events

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

August 8 - 11, 2006	PhotoImageBrazil São Paulo, Brazil
September 11 - 13, 2006	PMA Canada Exposition 2006 Ottawa, Canada
Sept 17 - 21, 2006	Digital Fabrication / International Conference on Digital Printing Technologies Denver, CO
September 26 - October 01, 2006	Photokina 2006 Cologne, Germany
Sept 26 - 29, 2006	SGIA ’06 Las Vegas, NV
October 15 - 18, 2006	GASC Graph Expo/Graphic Converting 2006 Chicago, IL
October 18 - 19, 2006	Digital Imaging ’06 USA Info Trends/CAPV Burlingame, CA
October 24 - 26, 2006	6Sight Conference / 2006 Mobile Imaging Summit North America Connected Imaging Beyond the Camera–Phone Ecosystem Monterey, California
November 2 - 4, 2006	IS&T/SID Fourteenth Color Imaging Conference Scottsdale, AZ
November 6 - 10, 2006	PhotoPlus Expo 2006 VNU Expo New York City, NY
November 8 - 9, 2006	Digital Imaging ’06 Europe Amsterdam, The Netherlands
November 14 - 16, 2006	CONNECTIONS™ Europe: Strategies for Digital Living Market Berlin, Germany
November 23 - 26, 2006	Foto Ventas foto/VENTAS DIGITAL 2006 Madrid
December 7, 2006	Camera Phone Image Quality Technical Forum Stanford Center for Image Systems Engineering Palo Alto, CA
December 8 - 11, 2006	Photo Business Association 17th Photo Fair 2006 Bangkok, Thailand
January 8 - 11, 2007	International Consumer Electronics Show Las Vegas, NV
January 28 - February 1, 2007	Electronic Imaging 2007 San Jose, CA

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