Back in early 2010, we received an e-mail asking us to join an up-and-coming photography blog that was trying to bring all of the best contributors, content creators and experts from the world of photography under one roof. It was described as a “photography website that should have been around for the last five years or more” and it was called Pixiq.
At the time we decided to stay independent, but many big-time photographers and photo bloggers took the offer and jumped on the train — a decision many are undoubtedly regretting: Pixiq was suddenly taken offline today by its owner, Sterling Publishing, just days after the company sent its contributors a warning.
Read more…
All good things come to an end. Bad ones do too. After denying rumors last month that it would soon be shutting down, the over-funded photo-sharing app Color has now announced that it will indeed be shuttering its service.
Read more…
Here’s a photograph by the The Bangkok Post showing Sony’s sensor manufacturing plant in Thailand submerged under flood waters roughly 3 meters (~10ft) high. The shutdown of the 502,000 square foot, 3,300 employee plant doesn’t just affect Sony, as other companies — including Nikon and Apple (in the iPhone 4S) — rely on Sony image sensors as well.
(via Bangkok Post via Nikon Rumors)
Image credit: Photograph by Pattarachai Preechapanich/The Bangkok Post
After last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Canon and Nikon have been forced to shut down major camera and lens manufacturing plants due to damage and injuries to employees. At Canon’s Utsunomiya plant — which contributes to much of the company’s lens output and appears as the letter “U” on the date code — 15 workers were injured and operations have been suspended indefinitely. Nikon’s Sendai plant — which has produced all of Nikon’s pro-level DSLRs including the D3S, D3X, and D700 — has been shut down as well after an unspecified number of workers were injured. No word on when operations at the plants might resume.
The two companies are also doing their part in contributing towards the relief efforts: Nikon is making a cash donation of 100 million Yen (~$1.25m USD) to the Japanese Red Cross, while Canon is donating 300 million Yen ($3.7m USD).
(via Ken Rockwell)
Image credit: EF15mm Fisheye lens manufacturing code by Bruno Girin
Earlier this month we reported on 48 Hour Magazine, a new project that aims to put together each magazine in only 48 hours from start to finish. The team of editors include Heather Champ and Derek Powazek, the founding editors of JPG Magazine.
Shortly after completing “Issue Zero”, they’ve received a cease and desist letter from the lawyers at CBS for trademark violation. The company owns trademarks for their news magazine television series “48 Hours”, and the related “48 Hours Mystery”.
According to the New York Times, 48 Hour Magazine never looked into the legality of the name, nor did they form a corporation. The proceeds of the $10 magazine (which they’ve sold over 1,000 copies of) will be split according to a transparent (albeit semi-complicated) formula.
The magazine has hired a lawyer to represent them, but does not plan to put up a fight, opting to work with CBS to come to an agreement. Since their website 48hourmag.com might soon go offline, they’ve set up a page at has48hrmagbeenshutdown.com to keep readers informed.
