Kodak has today announced it is acquiring Ofoto. Kodak, obviously realising that a large chunk of their future is reliant on consumer digital imaging has today signed a "definitive agreement" to buy the online photofinishing giant Ofoto. "The acquisition enhances our leadership in the growing market for online photo services. By combining Kodak's and Ofoto's technology, marketing and distribution assets, we will be able to deliver the most comprehensive, easy-to-use online photography services to customers and consumers,'' said Shih. "This will accelerate Kodak's growth and drive more rapid adoption of online photography.'' UPDATE: Shutterfly Comment. (04:00 GMT)

Steve over at Steve's Digicams has posted his review of the Casio QV-3500EX, here's what he concluded, "Casio has produced another winner here, the QV-3500EX is a top of the line 3-megapixel camera with all the features needed to make novice and experienced users happy... Dollar for dollar the QV-3500EX Plus bundle with the 340MB Microdrive costs about the same as other 3-megapixel cameras that come with only a 16MB flash card. This camera is a very good choice for those that want point-n-shoot ease or total flexibility and advanced features all rolled up in the same package!" (04:00 GMT)

It's been a few days since Nikon announced the new Coolpix 995 and 775, I'm sure some of you have made up your minds already. So, for those of you chomping at the bit to get your hands on one of these new models you can be one of the first by pre-ordering from our official affiliate State Street Direct. Don't forget that your order helps to support this site! (04:00 GMT)

Ofoto, the Internet photo company, have drawn the results for their Reasons to Smile contest. Congratulations go to the first prize winner Doug White of Fishers, IN who won $10,000, second went to Michele Yurgaitis of Enfield, CT who won a Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH and third went to Carolyn De Anda of Clovis, CA who won a Sterling Silver Frame. (04:00 GMT)

According to a report by InfoTrends titled "Photo Kiosks and Digital Minilabs To Fuel Digital Photography Revolution", they expect Digital minilabs to grow from their current 4% penetration to about 70% by 2006. I personally found this report kind of surprising, while getting Prints is definetly an important part of the "digital revolution" I don't believe it's the most important part, there are lots of other supporting technologies which need to mature more quickly. Fact: Digital Photographers print far less than Film Photographers because they simply don't need to. (04:00 GMT)

Some time back we reported that Olympus and Kodak would be working on joint ventures in the future and that Olympus would be using Kodak sensors. Today Kodak gave a seminar and revealed some details, it appears that Olympus will announce a new digital SLR at PMA next year (Feb 2002) which will be fitted out with a Kodak 4/3" 5.1 mp CCD (KAF-C5100E). More interestingly it appears that this camera (or cameras) will have a lens mount and a selection of up to 5 lenses (though the standard "kit" will include a body and lens). Kodak also make mention that this camera may also support Bluetooth (or via a kit) wireless transfer techology. Thanks to my good friend Yamada Kumio for handing me this piece of news. (04:00 GMT)

Thanks to Brian Woodchek of Imaging Spectrum Inc. (our official Professional Equipment affiliate) we now have access to the first (as far as I'm aware) full-size samples from Kodak's latest Pro Digital SLR the DCS 760. This 6 megapixel digital SLR was announced back in March, it's based on the Nikon F5 SLR. List price is $7,995, though Imaging Spectrum are currently offering it for $6,995. (04:00 GMT)

Well, in my opinion. The strength of "My Netscape" was the users ability to add channels of information from independent (important word) providers such as ourselves (note that Imaging-Resource and DCResource also had My Netscape channels). With their "new" version they also seem to have dumped all external sources, now you can only choose from a limited selection of content from Netscape. It's a sad day. (04:00 GMT)

As suggested by forums user "poohbear" and confirmed by other posters (and indeed requested by email before) we've created a new forum for the discussion of storage and media, to cover everything from media for digital cameras (SmartMedia, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, etc.) to on-the-road storage (Digital Wallet, Nixvue Digital Album etc.) to archival storage (CD-R, CD-RW etc.). (04:00 GMT)

As an update to the story we posted on the 1st of March about Kodak suing several manufacturers over patent infringement, it looks as though they have come to an agreement with Sanyo and dropped the suit against the others. This involves a cross licensing pact whereby Sanyo will offer access to the Kodak Internet picture processing systems. (04:00 GMT)

Rick Turner, a developer for Microsoft and long time reader (and apparently until recently lurker) has posted a question on our PC Tools forum in response to the article I wrote about Windows XP's photo and printing features. He's looking for feedback from YOU about what you think of these enhancements and what you'd like to see from these new technologies. (04:00 GMT)

Nikon has today introduced three new Nikkor AF-S lenses, the 400 mm f/2.8D IF-ED II, 500 mm f/4D IF-ED II and 600 mm f/4D IF-ED II. "Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce THREE new additions to their outstanding range of superior AF-S Nikkor super telephoto lenses designed for sport and nature photographers. In listening to the wishes of photographers, Nikon have succeeded in dramatically reducing weight AND achieving closer focusing distances than their predecessors." (04:00 GMT)

We've just posted slight updates to our Canon PowerShot A20 and IXUS 300 (S300 ELPH) reviews, with the addition of the WP-DC200 and WP-DC100 waterproof cases for the A20 and IXUS 300 respectively. We've also updated the A20 review with the various accessories available for this camera. Both waterproof cases are built to a very high quality level and are waterproof to 30 m (100 ft). (04:00 GMT)

6AM EST: 2AM EST: Nikon has today announced the sucessor to the now legendary Coolpix 990, a hard act to follow. The new Coolpix 995 has the same 3.34 megapixel sensor (sorry guys, no 4/5 megapixels yet) but adds several things which bugged 990 owners: Pop-up flash (designed to address red-eye), a 4x optical zoom lens, CF Type II support (Microdrive MK 2 only), 1/2300 sec max shutter speed, noise reduction. Things some users may see as negatives: plastic case instead of the much loved magnesium alloy, proprietary rechargeable battery (though now included in the bundle). MSRP $900, in stores June 2001. (04:00 GMT)

6AM EST: 2AM EST:Nikon has today announced the Coolpix 775, designed as an entry level digital camera it sports a 2 megapixel sensor with a 3x optical zoom lens. Loosly based around the popular 880 the 775 shares many of its features including pre-programmed scene modes, good news this time is that the Lithium-Ion rechargable battery and charger are included! MSRP US$450, in stores July 2001. (04:00 GMT)

Steve Sanders over at Steve's Digicams has posted his review of the Canon PowerShot A20, here's what he concluded, "Canon's new PowerShot A20 is an excellent choice for those desiring an easy to use and compact size two-megapixel camera... The bottom line is that this is an excellent camera for those that just want to take good pictures without fussing with any controls. Turn it on, frame the shot, press the button -- you're done. And if you've got a CP-10 printer in less than a minute you can generate a beautiful photo print!" (04:00 GMT)

Adobe has today announced a special plugin which has been optimized for the Intel Pentium 4 processor, it enhances the performance of Photoshop 6 running on a Pentium 4 by up to 70%. Pentium 4 processors are now available in 1.70GHz, 1.50GHz, 1.40GHz, and 1.30GHz speeds. "Performance-intensive applications such as digital imaging, multimedia and 3-D graphics run great on the Pentium 4 processor, but will run even faster when the application is optimized to unleash its full potential. Photoshop users can now begin to realize that potential when using this new plug-in." (04:00 GMT)

Our friend Yamada Kumio has posted a set of samples from Fujifilm's 6900Z for the PC Watch site. The camera who's body is based on the 4900Z and sensor is the 3.3 megapixel SuperCCD (with a 6 megapixel output) found on the 6800Z. His samples cover a variety of subjects from outdoor architectures, people, indoor and his standard Japanese building shot. Other shots are available at different resolutions and ISO sensitivities. (04:00 GMT)

Hagiwara Sys-Com, Japanese manufacturer, has today announced three new Compact Flash Type I cards based on new capacity flash memory. Available soon in 320, 384 and 512 MB sizes these new cards are some of the largest Type I available (along with Lexar's 384 MB 12x). No pricing has yet been announced, they should go on sale mid May 2001. (04:00 GMT)

We've just posted our full, in-depth review of Canon's entry level PowerShot A20. Fitted out with a 2 megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens the A20 is aimed at the novice buyer on a budget who doesn't want to compromise on image quality. The A20 can also be directly connected to the CP-10 Card Photo Printer (reviewed recently). The A20 enters the fiercely competitve end of the market which has received a number of new entrants in the last few months. (04:00 GMT)

Sony, as competitive as ever, have cut the price of the DSC-P30 and DSC-P50 digital cameras (which were announced at PMA 2001) by $100 each. The DSC-P30 will be priced at $300 (versus the $400 stated previously) and the DSC-P50 will be priced at $400 (versus the $500 stated previously). This makes these cameras a more interesting proposition to the entry level buyer, they will make interesting competitors to Canon's A10 and A20. (04:00 GMT)