By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. - By acquiring rival software maker Macromedia Inc. in a deal originally valued at $3.4 billion, Adobe Systems Inc. is positioning itself to do battle with Microsoft Corp. over the tools to create, distribute and manage content online.

The deal, announced Monday, would put Adobe’s ubiquitous Acrobat document-sharing program under the same roof as Macromedia’s Flash software for creating and viewing interactive content on Web sites independent of operating systems or devices.

Read the rest of this story »

By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Jesse Eisenberg came within a technological whisker of losing all her honeymoon snapshots. The 31-year-old lawyer’s digital images, stored on an online photography site, vanished while she was in the hospital this winter having her first child. She had given up all hope of retrieving them when they suddenly reappeared on her computer more than a month later.

“I can’t believe we got them back!” she exclaimed. “Oh my God, I’m going to be printing all day today.”

Read the rest of this story »

Picasa 2 Offers Editing Tools, Advanced Effects, Better Organization and CD Burning for Digital Photo Users - For Free

Mountain View, Calif. (January 18, 2005) - Google Inc. today released Picasa™ 2, free photo management software that makes it simpler than ever for people to organize, edit and share their digital pictures.

Read the rest of this story »

By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A novelty item just four or five years ago, the digital camera is shaping up as the most popular electronics gift in 2004, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It was runner-up last year to the DVD player, the No. 1 gift since 2000.

Catapulted by cutthroat competition, digital technology is transforming the $85 billion global photography industry by creating new ways of capturing, developing and storing pictures. At age 75, Marilyn Smith discovered a wealth of reasons this holiday season to switch to a digital camera.

Read the rest of this story »

By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Adobe Systems Inc. plans to introduce a new format for digital photos on Monday in an attempt to create an industry public standard to make the archiving and editing process compatible across all types of cameras and photo software.

Most consumer digital cameras today capture images in the JPEG format, but a higher-quality raw photo format is gaining in popularity among higher-end and professional camera models.

Read the rest of this story »

By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Eddie Adams, a photojournalist whose half-century of arresting work was defined by a single frame — a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photo of a communist guerrilla being executed in a Saigon street during the Vietnam War — died Sunday. He was 71.

Read the rest of this story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pharmacy chain CVS Corp. on Thursday said it would offer the world’s first disposable digital camera with a bright color viewing screen that allows consumers to instantly preview pictures.

Read the rest of this story »

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE - Ian Spiers had just hours to finish an assignment for his photography class. He was taking shots of a railroad bridge near the Ballard Locks when an officer with a German shepherd approached him, asked him what he was doing and requested some ID.

Later, he was questioned and photographed by a Homeland Security agent. It was the second time in less than two months that Spiers had been questioned about taking pictures of a landmark that attracts hundreds of tourists a day, many of whom snap photos of the ships passing between Lake Union and Elliott Bay.

Read rest of story

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Millions of consumers have started to store their photos on Web sites offering unlimited free storage capacity, and the providers are racing to capture the booming demand.

Read rest of story

It only happens every 17 years and they are about to invade the mid-Atlantic region once again. This is the year of the locust and we are about to be invaded by a huge swarm of them. These big ugly prehistoric looking bugs, with bulging red eyes, have been emerging from their underground holes and will be feeding upon our orchards and forrests, filling the air with their deafening roar, and just generally causing a ruckus.

Read the rest of this story »