Will post all details on weekend.

New stuff

• Official presentation of Panasonic L mount bodies
• New L mount lenses
• Cheaper Nikon mirrorless camera
• Photo oriented mirrorless canon FF camera
• New Canon lenses - RF 16-35mm f/2.8L, RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS and RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
• Few entry cheap DSLRs or one-two top DSLRs

https://ibv.vdma.org/documents/256550/27019077/2018-11-07_Stage2_0930_Photoneo.pdf/

Shipments and sales for 4K Ultra HDTVs continue to push higher in the critical fourth-quarter selling period, as average retail prices reach parity with older 1080p HDTV sets.

“This year, we’re expecting annual 4K UHD TV shipments to power past 100 million units,” said Tristan Veale, market analyst at Futuresource in latest market tracking study, “and the market will continue to grow with double-digit CAGR throughout our forecasting period to 2022".

“What’s more, high dynamic range – HDR – is beginning to make its presence felt and will be included in over half of all 4K UHD TVs sold worldwide in 2018, though consumer understanding remains limited,”

Specs

• 5K S35 sensor optimized for low-light performance
• 15.4 Megapixel Dual Sensitivity CMOS Sensor
• 30.72 mm x 18 mm (Diagonal: 35.61 mm)
• Seamless switching between Standard and Low Light modes
• 5K up to 96 fps Full Format
• 16.5 stops of DR
• 4K upto 30fps and 2K upto 120fps using ProRes or Avid
• Simultaneously record REDCODE plus ProRes or Avid
• Up to 275 MB/s write speeds
• Interchangeable lens mount

Collective action is underway in the United States, accusing the brand of having set up an illegal monopoly on the sale of mobile apps. Indeed, unlike Android where third-party app stores are allowed next to the Play Store, on iOS no application directory is allowed. This allows the firm to earn 30% commission on (almost) all transactions made via its platform. In 2017 the App Store generated almost 10 billion revenue for Apple. A situation that complainants denounce by explaining that "in a competitive environment" users would not necessarily have to pay so much. It is neither more nor less than the very structure of the software distribution on iOS that is questioned through this legal action.

https://www.lesnumeriques.com/telephone-portable/apple-recours-collectif-concernant-monopole-app-store-n81079.html

Destruction of both Apple Store and Play Store are necessary steps for both mobile OS universes.

We present a new algorithm for video coding, learned end-to-end for the low-latency mode. In this setting, our approach outperforms all existing video codecs across nearly the entire bitrate range. To our knowledge, this is the first ML-based method to do so.

We evaluate our approach on standard video compression test sets of varying resolutions, and benchmark against all mainstream commercial codecs, in the low-latency mode. On standard-definition videos, relative to our algorithm, HEVC/H.265, AVC/H.264 and VP9 typically produce codes up to 60% larger.

On high-definition 1080p videos, H.265 and VP9 typically produce codes up to 20% larger, and H.264 up to 35% larger. Furthermore, our approach does not suffer from blocking artifacts and pixelation, and thus produces videos that are more visually pleasing.

Via https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.06981

Due to transition to proprietary ARM64 multicore chips with integrated GPU Apple want to cut amount of authorized service centers and pair it with big service cost increase (to keep demand in balance). Idea here is to decrease number of different hardware going to service centers and especially try to hurt repairs of older hardware (to stop delivering parts). Apple is analyzing market looking for most profitable cuts.

Note - it is just unproved rumors from one of authorized repair guys (who is scared as hell to lose his work) :-)

Deutsche Messe restructures event portfolio: CEBIT Hannover to be cancelled. CEBIT’s industry-related topics will integrate into HANNOVER MESSE while also developing additional CEBIT topics into specialist events for decision-makers from vertical industries.

https://www.cebit.de/en/

Flickr’s free accounts now are limited to 1,000 photos and videos.

Prior to this change, Flickr users on the free plan were given 1 terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes, of free storage space at full resolution. Since 1 terabyte can hold 20,000 files weighing 50MB each (which is way more than most photos), this new limit of 1,000 files is clearly a downgrade for photo-happy Flickr photographers.

After February 5th, 2019, Flickr will begin deleting files that are over your 1,000 photo/video limit, starting from oldest to newest, until your account contains only 1,000 files.

Actually, service is performing suicide.

Service popularity is going down fast and we can see here exactly same actions Vimeo tried.

Owners want to trade long term survival for short term savings.

It is expected that service can hang next 10-12 month or so.

Amazon today announced that Cyber Monday was once again the single biggest shopping day in the company’s history with more products ordered worldwide than any other day. Additionally, the Turkey 5, those five popular shopping days starting with Thanksgiving and continuing through Cyber Monday, broke records as customers in the U.S. purchased millions more products over the five day period vs. the same period last year. In fact, Amazon customers worldwide ordered more than 18 million toys and more than 13 million fashion items on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, combined.

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to break records on Amazon year over year, which tells us that customers love shopping for deals to kick off the holiday shopping season,” stated Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer. “With curated gift guides, convenient shopping experiences, incredible product selection, and free shipping with no minimum purchase amount, Amazon offers customers tremendous value—sure to deliver smiles all season long.”

Throughout the Turkey 5, Amazon.com customers ordered more than 180 million items.

And people again bough for their own money lot of spy devices:

• Biggest holiday shopping weekend ever for Echo devices, with millions sold worldwide—all-new Echo Dot was the #1 selling product on Amazon globally, from any manufacturer, in any category.
• The best-selling products across all categories on Amazon.com included all-new Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with all-new Alexa Voice Remote, and Fire 7 tablet with Alexa.

• 3 x Kryo Gold cores with 2.419 GHz top speed, 256KB L2 cache per core
• 1 x Kryo Gold prime core with 2.842 GHz top speed, 512KB L2 cache
• 4 x Kryo Silver low-power cores with 1.786 GHz top speed, 128KB L2 cache per core

Some benchmarks

• Apple iPad Pro 12.9 w/Apple A12X Bionic – 18,217
• Apple iPhone XS w/Apple A12 Bionic – 11,472
• Apple iPhone X w/Apple A11 Bionic – 10,215
• Snapdragon 8150 – 10,084
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro w/Kirin 980 – 9,712
• Google Pixel 3 XL w/Snapdragon 845 – 8,088

Place - Makuhari Messe 2-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-City, Chiba Prefecture 261-0023, Japan

• Nov. 14th (Wed.) 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
• Nov. 15th (Thu.) 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
• Nov. 16th (Fri.) 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Site - https://www.inter-bee.com/en/about/outline/

Temporary bus service info - https://www.m-messe.co.jp/saved/files/news/33/40/607f31dd99112a5327dc99d6ec2e7ba5cb163340.pdf

Coverage by new PV Japan member - Takashi Nanjo

Inter BEE is an international exhibition that brings the latest innovations relating to the content business from Japan and overseas together under one roof as the greatest professional exhibition for audio, video and communications in Japan as backed up by our history and results.

Logitech has offered more than $2.2 billion to acquire Plantronics, one of the sources said. As of the end of trading on Friday, Plantronics had a market capitalization of about $2 billion.

If the negotiations prove successful, a deal between Logitech and Plantronics could come as early as next week, the sources said, cautioning that it was also possible that no agreement would be reached.

It fully matches with direction Logitech top management choose - making cheap plastic things with branding and top margins. I am not even talking about bad switches quality in all of their mice.

Most fun thing is that they fully ignored and not picked up division of Gibson that had been axed - former Philips Fidelio line engineers and designers. At least this guys really cared about stuff they do.

November 20, 2018 TOKYO - Nikon Corporation (Nikon) is pleased to announce that the total production of NIKKOR lenses for Nikon interchangeable lens cameras has reached 110 million* as of October, 2018.

By providing NIKKOR F lenses for SLR cameras, produced since 1959, as well as NIKKOR Z lenses for mirrorless cameras, newly introduced in 2018, Nikon continues to further enrich the NIKKOR lens lineup.

Nikon will continue to lead imaging culture by providing products that stimulate the creative intent of photographers around the world, while responding to the latest advances in imaging technologies.

Total number of interchangeable lenses for SLR and mirrorless cameras produced by Nikon.

The NIKKOR brand

NIKKOR is Nikon's brand of photographic lenses. The NIKKOR name arose from taking "Nikko", the Romanized abbreviation for Nippon Kogaku K.K., Nikon's original name from when the company was first established, and adding "r" — a common practice in the naming of photographic lenses at the time. The NIKKOR trademark was registered in 1932, and in 1933, the large-format lens for aerial photography was introduced with the name Aero-Nikkor.

In 1959, Nikon released the Nikon F SLR camera, as well as the first NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras, including the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2.

Currently, Nikon offers NIKKOR F lenses for digital SLR cameras, and NIKKOR Z lenses for mirrorless cameras. The total lineup currently consists of approximately 100 types of lenses that support a wide variety of applications, including fixed focal length (prime) lenses and zoom lenses that cover ultra-wide-angle to super-telephoto angles of view, fisheye lenses, and Micro lenses.

NIKKOR F lenses, since their initial introduction in 1959, have throughout their legacy of more than half a century incorporated the cutting-edge technologies of the time, for features such as aperture control, autofocus, and vibration reduction (VR). NIKKOR Z lenses are designed for Nikon mirrorless cameras for which a new, larger-diameter mount has been adopted. Further possibilities in lens design have been unlocked with the adoption of this new mount, greatly increasing capabilities in optical performance. This has allowed us to offer a variety of high-performance lenses, including the fastest lens in Nikon history*, with f/0.95.

From the initial design and development to the production and final inspection, the entire process leading to the release of a NIKKOR lens is managed in accordance with Nikon's own strict quality standards, ensuring every NIKKOR lens is of the highest quality.

This include their smartphones, notebooks, smart TV boxes, TVs, Aqara smart home products, Yeelight led lights, action cameras etc.

Especially huge rise in popularity is in EU for marketplaces and sellers who have EU warehouses.

Situation with Apple products on Asia markets is very bad with sales plummeting last two months including big issues with new phones and computers. This also helps Xiaomi as lot, as people become more rational with recent Apple price rises and preferXiaomi much better smartphones to old iPhone models.

SEAS researchers have developed a so-called metacorrector, a single-layer surface of nanostructures that can correct chromatic aberrations across the visible spectrum and can be incorporated into commercial optical systems, from simple lenses to high-end microscopes. The metacorrector eliminated chromatic aberrations in a commercial lens across the entire visible light spectrum. The device also works for the super-complex objectives with as many as 14 conventional lenses, used in high-resolution microscopes.

https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2018/11/meta-surface-corrects-for-chromatic-aberrations-across-all-kinds-of-lenses

Chinese selfie app and smartphone company Meitu announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Xiaomi. Going forward, Meitu will license its brand, technologies and hardware to China-based Xiaomi, and for upcoming smartphones, Xiaomi will handle design, research, development, production, business operation, sales and marketing while Meitu will deal with image-related algorithms and technologies. Meitu said its mission has been "to inspire more people to express their beauty," and its board of directors has determined that a partnership with Xiaomi will aid in carrying out that mission.

Xiaomi sales last months rise almost exponentially in Asia and even in EU.

Most sellers biggest problem is to find enough stock, for hot items, of course.

Xiaomi becoming ala Apple Asia, but with huge number of products made under their brand.

a) shoot 4K wide and reframe every shot in post. There are production advantages to that (normal camera support) and a possible downside (not "seeing" the final framing and missing the shot). The downside is real; if get the perspective wrong there isn't much room to play with scaling (2160p vertical scaled or punched in to 1920p)

b) Turn the camera sideways and shoot HD; Rotate 90deg in editing to get to 9:16. Framing will be "obvious" when shooting. Except...how do I support the camera sideways for static or moving shots? I can sort of manage it handheld, but everything else will become a wtf moment. Weight will be off-axis for any support. Accidents will happen.

What would you do? I am considering shooting 4K wide and taping a 9:16 cutout to a production monitor floating on top of the camera. This way I can have immediate feedback when framing, and proper view of the OSD on the builtin display. Thoughts?

Black Friday, Christmas deliveries threatened by Canada Post strikes

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/black-friday-christmas-deliveries-threatened-by-canada-post-strikes-1.4179935

CANADA: Mail Shipments from China, UK , 190 countries suspended

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-post-strike-1.4909208

eBay Begs Trudeau To End Canada Post Strikes

Online sales and auctioning giant eBay called on the federal government Wednesday to legislate an end to the Canada Post contract dispute, warning that quick action is needed to ensure retailers don't lose out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/11/14/ebay-begs-trudeau-to-end-canada-post-strikes_a_23589682/

CANADA: Best Buy Service Disruption

Items that normally ship via Canada Post may be delayed because of the service disruption. Large items that normally ship via Purolator or UPS will continue to be delivered as usual.

To avoid delays, you can take advantage of our Reserve & Pick Up option on thousands of products. Simply reserve the product online and pick up and pay for it at your local Best Buy Store.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/help/canada-post-service-disruption-faq/HC8358.aspx?icmp=TopMessage_CanadaPost

Moved by VK to separate topic

The Vitec Group plc ("Vitec" or the "Group"), the international provider of products and solutions to the Broadcast and Photographic markets, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Amimon Inc., consisting primarily of its Israeli subsidiary Amimon Limited (together "Amimon").

It also announces that the Board's expectations for the year ending 31 December 2018 remain unchanged, with material EPS growth.

Acquisition and integration of Amimon

Vitec acquired Amimon on 8 November 2018 for $55.0 million (£42.3 million) in cash, with an expected total investment of $59.9 million (£46.1 million) on a cash / debt free basis, including employee retention, deal and integration costs. The total investment will be funded from Vitec's committed bank facilities.

Amimon designs and develops chipsets and modules for real-time wireless video transmission, primarily for professional filmmaking and high-end productions ("cine market").

Established in 2004, Amimon operates primarily from its headquarters in San Jose, California, and an R&D centre in Israel, where the majority of its 60 employees are based. Dr Zvi Reznic, Amimon's Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, and certain other employees, have confirmed that they will remain with the company post acquisition.

Vitec will integrate Amimon into its Creative Solutions Division. Amimon brings extensive software, chipset design and electronics hardware development expertise, and opens up growth opportunities to develop innovative new products for adjacent markets. Amimon's Israel facility will primarily become an R&D centre of excellence for Creative Solutions.

Strategic rationale for the acquisition

The acquisition is part of Vitec's strategy to develop and grow in the wireless video market and will give Vitec access to patented core technology as well as new intellectual property.

Vitec and Amimon have had a strong customer / supplier relationship since 2012, having worked together to build a new market for professional wireless video. Amimon is the key supplier to Teradek, having developed a market-leading, exclusive and patented technology which is recognised as the industry-standard for zero delay wireless video. Amimon's technology is used in many of our Creative Solutions products, enabling very high quality, zero delay video, up to 4K resolution, to be transmitted wirelessly between cameras and monitors. This connects a director and crew to the camera in a real-time, cable-free environment, and allows fast changes on set, saving time and money.

Acquiring the core technology found within many of our Creative Solutions products will enable Vitec to become vertically integrated. This will drive growth, including the cost-effective and focused development of the next generation of highly differentiated wireless video products, enabling us to bring them to market faster. The acquisition will allow Vitec to quickly expand into the adjacent on-location sports and news market, selling wireless video products to Broadcasters and Independent Content Creators under Vitec's premium brands, using our established distribution network.

Creative Solutions will also be able to strengthen its position in the cine market by capitalising on the next generation of wireless video products and get closer to camera manufacturers through Amimon's direct relationships

Idea here is to significantly lower cost of chips for their own products and cut access to them for all competition (mostly Chinese).

Vitec takes on exclusive distribution of Sekonic brand in Germany, UK and Amazon EU.

Vitec Imaging Solutions is pleased to announce that they are now the exclusive distributor of Sekonic for Germany, the UK and Amazon EU.

Founded over 60 years ago, Sekonic has become the leader in light measurement and exposure meters, which revolutionised the market. Providing the widest range of light measurement devices for photographers around the world, Sekonic produces tools such as light meters, color meters and illuminometer to help photographers and cinematographers measure and control light for the perfect exposure.

The addition of Sekonic to the portfolio of brands distributed by Vitec Imaging Solutions further strengthens and widens the range of accessories offered by the company. Furthermore, there are opportunities across Vitec's owned and Partner Brands to sell Sekonic products in conjunction with Manfrotto lighting, Avenger and broncolor in the UK.

Sekonic will be distributed within Vitec's Imaging Solutions Division, and the agreement is in line with Vitec's strategy to grow established Partner Brands into additional territories.

During its Q4 earnings call, Apple’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri announced that the company will no longer report unit sales of its main hardware divisions, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

As Apple promised Mac OS X will be first to go, merging with iOS codebase. Just look around for all leading developers and that they had been doing last year. Apple expect Mac sales to plummet in numbers next 2 years as they will continue series of price hikes.

Next - Apple will move all new iPhone models into elite niche (2019 models will start at $1399 for cheapest smartphone). iOS will be repositioned and will start to quickly loose market share. Apple also thinks about rising their share in app store up to 45%. In two years time it is expected that Apple app store will have around 35-40% app developers stopping further development and move to Android. iOS ecosystem will still keep most popular applications, Apple own products and set of products made by corporations with close relations to Apple.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today introduced two new 0.8-micrometer (μm) pixel image sensors – the 48-megapixel (Mp) Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM1 and the 32Mp ISOCELL Bright GD1.

“Demand for ultra-small, high-resolution image sensors are growing as smartphones evolve to deliver new and more exciting camera experiences for users,” said Ben K. Hur, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. “With the introduction of our cutting-edge 0.8μm-pixel Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM1 and GD1 image sensors, we are committed to continue driving innovation in image sensor technologies.”

As cameras are becoming a key distinguishing feature in today’s mobile devices, smartphone makers are faced with the challenge to fit multiple cameras into the sleek designs of their latest flagships. At a reduced pixel size, the new sensors provide greater design flexibility, enabling camera module manufacturers to build smaller modules or pack more pixels into existing designs, and consequently allowing smartphone makers to maximize space utilization in slim, bezel-less smartphones.

The GM1 and the GD1 sensors are based on the company’s latest pixel isolation technology – the ISOCELL Plus* – which optimizes performance especially for smaller-dimension pixels, making them the ideal solution for today’s super-resolution cameras. In addition, thanks to Tetracell technology, where four pixels are merged to work as one to increase light sensitivity, the GM1 and GD1 can deliver light sensitivity equivalent to that of a 1.6μm-pixel image sensor at 12Mp and 8Mp resolution, respectively. The sensors also support Gyro-based electronic image stabilization (EIS) for fast and accurate image capture.

A real-time high dynamic range (HDR) feature is added to the GD1 to deliver more balanced exposure, richer color and detail when filming selfie-videos or streaming live video content even in low-light, high-contrast environments.

The Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM1 and GD1 are expected to be in mass production in the fourth quarter of this year.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), the world's leading provider of open source cloud software, announced today that the companies have reached a definitive agreement under which IBM will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for $190.00 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $34 billion.

"The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market," said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "IBM will become the world's #1 hybrid cloud provider, offering companies the only open cloud solution that will unlock the full value of the cloud for their businesses.

"Most companies today are only 20 percent along their cloud journey, renting compute power to cut costs," she said. "The next 80 percent is about unlocking real business value and driving growth. This is the next chapter of the cloud. It requires shifting business applications to hybrid cloud, extracting more data and optimizing every part of the business, from supply chains to sales."

"Open source is the default choice for modern IT solutions, and I'm incredibly proud of the role Red Hat has played in making that a reality in the enterprise," said Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO, Red Hat. "Joining forces with IBM will provide us with a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities to accelerate the impact of open source as the basis for digital transformation and bring Red Hat to an even wider audience – all while preserving our unique culture and unwavering commitment to open source innovation."

This acquisition brings together the best-in-class hybrid cloud providers and will enable companies to securely move all business applications to the cloud. Companies today are already using multiple clouds. However, research shows that 80 percent of business workloads have yet to move to the cloud, held back by the proprietary nature of today's cloud market. This prevents portability of data and applications across multiple clouds, data security in a multi-cloud environment and consistent cloud management.

IBM and Red Hat will be strongly positioned to address this issue and accelerate hybrid multi-cloud adoption. Together, they will help clients create cloud-native business applications faster, drive greater portability and security of data and applications across multiple public and private clouds, all with consistent cloud management. In doing so, they will draw on their shared leadership in key technologies, such as Linux, containers, Kubernetes, multi-cloud management, and cloud management and automation.

IBM's and Red Hat's partnership has spanned 20 years, with IBM serving as an early supporter of Linux, collaborating with Red Hat to help develop and grow enterprise-grade Linux and more recently to bring enterprise Kubernetes and hybrid cloud solutions to customers. These innovations have become core technologies within IBM's $19 billion hybrid cloud business. Between them, IBM and Red Hat have contributed more to the open source community than any other organization.

"Today's announcement is the evolution of our long-standing partnership," said Rometty. "This includes our joint Hybrid Cloud collaboration announcement in May, a key precursor in our journey to this day."

With this acquisition, IBM will remain committed to Red Hat's open governance, open source contributions, participation in the open source community and development model, and fostering its widespread developer ecosystem. In addition, IBM and Red Hat will remain committed to the continued freedom of open source, via such efforts as Patent Promise, GPL Cooperation Commitment, the Open Invention Network and the LOT Network.

IBM and Red Hat also will continue to build and enhance Red Hat partnerships, including those with major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba and more, in addition to the IBM Cloud. At the same time, Red Hat will benefit from IBM's hybrid cloud and enterprise IT scale in helping expand their open source technology portfolio to businesses globally.

"IBM is committed to being an authentic multi-cloud provider, and we will prioritize the use of Red Hat technology across multiple clouds" said Arvind Krishna, Senior Vice President, IBM Hybrid Cloud. "In doing so, IBM will support open source technology wherever it runs, allowing it to scale significantly within commercial settings around the world."

Upon closing of the acquisition, Red Hat will join IBM's Hybrid Cloud team as a distinct unit, preserving the independence and neutrality of Red Hat's open source development heritage and commitment, current product portfolio and go-to-market strategy, and unique development culture. Red Hat will continue to be led by Jim Whitehurst and Red Hat's current management team. Jim Whitehurst also will join IBM's senior management team and report to Ginni Rometty. IBM intends to maintain Red Hat's headquarters, facilities, brands and practices.

"IBM's commitment to keeping the things that have made Red Hat successful - always thinking about the customer and the open source community first – make this a tremendous opportunity for not only Red Hat but also open source more broadly," said Paul Cormier, President, Products and Technologies, Red Hat. "Since the day we decided to bring open source to the enterprise, our mission has remained unchanged. And now, one of the biggest enterprise technology companies on the planet has agreed to partner with us to scale and accelerate our efforts, bringing open source innovation to an even greater swath of the enterprise."

Financial Details

The acquisition of Red Hat reinforces IBM's high-value model. It will accelerate IBM's revenue growth, gross margin and free cash flow within 12 months of closing. It also will support a solid and growing dividend.

The company will continue with a disciplined financial policy and is committed to maintaining strong investment grade credit ratings. The company will target a leverage profile consistent with a mid to high single A credit rating. The company intends to suspend its share repurchase program in 2020 and 2021.

At signing, the company has ample cash, credit and bridge lines to secure the transaction financing. The company intends to close the transaction through a combination of cash and debt.

The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both IBM and Red Hat. It is subject to Red Hat shareholder approval. It also is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the latter half of 2019.

“While Lexar is eager to pursue the XQD technology, the product availability of XQD has been held up by multiple parties including Sony (who owns the IP) which is preventing us from moving forward. In addition, we are diligently working on future standard of CFexpress through our efforts in the Compact Flash Association and partnerships with key camera manufacturers.”

It is all same again

Burbank, CA -- October 23, 2018 -- Sigma Corporation of America, a leading still photo and cinema lens, camera, flash and accessory manufacturer, is pleased to announce the opening of its brand new west coast showcase in Burbank, California. A modern space for its world-class products, services and support, visitors can experience first-hand the popular Sigma Cine and Global Vision lenses through product demonstrations, seminars and special events. "Having a physical presence in the greater Los Angeles area has long been a vision of ours. The new west coast Sigma center has been years in the making and to finally open it to the public is very exciting," said Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma Corporation. "We are thrilled to be a part of this creative community, and we look forward to the new relationships Sigma will develop with filmmakers and cinematographers, right in their backyard."

Join Sigma at Its Grand Opening Event!

To celebrate the opening of the Sigma west coast office, Los Angeles area cinematographers and filmmakers are invited to attend the special reception hosted by Sigma Corporation of America on Saturday, November 3rd from 5-8pm PDT. In addition to the open bar with rare sake tasting, scrumptious food from local food trucks, Sigma swag and giveaways, attendees will have a chance to see product demos and a special work showcase by DP Timur Civan as the first official Sigma Cine Pro. As a Sigma Cine Pro, Timur will become a valuable resource to filmmakers, presenting informative lectures, seminars and workshops to cinematographers across the US. He has worked with clients as diverse as Louis Vuitton, Pepsi, Samsung, Toyota, Home Shopping Network, Vox Media and many more. His unique approach and technique are at the cutting edge of visual storytelling, and Sigma Cine lenses are always there to help bring his creative vision to life. Timur will be in attendance and available to answer any questions about Sigma lenses and how they facilitate his creative expression.

Sigma Burbank is located at 148 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA 91502. All interested in attending the Grand Opening reception should RSVP via this link: https://sigmaburbank.eventbrite.com. Space is limited; spots on the guest list are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

About the Sigma Burbank Showcase

The new Burbank facility reflects Sigma's commitment to the filmmaking community with a significant presence in the heart of the US film & television production scene. It offers a modern showroom where filmmakers can test out specific lenses to determine what fits their workflow best and connect with other industry professionals through engaging presentations and workshops. It will bring together Hollywood professionals and the next generation of cinematographers through student filmmaking group mixers, screenings of films shot with Sigma glass, and educational programs from Sigma and its partners. "Our high-end Cine and Art lenses are compatible with the latest full-frame camera sensors and can support workflows up to 8K. As the industry adopts new and advanced standards in image resolution, our technical team will always be available onsite and in the neighborhood to support filmmaker needs," said Mark Amir-Hamzeh, president of Sigma Corporation of America.

Sigma's presence on the west coast is a significant milestone for the company, its Authorized Dealer network and Sigma customers. For the first time its unrivaled service and support can be offered with more convenience for west coast cine and still photo dealers, order fulfilment will be faster than ever, and service appointments can be scheduled immediately with technical representatives available right onsite.

Coverage: EU Team, lead - Igor Drozdovdky

Putting things in proper historical price perspective, these pricepoints on new or slightly older new FF bodies is groundbreaking, what a wonderful time when you can buy a new retail FF Photography bundle for $999 or less...

Is anyone thinking of buying one of the new $999 FF Camera Bodies or bundles, which is way cheaper than newer premium M43 Hybrid or APS-C Hybrid models, to simply have a second body for hmmmm... Photography?

$999 Canon EOS-6D DSLR Camera Body, - Bundle With Shure VP83 LensHopper Camera-Mount Condenser Microphone

https://www.adorama.com/ica6ds.html

$798 Sony Alpha a7 Mirrorless Digital Camera w/Rode Microphones VideoMic Pro R Mic

https://www.adorama.com/isoa7rd.html

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to let television broadcasters use the Next Generation broadcast television transmission standard, also called ATSC 3.0, on a voluntary, market-driven basis.

The Next Generation TV standard will let broadcasters provide consumers with more vivid pictures and sound, including Ultra High Definition television and superior reception, mobile viewing capabilities, advanced emergency alerts, better accessibility features, localized content, and interactive educational children’s content.

Action adopts rules that will allow broadcasters the flexibility to deploy Next Generation TV service while minimizing the impact on consumers and industry stakeholders. The upgraded technology will merge the capabilities of over-the-air broadcasting with the broadband viewing and information delivery methods of the Internet using the same 6 MHz channels presently allocated for digital television (DTV).

Among other things, the Report & Order:

• Requires broadcasters that use Next Generation TV to partner with another local station in their market to simulcast their programming in the current DTV standard, called ATSC 1.0, so that viewers can continue to receive their existing broadcast service without having to purchase new equipment;
• Subjects Next Gen TV signals to the public interest obligations that currently apply to television broadcasters; and
• Requires broadcasters to provide advance on-air notifications to educate consumers about Next Generation TV service deployment and simulcasting.

Today’s ruling comes after several field tests of the technology were conducted in the Cleveland media market. Last year, the Next Generation TV transmission standard was tested during Major League Baseball’s 2016 World Series.

Action by the Commission November 16, 2017 by Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 17-158). Chairman Pai, Commissioners O’Rielly and Carr approving. Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel dissenting. Chairman Pai, Commissioners Clyburn, O’Rielly, Carr and Rosenworcel issuing separate statements.

ATSC 3.0 will require from TV build in feature so broadcaster will be able to turn it on remotely.