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·    If you’ve ever considered using online video to market your business, the most recent DIMAcast will tell you how to do it effectively and inexpensively. Michael Boland, a senior analyst with The Kelsey Group, a company that provides strategic research and analysis on marketing and media, tells PMA Senior Editor Jennifer Barr Kruger how businesses of any size can capitalize on this marketing strategy now, ahead of the competition.

·    Image Source Ltd. , London, United Kingdom, independent producer of royalty-free stock photography, and San Francisco, Calif.-based PicScout Inc., maker of PicApp, have paired to offer stock photography to online publishers. Image Source is making its large database of professional quality images available to bloggers and other online publishers. The PicApp license allows its members to freely and legally use Image Source photos as often as they like. When the image is streamed from the PicApp servers, it comes with an ad that provides a monetization tool on the content owners’ behalf.

·    Posterservice Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a wholesale poster distributor, is now the exclusive U.S. distributor for the ICON art print line. ICON has been a well know publisher in the United Kingdom for more than 20 years. The ICON art print line contains more than 240 images, and the entire ICON line can be viewed and purchased at www.posterservice.com. Posterservice Inc. offers a full line of posters and prints, plaque mounting, and laminating options.

·    Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co., Secaucus, N.J., announced its Digital Photo Academy, a series of nationwide digital photography workshops, is offering a Mother’s Day special. When a course gift certificate is purchased for a mother, when redeemed, the gift giver can attend the same class with Mom at no additional cost. Personalized Mother’s Day gift certificates can be purchased by calling 1-877-DP-ACAD-1. The Digital Photo Academy Mother’s Day gift certificate special is available for purchase until May 12. A gift certificate must be purchased for a specified level, and can be redeemed for that level only, in any city, before Dec. 31. Gift certificates can be purchased for the Beginner Course, which is three hours and $50; the Intermediate Course, which is four hours and $65; and the Advanced Course, which is eight hours and $150.

·    Travel photographer Nevada Wier will headline the spring Sundance Photographic Workshop at the Sundance Resort, Sundance, Utah, May 7-11. Wier’s workshop, “Photographing on the Move,” will focus on the many aspects of taking photographs while traveling in unknown locations. A specialist in adventure and travel photography, Wier will discuss how to combine these components in order to get a quality image. The Sundance Photographic Workshops are held at the Sundance Resort, the artistic, cultural and recreational community founded in 1969 by actor Robert Redford. Complete course descriptions and registration information for all Workshops are available at www.sundanceworkshop.com.

·    Nikon Inc., Melville, N.Y., announces the latest version of my Picturetown, a photo sharing and storage service. Upgrades to my Picturetown include the ability to upload RAW (NEF) files viewable as JPEGs, the ability to search for photos by the date they were uploaded or taken using a calendar, a full-screen slide show option for viewing photos customizable with up to 25 choices for background music, a new system allowing users to rate their images on a scale of 0-5, a seamless interaction with Nikon’s Wi-Fi enabled cameras, and the ability to receive photos uploaded via the Eye-Fi card. my Picturetown’s new features will launch end of April. Free 2GB of storage will be available with the option to purchase up to 200GB through a my Picturetown Gold Account.

·    Scrapping 4 Inclusion, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, an awareness and fund-raising campaign where volunteers organize a scrapbooking crop in their community, announced its new “Let’s ALL Scrapbook” program, an inclusive arts and crafts program where children with and without disabilities get together and create small scrapbooking or other paper craft projects. Organizer Laurie Weishar said scrapbook retailers can organize fund-raising crops at their stores. The “Let’s ALL Scrapbook” instruction manual is available for download online. “Let’s ALL Scrapbook” is a program run in partnership with the Raleigh, N.C.-based Bubel/Aiken Foundation “Let’s ALL Play” program. The foundation was co-founded by Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel in 2003 to serve children with special needs and with the goal of inclusion for all.

·    InteliCoat Technologies, South Hadley, Mass., launched its newly redesigned corporate website at www.intelicoat.com. Created with the goal of increased ease-of-use, the new website is a tool with which customers, partners and potential consumers can gather information about InteliCoat and its products. The redesigned website allows users to access information regarding InteliCoat’s ongoing initiatives and market-leading brands. Expanded information about InteliCoat’s Magiclée line of fine art and photo papers and Jet Set CAD products are also located at the recently upgraded www.magicinkjet.com website.

·    Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., acquired Intermate A/S, a global supplier of remote monitoring and print connectivity solutions used extensively in transactional printing. Kodak expects Intermate’s expertise in Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS) systems, a hardware and software technology that links mid to high volume print systems, will extend Kodak’s capabilities in the growing transactional print marketplace. Headquartered in Birkerod, Denmark, Intermate develops hardware and software IPDS products aimed at distribution channels and integrating IPDS print technology software into products from printer manufacturers through OEM partnerships. The transaction closed on April 10. Terms were not disclosed.

·    Hopkinton, Mass.-based data storage provider EMC Corp. will acquire Iomega Corp. for $213 million, targeting small businesses and consumers, reports The Associated Press. Iomega, a San Diego, Calif.-based storage company, had previously rejected an offer from EMC Corp. The $213 million price is a 20 percent increase over EMC’s initial bid of $178 million. EMC’s storage services are largely geared toward corporate clients, and acquiring Iomega is expected to expand EMC’s business with small businesses and consumers, says the AP.

·    Tamron Lenses USA Inc. , Commack, N.Y., announces Tamron Photo Workshops, co-sponsored by Bogen Imaging and Expoimaging, and hosted by local photo specialty retailers. The workshops are hands-on, in the classroom and in-the-field photo workshops led by professional photographers. Each weekend event is limited to 30 participants and includes a Friday evening photo seminar and a full day Saturday workshop in the field, and admission fees and transportation where applicable. In addition, attendees will have access to loaner lenses, white balance filters, and tripods to enhance the picture-taking experience, and receive bonus rebates on equipment plus a $20 Tamron gift card. The fee i! s $179 per person. There are several locations through the United States. Those interested can register for a workshop online. Details for each individual workshop and the full schedule can be found by clicking at the Tamron Photo Workshops area of the Tamron site.

·    Seattle, Wash.-based Picnik , an online photo editing application, now offers customers the capability to print their digital “Picniked” photos to products using the QOOP Inc. printing service. Picnik users can now quickly print digital images on a variety of products including calendars, greeting cards, wrapping paper, posters, photo books, mugs, T-shirts and stickers, all with QOOP’s back-end support. Both basic Picnik and Picnik Premium users can grab a photo stored at any location and print it to a variety of products, then have it delivered directly to their homes or offices — all from any Internet browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Mozilla, etc.) and with any computer platform (PC, Mac, Linux). Picnik integrates seamlessly with popular photo-sharing sites including Flickr, Facebook, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, and most recently MySpace.

·    Professional photographer Erin Manning, author of “Portrait and Candid Photography” and host of DIY Network’s “The Whole Picture,” has won two Telly Awards for episodes on Portraits and Black and White Photo Restoration. Telly Awards were created in 1978 to encourage creativity in local programming, as well as film created for the Web. On each TV episode of “The Whole Picture” Manning teaches students with limited photography knowledge how to use their camera, improve their photographic skills and complete a specific photography project.

·    WYNIT Inc., North Syracuse, N.Y., is expanding Olympus product offerings with the addition of the new Evolt E-420 DSLR. Designed with the amateur photo enthusiast in mind, the product targets users seeking to upgrade from their first or second point-and-shoot digital cameras.

·    HP Co., Palo Alto, Calif., has been awarded a five-year Blanket Purchase Agreement with the United States Air Force to deploy single function and multifunction printers, services, supplies and management software. The Air Force is deploying a three-phase Digital Printing and Imaging initiative, which will be based on five key elements of its imaging and printing environment, including savings, security, standardization, simplification and streamlining. Under this initiative, HP will help the Air Force achieve its goals by assessing its imaging and printing infrastructure and providing tools needed to streamline its printing environment.

·    Picnik Inc. , Seattle, Wash., an online photo editing application and PhotoBox Ltd., a  London, United Kingdom-based online photo sharing, storing and printing service, will partner to offer a photo editing experience in PhotoBox’s new suite of online photo management services. Picnik will be a part of Photobox.co.uk and all PhotoBox services in Europe.