PC Magazine - Lens maker Sigma Corp. said Tuesday that it has acquired Foveon, a three-layer high-resolution digital-camera sensor maker.

Investor’s Business Daily - Scientists have developed a software program that can duplicate a key from just a photograph of the key. They say this should teach people to think of keys as sensitive visual information, especially given that cheap image sensors have made digital cameras pervasive. The researchers at Univ. of Calif., San Diego, used just a cell phone camera photo of a key in one demonstration. In another demonstration, they used a photo taken from 200 feet away with a telephoto lens.

NewsFactor - Motorola has launched a new mobile-imaging handset that combines imaging, software and online storage technology from Kodak with a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone. Designed to let users click and instantly share photos in several ways, the Motozine ZN5 was to become available Monday from U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile.

AP - Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday its third-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by sales of digital cameras and inkjet printers, but warned of a shortfall in full-year operating earnings and revenue that will likely result in targeted job cuts.

Investor’s Business Daily - A new service called My Mobile Witness lets users turn their camera phones into personal protection tools. The service is designed to help users when they are in a situation that has them on edge, such as letting strangers into their homes. Users take a photo of that person with their phone and send it to My Mobile Witness. The free service gives the message a time stamp and stores it in its digital vault. If a user ends up getting into trouble, the service gives police access to the message. Owners of a real estate firm developed the service after they got worried about their agents’ safety.

PC Magazine - The PhotoPlus show in New York is around the corner, and Michael Miller is looking forward to checking out the new higher-resolution cameras. But more megapixels can also mean images can include a lot more visual noise. How do the professionals solve the problem? Miller explains.

Reuters - Sony Corp (6758.T) slashed its annual operating profit forecast by 57 percent to far below market expectations, citing a firmer yen and tough price competition in the flat TV and digital camera markets.

PC Magazine - With the economy tanking, credit limits shrinking, and 401(k)’s dwindling, will consumers tighten their belts this holiday season when it comes to digital cameras, MP3 players, video games, and other gadgets? Probably not, the Consumer Electronics Association predicts.

AFP - MySpace and Hewlett Packard on Tuesday announced an alliance aimed at getting people to print out more of the billions of pictures digitally stored at the world’s leading social networking website.

AP - Nintendo’s hit DS portable machine will come with a digital camera that will allow players to mix images, scribble on photos and create new faces, the Japanese game maker said Thursday.

PC Magazine - On Tuesday, Dell announced four all-in-one printers, plus two lasers and two inkjet models that range from small, photocentric wireless models for the home or home office to workgroup behemoths with sizzling speed and enormous duty cycles.

PC Magazine - Pentax announced an all new entry-level digital SLR, the K2000, on Monday. A 10.2-megapixel camera, the K200’s most notable feature is its price.

AP - A $5.85 billion bid by Samsung Electronics Co. to take over SanDisk Corp., a wounded competitor that also serves as a partner, reflects the turbulence in the market for flash memory, a key ingredient in digital cameras, music players and other devices.

AP - Before camera manufacturers one-upped each other with the number of megapixels, they one-upped each other with the zoom range of their lenses. And before that, in the 1960s, the “speed” of the lens, its ability to gather light, was the big selling point.

PC Magazine - In Berlin on Monday, Leica announced three new digital cameras, including a new 10-megapixel point and shoot, a compact camera with a 1/1.63-inch CCD image sensor, and a new member of its high-end M8 series.

Investor’s Business Daily - Android enthusiasts have ferreted out and posted on the Web all manner of details on the phone. Based on information allegedly leaked by Android testers, and posted on Web sites such as AndroidGuys.com and AndroidCommunity.com, the phone is powered by a Qualcomm (NasdaqGS:QCOM - News) processor and has a qwerty keyboard that slides out from under the screen, a 3.1-megapixel camera, a 1-gigabyte memory card, a video player and a touch-screen.

PC Magazine - Nikon announced an upgrade to the Editors’ Choice-winning D80 D-SLR. The D90 sports a 12.3-megapixel sensor, improved overall image quality, and high-def video capability.

Reuters - Scientists in Israel are taking
digital photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of
making the 2,000-year-old documents available to the public and
researchers on the Internet.

AP - Nikon Corp. on Wednesday launched the first digital still camera with interchangeable lenses that also shoots movies.

NewsFactor - Olympus has taken the wraps off a new compact digital camera that will enable avid shutterbugs to activate a variety of device settings by simply tapping on the camera’s body.