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This news page will be updated regularly so stop
back often to see the new developments! For older articles see our Newsline Archives.
- September 3, 1999 -- PhotoLynx Inc. has released a new version of its
ProSystem including a powerful new module for digital service production. In addition to
existing features for on-site digital service production, the new ProSystem includes a
powerful "service builder" for page layouts of pictorial directories, ID cards,
Rolodex cards, bookmarks and any service that can be designed with the flexible template
designer. The ProSystem exports to image file or directly to a printer and can to be used
as a stand-alone application or integrated with other PhotoLynx production systems.
- August 28, 1999 -- The number of schools using the Internet has grown
from 82 percent in 1998 to 89 percent in 1999 -- an increase of 8.5 percent. Research and
database company Quality Education Data expects every school to have Net access by the end
of the 1999-2000 school year, according to Net content filtering software producer N2H2.
The QED research also projects 71 percent of schools will use some kind of filtering
software to restrict Internet use.
- July 19, 1999 -- Jostens Inc and Sony of Canada finalized an agreement
to form a strategic alliance that will provide Canadian schools with a wider range of
photo and photo-related products utilizing leading-edge digital technology.
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- Under the agreement Sony will manage a R&D initiative for Jostens in Canada aimed at
creating new photographic product offerings through digital image capture, management and
output. Senior management from both companies will collaborate in a marketing alliance to
explore new opportunities for digital photo products and services in the North American
school-related market.
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- Jostens has also acquired Sony of Canada's existing school photography business.
It will use Sony's digital technology in school-related photography and to develop new
product opportunities as well as explore ways to enhance existing products in other
business lines.
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- No equity will be exchanged between the companies.
- July 11, 1999 -- On July 8th, a tornado hit the Lewiston, Minnesota
plant of Herff-Jones. The strike was limited to tearing off the roof over their
offset printing department. The company fortunately escaped more serious damages.
Due to structural damage the company was not immediately allowed back in to the
building although they expect to resume operations within a week.
- July 1, 1999 -- Eastman Kodak Company has introduced micro-sites for
school and event photographers as part of their Kodak Professional web site. Click
on this link http://www.kodak.com/US/en/professional/hub/school/school.shtml
to visit the new micro-site for school photography and this link http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/software/pcEvent/index.shtml
for event photography . These new micro-sites bring together Kodak information
relevant to those people working in their respective industry. This information
includes film and paper products, digital imaging equipment for photographers and photo
labs as well as marketing support and links to other sites of interest for the school and
event photography professional.
- June 16, 1999 -- Polaroid Corporation said its
Identification Systems Division will create a first-in-the nation Child ID Program in
conjunction with the West Virginia State Division of Motor Vehicles. Children from
ages 2 to 15 will be able to get digital ID cards at any of the state's 57 motor vehicle
offices as part of a voluntary Child ID Program.
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- The system will allow for quick electronic distribution of a child's
picture to law enforcement agencies when needed to help find a lost or missing child.
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- John Munday, president of Polaroid ID Systems, said "We are pleased
that West Virginia has selected Polaroid as a partner to supply this Child ID Program as
part of its motor vehicle and driver's licensing system."
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- Polaroid expects to supply the state with more than 60,000 ID cards for
children each year. There are currently more then 400,000 children in West Virginia.
The program will be completely voluntary." The Child ID cards (also called
non-driver identification cards) will be available starting July 9th. The cards will cost
$5.00 per year and they will be valid for two years.
- June 9, 1999 -- George Fisher who was recruited from
Motorola, Inc. in 1993 to turn around Eastman Kodak Company announced today that he will
resign his position as CEO on January 1. Kodak insider and 29-year veteran Daniel Carp
will succeed him. Mr. Fisher mention in an interview aired on CNN Moneyline that he
will remain the companies chairman for another year. Fisher said "it's the
right time" to step down after working to shed a number of noncore businesses
and put together a new senior-executive team. For more about this story CLICK HERE!
- May 26, 1999 -- Ashton Photo of Salem, Oregon has
announced that Lee Zinsli the company president and CEO has become the majority
shareholder. Company Chairman Steve Ashton retains a minority interest and will
continue to serve on the board of directors.
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- Since joining Ashton Photo in 1997 as an officer and shareholder Zinsli
has overseen the company's significant investment in infrastructure for expansion
including new systems and technologies.
- May 18, 1999 -- PRINCETON, N.J. --Total Research
Corporation announced the winners of its semi-annual EquiTrend® brand equity survey
today, naming Craftsman Tools, Crayola Crayons and Markers, and Kodak Photographic Film
the top three brands in America for overall quality.
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- Craftsman Tools, the first-place finisher last July over Kodak and the Discovery
Channel, edged out Crayola, a brand not included in the 1998 study, and nearly 300 other
brands that were rated for quality in a national survey of more than 2,000 consumers.
EquiTrend® is a syndicated study conducted since 1990 by Total Research that measures the
quality perceptions of major consumer brands among a statistically reliable probability
sample of consumers. These brand equity measures, in combination with EquiTrend®
information on brand salience (sufficient familiarity with a brand to rate it), user
satisfaction and brand associations, enable subscriber companies to better manage the
quality of their brands and improve their sales and profitability.
Hallmark Greeting Cards was fourth in the survey, with Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil,
Waterford Crystal, Chiquita Bananas, The Discovery Channel, Ziploc Bags, and Hershey's
Milk Chocolate Candy Bars rounding out the Top Ten.
- May 10, 1999 -- Sport Stars Inc of Northampton, PA has
announced their new web site at http://www.sportstars.com.
Sport Stars is the only photo finishing lab in America specializing in "SPORTS
ONLY - WITH A GUARANTEED DELIVERY TIME OR YOUR MONEY BACK ". They seek select
clients interested in forming a close association with their photo finisher that
understands the unique delivery requirements of the youth activities market.
- May 7, 1999 -- Professional photographers who shoot
portraits of young athletes and youth league teams, and who want to build their
businesses, are invited to become members of the Kodak Sports Photography Program.
The program is sponsored by Kodak Professional, a division of Eastman Kodak Company.
To read the entire press release CLICK HERE.
- May 1, 1999 -- PhotoLynx has formed a cooperative alliance with School Photo Marketing a supplier
of high-quality forms and services in the photographic industry. New releases of
PhotoLynx products for labs and for schools will contain templates supporting School Photo
Marketing forms.
- March 11, 1999 -- Jostens Inc. and Sony of Canada today
announced a preliminary agreement to form a strategic alliance to provide Canadian schools
with photos and photo-related products utilizing digital technology. CLICK HERE to read the
complete company press release.
- March 11, 1999 -- PhotoLynx introduced a new digital production system
at the PSPA conference in Las Vegas. The PhotoLynx Pro System can be used to produce
instant digital ID cards at the school using a ZIII SplitView camera. The SplitView camera
marketed by Photo Control Corporation provides instant capture of both film and digital
images. The PhotoLynx Pro System links the digital images to a student database imported
from School Pictures Software and instantly produces high quality ID cards and proof
sheets. When used in combination with PhotoLynx ImageMatch this solution can easily
produce same-day CDs for the school in over 20 image CD formats. You can visit
PhotoLynx on the web at http://www.photolynx.com/.
- March 9, 1999 -- Business professionals are twice as likely to use the
Internet to find sources for products and technologies now as they were two years ago. The
rising importance of the Internet as a business-to-business buying tool was highlighted by
a survey released from Cahners Business Information, a trade magazine publisher. Twelve
percent of business professionals who buy or set specifications for purchase in their
companies look first to Web sites for information, compared with just 5 percent a year
ago. Similarly, 15 percent now turn to broad-based Internet search engines, versus eight
percent a year ago. "Our surveys have found that magazines are used much more
pervasively in the early and middle stages of the buying process, with the Web joining in
more at the back end of the process, closer to the actual sale," explained Cahners
executive vice president Andy Weber.
- March 1, 1999 -- Kodak Professional is holding "Digital
Photography and Color Management" seminars around the United States. Each three
day seminar will cover several topics including the Introduction to Digital, Advanced
Digital Photography and Succeed with Color Management.
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- The first seminars will begin in Dallas, Texas on March 23 and commence in New York, New
York on November 9. The price to attend is only $375 per session. For more
information call Eastman Kodak at 800-336-8868, ext. 606 or visit their web site at http://www.kodak.com/go/prodigitalseminars
to download a fax form for registration.
- February 16, 1999 -- Enterprise Merchant Banc, Inc. of St. Louis
Missouri formed a holding company to be headed by Dan Bell. Bell an industry veteran
of Jostens, Inc., Olan Mills, Inc. and Advanced Photographic Solutions will serve as the
CEO and director of Image Holdings, Inc..
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- According to Bell he will be responsible for the execution of the company's strategy to
consolidate the professional photography market. The goal of the company is to keep
the independent photographer in business.
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- The company acquired Mirror Image Color Lab, Inc. of Cleveland, Tennessee and is in
talks to acquire Conquest Color Lab also of Cleveland. Additionally they have
assumed the operations of the School Photographer Group, Inc. in North Kansas City,
Missouri.
Mike Strickland the president of Mirror Image Color Lab, Inc. has joined the board of
directors of Image Holdings, Inc. while Jim Pelfrey one of the current owners of Conquest
Color Lab has joined the management group. Neil Dodge the former President of the
School Photographer Group will remain active in a sales capacity.
- February 13, 1999 -- Advanced Photographic Solutions of Cleveland concluded their winter
meeting today at the Rio Suites Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The meeting was well
attended by APS customers including school portrait photographers from around the nation.
Their sales meetings which are held twice yearly are used to foster better
communications and camaraderie between the lab and their customers.
- Gene Harrell - President of APS addresses
participants.
New product introductions, sales and marketing strategies as well as round table
discussions are all used to help support the independent school photographer. Some
of the instruction covered this time included topics like...
- Better Communications With You Lab
- Sports Photo Marketing
- Class Reunions
- Marketing and Photographing to Parochial Schools
- School Memory Book Marketing
- January 30, 1999 -- Lifetouch Publishing is constructing a new yearbook
publishing plant in the Northlands area of Kansas City, Missouri. The plan is to
have the project completed in time for Lifetouch Publishing to move into the new building
by mid-1999. The developer on the project B. A. Karbank & Company, LLP said
Lifetouch will move their current local operation from Riverside area to the Northlands
structure.
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- This new building promises to increase the efficiencies of the publishing operation that
is currently housed in an older multi-story structure.
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