Three more interesting products

Here are three (well, four) more interesting products. I've not used these products nor sell them, so this report is not an endorsement or sales pitch. The products I select may or may not be useful to you, but I find them interesting. You be the judge.

#1.
The Argraph Zigview is a 2-inch/TFT color display that attaches to the viewfinder of a digital or film SLR and rotates 360 degrees, allowing for low or odd-angled viewing.

Available in two models, the Zigview B is a viewfinder only and is $249.95.

The Zigview R is a viewfinder and allows for remote shutter release, has a built-in intervalometer for shooting frames over any period of time up to 999 days and exposure intervals from 1/2 second to 99 days, and a variable sensitivity motion sensor that fires the shutter based on changes in brightness levels in 9 areas of the viewfinder allowing the sensor area to cover any distance and any focal length.

The Zigview R is $299.95.

Viewfinder adapters are available for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta, and Pentax brand SLRs. Other accessories are a carry pouch, LCD hood, release cable, infrared cable, wired/wireless remote.

#2.
We all know the Swiss Army brand. Their knives are all-encompassing tools carried in the backpacks of many a Boy Scout and intrepid hunter. Going beyond the call of duty, and I suppose, succombing to the pressures of technology (is nothing safe from 'digital encroachment'?), Swiss Army has introduced 2 "must have" knife models to their arsenal:

A) The Victorinox SwissMemory 1GB knife is what every computer geek (or photographer on the run) needs. Included in this handy package are:

USB 1GB jump drive
handy cutting blade
ubiquitous nail file and screwdriver combo
scissors
key ring
LED mini light
retractable ball point pen (refillable?)
Secure-LOCK software that keeps your data safe from unauthorized access (password protection, is my guess). Retails for $197.00.

B) The Victorinox S.Beat MP3 Digital Media Player is for those who like to slash and dash while cutting a rug. This baby has all the bells and whistles:

1GB capacity
FM radio tuner
15 FM radio presets
3-line high contrast backlight reverse LCD
USB 2.0 interface
High quality earphones w/adjustable neck strap
Remote control
Line-in cable to record from external sources
Belt clip
USB extension cable
Utility CD
Oh yeah, cutting blade, scissors, nail file with nail cleaner (no screwdriver?)

#3
This product should probably have its own post, but I'll put it here for now and post more details later after I've reviewed it.

The PLUS Coalition has as its mission to encourage standardized usage of image licensing terminology, a Universal Picture Licensing Glossary. The Coalition, started by photographer and former President of the Advertising Photographers of America (APA) Jeff Sedlik and Jeffrey Burke, Vice President of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), now has an advisory panel that is a Who's Who of the photography industry, including some of the world's largest advertising agencies and all the major U.S. photography trade organizations.

Image licensing models are broken down into two broad categories, Rights Managed and Royalty Free. With Rights Managed (RM) licensing, a client purchases a license to use a particular image based on a specific type of use, duration, distribution, and other factors. When those factors change, a new license and fee is required. Royalty Free (RF) mostly dispenses with many of the licensing restrictions, allowing the client to use the image for whatever purpose without negotiating new licensing terms.

Licensors of images more or less prefer the RF style license agreement, i.e., sweet and simple. Individual photographers, advertising agencies, stock photography agencies, and other sources of photographs for license, can have different definitions of commonly used terms, creating issues of understanding between providers and users. Using standardized definitions will help get everyone on the same page when discussions arise. An analog to this would be the difference between the scientific name of an animal or plant and its common or regional name. The scientific name, in Latin, (Marmota flaviventris, for example) is understood the world over to refer to one particular thing. Common or regional names can differ across geographic areas, so that a person referring to a "whistle pig" in one area is not understood by another who would call the same animal a "marmot" or "ground squirrel". The Universal Picture Licensing Glossary will help reduce that confusion when image licensing terms are discussed.

Other endeavors of the PLUS Coalition are to develop a standardized media matrix which intends to include international media categories and billing codes into image files. Also, they are developing a Universal License Format, which is a machine-readable data form integrated with the Glossary and Media Matrix to provide a single, worldwide standard for describing image licenses.

See the website listed above for more details and to access the PLUS Glossary.