Digital Camera News: Staples Photo Contest, Canon Safety Notice for A530/A540, Samsung Memory Chip

Staples "Hometown Views" Photo Contest

Staples has launched a photo contest for amateur photographers looking to show off their hometown. The winning images will be available for purchase from Staples stores.

About 40 regional finalists will win Staples gift cards and the possibility of receiving up to $5000 in royalties from the sale of their images. One grand prize winner will win an "Ultimate Photo Vacation to Iceland". Each person that enters will receive a coupon for free big color poster from Staples Copy & Print Centers that can be found in every Staples store.

To enter the "Hometown Views" contest or to read details, see: www.staples.com/hometownviews. The deadline for entering is March 15, 2007 and winners will be announced in May. The grand prize winner will be selected by members of the Professional Photographers of America.

Canon Safety Notice - Overheating Powershot A530 and A540

Canon has issued a safety notice regarding some of the Powershot A530 and A540 models. The safety notice describes that if you have a model where the battery door spring "sticks out", it may cause a short-circuit of the batteries in the the camera. The short circuit causes the door/hinge area to become very hot and batteries to deplete much sooner than expected.

According to the safety notice, the affected models have serial numbers where the first two numbers from the left are 21, 22, 23, or 24. If you have a model that matches, then you should examine the spring inside the battery compartment and compare your model to the images that they have in their safety notice.

If you are affected by this recall, Canon will repair your camera free of charge, regardless of warranty status. For the full safety notice that explains how to check your camera and what to do if you are affected, see the link below.

Canon Powershot A530/A540 Overheating safety notice

Samsung Develops 1GB Memory Chip

Samsung announced the development of a thin, low-power memory chip designed for portable devices like digital cameras, mobile phones and media players. The dynamic random access memory chip (DRAM) is claimed to be an industry first since it was produced using an 80 nanometer process. The new chip will start shipping in the second quarter of 2007.

A temperature-sensing feature maximizes the self-refresh cycle needed to retain data, reduces power drain in standby mode by 30 percent over conventional memory chip designs. The chip is at least 20 percent thinner than a multi-stack package of 512M-bit dies, enabling a single high-density package system of 1.5G-bit or even 2G-bit Mobile DRAM memory, the company said.

via InfoWorld