Category: Opinion – Page 13 – The Dead Pixels Society

GoPro drone woes leading to 200-300 job cuts, says TechCrunch

January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 GaryPageau DJI, drone, GoPro, Karma1 Comment

The karma has been bad in GoPro‘s drone division, which may see cuts of 200-300 employees this week, according to a report in TechCrunch. The sobering news follows a series of high-profile setbacks for the action-camera maker, who has struggled to diversify into drones, VR and entertainment. Its Karma quadcopter drone was pulled from the market after technical problems arose,... Read More

Feature Opinion

Five ways to boost your photo business in 2018

January 3, 2018January 17, 2018 GaryPageau camera, Canon, GoPro, Nikon, online, retail, YI Technology

Every new year brings new opportunities and new challenges and 2018 is shaping up to be no different. After the hustle and bustle of the all-important fourth quarter, many photo businesses use this time to reflect and to plan. Let’s take a look at some practical ideas: Know your value – Many business owners think they know their business, but... Read More

News Opinion

Scanning leader ScanMyPhotos takes on Epson over advertising claims

January 2, 2018January 2, 2018 GaryPageau Epson, FastFoto FF-640, Kodak Picture Saver, ScanMyPhotos

A native New Yorker, ScanMyPhotos CEO Mitch Goldstone has never shied away from a fight. He’s taken on competitors big – like Visa/Mastercard – and small in his 30-year photo-industry entrepreneur career. His latest crusade is against Epson America, which positioned its FastFoto FF-640 desktop scanner as a home solution equivalent to ScanMyPhotos’ own industrial scanners. The FastFoto FF-640 is... Read More

News Opinion

Neomodern featured on Cheddar

December 28, 2017 GaryPageau

Neomodern, the San Francisco-based concierge retail photo-printing service, had another media win on Dec. 27, with a nearly 10-minute long feature interview on the Cheddar news network. The interview included a review of the highly personalized printing and framing process used by the store, along with the description of the business model. Michael Rubin, CEO, stressed the importance of printing... Read More

News Opinion

Top 10 Dead Pixels Society photo industry stories of 2017

December 26, 2017 GaryPageau Agfa, Canon, Costco, DxO, Fujifilm, Glossy Finish, Kodak, Kodak Alaris, Lifetouch, Minolta, NeoModern, Nikon, Polaroid, RPI, Shutterfly, Sony

It’s been a busy year for the Dead Pixels Society, with the launching of the full blog and a weekly newsletter. Here are the top 10 stories from the website, based on hits and shares: 10) Costco gets into business printing Costco has added business printing to its online Photo Center. The company notified customers of the addition of business... Read More

News Opinion

Photographer looks to resurrect vintage Phogenix film processors

December 20, 2017May 14, 2018 GaryPageau Agfa, Applied Science Fiction, DFX, Eastman Kodak Co., Fujifilm, HP, Konica, minilab, Noritsu, Phogenix

When a friend of photographer Ben Carufel showed him 30 old-school inkjet digital labs unearthed in a San Diego, Calif., salvage yard, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. After doing a little Googling, he discovered the colorful purple units were film processors from the early 2000s-era Phogenix joint venture between Eastman Kodak Co. and HP. (The entire salvage story... Read More

Feature News Opinion

A closer look at the Mixbook acquisition of WedPics

December 19, 2017December 21, 2017 GaryPageau Mixbook, photo books, Shark Tank, WedPics

Last week, Mixbook announced the acquisition of Raleigh, N.C.-based WedPics for an unspecified amount. WedPics had carved out a considerable niche in the wedding market, and Mixbook CEO Andrew Laffoon says the combination will be a good fit. A large segment of Mixbook users are brides, he says, and the addition of WedPics is a natural for that vertical. The... Read More

News Opinion

Costco gets into business printing

December 7, 2017 GaryPageau Costco, IPI, The Print Refinery

Costco has added business printing to its online Photo Center. The company notified customers of the addition of business cards, banners, postcards and more to its product offerings. According to a notice in December, 2017, issue of The Costco Connections magazine, the services are provided by RPI. The announcement continues the trend of the on-going convergence between photographic and digital printing markets.... Read More

News Opinion

For the second year, Tom’s Reviews chooses Mixbook as top photo card pick

November 19, 2017November 20, 2017 GaryPageau Amazon Print, Apple Photos, Costco, GotPrint, Mixbook, Picaboo, Sally Weiner-Grotta, Snapfish, Tom's Guide, Vistaprint

Popular consumer ratings site, Tom’s Guide, has for the second-straight year selected Mixbook as the top choice for photo cards. Unlike other reviews we’ve criticized here at The Dead Pixels Society, the Tom’s Guide review at least has someone knowledgeable – veteran photo-industry writer, Sally Weiner Grotta – conducting the test. The list of tested companies, however, was a little on... Read More

Earnings reports News Opinion Press releases

Kodak film production flat in third quarter

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017 GaryPageau Eastman Kodak Co., film

Although primarily a printing/graphic arts company, Eastman Kodak Co. is still producing a lot of film-based products these days, as well as licensing numerous products with the Kodak label. In its third-quarter earnings report, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company stated sales in its Consumer and Film Division were $55 million, flat compared last year. Operational EBITDA was negative $2 million, a decline... Read More

Earnings reports News Opinion

Snap reports earnings, stock price plummets, redesign on the way

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017 GaryPageau Snap, Snapchat, Spectacles1 Comment

Snap’s road to profitability hits bump as Spectacle sales stall Snapchat app and Spectacles maker Snap Inc. still hasn’t told a story Wall Street wants to hear, as the stock dropped 15 percent after the company reported disappointing third-quarter results (shown below). Snap revenue was up 62 percent to $207 million in the third quarter but losses mounted faster: $443 million... Read More

News Opinion

Takeways from Shutterfly’s third-quarter earnings

October 30, 2017November 8, 2017 GaryPageau AWS, BorrowLenses, GrooveBook, Shutterfly, Shutterfly Business Solutions, Tiny Prints

Shutterfly reveals move to AWS, will retain BorrowLenses Shutterfly reported its third-quarter earnings last week, and gave insight into the progress of its brand consolidation and business-solutions expansion. As reported earlier, the Redwood City, Calif-based company trimmed its brands down to just Shutterfly, TinyPrints and Weddings, while combining these on to a single technical platform. Doing so caused an expected... Read More

Opinion

Consumer Reports does another strange photo print test

October 29, 2017October 29, 2017 GaryPageau AdoramaPix, Consumer Reports, Costco, CVS, Mpix, Nations Photo Lab, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Walgreens

For 80 years, Consumer Reports has been the bellwether of reliable consumer product reviews. From washers and dryers to cars and trucks, CR was the go-to resource for unbiased information. Every year, the annual buyers guide – available on newsstands – influenced camera purchases, as the reviewers were seen as unbiased and truthful. Sometimes the recommendations were head-scratchers – like... Read More

Marketing Opinion

Kodak missed the point of the PR moment

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 GaryPageau Agfa, Canon, Fujifilm, kiosks, Kodak, Kodak Alaris, Minolta, Nikon, Polaroid, Sony

Kodak Alaris recently posted a press release about its new Kodak Moments marketing scheme. There was a time when Kodak “got” the point of the press release was to convey useful information, not dwell in a marketing-speak rathole. Kodak PR pros were literally the gold standard of the business; with this release, there wasn’t even a press contact person. As... Read More

News Opinion Sponsored post

Photo Finale response to HEIF roll-out

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 GaryPageau HEIF, Photo Finale1 Comment

The Dead Pixels Society asked leading kiosk vendors to respond to the challenges posed by the new HEIF image-file format. Here is the response from Photo Finale: JPEG has long been the image format of choice for the imaging industry, for superior compression and easy-to-use format. However, as the imaging world has moved towards motion, transmission speeds are vital and... Read More