Sears and Kmart help consumers save for the holidays

Sears Holdings Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., announces Sears and Kmart stores are offering consumers the Sears and Kmart Christmas Club card, which allows shoppers to save ahead for their holiday purchases at Sears and Kmart months before hitting the stores or surfing the Internet. Starting now, Sears and Kmart Christmas Club card users can put aside some funds on a regular basis through November 14 to add value to this unique gift card and receive a special reward when they do.
  When activated between now and Oct. 31, Christmas Club card users will earn a three percent reward - up to a maximum of $100 - based upon the value they have on their Christmas Club cards on November 14. To activate cards or add additional value at any time, customers can visit any Sears or Kmart store location, or online at www.sears.com/christmasclub or www.kmart.com/christmasclub .
  Susan Ehrlich, president, Financial Services, Sears Holdings, says feedback from their customers prompted the retailer to take action. "We heard that our customers were concerned about how they were going to pay for their holiday shopping this year and we wanted to provide a way to ease that concern. Our customers have been pretty clear about what's most important to them this holiday season. They want more ways to provide the very best holiday they can, and they want to do that in a responsible way. When they save ahead with the Christmas Club card from Sears and Kmart, our customers can really enjoy the holidays without the worry of having to deal with an expensive bill later."
  Starting, adding value to, and redeeming the Christmas Club card is designed to be as easy and flexible as possible. Customers can start their Christmas Club cards with as little as five dollars, and they can add value as often as they want. As with all Sears and Kmart gift cards, there are no fees associated with the Christmas Club card, and the value on the card will not expire. Cash or credit refunds are not allowed except where required by law. All gift cards can be redeemed at Sears, Kmart and Lands' End stores or websites, as well as at www.mygofer.com .

jill-e designs 'shares the wealth' via new affiliate sales program

Jill-e designs , Victor, N.Y., announces any website owner who appreciates the fashionable, functional carry bags available from jill-e designs and wants to earn quick and easy sales commissions can do so by joining the company's new "extraordinary Affiliates Program."
  Photography studios, travel agencies, fashion retailers, blogs - virtually any party with its own website - can simply place a link to jill-e designs on their web site, and all completed sales initiated via that link earn the site owner a 10 percent sales commission.
  The "extraordinary Affiliates Program" is scheduled to go live Sept. 1. The company says it's ideal for enterprises that might not be able to hold an inventory of products, are not otherwise involved in merchandise sales, or are not immediately familiar with the market segments jill-e designs serves - but see a fit with or have an interest in jill-e designs and want to be a part of its remarkable success story.
  Jill-e designs doesn't charge a fee to join its "extraordinary Affiliates Program." The only requirements are that an affiliate has a valid website and e-mail address, and the willingness to set aside a little space on their web site for a link to the jill-e designs web site. jill-e designs offers a choice of text links, banners, coupons and other design elements that allows the affiliate to determine the look and scope of their link. Affiliates are even invited to promote particular jill-e designs bags and accessories that dovetail with their own products, services and objectives.
  jill-e designs has contracted with ShareASale.com to provide reliable third-party transaction tracking, customized reporting and timely payments.

Shutterfly unveils youth sports sites

Shutterfly Inc., Redwood City, Calif., enhanced its lineup of free, customizable Share websites with the addition of new Youth Sports features. In addition, the company has partnered with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) to deliver resources for parents and coaches to enhance the youth sports experience for themselves and their children.

Survey shows most consumers expect to discard tech devices within first five years

A vast majority (78 percent) of people surveyed do not expect their technology devices to last more than five years, according to a global survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Lexmark International Inc. Of the 10,000 respondents across 21 countries surveyed, 60 percent believe the materials used to construct devices could be made of better quality, and their responses suggest that gadget failures ultimately lead people to abandon brands.
 Trust in the quality and durability of technology devices (mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, printers) is shockingly low; however, all hope is not lost for technology manufacturers, as 83 percent of respondents said they have more confidence in technology devices with longer warranties.
  "The survey results support exactly what Lexmark has heard from our customers during the past several years. They tell us that by offering longer warranties, they feel more confident in the longevity and durability of the device, or printer, in our case," said Tonya Jackson, director, sustainable technology and operations. "We've also found that a longer warranty motivates people to repair defective devices rather than throw them out - a clear benefit to the environment and a key reason why Lexmark [is] offering a 5-year warranty on most of our Professional Series inkjet AIOs, including our new Professional Series inkjet line to be released in the coming weeks."
  When specifically asked "which element is most likely to reassure you about the durability of the device," nearly 40 percent worldwide said they would be most reassured by a long warranty.
  Despite the fact that 67 percent of people worldwide feel guilty when they dispose of a device rather than seeking repair, nearly half (48 percent) admit they will trash an out-of-warranty device rather than having it repaired. North Americans, Australians and Western Europeans were the most inclined to throw away defective devices that are no longer under warranty, whereas people in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America are more likely to seek repair for the defective device.

Smith-Harmon releases free retail email guide to the holiday season

Smith-Harmon Inc., Seattle, Wash., an email marketing strategy and creative services agency, releases a free report, the "Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season." Full of benchmarks and advice, the guide will help retailers and other B2C companies can better formulate their holiday campaigns this year.
  Based on data on nearly 5,000 fourth quarter emails from more than 100 top online retailers tracked by the Retail Email Blog, the guide includes statistics and recommendations on when to begin your campaign, how much to increase your email volume, which days to send on, and how to stand out in the inbox during the holidays.
  The guide also discusses and provides examples of the "18 Phases of Christmas" -- the 18 strategies retailers use at different points in the holiday season. Those strategies include promoting e-gift cards and "in store pickup" services and sending season's greetings.
  The guide discusses several strategies to employ during the final days before Christmas, including promoting e-gift cards, which were mentioned in more than 20 percent of retail emails during the three days before Christmas last year.
  Formulating the right subject lines during the holidays is critical. The guide includes numerous examples of subject lines used last year during the various phases of the holiday season to help you devise your subject lines for the crucial November and December months.
  The free report is available for download now.

Photo retailer launches photo products with university logos

Bravo Photo, North Liberty, Iowa, has found a new way to attract Iowa collegiate sports enthusiasts. The store is offering prints and photo products with officially licensed school logos and borders for fans of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, among others, according to a report in the Des Moines Register.
  Products such as bordered prints, greeting cards, mugs and many other gift items will feature consumers' images and university logos, and will be offered online through websites including www.herkyphoto.com , www.gocyphoto.com , www.unipanthersphoto.com . Several other sites are slated to appear by mid-September.
  The report says Bravo photo will be offering items like calendars filled with both family photos and the season schedule for the customer's favorite team, and birth announcements touting the newest member of the Class of 2031. Templates will change frequently to reflect things like homecoming, alumni weekends and last-moment wins over the opposing team.
  A 5-by-7 photo with a university logo on it will cost around $5, in part because the schools receive a 10 percent cut of proceeds, the article says. Bravo Photo is designing all the templates, and District Photo Inc., Beltsville, Md., is processing the images.

Image sensor market ends growth to face a more cyclic era, says Strategies Unlimited

The market for image sensors will experience a decline in 2009, the first since Strategies Unlimited began tracking the market in 2007. The market is expected to drop to $6.4 billion, an 11 percent decline from 2008. The average growth rate will return to single-digits in the coming years, following over a decade of 22 percent compound annual growth.

  The market for image sensors demonstrates a cyclic phase. The rapid growth in revenues for camera phones is maturing, so cycles will have a stronger effect going forward, despite a temporary decline caused by the global economic cycle. Overall, unit sales will still grow in the coming years for image sensors, but short-term changes in demand, periods of oversupply and shortage, and severe price pressure will make it more difficult to stay competitive.

Japan once dominated world image sensor production and still manufactures over 90 percent of the world's CCDs. Even though CCDs continue to be the leader in digital still cameras and security cameras, Fujifilm stopped production of image sensors for its line of cameras in 2007. Sony is debating stopping its production of CMOS arrays for camera phones, and Panasonic has already done so. Korean and Taiwanese suppliers, however, are gaining market share, especially when it comes to camera phones. From 2006 to 2008, Samsung grew 61 percent, placing it among the top suppliers. Other Korean and Taiwanese companies, such as SETi, SiliconFile Technologies, and PixArt Imaging are increasing competition. In the second half of 2008 Hynix reentered the image sensor business. These companies are focusing on the China handset market.

  Image Sensors: Market Review and Forecast-2009 is the fifth in a series by Strategies Unlimited and it continues to be the most comprehensive and in-depth market report on the subject. It includes all image sensing applications in the visible spectrum, including scintillator-coated arrays for x-ray radiography. The study draws heavily on Strategies Unlimited's extensive interviews with suppliers in Japan, Korea, the U.S., and Europe, combined with its deep expertise in this market .

Lucidiom introduces iPhone application to generate income for retailers

Synchronizing your online photos with your iPhone is a snap with the new Pocket Pics application from Lucidiom Inc., Vienna, Va., available free on Apple's iTunes Store to all Photo Finale Web account holders. With Pocket Pics, when a Photo Finale account holder adds pictures to her online collection, the iPhone will automatically display the new pictures in Pocket Pics. Photo Finale is Lucidiom's award-winning, white-label, photo sharing and ordering site that retailers can customize as their own.
  "We're providing software and services that allow retailers to make money amidst all the social networking hype," said Lucidiom CTO Jason Pareti. "Lucidiom Pocket Pics allows retailers to offer that anytime, anywhere access today's consumers crave and, because it alerts subscribers when new photos have been added to a collection, it increases the retailer's sales potential."

The Pocket Pics application can be downloaded for free by consumers through Apple's iTunes Store. The app is compatible with firmware version 3.0 on the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch devices.
  Lucidiom is providing a marketing kit to aide retailers in advertising Pocket Pics to their customers. The kit includes web graphics, in-store materials and creative marketing ideas to help boost awareness and membership subscriptions.

Museo Fine Art, the digital fine art media from InteliCoat Technologies, South Hadley, Mass., is making its Museo Silver Rag digital fine art paper available in 60-inch rolls. Featuring a 100 percent cotton furnish, the 300 gsm Museo Silver Rag combines the semi-gloss look of a traditional air dried fiber print with the feel of a fine cotton paper and image quality, the company says. Optimized for pigmented inks, Museo Silver Rag contains no optical brighteners to ensure outstanding long-term base color stability, and is crafted in the United States to meet the Library of Congress and ISO standards for permanence, the company adds.

Canon U.S.A. Inc., Lake Success, N.Y., announced six new PowerShot cameras, among them its first ultracompact ELPH model with a touchscreen. The PowerShot SD980 IS has a 3-inch touchscreen and a "cutting-edge interface for easy navigating through images and menus," Canon says. It has a 12-megapixel sensor, and can also capture 720p HD video -- with HDMI output to play back directly on an HDTV. The $329 camera has a 5x optical zoom lens that starts at the equivalent of a wide 24mm. The SD940 ELPH has a 12-megapixel sensor, 4x lens that starts at 28mm, 2.7-inch LCD, and is priced at $299.

  At the high end of the line is the PowerShot G11. Canon says its new 10-megapixel "high sensitivity system" results in a faster shutter speed to help reduce subject blur and camera shake. The camera has a 5x optical zoom lens that starts at the equivalent of 28mm, a 2.8-inch vari-angle LCD, mode dials for adjusting ISO and exposure compensation, and multiple shooting modes that include RAW + JPEG. It's $499. The PowerShot S90 also has the high sensitivity system, coupled with a 28mm wide-angle f/2.0 lens with a 3.8x optical zoom. Its customizable ring controls manual and creative settings. It has a 3-inch LCD and sells for $429.

  The compact SX line adds two models: The PowerShot SX20 IS is a 12-megapixel camera with a 20x optical zoom lens and 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD. It also captures 720p HD video, with HDMI output to play back directly on an HDTV. It's priced at $399.

The SX120 IS has a higher model number but, confusingly, a lower-resolution sensor and shorter zoom: 10-megapixel and 10x. Its LCD is larger at 3 inches, and the price is much less at $249.

  All the new cameras have optical image stabilization, and sport an improved Smart Auto that Canon says can now track moving faces and 22 different shooting situations (up from 18 previously) by identifying the surroundings to help ensure proper lighting and focus.

The Selphy ES40 compact photo printer features a new voice guidance system that provides step-by-step instructions for printing and adding graphics to images without having to rely on a manual, Canon says. Also, a 3.5-inch LCD and "easy scroll wheel," makes navigating through menus and images "more intuitive than in previous models," Canon says. The printer is $149,

  Canon also announced two Pixma all-in-one photo printers with wireless connectivity. The printers have a maximum color resolution of 9600-by-2400.

Their Auto Photo Fix II corrects common photo errors such as underexposed images with features such as multi-zone exposure correction, improvements in overall face detection, scene analysis, plus brightness and saturation correction, Canon says.

  The MP990 model can also scan both film and slides, and has a gray ink tank to produce better black-and-white prints, and a 3.8-inch LCD. It's priced at $299. The MP640 has a 3-inch LCD and is $219.

  The VIXIA HF S11 camcorder from Canon can record up to 24 hours of HD video to its 64GB internal flash drive. As if that weren't enough, this "Dual Flash Memory" model also has a slot for SDHC cards for more storage. Canon says the camcorder's new Dynamic SuperRange OIS system delivers "the ultimate in shake correction by providing continuous adjustment throughout the entire zoom range."

Also, the "advanced video snapshot" function creates "the perfect highlight movie to share with family and friends" by recording a series of four second clips in shooting and playback modes. The $1,399 camcorder can snap 8-megapixel still photos, or record video in 24p cinema mode or 30p progressive mode.

Epson America Inc., Long Beach, Calif., announces its new line of Artisan all-in-ones -- the Artisan 710 and Artisan 810 -- designed for everything from creative projects to afterhours work from home. Both units offer scanning and copying, and deliver photos that are preferred by consumers 3-to-1 over other, similarly priced all-in-ones, according to independent testing by Newman-Stein Inc., and offer built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking, automatic two-sided printing and fast performance. The Artisan 710 and 810 provide a range of unique features for everyday printing needs. Using the front panel features, consumers can preview, select, enhance, and print photos without a computer. The flagship Artisan 810 boasts a 7.8-inch smart touch panel and 3.5-inch color LCD that lights up only the buttons needed, while the Artisan 710 has an easy-to-use control panel with 2.5-inch LCD.
  For one-of-a-kind projects and creative needs, the Artisan 710 and 810 can turn photos or drawings into personalized coloring book pages or note paper, or print college-ruled, wide-ruled and graph school paper. They also allow consumers to create and print custom designs directly onto ink jet printable CDs and DVDs. In addition, Epson's six-color Ultra Hi-Definition Claria ink and exclusive MicroPiezo print head with DX5 technology, deliver photos with smudge, scratch and water resistance, as well as fade resistance.

Pandigital , Dublin, Calif., recently unveiled its new PanTouch Clear line of digital photo frames, which deliver a dramatic new design marked by creating the perception of "floating" digital images. To create the floating effect, the new PanTouch Clear frames feature an 800-by-600 high-resolution display that appears to be floating in the surrounding glass. Even the stand in back is clear for an unobstructed view. In addition to the new styling, Pandigital has enhanced its popular PanTouch interface to be even simpler and more intuitive to use by making all the primary functions accessible in an easy one-step process. Plus, customers can select and view their photos and control the frame's functions with easy-to-understand icons that can be touched directly across the entire glass surface of the frame.

The Hasselblad CFV-39 digital back, designed to match the design and functionality of the Hasselblad V cameras, turns any V camera into a digital workhorse, according to Hasselblad. The CFV-39 accommodates the conventional square image format (29 megapixels) or a rectangular format with 39 megapixels. The CFV-39 allows Hasselblad V camera owners to benefit from the Carl Zeiss lenses used in the V system. With the CFV-39 digital back, Hasselblad introduces DAC (digital auto-correction) to the V system; also, it is powered by Hasselblad's Phocus image processing software. At 36.7-by-49 millimeters, the CFV-39 image sensor is more than twice the size of a full-frame 35mm DSLR sensor. The CFV-39 digital back is compatible with any V camera manufactured since 1957, and images can be saved to a CF card or be controlled from a PC using Phocus software and a Firewire connection.