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Polaroid has shown off its latest PoGo printer at an event in London, which offers instant 3x4 snaps.

This is the latest iteration of the PoGo range and it seems that it has caught up with the times, as it now comes with smartphone functionality.

Polaroid has created an Android app to go alongside the PoGo which means you can beam your phone photos straight to the printer without having to mess around with wires.

The app can also skin your images with different frames. There are 79 different frames to choose from, which will appear on the print.

You can also pipe your images through with Bluetooth, but your friends will be more impressed if you do it through the app.

The bonus is that this can all be done in less than a minute – 50 seconds to be precise.

The Polaroid PoGo has a UK release date of the 'end of the year' and will cost £100.

Sony has announced the arrival of its latest Alpha series of cameras – the interchangeable lensed NEX-3 and NEX-5.

The NEX-5 has the boast of being the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable lens digital camera, offering 14.2MP shooting, 3-inch LCD, and 1080i video recording.

This marks the first time that hi-def recording has been available for Sony's Alapha range.

The camera comes with dual memory card support – Memory Stick and SDXC – and also has an array of features found on Sony's compact range, including the mightily impressive Sweep Panorama mode.

The NEX-3 is a similar looking camera to the NX-5, but it offers 720p shooting instead of 1080i.

Both cameras will be compatible with three interchangeable lenses at launch. These are a: a 16mm F/2.8 'pancake' lens, a E 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 zoom and E 18-200 F/3.5-6.3 zoom.

The cameras will be available with the pancake and/or and 18-55mm zoom lens. The 18-200 zoom is available as an optional extra.

The NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras have a UK release date of June, with pricing to be confirmed.

For more information on the cameras, head over to PhotoRadar.com, where they have pricing details from retailers and all the specs.

Polaroid has returned, with a new instant-printing digital camera – the PIC 300 – set to launch in the UK in May.

The new owners of the Polaroid brand are clearly looking to capitalise on the consumer's awareness of the brand's history of classic instant-printing cameras.

Bigger and better

"We are thrilled that today marks the return of instant. It's bigger – and better – than ever. The Polaroid Movement is one that we heartfully embrace and intend to build upon by reaching the creative community and global Polaroid fans alike," said Giovanni Tomaselli, Managing Director of the Summit Global Group, the exclusive worldwide licensee for Polaroid branded imaging products.

The PIC-300 has four exposure settings and an automatic flash all built in to its retro-styled body. It's powered by AA batteries or a rechargeable li-ion which is included in the box.

The photos are around the size of the average business card at 2.1 x 3.4-inches (with a 1.8 x 2.4-inch image) compared with the older-style polaroid prints which measured 3.5 x 4.25 (3 x 3.1-inch image size).

It is bound to work well as a party device, or be popular for family get-togethers and the like. However, even though the camera itself is only £79.99, the prints are still rather expensive, with a ten-pack of Polaroid 300 instant film costing £12.99 over on Firebox.com

It is likely that you will not get the chance to visit Mars in your lifetime. Unless, that is, you are a billionaire set to live till the year 2050 or beyond!

However, a new project has accurately mapped a 3D visualisation of martian terrain, providing one of the most accurate 3D animations of the red planet ever seen.

British animation breakthrough

The latest vision of Mars comes from British 3D animator Doug Ellison, who has created a virtual camera that flies 300 feet above the martian terrain in the southwest corner of Candor Chasima and the immense Valles Marineris canyon system.

"After looking at hundreds of pictures of Mars over the years, this visualisation made me realise how alien the martian terrain really is," notes Discovery News' Ray Villard. "Yes, as on Earth aeolian and hydrological processes sculpt Mars, but it's all in 1/3rd gravity! So the towering spires, steep sand dunes, buttes and other features look spindly."

The virtual 3D martian terrain was built from a comparison of pairs of NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE views

The animator has now set up a fascinating YouTube channel called MARS3DdotCOM with other visualisations for you to marvel at.

Samsung has announced a couple of new additions to its hip HMX line of camcorders: the HMX-U20 and HMX-U15.

The former is the bigger brother of the two in terms of hardware, with the HMX-U20 bringing a 3x optical zoom to the table.

Both the HMX-U20 and HMX-U15 come with 1/2.3 inch CMOS sensors to capture 1920x1080 full HD resolution video at 30p, using the H.264 codec.

The two new camcorders both offer still photography as well, with the HMX-U20 coming with a 10MP sensor, and the HMX-U15 bringing a whopping 14MP to the camcorder table.

Lazy shooting

Sammy has also stuffed some extra features into the HMX-U20 and HMX-U15's chassis, such as time lapse recording, allowing users to program the camcorder to record at a pre-set interval of one image every one, five, 10 or 30 seconds.

Both camcorders have a 'built-in, swing-out style USB connection' for easy uploading of your hilarious footage without the need for a separate lead, much like the Flip Mino HD, as well as an HDMI port too.

We've got no word on a UK release date or price for these palm-sized wonders, but we'll let you know when we do.

Samsung has announced two new digital cameras with the WB2000 allowing dual capture of both pictures and video and the high-end EX1 boasting a bright ultra-wide F1.8 lens which becomes the company's flagship compact.

Samsung's EX1 is billed as a high-end compact digital camera 'designed specifically for todays [sic] advanced and enthusiast photographers.'

The camera comes complete with a Schneider KREUZNACH, F1.8. 24mm ultra-wide angle lens - an impressive inclusion on a compact camera.

"With the EX1, Samsung further differentiates its lineup from the competition and achieves yet another milestone in the industry," said Mr. SangJin Park, CEO of Samsung Digital Imaging Company.

"With ultra-wide angle capability and unparalleled speed, the EX1's lens offers a new level of versatility allowing the user to be more creative and take better pictures."

Add in RAW support and a 3 inch OLED screen and you can see that this is going to be a desirable piece of kit.

Samsung WB2000

The WB2000 is a 10MP compact camera offering 1080p full-HD video recording, up to 1,000 fps of capture and a burst mode capable of capturing 10 full size still a second.

"The WB2000 takes high-speed imaging to a new level for today's consumer," asserts Samsung's release.

But it is the dual capture that will take the headlines offering the ability to shoot video and take stills at the same time – surely some kind of witchcraft.

"The WB2000 is representative of Samsung's strategy to lead the digital imaging industry through product innovation," said Park.

"Consumers have expressed frustration with having to choose between shooting video or taking digital stills with their camera. With the WB2000, Samsung has addressed this unmet consumer need, and now gives consumers the ability to do both simultaneously."

The Samsung EX1 has a UK release date of April 2010 and the WB2000 is pegged to Spring 2010, with no prices yet announced.

Ortery has launched a new office machine called 'Photosimile' or what it claims to be the world's first 3D product photography machine.

Photosimile is effectively a photocopier that creates virtual 3D replicas of whatever small artifact you like. Or animal (providing they sit still while the machine spins them around 360 degrees, that is!).

3D magic box

Ortery's Photosimile 5000 system a PC-controlled desktop photography studio comprising a light box, a DSLR camera, an automated camera positioning device and dedicated workflow software.

Ortery's new desktop studio systems allow you to create professional-looking product photos for use online (as 3D animations, if you so wish) or in print.

The Photosimile 5000 software does all the work for you - controlling the studio, camera location, turntable movement, camera settings, picture taking, and post processing.

Pop your shoe (or whatever you like, really) into the light box and let the Photosimile software do the rest.

Save 3D animations in Silverlight

Ortery's system makes use of four daylight bulbs providing 6500K illumination, a Canon DSLR mounted on a mechanical track, an Ortery turntable and can shoot up to 72 pictures per 360-degree rotation, from zero through to 90 degrees.

Your pics can then be saved as GIF or Flash files or converted into 3D Microsoft Silverlight animations using Ortery's Real3D format.

Ortery's Photosimile 5000 is now shipping at a cost of around US$17000 (£10550).

Just typing a subject into Google Images and grabbing something appropriate is one way of getting images for your projects, but it's not the best idea if what you want to avoid a lawsuit.

Artists and image repositories are getting savvier about protecting their property these days, and one picture on your blog can easily turn into a great big bill through the post. Is this likely to happen? Probably not, but here's the thing: it could.

It's a far better idea to bite the bullet and buy an image from one of the many fine microstock sites available. Microstock means cheap stock photography. You typically buy credit rather than individual images, and use this to pick up whatever you want in the size you need – the bigger the image, the more you pay.

12 best places to get free images for your site

Vector art and videos are also often on sale, but the majority of items offered are photos, usually taken by professional photographers (although anyone with a camera can register to sell on most of the bigger sites).

The safety of stock

Of course, nothing's ever so simple. Most sites do have some restrictions on what you can do with images you buy. As you'd expect, you can't resell them or claim one as your own, although you can use them as part of larger works. A more subtle restriction is that there's often a limit to how many copies you can make.

This isn't a problem for your website – you won't face a big bill if your blog hits the front page of Digg or similar – but there's usually a limit to how many copies you can send out as, say, a book jacket. In practice, there's little chance of either the artist or stock image repository even trying to keep count, but it's always better to be safe than sorry where rights are concerned.

Bizarrely, most of the big stock sites have been very lax about safeguarding buyers' rights in the past. None of the main names have historically offered any form of warranty to protect you in the event that something went wrong, like one of their members uploading an image that wasn't theirs.

Few have provided essential tools like being able to check a photograph's model release forms to make sure that the subject is willing to let the photo be used. These are very important issues if you need a picture of a person, especially in a commercial context.

An image may be from an obviously professional shoot, but without the piece of paper, that doesn't matter – and you never know if you're dealing with somebody who doesn't realise the implications of turning friends into internet stars without their permission.

Even now, many microstock sites don't offer any form of warranty (covering you up to a set amount if you get sued for using one of their images), although a few do, including Vivozoom and iStockphoto. It's worth checking before you buy.

Free sites exist, but offer no guarantee of legitimacy. At best, you can mail the original uploader and ask questions; at worst, you take your chances.

When you buy stock, you can usually download it for the next few hours, but not after that. It's up to you to keep backups. The majority come in JPEG format, some with cut-out information, some without. Browsing the archive is a matter of typing in keywords and browsing through a catalogue.

The more specific a photo you need, the less likely it is that you'll find something perfect – 'newspaper' should be fine, while something like 'newspaper paper airplane' probably won't be. One very useful keyword is 'isolated', which helps you to find subjects on a plain colour (usually white) for easy cutting out.

Selling your photos online

If you want to get into selling images yourself, it's an easy process. You'll need a good camera – typically a DSLR – so that you can take pictures at good enough quality, and most of the big microstock sites have a vetting process, but in general there are no specific prerequisites.

For the biggest, iStockphoto, the process involves signing up, completing a quick quiz and submitting samples of your work. Even if you have no plans to sell pictures, amateur photographers can get some good tips on general photographic technique here, with the online guide here covering lots of rookie mistakes and how to avoid them. It's well worth flicking through.

You'll need a lot of pictures to stand much chance of pulling decent money – you only get a percentage of the sale price, which is typically a handful of dollars at most. iStockphoto offers 20 per cent of the sale price, and 40 per cent to 'Exclusive' contributors, but this varies.

Images can be rejected for lots of reasons, from not being high enough quality to being yet another tedious picture of a flower. You can make money, but it's likely to be modest.

Cases of a particular stock image – like the original drawing of Twitter's 'fail whale' – becoming an internet sensation and sparking a T-shirt empire have roughly the same sort of odds as a first-time lottery winner hitting the jackpot – it happens, but don't order the Ferrari just yet.

The downside of the credits system on stock sites is that if you only need one or two pictures, you're likely to end up with a surplus. Still, if you've got a list of images that you need, microstock is a great way to get them all in one go – and on the cheap.

Samsung has unveiled a triptych of memory cards, which will stand up to pretty much whatever you throw at them.

The cards, according to Samsung, are shock, water and magnet proof and can withstand being submerged for around 24 hours.

We expect you would have noticed that your SD card was wet long before this but it's nice to have that safety net there.

They will also survive being run over by 1.6-tonne vehicle and will resist over 13 times the magnetic force of home theatre speakers – unlike your fillings, which will probably wimp out at half this magnetism.

Different sizes

The cards come in either a brushed metallic or beige epoxy casing and are available in microSD, SD and Compact Flash formats.

Memory wise, you are looking at 4, 8 or 16GB (for microSD and SD) and the CompactFlash versions available in 4 or 8GB.

There's no word on how much the cards cost, but they are available now in the UK and other parts of Europe.

Go to www.samsung.com/uk for more details.

Samsung has unveiled a triptych of memory cards, which will stand up to pretty much whatever you throw at them.

The cards, according to Samsung, are shock, water and magnet proof and can withstand being submerged for around 24 hours.

We expect you would have noticed that your SD card was wet long before this but it's nice to have that safety net there.

They will also survive being run over by 1.6-tonne vehicle and will resist over 13 times the magnetic force of home theatre speakers – unlike your fillings, which will probably wimp out at half this magnetism.

Different sizes

The cards come in either a brushed metallic or beige epoxy casing and are available in microSD, SD and Compact Flash formats.

Memory wise, you are looking at 4, 8 or 16GB (for microSD and SD) and the CompactFlash versions available in 4 or 8GB.

There's no word on how much the cards cost, but they are available now in the UK and other parts of Europe.

Go to www.samsung.com/uk for more details.