Did you know?

On average, people print about 1500 pictures and documents every year—costing them on average $180 a year on ink.

One year's average saving on ink using Kodak equates to...

65 cups of regular brewed Starbucks coffee
55 tubes of chapstick
31 pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
44 pairs of Old Navy rubber flip flops
44 Hamburger Happy meals
1 pair of designer jeans
111 songs on iTunes
gas for a drive from NY State to Florida

Kodak wants people to know how much money they can save on printing, so today is the first day of the Kodak Save $110 Tour.

This 110 day tour of retail locations across the US will provide an opportunity for consumers to try out the latest Kodak inkjet printers, the Kodak ESP 3250 and the Kodak  ESP 5250, and learn how they can save them money.

There will also be a chance to win a new Kodak ESP 3250 or ESP 5250 or a $110 Visa gift card at each stop.

You can follow the tour here...

Save $110 Tour webpage
@KodakSave110 Twitter
Save $110 Tour Facebook Event

It may seem like it's too early to think about the holidays, but if you have hot products for the gift giving season you have to start now!



Last week, Kodak was at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York for Holiday Spectacular. It's where the media go to find out what to showcase in their articles and on their web pages in just a few short months.

So what can you look for this year for your holiday gift list?

The Kodak Z950 and M381 Digital Cameras, Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, S730 and D830 Digital Frames, Theatre HD Player, and ESP 5250 and 3250 Inkjet All-in-One Printers.

And don't forget the Kodak Gallery and Kodak Picture Kiosk for great holiday cards and personalized photo gifts.

On her recent visit to the Eastman Business Park, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) touted the Park as an efficient tri-generation facility.

Many people have probably heard of co-generation, but just what is tri-generation?

In the power industry, co-generation is the production of steam and electricity from a single fuel source.  Many industries use co-generation plants to provide a portion of their electric needs in addition to their heating needs.  However, during the summer cooling season, co-generation plants are not fully utilized and become less efficient.

Tri-generation is the combined production of electricity, heating and cooling from a single fuel source.  Interconnecting refrigeration with a co-generation plant allows utilization of seasonal excess heat for the production of cooling.  This is suitable mainly from the point of view of the operation of co-generation units, because it allows the use of heat even in summer, outside the heating season, and thus to extend the annual running of the units.  The year-round capacity utilization of tri-generation makes the overall system very efficient and very competitive.



Eastman Business Park is able to offer a full suite of utilities using the power of tri-generation, and generates 100% of its electrical needs.
In addition to tri-generation of its refrigeration needs for process and comfort cooling, the Eastman Business Park also produces compressed air, nitrogren, process water and high purity water.
Energy balance is key in providing all these tri-generation services.

Tri-generation allows the Eastman Business Park to be extremely energy efficient which is a win for all of us!

When two great people team up, the results can be spectacular.  Fred and Ginger.  Abbott and Costello.  Batman and Robin. 

Or Kodak and Leica.  Over the past several years, Leica has used KODAK CCD Image Sensors in their most advanced digital products - most recently, the LEICA M8 (which brought the legendary Rangefinder family into the digital age) and the new LEICA S2.  World-class products from Leica, all powered by world-class CCD Image Sensors from Kodak.  

And now, there's one more.

Today, Leica unveiled their latest Rangefinder camera - the new Leica M9.  (The M9 on 09/09/09 - get it?)  And just like the M8 camera before it, the M9 is based on a CCD Image Sensor from Kodak - this time, the new KODAK KAF-18500 Image Sensor. 

While the KAF-18500 includes a number of key improvements over the sensor used in the M8 (such as a new red color pigment and new IR-absorbing cover glass to improve color fidelity and overall image quality), one of the big changes in the new sensor is that, well, it's big - as big as a 35mm frame of film.  In fact, it's almost twice the area of the sensor used in the M8 camera.  That means that the new camera can make full use of R-series lenses (which were originally designed for use with 35mm film).

At first, making a "full frame" sensor might not sound like a big deal - Kodak already manufactures several image sensors that are 35mm format or larger (the 50-megapixel KODAK KAF-50100 Image Sensor, for example, is almost twice the size of 35mm film).  But because of the way M-series cameras and lenses are designed, making a 35mm format sensor for the M9 is a little more complicated that you might think. 

One of the hallmarks of Leica's M-series of cameras is that they are very compact, making them comfortable and convenient to handle.  But to be this compact, the camera's lens needs to be very close to the surface of the sensor - a lot closer than it would be in a standard DSLR camera.  And because the lens is so close, light coming out of the lens ends up striking the edge of the sensor at a pretty sharp angle. 

Now for a film camera this isn't a big deal, because film is really good at detecting light that comes in from almost any angle.  But image sensors tend to work best when light comes in "straight" (at a 90 degree angle to the surface of the sensor), so if you're not careful about the overall design, the performance of the camera can degrade around the edges of the sensor if these angles are too steep.  You can correct for some of this with software, but the problem just gets worse as the lens gets closer to the sensor - or as the sensor gets bigger and bigger.  And it's a problem you just can't have if your camera is going to be a Leica.

Since the sensor in the M9 is about twice the area of the one used in the M8, we had to make sure that this larger sensor would work properly with M-series lenses (where the lens is really close to the surface of the sensor).  That meant redesigning both the actual pixel as well as the microlenses used in the KAF-18500 - all without impacting the performance that customers have come to expect when working with an M-series camera.  A tall order, but one that needed to be done - and done properly - in order to help bring M-series photography to a new level.

Left to Right:  KODAK KAF-10500 (in Leica M8), KAF-18500 (in Leica M9), and KAF-37500 (in Leica S2) Image Sensors

In the end, we solved this by using the most powerful resource we have - really smart people who know a lot about image sensor design.  The result is a sensor that really helps Leica's new camera shine - all the way out to the last pixel. 

We're pretty excited to be working again with Leica on the M9 camera - a product that Leica customers have looked forward to with great expectation.  And I can't wait to see the images that photographers will be able to capture using this latest world-class camera from Leica. 

Especially since they will be taken using world-class CCD image sensors from Kodak.

Attention devoted sports fans: whether you're a professional tailgater, practice chauffeur, or team photographer, let's take a timeout for a home print project. Show your team spirit or be your favorite athlete's biggest fan with personalized sports cards created using KODAK EASYSHARE Software, version 8.0 for Windows!

The Creative Projects tab gives you free access to hundreds of templates for printing quarter-fold greeting cards at home, using ARCSOFT PRINT CREATIONS Software. Choose from a variety of sports templates seen below.



Select a template, insert your picture, and then click share so that you can save the card as a picture.



Bring the image into EASYSHARE Software v8.0 using the add pictures workflow, and use the crop option in the editor to trim down the image into the desired print size. Tip: 2.5 x 3.25 inches is a perfect size for team trading cards while 8 x 10 inches makes for a great end-of-the-year certificate.



Now use the Add Text tool to personalize the card. You may want to note a special accomplishment, team record, player statistics, season dates, team name, and/or athlete name.



Use the Print at Home tab and your KODAK All-in-One Printer to create borderless photos that dry instantly and last a lifetime.






To be sure you don't commit a foul by missing a great picture this season, check out our tips for photographing sports and action.