It appears that the Japanese manufacturers of imaging and optical products are quite optimistic about their products in the Indian market. Just simultaneously with the launch of eight new Coolpix cameras by Nikon, Canon has rolled out a slew of its new digital cameras and camcorders in the Indian Market. Canon has launched as many as 23 new products including smart digital cameras and camcorders in India.

The manufacturer of cameras and digital imaging products – Nikon India yesterday declared that it is planning to expand the number of its retail stores, to enhance its presence in the Indian Market. The camera maker announced that it will hire around 200 salespersons to beef up its sales force, under its retail expansion plan in India.

Speaking of the expansion plan of the company, Hidehiko Tanaka, the Managing Director of Nikon India, said, "Our expansion plans include increasing our sales force. So, this year we would be hiring around 200 demonstrators."  

The leading map & GPS navigation services provider in India – MapmyIndia has hooked up with GPS device maker Garmin to offers its services on Garmin GPS devices. MapmyIndia has announced that its maps are now compatible with Garmin GPS devices, and the users can now install its India maps on their Garmin GPS device.

According to MapmyIndia, its database, offering maps of 202 cities, 130,000 towns and villages, 450,000 point of interests, and navigation to 640,000 unique reachable destinations across India, is now compatible with Garmin GPS devices; it is available for Garmin GPS devices; the Garmin users will now be able to access its Indian maps.

The manufacturer and provider of visual technology, ViewSonic has unveiled its ultra-thin bezel commercial LCD – CD4230, and an LCD HDTV with multimedia support, the VTMS2431, and VX2433wm LCD.

The Walnut, California based company, ViewSonic set new slim standard for large format, high-impact digital signage by showcasing its new ultra-thin bezel 42” commercial display, 13.77mm, the CD4230. With high brightness (500 nits) and 1,500:1 contrast ratio, the CD4230 offers clear images suitable for outdoor use.

London, Mar 12: Apple has launched a tiny iPod that shouts out song titles.

The face-lifted Shuffle, which is half the size of the current version, is believed to be the world’s smallest music device.

However, owning to the toy’s smallness, there is no room for a screen.

The device reads out loud the names of 1,000 songs and artists stored on it, letting listeners choose their tracks.

The device, which costs 59 pounds, has its control buttons on the earphone cord.

According to Fortune magazine's Friday reports, Hearst Corp intends launching a wireless electronic reader with a large-format screen this year - the proposed device would be big enough to meet the outlining and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines.

The e-reader, meant for viewing the newspapers and magazines of the publisher, indicates a kind of experimentation that can be considered crucial for hitting upon a business model to contend in the age of the content-free Internet.