Venice Beach LAPD by Robert Gourley

Each day, we save you the trouble of keeping track of the pile of photo news coming down the pipe by doing it ourselves. Then, once we’ve uncrossed our eyes, we compile the Top 5 stories into a 500px News Roundup that will keep you up to date without eating up hours of your day.

We list out the top stories along with a short summary that hits the high points. If you want to read more, we’ll include our source links at the end of each blurb. If you don’t… well… you don’t have to do anything. Scroll down and get informed!


Top Stories for Thursday January 8th, 2015

1. The LAPD’s New Tasers Will Automatically Trigger Officers’ Body Cameras when Fired

In the ongoing effort to use photography to improve law enforcement and accountability, the LAPD has purchased and issued tasers that will trigger their officers’ body cameras using Bluetooth when fired. Basically, it’s a shutter release taser. [Read More at Reuters]

2. GoPro Announces New Hero4 Firmware that Will Up Its Cameras’ Photo and Video Capabilities

New firmware for both the Hero4 Black and Hero4 Silver editions is on the way, and it’s going to up the photo and video ante when it arrives. The new firmware will introduce higher frame rates for video shooting, a time-lapse mode that creates videos from photos in-camera, auto-rotation of your images orientation depending on how you set up your camera, and more. [Read More at Engadget]

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3. Company Releases ‘Belfie’ Stick to Help you Capture the Perfect Butt Selfie

This is a thing… seriously. Announced earlier today and disbelieved many times over all day long, the Belfie stick is a butt selfie assistance device that helps you capture the perfect pic of your posterior — assuming you have 80 bucks to drop on it. [Read More at The Phoblographer]

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4. Canon Austria May Have Leaked a Glimpse at One of Its Upcoming DSLRs

Canon Austria may have made a boo boo (or a covert marketing move) earlier today when the company released the above ad. The ad is for Canon’s new Connect Station, but there’s a piece of a camera in the shot, and it doesn’t seem to match any of Canon’s current offerings. [Read More at PetaPixel]

5. LaCie Debuts Rugged New RAID Drive for the Adventure Photographer Who Wants Speed and Peace of Mind

If you’re an adventure photographer who likes the instant backup or speed benefits of a RAID drive, but have yet to find an external RAID system that can keep up with your rugged shooting style, LaCie has a drive for you. $450 will soon snag you 4TB worth of LaCie Rugged RAID drive to play around with. [Read More at SLR Lounge]