I don't know about you, but I'm always a little cautious of updates and upgrades.   I rarely install version 1.0 of some new software and I like knowing if an upgrade is worth it.  

Recently Digimarc updated the Digimarc for Images product to 4.0 which includes an upgrade to the watermarking technology.

For those of you who like me want to know "why" you should upgrade I spent an afternoon comparing the new Digimarc for Image upgraded technology "Chroma" to our stalwart technology now known as "Classic".  With the help of our intrepid Digimarc videographer and webmaster there is a new video showing my results with the Digimarc for Image 4.0 update.  We thought the results were compelling to even title the video "Beat the Villain".

Maybe we can pretend that was a Spoiler Alert...

How many images can you scan in a day, a month, or even a year? Could you scan through one billion images in a year, how about two billion? Well, the Digimarc Search Service constantly crawls the Internet and scans over two billion images a year. That's about 200 million per month. Whenever a Digimarc digitally watermarked image is located, it reports back where and when it was found, along with a thumbnail preview.

All Digimarc for Images customers now have access to see search statistics. They can see numbers on how many images have been scanned and located for all customer images and their own images. You'll even be able to see the your three most recent images found. And if you're a subscriber of Digimarc Search, you'll be able to run unlimited reports about where and when your images were located.

Was getting access to Digimarc Search too expensive in the past? Check back on February 16, 2010; we're making it affordable for everyone.

I've mentioned before I'm not a DSLR kinda guy. It's not that I wouldn't like to be, but my glorified point-and-shoot cameras allow me to love them in a very Zen way. I throw them (literally) into cargo short pockets or daypacks and grab them whenever I want a shot. I'm not too attached when the zoom stops working and I throw them away.

But, this doesn't mean that I don't dream of DSLR toys for creating intense HDR images, portraits for friends or family with almost limitless resolution and 16 bit RAW files. 

Hopefully you've received an email from us or checked out the Digimarc for Images website and saw notices about the 4.0 upgrades; it's something we're really excited about. This upgrade to our embedding software — including the Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements plug-ins — has a new watermarking technology called "Chroma" that we think you're going to like. The account administration area has been refreshed with some nice new features.

So log into you Digimarc account if it’s been awhile, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

After downloading the new plug-ins here, don't forget to upgrade your reader plug-in for Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer while you're at it.

The Digimarc for Images "Best Practices Guide" has been updated as well to help you get the most from the new Chroma embedding. We'll have a technical brief posted on the DFI website shortly. If you don't want to wait, I've included some of the technical brief here to get you started on why we added Chroma embedding...

I'm excited to say that the new website for Digimarc for Images just went live. You can download the new Chroma plug-ins and the free Digimarc Reader for Images now. Check here to see if your software version is supported. All Digimarc for Images customers can also sign In to their accounts and explore the new account management interface and experience the features I mentioned in my previous blog entry. 

Learn more about Digimarc for Images by going here. The redesign includes simple navigation and much more information. Not a customer yet? Email me for a discount coupon at ben.bounketh@digimarc.com. And don't forget, keep coming back to our blog as we'll be releasing details about all the additional new stuff coming to Digimarc for Images very soon.

Digimarc will be offering many new features to our Digimarc for Images customers very soon. I'm pleased to announce that we're integrating a brand new watermarking technology to our product line that will greatly improve the experience you have with digital watermarking. We call this breakthrough technology "Chroma" and you can learn about it now by clicking here. 

We've also completely redesigned the account management interface for all customers, making it easier to navigate and providing additional information, such as Digimarc Search Service statistics. There are a lot of updates taking place so we will be taking down the site for a few days. Check back on Friday, January 22, as all customers will then be able to sign in and experience the new system. Also, keep checking in on our blog as we'll release more great news about what's new with Digimarc for Images.

One of the blogs I've mentioned previously is Plagiarism Today, and they have a really great post called "5 Things that Can't be Copyrighted." It's a quick read and you get to discover such interesting tidbits such as fashion designs can't receive copyrights, along with a few other items. For what could be a pretty dry subject this site does a great job keeping it fresh and interesting.

Thanks to our resident cameraman, video editor and web guru all-in-one, there are 2 new videos about watermarking posted.  We're trying to keep videos under 5 minutes and focused on a single subject, so I end up talking a little fast at times.

The first new one is Tutorial #2 which has some recommendations when using JPEG compressed files and compares the results of various JPEG settings.

The second new video is Tutorial #3 which shows my recommendations for watermark GIF image formats. I hope you find these videos informative.

All the best,
Don

The question comes up many times; is digital watermarking some sort of fingerprint? The quick answer is no and both technologies are quite different.

Last week I shared a link to website that has a lot of valuable information about copyright and content theft. The author of PlagiarismToday also wrote an article on this very topic. Digimarc also provides a link to an excellent case study on the same topic, which you can download here.

When you have great images and artwork, you need to get it into the public domain in multiple ways, including public Flickr PhotoStreams.

Check out some amazing work by Julie Everhart; who has an impressive 125,000 plus views on Flickr! Julie uses Digimarc for Images to protect her work.

Editor's Note:  To see more of Julie's artwork visit her on her Redbubble site.