KodakOne / KodakCoin

Jeff:

This is a copyright protection platform where the preferred method for paying to use photographs is a new cryptocurrency.  Photographers can register their images on the new KodakOne platform, which will spider the web looking for usage violations and provide a means for the photographer to be paid using this new currency.  

My view on this can be described in one word – DESPERATION.  I see this as a very desperate move for both Kodak and a partner who it looks like came up with all the technology WENN Digital.  I spent some time searching for WENN Digital and couldn’t find anything on them except being connected to this announcement so it looks to me like WENN built this platform and went to Kodak to push it out there under a brand photographers are more likely to trust.  I don’t see this going anywhere.  

There are already services that offer the ability to register photos and search for usage of them, Google image search being one of the biggest.  It is free and effective in finding violations of copyright

There isn’t enough information published about the makeup of the cryptocurrency, which if done incorrectly will cause that portion of the platform to fail before it even gets started.  I can’t find any published documentation about how this new cryptocurrency is going to work, maybe that is coming, but in the world of cryptography that nearly always means disaster.  But let’s assume they by some miracle they do have it right, to me nothing in the information I have seen solves the actual problem photographers face with their copyrights being violated.  

If a photographer finds a violation of their copyright the majority are stuck in a terrible place where they can’t really do much to enforce their rights and be compensated.  These copyright cases are generally too unprofitable for lawyers to really want to take them on and in the rare cases where they are the violator simply removes the photo and finds another one.  Photos just aren’t being paid for these days and I don’t think this platform will fix that issue.

2018 Predictions (Pick from Jeff’s below, don’t have to do them all)

 

Jeff: Canon talks about / leaks specs  but does not release an update to my beloved 7DM2

Jeff: Canon and Nikon release full frame mirrorless bodies but they require adapters to use EF and F mounts (brent: I hope not! On the adapter idea that is but you just might be right)

Jeff: Adobe updates the all new Lr CC so that photographers can use local storage for the majority of their photos and choose which sync to the cloud, but the way they do it is still not something most photographers are happy with.  

 

Jeff: The price for Adobe cloud storage is unchanged or has a one year discount.

 

Jeff: Skylum (used to be Macphun) releases a version of Luminar that has digital asset management (DAM) and it is really good but there are significant challenges to converting a Lightroom catalog making it hard for established photographers to switch.

Jeff: Jim cannot hold true to his goal of not buying photography gear in 2018, he breaks the goal within the first 6 months.

Jeff: Apple releases the iPhone Xs with a back facing camera that uses the same tech doing Face ID on the front facing camera to do a much better job of mapping faces and increases the effectiveness of computation photography to not only blur, but auto-replace backgrounds in portrait mode.  It is released in partnership with Adobe tools that can use that same data to let you replace backgrounds on the computer.

 

Jeff: There is a significant issue with a drone mishap that results in loss of lives and causes drastically increa...