Looks like hours spent poring over well-thumbed family holiday snaps will soon be a thing of the past as Hewlett-Packard Co joins Intel Corp’s initiative to advance the cause of digital photos transferred electronically using a home computer. The two said they will join forces to work on standards for seamlessly transferable images and transactions. In March (CI No 3,131), Eastman Kodak Co announced it would support Intel’s initiative, aimed at providing industry-standard specifications for a portable personal computer digital camera that will be easy to use and will plug in simply to a standard home computer. The consumer will then be able to edit, view and send photographs electronically, the companies say. Intel says to date, digital cameras have not really taken off in a big way because there have been too many different standards, and there was no guarantee that the camera would plug in to any particular personal computer. Like Kodak, Hewlett-Packard has said it will support the Universal Serial Bus as an interconnect, and Intel’s Miniature Card digital exchange format, in both its digital cameras, and in its Pavilion family of multimedia personal computers.
