canonrumors puts a date on a possible announcement of the long awaited Canon 5D MK III (MK3): announced around the end of March or early April 2012, "availability will probably happen before the summer begins in 2012. No specs were given at this time. This is a very solid [CR2]. The NAB show is April 14-19 in Las Vegas.".

The Canon EOS 7D Mark 2, northlight-images amongst other blogs report, "will be one of the big items Canon shows at Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany". Reports about the camera being APS-C are rumored, even though there is some info out there about it being APS-H. (dpreview, canonrumors)

Currently, the Canon EOS 5D MK II sells starting at $1,980.00 on Amazon US and EUR 1.679,95 on Amazon Germany. The Canon EOS 7D starts at $1,298.49 (Amazon US) and  EUR 1.229,95 (Amazon Germany). Since there were recent price drops, it is unclear if the prices will further slide down, once a new product will be introduced. Our recommendation is to get a Camera now, if you really need it, possibly refurbished. The second hand value will still be high, so it's currently a good time to buy, although new models might be around the corner.

Since the Mozilla Foundation got 300 Million US$ per year from Google to implement Google's search engine as the default one, two new releases of the Firefox Browser have been presented: Firefox 10 (stable) and Firefox 11 Aurora (Version 11). The mobile Android version of the Android implementation gets a new, native UI. That makes the browser faster and it needs less memory besides other improvements and fixes. Firefox Aurora and Beta can be downloaded from Future of Firefox.

Here is a list of all the changes:

NEW Firefox can now migrate your bookmarks, history, and cookies from Google Chrome
NEW The CSS text-size-adjust property is now supported
CHANGED Windows: An OS security dialog should no longer come up when updating
HTML5 View source syntax highlighting now uses the HTML5 parser (see bug 482921)
HTML5 The outerHTML property is now supported on HTML elements
DEVELOPER The Style Editor for CSS editing is now available to web developers
DEVELOPER Web developers can now visualize a web page in 3D using Tilt
DEVELOPER SPDY protocol support for faster page loads is now testable
DEVELOPER XMLHttpRequest now supports HTML parsing
DEVELOPER Files can now be stored in IndexedDB (see bug 661877)
DEVELOPER Websockets has now been unprefixed
FIXED Redesigned media controls for HTML5 video
FIXED Firefox notifications may not work properly with Growl 1.3 or later (see 691662)

Known Issues:

UNRESOLVED Some synaptic touch pads are unable to vertical scroll (see 622410)
UNRESOLVED For some users, scrolling in the main GMail window will be slower than usual (see 579260)
UNRESOLVED If you try to start Firefox using a locked profile, it will crash (see 573369)
UNRESOLVED This version of Firefox will not work on Macintosh hardware with Power PC CPUs (see 587799)
UNRESOLVED Under certain conditions, scrolling and text input may be jerky (see 711900)

According to the report, workers at several iPad component suppliers as well as manufacturing partner Foxconn will have limited time off during the usual Lunar New Year holiday. The Lunar New Year holiday itself falls on January 23rd next year, with workers generally receiving a number of other days off from work around that date.

Sources have been reporting a variety of rumored dates for an iPad 3 introduction, with some claiming a debut in the March-April timeframe while others have pointed to a February launch being in the works.

Apple last year launched new MacBook Pro models on Jobs' birthday, although that unusual Thursday introduction was likely a convenient coincidence driven by the debut taking place during the Presidents Day holiday week.

[original via macrumors.com]

New hardware also means new kexts for the hackintosh community and possibly also price drops on refurbished Mac Pro systems and refurbished MacBook Air models.

The release notes according to Ableton:

Improvements and feature changes

• Added bank names for Amp instant mapping, which in turn fixes a problem with the Axiom DirectLink control surface.
• Fixed problems with the Mbox2 related to non-integer sample rates.
• Added control surface support for Akai Professional LPD8.
• From now on, betas will ask to check for updates only once a week, and starting a week after first run.
• the "Peek" button on the Axiom Pro now works as a momentary control

Max for Live improvements and feature changes

(Note: Most of these changes require an update to the latest version of Max, which is available from http://cycling74.com/downloads/)

• Devices inside Racks can now be accessed via the Max for Live API
• Return tracks can now be observed via the Max for Live API

Live devices and parameters can now be much more easily mapped to controls in Max devices. Devices can safely be moved within a Live Set without breaking any existing mappings. Also, devices and Sets can be saved and loaded without breaking existing mappings. The following changes make this possible:

• There is now a simple way to observe the selected parameter via the Max for Live API, using "live.path live_set view selected_parameter." This can be used, for example, to build a custom "map mode" to quickly map parameters in your Live Set to controls in a Max device.
• Live objects like tracks, clips or parameters retain their identity (id nn) during operations like move, save/restore, cut/paste, delete/undo, the identity is global and can be communicated via Max's Send and Receive objects.
• live.object, live.observer and live.remote~ are now able to remember their target objects when Live sets or presets are saved and restored or when objects are moved within the Live set.
• Ableton protected samples can now be used in Max for Live device, via the Live.drop object
• fixed a bug where clip slots would lose their id on moving a clip
• fixed navigating and observing control surfaces via the LiveAPI
• Repeatedly calling "goto control_surfaces" on a live.path object was producing a different id each time
• Fixed a crash that occurred when deleting a Rack containing a Max for Live device, where a Remote~ was controlling one of the Macro knobs, and then Undoing the delete action
• Navigating the Live Object Model is about two times faster
• Fixed a crash that occurred when moving tracks that contained automated Max for Live devices
• Fixed a crash that occurred when replacing one Max for Live device with another if certain modulations existed
• If a native Ableton device has parameters that are mapped to a Max for Live device, the mappings will be preserved after hot-swapping the Ableton device
• The Track/Chain Activator and Song Tempo are now accessible via the "selected_parameter" property and their path can be queried
• "live_app" and "live_app view" can now be persistent in the Max for Live API
• Mapping some mixer component on the APC40 (for example) through the Max for Live API wouldn't work without pressing the Pan or Send button on the APC40, which reset the component. This has been fixed.
• "goto live_set tracks 2 devices" in a set with one track produced id -1, which is wrong. Now it produces id 0.
• If the LOM id of the observer is persistent, the property of an observed LOM object is persistent, even if it is dynamically changed using a message.
• Max for Live devices that control the Application objects (e.g. live_app (live_app view)) or which get information about the Live version and document name (e.g. get_major_version (focus_view)) will work when loading the Set, without requiring user interaction.

Bugfixes

• Fixed a problem with nested Macro mappings when the range of a mapped ON/OFF switch, or of a selector switch (such as a filter type switch), is not at default values. In such a case, the right value would be displayed, but the wrong value would be used internally.

Note: with this fix, you will now hear what you see, although this may mean that previously saved Sets that contained the bug may sound different.

• Deleting time in the Arrangment View could delete crossfades in certain cases.
• When using an APC40 and Scratch Live, Scratch Live would sync to the APC but would not initially show the return tracks .
• If the VST plug-ins folder contained shorcuts/aliases to files in another location on disk, the folder would be rescanned each time Live starts. This has been fixed.
• When launching a scene with via Key/MIDI mapping or a control surface such as the APC40 while "Select on Launch" is enabled, the Master track became selected. This would result in the selected device switching to the device on the Master track. Now, launching a scene via remote control behaves the same as when launching with the mouse; the device selection doesn't change.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when clicking the status bar, while it displays "Media files are missing", and just after having adjusted a Macro knob.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when adding an audio clip, scrubbing in the clip detail view, and pressing Undo while the mouse was still down for scrubbing.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when switching between certain audio interfaces on a Mac
• updated Complex Pro libraries to prevent a potential crash
• fixed Transport button behavior for the Akai MPK61 and 88
• fixed a crash that could occur when opening very large Live Sets
• fixed a crash that could occur when a clip referencing a sample was in the clipboard and when pressing the Edit button (in the File Manager or Clip View) to set the sample offline and then on again
• Holding a note while recording a MIDI clip and stopping the transport while the note is held would result in a silent note during play back
• If a clip was in Gate Mode, releasing the trigger key within the launch quantization period would still launch the clip
• Fixed a bug that caused a clip in Gate launch mode to continue playing after clicking another clip for a very short time
• Fixed a bug in how MIDI effect Racks handle latency. Now chains compensate properly against each other

• A very short MIDI note at the beginning of a clip would not be audible. [6130]
• Recording via 'Resampling' would not properly compensate latency. [6124]
• Under certain conditions, it would be possible to get 2 Arranger tracks highlighted. [6144]
• Using the Launchpad as control surface and additionally for manual mappings would not always work properly.
• When installing Live Packs which have dependencies to other content, Live would show the corresponding message twice. [6153]
• Using a Rex file could crash Live. [6157]
• 'lock control surface' function would not properly work in user remote scripts. [6064]
• A particular Live set could not be loaded and would lead to a 'Invalid Product ID Error' message. [6165]
• In the Arranger, punch In/Out would delay notes by the 'punch in time' in beats. [6167]
• Using the pads of the Akai MPD18 would not work properly.
• Having a Live set with particular Drum Racks could increase the CPU usage of the main thread, which would result in very slow graphical updates. [6181]
• Installing a new Library from within a second running instance of Live could crash Live. [6171]
• Certain operations like sample crop/reverse/replace would remove the tempo envelope. [6179]
• Using Novation's Launchpad, when switching between Automap and Live control would not work properly.
• Under certain conditions, editing or creating parameter automation would not work properly. [6188]
• Playing a 32-bit audio file immediately after a 16-bit audio file could cause a click in the audio. [6152]
• Moving the last track out of a track group onto a closed group track in the Arranger could crash Live. [6193]
• In the Auto Pan device, switching shape to random would not show the 'Width' knob. [6192]
• Loading a Max device would crash if Pluggo was already active.
• It would not be possible to create a new Project in the File Browser if the root is set to 'Workspace'.
• Fine tuning of macro knobs would not work via key modifier. [6180]
• Starting clips via the Launchpad while changing parameters via mouse could crash Live. [6143]
• Moving the mouse over a certain Sampler preset could crash Live. [6207]
• Loading a Live set containing not yet authorized add-ons could crash Live. [6203]
• Under certain conditions, fade creation would not work properly. [6195]
• An Ableton preset of a third party plug-in would not change the On/Off mapping range. [5652]
• Receiving an invalid parameter index from Max could crash Live.
• Inverting a macro mapping range would not work properly. [6238]
• Under certain conditions, extracting an existing groove from a clip would crash Live. [6235]
• Having a Max device sending many blob changes during saving could crash Live.
• A malformed database file would interrupt user interactions like renaming files, saving presets, recording, etc. [6230]
• Having a particular Live set loaded and searching for media files could crash Live. [6241]
• On Mac OS X, under certain conditions, making Live the foreground window could lead to a crash.
• The context menu of a frozen clip would have enabled audio fades commands. [6253]
• In the Arranger, changing the mixer properties like volume, pan etc. would not show the changed value in the status bar. [3238]
• Having a multi selection of Arranger track and use the 'Show Automation' command would destroy the selection. [6243]
• Choosing a custom VST directory within the preferences would not keep this new directory until the next start of Live if the required rescan leads to a crash. [6190]
• On Mac OS X, duplicating a track with Fab Filter Twin 1+2 could crash Live. [6063]
• The Looper display would use the wrong colour in 'play' mode. [6234]
• Holding SHIFT + Space Bar would make the transport play button flicker. [6227]
• The area to click on an Arranger clip would be too small by a few pixels. [6261]
• Particular Live sets, especially with a lot of transient data, could not be loaded. [6263]
• Pasting 3 unstretched and crossfaded Arranger clips could crash Live [6289]

What is a monome? "a reconfigurable grid of backlit keypads which connects to a computer. interaction between the keys and lights is determined by the application running on the computer. there is no hard-wired functionality."

(see more videos of the monome on vimeo)