Last week we highlighted some upcoming trade shows in the photography, large format graphics and sign markets. All of these trade shows feature educational programs that cover a variety of topics in their respective fields as well as special events, parties and industry panels…

Special events at WPPI: Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) hosts the appropriately named WPPI event, Feb. 17-24 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. In addition to a hall full of exhibitors and a full slate of seminars with 75 speakers, WPPI will include five special events: WPPI Launch Pad, a sneak peek at the latest products on the market on Feb. 20 from 2-5 p.m.; Sony Fashion Show, hosted by America’s Next Top Model celebrity judge Nigel Barker, on Feb. 20 from 7-10 p.m.; Canon Mardi Gras Party on Feb. 21 from 8-10 p.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; Women in Contemporary Photography panel discussion on Feb. 22 from 7-9 p.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; WPPI Awards Night on Feb. 23 from 6-9:30 p.m.; and Photoignite on the last day of WPPI, Feb. 24, where pro photographers demonstrate their techniques in five-minute presentations. Stay up to date on the latest during the show by following LexJet account specialists Justin Craft and Michael Clementi at twitter.com/LexJet, with additional news from the show at blog.lexjet.com. More info to come next week on special prizes and promotions if you find Justin and Michael on the show floor at WPPI.

FESPA Americas, coming to Orlando from Feb. 24-26, includes an all-day Digital Textile Conference on Feb. 25 that will feature a keynote speech by Nike’s Global Materials Quality Manager, Martin Wragg. Wragg will explore Nike’s sustainability projects under consideration and how printing fits into the bigger picture at Nike. Other topics during the Conference include: Market trends in digital textile printing, growing your business with fabric printing, transitioning from t-shirts to screen printing to digital printing, printing for fashion, big textile-printing applications, sustainability, mass customization and the digital supply chain, color management, a panel discussion and more. For more information about FESPA Americas, go to www.fespa.com/americas/

Canon registers 2,543 new patents in 2010: It’s official… Canon set a new company record when it registered 2,543 new patents in 2010. It also represents the first time Canon has exceeded 2,500 new patents in a single year. Some of the new products realized through the new patents include the Canon PIXMA MG8120 and MG6120 with a new light guidance system – a first for personal desktop printers – that incorporates Canon’s Full High Definition (HD) Movie Print mode; the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP, which represents the next installment of Canon’s flagship imagePRESS lineup for the production and graphic arts markets; and the CXDI-70C Wireless Digital Radiography (DR) detector, the company’s first wireless DR system.

X-Rite’s new Graphic Arts Standard: X-Rite has developed XGRA as a means to standardize and bring consistency across its current and legacy color management devices developed by X-Rite and GretagMacbeth. ColorMunki Photo, ColorMunki Design and EasyTrax already conform to XRGA and all future graphic arts instruments and software will also conform. X-Rite says the switch to XRGA results in small differences in measurement values, so many customers will not need to make any changes. For customers who have found greater differences in measurement values between former X-Rite and GretagMacbeth instruments, X-Rite will provide a means to move existing databases to the new XRGA standard.