Adobe is bringing more Firefly AI features to its popular Photoshop and Illustrator design platforms. The upgrade is a significant step forward for Adobe since the 2023 debut of Firefly, and sees Photoshop finally getting in-app ability to generate AI images, and also a new Generative Shape Fill that is still in beta, allowing designers to quickly add detailed vectors to shapes by entering text prompts directly in the Contextual Taskbar. Improvements to Illustrator include the Dimension Tool, Retype, Style Reference, its own Contextual Taskbar, Retype and two new beta tools, Text to Pattern and Mockup. Continue reading Adobe Adds New Firefly AI Features to Illustrator, Photoshop

Meta’s popular instant messaging service WhatsApp is reportedly beta testing a feature that would allow the already integrated Meta AI chatbot to edit and reply to images. The capability was spotted in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.14.20, with AI powered by Llama 3, the company’s newest large language model released in April. The beta version works via a camera button added to the text box for Meta AI chat in WhatsApp. When pressed, the button triggers a pop-up that indicates Meta AI can analyze and edit photos, though it’s currently unclear to what extent. Continue reading Meta AI Image Analysis and Editing Beta Tested for WhatsApp

China’s Sneaki Design has a new smartphone camera technology called SwitchLens that makes it possible to use professional-quality interchangeable lenses with existing Android and iOS phones. It does this via a phone-mounting external camera unit that has its own one-inch CMOS sensor and coupling device for lenses built to the Micro Four Thirds (M43) open standard. The pro-sized sensor captures still images as 21MP in either the RAW or JPEG formats, and 60p MOV video at up to 4K. Existing M43 compatible lenses from manufacturers including Panasonic and Olympus work with SwitchLens, according to Sneaki Design. Continue reading SwitchLens Adds 1-Inch Sensor, M43 Lenses to Smartphones

After three years of development, the Alice Camera — which transforms smartphones into mirrorless photographic systems with a mount for interchangeable Micro Four Thirds (M43 or MFT) lenses — is taking preorders and will start shipping July 15, beginning in the UK. The Alice Camera leverages AI to produce “computational photography” that runs on-device in real time. The result, its makers say, is content that is “beautiful straight out of camera” and instantly ready to share. “Alice Camera transforms your phone into a content creation studio,” according to parent company, London-based Photogram Ltd. Continue reading Alice Camera Targets Mobile Creators with AI and M43 System

To address Gen Z’s ongoing interest in social video content, Pinterest announced it is updating its app so that users will have the ability to create video versions of the more than 10 billion curated boards on Pinterest. The videos can then be shared on popular social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Pinterest users have been using manual methods such as screenshots and green screen effects to share their boards on other apps. According to the company — which refers to this as the “mecore” trend — searches for boards labeled “mecore” jumped 255 percent since last year. The updated approach to board sharing is designed to leverage this growing trend. Continue reading Pinterest Introduces the Ability to Convert Boards into Videos

Anthropic has launched a powerful new AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, that can analyze text and images and generate text. That its release comes a mere three months after Anthropic debuted Claude 3 indicates just how quickly the field is developing. The Google-backed company says Claude 3.5 Sonnet has set “new industry benchmarks for graduate-level reasoning (GPQA), undergraduate-level knowledge (MMLU), and coding proficiency (HumanEval).” Sonnet is Anthropic’s mid-tier model, between Haiku and, on the high-end, Opus. Anthropic says 3.5 Sonnet is twice as fast as 3 Opus, offering “frontier intelligence at 2x the speed.” Continue reading Anthropic’s Claude 3.5: ‘Frontier Intelligence at 2x the Speed’

Voodoo, the French app publisher behind mobile games like “Helix Jump” and “Crowd City” has purchased social network BeReal for $537 million. Paris-based BeReal was launched in 2020, focusing on “authentic interactions,” but didn’t gain widespread popularity until 2022 when it captured the imagination of Gen Z. According to Voodoo, the platform now has more than 40 million active users, largely concentrated in the U.S., Japan and France. The new owner says it will invest in BeReal and plans to “accelerate its growth” using Voodoo’s “expertise and technologies,” adding that the acquisition “accelerates its diversification into consumer apps.” Continue reading Mobile Game Publisher Voodoo Acquires Social App BeReal

Apple is previewing visionOS 2, the next-gen operating system coming this fall for its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The new system includes a Mac Virtual Display that creates the ultra-wide equivalent of two side-by-side 4K monitors. The new OS updates navigational hand gestures and adds a Photos app feature that turns existing 2D pictures into spatial images. At WWDC Apple also announced that Blackmagic Design will release the URSA Cine Immersive, the first commercial camera system designed to capture images for the Vision Pro, and Canon unveiled a dual-lens optical setup for APS-C cameras. Continue reading Vision Pro Adds Dual 4K Virtual Display, URSA Cine Immersive

Barely a month after Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses received a major upgrade, adding Meta AI with Vision in beta in the U.S. and Canada and adding the ability to share what you’re looking at on WhatsApp and Messenger video calls, the company is back with another update. Voice command access to Amazon Music and the wellness app Calm, as well as hands-free posting to Instagram are new features, rolling out “gradually.” Simply say, “Hey Meta, play Amazon Music,” or “Share my last photo to Instagram’” to get results without touching your phone. Continue reading Ray-Ban Meta Now Hands-Free with Amazon, Calm, Instagram

Meta Platforms announced an expanded collection of generative AI features, tools and services for advertisers and businesses. The enhanced AI features include full image and text generation, text overlay capabilities, and image expansion for Reels and the Feed in Facebook and Instagram. The updated tools will be available via Meta Ads Manager through Advantage+ creative. According to Meta: “Our goal is to help you at every step of your journey, whether that’s improving ad performance by helping you develop creative variations, automating certain parts of the ad creation process, or increasing your credibility and engagement through Meta Verified.” Continue reading Meta Launches Enhanced Generative AI Tools for Advertisers

Adobe plans to add generative AI capabilities to its Premiere Pro editing platform and is exploring the update with third-party AI technologies including OpenAI’s Sora, as well as models from Runway and Pika Labs, making it easier “to draw on the strengths of different models” within everyday workflows, according to Adobe. Editors will gain the ability to generate and add objects into scenes or shots, remove unwanted elements with a click, and even extend frames and footage length. The company is also developing a video model for its own Firefly AI for video and audio work in Premiere Pro. Continue reading Adobe Considers Sora, Pika and Runway AI for Premiere Pro

Motorola has three new flagship Edge phones that sport AI features to improve photographic performance and overall usability. The top-of-the-line Edge 50 Ultra, mid-level Edge 50 Pro, and economy Edge 50 Fusion are being released in Europe with the line “expanding” to North America later this year. Thanks to “moto ai,” these phones will “elevate every interaction by empowering users to intuitively create content, personalize their device, obtain the information they seek, and accomplish more,” the Lenovo subsidiary said, promising the world’s first “Pantone-validated” smartphone camera and display, with Motorola’s “most advanced solutions for capturing motion.” Continue reading Motorola Begins Launch of AI-Packed Edge Series in Europe

Microsoft has developed VASA, a framework for generating lifelike virtual characters with vocal capabilities including speaking and singing. The premiere model, VASA-1, can perform the feat in real time from a single static image and a vocalization clip. The research demo showcases realistic audio-enhanced faces that can be fine-tuned to look in different directions or change expression in video clips of up to one minute at 512 x 512 pixels and up to 40fps “with negligible starting latency,” according to Microsoft, which says “it paves the way for real-time engagements with lifelike avatars that emulate human conversational behaviors.” Continue reading Microsoft’s VASA-1 Can Generate Talking Faces in Real Time

Airchat is the latest app to take tech leaders in Silicon Valley by storm. Described as a “combination of voice notes and Twitter,” Airchat lets you follow other users and scroll through posts — adding replies, likes and shares — but the twist is the content is generated through audio recordings the app then transcribes. Airchat ranked 27th on the App Store’s social networking chart, even though users must be invited to join. Launched last year by Naval Ravikant, founder of AngelList, and erstwhile Tinder product exec Brian Norgard, Airchat was just relaunched on iOS and Android. Continue reading Audio-First Social Platform Airchat Has Successful Relaunch

Beginning May 15, Google Photos users can start accessing a suite of free AI-powered Magic Editor tools like Magic Eraser and Portrait Light. The features will also be accessible on more devices, including Pixel tablets. Last year, Google launched Magic Editor on Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones. In addition to making the features available on all Pixel devices, all Google Photos users on Android and iOS will get baseline access to 10 Magic Editor saves per month. Additionally, those with a Pixel device or Premium Google One plan of at least 2TB will have unlimited use. Continue reading Google Adding Free AI Photo Editing Tools to Google Photos