THE VERGE Monday January 27, 2025
Adobe is launching new generative AI tools that can automate labor-intensive production tasks like editing large batches of images and translating video presentations. The most notable, reports The Verge, is “Firefly Bulk Create,” an app that allows users to quickly resize up to 10,000 images or replace all of their backgrounds in a single click instead of tediously editing each picture individually. Now available in beta, the tool was created by combining several of Adobe’s Firefly-powered APIs for developers to make them more accessible to creatives who lack technical coding experience.
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TechCrunch Monday January 27, 2025
Those looking to exit Meta’s social app ecosystem in favor of a more open alternative will be pleased to learn that a new photo-sharing app is being rolled out for Bluesky, the social network alternative to Threads and Elon Musk’s X. The app, called Flashes, comes from an independent developer and uses the same technology that underpins Bluesky. Flashes could tap into growing consumer demand for alternatives to Big Tech’s social media monopoly—a trend, noted TechCrunch, that has led to the adoption of open source, decentralized apps like Mastodon and Bluesky, among others.
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By
David Schonauer Monday January 27, 2025
TikTok went away, then it came back, and its future is seemingly up for Big Tech grabs. On Friday NPR reported that The Trump administration is working on a plan to save the app that involves tapping
software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of TikTok's global operations. Today, Reuters reported that U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI … Read the full Story >>
BBC Monday January 27, 2025
English photographer John Blakemore, who inspired a generation through his own pictures and his teaching work, died on Jan. 14 at age 88, reports the BBC. Born in Coventry in 1936, Blakemore became a key figure in post-war photography and was known for his work in the Hillfields area of his home city in the 1960s. He also developed a passion for teaching, most recently at the University of Derby. Dr Michael Pritchard of The Royal Photographic Society calls Blakemore's work "beautiful, meticulously executed and thoughtful.”
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