Canva. Watch out Adobe: Canva is on your heels. Adobe has had its share lately of upsetting its customers, but now Canva is on the same track: The price of some Canva subscriptions are set to skyrocket next year. Global customers for Canva Teams — a business-orientated subscription that supports adding multiple users — can expect prices to increase by just over 300 percent in some instances. What’s the excuse? Canva says the increase is justified due to the “expanded product experience” and value that generative AI tools have added to the platform. And yes, an IPO is rumored to be planned for 2026.

Glass Imaging. Yes, there’s (much more) room for smartphone cameras improvements. The secret to Glass Imaging’s groundbreaking photo enhancing tech? As no camera sensor is perfect – and definitely not the small ones in smartphones – Glass Imaging first and foremost trains neural networks to reverse optical aberrations and correct sensor noise. This way the photo shows nuanced textures of real scenes rather than the more synthetic feel that the prevailing AI-based camera enhancement methods produce. Comparisons and more details in this Petapixel article. 

[And for a discussion about the vision behind their tech and the potential it has for the photo industry, join our fireside chat at Visual 1st with Tom Bishop, CTO of Glass Imaging and previously developer of core technology at Apple for the iPhone’s Portrait Mode.]

Overlai. Random poisoning tech. Overlai is yet another app that aims to keep photographers’ work safe from AI scraping. Overlai inserts an invisible watermark, while simultaneously creating an “immutable record of your metadata,” including a “Do Not Train” assertion on the blockchain. The watermark links back to this newly created record.

Similar to Nightshade, covered here before, Overlai’s invisible watermark can also disrupt AI datasets. Overlai calls its invisible disruption “Random Poisoning Technology.”

Synthesia. AI video localization going Workflow. Nothing new, but soon to take just a few minutes instead of hours of back and forths with various stakeholders: next week past Visual 1st presenter Synthesia will launch an intuitive AI video localization workflow solution, which it says does it all that in just 3 easy steps:

• Translate your videos with a single click
• Collaborate seamlessly with stakeholders without ever leaving the platform
• Deliver your video in the viewer's preferred language

Visual 1st 2024 Program lineup to date:

2 one-on-one thought-provoking fireside chats, 4 inspiring panels with 4 speakers each, 27 innovative Show & Tell demo presenters, 21 vendor sponsors, 6 media/association sponsors. More details here!

Mylio. Mixing & matching cloud & local storage. Mylio is launching SecureCloud, an online storage solution that enables users to decide exactly what data goes to the cloud and what stays on their local devices. The data in SecureCloud is protected with encryption and can only be viewed on a device that is logged into a user's account and directly approved by them. The company says that all media organization and metadata are preserved when movies files to and from the cloud.

Felix Schoeller. New sustainable printing papers. Felix Schoeller’s newest paper types to be shown next week at Printing United include S-RACE TERRA sublimation paper made of 100% recycled fibers, the SCM pro terra paper, which comprises 65% recycled fibers, and the polyethylen-free ULTRA green photo paper. ULTRA green is made from 100% FSC-certified pulp, and its ULTRA green Semi Gloss 230 is a sustainable alternative to high-quality inkjet photo papers with PE-based coatings, according to the company.

Best,

Hans Hartman