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Google I/O. Detecting GenAI visuals. At Google I/O this week, Google announced a verification portal that uses Google’s SynthID watermarking technology to help identify AI-generated content. Users can upload a file, and SynthID Detector will determine whether the whole sample — or just a part of it — is AI-created.
The small print: It only detects media created with tools that use Google’s SynthID specification — mainly Google products. Still, not totally insignificant: Google says that 10+ billion pieces of media have been watermarked with SynthID since it launched in 2023.
Google I/O. New GenAI video generators. Multimodal, anyone? In addition, Google announced Veo 3, an AI video generator that with this latest upgrade can also create and incorporate audio – a key distinction from OpenAI’s Sora video generator.
Google also unveiled Flow, a new filmmaking tool that allows users to create cinematic videos by describing locations, shots and style preferences.
Google I/O. More photorealistic & faster AI photo generator. Google also announced Imagen 4, which is better than its predecessor in terms of generating fine details such as intricate fabrics, water droplets, and animal fur. Google says Imagen 4 is equally suited to photorealistic generations as abstract ones. And yes, the latest version is faster than its predecessor with more speed to come: Google plans to release an update that is “up to 10x quicker than Imagen 3.”
Flam. Raising $. Congratulations to Flam, whose Zingcam app won our Visual 1st Special Recognition Award in 2022, for raising a $14M Series A round, taking its total funding over the past 4 years to $22M. Flam provides smartphone-focused augmented reality solutions. Its more than 100 global brand customers include Google, Samsung and Emirates.
Glass Imaging. Raising $. Congratulations to Glass Imaging, whose co-founder & CTO Tom Bishop shared his perspectives on the next wave of innovation for smartphone cameras in a fireside chat session at last year’s Visual 1st. The company just raised $20M, in addition to the $9.3M extended seed funding it raised last year. With the funding, Glass Imaging will continue to refine and implement their proprietary GlassAI technologies across a wide range of camera platforms – from smartphones to drones to wearables and more.
Sigma. HDR through JPEGs. While reviewing the Sigma BF, the unusually minimalist compact mirrorless camera I mentioned a few issues ago, DPReview noticed that the JPEGs produced by the Sigma BF looked much more punchy and vibrant on some devices than on others. How can Sigma display a higher dynamic range captured by its 10-bit camera on some devices [newer versions of Mac, iPhone or Android phones], while still displaying ordinary 8-bit JPEGs on others? In short, it embeds a 'gain map' in the JPEGs that tells HDR displays where to boost the brightness. Check out the impressive image quality difference!
Leica. Raising prices, but no longer astronomical. US tariffs keep seesawing. And so do Leica camera prices. Case in point: the Leica D-Lux 8 price first increased from $1595 to $2790 (as mentioned in our previous edition) and is now back to $1915 (20% above the original price). What will happen after the 90 day pause on tariffs on products coming from China (where the D-Lux 8 is assembled) were to skyrocket again? We can only guess.
IMG. LY. AI-Editor upgrade. Past Visual 1st presenter, IMG.LY introduces a suite of AI tools for its Creative Editor SDK, ranging from text, image, audio, video to speech. In addition, the company also introduces 3 new AI-based creative workflow features: visual prompting, parallel image creation and combining of images on on the Creative Editor SDK canvas.
Instagram. TikTok, here we come. Actually, it is Instagram Edits, Instagram’s recently launched standalone video editing app, that’s going after CapCut, TikTok’s video editing sister app. Instagram Edits has added a host of new features, including beat editing (which creates beat markers on the editing timeline that helps you line up your audio with your visual components), and a new set of preset animations and visual changes that can be applied to your videos, such as those that emulate shaky recordings, change color saturations or make similar changes to the final product.
Wix. Canva, here we come. Top website builder Wix has announced the release of Wixel, an AI-powered visual design suite that’s effectively an alternative to the likes of Canva and Adobe Express. Wixel’s mission is a familiar one: it aims to “democratize visual design” – in other words, offering designers as well as non-designers the tools to create professional-grade content and visual assets. Wix announced that future tools are in the works, including story creation and video.
Apple. The iPhone’s camera back in time. Here’s an interesting table that shows the main camera specs for each iPhone released to date . Guess what, when we launched Visual 1st (then still called Mobile Photo Connect) back in 2013, the latest and greatest iPhone was the 5S, which feature an 8 MP rear (1.5µm pixels) camera (today’s iPhone 16 Pro and Max have a 48MP Fusion main camera, a 18MP Ultra Wide camera, plus a 12MP 5x Telephoto), and had a focal length of 30-33mm, a dual-LED flash, a Burst mode, and Slo-Mo video as innovative features.
Best,
Hans Hartman
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