What’s popping in science & tech?
Look Mom, I’m on Mars!
Whatsapp now lets you generate any custom AI background you could want for your video calls. This is not a new feature, Zoom, and Google Meet, have this feature. But it adds some quality of life to the most used messaging service in the world.
Before you could only use a few basic, boring preset backgrounds, but with this update, you can add a purple dog eating chicken tikka in the background if you want.
Or have your next family call from the surface of the moon.
Read: OpenAI to invest $10bn in developing its own AI chips
Of course, this is beneficial to people who are worried about their privacy, or the presentation of their environment. You can use simple gradients, solid colors, or even blur your background entirely.
But we used the feature to tell our editor that we’re at the beach today. Whatever you think about it, at least it’s free (looking at you, Snapchat).
Is Google Photos + Veo a good match?
Google’s ‘best’ video-generation model, Veo 3 is on Google Photos now. But the question is: does this even matter to the average user?
The new model, available on the mobile app’s Create tab, will allow users in the US to turn their still images into short video clips. Google Photos already offers video generation through its recently added “Photo to video” feature, but Google claims Veo 3 enhances that functionality with higher-quality videos.
But how significant is the difference? And what about all the Google Photos users outside of the US?
“Hey Lens: Imagine… Dragons”
So Snapchat’s unveiled their newest cash grab feature: the Imagine Lens. With this, you can create AI images with text prompts, letting you dream up whatever wacky, zany scenario you want to put yourself in. Make you a cowboy? Done. Riding a dragon? You got it.
Read more: Microsoft cloud platform hit by cable cuts in Red Sea
But as with any good or even halfway mediocre thing these days, it’s paywalled behind either a Snapchat + platinum or Lens+ subscription, meaning you have to cough up $9USD a month if you want to spice up your streaks.
Only time can tell if people will use this feature regularly, or if they’ll remember it exists while swiping through the options.
