Snappr. Raising $. Gig photo services provider,
Snappr raises $10M in a Series A round to build out its visual content marketplace (previously, it raised $3M in angel and seed money). The new funding will be used in three ways: building out offerings for large businesses and enterprises; introducing new features, such as 360, virtual tours and videography; and expanding into new markets. We covered
Snappr in our
Building the Gig Photo Economy report.
Google Pixel 5. Going wide. The Pixel 4 was somewhat of an anomaly by having a telephoto rather than an ultrawide lens on the back. Yesterday’s
announced Pixel 5 is back in line: besides the standard 12-megapixel sensor that Google has used for its last few phones, this time it’s paired with a 16-megapixel sensor for the wide-angle shooter.
Google Photos. Suggesting edits.
Google Photos’ updated Android app now has a “Suggestions” tab in the photo editing menu, which will offer recommendations for edits for the specific photo you’re currently looking at, automatically adjusting things like “brightness, contrast, and portrait effects.” The broad edits are also just a starting point —
Google Photos will also show you what edits it made, and let you tweak them further.
Amazon. Keeping an eye on you. In a different time, this seems like a real helpful camera-equipped smart display device that you’d like to have in your kitchen.
Amazon’s new Echo Show 10 is perched on a motorized base that swivels around automatically whenever you interact with the device. By using a blend of computer vision technology and echolocation (pun not intended), the
Echo Show 10 can determine where you are in a room and swivel itself around to face you so you can always get a good view of the screen. As
Facebook Portal’s lackluster sales indicate, not everyone likes to invite Big Tech’s ears and eyes into their home – especially when they're following you.
Amazon Ring. Keeping an eye on your home intruders.
Ring’s latest security camera, the new
Always Home Cam is an
autonomous drone that can fly around inside your home to give you a perspective of any room when you’re not at home. The drone can be commanded to fly on demand or programmed to fly automatically when a disturbance is detected by a linked
Ring Alarm system. Here too, who is ready to trust Big Tech with an autonomous drone flying in their house?
On1. AI photo enhancement.
On1 launches
ON1 Portrait AI, which is available as a standalone application and as a plug-in for
Adobe Lightroom and a range of other software.
ON1 Portrait AI uses machine learning to locate and evaluate each face in portrait photos to retouch and process them without the need for manual adjustments. Will present at
Visual 1st.
Vivid-Pix. AI Restoration.
Vivid-Pix launches the latest version of its AI-powered RESTORE software, aimed at automatically restoring faded old black and white, sepia, and color photos and documents. The new version improves a wider variety of image formats; metadata tagging for research, transcription, and sharing of family stories; and Crop/Recalculate to hone in on specific areas that need fixing. Will present at
Visual 1st.
