Month: October 2024

On Friday, Meta announced a preview of Movie Gen, a new suite of AI models designed to create and manipulate video, audio, and images, including creating a realistic video from a single photo of a person. The company claims the models outperform other video-synthesis models when evaluated by humans, pushing us closer to a future where anyone can synthesize a full video of any subject on demand.

The company does not yet have plans of when or how it will release these capabilities to the public, but Meta says Movie Gen is a tool that may allow people to "enhance their inherent creativity" rather than replace human artists and animators. The company envisions future applications such as easily creating and editing "day in the life" videos for social media platforms or generating personalized animated birthday greetings.

Movie Gen builds on Meta's previous work in video synthesis, following 2022's Make-A-Scene video generator and the Emu image-synthesis model. Using text prompts for guidance, this latest system can generate custom videos with sounds for the first time, edit and insert changes into existing videos, and transform images of people into realistic personalized videos.

Read full article

Comments

In the outer reaches of the Solar System, beyond the ice giant Neptune, lies a ring of comets and dwarf planets known as the Kuiper Belt. The closest of these objects are billions of kilometers away. There is, however, an outer limit to the Kuiper Belt. Right?

Until now, it was thought there was nothing beyond 48 AU (astronomical units) from the Sun, (one AU is slightly over 150 million km). It seemed there was little beyond that. That changed when NASA’s New Horizons team detected 11 new objects lurking from 60 to 80 AU. What was thought to be empty space turned out to be a gap between the first ring of Kuiper Belt objects and a new, second ring. Until now, it was thought that our Solar System is unusually small when compared to exosolar systems, but it evidently extends farther out than anyone imagined.

While these objects are only currently visible as pinpoints of light, and Fraser is allowing room for error until the spacecraft gets closer, what their existence could tell us about the Kuiper Belt and the possible origins of the Solar System is remarkable.

Read full article

Comments

Raspberry Pi is known for making small, low-power single-board computers. But you typically have to connect them to a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and other peripherals using cables or wireless connections. The DigiPort removes at least one of those cables. It’s basically a PC-on-a-stick that’s designed to plug directly into the HDMI port of a TV. It […]

The post DigiPort is a Raspberry Pi-powered HDMI stick that turns any TV into a PC for retro gaming, video streaming, and more (crowdfunding) appeared first on Liliputing.

Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) remains on the hook for an approximately $400,000 fine after failing to respond to an Australia eSafety Commission 2023 inquiry, which largely sought to probe measures X is currently taking to combat an alleged proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platform.

To void the fine, X tried to persuade Australian Judge Michael Wheelahan that X had no obligation to comply with an Online Safety Act notice issued to Twitter because Twitter "ceased to exist" a few weeks after receiving the notice—when Musk merged the app into his company X Corp.

Wheelahan summarized X's argument as saying that "X Corp was not obliged to prepare any report in Twitter Inc’s place, as X Corp was not the same person as the provider to whom the notice was issued."

Read full article

Comments

The team behind iA Writer, a distraction-free writing app that syncs across platforms, has left its Android app "frozen in carbonite." The app is still alive for those who had it installed, but it cannot sync with Drive or be updated. That's because, citing Google's security policies and the economics of paid Android apps, the iA team has given up on Android development, which it considers "an ever-tightening Force Choke."

In follow-up emails with Ars after announcing the move on iA's blog on September 26, Oliver Reichenstein, founder of Information Architects (iA), described feedback from users as surprisingly positive, saying he has been “stunned and pleased that our Android users understand us so well.”

“I expected a lot more people to be upset,” Reichenstein wrote. “But our inbox is full of people that understand and support our decision.”

Read full article

Comments

Die Polizei darf auf Handydaten zugreifen - auch bei weniger schweren Straftaten. Doch der Schutz der Privatsphäre wiegt schwer. (Datenschutz, Politik)

Waymo's robotaxis are going to get a lot more angular in the future. Today, the autonomous driving startup and Hyundai announced that they have formed a strategic partnership, and the first product will be the integration of Waymo's autonomous vehicle software and hardware with the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

"Hyundai and Waymo share a vision to improve the safety, efficiency, and convenience of how people move," said José Muñoz, president and global COO of Hyundai Motor Company.

"We are thrilled to partner with Hyundai as we further our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver," said Waymo's co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. "Hyundai’s focus on sustainability and strong electric vehicle roadmap makes them a great partner for us as we bring our fully autonomous service to more riders in more places."

Read full article

Comments

This summer Souls Circuit unveiled the Pilet 7, a modular computer that combines a Raspberry Pi 5 with a 7 inch touchscreen display, a retro-inspired case, and a slot for modular add-ons like a keyboard or game controller. Now the team has introduced a smaller model called the Pilet 5 that’s designed to be a […]

The post Pilet 5 console is a Raspberry Pi-powered handheld PC with a QWERTY keyboard appeared first on Liliputing.

Samsung issued a software update on October 2 that bricked some older Galaxy smartphones. While Samsung has stopped the update from rolling out further, those with broken phones have received a harsh reminder of the importance of data backups.

On Wednesday, numerous people online started complaining about their Samsung phones being stuck in a bootloop (you can see examples here, here, and in newer comments here).

A Samsung spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that an update to Samsung’s SmartThings Framework app for managing smart devices caused the problems:

Read full article

Comments

Das Herbst-Update für Windows 11 enthält auch die ReFS-Funktion Block Cloning. Damit lassen sich Daten bis zu 92 Prozent schneller kopieren. (ReFS, Microsoft)