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app

Adobe launches a new ‘computational photography’ camera app for iPhones

by admin June 19, 2025

Adobe has a new computational photography camera app for iPhones – and one of its creators, Marc Levoy, helped make the impressive computational photography features that made some of Google’s earlier Pixel cameras shine.

The new app, called Project Indigo, was released last week by Adobe Labs. It’s free and available for the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, and all iPhone 14 models and above. (Though Adobe recommends using an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.) It also doesn’t require logging into an Adobe account to use.

“Instead of capturing a single photo, Indigo captures a burst of photos and combines them together to produce a high-quality photo with lower noise and higher dynamic range,” according to the app’s description. Indigo tries to produce a natural, “SLR-like” look for photos, and it also offers a bunch of manual controls like focus, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance.

To really understand what’s going on under the hood of Project Indigo, though, I highly recommend reading a detailed blog post from Levoy, now an Adobe Fellow who joined the company in 2020 to build a “universal camera app,” and Florian Kainz, a senior scientist. The post covers things like why smartphone cameras are good, how its computational photography works, how it creates the natural look for its photos, and some details about its image processing pipeline.

It is here I must confess that I am not a camera expert by any means. But even I found the post pretty interesting and informative. The photos in the post do look great, and Adobe has an album of photos you can browse, too.

In the post, Levoy and Kainz say that Project Indigo will also be a testbed for technologies that might get added to other flagship products, like a button to remove reflections. And down the line, the team plans to build things like an Android version, a portrait mode, and even video recording.

“This is the beginning of a journey for Adobe – towards an integrated mobile camera and editing experience that takes advantage of the latest advances in computational photography and AI,” according to Levoy and Kainz. “Our hope is that Indigo will appeal to casual mobile photographers who want a natural SLR-like look for their photos, including when viewed on large screens; to advanced photographers who want manual control and the highest possible image quality; and to anyone – casual or serious – who enjoys playing with new photographic experiences.”

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Musk’s X to offer investment and trading in ‘super app’: report

by admin June 19, 2025

X, formerly Twitter, is looking to enhance its “super app” credentials with the rollout of in-app investment and trading features.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the social media platform, which has gained significant traction since Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022, is eyeing the new functionality as part of a broader plan to evolve into an all-in-one financial app.

Musk’s Tesla was among the first major companies to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and his crypto-related posts have included nods to some of the market’s top memecoins.

Musk’s plans for X

X has increasingly become a top platform for social engagement and news, with Musk among its most vocal advocates. In addition to cryptocurrencies, users have called for the integration of everyday solutions and services.

X chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino, who succeeded Musk as CEO in June 2023, shared fresh details about what the platform is planning.

She told the Financial Times in an interview that the goal is to bring all financial services to the public through a single app. It’s not just about the ability to, for instance, pay for pizza, she said, but also to make investments or trade assets.

“A whole commerce ecosystem and a financial ecosystem is going to emerge on the platform that does not exist today,” Yaccarino added .

Partnerships and integrations

X recently revealed its partnership with Polymarket, picking the blockchain-based platform as its official prediction market partner.

The move follows Musk’s comments on launching a peer-to-peer digital wallet service, dubbed X Money. Notably, this is expected to be a collaboration with payments giant Visa.

In her remarks, Yaccarino confirmed that the upcoming trading and investment features will initially be available to users in the United States. A broader rollout will aim to offer global users services such as merchandise purchases and tipping.

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Adobe Project Indigo is a new photo app from former Pixel camera engineers

by admin June 19, 2025

Adobe launched its own take on how smartphone cameras should work this week with Project Indigo, a new iPhone camera app from some of the team behind the Pixel camera. The project combines the computational photography techniques that engineers Marc Levoy and Florian Kainz popularized at Google, with pro controls and new AI-powered features.

In their announcement of the new app, Levoy and Kainz style Project Indigo as the better answer to typical smartphone camera complaints of limited controls and over-processing. Rather than using aggressive tone mapping and sharpening, Project Indigo is supposed to use “only mild tone mapping, boosting of color saturation, and sharpening.” That’s intentionally not the same as the “zero-processing” approach some third-party apps are taking. “Based on our conversations with photographers, what they really want is not zero-process but a more natural look — more like what an SLR might produce,” Levoy and Kainz write.

Adobe

The new app also has fully manual controls, “and the highest image quality that computational photography can provide,” whether you want a JPEG or a RAW file at the end. Project Indigo achieves that by dramatically under-exposing the shots it combines together, and relying on a larger number of shots to combine — up to 32 frames, according to Levoy and Kainz. The app also includes some of Adobe’s more experimental photo features, like “Remove Reflections,” which uses AI to eliminate reflections from photos.

Levoy left Google in 2020, and joined Adobe a few months later to form a team with the express goal of building a “universal camera app”. Based on his LinkedIn, Kainz joined Adobe that same year. At Google, Kainz and Levoy were often credited with popularizing the concept of computational photography, where camera apps rely more on software than hardware to produce quality smartphone photos. Google’s success in that arena kicked off a camera arms race that’s raised the bar everywhere, but also led to some pretty over-the-top photos. Project Indigo is a bit of a corrective, and also an interesting test whether a third-party app that might produce better photos is enough to beat the default.

Project Indigo is available to download for free now, and runs on either the iPhone 12 Pro and up, or the iPhone 14 and up. An Android version of the app is coming at some point in the future.

If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

A photo of a pride banner hung in a street gettyimages-2099610127

Gaming Gear

Looking for Meaningful Connection This Pride Season? This AI App May Help

by admin June 18, 2025

Enter: me, a queer person who’s never quite fit neatly into any one box. The whole idea of online dating always felt a little intimidating, particularly when I don’t easily fit into predefined categories. Yet, I was willing to try out an app to connect with the community.

I found and liked the LGBTQ+ dating app, Taimi, specifically for its use of artificial intelligence in support of community, depth and user safety. The idea of scrolling through profiles and picking from rigid options felt limiting, but this felt like only a small step outside my comfort zone.

Generative AI supporting technology — in support of humans. I could work with that. Okay, let’s begin.

What is Taimi, and how does it use AI?

Taimi initially launched under the name “TameMe,” founded by Alex Pasykov, who also founded Hily, a dating app for straight singles. While straight, Alex is known for outspoken allyship and received the Gay Times Honours Community Entrepreneurship Award in 2020 for his efforts to support LGBTQ+ folks (specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic). At the time of writing, Taimi has over 25 million users across 138 countries.

Taimi uses AI in three key areas: its matching algorithm, safety and moderation, and its feedback loop. This is to provide its users with maximized compatibility outcomes and deliver tailored suggestions over time.

I appreciate Taimi’s use of AI to help shift matching away from pairing based on age, gender and location and instead focus on relationship building from your profile’s personality. It’s pretty community-focused, steering away from casual swiping and toward purposeful connections.

How to use Taimi to connect with others

The Taimi home page.

Taimi/Screenshot by CNET

Setting up an account on Taimi is pretty easy, and its AI features work in the background to provide you with a tailored algorithm — powered by AI and data signals from app activity — for matches.

Download Taimi from the App Store or Google Play store.
To set up your profile, add photos, a short bio and your preferences. This helps the algorithm learn your specific needs when searching for friends, dates or other members to digitally (and hopefully literally) connect with.
The more you use Taimi, the smarter the algorithm gets at understanding your tastes and compatibility. So, as you swipe and message folks, your preferences are being assessed.
Taimi’s AI will highlight profiles and groups it thinks you’d align with to help ease the overwhelm and connect with folks more likely to appreciate you and form actual connections. It will also feature smart recommendations that contain nearby events or meetups, and community spaces for creating and fostering healthy relationships.
You’ll get the most out of Taimi by providing feedback about your experience — that includes liking, passing and blocking profiles — which allows the algorithm to evolve alongside your preferences and become more accurate over time.

As with any dating app, safety and privacy are key here, especially since the LGBTQ+ community is more vulnerable to discrimination. Taimi also uses AI-assisted content filtering to identify, report and remove key indicators of harm like harassment, suspicious profiles, hate speech and inappropriate messages.

For example, I could not screenshot or utilize a workaround photo-taking software within Taimi — even for tabs that didn’t contain sensitive information — to showcase how the app works. While annoying at the moment, I’m proud of Taimi for diligently keeping information private throughout its user experience.

Should you use Taimi?

Taimi is built for LGBTQ+ folks who want AI-powered matching and strong moderation to help keep things real and respectful, which matters when you want meaningful interactions online. It’s also built for a lot more than dating, which can be an easy entry for folks who are wary of dating apps or the pressure to find solely romantic connections through them.

What comes in each Taimi subscription.

Taimi/Screenshot by CNET

I see Taimi as great for people who want to experiment and figure out how to use the platform for their unique goals. Relationships from dating apps don’t always happen overnight, so being flexible about outcomes can make the whole experience way more rewarding.

You can access most of its features on its free plan, so there’s also not much commitment on the app’s side. (Maybe Taimi’s keeping that for the actual connections happening within the app.)

Now, if you’re only into quick hookups or want a super niche dating pool, Taimi’s broader social and advocacy vibe might not be your best option, as it’s designed for diversity and connection within the LGBTQ+ community.

It’s also fair to mention that you shouldn’t expect to open the app and immediately walk away with a partnership; meaningful relationships take time, both online and off.

But like anything else, I am a strong advocate for trying it out before you buy it, and see how you find yourself engaging with others on the platform. Having millions of users is impressive, but what matters is if it works for you.

Enjoy your time and happy pride.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Meta warns users to ‘avoid sharing personal or sensitive information’ in its AI app

by admin June 17, 2025

Meta seems to have finally taken a small step to address the epidemic of over-sharing happening in the public feed of its AI app. The company has added a short disclaimer that warns users to “avoid sharing personal or sensitive information” to the “post to feed” button in the Meta AI app.

The change was first spotted by Business Insider, which labeled the app “one of the most depressing places online” due to the sheer volume of intimate, embarrassing and sometimes personally-identifying information Meta AI users were — apparently unwittingly — publicly sharing to the app’s built-in “discover” feed. Though Meta AI doesn’t share users’ chat histories by default, it seems that many of the app’s users were choosing to “share” their interactions without realizing it would make the voice and text chats visible to the public.

Last week, I found posts where users asked for advice on “improving bowel movements” and inquiring whether a relative could be liable for their employer’s unpaid taxes. Another user desperately added “keep this private” to his public posts in an apparent attempt to hide his embarrassing chats after the fact. These types of strange public interactions have been happening since the Meta AI app rolled out in April, but received renewed attention last week after social media users began posting about all of the weird conversations that were visible in the app’s “discover” feed.

Privacy experts criticized Meta, noting that most other mainstream AI chatbots don’t include a social, publicly-visible feed. “If a user’s expectations about how a tool functions don’t match reality, you’ve got yourself a huge user experience and security problem,” Rachel Tobac, a security expert who has previously partnered with Meta, observed last week. “Humans have built a schema around AI chat bots and do not expect their AI chat bot prompts to show up in a social media style Discover feed — it’s not how other tools function.” The Mozilla Foundation also urged Meta to change the app’s design. “Meta AI’s app doesn’t make it obvious that what you share goes fully public,” it wrote in a statement last week There’s no clear iconography, no familiar cues about sharing like in other Meta apps.”

Now, the company has apparently taken note. With the change, choosing to share a Meta AI interaction publicly prompts the warning seen above, though it only seems to appear on the first share. “Prompts you post are public and visible to everyone,” it states. “Your prompts may be suggested by Meta on other Meta apps. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information.”

As Business Insider notes, the app’s public feed also seems to no longer feature text exchanges other users have shared with the app, only AI-generated images and video. It’s unclear if that’s a permanent change, or the result of the recent negative attention the app’s received. We’ve reached out to Meta for more information and will update if we hear back.

In the meantime, if you’ve found yourself the victim of unintended public posts in the app, you can remove them by tapping on your profile in the top right corner of the app, heading to Data & Privacy -> Manage your information -> Make all public prompts visible only to you and selecting “apply to all.”

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June 17, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The Meta AI App Lets You ‘Discover’ People’s Bizarrely Personal Chats

by admin June 13, 2025

“What counties [sic] do younger women like older white men,” a public message from a user on Meta’s AI platform says. “I need details, I’m 66 and single. I’m from Iowa and open to moving to a new country if I can find a younger woman.” The chatbot responded enthusiastically: “You’re looking for a fresh start and love in a new place. That’s exciting!” before suggesting “Mediterranean countries like Spain or Italy, or even countries in Eastern Europe.”

This is just one of many seemingly personal conversations that can be publicly viewed on Meta AI, a chatbot platform that doubles as a social feed and launched in April. Within the Meta AI app, a “discover” tab shows a timeline of other people’s interactions with the chatbot; a short scroll down on the Meta AI website is an extensive collage. While some of the highlighted queries and answers are innocuous—trip itineraries, recipe advice—others reveal locations, telephone numbers, and other sensitive information, all tied to user names and profile photos.

Calli Schroeder, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in an interview with WIRED that she has seen people “sharing medical information, mental health information, home addresses, even things directly related to pending court cases.”

“All of that’s incredibly concerning, both because I think it points to how people are misunderstanding what these chatbots do or what they’re for and also misunderstanding how privacy works with these structures,” Schroeder says.

It’s unclear whether the users of the app are aware that their conversations with Meta’s AI are public or which users are trolling the platform after news outlets began reporting on it. The conversations are not public by default; users have to choose to share them.

There is no shortage of conversations between users and Meta’s AI chatbot that seem intended to be private. One user asked the AI chatbot to provide a format for terminating a renter’s tenancy, while another asked it to provide an academic warning notice that provides personal details including the school’s name. Another person asked about their sister’s liability in potential corporate tax fraud in a specific city using an account that ties to an Instagram profile that displays a first and last name. Someone else asked it to develop a character statement to a court which also provides a myriad of personally identifiable information both about the alleged criminal and the user himself.

There are also many instances of medical questions, including people divulging their struggles with bowel movements, asking for help with their hives, and inquiring about a rash on their inner thighs. One user told Meta AI about their neck surgery and included their age and occupation in the prompt. Many, but not all, accounts appear to be tied to a public Instagram profile of the individual.

Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts wrote in an emailed statement to WIRED that users’ chats with Meta AI are private unless users go through a multistep process to share them on the Discover feed. The company did not respond to questions regarding what mitigations are in place for sharing personally identifiable information on the Meta AI platform.

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June 13, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Binance announces Defi App (HOME) listing and 200m airdrop for BNB holders

by admin June 12, 2025

Binance is launching a retroactive airdrop for active BNB holders with no new activity needed.

Binance has announced the 22nd project in its HODLers rewards program: the DeFi App (HOME). The airdrop will distribute 200 million HOME tokens to BNB holders who previously used Simple Earn or other on-chain yield programs.

The airdrop is retroactive and applies to users who interacted with yield products on Binance between June 6 and June 9. Distribution begins on June 12, after which the token will transition from Binance Alpha to the main exchange.

According to its developers, the HOME token, also known as DeFi App, is designed to make decentralized finance more accessible. It features gasless transactions across multiple blockchains and avoids the use of cross-chain bridges. The project also claims to offer full user custody over tokens.

DeFi App reported on June 10 that it had processed $15 billion in trading volume and attracted nearly 400,000 users since launch.

Binance Alpha airdrops are increasingly popular

The move is part of the Binance HODLer Airdrops program, which makes active users eligible for rewards based on their BNB (BNB) balances. Specifically, users who subscribe their BNB to Simple Earn are automatically eligible for the airdrops.

Binance has positioned the program as a user acquisition strategy. Data shows the Binance wallet has recently surpassed MetaMask and OKX in user volume, a trend some observers attribute to the Alpha rewards program.

However, the strategy is not without controversy. Namely, some Binance users are complaining that Alpha users are getting all rewards, while testnet users are getting overlooked. Disgruntled users even started a #StopBinanceAlpha hashtag on X.

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June 12, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Switch 2 PSA: Set Up Auto-Uploads To The Switch Mobile App Now

by admin June 10, 2025

The Nintendo Switch 2 allows players to auto-upload screenshots and videos taken in-game to their mobile device via the Nintendo Switch App–but this handy feature isn’t enabled by default. Here’s how to make sure you’re getting the most out of the app.

First things first, make sure you have the Nintendo Switch App downloaded on your mobile device of choice. Formerly known as the Nintendo Switch Online App, the official companion app has been updated with some great new functionality for the Switch 2–much of it no longer requiring a Nintendo Switch Online membership to use.

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Auto-uploading is one of the features that can be enabled even without a membership. To turn it on, go to System Settings, scroll down to Data Management, and then find the Manage Screenshots and Videos menu. From here, select Upload Settings, and turn on the toggle for automatic uploads. The process will ask you to select which account you are changing settings for, which should be the same account you’re logged into on both the Switch app and your Switch 2 console.

The automatic upload feature will store up to 100 files in the app for a maximum of 30 days, so make sure to download any pics and videos you want, and periodically clean them out if you take a lot of screenshots and video captures.

The Nintendo Switch App can also be used to check and manage your friends list, and it also has some companion features for certain games–including the new voice-acted Zelda Notes guide exclusively for the Switch 2 editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. While the app can be used for voice chat with friends on the original Nintendo Switch, this functionality has been replaced by the Switch 2 internal app GameChat.

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June 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Every WWDC should end with a song composed of app reviews

by admin June 9, 2025

Partway through WWDC 2025, I started tracking every time I heard the word “delightful.” I might have missed a few, but there were at least eight times when some exec was insisting to me that an element of the upcoming iOS 26, macOS Tahoe and Apple’s other platforms merited the adjective. And maybe some people truly do feel unfettered joy about UI design, but that’s the sort of attitude in these events that makes me roll my eyes.

Apple always tries very hard to inject levity and personality into its keynotes. Most of the time, that winds up leaning on cringe from Craig Federighi, who seems quite affable about being the punchline. Sometimes I smirk a little, but again, more often than not, it’s another eye-roll. That was the case this year, as Apple bludgeoned us with a tie-in for its upcoming F1 movie, which already leans pretty hard on product placement.

Then there’s the developer devotion. Yes, Apple needs devs to use its tools and programs. Yes, the company can and should give them some kudos. But sometimes, the adulation that I’ve heard heaped on the WWDC audience in the past is so cheesy, so over-eager that it flies way past sincerity and into schlock.

Just as I was ready to turn off the stream, the curtain rose on a grand piano. And to my surprise, the final three minutes of a full band performing real reviews of apps became the actual highlight of WWDC for me.

This isn’t an original idea. Reviews, good and bad, are well-mined fodder for comedians and social media content. Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and others have made musical gags a staple of recent late night talk shows. But the way Apple decided to do it this year was, in a word, delightful.

Each review was heartfelt or dopey or both; see “saved my marriage” for Citymapper and “If this doesn’t win best app of the year, I’ll eat my shoe” for Lost in Play. It took the essential internet wisdom of “don’t read the comments” and turned it into gold. This silly little song managed to do everything Apple wants to do at WWDC in a really amusing package. It’s the dev props, it’s the splashy production, it’s legit entertainment.

For anyone who, like me, was actually humming the tune even after the stream ended, the video is up as a standalone on YouTube and was performed by soul/R&B singer Allen Stone. And to whatever producer came up with this idea: you have my utmost appreciation. Six out of five stars indeed.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Bambu Lab removes third-party app support for P and A series 3D printers

by admin June 9, 2025

A big part of the 3D printing world includes the frequent adoption of open source tools, reinforced by community-driven support. Whether its files for printing or software for processing them, there are plenty of resources online available to enhance your 3D printing experience. Manufacturer Bambu Labs has created obstructions to this trend, however, by banning third party apps from being installed for its P and A series 3D printers.

The change comes from new firmware releases for the P1P, P1S (we love this printer, check out our review of the P1S to see why) and A1 3D printers. The firmware was centered around this specific decision and doesn’t feature any other changes. According to the change logs, printers updated to use this new firmware will reject unofficial software from installing.

In effect, this prevents users from using third-party applications on their machines by default. Thankfully, there are a few ways around this that will still allow you to make the most of your 3D printing workflow using your favorite apps and add-ons. One way is to avoid the update altogether, however this means your printer will be unsupported going forward unless you choose to update it. The other option is to take advantage of Developer Mode, which gives you the authorization to install third party apps.