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Adobe Releases Firefly Generative AI Video Tools In Beta
The model powers new features such as Generative Extend and text-to-video, with tools also coming to Photoshop and Frame.io.
Adobe has officially entered the generative AI (GAI) arena by rolling out its Firefly Video Model, designed to power various features across the company’s extensive suite of apps. At Adobe MAX, the company announced that several of these new tools are now available in beta.
One of the standout features, known as Generative Extend, was first previewed earlier this year within Adobe Premiere Pro. The tool enables editors to add AI-generated footage or audio to either the start or end of a clip, which can be particularly helpful when a necessary shot is missing, or the transition feels incomplete.
In September, Adobe also showcased additional tools, including a text-to-video feature similar to those from OpenAI and Meta, as well as image-to-video capabilities. Both of these tools are now available in beta within the Firefly web app — though access may require joining a waitlist.
Like other Firefly models, the Firefly Video Model and its associated features are designed with commercial safety in mind. Content Credentials watermarks are automatically applied to any AI-generated content.
On the Photoshop front, Adobe has also rolled out features that were previewed earlier this year. The latest Firefly Image Model powers Generative Fill and Generative Expand, which Adobe says can create images up to four times faster than before. There’s also the new Generate Similar tool, which allows users to create alternate versions of an object in a photo until they find the ideal match.
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Additionally, Photoshop’s Remove tool has been enhanced with a feature called Distraction Removal. This new option lets users quickly erase certain elements, such as wires, cables, or even people, from images — similar to Google’s Magic Eraser.
Finally, Frame.io V4 has launched, marking the largest update to Adobe’s collaborative platform since its debut nearly a decade ago. With a full redesign aimed at enhancing workflows and improving the video player, the update also introduces support for Canon, Nikon, and Leica’s Camera to Cloud (C2C) feature, meaning most major manufacturers now support direct uploads of photos and videos to Frame.io.
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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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