News

Apple Confirms iPhone 14 Launch Event On September 7th

Expect a refreshed iPhone lineup and new Apple Watches — though there’ll be few surprises due to an abundance of leaks.

Published

2 years ago

August 25, 2022

Nour Nasir

Apple

Apple has announced its next big product launch date. The Cupertino company has invited journalists for a September 7th event at the Steve Jobs Theater, situated on Apple’s main campus.

The launch will be the first in-person event hosted by Apple since the pandemic, at least if we discount the outdoor WWDC keynote from earlier this year. The invite, which contained the tagline “Far out”, is an intriguing choice — perhaps hinting at extended telephoto functionality for iPhones or representing a nod to some kind of satellite connectivity (something bouncing around the Apple rumor mill for a while).

iphone 14 color line-up

Either way, the proliferation of (almost certainly accurate) leaks means that we already know what the new Apple iPhone lineup will look like before the event begins:

iPhone 14 (6.1 inch)
iPhone 14 Plus, or Max (6.7 inch)
iPhone 14 Pro (6.1 inch)
iPhone 14 Pro Max (6.7 inch)

If you were expecting an iPhone Mini 14, you will almost certainly be let down. The company is thought to be ditching the model, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews, as sales have been pretty disastrous since its release.

So what can we expect from the lineup? Well, the biggest news would be the release of the iPhone 14 Plus (or Max), a 6.7-inch version of the standard iPhone 14, to match the two sizes offered by the Pro models. Speaking of the flagship phones, Apple is rumored to be beefing up the main cameras of both iPhone 14 Pros, with a much larger 48MP sensor and an autofocus enabled front-facing camera.

What else can we expect from the new handsets?

Rumors are circulating that the infamous notch will be axed in favor of a punched hole for the front camera and a pill-shaped cut-out for the Face ID sensor. Apple is also expected to add an always-on mode for the screen (iPhone Pro versions only) using the variable refresh rate of the screen to preserve the battery by slowing it to 1Hz.

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As well as the refreshed iPhone lineup, three new Apple Watches may be announced at the event. The Apple Watch Series 8 is rumored to look just like the Series 7 but will include a body temperature sensor. There are also hints that a cheaper SE watch will also surface, along with a high-end model featuring a larger battery and chunky screen.

Although there are rumors of new Macs, iPads, and Airpods, we’re not expecting to see anything revolutionary materialize at the same event.

News

Adobe Reveals New AI Tools That Will Wow Photoshop Novices

The company is forging ahead with its Firefly-based AI features, but some professionals have copyright concerns.

Published

7 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Nour Nasir

Adobe

On Tuesday, April 23, Adobe announced a beta version of Photoshop boasting several fresh features aimed at helping users generate new images and manipulate existing files through text prompts. The latest generative AI additions harness the power of Adobe’s new Firefly Image 3 model.

Among the highlights of the update is the Generate Image tool, designed to generate images based on textual cues, providing users who struggle with a blank canvas a starting point to work from. Additionally, Generative Fill, an existing tool for background completion or image expansion, now incorporates a Reference Image function. The enhancement enables users to guide the tool’s output towards a specific aesthetic or theme by uploading an image as a reference.

adobe photoshop ai update firefly image 3 model

The new AI tools significantly simplify the process of translating creative ideas into images and should be useful to both Photoshop novices and seasoned pros. Firefly Image 3 now has the ability to produce astonishingly realistic images, and its enhanced understanding of text prompts is now considered industry-leading.

Despite facing scrutiny over its training data and a backlash from certain segments of the creative community, Adobe remains committed to integrating generative AI features into its entire software suite. The company continues to assert that Firefly is a safe, ethical option for commercial use and positions it as an alternative to competitors like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion —both of which have faced allegations of using copyrighted material without proper attribution or compensation.

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Despite Adobe’s confidence in Firefly’s abilities, recent findings have uncovered that its training dataset includes AI-generated images sourced from Midjourney and similar platforms, raising questions about the integrity of Adobe’s claims regarding the model’s commercial viability.

While Adobe maintains that its generative AI models are trained on licensed or public domain content from Adobe Stock, enthusiast Nick St. Pierre recently pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that “over 13% of all images on Adobe Stock are AI-generated,” and that “most of the generated content comes from Dalle and Midjourney”.