News

Intel Unveils Next-Generation Thunderbolt Prototype

Intel has demonstrated an early iteration of its next-generation Thunderbolt technology, based on new USB4 v2 and DisplayPort 2.1 specs.

Published

2 years ago

October 20, 2022

Nour Nasir

Intel

Intel has just released details of an early prototype of the next generation of its Thunderbolt technology. The next implementation of the port will deliver 80 Gbps of throughput, along with 120 Gbps of bandwidth, when hooked up to a display. These figures represent a massive leap in performance over the (already fast) current generation, and will be welcomed by both content creators and gamers alike.

“Thunderbolt is now the mainstream port on mobile PCs and integrated into three generations of Intel mobile CPUs. We’re very excited to lead the industry forward with the next generation of Thunderbolt built on the USB4 v2 specification,” says Jason Ziller, Client Connectivity Division, Intel.

intel next generation of thunderbolt

In addition to supporting the latest USB4 standard, the next generation of Thunderbolt will feature a variety of improvements, including:

Twice the total bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, with triple the bandwidth for video-intensive applications.
Support for DisplayPort 2.1.
Twice the PCI Express data throughput for faster transfers and external GPUs.
Ability to use existing passive cables up to 1m.
Compatibility with previous versions of Thunderbolt, USB, and DisplayPort.
Supported by Intel certification programs.

Also Read: Intel And Broadcom Show Off Super-Fast Wi-Fi 7 Technology

So when will gamers and content creators benefit from this new generation of Thunderbolt? Details are currently sparse, and Intel is well known for its stringent testing and certification programs, so it will be a fair while before we see major manufacturers adding updated ports to docks, laptops, and other hardware.

We’ll be sure to keep enthusiasts updated as the technology develops, but we doubt there will be further news until well into 2023.

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

14 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.

Also Read: Lebanese Newspaper Builds AI President To Beat Political Crisis

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”.