News
LimeWire Is About To Make A Comeback As An NFT Marketplace
LimeWire has launched an invite-only private token sale as the last major milestone before officially launching the marketplace itself in May 2022.
If you were on the internet between 2000 and 2010, the chances are that you have experience with using LimeWire to download content of a questionable legal status.
Now, the name of the popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application is making a comeback as an NFT marketplace powered by the Algorand blockchain, which is also home to ZestBloom, Abrist, Dartroom, Blocsport, Asolp, and other NFT and digital art marketplaces.
“LimeWire is back to bring digital collectibles to everybody” states the official website, which currently features a waitlist for early access. LimeWire’s unexpected resurrection as an NFT marketplace can be traced to the 2021 purchase of intellectual property rights to LimeWire by Austrian brothers Julian and Paul Zehetmayr.
“The issue with the NFT market is that most platforms are decentralized” Julian told CNBC. “If you look at Bitcoin, all the exchanges are making it really easy to buy, trade, and sell Bitcoin. There’s no one really doing the same in the NFT space”.
Determined to fill the hole in the market, Julian and Paul established a core team in Q3 2021, and they’re now ready to launch an invite-only private token sale as the last major milestone before officially launching the marketplace itself in May 2022.
Also Read: 5 Gaming Cryptos That Will Explode In 2023
To be as user-friendly as possible, the LimeWire NFT marketplace will show prices in US dollars, instead of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Even the choice of the Algorand blockchain is meant to increase the project’s mainstream appeal because Algorand relies on a low-energy consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Stake to address major concerns around the energy consumed by cryptocurrencies.
It will be interesting to see how many of the millennials who remember LimeWire from their childhood years will react positively to the platform’s comeback when it launches in the near future.
News
Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users
Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.
Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.
The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.
Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.
The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.
Also Read: RØDE Adds Direct iPhone Pairing To Wireless GO And Pro Mics
Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.
By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.
The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.
