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Google’s new NeRF AI has learned to see in the dark better than any camera you own

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Computational photography is a big thing these days. Not only when it comes to smartphones but also with software for the desktop using photos shot with a “real camera”. One particular area where it’s beneficial is noise reduction. It’s built into many smartphone camera apps automatically and it’s available for the desktop in applications like Noise Ninja and Topaz DeNoise AI, not to mention denoising features built into apps like Lightroom.

Google’s new Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) AI, titled RawNeRF (AKA NeRF in the Dark), however, blows them all away, with images that are not only so good they look almost flawless but it can then go on to generate completely artificial 3D scenes that you can move around in after the fact, as well as adjust exposure, gamma & tone mapping and even focus – including bokeh balls!

Google pays $100 million after being sued over Google Photos facial recognition

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Last month, Illinois filed a class action lawsuit against Google over privacy concerns. As the Google Photos app uses facial recognition, plaintiffs alleged that the company broke Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). However, the company has settled, and it will now have to pay a total of $100 million to the app users.

Snap, Google and Apple sued for failing to protect kids from online predators

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Yet another lawsuit has arisen against Snap, and this time, Google and Apple have been sued, too. A 16-year-old girl and her mother sued the three companies after a grown man, an active-duty Marine, had manipulated the girl into sending him nude photos since she was 12. The lawsuit claims that the companies failed to protect teen users from “egregious harm” and the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM).

Google’s new skin tone scale could reduce AI’s racial bias

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We’ve already seen some cases of AI being biased towards lighter skin tones. But Google wants to turn it around and it’s now using an alternative, more inclusive skin tone scale.

Teaming up with a Harvard professor, Google is using and open-sourcing the Monk Skin Tone (MST) Scale. It’s more inclusive than the current tech-industry standard, making various skin tones included in search results.

Google introduces Immersive view to Maps giving you extra info for planning shoots

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Scouting locations for photoshoots used to be a time consuming and expensive affair. You often had to physically visit the place, or if you couldn’t, then you had to hire someone to act as a guide or location scout. While there’s still no substitute for actually visiting a place in advance, these days we have a lot more options at our fingertips.

Google has just announced the release of Immersive view. This could be incredibly useful for photographers who want to scout locations from the comfort of their home, or well, from anywhere to be honest.

Amazon, Google, SmugMug, Apple: what’s the best home for your photos?

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When last we met, I pointed out the perils of using Apple’s iCloud Photos for photo backup for one simple reason: if you delete an image off your iPhone, Apple will in turn also delete it from iCloud*.

This time I’d like to go over the best alternative photo backup options for you in more detail, because like it or not, in today’s world, just like paying for food, shelter and taxes, if you snap photos on your smartphone or camera, you will be paying for online storage. And paying more in the coming years as well, as you snap more images.

There’s no such thing as free backup anymore.

72% of American users don’t trust Facebook, says poll

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This one definitely falls under the “No Sh*t Sherlock!” category. According to a Washington Post-Schar School survey, the majority of Americans don’t trust any of the large social media companies such as Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, but are torn because they still wish to access and use their products and services.

Google’s “Backup and Sync” will stop working at the end of September

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Launched in 2017, Google’s Backup and Sync app was its way of tying your desktop computer or laptop into Google Drive and Google Photos so that you could, as the name suggests, back stuff up and sync the data on your devices. That application is now being retired in favour of a new “Drive for Desktop” app. Backup and Sync will stop working completely this year, and the rollout of the new Drive for Desktop app has already begun.

It’s probably not much of a surprise. Google’s cloud stuff is always “evolving” despite what a pain it can often be for its users and it’s already changed Photos around quite a bit lately. The new Drive for Desktop application offers a couple of perks over the existing app, although some are only available if you’re part of a team.

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