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Now you can design Google Photo Books on iOS or Android
Among the many things Google announced at I/O 2017 last week, one of them was the ability for people to create and order physical albums with Google Photos. The only problem with that, however, is you could only use it through a desktop browser. Thankfully, the search giant has updated its Photos app on iOS and Android to support the new feature, letting you use your mobile device to easily order a book of your favorite images -- which can be created automatically using Google's AI.
Google Photos adds an archive button to declutter your stream
Google Photos has been gently nudging users to store and share more on its service lately. Earlier this month, the Photos team unveiled some AI-powered sharing suggestions and a Google Lens integration that will make its image recognitions even smarter. But the latest update is a much simpler one meant to keep your photos in Google's cloud without crowding up your main stream.
Google simplifies sharing notes, calendars and photos with family
Google knows that a large part of its customer base probably have families. That's why it introduced a family plan option to Google Music a couple of years ago, as well as Family Library sharing for the Play Store last year. When YouTube TV launched a few weeks ago, you could add up to five additional family members to your plan from the start. Now, Google is ready to add family-friendly features to even more of its products; namely: Calendar, Keep and Photos. With Calendar, this means that you can now have a shared family calendar with everyone's schedules in one place. A shared Keep account means you can share shopping lists and notes so that everyone's on the same page. And finally, a shared Photos group means that anyone in the family can add photos and videos to the same album without much hassle. To be fair, these are all features that you could already do before; Google is just making it that much easier with a pre-rolled family group that you can create right from the start. These family sharing features will roll out starting today in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the UK and the US.
Instagram apes Snapchat yet again with face filters
At this point, it's probably easier to note the features Instagram and Facebook haven't swiped from Snapchat. Those tools already include the likes of Stories, stickers and more. Today, the filter-driven photo app announced a slew of new features, one of which looks quite familiar: face filters. That's tight, the goofy headwear, animal noses, glasses and more you know and love on Snapchat are now available for your selfies on Instagram.
Google Photo's Mother's Day video tool is no substitute for a card
Google often likes to dip its toes into holidays and notable days to remind everyone what its apps can do (and could you use them, please?), and it's recently added a special Mother's Day assistant to its Photos app. Given that Google selects the photos and cuts it all together, it's possibly the lowest-effort Mother's Day 'gift' if you've totally forgotten and / or have no intention of buying a genuine card or seeing mom in person next weekend. (But seriously, you have a week and two days left to sort something, pull it together.)
Google Photos for iOS beams images to your TV with AirPlay
Google has been improving its Photos app for a while now, adding features like automatic white balance, compensation for wobbly video, social photo editing tools and even improving Apple's own Live Photos. The one thing it's been missing, however, is the ability to send your photos and videos to an Apple TV right from the app using AirPlay. That's been remedied, though, with a new update that's available to download right now from the App Store.
Google Photos will make your shaky videos watchable
Google's Photos app has long been compensating for wobbly Live Photos taken with an iPhone. Now it can do same for any video in your device. The tech titan has begun rolling out Photos' long-awaited video stabilizer, according to Android Police, which has already tested it out. To use it, simply click the pen icon while viewing a video within the app and tap the new feature's button right next to "Rotate."
Adobe shows how AI can work wonders on your selfie game
Adobe has been focused on making its mobile apps powerful photo-editing tools for quite some time. At its annual MAX design conference last fall, the company debuted Sensei: a collection of AI and deep learning tools that can analyze an image before applying some pretty hefty edits. To show off just what the system is capable of, Adobe posted a video this week that shows how Sensei can help transform a sub-par selfie into something worthy of Instagram or Snapchat.
Adobe's experimental app copies one photo's style to another
Photo retouching and style matching (not to be confused with Prisma-like Instagram filters) is challenging work that requires a trained eye and hours of labor. At least, it was, until AI took that job, too. Researchers from Adobe and Cornell University have showed off an experimental app called "Deep Photo Style transfer" that can transform your image from drab to dramatic using someone else's photo.
Google app test makes editing photos more social
Right on the heels of killing off Google Talk, the company has admitted it's working on a new app for group photo editing and sharing. While Google already has the chat app Allo and video calling app Duo, it may be feeling pressure from its competitors' similar offerings. Facebook has a similar social photo sharing app called Moments, for example, while Apple just announced its AI-powered movie editing app, Clips.
Finding the dog pictures you want on Flickr just got easier
Flickr is finally catching up to the likes of Google Photos and Google Search. Now when you check out Yahoo's photo sharing site you can find all manner of visually similar pictures just by clicking the "..." button on an image. From there, you should find relevant and, as the name suggests, similar photos to what you had in mind. Yahoo explains that this uses computer vision to achieve its results. There's a lot in that post to digest, but the key takeaway is that with time, it'll get better at delivering the bloodhound photos you're craving. And if you want to try using Yahoo's Locally Optimized Product Quantization for your own sorting techniques, it's open source. Get crackin'!
Adobe Lightroom mobile now captures RAW images in HDR mode
If you enjoy capturing high dynamic range (HDR) images with your phone, Adobe just added a new feature to Lightroom mobile that might come in handy. Starting today on both Android and iOS versions of the app, you can capture those HDR scenes as RAW files. The software automatically scans your subject to determine the ideal exposure range before snapping three photos in Adobe's DNG RAW format. Lightroom mobile will then employ algorithms to do all the aligning, merging, tone mapping and more to build the final 32-bit RAW image.
Google Photos automatically fixes your pictures' white balance
Google Photos is one of the more hidden jewels of the company's software family -- especially if you snagged a Pixel phone and unlimited storage. A way of storing all your photos online (and making them delightfully searchable thanks to machine learning), the service is getting smarter, yet again. The latest addition to auto-correcting exposure and color saturation is white balance. Select a 'look' when editing photos through the web or on the Android app, and Google's magic will ensure your whites are naturally whiter, whether that means removing some yellow or adjusting the blues. (That's what we mean by white balance. See scientific corgi example above.) For those that like to be in control, you can still tweak the balance manually with some sliding controls in the Color subsection, under Warmth and Tint.
Photographer captures nature through surveillance webcams
Nature photography usually involves a lot of being outside and walking. That's fine for some, but photographer Marcus DeSieno captures our world's natural majesty from his computer, via online traffic and weather camera feeds.
Facebook's AI image search can 'see' what's in photos
If you forget to tag or add a description when uploading a photo or gallery to Facebook, it can be tough to find an image when you need it. Or at least it used to be. The social network revealed today that it built an AI image search system that can "see" things in your photos even when you forget to add the aforementioned identifiers. Facebook says the system uses its Lumos platform to understand the content of photos and videos and quickly sort through the items you've uploaded.
Facebook Slideshows are slowly rolling out on Android
Last June Facebook launched the Google-Photos-like Slideshow feature on iOS and now the social network is ready to spread the love. Android Police reports that the feature is in a slow rollout, so you might not be able to upload photos into a mini-movie of sorts yourself just yet. To see if you have it, make a new status update within the app and hit the "Slideshow" button. It's denoted with an orange movie camera should reside between the "feeling/activity" and "tag friends" options. And that's about it. Jealous that you still might not have it? Well, you could always draft a colorful status update to express your discontent.
Google+ revives one of its most useful features: Events
Google overhauled Google+ from top to bottom in late 2015 to shift the focus to communities. The company has been tweaking the social platform since that change and today its announcing the latest updates. First, events are back on Google+. Starting January 24th, one of the more handy features the social network had to offer will return. The means you will be able to create and join events on the web, but the tool won't be part of G Suite right now.
Researchers warn peace sign photos could expose fingerprints
As if the constant data breaches that threaten to expose the one password you use for absolutely everything weren't enough, apparently you now need to start worrying about posting that cute selfie. The peace sign is many people's go-to picture pose, and it's particularly popular in East Asia, but according to researchers it's also the perfect way to expose your fingerprints online. In a study conducted at Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII), investigators found that, if the focus and lighting was right, they could recreate fingerprints from images shot up to 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) from the subject.
Prisma app improves photo quality and breaks out of the square
The app that uses algorithms to tweak your photos into artistic masterpieces, Prisma, spent the six months since it debuted in June applying its filters to videos and Facebook Live in early November. Though the social titan soon shut down the latter, the app continues to release features. The latest: A location-based GeoFeed and ditching the square image format, adding a free aspect ratio to your converted photos.
Facebook gives you basic access to Moments photos on the web
Facebook's Moments photo sharing service has, for the most part, been a mobile-only affair. You could see individual Moments thanks to links, but you couldn't just go browsing. However, you no longer have to turn to your phone for almost everything. In the wake of tests, Facebook is introducing a basic web version of Moments that lets you browse a collection of private photo albums. You can't add photos, create slideshows or even comment, but it beats having to fire up the Android or iOS app just to revisit a memory.
