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Google is working on using neural networks to make image files sizes smaller

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Storage space is something that both consumers and tech giants have issues with at some point or another, and a big reason for that is photos. Some users host thousands of photos on their device at any given time, and with services like Google Photos, Google is hosting millions of photos with more coming everyday. Now the company is working on a new JPEG compression method that allows smaller files sizes compared to current standards, and it’s all done using neural networks


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Google’s Motion Stills app turns Live Photos into stable GIFs and movies w/ cinematic backgrounds

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Google’s latest photography app — following behind others such as Google Photos and Snapseed — stabilizes iOS Live Photos and turns them into shareable GIFs and short movie clips. The app can create still images by freezing the background of a Live Photo and makes short videos that feature sweeping cinematic pans. The free Motion Stills app comes to us from Google Research and is only available on iOS…


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You can now quickly rotate images in Google Photos with a keyboard shortcut

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If you — like me — have enabled auto-upload to Google Photos on pretty much all of your devices, you’ve surely noticed that some photos just don’t arrive on the site with the correct orientation sometimes. The Google Photos editor — which also has filters, brightness control, etc. — is an easy fix for this (it only take a few clicks), but now Google has made rotating photos in the app even easier with a quick keyboard shortcut that you can use when viewing any photo…


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Facebook’s Android app will soon be able to identify photo contents and voice descriptions to blind users

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At a time when so many Facebook posts comprise a photo and a brief comment, there’s one group of people who get rather left out of the picture: those who are blind and partially sighted. That’s a problem Facebook is determined to fix.

From today, the company’s iOS app uses artificial intelligence to figure out the content of photos, and Apple’s VoiceOver feature to read aloud a description of them – and it says the same functionality will be coming to the Android app.


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Albums in Google Photos get smarter, now let you add maps, locations, and captions

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Google Photos launched last year with numerous smart features, like face and object detection, that make sorting and finding your photos much easier. While the Assistant feature can already create photo collages and animations from burst shots, albums are about to get smarter with more features in an update rolling out today…


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Google is finally shutting down Picasa on May 1, but many of its features will still work

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Before Google Photos, there was Google+ Photos and prior to that Picasa. Google acquired the desktop photos management app in 2004 and made it free. While Google announced today that they are shutting down Picasa, diehard users will still be able to use quite a few features.


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Google Photos adds quick access to pics taken on same day, Snapseed gains new automatic features

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Both of Google’s excellent photo apps received an update this week. Version 1.13 of Google Photos adds a new feature to easily look at other photos taken on the same day when in search, while Snapseed now has several new automatic features, like face detection.


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This is Google Glass: Enterprise Edition in the flesh [Gallery]

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Earlier this year, we told you across several exclusive reports that new Google Glass hardware was on the way, namely a device Google has been working on for more than a year aimed at the workplace. Now, several months later (and with many interesting reports about Google’s mysterious Project Aura having surfaced since), we have our first look at the device in the flesh…


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New Google Photos features let you more easily free up storage on Android and web

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Google is adding some new space saving features to Photos on both the web and Android. A new feature rolling out to the web client starting Wednesday will give the option to downgrade photos previous backed up in full resolution to the compressed mode in order to save space. And on Android, there’s a new “Free up space” button being added to the settings menu that deletes already backed up photos…
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Google Photos brings face grouping features to more countries in 1.8 update

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Google has updated the Google Photos app this week, and it’s a fairly substantive update — at least in comparison to the almost-weekly bug fixer updates that Google pushes to many of its apps. The new version brings the face grouping features of the well-reviewed cloud storage service to more countries…
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Google’s Snapseed now has support for editing RAW photos on Android

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Snapseed 2.1 is now rolling out on the Play Store, and there’s one big feature addition: support for editing photos in RAW. In case you didn’t know, RAW support was first brought to the platform with Android Lollipop’s release, and now Google’s own photo editing app is also supporting the format.

Here’s the word, straight from Google’s Anton Daubert:

Today is a big day for Snapseed users! Snapseed 2.1 brings RAW photo editing to your Android device.

Traditionally, shooting and editing RAW photos has been the domain of DSLR cameras and desktop software. But with the RAW capabilities that were added to Android 5 last year, RAW is now becoming important for mobile photography, too.

Snapseed now allows you to edit those RAW photos in the DNG file format right on your mobile device. You can also edit DNGs that were shot on cameras or converted from other RAW formats.

If you’re not exactly familiar with photography format terminology, RAW formats are traditionally associated with DSLR cameras, and they are the most pure form of a photo that preserves everything that the camera captured. This allows you to do more complex edits that would otherwise be impossible with other, more lossy formats.

Google says that in addition to RAW editing features, Snapseed also has “some slight polishes throughout the app” in this version to make navigating it just a bit easier. You can get the app on the Play Store for free.

OnePlus X photo leak shows white model for the first time

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We’ve seen plenty of rumors and leaks for the upcoming OnePlus X. The controversial Chinese Android OEM is expected to announce the new phone at an event in London next week. It seems this phone will be a direct replacement for the OnePlus One, offering some of the same specs as the original ‘flagship killer’, but in an updated form factor. A new photo leaked over on Chinese social media site, Weibo (found by GizmoChina), shows both black and white versions of the device side-by-side.

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Up until now, only the black version of the phone had been shown in any leaks. With a white one likely to be on the way, it heavily supports the theory that this will, indeed, replace the OnePlus One at the bottom of the company’s product line. The image also suggests the back of the device will be all-glass, similar to the iPhone 4/4S, with a metal frame all around the device, with antenna bands.

Other specs we’re expecting include a Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM and 16GB storage, as leaked previously by Chinese retailer, Oppomart. The OnePlus X will purportedly also feature a 5-inch 1080p display, measure 6.9mm thick and cost just $249 when it launches at the end of this month. Like many new non-Nexus phones, it’s likely the phone will be released with Android Lollipop (with the OxygenOS on top), rather than a Marsmallow-based operating system.

Hands-on with the LG V10 and the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition [Video + Gallery]

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LG last night announced its LG V10 smartphone alongside the forthcoming LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition, but today the company held an event in New York City to show off the new products. We were on the ground at the event to take a look at the goodies, and below you’ll find a photo gallery and a hands-on video with the new Watch Urbane…
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New Google Photos features announced: Shared albums, people labeling, Chromecast support

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Last week we told you that a teardown of the latest version of Google Photos revealed some interesting new features: album collaboration, people labeling, Chromecast support, and more. Now, Google has announced today at its September 29th event that it is making these exact three features official…
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Leaked BlackBerry ‘Venice’ photos show Android-powered QWERTY slider in the flesh

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If there has been one thing missing from the Android smartphone market over the past few years, it’s a great device with a physical keyboard. In fact, ever since the T-Mobile G2 (HTC Desire Z) hit the market in 2010, there’s been nothing worth paying attention to. That’s why — to me — the rumored BlackBerry Venice is the most exciting phone of the year so far. At least, the most exciting unreleased phone of the year. As each week goes by, the chances of it becoming a real product get stronger. For the first time, the Android-powered BlackBerry has been shown of in real, leaked hands-on photos.


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Skype for Android updated with personalized ringtones and easier photo sharing

Skype has updated its Android app to version 5.10, allowing you to create personalized ringtones for specific contacts, and making it easier to share photos.

Customize incoming call sounds for a contact by selecting a ringtone from your device. In a conversation, tap the lower right and select “Ringtone options” then “Set custom ringtone”.

Share photos from chats with other Skype friends and family who may not be in the conversation. Just tap and hold on the photo you want to share and select “Forward photo”.

Avatar colors for group chats have also been changed, to make it easier to tell your different conversations apart.

The last significant update was the visual refresh and performance boost last month. A week ago, the company made available to enterprise customers a preview of its updated Skype for Business Android app.

The new app is a free download from Google Play.

Photo: TNW

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Add a beautifully illustrated cover art photo to your Facebook Event from Android

More than 75 million pages for private events were created on Facebook last year, and to keep its Events product growing the company is rolling out something that it believes will increase engagement for user-created events without much extra work on the part of the host: cover art themes.

If you’ve ever visited a group, event, or personal page on Facebook, you’ve seen cover art. The big photos which act as banners on these pages provide users with a little added personalization while keeping things within reason (*cough* MySpace *cough*). But at least in the case of events pages, it hasn’t been easy to add cover art from a mobile device — especially considering how the Events product is buried in a “More” menu within the Facebook app. And you have to find a good photo to use in the first place. With the addition of cover art themes to the Facebook app on Android, finding a beautiful, relevant photo to enhance your event is as easy as telling Facebook what the theme of your event is. The app will then present you with a pack of illustrations designed in-house and by outside designers.

The different cover art themes include everything from “Seasons,” which features illustrations of everything you might associate with the different seasons like summer and backyard BBQs, to “Recreation,” which within you might find an illustration of people jumping into a pool. There are 36 pieces of cover art to initially choose from, organized into categories like the aforementioned seasons and recreation. Facebook says it will periodically be adding new themes and illustrations over the coming months.

The big thing that Facebook wants to emphasize with the release of these cover art themes is engagement. The company says that it has found through feedback from users that adding a cover art photo to an event positively impacts the engagement (i.e. RSVPs) it sees. Launching this new Events product feature first on mobile makes sense simply because 55% of all Events activity (and most activity on Facebook period) happens from mobile devices. It’s Android and US-only for now, and will be coming to iOS soon.

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Panasonic CM1: Possibly the best camera ever put on an Android phone [Camera Samples]

Often when referring to your smartphone, it is said that “the best camera is the one you have with you”. In other words, the camera on your smartphone, in your pocket, is better than the DSLR you’ve got sat on a shelf at home. Despite the rise of quality lenses and sensors, using a smartphone still isn’t quite as good a ‘proper’ camera. There have always been compromises. At least, there have been until now.

Panasonic’s CM1 may be thicker than your average phone, but it’s easily pocketable, not too uncomfortable to hold and has an epic 20MP camera with 1-inch sensor, a 6-element Leica lens, manual controls and a maximum aperture of f/2.8. What does that mean for image quality?


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Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+ leaked in new photos

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+ have been shown off in a bunch of new photographs. Early leaks and rumors pointed to both devices taking on design cues from the smaller Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. For the most part, that’s what we seem to have in the leaked pics.

What’s interesting to note (pun not-intended) is that — although it has a S6-esque metal frame — the Note 5 still retains the style and shape of the Galaxy note series. Corners are much squarer than the Galaxy S series phones. In fact, from the front, it looks virtually identical to the Galaxy Note 4. The only real difference is the placement of sensors and front facing camera on the top. The two sensors near the earpiece have swapped over to the left side, while the camera is much further from the corner that it is on the current model.

As for the S6 Edge+, that just looks like a big version of the S6 Edge. Corners are much more rounded than the Note, and it has the iconic curved display edges on both sides. Like the current S6 and S6 Edge, it also seems to have a reflective, pearlescent finish.

Both the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ are widely expected to launch at an event in August. If most recent rumors are to be believed, the event will take place in New York City on August 13th with a retail launch in the following weeks.