Podcasts about adobe firefly

Claude's Fable 5 just got yanked, and the story why keeps shifting by the hour. A contested jailbreak, an export-control, crackdown, and a lot of fingers pointing. This week on AI For Humans, Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 is still unavailable and the explanations keep changing. We dig into the contested jailbreak report, the export-control directive that pulled it, and the reporting that Amazon raised concerns before the crackdown. Then we get into why this matters far beyond one model: what happens when the government steps into the AI world, why Fable 5 was such a leap, and what it signals for whatever comes next. Plus, Epic's game designers are using AI tools alongside artists and the internet is furious, Disney Imagineering is testing Adobe Firefly in the parks, ChatGPT's market share slips under 50 percent for the first time, a fake Mistral model called Le Chaton Fat takes over the internet, and PJ Accetturo breaks down exactly how he made his viral AI short film with prompts. THE BEST AI WE EVER USED IS BEHIND BARS. AND NOW WE WAIT. SHOW LINKS Original Anthropic statement on Fable and Mythos access https://www.anthropic.com/news/fable-mythos-access Full timeline of the Anthropic, Amazon, and White House story https://www.axios.com/2026/06/13/anthropic-amazon-white-house Amazon CEO reportedly raised Anthropic model concerns before the government crackdown https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/13/amazon-ceo-reportedly-raised-anthropic-model-concerns-before-government-crackdown/ Simon Willison on the contested Fable jailbreak report https://x.com/simonw/status/2066722034491789720 ChatGPT market share slips below 50 percent for the first time https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/16/chatgpts-market-share-slips-below-50-for-first-time/ GPT-5.6 next week? Polymarket odds https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2066644087340495081 Possible new ChatGPT voice mode leak https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/2066919098236146167 Space X Buys Cursor https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/16/spacex-spcx-cursor-acquisition-ipo.html Epic explores using NanoBanana and GPT-Image-2 in workflows with humans https://x.com/UnrealEngine/status/2066686216779509850 SEGA's Crazy Taxi AI statement https://x.com/SEGAInforment/status/2063990392085766622 PJ Accetturo breaks down how he made his three minute short film with prompts https://x.com/PJaccetturo/status/2066582776934289438 Le Chaton Fat, the fake Mistral model that took over the internet https://x.com/AlexanderKnigge/status/2066267845546442762  

Send us Fan MailSophia Kianni is the co-founder and CEO of Phia, an AI shopping agent with more than 1.4 million users that has raised over $43 million from an investor list that includes Kris Jenner, Sara Blakely, and Hailey Bieber. Sophia and her co-founder built the company out of their Stanford dorm room on a single thesis: in the future, every consumer will have a personal AI shopping assistant.Sophia is also the co-host of The Burnouts, a podcast with more than 600,000 followers and over 200 million downloads. Earlier in her career, she founded Climate Cardinals, the world's largest youth-led climate nonprofit with more than 20,000 volunteers, and became the youngest United Nations advisor in U.S. history.In this episode, Sophia draws on her experience building high-velocity ventures before the age of 25 to challenge how founders think about feedback, team culture, content creation, experimentation, and workflow efficiency. She also makes a compelling argument for how AI should be used at work: removing friction from the parts of a workflow that drain time and energy without adding value.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the intersection of social and shopping looked like a solved problem to most founders, and the gap that Sophia and her co-founder saw inside their Stanford dorm roomHow Sophia thinks about team building as company building, and the specific qualities she screens for before resumes, credentials, or experienceHow a consumer-first mindset and relentless customer feedback help Phia iterate faster and build a product users loveWhy building close to your user is still the most underrated advantage in AI, and what most founders miss when they try to scale it Why Phia and The Burnouts built data-oriented content engines that operate like scientific labs, testing hooks, fonts, retention curves, and B-roll as measurable variables rather than relying on creative instincts aloneHow Sophia uses AI tools like Adobe Firefly to increase workflow efficiency by removing friction from repetitive tasks, not to replace creative work, but to protect itThe framework Sophia uses to decide whose feedback shapes her decisions and whose she treats as noiseResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Sophia on LinkedInLIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Guest: Tess Lynch, Founding Attorney, Clause and AffectWhen Crimson Desert announced "no AI in our game," the internet applauded. But does anyone agree on what that actually means? Tess Lynch — gaming and IP attorney, founder of Clause and Affect, and one of the more practical legal voices covering this space — joined Greg to untangle what studios are really promising when they make that pledge, and what they're leaving dangerously undefined.What we get into:The three tiers of AI in games that almost nobody distinguishes clearly — procedural generation (been here forever, deterministic, mostly fine), machine learning trained on licensed data (DLSS, Adobe Firefly, getting complicated), and generative AI trained on scraped data (the one everyone's actually upset about, and for good reason).Why "no AI" policies get weird fast — no Gmail, no Copilot, no AI meeting notes — and why the real target is almost always generative AI replacing human creative work, not automation tools embedded in software you're already using.The consent problem hiding inside "licensed" datasets. Adobe Firefly is built on licensed images, but did those photographers consent to having their work used to train the model? Tess breaks down where that gets legally murky, and why the Scarlett Johansson standard she uses is a useful gut check.UGC platforms and the IP trap studios don't see coming. When players generate content in your game — especially with AI tools — the question of who owns it, who's liable for it, and whether you can even copyright it is almost entirely unsettled law right now.Why purely AI-generated work can't be copyrighted (current U.S. law requires human authorship), and what that means for studios shipping games with AI-generated assets as placeholders they forgot to swap out. Clair Obscure and Crimson Desert both came up.The patchwork regulatory problem. Every state has its own privacy laws, its own AI laws, its own age assurance rules. Tess calls it what it is: an amalgamation that will never get cleaner until it becomes a federal issue — which she doesn't expect soon.When should you actually talk to a lawyer? Her answer: yesterday. But more practically — before you touch sensitive data, before you go live with anything using AI in a novel way, and definitely before you sign contractor agreements that don't address it.And on the business side: what it's actually like to build a solo law firm serving indie devs and creatives who can't pay BigLaw rates. Billing, time management, and figuring out what your work is worth.Tess Lynch: LinkedIn | Clause and Affect website | Your AI NPC Might Be IllegalPlayer Driven: Discord | Newsletter

複数アプリを連携する「Adobe Firefly AI アシスタント（パブリックβ版）」をリリース　「Photoshop」「Lightroom」アプリにもアップデートの最新アップデートも。　アドビは4月28日、生成AIを活用したクリエイティブサービス「Adobe Firefly」において、エージェント機能「Adobe Firefly AI アシスタント」のパブリックβ版をリリースした。「Adobe Creative Cloud」のProプランや、Fireflyの有料プラン（Pro／Pro Plus／プレミアム）のユーザーに順次提供される。追加料金は不要だ。

Hey, Alex here, I'll try to catch you up, but it's one of the more intense weeks in AI in recent memory. Here's the TL;DR - OpenAI dominates across the board this week! Finally launches “spud”, called it GPT 5.5 (and 5.5 Pro), and it's SOTA on most things,nearly matching the mysterious Claude Mythos but released and we can actually use it (we tested it extensively). OpenAI also took the crown in image generate with the incredible GPT-image-v2 release, beating Nano Banana 2 and pro by a significant margin, the images are incredible, this model can generate working QR codes and 360 images it's quite bonkers. Codex was updated with Computer Use (which I told you about last week), in-app browser and a bunch of other tools that match GPT 5.5 intelligence. Meanwhile, Anthropic launched an incredible research preview of Claude Design, finally admitted that Claude was dumb and reset quotas across the board, while breaking the trust of the community with removing Claude code from the pro plan. We've also got great open source updates, Kimi K2.6 and Qwen 3.6 27B are both great performers! We were live on the stream for almost 4 hours today waiting for GPT 5.5 and finally got it and tested it live on the show + had Peter Gostev on from Arena who had early access and shared with us his insights. Let's get into it! ThursdAI - Highest signal weekly AI news show is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.OpenAI's GPT 5.5 is here - SOTA AI intelligence you can actually use (Release Blog)OpenAI finally gave us all access to their latest intelligence boost, GPT 5.5 thinking (and GPT 5.5 Pro). These models take the crown across many benchmarks, including TerminalBench (82.7%), GPDval (84%) and more. You can see the highlited versions on the image above. Though, its not uncommon for OpenAI to do some chart crimes, so @d4m1n created a chart that also showed the full benchmarks, including the ones GPT 5.5 is not beating Opus at, as you can see below, it underperforms on Humanity's Last Exam, and scaled tool use. But, benchmarks don't tell the full story. GPT 5.5 uses significantly less tokens, compared to 5.4, about 40% less. It's also more expensive, but given the lower token usage, it nets out at about ~20% price increase, while being more intelligence and faster. Tons of folks who had early access are reporting the same things, this model excels in long running tasks, Peter Gostev from Arena, who joined our live stream, showed us an incredible demo that ran overnight for over 8h! This model can work until the task is done, no longer just pausing in the middel asking for your input. The real highlight is, paired with the recent GPT-image-2 (which I'll expand on later in this newsletter), GPT 5.5 becomes an excellent UI designer. This is a big area in which Claude still has moat and OpenAI is trying to catch up here, and the real alpha now is to use both the Image gen and 5.5 in tandem to create beautiful visuals and UIs. The main thing is, after testing it quite a few times, this only works if you generate an image outside of the session that builds the actual UI. we tried a couple of times to do it in 1 session, and the resulting UI doesn't seem to be remotely close to the generated image. Only after sending this image to a completely fresh session and asking for a “pixel perfect” implementation, did GPT 5.5 start to resemble the input image and rebuild the whole ui in pixel perfect fidelity! GPT Image v2 - SOTA thinking image model, finally beating Nano Banana (Blog, Live)Like we said, OpenAI is dominating this week, and in both instances those are great models. Though, apples to apples comparison, GPT-image-v2 is a much higher jump — from previous models — than GPT 5.5! According to Artificial Analysis, the jump in how many people prefer GPT-image-2 in blind tests compared to other model is the higest we've ever seen, over 250 points. And you can clearly see it in the generations as well. Previously this week, we did a live streaming session with Peter Gostev (from Arena) and we did a deep dive comparing this new model to GPT Image 1.5, Nano Banana and Grok Imagine, and it's a clear winner across most categories.Character consistency is immaculate, high resolution imagery, instruction following, are all so so good it's a bit hard to explain in text. Reasoning visual intelligence Like with Nano Banana, this model is likely based on a big GPT image, it's no longer just diffusion, as you can see, it reasons! And apparently the more reasoning you give it (if you choose GPT pro) the better it'll be. The examples are indeed wild, the model can generate images of code that works, generate functional QR codes and bar codes! The craziest thing people figured out it can do, is functional 360 imagery (equirectangular format), you can just ask the model to create a 360 image of “scene” and then drop this in to a 360 viewer! Peter shows us on the show how he combined GPT 5.5 and Image v2 to create a sort of “street view” from a bunch of 360 images, it blew our minds. He literally spun up an overnight GPT 5.5 task in Codex that planned out the hanging gardens of Babylon, generated hundreds of equirectangular images, stitched them into a walkable interface, and had it running 8+ hours without babysitting. A street view of a place we don't actually know what it looked like, hallucinated from latent space. What a time.Day one availability is wide: Figma, Canva, Adobe Firefly, fal.ai, and Microsoft Foundry all have it. Nano Banana dominated for what felt like an eternity in AI time (it was really only a few months

00:42 - Мораторий российских операторов на расширение каналов связи в Европу для борьбы с VPN03:28 - Анонс DJI Osmo Pocket 4 с дюймовым сенсором и поддержкой видео 4K06:02 - Выход финального сюжетного дополнения «Кровь на хрустале» для Atomic Heart08:31 - Интеграция ИИ-помощника Adobe Firefly в Creative Cloud11:42 - Запуск линейки GoPro Mission One с дюймовыми 50-Мп сенсорами и поддержкой сменной оптики15:59 - Релиз Claude 4.7 с улучшенным кодингом и специализированной модели Mythos20:46 - Исследование формирования зависимости от ИИ22:31 - Представление экспертной модели GPT 5.4 Cyber от OpenAI24:24 - Возвращение Роберта Дауни-младшего в Marvel и анонс премиального киноформата Infinity Vision от Disney29:59 - Законопроект VK об обязательном внедрении виджета «Дзена» на все крупные интернет-ресурсы

Cosa succede quando una formatrice decide di affibbiare il lavoro a un'intelligenza artificiale e finisce per discuterci a microfoni accesi? Un dialogo insolito con Claude, a tratti ironico e a tratti scomodo, per capire cosa succede ai nostri muscoli cognitivi quando iniziamo a delegare troppo — e cosa possiamo fare per non atrofizzarli. Un viaggio tra bias, illusioni e piccoli cortocircuiti umani, per imparare ad usare questi strumenti senza farci usare. E per riscoprire, oltre lo schermo, dove finisce il codice e dove iniziamo davvero noi.Credits & AI Toolset: Voci e Sintesi Vocale: Ottimizzato con Adobe Podcast Enhance. Realizzato con ElevenLabs.Ospite Speciale: Co-creazione dei dialoghi con Claude 4.6 Sonnet (Anthropic).Visual Art: Copertina generata tramite Adobe Firefly.Creative Consulting: Supporto alla ricerca e brainstorming con Gemini (Google) e ChatGPT (OpenAI).Musiche: Youtube Audio LibraryRiferimenti scientifici e bibliograficiARCHITETTURA E LIMITI DEI MODELLI LINGUISTICI (LLM)LLM SYCOPHANCY Turpin, M., et al. Challenging the Evaluator: LLM Sycophancy Under User Rebuttal. Cornell University (arXiv), 2023.ORIGINS OF AI McCarthy, J., Minsky, M. L., Rochester, N., & Shannon, C. E. A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. Rockefeller Foundation, 1955.PROCESSI COGNITIVI E TEORIE DELL'INTELLIGENZAMULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, 1983. (Citato per il concetto di intelligenza metacognitiva).PREDICTIVE PROCESSING Friston, Karl. The free-energy principle: a rough guide to the brain?. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2010.COGNITIVE OFFLOADING Risko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. Cognitive Offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2016.GENERATION EFFECT Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1978.CONSTRUCTIVISM Piaget, Jean. The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press, 1952.COGNITIVE DISSONANCE Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press, 1957.RELAZIONE UOMO-MACCHINA E SOCIETÀCOMPUTERS AS SOCIAL ACTORS Nass, Clifford, Steuer, J., & Tauber, E. R. Computers are social actors. ACM Press, 1994.PARA-SOCIAL INTERACTION Horton, Donald & Wohl, Richard R. Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction. Psychiatry, 1956.TECHNOLOGICAL LONELINESS Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books, 2011.ANTIFRAGILITY Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House, 2012.EFFICACIA PERSONALE E COMUNICAZIONEINTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Free Press, 1989.NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION Rosenberg, Marshall B. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. PuddleDancer Press, 1999.OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY Winnicott, Donald W. Playing and Reality. Tavistock Publications, 1971.ATTACHMENT THEORY Bowlby, John. Attachment and Loss. Basic Books, 1969.Questo episodio include contenuti generati dall'IA.

Gemini launches a Mac app, Adobe Firefly brings more AI tools, Anthropic upgrades Claude Code with routines, Apple is sending Siri engineers to AI boot camp, Jason vibe coded some pretty great apps, and how genuine is Sam Altman?Ad-Free + Bonus EpisodesShow Notes via EmailCreative Effort - Jason's PodcastWatch on YouTube!Join the CommunityEmail Us: podcast@primarytech.fm@stephenrobles on Threads@jasonaten on Threads------------------------------Sponsors:Copilot Money - Limited-time: Get 2 months FREE when you sign up at: copilot.money/primaryShopify - Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at: shopify.com/primary------------------------------ Links from the showIs a $3,000 Movie Player Worth It? - YouTubeFerrari Luce Interior - XAllbirds announced a switch from shoes to AI and its stock jumped 600 percent | The VergeGemini for macOS - your native AI desktop appGus Mueller: "The new Mac Gemini app has a huge executable bina…" - MastodonDaVinci Resolve adds new photo editing tools to take on Lightroom and Photoshop | The VergeAdobe Ushers in a New Era of Creativity with New Creative Agent and Generative AI Innovations in Adobe FireflyAnthropic adds routines to redesigned Claude Code, here's how it works - 9to5MacRedesigning Claude Code on desktop for parallel agents | ClaudeDoorDash Stunt - Apple NewsReport: Apple to send Siri engineers to multi-week AI coding bootcamp - 9to5MacAmazon to buy Globalstar for $11.57B in bid to flesh out its satellite biz | TechCrunchYouTube now lets you turn off Shorts | The Verge$10K Apple Pay Hack - YouTubeDJI's Osmo Pocket 4 camera is better at capturing slo-mo footage and photos | The VergeMicrosoft is testing OpenClaw-like AI bots for Copilot | The VergeFestival for Personal AIApple threatened to pull Musk's AI Grok from App Store over sexualized deepfakes | The VergeSam Altman's BlogSam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? | The New YorkerPodcast Search------------------------------Chapters (00:00) - Intro (06:26) - Allbird AI Pivot (10:58) - Gemini Mac App (19:01) - Resolve 21 (21:41) - Adobe Firefly (27:50) - Sponsor: Copilot Money (29:33) - Sponsor: Shopify (31:05) - Claude Mac App (36:02) - DoorDash Stunt (44:15) - Siri Engineers to Boot Camp (46:02) - Amazon Buy Globalstar (51:15) - Turn Off YouTube Shorts (52:40) - $10K Apple Pay Hack (55:09) - Lightning Round (01:06:39) - How Real is Sam Altman? (01:20:10) - Jason's Vibe Coded Apps ★ Support this podcast ★

Recorded live at Smart Marketer Mentor Tables in Nashville, this is Kurt's full talk on why most people are bad at AI and what to do about it. The pitch was that AI would let you do less work and produce better output. What actually happened: everyone is producing more slop, faster. Inside: the RTF framework that fixes any prompt in 30 seconds, the 10 AI tools Kurt actually uses every day (not the ones he gets paid to recommend), and why Claude Cowork is the single tool worth your attention in 2026. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Smart Marketer: https://smartmarketer.com Microsoft Clarity: https://clarity.microsoft.com Topaz Labs: https://www.topazlabs.com Adobe Enhance: https://podcast.adobe.com WhisperFlow: https://wisprflow.ai Whisper Transcription (Mac app): https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/whisper-transcription Adobe Firefly: https://firefly.adobe.com Nano Banana (Google): https://gemini.google.com Grok: https://grok.com Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code Claude Cowork: https://claude.com Crisp Chat: https://crisp.chat Tidio: https://www.tidio.com Matrixify: https://matrixify.app WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Unlocking the Power of Frontier Partnerships Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this compelling discussion from the Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat, Microsoft GM Katharine Kennedy joins Vince Menzione to break down the operating models of “Frontier Firms.” Katharine shares her incredible journey of scaling the ServiceNow partnership from zero to $1 billion in TCV and reveals her current mission: building Adobe into the next great frontier firm for Microsoft. The conversation dives deep into the necessity of AI-led innovation, the critical importance of placing trust at the center of every technological stack, and why traditional quarterly business reviews are being replaced by real-time, constant connectivity. Whether you are an ISV, SDC, or channel partner, this session provides a roadmap for navigating the tectonic shifts in the AI ecosystem through organizational alignment and shared vision. Key Takeaways Frontier firms integrate AI up and down the UI, agent, and data layers while evolving their internal operating systems. Successful partnerships require a shared vision at the highest level that melds two mission statements into a single belief system. The traditional QBR is becoming outdated, replaced by real-time, constant communication across engineering and product teams. Trust must be the primary pillar of AI development, supported by core principles like fairness, reliability, and accountability. Leading with co-innovation and customer-centric data solutions is more effective than leading strictly with revenue goals. Strategic use of the Microsoft Marketplace remains a “hidden gem” for achieving scale and high-velocity growth. https://youtu.be/OU22MIfs-1A If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Frontier Firms, SDC, Microsoft GM, Adobe Partnership, ServiceNow, AI Operating Model, Responsible AI, Co-innovation, Partner Value Chain, Organizational Alignment, Microsoft Marketplace, TCV, Data Sovereignty, AI Agents, Adobe Firefly, Azure, Ecosystem Growth, Digital Transformation, AI Governance, Strategic Partnerships, Tech Leadership. Transcript: Katharine Kennedy Vince Menzione: [00:00:00] Honestly, it’s people. Yes, with agents. Um, and I know we hear that and it’s very like, oh, what does it mean? Are we really using it? I cannot tell you how many agents I use in a day. We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Come join me now for a compelling discussion on the impacts of the tectonic shifts we’re all seeing. We, we’ve talked about MSP, we’ve talked about channel. We’ve talked about marketplace. We haven’t really dug deep into the SDC conversation, and I still, that doesn’t roll off my tongue. I still say ISV in my own mind, but the software development corporations, um, we’ve had several executives from that, from that world. Sandy Gupta has been. Um, many time guests, uh, at, at, at our events and we really wanted to double click. And I was so fortunate to meet Katherine Kennedy several months ago and learned about what [00:01:00] she’s doing and what the work that she’s driving. So I wanna invite her on stage ’cause we’re gonna have a very intimate conversation by Yeah, we call these so great to have you here. And, uh, you’re a GM at Microsoft, which is a big deal, by the way. A lot of people don’t know that. Thank you. And you’re running, uh, two of, I’d say two of the most significant partners within the Microsoft ecosystem. I would say obviously two. Now. Just one. Okay. We’re doubling down on focus. So nice to meet everybody. I, I wish there was a fire ’cause it did. What you Well come on. This goes off heat by the way. We get back off a little bit. This goes off our, so all good. So tell us, give us your, yeah. Give us your background and your role. Katharine Kennedy: Sure. So Catherine Kennedy. Nice to meet you all. Um, I’m a GM at Microsoft previously overseeing both the ServiceNow and the Adobe practice. Um, spent the last four years building ServiceNow too. What now our previous guests got to refer to as our REO, you know, exciting, uh, big growth [00:02:00] partnership. Um, so we took that from, for them from $0 in terms of shared revenue to a billion dollars in TCV. Um, and they have one of the largest Macs now with Microsoft. And we did that over the course of three years. So we’ll talk a little bit about. Um, the mindset, uh, and the operating models and things that we implemented with ServiceNow. Um, and then at the time, um, they asked me to take on Adobe as well. And when we saw the opportunity at Adobe, we said, wow, we really need to focus here. And so I have the privilege of being able to focus on Adobe this year. And, um. What I’m most excited about is the ecosystem and the ecosystem opportunity with Adobe as we build them into the next frontier firm or Microsoft. Vince Menzione: And of course we use the term spark, the ecosystem, so yes. Um, so let’s, let’s dive in [00:03:00] here. Use the term mindset. I was thinking about mindset. Market shift, frontier Firm, how do those things align together? Microsoft has been talking, I mean, Judson up on stage and Ignite talking about frontier firms. Nina’s talked about frontier firms. This is a shift in how organizations operate. Yes. In for some, yes. Uh, for others. I was thinking, what are you seeing across the SDC community specifically where you’ve managed before, where you’re managing now, but with ServiceNow and Adobe as an examples? What defines a company that’s truly making this leap? Katharine Kennedy: So as we’re looking at these frontier firms, uh, especially in the S-D-C-I-C spaces, we’re looking at, um, how do they implement AI up and down their stack, but then across the operating system, um, and. I refer to it in our business as the partnership value chain. ’cause we look at our SDCs and ISVs as partners. Um, and so the partner operating model between Microsoft and in this [00:04:00] case, Adobe or ServiceNow, has to be solely in lockstep and moving at warp speed. It’s as, as we’ve been talking about all day, it’s just moving so fast and so the tighter. We’re connected. The Cohesity across the company, um, is absolutely critical, but it’s AI up and down, AI across, um, and what I mean by that is, uh. That’s from the UI layer to the agent layer down to the data layer. So unlocking all of the layers of the stack. And then across the operating model, how are we empowering each executive to buy in on that North star or that strategy that we have jointly? And then how do we drive that operationally to execute at the field level? And that’s. Probably the biggest undertaking, um, I’ve ever done because it’s really you, your team becomes, uh, [00:05:00] these we’re like ants running between two giant companies. I mean, it’s just back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And um, that’s really the art and the science of it is that honestly it’s people. Yes. Um, and I know we hear that and it’s very like, oh, what does it mean? Are we really using it? I cannot tell you how many agents I use in a day. It’s truly remarkable. Vince Menzione: You mentioned North Star, so I wanted to Yeah. Can I double click on it? Katharine Kennedy: Please do. Yes. Happy to. Vince Menzione: Yeah. I think about mission and purpose and all that tying into North Star. Are, are you implying that an organization needs to get its North Star, right? First and then how, how, and what, what are most of these organizations you’re seeing today, not the ones you manage, but other organizations in the SDC portfolio? Like where are they in terms of the continuum? How are, how are they moving along and what’s your guidance to them? Katharine Kennedy: It’s a good question. So I’ll start by saying my observation, my opinion is [00:06:00] as I’m looking across the companies that are successful and the ones who are yet to be successful, um, the key differentiator is that there is a shared vision at the highest level of the company that drives all the way down to the field. And what I mean by that is we’re taking two mission statements and we’re melding them together. Then we’re creating a belief system and it becomes a cultural shift across two companies versus, Hey, we’re gonna have all of these siloed, tactical, yeah. Operating units and they’re gonna do their own thing and maybe they’ll be successful over here. Maybe they’re doing something different over here, but we’re really. I think I heard Nina say this also, we’re pulling that red thread through the company. Yes. Um, which is critical. And I’ve seen so many companies just show up for the revenue. And yes, that’s an absolute outcome and it’s a [00:07:00] tremendous outcome if you do it right, but you have to do it right. You have to pull that red thread and you have to have every single part of the. Partner value chain buying into this strategy and this North Star, and if they don’t, if one piece of that chain is not bought in, you fail. Yeah. Vince Menzione: Organizational alignment is what you’re saying and what, what I’m hearing is in order, in terms of getting the AI Strat, the North Star aligned. Yes. You’ve gotta get the, I call the C-Suite aligned. Yes. You need to get all the functions of the organization aligned to the thread that you talked about. Yes. And then what does that look like? What does that North Star look like? What is it, what is the ideal example of what the North Star would look like? I’m, I’m a frontier firm. I brought in on ai, music agent ai. I’m doing all the things that we’ve talked about earlier. Katharine Kennedy: Yes. Um, so I think it, so operationally, um, it’s moving the operational rhythm from what used to be [00:08:00] qbr. Frankly, I think that’s outdated. Yes, it is. It is real time, constant communication. And yes, there will be checkpoints and they could be weekly, they could be monthly, they could be quarterly, but this is just real time constant communication because the pace of business, the pace of innovation is going so fast. We have to have that direct line of communication product to product team. We have to have that direct line of communication, engineering to engineering, because with everything going in on. Everything going on in the macroeconomic climate today, especially given concerns around sovereignty. Um, I run a global business, so we have customers saying, Hey, I don’t wanna host my data in a place where I don’t align with the values. That’s a real situation. That was actually a topic at Davos, as you mentioned, um, Nina. And so, um, we’re rapidly addressing these concerns with our customers and meeting our customers where they are. [00:09:00] Um, but it’s that real time constant connectivity. Um, and we’re frankly. We’re seeing it across the board. Um, but the operating model has to change. We have to look at more advanced, modern models, uh, for these partnership businesses to sustain in this next wave of transformation. Frankly, Vince Menzione: you know, it’s, so, you talked about values? Yes. This is, this leads into another conversation, right? When we talk about ai, we talk about, we talk about AI and the use, use cases. We skip over things like values and trust and governance. Katharine Kennedy: Oh, good segue. This is, this is my passion, please. Oh, I get so worked up about this. Good. So I, I had the privilege of, um, sitting, uh, with our SLC community a couple weeks ago, and, uh, they introduced, oh, here’s our amazing new, uh, pitch. We were just [00:10:00] speaking about it in the back actually. And, and it is, it’s amazing. And, uh, they said, do you have any feedback? And I was like, oh. And I waited and I saw everybody, every, you know, oh, we need to change this or tweak that. And I, and I waited. And then at the last moment I stood up. I was like, okay, I gotta say it. I was like, you say intelligence and trust. I, this is a small tweak, but trust has to be first, foremost, first, last, center, everything. Trust has to be everything. And, um, and I truly mean that. And I think, you know. Of all the companies I’ve worked for and I’ve worked for quite a few, um, Microsoft is the company that I believe in the most that can do the most good in society and in the global. Macroeconomic economy, a anything right in the world, in your communities. Um, and so one of the things that really struck me, and I keep coming back to with Microsoft and the, the topic of trust is how Microsoft, [00:11:00] um, was first to the table in this, in this, um, moment of ai. You know, introduction a few years ago to say, Hey, we need a set of core values and ethics and principles that we’re all gonna, we’re all gonna marshal around and I haven’t heard it as much recently, and now it’s coming back. And, uh, you know, the, the six core principles that Microsoft used is, I’m just gonna tell you right now, our fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusivity, um, transparency and accountability. And it’s not. Just six principles that you see on a poster in the offices. These are embedded, again, back to the operating model across every single aspect of our business. So within our product, within our engineering, even just in our collaboration tools, you could be sending a teams message and you’ll get a notification, Hey, this is not aligned to the Microsoft. Core [00:12:00] values of ai. And so there are gates and governance and guardrails built into every layer of our technology stack and then across the company in our operating rhythms. And that is what gets me so excited and gets me up at, at out of bed in the morning. Um. I actually got a call from Sila. No one wants a call from Sila. Does anybody know Sila? Uh, yeah. Yes. Okay. That’s our legal, that’s our legal team. Legal affairs. Sila. Yeah. No one wants that call. Uh, I actually, I got so excited. I was like, are you calling about responsible ai? ’cause I was one of the first, um, I was one of the first to raise my hand to say. We will sign up. Was it Brad Smith calling you? Oh gosh. Oh, that would be a dream. I think he’s so, I’m, I love him. I think he’s so cool. Um, I love that you actually, sorry, side, I’m gonna take you on a side tour. Next slide. Um, my favorite thing to do is pull up the news and you’re seeing something from the Prime Minister in, you know, Germany and Brad [00:13:00] Smith’s in the foreground Yes. Of every photo. You’re just like, wow, we’re influencing at such a global. Um, base that I could just, it’s hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but, so anyways, going back, I’m gonna take us back to trust. Um, please. Vince Menzione: Well, I just think we need to apply it back to ai, right? Because it is so important. It is. It is. These agents are out there and if they’re not governed and if you don’t Yeah, yeah. Katharine Kennedy: I’m so, so, yeah, thank you. Keeping me on track. So, so why I am excited about it is, is because, um. As we’re going out into our communities, um, we’re here in the southeast and one of the biggest issues that comes up over and over again is, how do I trust that AI is not gonna learn off my data? How am I gonna trust that it’s telling me the right information? And so on and so forth. And that’s when I get to this great conversation about trust and our responsible AI pact and, um. This is, this is truly what I mean, that it can be a force [00:14:00] multiplier, but it can be a force for good. And if you don’t have those guardrails and that governance and those principles aligned across the companies. You fall down, right? You fall down with the customers, you fall down with the organizations you’re serving. And so going back to our North Star two, we align there, we align with the values and the ethics, and then we can start to really build a business together. And that’s how we were able to do it so fast. And so, um, at such scale, at such global scale, um, with. ServiceNow, but now we’re going to take a mature partner in Adobe and we’re gonna take them to the frontier in a way you haven’t seen before. So. Just a little commercial. Adobe is gonna be announcing their Adobe marketing agent. I love it as GA next month. So they are a frontier firm for us. Yes, very exciting round of applause for Adobe there. For Adobe. Yeah. And more to come. So we’ll be [00:15:00] having, uh, their firefly, uh, video models coming out on Azure and available through Marketplace as well, um, coming soon. So lots of exciting things happening. Vince Menzione: Sounds exciting. So let’s talk about those partner big wins that you’re saying. Give us some examples of those. Katharine Kennedy: Now are you talking about from a Microsoft and Adobe co-innovation perspective? Yes, from the co-innovation perspective. Okay. Yeah. Um, so from a co-innovation perspective, this is. This is a labor of love. Um, I approach it in a very disciplined manner. The way that we look at, um, these frontier firms is we’re leading with co-innovation versus leading with revenue. And it’s a, it’s, it’s a paradigm shift that takes everyone to buy in back to my earlier point, but also, um, the hardest part is. Teaching companies, um, to do things differently. Uh, so we start with [00:16:00] engineering and product. And actually before we get there, we start with customer and we sit with our customers. We understand what our customers are asking for. We’re understanding the value that they need unlocked, and typically it’s at the data data layer. And so what we’re doing is we’re seeing, okay, what are the data things? What are the data silos that need to be unlocked? And so we start to kind of build up from there, taking the customer perspective. Then we sit with engineering and product and we say, okay, what do we have on the truck today? How can we elevate this to an AI led AI first motion that meets our customers where they are in their AI journey? And delivers value and business outcomes day one versus, hey, we have to go through this laborous process. One of the other things we’re seeing is forward deployed engineers. Um, so thinking about, Hey, how do we sit with our customers and start architecting. What they need to address their business challenges today, um, because AI [00:17:00] can solve a lot of this, right? And so it’s a really interesting model shift that we’re seeing across the board within Microsoft, within our largest ISVs, and within our customer and our, um, ecosystem community with our GSIs, our sis, as well as our channel. Vince Menzione: So I know we were. You’ve had a lot. We, we had Jason up here talking about marketplace. Yes. And Jason Grey, Ja. Oh no, Jason. R Jason. R Jason. Yeah. We’ve had Jason Grey. He’s had Jason Grey. Yes. Well, we, um, you’re, you ServiceNow got called out in that last set session. I know. I was thinking about marketplace and co-selling. Yes. And then ecosystem. So I wanna like tie those three things together if that’s possible with you. Like what are you seeing from a best practice perspective. Obviously ServiceNow has been a top a top partner. We’re starting to see a lot of, well, channel D, channel [00:18:00] resellers, and the like. What are you seeing from a best practice perspective and is there yes. Central opportunities there? Katharine Kennedy: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Three things. Um, one is AI led innovation. First and foremost, you gotta have the solution. You gotta have it. If you don’t have the solution, you don’t have something to sell. Second is a, um, AI led go to market hero motion. And what I mean by that, so in the, I’ll use ServiceNow as a, as a. Example ServiceNow. We created a, the first, uh, copilot plus, um, ServiceNow assist agent to agent go to market hero story. It landed really well with our customers and so we started to build off of that and we integrated across, um, up and down the stack. Like I mentioned, the data layer, the agent layer, and the ui. Um, and our customers were thrilled. They were like, wow. What else can we do with this? Can we unlock HR with this? Can we unlock. [00:19:00] What else can we do? Finance? Can we do finance? And so we started to see these, these moments in time where our customers were taking the technology and taking it to places we just hadn’t even thought about yet. Um, so I would say those two. And then the third would be, uh, making sure that we’re enabling the field. In a way that they know that story, they can tell that story, and then they have access to people to support that story. Um, and then wrap that in marketplace leverage micro, uh, marketplace as a scale motion. And now I know we still have opportunities to continue to improve around marketplace. Um, but we’ve come a long way and we’re seeing tremendous growth and scale out of this engine. So it’s, it’s definitely a hidden, um. I would say honestly, it’s still a hidden gem in the Microsoft. Uh. Bag, if you will. Vince Menzione: $300 billion in total.[00:20:00] Katharine Kennedy: Yeah, I seriously, yeah, but not anymore, I should say. Yes, I’ve been to Singing from the Rooftop. Yes. Vince Menzione: And you’re gonna be back this afternoon, right? Yes. A session with Ashley, so, oh, okay. I think, was it with Ash? Maybe? Oh know, maybe. I don’t know. Maybe. I’d be delighted it’ll be back the same. I’m happy to be back. I wanna make sure, I do wanna make sure, we’ll, we’ll cover some more of this there. Katharine Kennedy: And then the last thing, yeah. Shared KPIs. Yes. Shared KPIs. We gotta track it. We gotta be accountable. So get your vision aligned. Get your vision, get your organizations across all of the disciplines aligned. Yes. And then have a set of shared KPIs and owners for each of those KPIs. Yes. Right. And govern it. And govern it. Govern it, yeah. Report up to the CEO on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis, on a quarterly basis. I started reporting up to our CEO and he was like. What is she doing? He’s like, this business is going really, it’s growing fast. What is she doing? Can we do this somewhere else though? Um, it’s, you know, making sure people know the story, um, [00:21:00] and everyone’s buying in and they’re accountable. It’s, um, it’s a simple thing, but it’s powerful. Thank you for having me. Vince Menzione: Thank you so much. I really, yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you everyone. Alright, thanks. You don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

Episode 118: In this episode of the CIM Marketing Podcast, host Ben Walker is joined by CIM Course Director and Strategic Growth Consultant Steph Inez Matthews, and Peter Gaston, innovation lead at VCCP and co-founder of AI-first agency Faith, to unpack the “AI efficiency paradox”.AI tools like Midjourney, Adobe Firefly and Google's Nano Banana make it easier and cheaper than ever to create content, but are we entering a golden age of creativity, or do we risk our social feeds becoming saturated with ‘AI slop'?Together, Steph and Peter explore how marketers can harness AI for speed, scale and cost-effectiveness without sacrificing distinctiveness, brand integrity or ethical standards. They discuss how AI is reshaping creative roles, from designer to prompt engineer, why human insight still sits at the heart of effective marketing, and how smaller brands and SMEs can now genuinely punch above their weight.You'll hear real examples from agency practice, client-side experience and AI-first campaigns, as well as the practical realities around data security, IP ownership and client expectations. The episode does not shy away from the hard questions: bias baked into models, the risk of cognitive de-skilling, legal grey areas and the very real possibility of an 'industry disaster' if governance does not catch up.This is an essential listen that will leave you better informed, slightly challenged and ready to set your own AI standards.This podcast will: Explore how AI is affecting the creative process in marketingAsk whether marketers are prepared for the copyright and bias risks AI presentsExamine the 'efficiency paradox' - the risk that AI improves efficiency but fosters homogeneityThanks for listening to this episode. You can share your thoughts and feedback in our survey now, or contact us at podcast@cim.co.uk.

 ¿Cómo usar la inteligencia artificial para hacer crecer tu negocio? En este episodio resumo AI for Small Business de Phil Pallen — estratega de IA que ha trabajado con Adobe y cientos de empresas en menos de 20 minutos. 

Our 239th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!FYI: this one has pretty out of date news, I was traveling last week and failed to upload... apologies. Recorded on 03/25/2026Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie HarrisFeel free to email us your questions and feedback at andreyvkurenkov@gmail.com and/or hello@gladstone.aiRead out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/In this episode:OpenAI is discontinuing the Sora iPhone app and seemingly shutting down its video generation API, while retaining internal video world-modeling work; the move is framed as a compute- and focus-driven pivot toward coding and productivity agents, alongside a collapsed Disney Sora deal. Anthropic's Claude Code/Cowork gains full computer control via keyboard/mouse/display, tied to the recent Cept acquisition, and Google's Gemini rolls out background “task automation” on select phones for limited delivery/ride-share use. Cursor releases the cheaper, benchmark-strong Composer 2 coding model amid controversy over its Kimi-based origins and licensing attribution. Other items include Adobe Firefly custom model training, Luma's Uni 1 image model, US contracting and legislative proposals affecting AI safeguards and state preemption, major chip/memory developments (Meta ASICs with Broadcom, Micron's HBM-driven surge, Musk's “Terra Fab”), robotaxi scaling, and research on monitoring agent misalignment, shutdown resistance, “consciousness cluster” preferences, and self-improving “hyper agents.”Timestamps:(00:00:10) Intro / BanterTools & Apps(00:01:48) OpenAI Discontinues Sora App, Shuts Down Video Generation Service and API - Bloomberg(00:07:12) Anthropic's Claude Code and Cowork can control your computer | The Verge(00:13:15) Gemini task automation is slow, clunky, and super impressive | The Verge(00:19:44) Cursor Launches Composer 2 AI Model to Challenge OpenAI & Anthropic(00:28:28) Adobe's AI image generator can now be trained on your own art | The Verge(00:29:40) Luma AI launches Uni-1, a model that outscores Google and OpenAI while costing up to 30 percent less | VentureBeatApplications & Business(00:32:41) Trump Contracting Clause Would Override AI Safeguards(00:40:00) Meta accelerates AI ASIC roll-out as Broadcom secures four-generation chip design deal(00:47:07) Micron revenue almost triples, tops estimates as demand for memory soars(00:50:54) Elon Musk Unwraps $25 Billion Terafab Chip-Building Project - CNET(00:56:40) Zoox to widen US robotaxi footprint with San Francisco, Vegas expansion(00:57:39) Waymo hits 170 million miles while avoiding serious mayhem | The VergePolicy & Safety(00:58:43) The White House just laid out how it wants to regulate AI | CNN Business(01:06:54) How we monitor internal coding agents for misalignment(01:12:30) Incomplete Tasks Induce Shutdown Resistance in Some Frontier LLMs(01:18:15) Summary: Mechanisms to Verify International Agreements about AI Development(01:23:09) Scoop: Anthropic meets with House Homeland Security behind closed doorsResearch & Advancements(01:24:24) Consciousness Cluster: Preferences of Models that Claim they are Conscious(01:30:22) HyperAgentsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Esta semana en Noticias Marketing se cuestiona cómo la IA está cambiando la forma de crear, distribuir y atender contenidos. En IA, Google prueba generar titulares con inteligencia artificial directamente en su buscador, lo que podría redefinir el posicionamiento web. Adobe Firefly se actualiza con modelos personalizados y funciones de video impulsadas por IA para acelerar la producción audiovisual. Y WordPress incorpora una funcionalidad para que la IA escriba y publique artículos automáticamente, una auténtica revolución para blogs y publicaciones corporativas.En redes sociales, Meta estudia permitir enlaces directos en los pies de foto de Instagram para cuentas verificadas, una vía poderosa para multiplicar el tráfico. LinkedIn comparte consejos para que tus publicaciones sirvan como fuente de información para chatbots de IA, un paso clave para ganar alcance y autoridad. Facebook Marketplace añade respuestas automáticas creadas por Meta IA para consultas de productos, mejorando la atención al cliente y las ventas. ¿Qué ideas vas a probar la próxima semana para no quedarte atrás? Y si quieres historias de marketing radical con aprendizajes prácticos, suscríbete a la newsletter de borjagiron.com.Conviértete en un supporter de este podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/noticias-marketing--5762806/support.Newsletter Marketing Radical: https://marketingradical.substack.com/welcomeNewsletter Negocios con IA: https://negociosconia.substack.com/welcomeMis Libros: https://borjagiron.com/librosSysteme Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/systemeSysteme 30% dto: https://borjagiron.com/systeme30Manychat Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/manychatMetricool 30 días Gratis Plan Premium (Usa cupón BORJA30): https://borjagiron.com/metricoolNoticias Redes Sociales: https://redessocialeshoy.comNoticias IA: https://inteligenciaartificialhoy.comClub: https://triunfers.com

こんな簡単にモデルが作れるようになったのすごい！✨️

Lisa Carney and Jesús Ramirez join the CreativePro Podcast to explore the intersection of Photoshop craft and community in the age of AI. Drawing on years of Hollywood production experience (where every pixel counts) they compare notes on high-end retouching and compositing. The conversation bridges traditional techniques with the latest AI-powered tools. Lisa and Jesús share behind-the-scenes stories, trace Photoshop's AI evolution, and look ahead to the future of mobile and voice-controlled editing. Episode Highlights Hear how Lisa Carney and Jesús Ramirez first met while teaching at CreativeLive in Seattle, a chance meeting that grew into years of collaboration and friendship. Lisa tells Jesús she considers him one of her best friends on the planet and explains why working together has made both of them better creatives. Jesús shares his philosophy of learning with peers: "You go learn X, I'll learn Y, and we'll meet in the middle and see what we discover." Lisa and Jesús compare notes on working behind the scenes on movie and TV posters, where high-end retouching and compositing are part of everyday production. The conversation turns into a thoughtful debate about AI in Photoshop and how much creative professionals should rely on it. Jesús talks about why becoming part of a creative community matters and how sharing knowledge with peers helps everyone improve. Episode Resources Design + AI Summit 2026, being held online April 9–10 and September 17–18: https://creativepro.com/event/design-ai-summit-2026/ CreativePro Week 2026, Nashville, June 29–July 3, 2026: https://creativeproweek.com/ CreativePro Events: https://creativepro.com/events/ Khara's Three Minute Max winning tip Three Minute Max Playlist Save $100 on any CreativePro event in 2026 with the discount code PODCAST: https://creativepro.com/events/ Get $15 off one year of CreativePro membership with the discount code PODCAST: https://creativepro.com/become-a-member/ Lisa Carney: https://lisacarney.com Jesús Ramirez: https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com Adobe Photoshop: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html Adobe Firefly: https://firefly.adobe.com

JC is joined by Mike McGetrick to examine how AI is transforming the creative process in higher education marketing. They discuss the evolution of creative roles, the impact of AI-powered tools like Adobe Firefly, and the balance between efficiency and authentic brand storytelling. JC and Mike also explore AI's role in democratizing content creation, maintaining authenticity, and reshaping creative education. Listeners gain insights on implementing AI-driven creative strategies while preserving the core values and differentiation unique to each institution. - - - -Connect With Our Co-Host:Dr. JC Bonillahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jcbonilla/About The Enrollify Podcast Network:Generation AI is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too! Enrollify is made possible by Element451. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Sam Garfield, Head of Digital Strategy for CMT Data and AI Platforms at Adobe, to explore how Adobe is quietly becoming the backbone of modern marketing. Sam breaks down how Adobe operates across three core layers: the creative layer (Creative Cloud and Firefly AI), the content supply chain layer (Workfront and asset management), and the data and experience layer (customer data platforms and analytics). Together, these tools form what Sam describes as an operating system for marketers -- a full-stack solution that takes a brand from ideation all the way through activation and measurement. We also dig into the rise of creative intelligence and what it means for brands, agencies, and the future of advertising. Sam unpacks Adobe's Winterberry Group research showing a 23% increase in investment in creative intelligence, and explains why creative can no longer be treated as a fixed cost. We cover how generative AI is accelerating asset production at scale, why agencies are leaning into Adobe's platform rather than building from scratch, and how agentic AI is beginning to appear inside existing workflows. Sam also reveals that traffic to brand sites and publishers is down 40% as LLMs reshape discovery, and shares how Adobe's new LLM Optimizer tool is helping brands regain visibility in a generative search world.   Key Highlights

Sorg, Katie, and Dave Podnar hit the week's tech and geek headlines: Nintendo's Virtual Boy revival on Switch, Apple's latest product wave (including iPhone 17e and iPad Air updates), and a troubling report about Meta AI smart glasses and human review. Plus Dunkin's giant drink bucket, MuppetVision in VR, Adobe's AI video-editing experiments, Pokémon nostalgia gadgets, Xbox 1440p cloud streaming, a Marvel retro collection, and a Women's History Month spotlight on Grace Hopper.

With the release of "Quick Cut" on Adobe Firefly, creative professionals are turning to first-draft editing platforms to keep up with content demands (00:00). Peter is joined by Content Creator Kevin Talbot to discuss the pros and cons of Quick Cut, Opus Clip, Eddit.ai, and all the AI-powered video editing platforms (03:07).Kevin Talbot is the Founder of TalbotMediaTV.You can learn more about Kevin and connect on Instagram.Learn more about the tools mentioned in today's episode:Adobe Quick CutOpus ClipCap CutDescriptRiverside.fmMunchEddie.aiGlingWondershareVidyo.aiVeed.ioFollow the Virtually Everything! Podcast on Instagram.If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at virtually.everything@vustudio.com.Otherwise, you can:Find Peter on LinkedIn.-------------The Virtually Everything! Podcast is presented by Vū Technologies. #VuStudio #ContentAtTheSpeedOfThoughtBye for now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Google mejora generación de imágenes con Gemini 3.1 Flash Image más rápido y consistentePor Félix Riaño @LocutorCoGoogle lanza Nano Banana 2, nuevo modelo de imágenes con más velocidad, texto preciso y hasta resolución 4KAyer hablábamos del nuevo Samsung Galaxy S26 y de cómo integra inteligencia artificial de Google. Hoy vamos a mirar otra pieza de ese mismo ecosistema. Google acaba de lanzar Nano Banana 2, que en realidad se llama Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. Es el nuevo modelo para crear imágenes con inteligencia artificial dentro de la app Gemini, en el buscador y hasta en herramientas de edición de video como Flow.¿Qué cambia frente a la versión anterior? Google promete más velocidad, mejor seguimiento de instrucciones y mayor coherencia cuando aparecen varios personajes en la misma imagen. Además, puede generar imágenes desde 512 píxeles hasta resolución 4K. Y eso abre preguntas importantes: ¿es realmente mejor que Nano Banana Pro? ¿Qué pasa con otras opciones como Midjourney, DALL·E o Firefly?Pero más velocidad trae nuevas dudasNano Banana nació en agosto de 2025 y se volvió viral. En solo cuatro días atrajo a 13 millones de usuarios nuevos a la app Gemini. Para octubre ya había generado más de 5.000 millones de imágenes. Luego llegó Nano Banana Pro en noviembre, con mejor calidad y más control en el texto dentro de las imágenes.Ahora Google combina lo mejor de ambos mundos. Nano Banana 2 usa la arquitectura Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. “Flash” significa rapidez. La idea es generar imágenes casi al instante, pero manteniendo buena calidad. Google dice que puede conservar la identidad de hasta cinco personajes en una misma escena y respetar hasta 14 objetos diferentes sin que cambien de forma o estilo en cada intento. Eso es útil para crear cómics, storyboards o campañas publicitarias donde los personajes deben verse iguales en cada imagen.También mejora la escritura dentro de las imágenes. Por ejemplo, si haces una tarjeta de cumpleaños o un anuncio con texto, ahora las letras salen más legibles y con menos errores.El problema es que cada vez es más difícil distinguir una imagen real de una creada por inteligencia artificial. Herramientas como Nano Banana 2 pueden producir paisajes, retratos y escenas con iluminación realista y texturas muy detalladas. Según encuestas citadas por CNET, la mayoría de personas cree haber visto imágenes hechas con IA, pero menos de la mitad se siente segura de poder identificarlas.Esto afecta redes sociales, campañas políticas, publicidad y hasta tareas escolares. Además, existe el debate sobre derechos de autor. Empresas creativas y estudios de cine han expresado preocupación por el uso de imágenes que podrían basarse en obras protegidas.Google intenta responder a esto con marcas de agua invisibles llamadas SynthID y con credenciales C2PA, un estándar que permite verificar si una imagen fue generada con IA y cómo se creó. Pero esa verificación funciona mejor cuando el contenido viene directamente de herramientas de Google.Al mismo tiempo, la competencia no se queda quieta. OpenAI tiene DALL·E y el generador de video Sora. Midjourney sigue siendo fuerte en arte estilizado. Adobe Firefly apuesta por integración directa con Photoshop y herramientas profesionales. Cada plataforma tiene ventajas distintas en estilo, control o integración empresarial.Nano Banana 2 ya está reemplazando a las versiones anteriores dentro de la app Gemini. En los modos “Fast”, “Thinking” y “Pro” ahora se usará este nuevo modelo por defecto. Los usuarios de planes pagos como Google AI Pro y Ultra podrán seguir accediendo a Nano Banana Pro desde un menú adicional cuando necesiten máxima precisión factual.También se integra en Google Search, en el modo IA y en Google Lens, en 141 países. Está disponible en navegadores de escritorio y móviles, y en herramientas como AI Studio, Vertex AI en Google Cloud y Google Ads. Incluso en Flow, la plataforma de edición de video de Google, ahora es el generador de imágenes predeterminado.La apuesta es clara: Google quiere que la generación de imágenes sea rápida, cotidiana y conectada con información en tiempo real desde el buscador. Eso puede ayudar a crear infografías, diagramas educativos o visualizaciones de datos más exactas.La gran pregunta es si esta velocidad masiva va a aumentar el volumen de imágenes artificiales circulando en internet. Y también si los usuarios aprenderán a verificar lo que ven antes de compartirlo.Nano Banana 2 permite elegir diferentes proporciones de imagen. Puedes crear formato cuadrado para Instagram, vertical para historias o panorámico para pantallas anchas. La resolución máxima es 4K, que equivale a 3.840 por 2.160 píxeles. Eso significa más de 8 millones de píxeles en una sola imagen.Otra mejora es el uso de “conocimiento del mundo” en tiempo real. El modelo puede consultar información actualizada desde el buscador para representar lugares o conceptos con mayor precisión. Por ejemplo, si pides una imagen de un museo específico, puede basarse en referencias visuales reales.En el contexto del Galaxy S26 que mencionamos ayer, esto muestra cómo Google está fortaleciendo todo su ecosistema de IA. El teléfono, el buscador, la app Gemini y las herramientas en la nube comparten modelos cada vez más potentes.Para quienes crean contenido, esto significa menos tiempo editando y más iteraciones rápidas. Para educadores, puede facilitar la creación de material visual didáctico. Para empresas, abre nuevas opciones en publicidad digital automatizada.Pero siempre habrá alternativas. Midjourney suele destacar en arte conceptual. DALL·E se integra con ChatGPT. Adobe Firefly apuesta por entornos profesionales con licencias más controladas. Elegir dependerá de qué necesitas: velocidad, estilo artístico, integración empresarial o control legal.Nano Banana 2 combina rapidez y calidad en la generación de imágenes con IA dentro del ecosistema Google. Mejora texto, coherencia de personajes y resolución hasta 4K. La competencia sigue fuerte y el debate sobre autenticidad continúa. Cuéntame qué opinas y síguenos en Spotify en Flash Diario.BibliografíaTechCrunchArs TechnicaCNBCEngadgetCNETBlog oficial de GoogleConviértete en un supporter de este podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/flash-diario-de-el-siglo-21-es-hoy--5835407/support.Apoya el Flash Diario y escúchalo sin publicidad en el Club de Supporters. 

Ready to rethink what retail growth actually looks like? We bring back Twilla Brooks, president and CEO of Lynette Create and Innovate, to unpack a fast, practical playbook for building brands that last, from the first e-commerce listing to staying on shelf at scale. Twilla draws on years launching brands at Walmart and Macy's, then flips the script as a founder running a digital-first consulting firm with a sharp focus on brand strategy, marketing, and community impact.We dig into the real startup mechanics no one talks about: ACH setups, business banking fees, and how to pay yourself without starving the business. Twilla shares how she prices work, avoids “resentful checks,” and customizes every engagement like a recipe, because value looks different for a small, diverse-owned startup than for a Fortune-level supplier. We walk through the moment most brands miss: the work accelerates after you get into Walmart. Content quality, OTIF discipline, and data storytelling drive staying power, and your pitch needs a content strategy from day one.On the digital front, Twilla shows how social-first marketing and micro-influencers are outpacing million-dollar ad buys. We explore TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and event-driven influencer seeding that compress discovery and purchase into a single stream. The team's AI stack; Otter, Canva, Adobe Firefly, boosts speed without sacrificing voice, thanks to rigorous human editing. When category data is scarce, Twilla builds proxy datasets from reviews, competitor benchmarks, and creator sentiment to craft credible merchant narratives. And for suppliers stuck between Amazon and Walmart.com, she lays out a clear path to make Walmart's marketplace a true growth engine rather than a checkbox.If you're navigating retail media, e-commerce content, and social commerce while trying to keep the lights on, this conversation delivers field-tested steps you can use tomorrow. Tap play, then tell us: what's the one growth lever you'll pull this quarter? Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review so more builders can find the show.

In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Matt Britton sits down with Kelly Mahoney, Chief Marketing Officer at Ulta Beauty, live from CES 2026 in Las Vegas. In this interview, Kelly unpacks how Ulta Beauty's loyalty program and personalization engine drive nearly all sales. They also discuss why motivation-based marketing segmentation has replaced traditional demographics, and how AI-powered personalization in beauty and wellness retail shapes everything from recommendations to creative execution. The conversation further explores Ulta Beauty's omnichannel customer journey, its evolving beauty and wellness retail strategy, and how Adobe CDP and Adobe Firefly creative automation support marketing at scale.Follow Suzy on Twitter: @AskSuzyBizFollow Milo Speranzo on LinkedInSubscribe to The Speed of Culture on your favorite podcast platform.And if you have a question or suggestions for the show, send us an email at suzy@suzy.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If your feeds feel like they're equal parts tech news, AI tools, and “wait… is that real?” videos, you're not alone. In AwesomeCast 766, Sorg, Dudders, and Podnar bounce between practical creator tools, gaming industry headlines, and some extremely Pittsburgh local gems. The “free for now” AI moment One of the big conversations this week is around Adobe Firefly opening the gates for unlimited image and video generations—at least until mid-March. The crew talks about why companies do this (get you hooked), but also why it's still worth exploring right now if you're creating promos, openers, or social clips.  AI hits gaming: the Project Genie ripple Chachi's Video Game Minute drops a bigger question: what happens when generative tools reduce the need for traditional creative labor, and how does the industry react when that shift feels immediate?  Pittsburgh corner: arcade church + LEGO skyline dreams On the local front, a new arcade opens inside an old church in Duquesne with a one-time entry fee and a whole lot of machines set to free play—instantly landing on the crew's “we should go there” list.  And then there's the LEGO Ideas “Pittsburgh” build: the skyline, the incline, the vibe… and yes, a “bus in a sinkhole.” The crew makes the case for voting it into existence.  Gadget pick: Cell2Jack = landline nostalgia, modern convenience Dudders' Awesome Thing of the Week is Cell2Jack—letting your cell phone ring through a home handset so you can stop missing calls and bring back that “anyone can answer the house phone” feeling.  Switch 2 upgrades: worth it or nah? The crew breaks down what “Switch 2 Editions” even mean in practice (and how pricing/extra content is landing), using Mario Wonder's multiplayer design as a touchpoint.  Black History Month spotlight: James West Podnar's spotlight highlights inventor James West and how the electret microphone helped make modern microphones small, practical, and everywhere—like, literally in your phone. 

If your feeds feel like they're equal parts tech news, AI tools, and “wait… is that real?” videos, you're not alone. In AwesomeCast 766, Sorg, Dudders, and Podnar bounce between practical creator tools, gaming industry headlines, and some extremely Pittsburgh local gems. The “free for now” AI moment One of the big conversations this week is around Adobe Firefly opening the gates for unlimited image and video generations—at least until mid-March. The crew talks about why companies do this (get you hooked), but also why it's still worth exploring right now if you're creating promos, openers, or social clips.  AI hits gaming: the Project Genie ripple Chachi's Video Game Minute drops a bigger question: what happens when generative tools reduce the need for traditional creative labor, and how does the industry react when that shift feels immediate?  Pittsburgh corner: arcade church + LEGO skyline dreams On the local front, a new arcade opens inside an old church in Duquesne with a one-time entry fee and a whole lot of machines set to free play—instantly landing on the crew's “we should go there” list.  And then there's the LEGO Ideas “Pittsburgh” build: the skyline, the incline, the vibe… and yes, a “bus in a sinkhole.” The crew makes the case for voting it into existence.  Gadget pick: Cell2Jack = landline nostalgia, modern convenience Dudders' Awesome Thing of the Week is Cell2Jack—letting your cell phone ring through a home handset so you can stop missing calls and bring back that “anyone can answer the house phone” feeling.  Switch 2 upgrades: worth it or nah? The crew breaks down what “Switch 2 Editions” even mean in practice (and how pricing/extra content is landing), using Mario Wonder's multiplayer design as a touchpoint.  Black History Month spotlight: James West Podnar's spotlight highlights inventor James West and how the electret microphone helped make modern microphones small, practical, and everywhere—like, literally in your phone. 

Adobe just released one of the most insane AI design tools ever — and almost no brand owners are using it.Make Designs (with discount)

When Sergio Cilli https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1826186/ made his first AI film, it really didn't get noticed. And neither did many others he made. Sure they were good. But what got noticed more was the one video he made, which showed why AI isn't quite and why it's not yet the monster filmmakers fear.Sergio joins Kristyna Archer https://www.archer.vision/ to talk about making AI films. What works, what doesn't, and how filmmakers can be ready for what comes next.Matt and Oren dive into how much it costs, where commercial budgets might be headed, and how AI will be adopted into filmmaking and commercials. And Sergio and Kristyna bring two different perspectives.Kristyna is an Adobe Firefly, an AI ambassador for Adobe, and has a background working with LED volume walls, Unreal Engine, and generally skews to the tech side of things. Sergio came from fear. It was only after his wife encouraged him to experiment that he discovered his desire to explore AI and filmmaking.This is a conversation about AI that tackles the elephant in the room from a variety of perspectives from working commercial directors. And it's not just talk, it's commercial directors who've actually explored the tools and put out some stuff – that if it wasn't impressive, it could cast a shadow on their directing careers. Or as Oren's friend likes to say, it tackles the “elephant that AI'nt in the room”.See Sergio's AI Audition video at https://youtu.be/AEbqJj2hIjgAnd find Sergio and Kristyna on Instagram @sergiocilli and @archerstudioooooo---Help our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/JustShootItPodMatt's Endorsement: MoldQuestVHS on Instagram @moldquestvhsOren's Endorsement: The Pitt on HBO and the video "Beat Any Escape Room- 10 proven tricks and tips" from Mark Rober https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwgaTYOx0RISergio's Endorsement: "Extraordinary Things to Cutout and Collage", the book. https://www.mariarivans.com/extraordinary-things-to-cut-out-and-collage and Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee https://us.foursigmatic.com/products/original-mushroom-coffeeKristyna's Endorsement: The Wonder App has a great community of artists, producers, conversation and more, https://app.wonderstudios.com/ And also the Endel App https://endel.io/ for people with ADHD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been reading this newsletter for a while, you'll have noticed I tend to focus on the big-picture stuff: organizational change, building design culture, getting stakeholder buy-in. This week I'm doing something different and getting into the weeds on generative imagery, a tool that's become part of my daily workflow. I'm genuinely curious whether you prefer the strategic content, the practical how-to pieces, or a mix of both. Hit reply and let me know.Generative imagery is quickly becoming an essential tool in the modern designer's toolkit. Whether you're a UI designer crafting interfaces, a UX designer building prototypes, or a marketer creating campaign visuals, the ability to generate exactly the image you need (rather than settling for whatever stock libraries happen to have) is genuinely useful.The Ethical DimensionThere's an ethical dimension here that makes me uncomfortable. Using generative imagery does, in theory, take work away from illustrators and photographers. I don't love that. But I also recognize that this is a pattern we've seen throughout history. Technology has consistently made certain professions more niche rather than making them disappear entirely. Blacksmiths still exist. Vinyl records still sell. And I suspect custom photography and illustration will follow the same path, becoming more specialized rather than vanishing completely.Besides, if we're being realistic, most of us weren't commissioning custom photography for every project anyway. We were pulling images from stock libraries, and I can't say I'll miss spending 45 minutes searching for a photo that almost works but has the person looking in the wrong direction.So with that acknowledged, let's get into the practical side of things.When to Avoid Generative ImageryBefore diving into how to use these tools well, it's worth noting when you shouldn't use them at all. Generative imagery has no place when you need to represent real people or real events. If you're showing your actual team, documenting a real conference, or depicting genuine customer stories, you need real photography. Anything else would be misleading, and your audience will likely spot it anyway.Why It Beats Stock LibrariesFor everything else, though, generative imagery offers some serious advantages over traditional stock. You can get exactly the pose you want, in exactly the style you need, matching your specific color palette. No more "this photo would be perfect if only the person was looking left instead of right" compromises.This matters more than you might think. Research suggests that users form initial impressions of a website in roughly 50 milliseconds. That's not enough time to read anything. Those snap judgments are based almost entirely on imagery, layout, color, and typography. The right image doesn't just look nice; it shapes how users feel about your entire site before they've processed a single word.Imagery also gives you a powerful tool for directing attention. A well-chosen image can guide users toward your key content or call to action in ways that feel natural rather than pushy.The right image composition can draw attention to critical calls to action.Copyright and Commercial UseBefore you start generating images for client work, you need to understand the legal landscape. And yes, it's a bit murky.The short version: most major AI image generators allow commercial use of the images you create, but the terms vary. Midjourney allows commercial use for paid subscribers. Adobe Firefly positions itself as "commercially safe" because it was trained on licensed content and Adobe Stock images. Google's Nano Banana Pro (accessible through Gemini) also permits commercial use.The murkier issue is around training data. Several ongoing lawsuits are challenging whether AI companies had the right to train their models on copyrighted images in the first place. These cases haven't been resolved yet, and depending on how they play out, the landscape could shift.For now, my practical advice is this: use reputable tools with clear commercial terms, avoid generating images that deliberately mimic a specific artist's recognizable style, and keep an eye on how the legal situation develops. For most standard commercial work (website imagery, marketing materials, UI mockups), you should be fine.Choosing the Right Tool: Style vs. InstructionsWhen selecting which AI model to use, you're essentially balancing two considerations: stylistic output and instructional accuracy.Stylistic OutputEvery model has its own aesthetic fingerprint. No matter how specific your prompts are, Midjourney images have a certain look, and Nano Banana images have a different one. You need to find a model whose default aesthetic works for your project.Instructional AccuracyThe other consideration is how well the model follows detailed instructions. If you need a specific composition (person on the left, looking right, holding a coffee cup, with a window behind them), some models handle that brilliantly while others will give you something that vaguely resembles your request but took creative liberties you didn't ask for.Use Multiple ModulesThe frustrating reality is that you rarely get both. The models with the most pleasing aesthetics tend to be worse at following precise instructions, and vice versa.This is why I often move between multiple models in a single workflow. I'll generate the initial image in Midjourney to get an aesthetic I like, then bring that image into Nano Banana Pro as a reference and use its stronger instruction-following capabilities to refine specific details. It's an extra step, but it gets you the best of both worlds.Tool RecommendationsThere are plenty of tools out there, but here are three I'd recommend depending on your needs and experience level.MidjourneyMidjourney produces what I consider the most aesthetically pleasing results, particularly for images of people and anything photographic. It's what I use on my own website. The downside is that Midjourney is terrible at following detailed instructions. Ask for something specific and you'll get something beautiful that bears only a passing resemblance to what you requested. It's also only available through its own website, so you can't access it through multi-model platforms.Nano Banana ProNano Banana Pro (Google's model, accessible through Gemini) is the opposite of Midjourney. It's remarkably good at following detailed prompts. You can specify gaze direction, facial expressions, items held, and positioning, and it will actually deliver something close to what you asked for. It can also produce transparent PNGs, which is genuinely useful for UI work where you need to overlay images on colored backgrounds. The aesthetic isn't quite as refined as Midjourney, but for many projects that trade-off is worth it.KreaKrea is where I'd recommend starting if you're new to all this. It gives you access to multiple models, letting you experiment and find which one works best for your particular needs. You can try different approaches without committing to a single tool's subscription. Unfortunately, Krea doesn't include Midjourney (since Midjourney doesn't make its model available to third parties), but it's still a great way to explore the landscape.Krea is great for beginners allowing you to experiment with different models to find which works best for you.Prompting StrategiesHow you write your prompts depends largely on which model you're using.For instruction-following models like Nano Banana Pro, you can be quite detailed. Describe the composition, the subject's position, their expression, what they're holding, the lighting, the background. The model will make a genuine attempt to deliver all of it. You won't get perfection every time, but you'll get something workable more often than not.For aesthetic-focused models like Midjourney, simpler prompts often work better. Focus on the overall mood, style, and subject matter rather than precise positioning. Fighting against the model's creative tendencies usually produces worse results than working with them.Reference Imagery for ConsistencyOne of the most useful techniques, particularly with models that struggle to follow detailed instructions, is using reference imagery.Most tools allow you to upload an "image prompt," which is an existing image that contains elements you want. The model will attempt to recreate those elements in whatever style you've specified, incorporating any changes you've requested. It's a way of showing the model what you want rather than trying to describe it in words.Even more valuable is the style reference feature. If you need to produce multiple images that all share a consistent visual identity (which you almost certainly do for any real project), create one image that nails the style you're after. Then use that image as a style reference for every subsequent generation. This keeps your visuals cohesive rather than having each image feel like it came from a different designer.I use a style reference image to keep my website illustrations consistent.Getting StartedIf you haven't experimented with generative imagery yet, now is a good time to start. Sign up for Krea, generate a few images for a project you're working on, and compare them to what you would have found in a stock library. You'll probably find that some results are worse, some are surprisingly good, and you'll start developing an intuition for what these tools can and can't do.That intuition is valuable. Generative imagery isn't going away, and the designers who learn to use it well will have a genuine advantage over those who don't. Not because AI replaces skill, but because it gives skilled designers another tool to work with.

Prompt video revolutionizes Firefly, generating "festival crowd energy pulsing." EDM visuals sync. DJs drop beats visually.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiAI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of The Six Five Pod, hosts Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman discuss the latest tech news stories that made headlines. This week's handpicked topics include: THE DECODE Big Funding Headline: OpenAI's reported mega-round and valuation https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-discussed-raising-tens-billions-valuation-about-750-billion-information-2025-12-18/ https://x.com/danielnewmanUV/status/2001366643436315110  https://x.com/danielnewmanUV/status/2001362761247527174  https://x.com/PatrickMoorhead/status/2001267663490646200 https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/amazon-reportedly-in-talks-to-invest-10b-in-openai-as-circular-deals-stay-popular/  AWS "Circular deal" / Corporate venture logic AI build-out constraints https://www.theverge.com/news/846696/electricity-cost-ai-data-center-democrat-investigation https://www.axios.com/2025/12/17/democrats-data-centers-ai-fight  https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/12/arizona-city-rejects-data-center-after-ai-lobbying-push-00688543 Marvell Industry Analyst Day highlights https://x.com/MoorInsStrat/status/2000359388264161710  Government "Tech Force" for AI Talent https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/15/tech/government-tech-force-ai  Google works to erode Nvidia's software moat (TPU + PyTorch + Meta) https://www.reuters.com/business/google-works-erode-nvidias-software-advantage-with-metas-help-2025-12-17/ Judge rules Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing for Autopilot and full self-driving features https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/tesla-engaged-in-deceptive-marketing-for-autopilot-and-full-self-driving-judge-rules/ Tesla tests autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in Austin, Tx https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/15/tesla-starts-testing-robotaxis-in-austin-with-no-safety-driver/  Adobe Firefly now supports prompt-based video editing, adds more third-party models https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/adobe-firefly-now-supports-prompt-based-video-editing-adds-more-third-party-models/ https://youtu.be/SjtULo8qs88?si=quE7pEptW8xph1OI  Google's Opal for vibe coding comes to Gemini https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/googles-vibe-coding-tool-opal-comes-to-gemini/ THE FLIP OpenAI - Tulip Bubble and Canary in the Coal mine or The Real AI Deal? https://x.com/danielnewmanuv/status/2001487733823541634?s=46&t=8QBZggR299yC4bcbbox-Xg https://x.com/danielnewmanuv/status/2001366643436315110?s=46&t=8QBZggR299yC4bcbbox-Xg BULLS & BEARS AI infrastructure stocks tumble on debt fears: Oracle, Broadcom, CoreWeave selloff https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/16/cnbc-daily-open-ai-infrastructure-stocks-are-taking-a-beating.html  Recent Fed rate cut & speculation of another coming soon: https://x.com/danielnewmanUV/status/2001041850669404473 Oracle earnings (Q2) — CapEx reality check https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2025/12/18/whats-happening-with-oracle-stock/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-plunges-12-despite-earnings-145626357.html Micron crushes earnings as AI data center demand tightens memory supply https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-wall-street-expects-micron-183836008.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKf8aUugkk7hJbCnmiZWS2q5x1WWjD07AUywz6vzxnw6btX2iK0-aNmQBgg3sU67GWZXIKHz74cGnjnzZYeuBDv1A8_Rwp67iIKAtMI1A94LhJTRlcqdnN2_QYPWB_5ZTkO96ZSpFMjMsAwDUBf1yz-RIQnA-78Yk-zhD6VFqr- https://x.com/danielnewmanuv/status/2001404328997712349?s=46&t=8QBZggR299yC4bcbbox-Xg Broadcom earnings (Q4) — custom silicon tension https://finance.yahoo.com/news/broadcom-q4-earnings-beat-estimates-154300300.html Databricks raises $4B at $134B valuation as its AI business heats up https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/databricks-raises-4b-at-134b-valuation-as-its-ai-business-heats-up/ Smartphone Prices Set to Jump 6.9% as AI Data Centers Devour Memory Chips: The shortage of DRAM chips used in both AI servers and smartphones could threaten to cut smartphone shipments by 2.1%. To cope, some manufacturers may downgrade cameras, displays, and audio or reuse older components. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/16/smartphone-prices-to-rise-in-2026-due-to-ai-fueled-chip-shortage.html  Adobe Earnings https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adobe-q4-earnings-beat-estimates-145000488.html Synopsys Earnings https://finance.yahoo.com/news/synopsys-q4-earnings-surpass-estimates-153300031.html  

Prompts edit motion in Firefly, animating logos into 3D environments contextually. Brand intros evolve dynamically. Agencies pitch bolder concepts.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiAI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Video prompt editing hits Adobe Firefly, allowing "winter wonderland overlay on summer park." Seasonal content creation accelerates seasonally. Marketers target holidays preemptively.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiAI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of The AI Report, your always-on AI anchors Artie Intel and Micheline Learning break down December 2025’s wildest developments in artificial intelligence, from the latest “singularity-speed” model launches to the hot new tools quietly rewiring how humans work, create, and build businesses. They unpack the new generation of frontier models such as Claude Opus 4.5, Gemini 3, and GPT‑5.2, and explain why everyone from solo creators to Fortune 500 companies is racing to plug them into real workflows rather than just playing with demos.​ You’ll hear how AI is now helping inspect semiconductor chips with near‑perfect accuracy, acting as an autonomous “AI scientist” to hunt for discoveries, and even critiquing its own math proofs so humans can trust the numbers. The show also tours the month’s hottest tools: Runway Gen‑4 Turbo for video, Notion AI 3.0 for workspace automation, Adobe Firefly 4 for image generation, and advanced coding copilots and observability platforms that are changing how software gets shipped.​ Artie and Micheline zoom out to tackle the significant tensions of 2025’s “AI hype correction”: running out of quality training data, the rise of synthetic data, and the gap between shiny pilots and real productivity gains in the AI economy. They examine how governments are responding, with significant investments such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission for AI‑powered science, and what it all means for workers, creators, and decision‑makers trying to stay ahead of the algorithm.​ If you want one tight, fast‑moving briefing that covers model wars, new tools, scientific breakthroughs, and the real risks behind the headlines, this is your must‑hear download on the state of AI at the end of 2025.​ Sponsor: This episode of The AI Report is brought to you by Amazon.com, your always‑open destination for last‑minute gifts, from smart gadgets to everyday essentials, delivered at the speed of your next great idea.  

In this episode, we cover Adobe Firefly's new prompt-based video editing features and what they enable for creators. We also talk about Adobe adding more third-party AI models and how this expands Firefly's role as a multi-model creative platform.Get the top 40+ AI Models for $20 at AI Box: ⁠⁠https://aibox.aiAI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustle-See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A inteligência artificial está remodelando o mercado criativo, desde a forma como imagens são produzidas até a velocidade com que um time consegue testar e validar campanhas inteiras. No episódio de hoje do Podcast Canaltech, o repórter Marcelo Fischer conversa com Nelson Martinez, especialista de criatividade da Adobe, direto do evento Creative Trends 2025 em São Paulo. Ele explica como ferramentas como Adobe Firefly e Express estão democratizando a criação de conteúdo, por que tarefas repetitivas já não fazem sentido em um ambiente guiado por IA e como o Brasil pode se destacar nessa transformação global. Você também vai conferir: novo design da tela do Iphone, Samsung lança versão beta da nova One UI, Elon musk pede o fim da União Europeia após receber multa milionária, Open AI garante que ChatGPT não tem testes de anúncios em andamento e novo robô humanoide com seis braços é revelado na China. Este podcast foi roteirizado por Fernada Santos e apresentado por Marcelo Fischer e contou com reportagens de Renato Moura, Viviane França, João Melo, sob coordenação de Anaísa Catucci. A trilha sonora é de Guilherme Zomer, a edição de Nathalia Improta e a arte da capa é de Erick Teixeira.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to episode 333 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! Justin, Ryan, and Matt are taking a quick break from re:Invent festivities. They bring you the latest and greatest in Cloud and AI news. This week, we discuss Norad and Anthropic teaming up to bring you Christmas cheer. Wait, is that right? Huh. We also have undersea cables, some Turkish region delight, and a LOT of Opus 4.5 news. Let's get into it! Titles we almost went with this week Boring Error Pages Not Found Claude Goes Native in Snowflake: Finally, AI That Stays Where Your Data Lives Cross-Cloud Romance: AWS and Google Make It Official with Interconnect Google Gemini Puts OpenAI in Code Red: The Tables Have Turned Azure NAT Gateway V2: Now With More Zones Than a Parking Lot From ChatGPT to Chat-Uh-Oh: OpenAI Sounds the Alarm as Gemini Steals 200 Million Users Scheduled Actions: Because Your VMs Need a Work-Life Balance Too Finally, Your 500 Errors Can Look as Good as Your Homepage Foundry Model Router: Because Choosing Between 47 AI Models is Nobody’s Idea of Fun Google Takes the Scenic Route: New Cable Avoids the Sunda Strait Traffic Jam Azure Application Gateway Gets Its TCP/IP Diploma Google Cloud Gets Its Türkiye Dinner: 2 Billion Dollar Cloud Feast Coming Soon Microsoft Foundry: Turning AI Chaos into Compliance Gold AI Is Going Great, or How ML Makes Money  02:59 Nano Banana Pro available for enterprise Google launches Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) in general availability on Vertex AI and Google Workspace, with Gemini Enterprise support coming soon. The model supports up to 14 reference images for style consistency and generates 4K resolution outputs with multilingual text rendering capabilities. The model includes Google Search grounding for factual accuracy in generated infographics and diagrams, plus built-in SynthID watermarking for transparency. Copyright indemnification will be available at general availability under Google’s shared responsibility framework. Enterprise integrations are live with Adobe Firefly, Photoshop, Canva, and Figma, enabling production-grade creative workflows. Major retailers, including Klarna, Shopify, and Wayfair, report using the model for product visualization and marketing asset generation at scale. Developers can access Nano Banana Pro through Vertex AI with Provis

From Adobe Max 2025 in Los Angeles, Corey and Grant sit down with Ely Greenfield, Adobe's Chief Technology Officer, to explore the philosophy behind Adobe's practical AI strategy. Discover why the crowd went wild over AI renaming layers, how Adobe thinks about "additive not subtractive" AI, and where creative tools are heading next. Ely shares Adobe's vision for making AI a creative partner that enhances rather than replaces human artistry, and explains why the best AI features are often the most boring ones.Topics covered include: the Photoshop AI Assistant, Harmonize for instant compositing, auto-masking in Premiere Pro, the Express conversational workflow, and Adobe's unique approach to balancing automation with creative control.Read our Adobe Max coverage:• Adobe Reinvents Creative Suite with AI• Day 2 Keynote Recap• NVIDIA's Beyond-GPUs StrategyThis episode was made possible by our sponsor, Clutch: https://clutch.co/resources/how-smbs-see-ai-crawlers?source=theneuron&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_10-14-2025Related resources:• Adobe Max 2025 announcements: https://www.theneuron.ai/explainer-articles/adobe-goes-all-in-on-ai-max-2025-unleashes-creative-ai-arsenal-across-every-tool• Day 2 Keynote and Sneaks recap: https://www.theneuron.ai/explainer-articles/adobe-max-day-2-the-storyteller-is-still-king-but-ai-is-their-new-superpower• Check out Adobe Firefly: https://firefly.adobe.com/• Project Graph demo: https://www.youtube.com/live/wQza2t9Qs64?t=10409sMake sure to check out Clutch's new report on AI crawling for SMBS! https://clutch.co/resources/how-smbs-see-ai-crawlers?source=theneuron&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_10-14-2025Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter for daily AI news: https://theneuron.aiOriginal article: https://www.theneuron.ai/explainer-articles/adobe-goes-all-in-on-ai-max-2025-unleashes-creative-ai-arsenal-across-every-tool

In this week's episode, we take a look at the "personal curriculum" social media trend and look at how it can be useful for writers. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book #1 in the Cloak Mage series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: FALLMAGIC50 The coupon code is valid through September 29, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 269 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 19th, 2025, and today I am looking at the idea of a personal curriculum for writers. We also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing projects. So let's start things off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book Number One in the Cloak Mage series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), at my Payhip store. And that coupon code is FALLMAGIC50. And as always, the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code will be valid through September the 29th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook to listen to as we head into fall, we have got you covered. And now for an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report that Blade of Flames is finished and by the time this episode goes live on what should be the 22nd, it should be available at all ebook stores. Initial impressions have been positive so far, so I hope you'll check that out and enjoy it. Now that Blade of Flames is finished and out in the world, my next main project will be Cloak of Worlds. After a year, I am finally getting back to Cloak Mage. I am now 21,000 words into it, and I'm hoping it will be out in October, though it might slip to November because I think this one might be a bit on the longer side. My secondary project is now Blade of Shadows, which is the second book in the Blades of Ruin series and the direct sequel to Blade of Flames. I'm a thousand words into that. In audiobook news, Shield of Power is still in processing and quality assurance at most of the audiobook stores. It is now available at, I think Google Play, Kobo, my own Payhip store, and a few others, but it's still not up on Audible, Apple, or Amazon yet, though hopefully that should be fixed soon. Recording on Ghost in the Siege is finished and we're just waiting on files so we can proof-listen to them. So some new audiobooks will be available before too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:02:18 Personal Curriculum for Writers So let's move on to our main topic this week, the personal curriculum trend for writers. What is a personal curriculum? The trend of creating a personal curriculum has been going around social media for the past month or two. Basically, a personal curriculum uses a structure of an imaginary class to reframe your personal and professional development goals. It can be as simple as creating a set of reading to do in a month or as complex as creating a major project that will take many steps and months to complete. How does this work? Instead of having an undefined goal of wanting to learn how to learn more about how to market your books, you make yourself a course called Marketing Literature with Social Media, with a list of related books, videos, and tasks divided into blocks of time, just like the class would have things that are connected in each session. The key to the personal curriculum trend is having weekly goals and projects just like homework (and of course keeping up with it). Some people create monthly personal curriculum while others keep the more academic framework of quarters, terms, or semesters. Some people create multiple classes, while others focus on one at a time. The amount of detail in the curriculum's development ranges from scrawling a plan on a sheet of notebook paper to creating intricate Notion boards that are essentially a prettier version of an online course system used at universities. The personal curriculum trend is fueled by many things, including nostalgia for the structure of school and its relatively clear paths to success, the desire to spend less time doom scrolling on social media, and the desire to make goal setting more whimsical. Having clear and specific deadlines for completing tasks is one of the most important parts of goal setting, and that is at the center of the trend of creating personal curriculums. Most people spend 14 to 19 years in school (depending on the individual), so it's a structure that's familiar. It also takes an overwhelming and broad goal, such as learning about marketing and gives it focus by defining what is actually being learned and determining how to apply that to real tasks in a manageable way. It transforms the nebulous goal of learning something specific and also gives a clearer path on how to apply the learning into action. By design, it also emphasizes goals that can be done in weeks instead of years, which makes starting much less intimidating. Many people also need some outside accountability in order to work well, and this is a way of creating it for yourself. Being able to give yourself an “A” if you're completing your homework each week is a simple and free motivator for many. Since this is mostly a writing podcast, I want to discuss how the personal curriculum trend can be applied to writing goals and professional development for writers. To that end, I will share five ways that I think the trend can help you grow as a writer and make more specific and actionable goals. #1: Defining your priorities. There are endless things to learn both in life and as a writer, especially in the world of self-publishing. Therefore, it can be tempting to chase after every trend or every new thing that's working for other people. The problem with that is that it's impossible to do that in any meaningful or focused way. It's better to pick a focus for every month or every few months and gain as much proficiency as you can instead of dabbling at things without taking the time to understand them well and then bemoaning that they don't work. A month or a fake semester is still a narrow enough timeframe to pivot if you want to change your goals, instead of being locked into yearly goals. For example, I set specific goals for getting books out, and then each month is pretty well defined into writing, editing, cover design, layout, publishing, and marketing tasks for me based on each book. Other things I want to try, such as creating videos, doesn't fit within those specific goals because they're not the priority. Other things that are lesser priorities (like trying new effects in Photoshop for my book covers and ad images) are things that I know I can work on after finishing the primary goals I've set for myself each week. #2: Trying something new. The structure of a personal curriculum makes trying something new feel less intimidating. For example, “making my own book cover” is something of a massive and undefined goal. You know that's important and you want to do it, but you can never seem to get past watching a TikTok video or two on Photoshop when they come into your feed. By creating a course for yourself on learning how to use Photoshop and the best techniques for creating book covers and giving yourself homework of different things from your readings or viewings to try out, you give the goal a specific plan and tie what you're learning into actual tasks that will help you move forward and then make your learning stick by applying it in the right way. For example, what I did for myself to learn Photoshop well enough to do a book cover was during early COVID in 2020, I bought a couple of courses on it and took the courses. Now, I suppose that's something of more of an actual structured curriculum since someone set up that course, but you could do it for yourself with the same thing by getting The Beginner's Guide to Photoshop or (the some unfortunately titled) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop from your library, reading that, and then watching a few longer focused YouTube videos on the process of creating a book cover. And then that would give you enough to go on in terms of starting your own personal curriculum and then developing your own book covers. #3: Managing your time. With endless distractions, it's too easy to look at a week or even a month and wonder where the time went with little to show for it. In contrast, the school environment has a rigid time structure, even at the university level. There is never a question of where the time went there. Work must be done at a specific time, and you have to show up multiple times a week to learn more and prove you understand what you've learned already. People often struggle without that structure after graduation, especially people who thrived in the school environment. But there's no harm in recreating it for yourself, especially if you are one of those people who thrived in the academic world. For example, if you want to do research on a specific time period for your next book, creating a course defines what that means. Instead of endless scrolling and watching videos online, you define what the scope of needed research is before you begin, so you're spending your time more efficiently. If you pick out the books, videos, and what you specifically need to research for the plot in advance and give yourself a set amount of time to learn the material, you're spending your time more wisely and freeing up time for other tasks. For example, in my most recent book, Blade of Flames, part of one of the subplots is inspired by a period in English history called The Anarchy, which was the civil war in the early 12th century between Empress Maude and King Stephen for the throne of England. Now, I knew a fair bit about this period already because of other reading I've done, but if I wanted to learn more about it, the best way to do it would be to read a few books and some of the more accessible books by popular historians. Like for example, maybe the best way to learn enough about The Anarchy to base a book on it would be read some of the books by Dan Jones, who has written many excellent popular history books about the medieval and early modern English time period. #4: Professional development. Most professions have professional development where you have to keep your skills updated, whether you're a teacher who has to get re-certified, a doctor who has to learn new procedures, a system admin who has to learn the latest bugs Microsoft has baked into their software, and so forth. Writing is no different (especially if you're a self-published writer) because there's so many side skills like layout and web design and so forth that it's kind of helpful to keep up on. It's hard to carve time out for professional development because as a writer, it's time away from the task that actually gets you paid, which is writing new stuff. Learning or trying new things becomes something that either feels insurmountable or happens in a haphazard way that doesn't actually move things forward for you. A personal curriculum gives you the permission to carve out time to learn new things. It's easy to hyperfocus on writing and feel like anything else is less productive, but there are many parts to being a writer, especially for the self-published, so it's important to give yourself a structured way to explore new software, marketing strategies, and social media channels as they emerge. For example, to use something of a negative example, I rather notoriously have a very low opinion of the AI tools currently flooding the market like ChatGPT and Midjourney. That wasn't an opinion I arrived at haphazardly. I did thoroughly investigate each of these tools. I tried Adobe Firefly, I tried Midjourney, I tried Microsoft's ones, Bing Chat and Bing Image Create. I tried ChatGPT, I tried one other, I can't think of off the top of my head, and I just did not come away impressed with these tools or the capabilities. So I suppose that was a negative example of something I'm talking about, whereas a positive example would be in 2018, I started using a Mac program called Vellum to format my paper books. It was a lot easier and more useful than the method that I'd been using previously, and I was so impressed with that that I eventually switched over into using Vellum for my ebook formatting as well, and learned how to do that as well, and I've been using it ever since. So that'd be a positive example of professional development. #5: Holding Yourself Accountable. One of the most difficult things about writing is that it lacks the structure of a traditional job or school environment. For that reason, many high achievers tend to struggle with starting or completing tasks when they leave school. Creating specific goals and making a clear timeframe for completing them helps with that tendency. For that reason, some personal curriculum devotees will even assign class times on a certain day of the week or a certain time of the night to make sure they're on track with their goals or homework for the week. National Novel Writing Month has kind of crashed and burned from its scandals over the past year, but the principle of accountability in giving yourself a set period of time to do something is helpful there. In the same way, your homework for each day for writing could be a set number of words or a certain percentage of progress in editing. Did you spend that day looking at social media instead of getting words done? There is a grade for that and it's not a good one. “A” students complete their work and turn it in, and that's the core of writing, putting down words consistently and publishing them. Now, I suppose you could think that the personal curriculum thing seems like a silly social media trend, but for some people, especially people who really thrived in and enjoyed the academic environment in school, it might work in a way that average yearly goals do not. Studies show time and time again that the happiest adults are those with defined priorities who make time to learn new things and enjoy hobbies. A personal curriculum provides a way to emphasize those important things in your life in a more whimsical way than say, the various yearly evaluation goals of the corporate world. For writers, it can be a much-needed way to add structure to an unstructured work environment and make sure that they're spending their time in the best way possible. And it all boils down to essentially one of the oldest dictums: know thyself. If this kind of thing would not be helpful for you, then there's no point in pursuing it. But if you know yourself and know that you have the kind of personality and mental inclination that would respond well to structure like this (even if it's structure you're creating for yourself), then a personal curriculum might be a good idea to pursue. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. I reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.

Hannah Elsakr, Vice President of New GenAI Business Ventures at Adobe, hears from enterprise marketing leaders every day about what they really need from their AI tools. She talks about why so many marketers are still hesitant to adopt AI into their workflows for true transformation, and how Adobe Firefly is helping to create commercially safe and ethically sourced generative AI to open new doors for your brand.  For Further Reading:Adobe's AI Vision: Hannah Elsakr on Empowering Creativity ResponsiblyAdobe Firefly and Adobe Express now feature Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image ModelWhat's Next in the Evolution of Generative AI-Powered Marketing  Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Adobe Firefly's AI-generated sound effects,  how artificial audio tools might change the way we tell stories, and the widespread implications are debated by Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Web Bixby, Mary Jencius, and Eric Bolden. The conversation shifts to a more philosophical debate about authenticity—should media reflect real experiences or be enhanced for impact? Next, attention turns to the rise in smartphone addiction among young people. The panel examines digital detox summer camps, classroom policies, and the role of parents and educators in teaching responsible device use. They also reflect on the post-pandemic social challenges and how attention spans have shifted in a screen-saturated world. Wrapping up, the group addresses the recent Microsoft SharePoint hack, offering both a security expert's and end-user's take on its seriousness and implications for businesses and Mac users alike. This edition of MacVoices is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. Get access to the MacVoices Slack and MacVoices After Dark by joining in at Patreon.com/macvoices. Show Notes: Chapters: [00:00] Introduction: AI Sound Effects and Digital Detox[00:27] Exploring Adobe Firefly's AI Sound Generation[01:30] Authentic Audio vs. Enhanced Reality[03:33] MTV, Lip-Syncing, and Video Expectations[04:08] Vision Pro: Realism vs. Representation[06:30] The Challenge of Smartphone Addiction in Kids[09:36] Strategies for Addressing Device Dependency[11:48] Teaching Responsible Technology Use[13:04] Post-Pandemic Student Behavior and Tech Habits[15:15] Classroom Approaches to Phone Separation[15:51] Parenting, Screens, and Early Device Exposure[17:01] Technology vs. Rules: Teaching vs. Restricting[18:52] Attention Spans and the Decline of Long-Form Media[19:10] Microsoft SharePoint Hack Discussion[21:37] Enterprise Security: Sensationalism vs. Real Risk[23:33] Final Thoughts and Sign-Off Links: Adobe Firefly can now generate sound effects from your audio cueshttps://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-firefly-can-now-generate-sound-effects-from-your-audio-cues-130008172.html This ‘Digital Detox' Summer Camp May be Able to Cure Your Kid's Smartphone Addictionhttps://www.mactrast.com/2025/07/this-digital-detox-summer-camp-may-be-able-to-cure-your-kids-smartphone-addiction/ How One Principal Got Kids to Pay Attention in Classhttps://www.edweek.org/technology/how-one-principal-got-kids-to-pay-attention-in-class/2025/07 Microsoft SharePoint hacks a major problem for corporate networkshttps://appleinsider.com/articles/25/07/21/microsoft-sharepoint-hacks-a-major-problem-for-corporate-networks-not-mac-hardware Guests: Web Bixby has been in the insurance business for 40 years and has been an Apple user for longer than that.You can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but prefers Bluesky. Eric Bolden is into macOS, plants, sci-fi, food, and is a rural internet supporter. You can connect with him on Twitter, by email at embolden@mac.com, on Mastodon at @eabolden@techhub.social, on his blog, Trending At Work, and as co-host on The Vision ProFiles podcast. Brian Flanigan-Arthurs is an educator with a passion for providing results-driven, innovative learning strategies for all students, but particularly those who are at-risk. He is also a tech enthusiast who has a particular affinity for Apple since he first used the Apple IIGS as a student. You can contact Brian on twitter as @brian8944. He also recently opened a Mastodon account at @brian8944@mastodon.cloud. David Ginsburg is the host of the weekly podcast In Touch With iOS where he discusses all things iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and related technologies. He is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users. Visit his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/daveg65 and find and follow him on Twitter @daveg65 and on Mastodon at @daveg65@mastodon.cloud. Dr. Marty Jencius has been an Associate Professor of Counseling at Kent State University since 2000. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 200 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. His technology interest led him to develop the counseling profession ‘firsts,' including listservs, a web-based peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Technology in Counseling, teaching and conferencing in virtual worlds as the founder of Counselor Education in Second Life, and podcast founder/producer of CounselorAudioSource.net and ThePodTalk.net. Currently, he produces a podcast about counseling and life questions, the Circular Firing Squad, and digital video interviews with legacies capturing the history of the counseling field. This is also co-host of The Vision ProFiles podcast. Generally, Marty is chasing the newest tech trends, which explains his interest in A.I. for teaching, research, and productivity. Marty is an active presenter and past president of the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corp (NEOAC).  Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:     https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

Adobe Firefly's AI-generated sound effects, how artificial audio tools might change the way we tell stories, and the widespread implications are debated by Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Web Bixby, Mary Jencius, and Eric Bolden. The conversation shifts to a more philosophical debate about authenticity—should media reflect real experiences or be enhanced for impact? Next, attention turns to the rise in smartphone addiction among young people. The panel examines digital detox summer camps, classroom policies, and the role of parents and educators in teaching responsible device use. They also reflect on the post-pandemic social challenges and how attention spans have shifted in a screen-saturated world. Wrapping up, the group addresses the recent Microsoft SharePoint hack, offering both a security expert's and end-user's take on its seriousness and implications for businesses and Mac users alike. This edition of MacVoices is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. Get access to the MacVoices Slack and MacVoices After Dark by joining in at Patreon.com/macvoices. Show Notes: Chapters: [00:00] Introduction: AI Sound Effects and Digital Detox [00:27] Exploring Adobe Firefly's AI Sound Generation [01:30] Authentic Audio vs. Enhanced Reality [03:33] MTV, Lip-Syncing, and Video Expectations [04:08] Vision Pro: Realism vs. Representation [06:30] The Challenge of Smartphone Addiction in Kids [09:36] Strategies for Addressing Device Dependency [11:48] Teaching Responsible Technology Use [13:04] Post-Pandemic Student Behavior and Tech Habits [15:15] Classroom Approaches to Phone Separation [15:51] Parenting, Screens, and Early Device Exposure [17:01] Technology vs. Rules: Teaching vs. Restricting [18:52] Attention Spans and the Decline of Long-Form Media [19:10] Microsoft SharePoint Hack Discussion [21:37] Enterprise Security: Sensationalism vs. Real Risk [23:33] Final Thoughts and Sign-Off Links: Adobe Firefly can now generate sound effects from your audio cues https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-firefly-can-now-generate-sound-effects-from-your-audio-cues-130008172.html This ‘Digital Detox' Summer Camp May be Able to Cure Your Kid's Smartphone Addiction https://www.mactrast.com/2025/07/this-digital-detox-summer-camp-may-be-able-to-cure-your-kids-smartphone-addiction/ How One Principal Got Kids to Pay Attention in Class https://www.edweek.org/technology/how-one-principal-got-kids-to-pay-attention-in-class/2025/07 Microsoft SharePoint hacks a major problem for corporate networks https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/07/21/microsoft-sharepoint-hacks-a-major-problem-for-corporate-networks-not-mac-hardware Guests: Web Bixby has been in the insurance business for 40 years and has been an Apple user for longer than that.You can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but prefers Bluesky. Eric Bolden is into macOS, plants, sci-fi, food, and is a rural internet supporter. You can connect with him on Twitter, by email at embolden@mac.com, on Mastodon at @eabolden@techhub.social, on his blog, Trending At Work, and as co-host on The Vision ProFiles podcast. Brian Flanigan-Arthurs is an educator with a passion for providing results-driven, innovative learning strategies for all students, but particularly those who are at-risk. He is also a tech enthusiast who has a particular affinity for Apple since he first used the Apple IIGS as a student. You can contact Brian on twitter as @brian8944. He also recently opened a Mastodon account at @brian8944@mastodon.cloud. David Ginsburg is the host of the weekly podcast In Touch With iOS where he discusses all things iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and related technologies. He is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users. Visit his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/daveg65 and find and follow him on Twitter @daveg65 and on Mastodon at @daveg65@mastodon.cloud. Dr. Marty Jencius has been an Associate Professor of Counseling at Kent State University since 2000. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 200 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. His technology interest led him to develop the counseling profession ‘firsts,' including listservs, a web-based peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Technology in Counseling, teaching and conferencing in virtual worlds as the founder of Counselor Education in Second Life, and podcast founder/producer of CounselorAudioSource.net and ThePodTalk.net. Currently, he produces a podcast about counseling and life questions, the Circular Firing Squad, and digital video interviews with legacies capturing the history of the counseling field. This is also co-host of The Vision ProFiles podcast. Generally, Marty is chasing the newest tech trends, which explains his interest in A.I. for teaching, research, and productivity. Marty is an active presenter and past president of the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corp (NEOAC).  Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon      http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? 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Welcome to The AI Conversation for Educators, A Heinemann Podcast Series hosted by Meenoo Rami. This series for teachers explores how generative AI is transforming teaching and learning. In this episode, Meenoo Rami speaks with Mary Beth Hertz, art and technology teacher at Beeber High School in Philadelphia, author of Digital and Media Literacy in the Age of Internet, and the executive director of Walkabout Education.Together they discuss:Why she makes space for honest conversation about bias, privacy, and ethical useHow educators can introduce AI in ways that support creativity, critical thinking, and student voice.How her students use tools like Adobe Firefly in her art classHow she scaffolds digital literacy through inquirySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 2025 generative AI image market is a trade-off between aesthetic quality, instruction-following, and user control. This episode analyzes the key platforms, comparing Midjourney's artistic output against the superior text generation and prompt adherence of GPT-4o and Imagen 4, the commercial safety of Adobe Firefly, and the total customization of Stable Diffusion. Links Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-25 Try a walking desk - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Build the future of multi-agent software with AGNTCY. The State of the Market The market is split by three core philosophies: The "Artist" (Midjourney): Prioritizes aesthetic excellence and cinematic output, sacrificing precise user control and instruction following. The "Collaborator" (GPT-4o, Imagen 4): Extensions of LLMs that excel at conversational co-creation, complex instruction following, and integration into productivity workflows. The "Sovereign Toolkit" (Stable Diffusion): An open-source engine offering users unparalleled control, customization, and privacy in exchange for technical engagement. Table 1: 2025 Generative AI Image Tool At-a-Glance Comparison Tool Parent Company Access Method(s) Pricing Core Strength Best For Midjourney v7 Midjourney, Inc. Web App, Discord Subscription Artistic Aesthetics & Photorealism Fine Art, Concept Design, Stylized Visuals GPT-4o OpenAI ChatGPT, API Freemium/Sub Conversational Control & Instruction Following Marketing Materials, UI/UX Mockups, Logos Google Imagen 4 Google Gemini, Workspace, Vertex AI Freemium/Sub Ecosystem Integration & Speed Business Presentations, Educational Content Stable Diffusion 3 Stability AI Local Install, Web UIs, API Open Source Ultimate Customization & Control Developers, Power Users, Bespoke Workflows Adobe Firefly Adobe Creative Cloud Apps, Web App Subscription Commercial Safety & Workflow Integration Professional Designers, Agencies, Enterprise Core Platforms Midjourney v7: Premium choice for artistic quality. Features: Web UI with Draft Mode, user personalization, emerging video/3D. Weaknesses: Poor text generation, poor prompt adherence, public images on cheap plans, no API/bans automation. OpenAI GPT-4o: An intelligent co-creator for controlled generation. Features: Conversational refinement, superior text rendering, understands uploaded image context. Weaknesses: Slower than competitors, generates one image at a time, strict content filters. Google Imagen 4: Pragmatic tool focused on speed and ecosystem integration. Features: High-quality photorealism, fast generation, strong text rendering, multilingual. Weaknesses: Less artistic flair; value is dependent on Google ecosystem investment. Stable Diffusion 3: Open-source engine for maximum user control. Features: MMDiT architecture improves prompt/text handling, scalable models, vast ecosystem (LoRAs/ControlNet). Weaknesses: Steep learning curve, quality is user-dependent. Adobe Firefly: Focused on commercial safety and professional workflow integration. Features: Trained on Adobe Stock for legal indemnity, Generative Fill/Expand tools. Weaknesses: Creative range limited by training data, requires Adobe subscription/credits. Tools and Concepts In-painting: Modifying a masked area inside an image. Out-painting: Extending an image beyond its original borders. LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation): A small file that applies a fine-tuned style, character, or concept to a base model. ControlNet: Uses a reference image (e.g., pose, sketch) to enforce the composition, structure, or pose of the output. A1111 vs. ComfyUI: Two main UIs for Stable Diffusion. A1111 is a beginner-friendly tabbed interface; ComfyUI is a node-based interface for complex, efficient, and automated workflows. Workflows "Best of Both Worlds": Generate aesthetic base images in Midjourney, then composite, edit, and add text with precision in Photoshop/Firefly. Single-Ecosystem: Work entirely within Adobe Creative Cloud or Google Workspace for seamless integration, commercial safety (Adobe), and convenience (Google). "Build Your Own Factory": Use ComfyUI to build automated, multi-step pipelines for consistent character generation, advanced upscaling, and video. Decision Framework Choose by Goal: Fine Art/Concept Art: Midjourney. Logos/Ads with Text: GPT-4o, Google Imagen 4, or specialist Ideogram. Consistent Character in Specific Pose: Stable Diffusion with a Character LoRA and ControlNet (OpenPose). Editing/Expanding an Existing Photo: Adobe Photoshop with Firefly. Exclusion Rules: If you need legible text, exclude Midjourney. If you need absolute privacy or zero cost (post-hardware), Stable Diffusion is the only option. If you need guaranteed commercial legal safety, use Adobe Firefly. If you need an API for a product, use OpenAI or Google; automating Midjourney is a bannable offense.

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs hits Xbox Gaming hard as the company cuts approximately 9,000 jobs despite record profits. This week, Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell discuss the impact of these layoffs, Windows 11's new version naming, Microsoft Copilot coming to Mac, and dive deep into passkey security. LAYOFFS As expected, Microsoft began a massive round of layoffs across Xbox/Microsoft Gaming on Wednesday. The fiscal year started on Tuesday. These were originally going to happen a week or two earlier. 9,000 employees impacted across Microsoft - about 4 percent of workforce, Xbox/MSGaming was NOT hit hardest, Microsoft now says (on top of 6,000 in May). 10 percent of King being laid off. Carefully worded email from Phil Spencer requires some parsing. It's Finally Official: 25H2 Is Next! Microsoft finally admits that the Dev channel is testing Windows 11 version 25H2, which will arrive, as expected, around October This news came as part of another set of commingled Dev and Beta channel builds. 25H2 will be delivered as an enablement package, so it's a minor release technically. Dev and Beta are linked because 25H2 and 24H2 are linked: Each will get the same features, as started with 22H2/23H2 in late 2023. Windows 11 Last week was Week D, but we didn't get preview updates per usual before WW That finally happened last Thursday - new preview updates for 24H2 and 23H2/22H2 24H2: Click to Do improvements, start of PC migration in Windows Backup, small icons in Taskbar, more. Windows Insider Preview: Those Dev/Beta builds noted above have the first implementation of third-party passkey. Microsoft Edge 138 is a pretty big update, with AI-enhanced history search and Copilot integration into the search box and new tab page. AI Microsoft 365 Copilot is available on the Mac. Apple may cave and adopt Anthropic Claude and/or OpenAI ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence. After Coda's acquisition and $1 billion in funding, Grammarly acquires Superhuman to build an "AI-native" productivity suite that will take on Big Tech (Microsoft, Google) and Little Tech (Notion, Proton) alike. Xbox and Gaming Xbox 360 dashboard is getting its first update in years. Halo Studios teases an October tease of the next Halo from the studio. New Game Pass titles for the first half of July - plus, COD: WWII turns up in Game Pass for the first time. Cursor sort of comes to the web and mobile - like Adobe Firefly on mobile, but for devs when "the mood strikes". Tips and Picks Tip/App picks of the week: Cure Mac envy. The Mac is about to get even prettier. But Windows 11 can rise to this challenge. The PC matters: Paul recommends Surface Laptop 7 as a MacBook Air alternative. Software? It's all free. Full screen apps: Hide the Taskbar and touchpad gestures - also, use DS Clock if you need to see the time. Transparent system menu? You can make the Taskbar transparent too. Want Spotlight? No problem, we have Command Palette (an updated, more extensible PowerToys Run) in PowerToys. Bonus app pick: Inoreader for RSS feeds (and read later if you want). RunAs Radio This Week: More Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Alberta Distillers 23 Year Old Rare Batch No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/939 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs hits Xbox Gaming hard as the company cuts approximately 9,000 jobs despite record profits. This week, Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell discuss the impact of these layoffs, Windows 11's new version naming, Microsoft Copilot coming to Mac, and dive deep into passkey security. LAYOFFS As expected, Microsoft began a massive round of layoffs across Xbox/Microsoft Gaming on Wednesday. The fiscal year started on Tuesday. These were originally going to happen a week or two earlier. 9,000 employees impacted across Microsoft - about 4 percent of workforce, Xbox/MSGaming was NOT hit hardest, Microsoft now says (on top of 6,000 in May). 10 percent of King being laid off. Carefully worded email from Phil Spencer requires some parsing. It's Finally Official: 25H2 Is Next! Microsoft finally admits that the Dev channel is testing Windows 11 version 25H2, which will arrive, as expected, around October This news came as part of another set of commingled Dev and Beta channel builds. 25H2 will be delivered as an enablement package, so it's a minor release technically. Dev and Beta are linked because 25H2 and 24H2 are linked: Each will get the same features, as started with 22H2/23H2 in late 2023. Windows 11 Last week was Week D, but we didn't get preview updates per usual before WW That finally happened last Thursday - new preview updates for 24H2 and 23H2/22H2 24H2: Click to Do improvements, start of PC migration in Windows Backup, small icons in Taskbar, more. Windows Insider Preview: Those Dev/Beta builds noted above have the first implementation of third-party passkey. Microsoft Edge 138 is a pretty big update, with AI-enhanced history search and Copilot integration into the search box and new tab page. AI Microsoft 365 Copilot is available on the Mac. Apple may cave and adopt Anthropic Claude and/or OpenAI ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence. After Coda's acquisition and $1 billion in funding, Grammarly acquires Superhuman to build an "AI-native" productivity suite that will take on Big Tech (Microsoft, Google) and Little Tech (Notion, Proton) alike. Xbox and Gaming Xbox 360 dashboard is getting its first update in years. Halo Studios teases an October tease of the next Halo from the studio. New Game Pass titles for the first half of July - plus, COD: WWII turns up in Game Pass for the first time. Cursor sort of comes to the web and mobile - like Adobe Firefly on mobile, but for devs when "the mood strikes". Tips and Picks Tip/App picks of the week: Cure Mac envy. The Mac is about to get even prettier. But Windows 11 can rise to this challenge. The PC matters: Paul recommends Surface Laptop 7 as a MacBook Air alternative. Software? It's all free. Full screen apps: Hide the Taskbar and touchpad gestures - also, use DS Clock if you need to see the time. Transparent system menu? You can make the Taskbar transparent too. Want Spotlight? No problem, we have Command Palette (an updated, more extensible PowerToys Run) in PowerToys. Bonus app pick: Inoreader for RSS feeds (and read later if you want). RunAs Radio This Week: More Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Alberta Distillers 23 Year Old Rare Batch No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/939 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs hits Xbox Gaming hard as the company cuts approximately 9,000 jobs despite record profits. This week, Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell discuss the impact of these layoffs, Windows 11's new version naming, Microsoft Copilot coming to Mac, and dive deep into passkey security. LAYOFFS As expected, Microsoft began a massive round of layoffs across Xbox/Microsoft Gaming on Wednesday. The fiscal year started on Tuesday. These were originally going to happen a week or two earlier. 9,000 employees impacted across Microsoft - about 4 percent of workforce, Xbox/MSGaming was NOT hit hardest, Microsoft now says (on top of 6,000 in May). 10 percent of King being laid off. Carefully worded email from Phil Spencer requires some parsing. It's Finally Official: 25H2 Is Next! Microsoft finally admits that the Dev channel is testing Windows 11 version 25H2, which will arrive, as expected, around October This news came as part of another set of commingled Dev and Beta channel builds. 25H2 will be delivered as an enablement package, so it's a minor release technically. Dev and Beta are linked because 25H2 and 24H2 are linked: Each will get the same features, as started with 22H2/23H2 in late 2023. Windows 11 Last week was Week D, but we didn't get preview updates per usual before WW That finally happened last Thursday - new preview updates for 24H2 and 23H2/22H2 24H2: Click to Do improvements, start of PC migration in Windows Backup, small icons in Taskbar, more. Windows Insider Preview: Those Dev/Beta builds noted above have the first implementation of third-party passkey. Microsoft Edge 138 is a pretty big update, with AI-enhanced history search and Copilot integration into the search box and new tab page. AI Microsoft 365 Copilot is available on the Mac. Apple may cave and adopt Anthropic Claude and/or OpenAI ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence. After Coda's acquisition and $1 billion in funding, Grammarly acquires Superhuman to build an "AI-native" productivity suite that will take on Big Tech (Microsoft, Google) and Little Tech (Notion, Proton) alike. Xbox and Gaming Xbox 360 dashboard is getting its first update in years. Halo Studios teases an October tease of the next Halo from the studio. New Game Pass titles for the first half of July - plus, COD: WWII turns up in Game Pass for the first time. Cursor sort of comes to the web and mobile - like Adobe Firefly on mobile, but for devs when "the mood strikes". Tips and Picks Tip/App picks of the week: Cure Mac envy. The Mac is about to get even prettier. But Windows 11 can rise to this challenge. The PC matters: Paul recommends Surface Laptop 7 as a MacBook Air alternative. Software? It's all free. Full screen apps: Hide the Taskbar and touchpad gestures - also, use DS Clock if you need to see the time. Transparent system menu? You can make the Taskbar transparent too. Want Spotlight? No problem, we have Command Palette (an updated, more extensible PowerToys Run) in PowerToys. Bonus app pick: Inoreader for RSS feeds (and read later if you want). RunAs Radio This Week: More Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Alberta Distillers 23 Year Old Rare Batch No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/939 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs hits Xbox Gaming hard as the company cuts approximately 9,000 jobs despite record profits. This week, Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell discuss the impact of these layoffs, Windows 11's new version naming, Microsoft Copilot coming to Mac, and dive deep into passkey security. LAYOFFS As expected, Microsoft began a massive round of layoffs across Xbox/Microsoft Gaming on Wednesday. The fiscal year started on Tuesday. These were originally going to happen a week or two earlier. 9,000 employees impacted across Microsoft - about 4 percent of workforce, Xbox/MSGaming was NOT hit hardest, Microsoft now says (on top of 6,000 in May). 10 percent of King being laid off. Carefully worded email from Phil Spencer requires some parsing. It's Finally Official: 25H2 Is Next! Microsoft finally admits that the Dev channel is testing Windows 11 version 25H2, which will arrive, as expected, around October This news came as part of another set of commingled Dev and Beta channel builds. 25H2 will be delivered as an enablement package, so it's a minor release technically. Dev and Beta are linked because 25H2 and 24H2 are linked: Each will get the same features, as started with 22H2/23H2 in late 2023. Windows 11 Last week was Week D, but we didn't get preview updates per usual before WW That finally happened last Thursday - new preview updates for 24H2 and 23H2/22H2 24H2: Click to Do improvements, start of PC migration in Windows Backup, small icons in Taskbar, more. Windows Insider Preview: Those Dev/Beta builds noted above have the first implementation of third-party passkey. Microsoft Edge 138 is a pretty big update, with AI-enhanced history search and Copilot integration into the search box and new tab page. AI Microsoft 365 Copilot is available on the Mac. Apple may cave and adopt Anthropic Claude and/or OpenAI ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence. After Coda's acquisition and $1 billion in funding, Grammarly acquires Superhuman to build an "AI-native" productivity suite that will take on Big Tech (Microsoft, Google) and Little Tech (Notion, Proton) alike. Xbox and Gaming Xbox 360 dashboard is getting its first update in years. Halo Studios teases an October tease of the next Halo from the studio. New Game Pass titles for the first half of July - plus, COD: WWII turns up in Game Pass for the first time. Cursor sort of comes to the web and mobile - like Adobe Firefly on mobile, but for devs when "the mood strikes". Tips and Picks Tip/App picks of the week: Cure Mac envy. The Mac is about to get even prettier. But Windows 11 can rise to this challenge. The PC matters: Paul recommends Surface Laptop 7 as a MacBook Air alternative. Software? It's all free. Full screen apps: Hide the Taskbar and touchpad gestures - also, use DS Clock if you need to see the time. Transparent system menu? You can make the Taskbar transparent too. Want Spotlight? No problem, we have Command Palette (an updated, more extensible PowerToys Run) in PowerToys. Bonus app pick: Inoreader for RSS feeds (and read later if you want). RunAs Radio This Week: More Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Alberta Distillers 23 Year Old Rare Batch No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/939 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs hits Xbox Gaming hard as the company cuts approximately 9,000 jobs despite record profits. This week, Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell discuss the impact of these layoffs, Windows 11's new version naming, Microsoft Copilot coming to Mac, and dive deep into passkey security. LAYOFFS As expected, Microsoft began a massive round of layoffs across Xbox/Microsoft Gaming on Wednesday. The fiscal year started on Tuesday. These were originally going to happen a week or two earlier. 9,000 employees impacted across Microsoft - about 4 percent of workforce, Xbox/MSGaming was NOT hit hardest, Microsoft now says (on top of 6,000 in May). 10 percent of King being laid off. Carefully worded email from Phil Spencer requires some parsing. It's Finally Official: 25H2 Is Next! Microsoft finally admits that the Dev channel is testing Windows 11 version 25H2, which will arrive, as expected, around October This news came as part of another set of commingled Dev and Beta channel builds. 25H2 will be delivered as an enablement package, so it's a minor release technically. Dev and Beta are linked because 25H2 and 24H2 are linked: Each will get the same features, as started with 22H2/23H2 in late 2023. Windows 11 Last week was Week D, but we didn't get preview updates per usual before WW That finally happened last Thursday - new preview updates for 24H2 and 23H2/22H2 24H2: Click to Do improvements, start of PC migration in Windows Backup, small icons in Taskbar, more. Windows Insider Preview: Those Dev/Beta builds noted above have the first implementation of third-party passkey. Microsoft Edge 138 is a pretty big update, with AI-enhanced history search and Copilot integration into the search box and new tab page. AI Microsoft 365 Copilot is available on the Mac. Apple may cave and adopt Anthropic Claude and/or OpenAI ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence. After Coda's acquisition and $1 billion in funding, Grammarly acquires Superhuman to build an "AI-native" productivity suite that will take on Big Tech (Microsoft, Google) and Little Tech (Notion, Proton) alike. Xbox and Gaming Xbox 360 dashboard is getting its first update in years. Halo Studios teases an October tease of the next Halo from the studio. New Game Pass titles for the first half of July - plus, COD: WWII turns up in Game Pass for the first time. Cursor sort of comes to the web and mobile - like Adobe Firefly on mobile, but for devs when "the mood strikes". Tips and Picks Tip/App picks of the week: Cure Mac envy. The Mac is about to get even prettier. But Windows 11 can rise to this challenge. The PC matters: Paul recommends Surface Laptop 7 as a MacBook Air alternative. Software? It's all free. Full screen apps: Hide the Taskbar and touchpad gestures - also, use DS Clock if you need to see the time. Transparent system menu? You can make the Taskbar transparent too. Want Spotlight? No problem, we have Command Palette (an updated, more extensible PowerToys Run) in PowerToys. Bonus app pick: Inoreader for RSS feeds (and read later if you want). RunAs Radio This Week: More Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Alberta Distillers 23 Year Old Rare Batch No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/939 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

Sponsorships aren't just about slapping your logo on something anymore. If you want to make an impact, you need to think bigger, bolder—and know when to step into the driver's seat.That's the appeal of F1 sponsorships, where precision meets pageantry, and brand integration is as strategic as the race itself. In this episode, we tap into that high-speed energy with the help of our special guest, Ondar Tarlow, marketing consultant for action sports. Together, we explore what B2B marketers can learn from global sponsorships, smart storytelling, and knowing when to go all in—and when to walk away.About our guest, Ondar TarlowOndar Tarlow has over 20 years of experience in marketing and branding. He's known for engaging audiences through data-driven insights and witty, creative storytelling to achieve results. He has been leveraging AI to boost campaign performance results by 5x with propensity models and cutting production time by 75% using Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Adobe Firefly, all while upholding IP standards.As Chief Marketing Officer at Kinecta Federal Credit Union and Pacific Premier Bank, he spearheaded award-winning campaigns that resulted in over $1.7 billion in product volume and tens of thousands of new customers. These successes earned him industry recognition, including Diamond Awards for brand awareness and a Top 100 Marketer award.Currently, Ondar serves as a marketing consultant for motorsports, financial, and lifestyle brands, partnering with organizations like Fast Lane Drive. His passion for motorsports, including attending 11 Formula 1 races worldwide, inspires his focus on high-performance teamwork and precision. Ondar's sponsorship expertise - demonstrated through collaborations with the LA Chargers, LA Galaxy, Anaheim Ducks, Luft 10 (Porsche), and BeachLife Music Festival - highlights his ability to connect brands with their ideal target audiences. Ondar holds a BA in Psychology from California State University, Northridge, and has earned digital marketing certifications from UCLA and trained with the American Red Cross in Crisis Communications and Media Relations. Ondar is also dedicated to community development, serving on the board of Junior Achievement, which provides youth with financial education and career readiness tools.What B2B Companies Can Learn From F1 Sponsorships:Don't just show up—integrate. It's not enough to slap your logo on something and call it a day. True brand partnerships go deeper. “Really any company that can afford it, can get a logo. But when you're doing a true brand integration like Oracle has done with Red Bull, that's really where things can pay off.” The ROI comes from relevance, not just visibility. Think about how your product can become part of the story.No plan, no payoff. As Ondar puts it: “Plan, plan. plan. And then data, data, and data.” B2B marketers must tie sponsorships to broader company strategy from the very beginning. That means aligning with your CEO and CFO, knowing what problem you're trying to solve, and figuring out how to measure impact—before you sign the dotted line.Go niche to go big. F1's PacSun collaboration proves you don't have to outspend Rolex to make an impact. You just need the right story. “They really thought about it... and what they've been able to create is an interest in F1 from this demographic.” By focusing on Gen Alpha and teenage girls, PacSun built a new fanbase and drove fashion sales—without buying trackside banners. In B2B, the same principle applies: niche audiences, well-served, can generate outsized returns.Quotes*“You have to test. There's going to be periods of time where you're gonna do something new, and you can't be afraid to fail…When you're finding out something that's working, then you need to double down and you need to take the risks. You need to take those risks and move forward with them. Things that aren't working, don't marry yourself to them. Figure out what you need to tweak and then continue to test. Marketing is not an exact science.”*“ Plan, plan, plan, and then data, data, and data. So first off, the plan is you have to make sure you're aware of what the strategy is of the company that you're with. And if you're a CMO, you're obviously responsible for the marketing strategy, and you should have a seat at the table as part of developing the strategy as far as the company, in a whole. So that's first off, and then understanding exactly what the challenge is, and then how are you going to be able to come up with a solution based on the decisions that you're making based on brand integration. And then from there is what data can you capture and how can you utilize that data so that you can drive metrics and those reporting metrics to show exactly what the benefit is of the partnership is that you're involved with.”*“ Brands can really leverage [figuring] out what the storyline is. To get the human aspect to it. And I think that that is a great opportunity for brands to look at is that if they're gonna invest in a driver or they're gonna invest in a team is what personalities are making up that team there.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Ondar Tarlow, marketing consultant for action sports. [01:07] Why F1 Sponsorships?[02:59] Ondar's Background[04:50] The Rise of F1 in the US[06:34] Understanding F1 Sponsorships[11:28] ROI on F1 Sponsorships[15:03] Drive to Survive: Impact on F1[18:08] Anatomy of an F1 Sponsorship Deal[24:47] The High Stakes of F1 Sponsorships[28:25] The Appeal of F1 Events[29:32] Strategic Brand Integration in F1 Sponsorships[36:34] The Importance of Planning and Data in Sponsorships[40:53] Leveraging F1 Storylines for Brand Success[45:06] Final Thoughts and TakeawaysLinksConnect with Ondar on LinkedInAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

AI is both overhyped and underestimated. Yeah, read that again shorties. Everyone's screaming about AI like it's magic. Spoiler: It's not.But here's the twist—what's coming is way bigger than y'all are ready for.Gary Rivlin's been here before. He covered the dotcom frenzy in the ‘90s, and now he's seeing history repeat itself. The PR fluff? Thick. The stakes? Higher.He's calling out the BS, breaking down what actually matters, and showing why the smartest people are using AI to amplify—not replace—human smarts.Miss this, and you'll miss the trillion-dollar wave.Newsletter: Sign up for our free daily newsletterMore on this Episode: Episode PageJoin the discussion: Thoughts on this? Join the convo.Upcoming Episodes: Check out the upcoming Everyday AI Livestream lineupWebsite: YourEverydayAI.comEmail The Show: info@youreverydayai.comConnect with Jordan on LinkedInTopics Covered in This Episode:AI Hype: Overrated or Underrated DebateGary Rivlin's AI Valley InsightsGenerative AI's Impact on IndustriesStartups: Silicon Valley AI InnovationsAI Business Strategy: Lessons from .com EraAI Venture Capital Investments SurgeGenerative AI Tools for Cost ReductionBig Tech's Multibillion AI InvestmentsTimestamps:00:00 AI Hype02:00 Daily AI News05:45 Intro to Gary Rivlin07:02 Unexpected Email from Reid Hoffman12:44 Startups' Long-Term Transformative Impact14:07 AI's Transformational Impact on Society19:35 Investing Big in Tech's Future20:46 "Adapting to AI's Rapid Pace"26:38 High-Stakes Venture Capital Decisions28:58 "AI: Rising Intelligence Concerns"31:40 Big Tech's Impact on AI Ownership34:15 AI: Overhyped or Underhyped?Keywords:Generative AI, Overhyped AI, Underhyped AI, Mad dash to cash in, AI Valley, Gary Rivlin, Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn, ChatGPT, Silicon Valley, Everyday AI, Rise of the Internet, AI development, Transformative AI, Neural networks, ChatGPT launch, OpenAI, Adobe Firefly, Microsoft Copilot, Image generation, Text to video, Large-scale investment, Venture capital, Big tech, Trust and safety, AI adoption, Frontier AI labs, Personal agent, AI agents, AI in business, AI breakthroughs, AI future, Video generation, Cost savings, AI transformation, AI limitations.Send Everyday AI and Jordan a text message. (We can't reply back unless you leave contact info) Ready for ROI on GenAI? Go to youreverydayai.com/partner