Adobe’s TransPixar Let’s You Make Transparent VFX

⚡️ Headlines

🤖 AI

Google introduces 'Your Daily Listen' in Discover for personalized audio content - Google adds 'Your Daily Listen' to Discover, offering users personalized audio content based on their interests. [9to5Google].

Delta unveils AI-powered travel journey with new multi-modal transportation options - Delta introduces AI-driven travel solutions, enhancing passenger experiences with integrated transportation options. [Delta News Hub].

Microsoft makes powerful Phi-4 model fully open-source on Hugging Face - Microsoft releases its advanced Phi-4 AI model as open-source on Hugging Face, promoting accessibility for developers. [VentureBeat].

Omi AI - thought to action - Omi launches an AI platform designed to translate user thoughts into actions, aiming to streamline digital interactions. [Omi].

🦾 Emerging Tech

Quantum computing stocks drop as Nvidia CEO sees use years away - Nvidia's CEO comments that practical quantum computing applications are still years away, leading to a decline in related stocks. [Bloomberg].

🤳 Social Media

Meta faces backlash over content moderation changes - Meta encounters criticism following recent alterations to its content moderation policies, raising concerns among users and regulators. [The Information].

Instagram shares tips on what to avoid to maximize post reach - Instagram provides guidance on practices to avoid for enhancing post visibility, aiding users in optimizing engagement. [Social Media Today].

Bluesky said to near $700 million valuation - Social media platform Bluesky approaches a $700 million valuation amid growing interest in decentralized networks. [The Information].

TikTok shares insights into emerging brand trends and approaches - TikTok releases a report highlighting new brand trends and strategies, offering marketers insights into effective platform engagement. [Social Media Today].

⚖ Legal

EU denies social media censorship in response to Meta - The European Union refutes allegations of social media censorship following Meta's recent policy critiques. [Reuters].

Do Kwon's criminal trial set for 2026 as lawyers deal with massive trove of evidence - Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon's trial is scheduled for 2026, with legal teams managing extensive evidence collections. [CoinDesk].

TikTok's fate rests with ByteDance's elusive founder - The future of TikTok hinges on decisions by ByteDance's reclusive founder amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny. [The Information].

🎱 Random

Apple doubles down with second chip at TSMC Arizona - Apple expands its chip production at TSMC's Arizona facility, adding a second processor to its manufacturing lineup. [Culpium].

🔌 Plug-Into-This

TransPixar: Advancing Text-to-Video Generation with Transparency

Developed by Adobe, TransPixar introduces a pioneering method for generating RGBA videos—videos with an alpha channel for transparency—directly from text prompts. This innovation meets the demand for creating videos with transparent elements, essential for seamless integration into visual effects (VFX) and interactive media. By extending pretrained video models, TransPixar generates RGB and alpha channels simultaneously, offering enhanced realism and flexibility for creative workflows.

• The approach incorporates alpha-specific tokens into a diffusion transformer (DiT) architecture, enabling concurrent generation of RGB and alpha channels.

• Using LoRA-based fine-tuning, the system adapts pretrained models for RGBA video generation, ensuring consistency between color and transparency data.

• Despite limited access to RGBA video datasets, TransPixar demonstrates high alignment between RGB and alpha channels, producing diverse and coherent results.

• The inclusion of alpha channels allows for the creation of effects like smoke, reflections, and overlays, which can seamlessly integrate into scenes without altering the background.

• This development has significant implications for gaming, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other industries requiring dynamic, transparent, and immersive visual content.

🎥 By enabling text-to-RGBA video generation, Adobe's TransPixar is one quite practical application in an array of broad stroke “not quite there yet” AI video tools. Give us features that cut down on workflow tedium, and we good!

Meme Coins and AI Chatbots: The Latest Crypto Craze

The cryptocurrency landscape is witnessing a surge in meme coins, digital tokens inspired by internet memes and cultural phenomena — now with the twist of integrated dynamic promotional AI chatbots that help fans hype the coin.

• Meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu were among the first to gain popularity with endorsements from public figures and viral internet trends.

• AI chatbots are increasingly being used to promote these coins, leveraging social media platforms to amplify their reach and influence.

• The speculative nature of meme coins has attracted both novice and seasoned investors seeking quick profits, despite the high risks involved.

• Regulatory bodies express concern over the lack of oversight in this market segment, warning investors about potential scams and financial losses.

🪙 The intersection of AI-driven promotions and meme-based cryptocurrencies creates a fun/concerning complexity in the evolving world of digital finance, where technology and internet culture increasingly influence market behaviors.

NVIDIA Redefines Game AI With ACE Autonomous Game Characters

NVIDIA has unveiled advancements in its Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE), introducing autonomous AI companions designed to enhance player experiences in games like PUBG and Naraka: Bladepoint. These AI-driven characters can perceive, plan, and act with human-like behavior, providing real-time strategic support and dynamic interactions within the game environment.

• In PUBG, the "PUBG Ally" serves as the world's first Co-Playable Character (CPC), capable of communicating using game-specific language, offering strategic recommendations, locating and sharing loot, driving vehicles, and engaging in combat alongside human players.

• Naraka: Bladepoint is set to introduce AI teammates powered by NVIDIA ACE, enabling players to experience more immersive gameplay with companions that adapt to their strategies and assist in various in-game tasks.

• These AI companions utilize small language models (SLMs) capable of human-like decision-making, as well as multi-modal SLMs for vision and audio perception, allowing them to understand and respond to complex in-game situations.

• NVIDIA's ACE technology aims to create living, dynamic game worlds with companions that comprehend and support player goals, and enemies that adapt dynamically to player tactics, enhancing the overall gaming experience.

• The integration of ACE-powered AI characters is expected to expand to other games, offering developers the tools to create more interactive and responsive non-playable characters (NPCs) that enrich gameplay and player engagement.

🎮 NPCs everywhere! Originally marketed as “digital humans” this pivot feels like a smart one from Nvidia. Replacing humans or making digital workers vs. creating novel digital experiences with those characters are two very different paths.

 🆕 Updates

📽️ Daily Demo

Not really a demo…but it’s CES week! So much cool stuff to see being “demoed” ;)

🗣️ Discourse