Chaos & Amazement #2314 Tinder Marriages, Pink Heart Emojis, and Uncle Rabbit
Chaos & Amazement #2314 Tinder Marriages, Pink Heart Emojis, and Uncle Rabbit
I don’t want to talk about the ridiculousness of Twitter news. I’m not sure if I can avoid the subject during our live stream, though. This is us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chaosandamazement
Tech news
In one year’s time, text to image AI tool Midjourney has come a long way. These images on instagram , both with the same prompt (“Donald Trump and Barack Obama playing basketball”) but generated one year apart, reveal how fast AI art has progressed in just 1 year
Midjourney can now read images and turn them into prompts. Which, of course, you can then turn in to images again. Here are a few examples:
https://twitter.com/fofrAI/status/1643384308848099332?s=20 (famous logos, like Starbucks’)
https://twitter.com/gen_ericai/status/1643112889908076546?s=20 (a user generated photo of an stairway)
How AI misrepresents culture through a facial expression. https://medium.com/@socialcreature/ai-and-the-american-smile-76d23a0fbfaf Every American knows to say “cheese” when taking a photo, and, therefore, so does the AI when generating new images based on the pattern established by previous ones.
Apple CEO Tim Cook in a rare interview: “I knew I couldn’t be Steve. I don’t think anybody could be Steve. I think he was a once-in-a-hundred-years kind of individual, an original by any stretch of the imagination. And so what I had to do was to be the best version of myself.” https://www.gq.com/story/tim-cook-global-creativity-awards-cover-2023 Good advice tbf.
“Tinder is one of the world’s most important apps because it has the power to transform dating, boost birth rates, and strengthen the economy.” https://every.to/napkin-math/tinder-is-way-more-important-than-you-think The most popular dating apps are all owned by Match.com. It’s big business.
iOS 16.4 is out now, bringing new emojis such as a plain Pink Heart to eligible Apple devices. https://blog.emojipedia.org/ios-16-4-emoji-changelog/ Emojis are the first truly universal language we have. Everyone on this planet understands it, from two-years olds to senior citizens.
From my blog
Steal Like an Artist: Understanding the Power of Remixing
Thirteen years after Kirby Ferguson's first version, "Everything is a Remix (Complete Updated 2023 Edition)," revisits the concept of remixing, highlighting how combining existing materials can empower us to be more creative and push the boundaries of what's possible. Damnit, the video got blocked on copyright grounds. Isn’t that ironic?
Jack Ma Returns and Alibaba Breaks Up
The regulatory crackdown by Beijing on Big Tech firms has put pressure on Alibaba and its peers. Under tighter government scrutiny and a Covid-ravaged economy, Alibaba slashed some 20,000 jobs last year. But now, as regulators ease pressure on the tech industry, Alibaba's peers are finding ways to revive their mojo.
Tencent is launching a paid subscription service for short videos, driving further into a territory dominated by ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology.
Meanwhile, Baidu is betting on its ChatGPT alternative, Ernie Bot, and is looking to launch its chatbot-empowered cloud services soon.
Weird and wonderful
Uncle Rabbit - The first conversational holographic AI being powered by ChatGPT by OpenAI and LKGGlass: https://www.lkgglass.com/uncle-rabbit. A new project that introduces a conversational holographic AI powered by ChatGPT, making use of the latest technology to create a more human-like interaction.
MemeCam combines BLIP image recognition and GPT-3.5 AI-driven caption generation for an effortless and fun meme-creating experience.
https://memecam.dk It’s pretty good!
Oproot Magic Crystal Ball: https://oproot.com/ball/ This website offers a fun and interactive way to receive messages from "The Beyond." It's a great way to get inspiration or guidance on a question or topic.