Tech
Adobe camera app’s new feature will critique your photos using AI
Adobe is adding new AI-powered features to its experimental iOS camera app called Project Indigo, launched last year. The app previously offered pro controls, multi-frame super-resolution, and different capture modes, and is now adding features that will use LLMs (large language models) to critique photos and provide editing suggestions.
It’s also adding other AI features, like advanced object removal, depth of field generation, and the ability to add different styles to photos.
Marc Levoy, the person heading Adobe’s project, had previously developed Pixel’s camera chops. He said that most generative AI tools provide prompt-based editing and, often, finding the perfect prompt to tweak a photo or get the right result can be a tricky endeavor. That’s why most of the new experimental AI features are buttons that can generate more deterministic outputs.
For instance, Google’s camera coach feature for Pixel phones, launched last year, offered more generic framing suggestions. Project Indigo’s features, by comparison, are fairly descriptive and could help you learn some photography tricks, even if you don’t agree with the AI assessment.
There are two features in this category. First is the photo critique, which includes a “professional” opinion about framing, lighting, colors, and emotional impact.
The second is capture and edit suggestions, which give you tips about reshooting the photo on how you can change framing, exposure, and objects in the viewfinder. For instance, the app told me to remove the hexagonal white object in the frame from a photo I took.
A second section tells you how you can use an existing photo to make it better using Adobe Lightroom controls.
Photography apps, including Apple Photos, Google Photos, and Adobe Photoshop, have offered object removal for years. But the feature often depends on the user circling or selecting an object by drawing on the screen, which is not perfect every time.
Project Indigo’s new feature gives you toggles for things to remove from an image, like people in the background, trash and trash cans, wires and poles, fences, vehicles, and other clutter. You can also describe a custom object to remove. The results of this feature are pretty impressive.
The app removed my friend and the object he was holding from the background without creating any strange artifacts.
The app also allows you to use AI to create depth of field for a photo to simulate a blurred background.
With this new update, Adobe is also experimenting with the style transfer feature, which lets you turn your picture into tones like watercolor, pen and ink, ink line with color wash, monochromatic, and backlit subject. Some styles remind me of the early days of the Prisma app. With advanced models, the outputs look refined, but style transfer is not a new or useful feature.
Despite Levoy’s criticism of the prompt-based implementation, Project Indigo has its own feature that lets you describe your edit. Users can use it to perform edit flows that are not available in preset tools. But this is also a potential road to slopland.
The company is using Google’s Gemini-based Nano Banana for these features, but it’s open to swapping in other models, including its own Adobe Firefly model. These features, bundled under the AI playground tab, are still in a testing phase, and only select users will get access to them. These features might not ever make it to a wider audience, but it is good to see some features that can make people aware of nuances in photography, rather than just creating more slop.
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Tech
Music streamer Deezer says more than 50% of daily uploads are AI-generated
Music streaming company Deezer has been tracking the number of AI-generated tracks uploaded on the platform since last year, and the number has constantly gone up. Today, the company said that AI music now represents more than 50% of downloads.
Deezer said that AI-generated track uploads were at a peak in June 2026, representing a monthly average of 90,000 tracks per day.
The rapid rise of AI-generated music has forced streaming services to decide how much of it they want on their own platforms. There is no single consensus yet on that front. Some take strict steps, like Bandcamp banning such tracks or Tidal cutting off monetization. Meanwhile, Apple Music has a voluntary AI-tagging system, and Spotify developed its own policy about how much AI was used in music-making.
Deezer’s latest move on this front will involve taking down AI-generated tracks that haven’t been streamed in the past six months or are involved in fraudulent streams to drive up revenue.
“Deezer has been at the frontline of fighting fraud and reducing payment dilution related to AI music for almost two years. Now that half of all daily uploads are AI-generated tracks, we are taking additional steps to safeguard the rights of artists and songwriters, while maintaining focus on music that fans actually love,” Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a statement.
The streamer first released stats around AI music uploads in January 2025, when the daily upload volume was around 10,000 tracks, or 10% of daily uploads. The number grew to 20,000 tracks, or 18% of daily uploads, in April 2025. It then climbed to 30,000 tracks, representing 28% of daily uploads in September 2025, followed by 50,000 daily uploads, or 34% of daily uploads, in November 2025.
This year, it grew again to 60,000 tracks, or 39% of daily uploads, in January 2026. As of April 2026, the figure reached 75,000 tracks, or 44% of daily uploads.
Deezer started labeling AI music on its platform last year, and said that its detection tech can also identify tracks generated with models from Suno and Udio, AI-music startups that are embroiled in copyright lawsuits. Earlier this year, Deezer made its detection tech available to other platforms, but it’s not clear if any of the major platforms are using the tool just yet. Last month, it also released a tool that can sift through Apple Music and Spotify playlists for AI-generated tracks.
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Tech
The Xteink X4 Pro could be the tiny e-reader of your dreams
Xteink’s tiny e-readers have gone viral among book lovers on social media, and for good reason: What could be more delightful than an e-reader that can fit in your wallet? Xteink has the answer. The Chinese hardware maker has now improved upon its existing e-readers with the Xteink X4 Pro, a swift response to widespread feedback from users who really wanted a touchscreen and a front light.
If you haven’t seen Xteink’s existing X3 and slightly larger X4, let’s catch you up to speed: They’re likely the smallest e-readers you can buy; small enough to magnetize to the back of your phone or toss in your pocket on your way out the door. Ideally, having this device on hand will help you read a few pages of a book instead of scrolling Instagram while you’re waiting in line at the store. Though the X3 and X4 were promising enough to cultivate a cult following, I wouldn’t call them user friendly — their button-based navigation is clunky. Still, the idea of a magnetic, pocketable e-reader was so promising that I couldn’t wait to see what Xteink would do next.
Fortunately, the wait for a fix wasn’t long. The addition of the touchscreen and front light makes the Xteink X4 Pro more viable as a device that you can use as your main e-reader, rather than just an on-the-go companion to your Kindle. At 72 grams and 5.95 mm thin, the X4 Pro is about the same size as the X4.
Every night before I go to bed, I turn off the lights and read on my Kindle until I’m sleepy enough to close my eyes. But with the added front light, the X4 Pro has firmly wedged itself into my nightly routine — during the review period, I almost exclusively read on the X4 Pro before bed, using the front light on the dimmest setting (which is still a bit brighter than I’d like for bedtime reading), with the color temperature tinted slightly warm. I’ve since reverted back to my Kindle solely because I’m re-reading the Odyssey, and let’s face it, it would be pretty annoying to read poetry with line breaks on a 4.26-inch screen.
When I read with the X4 Pro before I fall asleep, I feel like I’m mimicking my old bad habit of scrolling in bed. You can interpret this as either a good or a bad thing. On one hand, this goes to show just how comfortable and easy it feels to read on the X4 Pro — you can turn the pages either by tapping on the side of the screen or by using the side buttons, which gives you more flexibility with how you want to hold your X4 Pro. But also, like a phone, the e-reader is so small that you have to hold it closer to your face to read than you would a Kindle. I worry this might impact my sleep, though it’s still far easier to fall asleep after looking at a dimly lit e-ink screen than an iPhone.
Like other e-ink devices, the X4 Pro has pretty great battery life — I’ve been using my device most days for about three weeks, and I’m only down to 60% battery. Naturally, the light means that the battery will dwindle a bit more quickly than its predecessors, but I barely notice the difference. What people will notice, however, is that the X4 Pro charges using a magnetic pogo charger, while the X4 had a USB-C. This isn’t a big deal to me, since the device has to charge so infrequently, but if you’re really passionate about the universality of USB-C, this could be a dealbreaker.
The X4 Pro also comes with updated software, which is a big upgrade from the previous models, but the device also will continue to allow users to load open source code. The process of uploading content via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is doable, though it remains a bit clunky — I find it easier to just remove the micro SD card and use the provided micro SD to USB adapter to add files from my computer.
If you’re used to more mainstream e-readers, it’s also worth mentioning that you’re probably not going to be able to read library e-books on the X4 Pro. Xteink can’t integrate directly with apps like Libby, and even if you borrow an e-book from the library, you won’t be able to add it to your X4 Pro (libraries use protected versions of .epub files that you can’t copy). But if you buy an .epub file from a publisher, you’ll be able to add it to your Xteink device without a problem. (Just don’t try buying books on Amazon. It’s a walled garden, so you can only read Amazon e-books on Amazon devices, even though you literally purchased the book! Booooo!)
The Xteink X4 Pro costs $99, and at launch, it’s only available on Xteink’s website.
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Tech
UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed
The U.K.’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has confirmed the U.K. government is scrapping a controversial digital ID card scheme announced last year by the country’s previous leader.
The Burnham administration said the savings from the scrapped ID cards program will fund a tax cut aimed at cutting household electricity bills amid the rising costs of living. The newly appointed finance minister, John Healy, said the changes aim to bring some “breathing room on bills, and provide some reassurance this winter.”
The plan to roll out digital identity cards was introduced by the former prime minister Keir Starmer, who argued that state-issued IDs would crack down on migrants working illegally and would modernize access to government services. The national ID card system would have cost the government £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) over three years, but that figure came under dispute as money to fund the scheme was allegedly never allocated.
Starmer announced his intention to resign as prime minister on June 22. He was formally replaced by Burnham on Monday.
Millions of Brits had opposed the plan for mandatory digital ID cards, leading to the second-largest public parliamentary petition on record, gathering close to 3 million signatures rejecting the plan. Critics said that the introduction of ID cards would enable surveillance.
The effort brought back memories of a similar government program to roll out identity cards during the 2000s under the Tony Blair government but was axed in 2011 soon after a new opposition-led coalition government took power following a national election.
Music streamer Deezer says more than 50% of daily uploads are AI-generated
The Xteink X4 Pro could be the tiny e-reader of your dreams
