News
- Adobe release new Firefly video generation model that's better than ever
- The Firefly Web App now supports non-Adobe video generation models like Veo 3
- A new Generate Sound Effects beta app makes it easy to add sound effects to your videos
Adobe Firefly has given its AI video generation capabilities a timely upgrade. It has upgraded its video model to version 1.9, which brings more realism and precision in storytelling. It's available in the Firefly Web App right now.
Adobe cites one of the strengths of its new Firefly Video Model as “generating dynamic landscapes from natural vistas to urban environments. The model also demonstrates remarkable capability with animal motion and behavior, atmospheric elements like weather patterns and particle effects, and mastering both 2D and 3D animation.”
You can see this demonstrated in this example video of a cinematic drone shot going between the trees of a snowy forest at sunset golden hour:
Adobe has also partnered with other generative video models, so you can now select Veo 3, Luma, Runway, and Topaz all from within the Firefly Web app.
Generate Sound Effects (beta)As part of the new Firefly, there’s also a new beta version of Generate Sound Effects, for creating custom, high-quality audio from text prompts or voice cues.
It involves you making voice sounds that are close to the sort of sound effect you want in your video, and the AI then works out what sort of sound you really want to add. So, in a beach scene, if you start making “Kaaw! Kaaw!” noises, the AI works out that you want seagull sounds.
I’ve had a go at using the voice cues method, and it certainly made everybody in the office think I had gone mad! Here's an example of how it works:
More video enhancementsUsing Firefly, you can create AI-generated video from either a text prompt or a reference image, but you can now also upload a reference video, and Firefly will generate a new video that transfers the original composition to your generation. The new video model has a new level of precision control when you’re directing video content.
There are also several style presets available, allowing you to apply a distinct visual style with a single click. Presets available include claymation, anime, line art, and 2D.
Finally, there’s keyframe cropping. You can upload your first and last frames, select how your image will be cropped, and describe the scene, and Firefly will generate a video that fits the format.
You might also likeIn years past, tech fans and industry commentators alike would mock Apple when it came time for the launch of its interstitial S model iPhones, noting a lack of substantial change between, say, the iPhone X and iPhone Xs as compared to the wider rift between the iPhone X and iPhone 11.
Fast forward a few years, and Apple has ditched the S suffix altogether, instead marketing each year's iPhone as a full-on numbered release. The iPhone 15 is followed by the iPhone 16 and so on.
However, the upgrades between each model don’t always feel like a full step forwards. We get some huge jumps – the iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16 Pro, for example – and some tiny ones, like the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 14.
With last year’s launch of Apple Intelligence, though, it seems Apple figured out a way around the pesky realities of research and development: just launch the thing, and finish it later. What could possibly go wrong?
Apple Intelligence could have been released more, well... intelligently (Image credit: Apple)As it turns out, quite a lot. Apple Intelligence earned itself a place on our list of the biggest tech flops of 2024, and I still think of it it as an ill-defined, nebulous, and incomplete product, even though it now comprises a pretty robust suite of AI tools. All of that seemingly hasn’t stopped the trend from catching on, though, as one of Apple’s biggest competitors demonstrated this year.
I am, of course, talking about Samsung’s beleaguered One UI 7 update, which came to Galaxy users in April after months of delays. That would be a fairly normal sentence, if it weren’t for the fact that Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra users had been running One UI 7 on their phones since they launched in January, and the additional fact that Android 15, which One UI 7 is based on, had been out since October.
So, those who shelled out to secure a top-of-the-line Samsung phone earlier this year had been left running pre-release software, while customers who bought a high-end Galaxy phone even a year ago were left been left with betas and test versions of Samsung’s latest Android wrapper.
I recently recapped the One UI 7 drama and was left feeling hopeful by the quick reveal of One UI 8 alongside the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 folding phones, so I'll ease off Samsung for now. But there's still a chance that the rollouts of Apple Intelligence and One UI 7 set a precedent for future updates and for using 'finished' products as testing grounds rather than full releases.
Giving One UI 7 an exact launch date is difficult, such was the length and disorganization of its rollout (Image credit: Samsung / Future)So, what now? Well, the biggest confirmed upcoming release on the mobile software calendar is without question iOS 26, which promises to bring a new design, overhauled default apps, and improved power efficiency to Apple's mobile platform.
It's looking good so far. Apple's WWDC 2025 keynote didn't spark any major controversies, and presented enough of iOS 26 that I'd normally feel pretty confident about the launch state of Apple's next major software update.
And as mentioned, One UI 8 is on the way with Samsung's next foldable phones, so keep an eye out for our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 review for a detailed look at Samsung's new software (though the issue with One UI 7 was less about its function and more about how it was released).
However, the string of botched software launches in the last 12 months has got me wary. Though I obviously can't blame Apple for the launch of One UI 7, nor Samsung for the launch of Apple Intelligence, it's jarring that two of the world's biggest tech companies managed to fumble two major launches in the same period.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 bring with them the first look at One UI 8 (Image credit: Samsung)As a resident of the TechRadar mobile computing desk, I know that both Apple and Samsung have the potential to put out fully-formed, innovative, and genuinely useful software. I'm hopeful that both can get back to this going forwards.
What do you think? Is this the start of a trend or just two coincidental slip-ups from two big tech heavy hitters? Let us know in the comments below.
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- Donkey Kong wears clothes in Bananza because Nintendo was "conscious" of what he would look like "from the back"
- Donkey Kong went through a redesign because his brown fur "would make for a monotonous visual"
- Producer Kenta Motokura said the character's fur was also improved
Nintendo has explained why Donkey Kong wears clothes in the latest Switch 2 exclusive, Donkey Kong Bananza.
For as long as Donkey Kong has been around, he's typically been portrayed completely naked (if a monkey can even be naked), but in the latest installment, the star ape underwent a makeover, in both character design and wardrobe.
According to Nintendo, the team thought to give Donkey Kong some clothes this time around because it was aware of what he would look like from behind to players.
"When controlling a character in a 3D world, the player often sees them from behind, so we were also conscious of how Donkey Kong would look from the back while he's moving," said producer Kenta Motokura in a recent Ask the Developer Q&A.
"The back view of Donkey Kong just looks like a mass of brown fur, which would make for a monotonous visual if we simply rendered him in 3D."
Motokura also said that the development team was inspired to make creative adjustments to Donkey Kong's outfit and decided to give him a snazzy tie, britches, and suspenders.
The character's fur was also improved to "look rich and thick", and his original design, created by Shigeru Miyamoto, has been revamped for the new game and even Mario Kart World.
"That basic Donkey Kong design has been completely revamped. While overhauling the design, we returned to where it had all started. We took Miyamoto-san's original Donkey Kong as the basis, adding design elements from Donkey Kong Bananza here and there," he explained.
In TechRadar Gaming's review, hardware writer Dashiell Wood called Donkey Kong Bananza "the greatest Nintendo Switch 2 title to date, delivering an incredible destruction system that showcases the power of the new system."
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