Project Moonlight As Adobe builds AI assistants into each of its applications, the company is also building an AI agent on its Firefly platform to act as a centralized creative director for social media campaigns. Project Moonlight’s chatbot integrates with Adobe’s creative software apps and pulls from your existing social media channels to brainstorm and edit content that’s consistent with your personal style and voice.As seen in the above sample image, users describe their vision to the bot in text, and the AI assistant processes those ideas through Adobe’s other AI-enabled editing tools to create personalized images, videos, and social posts. Adobe says of the new AI agent:Project Moonlight is your personal orchestration assistant capable of coordinating across multiple Adobe apps and beyond. While each AI Assistant in our apps is an expert in its own domain—Photoshop for image editing, Premiere for video, Lightroom for photography—Project Moonlight operates like a conductor of an orchestra, bringing them all together in harmony. Just tell Project Moonlight what you need, and it unites our AI Assistants as one creative team to help you bring your vision to life. With Project Moonlight, you benefit from:• Context-aware creative intelligence: Project Moonlight connects to your Creative Cloud libraries and social accounts to understand your style, projects, and assets—surfacing personalized ideas and content that feel authentically you.• Conversational creation: Turn conversations with your agent into creative content. As you exchange ideas with your agent, it generates images, videos, and social posts aligned to your direction—taking you effortlessly from idea to execution.• Data-driven growth and strategy: Link your social channels to let your agent analyze performance, identify trends, and craft content strategies that grow your audience and strengthen your creative brand.Adobe is releasing a private beta version of Project Moonlight in the coming months to users who join the waitlist.

Even with the free version of ESXi reinstated, Proxmox has a ton of benefits for home labbers who don’t want to waste money to unlock paywalled services. While ESXi’s 8-core per VM limit and lack of cluster provisions are often the biggest issues with the free version, the lack of vCenter support can be rather annoying, especially if you’re looking for a neat way to control multiple ESXi nodes.

Amazon is planning to axe around 14,000 corporate jobs. The mass layoffs were expected as part of the company’s cost-cutting drive, but are smaller than the 30,000 job losses previous reports had indicated.  Beth Galetti, a senior executive at the e-commerce giant, broke the news to employees in a message on Tuesday. “The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs,” Galetti said.Galetti did not give an indication of what roles are being cut or where they are located. Most employees will have 90 days to look for a new job internally, she said. “Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,” Galetti wrote. “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convicted that we need to be organized more leanly.”Galetti said Amazon expects “to continue hiring in key strategic areas” in 2026, but will also keep searching for areas to “realize efficiency gains,” suggesting more job cuts may be on the horizon. Amazon’s last major round of job cuts was at the end of 2022 and into 2023, when 27,000 workers were laid off.Galetti’s memo referenced a message from CEO Andy Jassy sent to employees in June. In it, the executive evangelizes generative AI as both the source of Amazon’s sought efficiency gains — read job cuts — and its strategic direction for products and services. The company has made it clear it hopes to tap automation, robotics, and AI as means of slashing labor costs and ultimately replacing thousands more human workers.

Despite using between multiple distros during my home lab journey, TrueNAS Community Edition (or Scale, as it was called back in the day) is hands-down my favorite of the bunch, as it has the holy trifecta of solid data protection features, powerful ZFS roots, and top-tier performance. Unfortunately, it’s restricted to x86 systems, leaving OpenMediaVault the only popular NAS distro for Arm devices like the Raspberry Pi. That’s a shame, because certain high-end Raspberry Pi devices have enough memory to meet the minimum requirements for running ZFS pools.

Generate Soundtrack is like Mad Libs for backing instrumentals. Adobe is giving filmmakers new generative AI audio tools that can quickly add thematically appropriate backing tracks and narration to videos. Generate Soundtrack and Generate Speech are being introduced to a redesigned Adobe Firefly AI app, while Adobe is also developing a new web-based video production tool that combines multiple AI features with a simple editing timeline.The Generate Soundtrack tool is launching in public beta in the Firefly app, and works by assessing an uploaded video and then generating a selection of instrumental audio clips that automatically synchronize to the footage. Users can direct the style of the music by selecting from provided presets like lofi, hip-hop, classical, EDM, and more, or describe the desired vibe in the provided text prompt interface — asking it to be more sentimental, aggressive, and so on. The tool will also suggest a prompt based on the uploaded video footage that can be used as a starting point.“We wanna help users prompt music. It’s a new muscle we need to develop, so in order to make that easier and more accessible, if you give us your clip, we will predict what type of music goes with that clip,” Adobe’s generative AI head Alexandru Costin told The Verge. “But we’re also offering you this Mad Libs approach where you can pick the vibe, the style, the objective of your clip.”Generate Soundtrack will provide four distinct audio clip variations per prompt, with each clip having a maximum length of five minutes. The Firefly AI model that Generate Soundtrack is built around was trained on licensed content, meaning it won’t place creators at risk of having videos taken down by copyright strikes. “We purchased music and voice from IP owners, that’s why we have the confidence to offer it as commercially safe,” said Costin.That promise gives Adobe’s AI music-making efforts a leg up over competing companies like Suno and Udio, which have been targeted with copyright infringement lawsuits and admitted to training their own AI models on protected materials. Generate Soundtrack is only designed for background audio, but Adobe is also working on other tools that could provide a more comprehensive AI music production experience — one that aims to save creators the headache of navigating IP laws.Firefly’s Generate Speech tool is also launching in public beta, and can be used to create voiceovers for video projects from text. It provides more than 50 voices powered by either Adobe’s Firefly Speech Model or ElevenLabs, with support for more than 20 languages. Users can fine-tune things like speed, pitch, and emotion, and manually correct pronunciation for names or words that may have regional variations.Another in-development filmmaking tool is the Firefly video editor, which Adobe describes as a “multitrack timeline editor for generating, organizing, trimming, and sequencing clips.” It combines Adobe’s various tools for generating voiceovers, soundtracks, and titles into a single web-based app, alongside frame-by-frame editing features and style presets. The Firefly video editor will start rolling out in private beta next month, with prospective users required to sign up to a waitlist for early access.

After setting up my home office, I realized how many little details could make or break the space. Things like cable clutter, awkward accessories, or missing storage solutions add up over time. I started locating and designing small desk accessories I could 3D print to fix those little annoyances one by one. Over time, those prints transformed my workspace into something cleaner, more organized, and uniquely mine.

Photoshop’s Generative Fill tool can now use third-party AI models. | Image: Adobe Adobe has kicked off its annual Max event, giving us a first look at new and upcoming generative AI tools launching for the company’s Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Lightroom Creative Cloud apps. These include updates to Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature that aim to give creators more control over adding, removing or modifying content, and tools that can automate some of the more time-consuming elements of editing photos and videos.To start, Adobe is allowing Photoshop users to power Generative Fill capabilities using Google and Black Forest Labs’ third-party AI models. After selecting their image and giving Generative Fill a prompt — such as describing an object to insert, or replacing an existing object or person with something else — users can switch between Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash, Black Forest’s Flux.1 Kontext, and Adobe’s Firefly image model, providing a wider variety of results to choose from.Photoshop for web is also introducing an AI Assistant in private beta. This is a chatbot-like interface that can be given descriptive instructions like “increase the saturation” to automatically edit files, effectively using Photoshop’s vast selection of tools for you. This capability was teased in April, and a similar feature is launching for Adobe Express in public beta.Another beta feature called “Assisted Culling” is launching for Adobe Lightroom that can filter large collections of photographs for different focus, angles and degrees of sharpness, and recommends the best snaps for photographers to edit.The Firefly AI image model that powers these editing tools is getting a model upgrade. Adobe says that Firefly Image 5 can generate images in a native four-megapixel resolution without upscaling, and has been optimized to improve its ability to render realistic humans. The model also powers Adobe’s new prompt-based editing features that make specific adjustments based on descriptions, and a new Layered Image Editing tool coming to Photoshop that makes precise, contextual changes, such as ensuring shadows are automatically corrected when moving objects around an image.For video editors, Adobe also has a new tool for its Premiere Pro software that automatically stencils out people and objects in video frames. AI Object Mask is available in public beta, and aims to make it easier to quickly color grade, blur, and add visual effects to moving backgrounds by removing the need to manually mask subjects using the pen tool.

Have you ever had a gunfight with a demonic steam train before? If not, you're missing out. Fortunately for you, you can fix that for a lot less thanks to a Steam sale. Choo-Choo Charles has gone on a steep discount as Halloween approaches, so if you're on the hunt for something scary, you can now score this amazing title for just $3.

The AI Assistant is designed to be used without needing professional design experience. A new generative AI experience is coming to Adobe’s cloud-based Express design platform, enabling you to transform projects by vaguely describing what changes to make. Adobe describes the “AI Assistant in Adobe Express” launching in public beta today as a conversational creative agent that “empowers people of every skill level” to quickly create visual content, without having to understand specific design terms or creative tools.The feature is available as a toggle in the top-left corner of the Adobe Express web app. When activated, the usual homepage interface and tool options will be replaced by a chatbot-style text box, with options to make a new design or edit existing images. Users can surface a selection of curated presets by describing what they need to make, such as “fall-themed wedding invitation” or “retro-inspired poster for school science fair,” and edit their selection with natural language prompts.For users without professional design experience, the AI assistant is capable of making adjustments based on vague requests like “make this pop” or “give this a jungle theme.” Users can also specify specific parts of the design to change, such as replacing backgrounds, fonts, and individual elements or layers of an asset, leaving the rest of the design unchanged. The tool pulls from a variety of sources, including Adobe’s Font and stock image library, or generates image assets from scratch to match specific requests using Adobe’s Firefly AI models.An entire design can be created using the AI assistant, or users can toggle it off at any time to make manual changes using Express tools. It can also fulfill requests that would require a combination of Express tools, like resizing and reformatting completed designs, or converting them into animations.“You decide when and how to work with them. The experience is hybrid by design,” Adobe’s chief technology officer, Ely Greenfield, said in the announcement. “They act like capable teammates — taking on the work that distracts you from your craft, so you can accomplish more while staying firmly in creative control.This is the latest expansion of Adobe’s plans to integrate conversational AI assistants across its wider product ecosystem, which started with Adobe Acrobat last year. A similar chatbot-style editor is also launching in private beta for Photoshop, and Adobe says it’s working on making the Express AI assistant available as an integration for third-party apps like ChatGPT. The goal is that these Adobe AI assistants will eventually “work together seamlessly across your apps,” according to Greenfield, allowing them to eventually adapt to your personal style and anticipate the assistance you need in the future.

The new Insta360 X4 Air also has a larger sensor than the older X4. | Image: Insta360 Insta360 debuted its new X5 360-degree action camera just six months ago, but it turns out that the company still has plans for its predecessor. Today, it announced the Insta360 X4 Air, which is a lighter, smaller, and more affordable alternative to the $549.99 X5 that still offers 8K recording capabilities, but starting at $399.99. It’s launching today around the world through Insta360’s online store in graphite black and arctic white color options, but availability for the US and Canada is still “coming soon.”The X4 Air offers similar recording capabilities as the original X4, with 360-degree 8K videos maxing out at 30fps. But drop the resolution to 4K and the framerate maxes out at just 50fps, while the X5 and X4 can do 4K at up to 100fps for capturing slow motion clips. You’ll need to use the X4 Air in single-lens mode at 1080p to boost the frame to 120fps. The X4 Air also has reduced capabilities when capturing still photos. It maxes out at 29 megapixels, while the X5 and X4 both capture images at 72MP.Despite the slight performance reductions, the X4 Air features a pair of 1/1.8-inch sensors that are slightly larger than the 1/2-inch sensors used in the older X4 that Insta360 says should help it capture “better detail and more vivid color straight out of the camera.” But they’re both still smaller than the 1/1.28-inch sensors in the Insta360 X5, so if you plan on shooting in low-light conditions, then it might be worth the splurge and grab Insta360’s newest model instead.The real appeal of the new X4 Air is its size, although, despite its name, it’s not that much smaller than the X4 and X5. It’s about 10 millimeters shorter than the other models at 113mm tall, and at 165 grams, it’s 30 grams lighter than the X4 and X5, potentially making it a bit more convenient to carry around all day. Its smaller body does come with the compromise of a smaller 2,010mAh battery, with battery life falling somewhere in-between the X4 and X5 at up to 88 minutes when recording at 8K / 30fps.The removable lens guards introduced with the X4 are still available for the new X4 Air, but it also comes with user-replaceable lenses that can be swapped out in seconds which was one of the best features of the X5. The X4 Air is also waterproof to depths of up to 49 feet like the X5 without the need for a dive housing, and includes that action camera’s hands-free recording options including gestures, voice control, and the option to twist a selfie stick back and forth to begin capturing.

The Romo P robot vacuum from DJI is now available in Europe for €1,899. Of all the companies that could have launched a robot vacuum in 2025, I didn't have DJI in the running - but here we are. The drone and camera manufacturer released the DJI Romo robovac in Europe today, following its China debut this summer. The Romo is a combo robot vacuum and mop with a twist - it's transparent. But, sadly, it can't fly. Instead, DJI has channeled its navigation expertise into a bot that stays firmly on the ground.I got a sneak peek at the see-through sucker at the IFA trade show in September. While I didn't get to see it in action in the tiny room behind DJI's huge booth, I did get to check out the hardware - and there' …Read the full story at The Verge.

The trackball’s scroll dial is now flanked by a pair of scroll wheels on either side of the mouse. | Image: Kensington Kensington has announced a new version of its Expert Mouse wireless trackball with a major facelift and some new functionality. The Expert Mouse TB800 EQ features a slimmer design than its predecessor with a new built-in wrist rest making it look more like the sleeker SlimBlade Pro that Kensington launched in 2022. But the svelter profile doesn’t come at the cost of features. When it’s available later this year with a price bump from $109.99 to $149.99, the new Expert Mouse will include even more buttons, and three scroll wheels.The new Expert Mouse maintains its predecessor’s dedicated scroll ring around the base of the trackball, while adding two additional vertically oriented scroll wheels found on either side. By contrast, the cheaper SlimBlade Pro has you scrolling by twisting its trackball.The ring’s functionality can be toggled between smooth vertical scrolling or stepping line by line for when you’re reading websites or documents, while the side wheels facilitate horizontal scrolling and zooming which can be useful for navigating the timeline interfaces of video and audio editing apps. If you don’t have a use for the scroll wheels, they can be disabled individually using three switches on the underside of the mouse.In addition to keeping the original  Expert Mouse’s set of four large programmable buttons surrounding its trackball, the new one has four additional buttons along the top. They come pre-programmed for controlling media playback and volume, but their functionality can be customized using Kensington’s desktop software.Instead of running on AA batteries, the new Expert Mouse comes with a rechargeable battery that Kensington says will keep it powered for up to four months. It connects to devices wirelessly over Bluetooth or using an included 2.4GHz USB dongle, but its USB-C charging cable also facilitates a wired connection to a computer if you’d rather not stress over battery life.