#91 - 📸 The AI that draws your portrait & data at Disney
Greg Taieb · · 5 min read
Hello,
I hope you are well and enjoying this day off.
As you can see, I thought of you with a nice program and topics that really amazed me this week.
Have a good read!
📸 The AI that paints your portrait
I was talking to you about it a few weeks ago but it's just amazing how quickly the new developments in the field of image generative AI come together.
Latest example, the release last week first concrete applications which rely on the Stable Diffusion model and a Google application to produce quite crazy images from photo samples.
It works with products, animals and of course human beings.
All the tools to do this are free but not necessarily easy to use for ordinary mortals. As a result, very clever developers offer “turnkey” solutions to test in just a few minutes.
Only problem: it costs money.
The principle:
- You go to the site Astria.ai or Profile Picture AI
- You create an account and buy credits (I'll come back to this)
- You load around twenty photos of yourself so that the AI can learn
- 1 hour later you can start typing requests which will generate new images
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And again I did not completely follow the recommendations on the images to load so I think that the AI could have been even more relevant on its results.
Of course I advise you to test it as it is mind-blowing and it opens up crazy possibilities for the future.
On the other hand, the negative point is that the developers who launched these “user friendly” applications are riding the wave and increasing their prices every day.
Astria started at $4 and as I write costs $20 to test on a model. Same thing for its competitor Profile Picture AI.
To test urgently if you want a unique profile photo.
🎢 How does Disney plan to use its streaming service to customize the experience in its parks?
We know that data is one of the keys to success for streaming services: knowing what you're watching, how many hours per month, which covers work best...
We may be less aware of this, but Disney has become a data junkie in its parks since 2013 and the introduction of bracelets equipped with RFID chips. The objective? Understand visitor flows, the most popular attractions and optimize logistics in the parks.
We now learn via Bob Chapek the CEO of Disney that Mickey's firm aims to merge data from the parks with data from Disney + to obtain a unique combination in terms of personalization.
Imagine that you love the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, we will offer you similar content when it comes out on Disney +. Conversely, we can imagine offering you attractions in the park for your first visit that we do for people with the same viewing habits as you.
It's formidable and in this game, Netflix and Amazon can only take some popcorn and admire.
It's one of the many illustrations of the famous “Flywheel” Disney:
This diagram created by Walt Disney himself in 1957 explains how each of the company's businesses feeds the others to keep the user in a single ecosystem.
To take the example of the Pirate of the Caribbean, it was originally an attraction that inspired a series of films. Conversely, Toy Story inspired attractions and toys that generated a lot of additional income.
Geniuses at Disney!
🛰️ The good reason to buy AirTags
Apple's AirTags are, I think, a very underrated accessory as they allow you to provide services for a fairly ridiculous price.
Concretely, this tracker, the size of a large coin, is linked to your Apple account and you can locate it even if it is on the other side of the world as soon as an Apple device passes nearby.
Add to that a battery life of one year and it's a gadget that you can place in your bike, your suitcase and even on your dog, in my opinion that makes it a must have if you have an iPhone.
Besides, I came across this tweet last month explaining the misadventure of these passengers who had their suitcases stolen at the airport and who managed to find them thanks to the Airtags placed inside.
In short, if you are going on vacation soon this is the gadget to have with you.
🚗 Chinese electric cars are attacking Europe
The latest episode of our tech podcast is dedicated to the invasion of Chinese electric cars which we have particularly felt at the occasion of the last Auto Show.
Today's cars are real running computers and that's a good thing, China knows a lot about electronics 😇.
Why is electric redistributing the cards? What impact for European manufacturers? Should we limit subsidies to European vehicles?
So many questions that we answer in this episode.
And that's it for this week!
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