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Here's a quick roundup of the most significant developments in media and entertainment technology this week:
🎨 Google Updates Nano Banana Pro with 4K Resolution and Better Spatial Understanding
Google released an updated version of Nano Banana Pro, its popular AI image generator, with improved spatial understanding, 4K resolution output, and the ability to maintain consistency across up to 5 characters and 14 input images. The update includes professional controls for camera angles, lighting, and depth of field, and can render text accurately in multiple languages. It's available now in Google Workspace tools like Slides, Vids, and the Gemini app.
🎬 Letterboxd Launches Video Store: Curated Film Rentals Inside 12M-Member Community
Letterboxd announced Video Store, a film rental platform launching in December that's built directly into its 12-million-member film community. The service uses human curation based on millions of watchlists and reviews to surface festival films, restored classics, and long-watchlisted titles, with no subscription fees required. Rentals work across web, mobile, and streaming devices, and watches are automatically logged to user profiles.
🪄 World Labs' Marble Generates 3D Environments from Text, Images, or Video
World Labs unveiled Marble, a system that creates fully traversable 3D environments from text prompts, images, video footage, or rough layouts. You can render these environments to video with precise camera control, add dynamic effects like smoke and water, and export as high-fidelity Gaussian splats, physics-ready meshes, or video files. This rapid environment generation could be used for virtual production and pre-visualization, potentially cutting down Virtual Art Department time.
📐 Meta's SAM 3D Converts Single Photos into 3D Models in Near Real-Time
Meta introduced SAM 3D, a tool that transforms single 2D images into detailed 3D reconstructions for both objects and human bodies. The system handles challenging conditions like occlusion and unusual angles, performing at near real-time speeds. This opens up possibilities for rapidly creating 3D objects for pre-visualization or set design, and could enable building entire 3D worlds without having to model every object from scratch.
🎮 Disney+ to Let Subscribers Create AI-Generated Content with Disney Characters
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney+ will introduce tools allowing subscribers to create and share short-form AI-generated content using Disney-owned characters and stories. The feature will launch alongside game-like elements developed with Epic Games, though specific capabilities and partner AI companies haven't been disclosed. The announcement has drawn mixed reactions, with some Disney creators publicly opposing the initiative while the company emphasizes protections for its intellectual property.
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