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YouTube is launching a new tool that lets filmmakers blur out any object

YouTube is launching a new tool that lets filmmakers blur out any object

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YouTube is launching a custom blurring tool today that will let filmmakers blur out any object in their videos. The video platform has offered a face-blurring tool since 2012, but the revamped desktop tool now works on items that move, too, and it keeps them blurred as they travel around the video.

Once users have drawn a box around the item they want to blur, they can resize the area and also lock it in place when the object is stationary. The edited video can be saved along with an original version. YouTube imagines people will use the tool to protect sensitive information, like license plate or credit card numbers, and to protect people's identities in compromising interviews or situations.

Today’s Storystream

Feed refreshed Sep 19 Better on the inside

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Instagram
Nilay PatelSep 19
Is the iPhone 13 Pro a sneaky good upgrade deal?

Carriers are all doing huge deals on iPhone 14 models, but if you just want to buy a phone outright, a discounted iPhone 13 Pro might be the best bang-for-the-buck around.


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External Link
Adi RobertsonSep 19
I don’t think this AI-generated game actually counts as AI-generated.

This Girl Does Not Exist promises “everything you will see in this game” is created by an AI. Except... based on everything I’ve read, that includes none of the game mechanics or interface design! It’s an interesting experiment in artificially generated images and audio, but AI-generated gameplay is a uniquely weird and difficult problem. That said, I’m fascinated by the growing move toward an aesthetics of AI — and this project sits square in that zone.


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Alex CranzSep 19
Music labels are incorporating old songs into new songs to trigger your nostalgia.

The Vergecast is doing a special miniseries for the next three Mondays on the future of music. This week I spoke with music reporter and podcaster Charlie Harding about how the future of music could sound very familiar.


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Adi RobertsonSep 19
Rick and Morty and the high-wire act of writing antiheroes.

Countless people have discussed the travails of Rick and Morty fandom. But Corbin Smith goes beyond the simple claims that obnoxious fans are just watching the show wrong, delving into the inherent difficulty of writing a character with terrible qualities who’s still undeniably cool to watch. A bonus: he lays out the precise take on Rorschach from Watchmen that I’ve always wanted to read.


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External Link
My “I’m not on the run” t-shirt is raising questions answered by my t-shirt.

South Korean authorities have requested that Interpol tell international authorities to arrest Do Kwon, the co-founder of the company behind the Terra/Luna cryptocurrency debacle, The Financial Times reports. Kwon tweeted this weekend that he is not on the run, actually, and authorities are just mad that he tweeted that their size is not size. Posters gonna post, I guess.


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External Link
The 2010s were about lifestyle brands. What’s next?

Loved this meaty essay about trends in consumerism, what we mean by “culture,” and how DTC brands led to a new understanding of community and identity. “In the 2010s, supply chain innovation opened up lifestyle brands. In the 2020s, financial mechanism innovation is opening up the space for incentivized ideologies, networked publics, and co-owned faiths,” writes Toby Shorin. “The authenticity-driven culture of ironic detachment, so present in the early 2000s, has given way to a moment where people are genuinely open to being influenced, open to sincerely participating, even if it’s cringe.”


Life After Lifestyle

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The Verge
“I still stand by that tweet.”

–Figma CEO Dylan Field, in the unenviable position of having to reflect on an old tweet.

Field tweeted last year that Figma’s goal “is to be Figma not Adobe.” Fast forward to today and... Figma is going to be part of Adobe! My colleague Jay Peters spoke with the two companies’ leaders about what the merger means for designers everywhere.


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Richard LawlerSep 19
Steam Deck display docks, and Deck deliveries.

Steam Deck prototypes aren’t the only thing to see at the Tokyo Game Show, as one Redditor noticed (via PC Gamer) that the still-unreleased official dock is holding up display units.

That’s also relevant because Steam Decks are being delivered more rapidly than expected. Valve just announced it’s cleared the reservations in the Q3 bucket a couple of weeks ahead of schedule and is starting in on reservations slated for Q4.


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Twitter
Alex CranzSep 19
The Babylon 5 reboot is in jeopardy.

Remember Bablyon 5? Alongside Star Trek: Deep Space 9, it was one of the first television shows to embrace long-term serial storytelling...on a space station. A reboot was planned at The CW, but with Warner Bros. Discovery stepping back from The CW and Nexstar gaining majority control of CW, the reboot is now in trouble, and its creator is asking fans for help.


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Emma RothSep 19
Logitech might have just confirmed Apple’s next new iPads.

A product page for Logitech’s Crayon stylus, which is compatible with the iPad, lists two unreleased devices: a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and an 11-inch iPad Pro. It also notes that the devices are “coming soon.”

Apple’s rumored to release those two iPads at an event this October, in addition to an entry-level iPad that the website didn’t mention.


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External Link
The United Arab Emirates is shooting for the Moon with plans for a lunar rover.

The country just announced that its first lunar rover is ready to go and will launch sometime in November — the exact date is still TBD. The “Rashid” rover will ride to space on a SpaceX rocket and will be carried to the Moon’s surface by a lander from Japanese company ispace, which has been working toward a Moon mission for years.


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External Link
David PierceSep 19
Even Slack thinks the green “online” status was a bad idea.

Ali Rayl, the SVP of product at Slack, thinks away messages and status indicators are a good idea. But the green circle that screams “I AM ONLINE!” isn’t the right way to do it:

I never wanted to add the green dot. I think the green dot is very harmful... If your green dot is on and you get a DM and don’t [respond] it’s like, what’s the matter?


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The Verge
Apple Maps turns 10.

The app was released on this day 10 years ago... and immediately became a laughingstock, leading to multiple people getting canned and a public apology from Tim Cook.

Now that Maps is a good enough product to warrant advertising, my big question is: when does Apple release a version for Android or the web? Apple made an alternative to Google Maps — now it needs to make a real competitor.