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A new OpenAI Sora rival just landed for AI videos – and you can use it right now for free

June 13, 2024
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The text-to-video AI boom has really kicked off in the past few months, with the only downside being that the likes of OpenAI Sora still aren't available for us to try. If you're tired of waiting, a new rival called Dream Machine just landed – and you can take it for a spin right now.

Dream Machine is made by Luma AI, which has previously released an app that helps you shoot 3D photos with your iPhone. Well, now it's turned its attention to generative video, which has a free tier that you can use right now with a Google account – albeit with some caveats.

The main one is that Dream Machine seems to be slightly overwhelmed at the time of writing. There's currently a banner on the site stating that “generations take 120 seconds” and that “due to high demand, requests will be queued”. Our text prompt took over 20 minutes to be processed, but the results (below) are pretty impressive.

Dream Machine's outputs are more limited in length and resolution compared to the likes of OpenAI's Sora and Kling AI, but it's a good taster of how these services will work. The clips it produces are five seconds long and in 1360×752 resolution. You just type a prompt into its search bar and wait for it to appear in your account, after which you can download a watermarked version.

While there was a lengthy wait for the results (which should hopefully improve once initial demand has dropped), our prompt of 'a close-up of a dog in sunglasses driving a car through Las Vegas at night' produced a clip that was very close to what we envisaged.

Dream Machine's free plan is capped at 30 generations a month, but if you need more there are Standard (120 generations, $ 29.99 a month, about £24, AU$ 45), Pro (400 generations, $ 99.99 a month, about £80, AU$ 150) and Premier (2,000 generations, $ 499.99 a month, about £390, AU$ 750).

A taste of AI videos to come

Like most generative AI video tools, questions remain about exactly what data Luma AI's was trained on – which means that its potential outside of personal use or improving your GIF game could be limited. It also isn't the first free text-to-video tool we've seen, with Runway's Gen 2 model coming out of beta last year.

The Dream Machine website also states that the tool does have technical limitations when it comes to handling text and motion, so there's plenty of trial-and-error involved. But as a taster of the more advanced (and no doubt more expensive) AI video generators to come, it's certainly a fun tool to test drive.

That's particularly the case, given that other alternatives like Google Veo currently have lengthy waitlists. Meanwhile, more powerful models like OpenAI's Sora (which can generate videos that are 60-seconds long) won't be available until later this year, while Kling AI is currently China-only.

This will certainly change as text-to-video generation becomes mainstream, but until then, Dream Machine is a good place to practice (if you don't mind waiting a while for the results).

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TechRadar – All the latest technology news

May 22, 2024
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Have an Apple Vision Pro and wish you could fight alongside Marvel superheroes and potentially battle against villains like Thanos? Well, Marvel Studios is granting you your wish and will allow you to open portals with a twist of the hand and even take part in battles.

What If…? – An Immersive Story, which combines augmented and mixed reality, arrives on the Apple Vision Pro as an app on May 30, 2024. Furthermore, it will be free for a limited time, and we’re all getting our initial look at it courtesy of the first trailer drop.

If you’ve watched What If…? on Disney Plus or have seen a Marvel film, you’ll likely be right at home. As the trailer shows, “The Watcher” will be life-size in your living room, asking for your help to battle variants from across the Marvel universes and even search for various Infinity Stones with the help of myriad spells courtesy of Master Wong.

Thanks to vibrant, clear 4K displays on the Apple Vision Pro and the advanced camera setup, you’ll be transported and fully immersed into worlds from the Marvel universe, as well as see elements like portals and characters appear in your home space. The teams at Marvel Studios and ILM Immersive have also tapped into the various capabilities of Vision Pro and will employ eye and hand tracking.

From the trailer, the experience looks quite fun. It will likely be a major hit with Marvel fans who have the Apple Vision Pro headset – plus, it’ll be free for a limited time. As What If…? – An Immersive Story is the first immersive story from Disney Plus, it will feature characters, storylines, and even locations from the show and introduce new ones.

The story will last a full hour, and there might be some replayability as it seems to be taking the path of a choose-your-own-adventure, with various storylines you might end up playing through.

Pricing and Availability

Marvel Studios What If…? – An Immersive Story will launch on May 30, 2024, exclusively for the Apple Vision Pro.

It'll be a separate app to download from Disney Plus and will be “a free app for a limited time,” according to the release. You'll need the $ 3,500 (around £2,750 / AU$ 5,270) spatial computer from Apple as well, of course.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

May 15, 2024
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Among the many AI treats that Google tossed into the crowd during its Google I/O 2024 keynote was a new video tool called Veo – and the waiting list for the OpenAI Sora rival is now open for those who want early access.

From Google's early Veo demos, the generative video tool certainly looks a lot like Sora, which is expected to be released “later this year.” It promises to whip up 1080p resolution videos that “can [be] beyond a minute” and in different cinematic styles, from time-lapses to aerial drone shots. You can see an example further down this page.

Veo, which is the engine behind a broader tool from Google's AI Test Kitchen called VideoFX, can also help you edit existing video clips. For example, you can give it an input video alongside a command, and it'll be able to generate extra scenery – Google's example being the addition of kayaks to an aerial coastal scene.

But like Sora, Veo is also only going to be open to a select few early testers. You can apply to be one of those 'Trusted Testers' now using the Google Labs form. Google says it will “review all submissions on a rolling basis” and some of the questions –including one that asks you to link to relevant work – suggest it could initially only be available to digital artists or filmmakers.

Still, we don't know the exact criteria to be an early Veo tester, so it's well worth applying if you're keen to take it for a spin.

The AI video tipping point

Veo certainly isn't the first generative video tool we've seen. As we noted when the Veo launch first broke, the likes of Synthesia, Colossyan, and Lumiere have been around for a while now. OpenAI's Sora has also hit the mainstream with its early music videos and strange TED Talk promos.

These tools are clearly hitting a tipping point because even the relatively conservative Adobe has shown how it plans to plug generative AI video tools into its industry-standard editor Premiere Pro, again “later this year.”

But the considerable computing power needed to run the likes of Veo's diffusion transformer models and maintain visual consistency across multiple frames, is also a major bottleneck on a wider rollout, which explains why many are still in demo form.

Still, we're now reaching a point where these tools are ready to partially leap into the wild, and being an early beta tester is a good way to get a feel for them before the inevitable monthly subscriptions are defined and rolled out.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 15, 2022
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Google has given users their first proper view of the new-look Gmail as the company looks to bring a host of its top products into one place.

The company recently revealed that Gmail was set for a major makeover that would provide users with a one-stop shop for all their communication needs – whether via email, video conferencing, or instant messaging – without them having to open up extra tabs or windows.

The rollout of the new Gmail appears to have already begun, with the company saying that users with personal Google accounts and those on Rapid Release domains are able to access it now.

Gmail update

This new-look Gmail brings the likes of Google Chat, Spaces and Meet into a new, integrated view, the company revealed in a guide on its Gmail Help blog.

As well as this integrated view, the new Gmail will allow users to view specific app menus in a collapsible panel, and get alerts for new Chat and Space messages through notification bubbles.

Gmail integrated view — (Image credit: Google)

Going forward, all Google apps in Gmail will be situated in a single menu on the left of the screen. Users can switch between them by clicking on an app's menu, or point to an icon to see a preview, with the new collapsible panel able to be hidden or displayed with a click at any time.

Google also notes that individual and group chat messages can be accessed from the Chat tab, including opening into a small pop-up window at the bottom of your screen.

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Finally, notifications will now appear on the bottom left corner as a bubble whenever you get a new chat or space message, with a preview displaying when you point at the bubble. Clicking on the bubble will allow users to open the message and reply directly from the chat or spaces tab, or open up a small pop-up window for a more concrete view.

Or if you'd rather just forget this method of communicating, notification bubbles can be turned off with a few clicks.

Google says it is now preparing a wider rollout over the next few weeks, with Scheduled Release domains next to begin receiving the new look on February 28.

Once launched, users will be able to enable the new view by navigating to Settings > Quick Settings > Try out the new Gmail view, then in the new window, clicking Reload.